One Final Thought Concerning Leagues

As I was preparing my post last time discussing the announcement by Wizards regarding the return of leagues to Magic Online and the reasoning behind beginning with Standard Constructed leagues rather than Sealed, there was one other point I neglected to include. Ever since I discovered Hearthstone, I have urged Wizards of the Coast to study what makes that game so successful and to apply those lessons to Magic Online. Given the massive success that Hearthstone now enjoys, it appears that Wizards has indeed taken notice.

While obviously the exact details have not been disclosed yet, Constructed Leagues will offer the same sort of asynchronous tournament experience that Hearthstone now offers in its Arena game mode. Way back in November I noted that this seemed to be the way that Wizards was taking leagues on Magic Online, and the latest announcements have only confirmed this.

In both Hearthstone Arena and Magic Online Leagues:

• You practically have no time limits when it comes to deckbuilding.
• You have the option of playing out your matches over a short or long period of time.
• For each match, the software attempts to pair you against an opponent with a similar record, but priority is given to getting you a game as quickly as possible.
• You play a set number of games, with prizes determined solely by your record (without any consideration as to who you played or their respective records).
• You can enter the tournament as often as you wish.

Obviously, Magic Online ran leagues long before Hearthstone was even in the conceptual stage. But nonetheless, it is interesting to see these similarities.

Goblins vs. Gnomes Added to Arena Plus a Free Arena Run

Look what's waiting for you the next time you log into Hearthstone.

If people weren't already hyped for the release of the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion for Hearthstone, this is sure to get them excited! Not only can you get a sweet sneak preview of some of the cards by playing in Arena over the next week, but you also get a free chance to do so just for logging in between now and Monday when the game releases!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but imagine if Wizards of the Coast did things this way for Magic Online. A new set is about to release, and they give everyone the opportunity to play in a prerelease free of charge. To be fair, Wizards actually did this once already as a small token of apology during the transition to the new client.

I won't argue that Hearthstone is a better game than Magic the Gathering. After all, they are two related but ultimately very different products. But compare Hearthstone to Magic Online - and there simply is no comparison. Wizards still has a lot to learn...

Leagues Delayed, but they Sound like Hearthstone

Yesterday, Chris Kiritz, the Digital Manager for Magic Online, announced that the return of leagues to Magic Online will not, in fact, happen this calendar year as had been projected. According to Kiritz:

As we expected, the design of the new version of Leagues required several major changes to Magic Online. One of these core requirements is to support a large number of players who are all playing in the same League. This change obviously requires extensive testing and refinement. To meet this need, we simply need more time to make sure the Leagues can support the number of players we want and that experience stays consistent under production load.

This announcement was no-doubt met with no little bit of cynicism, since to many it feels like Wizards has been promising to reinstate leagues ever since version 3 was released, and thus far they have failed to demonstrate any actual progress to that end. Fortunately, it appears that significant progress has actually been made, and in upcoming beta releases for Magic Online they will be testing leagues extensively. In fact, if you're interesting in being part of the beta testing process, they are accepting applications here.

But what really caught my eye as I was reading this article was the description of how leagues will work. Listen to this:

Putting this all together creates a system where players can participate in a League at any point and not be at a disadvantage. Players can join at any time, play their matches at any pace, and then earn prizes based on how well they perform. Once they have finished all their matches, they can rejoin the same League and do it all again. This allows players who cannot commit to more than one or two matches per week participate in the same League as a player who can play five matches per day. Couple that with a large player base, and you have a system that lets Magic Online players tailor their experience in a way that fits into their busy lives.

This sounds remarkable like how Arena works in Hearthstone; it's an asynchronous experience where participants are matched up in real time, and can play as few or as many matches as they want in a sitting, with some upper and lower limits of what constitutes completing the event. If this is in fact the case, this may be one of the best things to happen to Magic Online since I joined. While I am certainly wary given Wizard's overall track record with Magic Online, I am cautiously optimistic about what leagues could mean to my own participation in Magic as a hobby.

What do you think of the announcement? Do you think this is the right course of action for leagues, or is this taking it in the wrong direction? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

ArenaValue

Today I want to share with you a great freeware program for Hearthstone called ArenaValue. ArenaValue is a program designed to help you improve your results in Arena mode. It provides tools both to draft better cards and to track your results over time. Let's talk about both of these modes.

A. Drafting Better Cards
One of the best features of drafting in Hearthstone is the fact that it's asynchronous - meaning that it's not dependent on other people drafting at the same time. As a result, you have an unlimited time to make each draft pick. ArenaValue actually takes a screencap for each pick, and then assigns a numerical value to each card you could pick based upon not only overall power level, but also mana curve and whether or not the card is good in multiples. Even better, you can actually go into their database for every card and see how often winning players select a particular card over any other card. Further, the program also provides links to the pick-orders of three different Hearthstone pros to provide multiple opinions on your pick.

B. Tracking Your Results

Once you have finished your draft, you have the option of saving it to your online profile. This not only allows you to go back and analyze every pick you made in the draft, but also allows you to track exactly how the deck you drafted performed. As you play out your matches, you can record whether you went first or last, whether you won or lost, and which hero you played against. And when your draft is over, you can then record exactly which rewards you received (which varies somewhat even for the exact same results). Over time, you can analyze all sorts of information from your profile, like which hero type you do best with, your average return on investment, and even how many wins or gold you've accumulated over the life of your drafts.

C. Conclusion

I highly recommend this program if you spend any time at all playing Arena on Hearthstone. It's an invaluable teaching tool, tracker, and database. It's easy to use, reliable, and while not perfect, is very good. The author is also continuing to work and refine it, with new features coming down the pipe. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed!

Asynchronous Drafting in Hearthstone

This will be my last Hearthstone post for a while, I promise!

As someone who has a fair amount of interest in the Limited format from Magic the Gathering, I was intrigued to see just how the Arena worked in Hearthstone. It's pretty similar, at least conceptually. You draft cards from among several choices each pick, then once your deck is complete, you play out matches against opponent's with a similar record.

In practice, there are some pretty big differences between Limited Magic and Hearthstone Arena:

• In Hearthstone, there are no packs. Instead, each pick is made from only three possibilities. Further, for each pick you make, the three choices are all of the same rarity.
• In Hearthstone, there is no deckbuilding. You draft exactly 30 cards, and play all of them in your deck. In some ways, this makes drafting a bit more stressful, since it's much harder to make adjustments mid-draft.
• In Hearthstone, you continue to be pairing against an opponent with a similar record until you've accumulated either 12 wins or 3 losses.
• Finally, prizes are determined by the number of wins you accumulate, and you don't get to keep any of the cards you draft.

But the most significant difference between them is the fact that Hearthstone Arena is asynchronous. There are no time limits at all during any point in the draft. You could literally stop at any point in the process and come back whenever you want and continue. You can even play other game modes in Hearthstone while the draft is ongoing. Furthermore, even once your draft is complete, there is no limit as to how long it takes you to play out your matches. You could space them out over any length of time you wish, as long as you stay within the time restrictions of each game.

As someone whose biggest obstacle to Limited play is having large blocks of time available, this time flexibility is by far my favorite part. Obviously, with the way that drafting works, this sort of asynchronous play is impossible. But wouldn't it be a great option?