Magic The Gathering Arena: Reasons For Conceding
One of the handy features about Magic The Gathering: Arena is the ability to concede a match at any time. You can do this towards the end or late middle of a match if you realize that your cards just aren’t going to allow you to win, or if you find yourself in an untenable position and don’t see a way forward to victory. It’s not all that different from resigning from a game in chess once you realize that checkmate is inevitable.
However, if you’ve played MTG: Arena for any length of time, you will notice that sometimes people concede very abruptly towards the beginning of a match, or even after the first few turns when the outcome of the game is still very much in question. Or sometimes even when they’re winning!
It seems mysterious on the other end of the experience, though the gold and experience from a win rather dulls the edge of the mystery.
But puzzle over it no longer! I’ve conceded abruptly many, many times, and it’s almost always because Real Life intrudes. Here are just a few of the reasons I have conceded:
-I was cooking a meal with a long preparation time, and thought I could squeeze in a match while waiting for something to boil/settle/bake. This turned out to be incorrect.
-There was a weird noise and I have to investigate. When you own a house and hear a weird noise, the reaction isn’t “what a strange noise.” Rather, it’s “what was that noise and how much is it going to cost to fix.” (Though to be fair, if you rent, you can report any problems to your landlord/rental company, who will ignore them and then raise your rent.)
-There was someone at the door.
-A package arrived at the door, and since it was raining/sleeting/snowing (or this winter, all three at once), I needed to bring it off the front step immediately.
-An important phone call that I need to take has come in.
-A phone call that turns out not be so important has come in.
-If you play the game with the volume cranked up to maximum, it makes a LOT of random noises – the goblins growl, the monsters roar, the cards make swooping noises when you play them, and so forth. Since my tablet is easily portable, I was using the game to rouse a family member from sleep, and we really need to get out the door and into the car. Time to concede!
-Someone needs tech support.
-You know what? I’d just rather play Skyrim again. Or Master of Magic.
So those are just some of the many reasons I have conceded a MTG: Arena match!
-JM