Magic the Gathering Arena now lets players challenge friends

Planeswalkers prepare to clash head-on. Players can take part in fierce competition or friendly sparring as Magic the Gathering Arena launches its Direct Challenge mode. Direct Challenge gives players the opportunity to play against friends. 

Up until now, players could only join playlists and face-off against random Planeswalkers.

Now, in three simple steps, you can challenge your mates or participate in organised competitive play.

Magic the Gathering Arena

Simply click the Direct Challenge option, enter your opponent’s display name and remember they are case sensitive, then select a deck and click play. DONE!

Whilst it remains unclear if players can earn progress towards daily and weekly quests in Direct Challenge, I am eager to see the community grow as players begin to organise themselves into digital gaming groups.

There’s talk of leagues on some boards like Reddit and Cybergamer which is very exciting. Either way, it’s an exciting new time for Magic the Gathering Arena and with some support from Wizards of the Coast, it’s clear that Arena could grow to rival online card game juggernaut Hearthstone.

Right now though, the development team continues to kick goals in adapting the world’s most successful card game to the new digital format.

Magic the Gathering Arena is in open beta and you can download it for PC from the official website.