Question: What are you in this for?

Sirchombli

It's a fairly simple question, that I think is important. I, myself, have played mtg in one way, shape or form for 22 years, give or take. That means I started this game as your typical, angst ridden teen. I remember when homelands was this huuuuge mistake that was going to end the game. It didn't, but there was definitely unrest amongst us plebs. 

Then things were quiet for a few years until tolarian academy was released in urza's saga. Once again, the sky was falling. Academy decks were brutal. Either you played it and had a 50% chance of winning or you didn't play it, and you were doomed to losing almost every game. In the mirror, first to drop an academy shut the other deck down completely. Thanks 5th edition legend rule! 

Some cards (a bunch) got banned and it got calm again. Because of the backlash from the powerful cards in the saga block, they decided to reign in the power level in the next block. So we got Mercadian Masques. The dullest set I think I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. Again the sky was falling. Mtg was over. First, the cards were too good. Now, they're hot garbage! Reeeeee was shouted by all. It was a weird time to play. 

For a few years things were mellow again. Then the biggest mistake ever to hit the game happened. Yup. Artifact lands. They would have just been garbage basics if not for a little mechanic called affinity. Bans happened, we slugged out the rest of the standard season and we got thanked with kamigawa. Masques 2, electric boogaloo (or the quickening, your choice). 

The new problem was that kamigawa was so lackluster that it led to more affinity decks. Even after bans, it was still a mercilessly fast deck. After kamigawa killed half of the player base, we got ravnica. That joint was on point. It was fun, decently powerful, tons of lore. It was, in my opinion, perfect.

From then on things were nice. Fun sets, pretty mid level on the power charts. Things were looking good until 2009 and the new core set m10. With m10 came a huge overhaul to the rules, followed by another bout of chicken littling. 

I could continue, but you're probably wondering if I have a point. I do. Here it is: I love mtg. The reason I play mtgpq is because carting a backpack full of cards around doesn't fit into my adult life. I've spent over a year playing this game. I was a noob during the Olivia reign of terror. Hated Olivia. Hated Deploy. Wanted to kick Ulrich. I survived. I adapted. I overcame. I still don't have any of these cards, but that's fine. I like that they exist. Why? They made me better. If my deck couldn't reasonably survive a turn 1 Olivia or deploy, I adjusted it so that it could. It's strategy. 

Now I play this game for the combination of mtg and the really cool people that are in my team's alliance. Rewards are junk, server is still a, mess. I don't care, though. I have fun. I died on the second turn earlier today. I was a little stunned, but I laugh when I lose now. Unless it's to sww. That's not funny to me. The point is that I stuck with mtg, and this game, because for all of the shortcomings, I still love playing. Why do you play? 

ElvaanStride

I have been coming back to MtG for 20+ years myself because nothing to this day has the same combination of history, lore, strategy and accessibility.

Many other games of all types have tried, some come close, but they fade off for the most part.

As for MTGPQ, it's MtG and it's match-3, about the only games I play nowadays. Perfect fit, even if I started two years late, it's still decently fun and entertaining

Sirchombli

This is actually the first match 3 I've ever played. It's good stuff. I'm sure they'll find a balance eventually 

Mainloop25

Good question. This is the only game I play. I don't remember how I first found it, but I have been playing it for almost a year and a half. Never played paper, but I had friends who did, and always wanted to get into it but never did. Got addicted to it pretty quickly, and has been the video game I've dedicated the most time to in my entire life. Still pretty addicted to it, even though I understand all of its problems. I still love getting new cards that unlock different strategy possibilities. That to me is the most fun part.

Coilbox

That was a very nice reading... and brought back to my mind a few very nice memories with Urza's saga and Mercadian masques, thats exactly where I started playing this game too... thanks for writting it!
Anyway, I keep playing this game basically because it envolves very cool mechanics, it's clever, makes you think what strategy to use, it's always fresh with new sets... It's kind of a wallet breaker if you wanna stay on the top... but still, I enjoy it, so i dont mind spending a few bucks here and there...
And I agree... there must be very powerful cards... otherwise playing it would be dull, just... boring... I dont own all of them of course, but they must be there. Powercreep is amazing sometimes, and only in a few cases banning cards has been completely necessary.

I like my cheese salty!

majincob

I started playing because Mark Rosewater linked to it on blogatog. I've been a Magic enthusiast since Mirrodin but started playing with Beta in middle school with my friends before losing interest due to being too poor to buy cards each set. In fact, I loved this game since I could play my favorite game for free at any time.

James13

I played paper magic from it's release until "The Dark".  Then just kinda stopped.  It was too expensive to keep up with.

I played the Magic 20XX computer games.  Magic Duels.  Fun little things giving the classic experience I kinda remembered in my preferred single-player experience.  Nice strategy no real card collection costs.

MTGO seemed interesting, but as I read up on it it seemed way too big a money sponge and had a non-trivial buy in to even try it.  I wasn't clear there was a single player experience there at all, either.

