Hey everyone, I’m back with another Deck Advisor update!

This week saw more behind-the-scene changes, including increased logging and web exception handling, and a workaround for a vexing crash issue that has been reported by a couple of users, as well as the implementation of a few new features that folks have been asking for.

Here are the download links for the application’s installer program.

64-bit Version: https://clans.dailyarena.net/download/advisor/x64/DailyArenaDeckAdvisorSetup.msi

32-bit Version: https://clans.dailyarena.net/download/advisor/x86/DailyArenaDeckAdvisorSetup.msi

Here are the features that have changed since the previous version:

Expanded Standard Archetypes

I made a change to the server-side deck scraper to pull in a slightly expanded set of archetype data from mtggoldfish, to pick up more niche and budget decks, as well as some “rotation proof” ones. By default these are sorted to to the bottom but will bubble up for users with smaller collections. It’s been helpful for me when using my free-to-play test account, so I’m hoping it’s helpful to other folks out there, as well.

Rotation Toggle

There is a new toggle button for filtering out decks containing cards that will rotate soon (within 80 days). The toggle defaults to “Rotation Agnostic”, which means it shows all decks/cards. If you click it, it toggles to “Rotation Proof”, which means it will only show rotation-proof decks, and cards from your collection that aren’t going to rotate soon in replacement suggestions.





Settings/Font Size

There is a new Settings button (looks like a cog) that currently contains a selection to change the font size used in the application, as well as some links to Github to view the code, outstanding issues, or the Wiki, and a link to the Daily Arena Patreon page.

Config File

A config file (DailyArenaDeckAdvisor.exe.config) has been added to the installer. This file allows you to configure two settings used by the application:

BitmapScalingMode – A couple of users have reported that the application seems to get stuck while processing, then crash as soon as they interact with the window. After a bunch of research and testing, I tracked this down to a video card/driver bug that causes an OutOfMemory exception when trying to do high-quality bitmap scaling (used for card and button images). If you are running into this problem, try commenting out the default “Fant” setting and un-commenting the “Linear” setting…it appears that video card/driver combos that have this issue can’t handle HighQuality or better bitmap scaling (which is a shame!)

– A couple of users have reported that the application seems to get stuck while processing, then crash as soon as they interact with the window. After a bunch of research and testing, I tracked this down to a video card/driver bug that causes an OutOfMemory exception when trying to do high-quality bitmap scaling (used for card and button images). If you are running into this problem, try commenting out the default “Fant” setting and un-commenting the “Linear” setting…it appears that video card/driver combos that have this issue can’t handle HighQuality or better bitmap scaling (which is a shame!) MTGALogFolder – If you want to load the Arena real-time log (output_log.txt) from a nonstandard location, you can use the MTGALogFolder setting to specify a different log folder. This may help folks trying to run the application using Wine, as well as anyone savvy enough to create a manually-edited log for testing against custom-specified collections, etc.

Notes:

When in doubt, make the config file look like this if you are having a crash as described above: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <startup> <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1" /> </startup> <appSettings> <add key="BitmapScalingMode" value="Linear" /> </appSettings> </configuration>

You will need to run a text editor as Administrator in order to edit this file.

The auto-updater will not pull this file automatically from the server (this is to keep it from overwriting user settings), so if you have installed a previous version, you will either have to manually create it, or run the latest installer again to have it created automatically.

Github Updates

User Mark Steele has helped me start putting together a Wiki page over on the project’s Github page at https://github.com/jceddy/DailyArenaDeckAdvisor/wiki. Head over here for useful information as the project matures.

All bug reports and feature requests should now be directed to the Issues page over on the project’s Github page at https://github.com/jceddy/DailyArenaDeckAdvisor/issues. I will be adding issues there for enhancements that are currently on the list.

Future Enhancements

I’ve created issues for all of the planned enhancements over on the Github Issues Page. If you’re so inclined, go take a look and vote below on which enhancement you’d most like to see. (Or even add your own feature request on Github!)

Coming Soon What Enhancement do you want to see the most? Improve Replacement Suggestions Alternate Decks More Filters Sorting Options Show Deck Win/Loss Info Special Events Formats Mac/Linux Support Results Vote What Enhancement do you want to see the most? Improve Replacement Suggestions 6 ( 28.57 % ) Alternate Decks 3 ( 14.29 % ) More Filters 0 ( 0 % ) Sorting Options 2 ( 9.52 % ) Show Deck Win/Loss Info 8 ( 38.1 % ) Special Events Formats 2 ( 9.52 % ) Mac/Linux Support 0 ( 0 % ) Back

What Enhancement do you want to see the most? Improve Replacement Suggestions 6 ( 28.57 % ) Alternate Decks 3 ( 14.29 % ) More Filters 0 ( 0 % ) Sorting Options 2 ( 9.52 % ) Show Deck Win/Loss Info 8 ( 38.1 % ) Special Events Formats 2 ( 9.52 % ) Mac/Linux Support 0 ( 0 % ) Back

Free Account Progress Update

Since expanding the Standard deck data being pulled down from mtggoldfish.com, the app has led me to an Izzet “Spells Matter” style deck that I’ve been having fun with on the Traditional Ranked ladder with my free account (currently in Silver 2):

Budget Izzet (Bo3)

Export to MTGA

For the Zendikar/Landfall event, I nearly did a clean sweep with this no-rares Abzan Lifegain deck (that I also blew a bunch of wildcards on):

Budget Abzan Lifegain (Bo1)

Export to MTGA

Thank you to all the users who have tried out this application, and passed it on to your friends. I look forward to making further improvements, and putting together other useful tools like this in the future!

As always, feel free to send any questions, comments and criticisms to me here, on Reddit, on Twitter at @DailyArena or on Facebook via the @DailyArenaMTG page.

Cheers!

Joseph Eddy is a Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Software Developer, and Gamer. Magic is his favorite hobby, and he’s looking forward to seeing you all on Arena. He streams Magic Arena on a weekly basis (or more), but currently is unable to keep to a set schedule.