Episode 228: The Past, Present, and Future of MTGO, ft. Ryan Spain

Ryan Spain, now the Creative Director of Magic Online at Daybreak Games, returns to The Dive Down to talk about the transition of MTGO from WOTC to Daybreak, goals and hopes for the platform's future, and the realities of managing such monolithic software. We learn about how Magic card frames pose challenges for MTGO's file sizes, how two factor authorization was developed, and why MTGO still doesn't exist on Macs. Become a citizen of The Dive Down Nation!: http://www.patreon.com/thedivedown Show the world that you're a proud citizen of The Dive Down Nation with some merch from the store: https://www.thedivedown.com/store Check out our sponsor Barrister and Mann! https://www.barristerandmann.com/ Use coupon code THEDIVEDOWNM23 for 15% off your first order of some incredible fragrances, soaps, beard oils, and more. Get 10% off your first 2 months of ManaTraders! https://www.manatraders.com/?medium=thedivedown and use coupon code THEDIVEDOWN2023 And now receive 8% off your order of paper cards from Nerd Rage Gaming with code "DIVE8" at https://www.nerdragegaming.com/ Timestamps: 3:07 - Housekeeping 7:40 - Ryan Spain of Daybreak Games joins The Dive Down 12:14 - Creative Directing Magic Online 14:25 - Transitioning M:O to Daybreak 18:35 - How M:O fits into the Magic ecosystem 24:40 - Bugfixing and developing M:O 31:08 - Future plans for M:O 54:18 - The economy of M:O 1:05:15 - Engagement with formats on M:O 1:08:20 - Where's the Mac version?! 1:13:16 - Experimentation on M:O 1:18:34 - Some final thoughts 1:21:00 - Wrapping up 1:22:39 - Secret track Links from this week's episode: https://www.mtgo.com/news/mtgo-stateofmtgo-10112022 Our opening music is Nowhere - You Never Knew, and our closing music is Space Blood - Goro? Is That Your Christian Name? email us: [email protected] twitter: https://twitter.com/thedivedown