Ixalan in review (An open letter to the devs + D3)

Nalthazar

Hello devs and D3,

Now that we have had the opportunity to play with both Ixalan and Rivals and experience the new events from Oktagon, I wanted to provide feedback that hopefully other players will add to, along with suggestions and ideas that will make the game better and keep the player base happy. To other players, please chime in on your thoughts about what I have written, especially from the future suggestions section and if you would like those suggestions implemented.

Ixalan block review:

I think that as a whole, you guys did a very good job designing the cards and events in the Ixalan block. When I first read through the Ixalan set, I had my concerns about there not being enough cards to properly use the new mechanics and the balancing of the mana costs. The introduction of the cards in Rivals really brought the block together and made it very fun to play with. Having the two sets come out in quick succession helped a lot. Most of the tribes are very fun to play with. I thoroughly enjoy playing with the Dinosaurs, the Pirates, and the Vampires. The Merfolk still feel fairly underwhelming compared to the other three, but that is in part due to them having fewer supporting cards to make them gel. Additionally, they didn’t really feel like they had much synergy with each other. Dinosaurs had Gishath, Zacama, Etali, and Ghalta, which are all incredibly powerful cards. Pirates had Captain Lannery Storm, which is VERY powerful on it’s own, along with many cards that enabled the triggering of the power bonus for the treasure. The Vampires can create what I think is the most consistent and powerful token deck in "Standard" right now with Hualti 2 that is very fun to play with. Furthermore, if you have the black vampires, you can do fun white/black vampire stuff.  As a player who is okay with periodically buying something in-app, the block was a blast. From what I have seen in my coalition, the players who made at least 1 in-app purchase during the block have really enjoyed the cards and the mechanics, and many of the players who did not buy something have experienced some frustration with making the cards they have received work. Due to the sets coming out so quickly (which I thought was nice because it caught us up with paper Magic), players did not have a lot of time to accumulate resources between the sets. Additionally, once Rivals came out, the drop rates on base Ixalan became so bad that it was just a Booster Crafting feeder of 60-70 Booster Orbs per pack. If you did not buy Ixalan packs when they came out, there was no point in opening subsequent boosters. The drop rate for rares and mythics was less than half that of any other set. There is no good excuse for this. You guys did such a good job making a fun set, only to ultimately make the first of the sets unaccessible. 

You guys accomplished a few very important goals with the Ixalan block. You brought out a set that was balanced and didn't further the power creep, and you were able to release both Ixalan and Rivals in a timely manner to keep the players excited. You also created exciting and engaging events that added new features we had not yet played with or around. On the other hand, the sets and planeswalkers came riddled with bugs that made the game frustrating. Having gotten Gishath and Tishana, it was very frustrating for them to not work as intended when they came out. I would say that the biggest flaw with the Ixalan block was the bugs with new planeswalkers major cards, and mechanics in the set. I loved how you designed the set, but I did not always feel like I could access the set due to the bugs. I am hopeful that when you aren't working on such a short deadline due to backlog that the sets will release more smoothly with the cards and planeswalkers working as intended. All-in-all I give you a 9/10 for the Ixalan block's set design. 

New planeswalkers:

There have been a few new planeswalkers that added a lot of excitement to the game. The introduction of our first black/green walker in the form of Vraska was very exciting and our first colorless planeswalker has proven to be interesting too. The new walkers we have gotten have been very hit or miss. The new Jace and Hualti 1 are terrible planeswalkers. There aren't many good uses for either of them. I also feel that Vraska is underwhelming. Her unique color combinations makes her fun to play with, but her second and third abilities aren't really game changers like the abilities of other new planeswalkers. She leaves me hoping that there will be another black/green walker in the near future so I can use it instead of her. Angrath and Hualti 2 are both very powerful and fun planeswalkers to use. I consistently find myself using both of them and thoroughly enjoying making decks that revolve around their abilities, but I honestly haven't gotten Jace or Hualti 1, and without events that require me to play with them, I will never get them. In the future, I think it is important for new planeswalkers to have abilities that set them apart from other planeswalkers and that either A: work well in conjunction with cards in the set and/or B: have strong all around abilities.

Events:

The way you implemented the new mechanics of the sets into the events is super cool. 10/10. I love it. Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoy the more dynamic play that comes from the indestructible supports in the new PvE event for each of the boss nodes. I wish that all of the nodes had something similar to this. I look forward to playing each of the boss nodes. In the PVP event Race to Orazca, the red node is quite possibly the most fun I have had playing this game. I like the incentive to use the new cards, in this case the tribes. It pushed me to discover new cards and make decks that I would not have tried otherwise. The increase in purple crystals has been rewarding, although I would really like for you to bring back rare/mythic rewards (The Immortal Sun was a great addition in my mind). Please keep up what you are doing with making the events. Additionally the scheduling of the events has worked out well for me due to my own scheduling, but I know that many of the other players in my coalition would like for there to be more events during the week for them to play. My only qualm about the events has been the inundation of Ixalan packs, which as I said earlier are for all intents and purposes worthless once you have the commons and uncommons you want. It would have been nice to get a lot of Ixalan packs, especially given the set size compared to that of Rivals, but the drop rate there really messed it up. 

