MTG Arena direct messaging arrives in March update

Direct messaging is finally coming to MTG Arena in the March update. But players can only message other people who they’re friends with.

The Magic: The Gathering community playing Arena has long asked for some form of direct messaging component. And now, with the March update, players will be able to message friends during matches. There will also be an option to select a “Busy” option during times when it’s inappropriate to disturb and an “Offline” flag. 

Players who use the Direct Challenge mode to play with friends will also be able to earn quest progress from matches until the April MTG Arena update. Playing matches won’t reward Weekly and Daily Win rewards, however. 

“Until the April game update, you’ll be able to earn quest progress when challenging your friends in MTG Arena,” WotC said. “You won’t be able to use this to earn any Daily or Weekly Win rewards, but we thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the addition of direct messaging in-game.”

WotC has also added two emotes to Arena, but they’re only available as a response to an emote sent by an opponent. A player can use the “Nice” emote, which allows their opponent to select “Thanks” as a response.

These aren’t exactly the emotes MTG Arena players were hoping for. But given the creativity of players, it won’t be long before these new emotes have other meanings assigned to them.