This game gives a nice casual twist on the familiar.  No real cost again.  Interesting guiding toward themed deckbuilding challenges via objectives that doesn't have a real counterpart in other incarnations of magic I've experienced.  And it's a real single player experience that has some lite community aspects.

I love the story mode in particular.  There was a ton of creativity and design in there.  Sad it hasn't been continued thus far.  I find the PvE much more compelling than most of the PvP, but it does require more upkeep to keep fresh than PvP, so it's not too surprising that it takes a backseat.  I guess a wishlist item would be to tap the creativity of the player base to help design new PvE content (ala the old deckbuilding contest and what not).

I guess nebulously, interesting card interactions and deck design are "what I'm in this for".

Kinesia

I have played Magic since forever but I also played the very first Puzzle Quest and _loved_ the match 3/rpg dynamic.
'lands/mana" in paper magic is the most boring stupid mechanic ever but _necessary_ for balance...
Here.... Here is the _perfect_ matching, this _feels_ like trying to cast a spell and it either fizzling or succeeding way beyond what you expected.

_This_ is the game I've waited for for over half my life. And if this dies there will -not- be a replacement before I die. This is the ONLY chance I have for this experience. I will do everything I can to make this live.

It has long term problem solving, collection, short term problem solving, community, flavour, I even wrote a short _story_ about a Dovin deck recently because it all fits together thematically.

I like winning cards, but really that's mainly for new sets, they are your income spikes and should carry the game the rest of the time.

I _want_ to invite my friends but there are too msnsy problems now, I _want_ to get my kids playing again but it's too painful for them.

This _is_ my game for the rest of my life. Not my only game, not even vaguely, but a little bit every single day until I die.

Don't even _try_ to make me play all day, that's not this games place, the key here is portability, I can play this on the run anywhere, when I am at home in front of the PC I want to play other things, but all the _other_ time, that's when I play this.

Time flexibilitiy is actually important. PQ and Magic existed 20 years ago but this game wouldn't have worked then. This needs PQ, Magic and my Phone.

Sirchombli

I like reading about why people play the games they play. I've been a gamer my entire life and don't see myself stopping. I hope this game survives this dark period. It would be a real shame if it didn't 

blacklotus

If mtgpq doesn't survive, then it is only because too many people don't like it for it to be commercially viable. And it's time for us to move on. 

life is too short to be heads over heels in love with a commercial entity whose sole purpose is to make money. My short-lived affair with the Amiga back in the 1980s and 1990s taught me that lesson well and early in my life. 

Henceforth, I always find it laughable of the silly fanboy wars of Apple vs Microsoft or Apple vs Samsung or any fan boy wars for that matter. 

Drewster

It's my favorite video game.

shteev

I guess I'm in it for it's potential. Magic:the Gathering and Puzzle Quest are two of my favorite games (@Oktagon I don't suppose you could squeeze Doom and Tekken into it as well, could you? ), and conceptually, at least, MTGPQ is a pretty great mix of both.

As far as I can tell this is one of the best mobile games out there, but this, sadly, is damning with faint praise... mobile games are pretty awful generally, and even if there are better ones around I can't find them, as they are snowed under by drek and there just aren't any places to get reviews of mobile games that aren't adverts (are there?). This is, perhaps, one of the reasons I am so relentlessly negative about just how much this game's potential has been squandered, where gamers who come from a mobile gaming background instead of a paper MTG background might be satisfied with so much less.

Currently I barely play, but I'm playing the long game rather than quitting completely; firstly, Oktagon should be starting to show the fruits of their labors soon and I'm interested to see what that means; secondly cycling will eventually rotate out of Standard and we might end up with a game worth playing again. I can wait a year for MTGPQ to get good again, paper has been running for about 25, after all. I'd like to play this game, but there are plenty of other great games around in the meantime.

babar3355

I am in it for the chicks mostly.

Also, it is the only mobile based game I have played that really has a team and community feel to it.  At times when I would have taken a break (that usually leads to quitting entirely) I have felt compelled to hang in there for my coalition and friends.  Usually, I am happy that I was able to hang in there.

Gobs of potential... the devs just don't seem to get it.  The fact that they didn't have the foresight to mix up the events as a primary objective once the new Dev team was up and running is astonishing.  Not to mention that they didn't ask Hibernum to set up a more robust rotation and remove PW restrictions before they left.  Or you know.. "Hey, can you show me how to change the event schedule?".  It's like D3 doesnt realize that the events ARE the bulk of the content.  And we might not want to fight the same level over and over for 3 months.  

ElfNeedsFood

I started MtG at the end of Arabian nights. My jump the shark dullest set was Fallen Empires. Have been in and out of magic off and on ever since. 

I was really big big into Marvel Puzzle Quest and then saw MtG PQ in the store about a year ago and haven’t looked back. 

Sirchombli

Hopefully things will come together again. I feel like the establishment has largely lost the faith of the people. I really hope they're swinging for the fences rather than shooting for the middle again. As Shteev said, we'll see soon enough.