In 2023 I started using an open-source tool to help my limited Magic play: https://github.com/bstaple1/MTGA_Draft_17Lands. Near the end of the year, the app stopped working, and I took the honor of figuring out what was broken.
I was honestly surprised how quickly I found the issue, but had no idea what the decision to fix it meant for my future.
The Tool
Magic The Gathering is a card game I have talked about before. The format I like to play involves opening packs with a group of others. You then take the cards you want out of the packs and build a deck. Although there is some luck involved, you everyone gets a reasonable chance to build the best deck possible.
There is fun to be had as you see different cards and think up different “brews” that may be interesting to play. But you also would really like to win the game. That’s where data comes in.
There is a community called 17Lands where Magic players share their draft and game results with each other. It provides a wealth of information. Now you can have a much better sense of when a card looks fun and when it is something that is going to win you games.
The tool reads the data from the game’s logs to know what cards are available and what cards you have taken. It then suggests what your best options are at each point in the draft.
After the draft is over, you are then able to receive deck suggestions.
What’s Next?
This is a tool that I would occasionally spend some time on. I would try my best to stay on top of bugs and also merge and release bug fixes and features from other developers. But, I also thought it could be a lot more. That’s when I decided to release version four.
Over two years after I started work, I started to make the app my own. I was nervous about how other users will accept it, but what fun is maintaining something you don’t love?
I was also torn with the idea of starting fresh. No one wants to work in a legacy code base, especially not one that they didn’t write. Developers always think we can do it better if we could just start fresh.
But, I knew that the changes I were going to make were dramatic, and I figured I should at least get them out in the wild and see how people reacted.
The Reaction
My code was released to positive reactions and people with constructive criticism.
It is nice working with the open source community. When things are free, they generally have low expectations. They have been appreciative of the work I’ve done and that I’m even trying to improve this free tool they have.
Their positivity has inspired me to continue to improve the product. We’ll see what the future holds.
