Well, like a lot I have wound down for AER on prime platform iOS, sitting on a 15K+ pile and wanting a break to be fresh for AHK {barring some testing of a token killer deck as a jump on new meta. Not great so far but hey ho}.

On steam I play though have not at all pretty much for all of AER (and a good bit of KLD to be honest).

There is only so much Duels you can do after all, right?

However with no real iOS tournaments in NGA outside of KOH I signed up to SuperLadMan's D list tourney.

As a result I have been playing quite a bit on steam. It may be me (probably is) but oh brother the steam Ladder is brutal. Not that I probably have the best deck given the limited collection I have but there are just decks (and we are talking under L10 here) that are killer.

You can string a good few wins together but then get owned big time, whether it be via brutal on curve mill decks, or graveyard returning shennagins. There was a pretty nice Mono Black deck and a lot of people like their lifegain decks.

It also makes me much more aware of how good, bad or indifferent my decks are. As you are unlocking cards you do pay attention and update. It also leads you to work on building a lot more, what works versus what doesn't. To date I have assembled a pseudo PW deck which whilst having a good core features a lot of singletons and not necessarily rares. At time it can curve out beautifully but at other times it can flood or mana screw you.

Anyway it has made versus and grinding a bit more fun. Whilst Ladder on iOS is a bit of a minefield as well with a decent deck you can advance.

But steam was a revelation.

I know there are a lot of steam users in NGA so what is Ladder like at the upper levels? Similar or owned by tuned Tier 1?

A final point is that match making tends to be pretty instant on steam and few issues. It's clear they have a healthy player pool which is good to see.

SD

I dunno. I have 100% KLD, 50% ORI, and 50% AER and I'm rank 40 on Steam. If you want to win with a limited card pool, you just need to pilot decks you know are strong.

I've only played the game on steam since start, I put in 30 bucks in origins and always played enough to never have to sink another dime.
My only basis of comparison is the things I heard from friends on other platforms and content on youtube from some of our resident celebrities.

I think you might be exaggerating a tiny bit, since you don't play like 15 games vs tier 1 decks on ladder in a row. There's no prizes but the bragging rights and endorphin button to be won, so people still play 'sweet' lists over 'good' ones all the way up to 40. Keep in mind though that in those 15; these tend to almost always be people with a full collection and at least a basic understanding of how to play magic. And then there's the 10 other guys that spam their tier 1 decks to maintain rank.

So yeah, it's not a truly competitive enrionment, but it's pretty close, and from what i've seen in the last year and a half of content on other platforms, I'd wager it' the most 'tryhard' environment of them all. Specifically the environment directly below rank 40. Try and drop ten ranks. Then fight your way up ten places with a jank deck. Gonna take you alot of time even if you play decently.

I know there is the numbers games too. Even if I was conservative and think I had a 70% win rate I'd have to play a lot of games to climb.

Actually that was a better question probably. How many games did it take you to reach rank 40. Even on iOS I play well under 100 versus matches in a single season, hell I may not even hit 50. I have been up and down and at rank 10 on steam. Probably hitting 50 - 55%. Probably around 20 matches, maybe less.

This actually brings up an interesting discussion topic; why is it that playing Magic Duels on Steam version is more competetive than the Xbox or iOS version of the game?

Of course it's subjective due to different experiences, but the general public seems to agree that you're more likely to get into more competetive games on Steam than the other platforms.

Your damn right. Ain't no Suntail Hawks on Steam ladder!

If you want the real Duels experience, play on Steam.

I think it's because the same people who used to play on Magic Online gave it up for something more casual and low risk.

because whoever sits in front of a pc tends to be more serious gamer than the others. It's not like playing during toilet time on IOS or laying on couch with Xbox controller. PC gamers typically enjoy the competitive aspect of literally any game.. more geeky and much more focused.

btw, I know what ladder top looks like. 90% aggro. I guess they want to grind for gold. Plenty of mardu vehicles, many Rakdos hellbent / madness, many RDW, some snake aggro, some white weenies. The rest 10% are NGA members.
Occasionally there are people playing heavy removal control I guess to counter those aggro tryhards. It's boring.

I think there are more honest and rational players around level 30.

Re Xbone ladder being weak - some of the other things speculated are prob accurate, but it also matters that our matchmaking doesn't take rank into account. I have some competitive matches with others ranked 35-40, but mostly I get paired with people rank 1-5, which makes for a lot of seal clubbing.

