MtG:PQ Q&A Session - April, May, June 2024

Magic:PQ Support Team

Hey, everyone!

It took a while this time, but we do have some questions to address. Some of them were brought from Forum discussions, not the Q&A form, but we thought they were important anyway.

As always, send your questions via this link.

Let’s get into them!

Lu

1. Seeing as how you revised the charge schedules on the events to make the events better for players, would you also consider updating some of the events that lock your Planeswalker choice to stop doing that? For events like Revolving Planeswalk or Seize the Day that don't let you change your Planeswalker for the node after you select one. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason for this. Most people use the same planeswalker for every charge anyway. If you try out something new and it turns out that it's either not effective or not fun now you're stuck with it. For events where you have to use a different Planeswalker on each node then locking in the choices is more justifiable. For other events it doesn't seem like it serves any purpose other than to make the event slightly less fun for some players.

   Answer: This is an interesting suggestion, that does match some of our internal discussions for updating some older events and bringing them back into rotation. We’ll share it with the development team.

2. Hii,

   So, since you guys took over the development of MPQ, several bugs and discrepancies in old abilities have been fixed (Outcast, stored mana, gems falling). What do Webcore Team take into consideration to define the priority of these updates?

   Answer: We do our best to prioritize these fixes based on their impact on the gameplay experience, or when they are linked to interactions with unreleased and new content.

3. What are the MtGPG rules for the order in which continuous effects are applied? There are some brief rules in regards to the order that triggered effects resolve, but I couldn't find any rules for continuous effects.

   For example the interaction between Omniscience and Quarantine Field.

   ---

   Omniscience (Cost 17; Shields 4)

   Support Card - Enchantment

   Each card in your hand costs 0 mana to cast.

   When you cast a creature, spell or support, this support loses 1 shield.

   ---

   Quarantine Field (Cost 15; Shields 3)

   Support Card - Enchantment

   When this Support enters the battlefield, each Creature and Support in both players' hands is drained of its' mana.

   While this Support is on the battlefield, Creature and Support cards cost 12 more.

   ---

   If you cast Quarantine Field first, creatures and supports cost 12 more. Then after casting Omniscience the costs of your cards are reduced to 0.

   If you cast Omniscience first your cards cost 0. Then after casting Quarantine Field your creatures and supports still cost 0.

   When they're both on the board your creatures and supports cost 0 regardless of which order they entered the board.

   The current rules for resolving triggered effects are:

   Triggers Priority

   When multiple cards from different places trigger their effects at the same time, the priority order - unless said otherwise - is:

   Creatures (from first position to last) → Supports (from oldest to newest) → Hand (from oldest to newest) → Graveyard (from oldest to newest) → Exile (from oldest to newest).

   Can a similar summary of the rules for the order continuous effects are applied in MtGPQ be added to this article?

   https://d3go.helpshift.com/hc/en/4-magic-puzzle-quest/faq/953-magic-puzzle-quest---gallery-of-rules-and-definitions/

   Answer: This is a cool question, and the answer is equally interesting. Omniscience design intent is that the cost of the card never needs to be paid while Omniscience is on the battlefield. To achieve this, it will apply its effect in a way that always causes the played card to cost 0. A simple way to visualize this is that it will always be the last effect to alter the cost.

   As for the interaction of continuous effects, the only written rules at this point are the ones listed in the Rules Gallery. Most effects should follow the order described there for triggered abilities, but the original framework of the game was not created to emulate the intricate layer system utilized in the tabletop version of MTG.

   **

   Finally, some of you have asked similar questions on the Forum, even if not through the Q&A form, so we’ll amalgamate and answer them here:

4. We get that Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant needed to be nerfed, but why change Atraxa, the Grand Unifier and Blossoming Tortoise as well?

   Answer: That’s interesting, actually!

   Blossoming Tortoise had interactions that were more harmful than helpful to the Standard metagame. We want to bring more options to players in terms of what Lands Supports can do in the game, but the old Tortoise was simply way too good (still is!) as both a creature and a support recursion tool, allowing combos to always be reestablished in Greg’s next turn after a player has stopped them. By being more Land-focused, the Tortoise will reward more dedicated approaches, while removing the problem of perpetual combos.

