[2019] ​Why are there few cards in MTG Arena?

Well MTG Arena started out with Standard, but we're growing the card pool beyond that... It just takes time to put in new cards. A lot of time.

@TopoftheStackMTG:

They haven’t hired enough people to keep up with the demand. The devs are working very hard but it feels like nothing is happening. Wizards needs to support this game more. They are neglecting it probably to make more money off MTGO and Paper.

Our devs do work very hard, and a LOT gets done. There is never a dull moment around here haha. Unfortunately adding cards isn't a simple task, let alone "problem" cards that take a while to implement.

That being said, we're hiring! :smile: https://company.wizards.com/content/jobs.

@archiel:

@TopoftheStackMTG:

They haven’t hired enough people to keep up with the demand. The devs are working very hard but it feels like nothing is happening. Wizards needs to support this game more. They are neglecting it probably to make more money off MTGO and Paper.

On other hand people claim that they're investing and supporting Arena too much and that it's hurting Paper and well... MTGO was already undead for years, so nothing new there...
Anyway... the biggest problem about new/old sets is implementing mechanics properly, once that's done for a single card that has it, then all that's left is messing about with resources and values, which can easily be done within a week by a single person if all resources are ready. And most mechanics were already implemented just haven't been named. Let's take Ravnica sets for example, what's the difference between Afterlife and Doomed Dissenter's effect, that Afterlife creates a different Token. What's difference bewteen Search for Azcanta's ability and Surveil, that it's called Surveil.

And then maybe a week tops to triple check everything for spelling errors, value errors, and other stuff. During which testing could be easily completed. In fact there's bunch of players that would be happy to test for free without compensation. and if compensation is needed, then it could be some unique style for a card, which could only be obtained that way.

Sure Arena team isn't as big, but outside help could be easily hired for first few sets, then later on main devs can slowly do other sets, while releasing already prepared sets each month. The simple truth is, WotC/devs still doesn't want Historic or more previous sets in Arena, especially not whole sets (thanks to loads of junk and stuff that's been reprinted, like... who needs 10 shocks/lightning strikes/negates/cancels/murders/plummets/Ajani's Pridemates...

That's not how any of this works, unfortunately. I wish it was that easy!

@Siyano#45342:

from archiel (is big post) to WotC_Lexie saying "That's not how any of this works, unfortunately. I wish it was that easy! "
Am I Missing something in coding? I mean the moment you did an instant shock type card and a sorcery one, you basically did the coding for basically ALL deal damage card, you just need to change the number.
Same for everything else, vanilla creature, creature with only evergreen ability, etc...
So unless they code very badly putting more card should not ask so much of work as it seem.
So I wonder what is the real reason? obviously money, they have no reason to do all they sets in few week

A 2/2 zombie may not take a lot of time, but consider cards like Finale of Promise. That is a complicated card to begin with+you have to make sure it correctly interacts with every other card+behaves correctly in specific situations+interacts with the stack correctly+the visuals are understandable+the way players interact with it in the game make sense+etc.... There's a lot that goes into it, and that's just one card of many. We're working towards getting more cards into the game, though! It will just take time. :grinning:

@Zlehtnoba:

@PlayMtGA#60713:

@Zlehtnoba:

Rules engine and card coding are the trivial part.

Only someone, who never saw rules, can say...

I read the rules through, when I started playing, in 1998 :grinning:
Rules are a formal system. That is easy, compared to what Lexie mentioned in one of her replies: making sure the interface is intuitive and appealing for problem cards, and checking that some non-foreseen interaction in code does not break the game in corner cases, or slows down the client too much. Plus exceptions for the autotapper and priority passing for high-impact cards (like Wicked Wolf and Legion Warboss), and so on and so on.
(And all the cards are already coded, for MtGO. All the text, oracle, everything, proofread. And for new sets, there must be procedures in place to convert between the internal design database, to printers, to MtGO and to Arena.)

The rules are a formal system but they aren't an easy system. If you think it is an easy process then please take a look at our job page! We'd love to possibly add you to our team.

Also note that just because something is in MTGO doesn't mean it can be simply added to Arena. It isn't copy+paste. It took years to get the card library that MTGO has, in MTGO. MTGO was also released in 2002 so they didn't have 26 years of cards to catch up on. I know that it sounds like it should be a simple process, but much to our dismay, it's not. :joy: