New MTG Arena patch fixes companion card bugs and more

Magic: The Gathering Arena is getting a small patch update today to help fine-tune several issues with the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths release. The biggest issue seemed to be interactions with several of the companion cards, along with a few other fixes that popped up with drafting.

MTG Arena Draft fixes

The first fix comes in the form of a matchmaking adjustment for the recently released Premier Drafts. Although somewhat rare, players would occasionally be matched up against players with a much higher or lower rank. MTG Arena states that players were still being matched based on their win/loss records, so hopefully not many were matched incorrectly.

The other draft-related fix was for the opening-hand algorithm Arena uses in best-of-one Premier Draft. Normally, the algorithm pulls multiple opening hands and chooses one for the player based on a ratio of lands and spells. For these BO1 Premier Drafts, however, the algorithm followed the best-of-three opening hands rule, which gives players only one opening hand.

Cards fixes and more

One of the biggest issues that the patch resolved is how the new companion card Lurrus of the Dream-Den handles spells with X in its casting cost. Because Lurrus restricts your deck to only permanents with converted mana cost 2 or less, players can’t have the total converted mana cost go higher than 2.

MTG Arena also rolled out a few more card-specific fixes with this. Corrected bugs include an issue with Jubilant Skybonder’s cost; the companion Zirda, the Dawnwaker causing a crash; and an exploit with the effect of Mythos of Brokkos. Furthermore, Mausoleum Secrets will now let players “appropriately select cards”, and mutated creatures will count as one creature for the card Settle the Wreckage. Finally, a mutated Cavalier of Thorns can no longer target “itself” if you choose to exile it when it dies.

Make sure to check out the full patch notes for more details and specifics for this update. Otherwise, stay tuned to Daily Esports for further MTG and Arena news.