Arena Developers Ignore Persistent Bug, ‘Izzet Phoenix Queue’ Still Mislabeled As ‘Ranked Historic’

SEATTLE, Wash.—Sure it can be difficult to keep regularly updated software free from bugs 100% of the time. However, any developer worth their weight in shiny, reflective cardboard knows that the true metric isn’t about keeping bugs out but, like Scute Swarm, squashing them as quickly as possible. However, sometimes—like that last bit of sand in your shoe from that one time you went to the beach last year—they stick around for way too long.

“It was fine when I first noticed it,” Brad Bread, 19 told us Monday, “but here we are, months later and there it is. Patches and card updates have come and gone and not even one has fixed it. Hell, I don’t even think it’s been addressed.”

The bug in question came with the update to the game’s “playblade” which consolidated Arena’s many constructed game-modes into something a bit more logical. Or at least that was the intention.

“I kept thinking I was going to be playing Arena’s only non-rotating constructed format. That’s what it says on the client,” Bread continued. “You go into a game thinking, ‘Gee I wonder what kind of decks people created using the thousands of cards released on Arena?’ and then you realize it’s not what you expected… it’s pretty feelsbad, man.”

What Bread experienced is a persistent issue with the client where players think they’re logging into “Ranked Historic.” Instead, the client places the player to the Izzet Phoenix deck’s practice room queue.

“It’s supposed to only exist on the deck’s discord,” Bread confessed. “I’m not sure how Arena got their wires crossed but it’s been that way for too long.”

WotC declined to comment on our questions about the persistent issue but released a statement saying that the unbanning of Teferi, Time Raveler should have shifted the queue back to Jeskai Control by now.

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