Seems like I encounter the fewest # of people in the rank 10-25 range, and I wonder if that's a result of new players giving up on verses because they constantly get paired with 40s and their D card decks just cant compete.

It was just the surprise as much as anything. Whilst I expect users to have a near complete collection some of the matches and strategies just seemed beyond what I have witnessed on iOS in versus. If for example you understand enough about the graveyard and can recurr flash eldrazi and grapple with the past to good effect good on you.

But around level 5, 6 7 or so.

To be fair some of the best games of Magic Duels outside of the NGA KOH matches. As also mentioned the incomplete set does make me think about my deck more. Mea culpa in a way on iOS as I ran a good solid deck, albeit a few cards swaps which seem in practice to work better.

In steam I don't have the luxury of trying to find a good build via NGA or similar, I have to attempt it with the cards I have. As I mentioned it does make matches more satisfying in a way. I maxed out on coins today on steam. I still have a lot of gold unlocked in story mode.

I know, I know.

Anyway fun and games start anew soon with AKH imminent.

If you have Kaladesh, you can build a viable RG Energy Aggro deck, no problem.

Yep been majoring on KLD and AER but much less than 50% on both. Still both smuggler's copters and some decent pilots. One scrapheap as well. Does make for an odd deck but the basics are hopefully enough (curve and mana base).

As you say it would be good to check those types of decks and see how close (or far) they are at being viable to build to be decently competitive.

Ah, when you said you were far along, I thought you were almost done. Yeah, at around 50%, you'll probably need a bunch of stuff holding the deck together.

I hate the steam ladder this season. When I'm trying to playtest and tryhard, I run into monowhite enchantments or 5c walker lists that do nothing before turn 5 and I autowin to the point of boredom. When I leave my Copters and Disintegrations at home to try out dumb brews, I run into vehicles and grixis walkers.

edit to not doublepost: the xbox meta would probably drive me insane, I don't know how you guys have dealt with it all these years.

As someone who plays more "casually" and only rarely goes for player matches, I can attest that the Steam ladder has gotten me into some truly rough games below level 10. I have a BW incidental lifegain deck that I have been tuning for a while, and it's usually what I trot out when I play on the ladder. I've faced off against the most aggressive Sligh / RDW / whatever they're calling red aggro, had one heck of a match against a 3-color Planeswalker/Superfriends deck (I went through both copies of Anguished Unmaking and had to get creative), token decks, humans, vehicles, mill control, the works. They felt like honed decklists, made by people who weren't hurting for cards from across different expansions. I've managed above a 50% win ratio (if I had to guess I'd call it 65%) but it's brutally competitive pretty often. It only makes me feel bad when I come across some painfully obvious newbie with a D card deck, because that can happen before level 10 as well.

The most fun I had during the season was between 15-30. I saw less Suntail Hawk level nonsense, but the decks were varied. After 30 it was mostly Boros/Mardu Vehicles with the odd control/PW deck.

Will track for interest the L11 - 20 route. If okay I will post the current deck list in constructed and link here for interest. You are always going to hit an on curve deck but to Vert's point you have to pilot well too. For example I should probably bait removal before playing Thalia on curve. I should pay more attention to opponents colors. Running into an oath of Liliana for example. This deck though was a BW Humans with on curve always watching and a flash Avacyn. GG bro, next .

I see quite a lot of different decks on Steam Ladder. I'm usually somewhere between rank 35 ↔ 40 and get paired with ranks 30 ↔ 40 and I wouldn't say it's 90% aggro, more like 66%. The opponents are generally of a good level, with only the occasional misplays. Maybe the timezone plays a part too. I only play in Europe evenings. The only time I get bored on Steam Ladder is when Stainless Shuffler is giving me 6 mana flood games in a row

And yea, when I'm watching XBone twitch channels and see a rank 40 get paired with a rank 1 opponent 10× in a row, I do feel sorry for them. It must take away some of the enjoyment.

Because I play on Steam. Boom!




Also, fear my turn 1 eldrazi.

My current steam deck,

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=14429&start=20#p556276

current pool on steam is:-
{AER 37%, KLD 46%, EMN 40%, SOI 11%, OGW 6%, BFZ 81%, ORI 76%}

Doing the deck post I noticed a few swaps anyway but know there are improvements to be had, in particular selecting spells (other than removal is good).

Let me know either here or post comments in the deck thread.

Cheers

SD