There are a few of us. It's difficult to tell what the iOS user base is in reality. It's true that it is the lowest number of NGA participants that contribute and probably visit. Steam I think has the highest user base followed by XBOX ONE.

Based on usual matches available in iOS there does not appear to be the numbers. Cannot comment on XBOX ONE but steam versus matches are nearly always instant.

Back on topic though it would have been a big improvement to have lobbies back. I really do not understand why they were removed but suspect it has something to do with how it impacts grinding for coin but no idea why.

At least with a lobby you could see what players are waiting to match. It goes with game mode too so as we only have versus they use a matching alothrym I guess based on rank. For ios it tends to work as you match in general with a rank within 5 of your current ranking. That's of course when you can find a match. After a new card set matches seems fairly easy to get on iOS, it's also better when they have the bonus coin weekends and to an extent sales.

Outside of that versus matches take too long to find for both versus and 2HG on iOS after about 3 or so weeks after a new set. At least that's been my experience. It seemed to change after SOI hit. Up to B4Z / OGW it was better. I suspect it's lack of getting new players due to the perceived card disadvantage after all the time the game has been out and the multiple card sets.

You still get low ranks from 1 initially but that's because rank resets. It can be clear a rank 1 match in recent times have very full decks hence existing players just ranking up through to 40 in the first few weeks.

This isn't a new idea, but I'll bring it up again. Deck ratings.

For example, if decks had a r0-r40 rank as well, then I'd know when I played someone thats a r40 player with a r40 deck, that would probably mean a good player, with a tuned deck. Or a r40 player with a r1 deck, would probably mean a good player trying something out or playing a janky untested deck.
Could also give us an idea of which of our decks are more consistent or more are played more often.
Would also give the OCD junkies something to do: get R40 with every deck...

But they give us "deck ratings" already...that are completely terrible.

Ok, lets call them deck rankings then.

Nah, there's a few other regulars here including me that play on that platform.

One of the big problems for the Xbone population is the matchmaking bug. I prompted a friend to start playing the game. He was all into it to start. I suggested he go through all the story missions first to get coins then we can set him up a deck for multiplayer. A day goes by and he said "Nahh" to that advice and built a deck. Told me he sat looking for a match for 45 minutes strait. I never told him how bad the matchmaker is. He uninstalled the game, he is done with it.

The fact the matchmaking stalls out itself reduces the population even attempting to look for games. Why play something that's busted when X game works just fine. If this were not an issue the xbone population would be higher for any given time.

My matchmaker advice for anyone interested: if it takes longer than 30 seconds back out. If it goes into waiting for longer than 10 seconds quit the game and restart it, try again. If still no match, restart the app one more time. If still no match reboot your xbox and if still no match then something is broken on the server side and you should play something else or AI.

While this advice has worked for me I tried broadcasting via twitch and I could not get a game. I get a couple viewers then I have to end the broadcast because I have quit the game. Restarting over and over pretty much kills broadcasting on twitch.

I saw plenty of reddit threads about this before I unsubscribed and not one of them was formally addressed by WotC with even so much as a "we are aware" type of comment. This sort of thing can't just sit on the shelf for three months while you wait for your quarterly update, this should be a priority fix. It goes to show you how little they value their customers. I'd love to see the Xbox population numbers over time.

Even against friends it's bad. I couldn't get it to work for one of my games against Gem last night, had to restart Twitch and everything. What a pain

Any other game would have a side crew constantly looking into these kind of technical difficulties and trying to fix them ASAP.

I enjoy playing on Steam and on ios. However I don't play for long periods on my phone as it gets really hot when I play Duels.

There is a reply from "Magic Duels" to a comment on this post regarding the Xbox One connection problems. They seem to be blaming it on an update to the Xbox One software:

https://www.facebook.com/magicduels/pho ... =3&theater

That doesn't surprise me that they would pass the buck like that. Why didn't the update break other apps, though?

the other reason I just remembered on why the problem of xbox One matchmaking isn't "lack of player base" is that I can't even start a game sometimes WITH A FRIEND. There's something about the game initialization that is totally busted.

Wow. A little over 24 hours and this thread has blown up to three pages.

That's a bit more angst than I expected about a free game.

So much passion about this gateway game. Too bad Wizards doesn't seem to care to take advantage of it.

It makes one think that perhaps Wizards' attention is on something else more important.

Anyways, we will soon see next week what life support funding means. Maybe sometime in March when Wizards does its big product announcement we can get more clarity as well.

My comment about xbone matchmaking wasn't angsty but would you really be surprised if it were. Free games that do not work right / connectivity issues usually just fail. It's a testament to the game of Magic the gathering and the crafting of the cards / game theory that has kept so many playing duels, not this app. The exact opposite of what I believe they want, this game to draw new players into paper. Instead it's more paper players that keep playing despite the matchmaking issues while new players don't have the patience dealing with "waiting" that never stops until rebooting the app.

I am probably an anomaly on this board as I have never played paper, nor will I as I have very little disposable income to give them. I paid them for this "free" game with a gold purchase but that's all I can give. I gladly give it though because I would feel a little guilty for not supporting a game I enjoy even with it's flaws.

I am happy they have announced a fix for the matchmaker. Once I have time with the update and can verify it's truly fixed I may go hit up my friend and see if I can get him to try it again.

Deckbuilder for the newer players for sure. I could not care less. I know the cards.

What I need is for 2HG to not be so mediocre. That would help.

And yeah it would be great to actually have some **** support for this game, like tournies and stuff like that.

Outside of that I want more things we can buy. They need to monetize this game more, so I don't understand why the need for baby steps. But at least it was a start last expansion.

Honestly though, update your **** game more than once a quarter.

I mean it's not out of question for there be something that clashed with how they built duels to work with Xbone but the problem is that with how they setup their team to work on things meant no fix until AER.
Obviously the problem is on duels side but it's like any update to a main thing, you're supposed to follow on and update your thing to work with whatever it runs on (e.g if Chrome updates and one of the extensions didn't work quite right anymore because of how they built it, the extension would update to work with the new Chrome update, which is what Duels shoulda done with Xbone but obviously didn't).
Stainless clearly needs a bigger team with one on constant fixes but they don't have that.

As Wizards isn't doing anything in this direction - Someone organizing an ELO (or any other rating system) based cross platform ladder.

Interesting point about the support. I think no one can argue that MtG is a great game. I do come from paper way back to IVth Edition but never got into the FNM, Standard side of things. Whilst on IOS since Duels I have not spent at all (and on full set) towards the end of each set I normally try and buy (assemble) paper versions of favorite decks I have built and played. This means that I am supporting with money albeit in a lot of cases it is second hand purchase, in particular for the expensive rares and mythic via eBay and the like. I buy common and uncommon from recognized card sites so I guess it now 'new money' to wizards.

That's a neat idea and I would support admin of it. We would need to agree what 'formal' games constitute points for ranking. We could base it on the formal organized NGA tournaments of all flavors.

Of course without cross platform it would still be ranking within platform and to an extent that is provided by the result of the tournaments anyway. Still a decent idea so maybe worth a thread on it to gauge interest.