Magic boomers may remember Shahrazad, a unique card that has players play a subgame of MTG. Needless to say the card is banned everywhere and for good reason, but if our totally reputable sources are to be believed its spirit is being revived in the next round of Alchemy’s digital-only mechanics. When triggered, players will enter a fully playable subgame of Hearthstone inside the MTG Arena client.
“The digital space of Alchemy has given us many exciting ways to reimagine MTG. Since Area was basically spawned from the tender cheeks of Hearthstone’s success, we decided to pay homage to the godfather of digital-only CCGs by including it inside our client.”
Additionally, Arena developers report the use of “perpetual” mechanics will be expanded.
“We knew we wanted a Hearthstone subgame but didn’t know what the stakes should be. Obviously, we cant just end the game on Arena, and rounding down life by half was pretty feelsbad, especially if your opponent is at 1-3 life. In the end we decided to expand our “Perpetual” mechanic so the loser of the Hearthstone subgame will have the cards in their deck nerfed permanently without compensation. This adds a lot of tension to these subgames.”
Not all players are happy with the Heathstone mechanic.
“This is going to increase the time to grind out wins on the client. If I wanted to play MTG I’d buy paper cards. I’m here for the free stuff, so adding more unique ways to play the game is just delaying my dopamine rush by cracking those digital packs. I don’t even think I’m getting progress on my Hearthstone account from subgames so what’s the point? Fun?”
At time of press additional rumors have made their way into the fray including a purported “digital Secret Lair” which will add a subgame of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel inside a subgame of Legends of Runeterra inside the subgame of Hearthstone.