Suggestions for the future:

1.) Make drop rates consistent for all sets: The drop rate on Ixalan packs when Rivals was released became criminally low. Most of the people in my coalition are just holding onto their Ixalan packs because the chances of getting anything exciting from them is so low that earning Ixalan pack rewards doesn't bring any excitement to the game. The drop rates on the Rivals packs made all of the Rivals rewards very exciting as it felt like each time there was an event with Rivals rewards there was a chance for us to get something new and fun to play with. Having Ixalan packs being the rewards for Across Ixalan, which is the event that we play the most really just made the event a grind for purple crystals. Please understand that I love the Across Ixalan event, but that I feel that the drop rates on the Ixalan packs really took away from the excitement of earning the rewards. In the future, please at least make the drop rates for the sets consistent with those of the other existing sets. If the players don't feel like the have a legitimate chance to get something new or good, they will lose interest in the events and the game, even if the new events are awesome. Having most of the rewards in the game based on a set that wasn't worth actually opening until the drop rate changes was really disappointing. If the drop rate for future sets mirrors that of the Ixalan set post Rivals, I think a lot of players will eventually leave the game. If you don’t feel like you are being rewarded for your grind, then you won’t grind, and this is a grind game. This is a VERY important issue.

2.) Remove duplicates from Elite Packs: Pulling duplicate mythics from elite packs is maybe the most infuriating thing in the game. Like the drop rate for Ixalan, it makes it feel like there is no point in grinding. If you get a duplicate from an Elite Pack with how long it takes to earn purple crystals, it is crushing. You have made the acquisition of purple crystals significantly more manageable with the introduction of Across Ixalan and the increased rewards from the weekend events, but when I am getting ready to get an Elite Pack, what is going through my head isn't excitement for what new card I am going to get, it is fear that I am going to get a duplicate and see a few weeks of grinding go down the tube. That is not what one should feel in that situation. Please do something about this.

3.) Add additional Mana Runes to Across Ixalan and future events like it: We get a lot more nodes that we can play in Across Ixalan than we need to play in order to earn the rewards. If you made it so that after the Mana Crystal gain, players would earn boosted Mana Runes from continual play, it would make the event even more grind worthwhile and exciting. It would fix the issue that many players experience with getting enough runes to maximize their planeswalkers and it would also get players to play through more of the event. I can honestly say that I haven't played the third or fourth node in Across Ixalan because I earn all of my rewards from the first node and maybe once a week, I will play a match in the second node. If there was a boost to the Mana Runes earned from playing more nodes, I would feel incentivized to play more of the nodes. Maybe a boost of 300 Mana Runes per 10 points after 40. I actually like the mechanics of the nodes, but if I am not going to earn anything for playing them then I would rather allocate my time to something that will give me a reward.

 

Mburn7

I don't agree with your assessment of Vraska, I think she's one of the best designed walkers out there (although if her ultimate gave -3/-3 instead of -2/-2 it would be nice), and here abilities are useful in almost any situation.

Your love of the permanent support events is not universally shared by everyone, but its nice to see something that isn't a complaint for once, so thanks!

Overall, nice post!

Coilbox

Really well written feedback. Agree 100% with everything, specially when it comes to minimize dupes in Elite packs and boosting the rune rewards for Across Ixalan.

BigSwifty

Great critique!

ZW2007-

I agree with a lot of this but I absolutely hate the indestructible supports. I've lost track of how many times my 3-6 shield supports have landed in match-3 range of them only to be immediately blown up by the AI and give absurd amounts of mana. They should have been somehow added to a void gem that simply can't be matched, or implemented in a way that didn't require them to be supports on the board.

Gilesclone

Thank you!  An insightful review.  
But if you don’t think Vraska is any good you aren’t using her right.

ZW2007-

I think OP is right about Vraska. Her mana gains are weak compared to all modern dual walkers and being green is no excuse because look at H2. Her ult is a little on the weak side and should either kill creatures more efficiently or have a lower shield count and not self-destruct. In most cases I don't find a use for her second either. I'm not saying she's terrible like H1 but she was a disappointment to me.

Enygma6

ZW2007- said:

I agree with a lot of this but I absolutely hate the indestructible supports. I've lost track of how many times my 3-6 shield supports have landed in match-3 range of them only to be immediately blown up by the AI and give absurd amounts of mana. They should have been somehow added to a void gem that simply can't be matched, or implemented in a way that didn't require them to be supports on the board.

Having the indestructible supports be matchable is one of the extra risks of these events.  Bo4T node 5.3 has its round effects without supports in the way, so it can be done.  But on the other hand having a support there that the player can click on to give a reminder of what it does is also useful.  I would advocate for putting them on Loyalty gems instead of colored gems, as no supports sit on those when cast.

Aeroplane

Vraska has a shelf life because once her Pirates leave standard her second ability for pirates to explore becomes obsolete.

Nalthazar

Gilesclone said:

Thank you!  An insightful review.  
But if you don’t think Vraska is any good you aren’t using her right.

I didn't say that she wasn't any good, I said that I found her abilities to be underwhelming compared to other planeswalkers that have come out recently. The green/black combination is very fun and I have a number of very powerful decks with her, but in those decks, I don't find myself needing any of her abilities aside from her first. I have enough control and gem conversion that her third doesn't have any meaningful effect, and the second ability is largely pointless if you aren't running pirates. The biggest thing for me is that when I need to put a planeswalker into a node to play a big event, I don't find myself ever seriously considering using Vraska.

Gilesclone

I found her third to be very useful for either killing hexproof or doing damage against heavy removal. Her second is a 6/6 so not useless, but not usually needed.  But her first is the closest thing we have to targeted support removal.
I use her on RtO black node every time.