A preview card from an upcoming digital-only Magic: The Gathering Arena (MTG Arena) release may suggest that multiplayer is coming to the online platform.
Alchemy: Karlov Manor is an MTG Arena-exclusive supplemental set made for the platform’s Alchemy format, featuring cards that would be difficult or impossible to play in tabletop or paper games of Magic. The preview card, a sorcery spell called Juggle the Performance, uses the Alchemy-exclusive conjure mechanic, but another part of its rules text has sharp-eyed players excited.
Juggle the Performance specifies “the player to their right”. This wording is meaningless in one-on-one games of Magic, but it is extremely useful in multiplayer formats such as Commander, where cards such as Aminatou, the Fateshifter specify players to one’s left or right.
Commander is one of Magic: The Gathering’s three “most popular formats”, according to game manufacturer Wizards of the Coast (WotC), and the only one not yet available on MTG Arena. While creating a full Commander experience on MTG Arena would require coding and implementing 30 years’ worth of cards, a monumental challenge, adding multiplayer to MTG Arena would be an important first step that could also unlock other formats on the platform, such as Two-Headed Giant and a multiplayer version of Brawl.
In September 2023, Chris Kiritz, an Executive Producer for Magic Digital, stated in a Weekly MTG stream that WotC was investigating multiplayer for MTG Arena as a long-term project. The wording on Juggle the Performance suggests that the work continues.