   Atraxa is a card that we have been watching since last year due to her ability to create a loop by herself. Around the release 6.3.0, we considered applying some minor changes to Atraxa but decided it wasn’t necessary at that time. Nevertheless, while developing the next sets, we noticed that we had to hold back every time we designed any card that could give full mana to a creature - because the best creature to receive that mana was Atraxa, enabling yet a new loop with her. The AI could replicate that perfectly every time, creating a huge Atraxa every single turn. That settled the decision to remove that self-contained loop potential from Atraxa, allowing us to be more creative in the future.

   *

5. We’ve spent resources chasing the cards that have been changed. Will there be any kind of refund or compensation for our effort?

   Answer: That’s a fair question. We understand the frustration when cards you've invested time and resources in are altered. Because of it, balancing changes are rare and a last resort, implemented only when necessary to maintain a fair and enjoyable experience for all players. We thoroughly test and analyze cards before release to minimize these occurrences.

   Our goal is to ensure a balanced metagame that the entire community can enjoy. Changes are made to address situations where certain cards continue to negatively affect the player base despite other measures.

   Compensation for affected items is always considered when balancing changes are defined, and it may not be provided to avoid negatively impacting the game economy, for example. We strive to provide a fun and fair experience for everyone, and we appreciate your understanding and support.

gozmaster

Thanks @Magic:PQ Support Team (LU) I know this has been a while, and I applaud you for taking some TOUGH questions, not just some softballs.

I'm not Pleased with ALL the answers, but just having your guys' thoughts on the matters helps.

AoMadness

I'm properly going to get some flak for this but, i don't think we need compensation for a card being nerfed or tweaked as that's kinda always going to happen if you by a card or walker that changes the balance of the game in a unfair or annoying way to me it's the nature of the game. Plus if you spend resources or cash on a card or walker and it's nerfed you still have that card or walker in your accountant and it's a still playable card/walker even if it's slightly weaker. For me compensation should only be applied if a card/walker is removed from the game as your then activily losing either cash or resources on something that is no longer in the game

gozmaster

@AoMadness said:
I'm properly going to get some flak for this but, i don't think we need compensation for a card being nerfed or tweaked ...

First Off I agree with you @AoMadness , at least for myself. (IE I don't expect compensation if something is nerfed, it's nice, but not necessary.)

That said , I can COMPLETELY Get it from a perspective of IRL money. In Game resources, I mean, that's the point of the economy? Mostly. But IRL Dough... We Don't FULLY know the impact even a few dollars can have on a person?

So in those instances, i COMPLETELY understand why a player would feel cheated.

Again, Time IS Money, and if someone is GRINDING their day away to get the resources they need to get those cards, only to have them nerfed, I do get it.

But where do we draw the line?

Just people that had the cards?

What about those that were on the grind for it but haven't yet pulled it?

So give the compensation to everyone?

What about those that never tried for the card/walker?

It gets ugly.

The bottom line is this, WC will do what they do.

The answer for me, I think it goes a LONG way for a company to show it's player base they care, compensation is one way to do it. (Free non-dupe packs and the like)

But I also fear that the player base (especially right now) I'm not sure anything would be good enough outside of not doing it in the first place.

All that said... I STILL Think you did the Tortoise and THunderous debut dirty.

But that's my opinion. lol

Sarah

I would’ve been excited for these answers in April, May, or even June but this feels like too little, too late. It took you three months to answer five questions.

When will you get around to answering the other questions?

Janosik

@Magic:PQ Support Team said:
We thoroughly test and analyze cards before release

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Killroy

Appreciate some answers finally and thank you for doing so Lu. Reaching out to this great community of players and keeping an open line of communication to all of us means a ton. That said, I'd also like to apologize for the ungrateful and antagonizing comments from some of the others forum members here. Most of us actually do care for all of the players and do have their best interests in mind without hiding behind a facade of lies and deceit or allowing personal views to dictate how we treat each other with respect and dignity. Looking forward to more Q&A's and again, thank you for everything you do and have done.