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In short, because Magic is one of the best games ever designed, and this is the only sanctioned way to play the full game online. Magic online was created a long, long time ago before more modern concepts of game monetization (freemium / mtx based) were developed. It's ended up as something more akin to an online poker room than a gaming server.

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I get why people think it's silly and so forth, but I can't agree more with "one of the best games ever designed." Richard Garfield gave the world something really tremendous with MtG

I've tried other games that are similar to Magic, such as Hearthstone, but I always go back to Magic because there is nothing like it.

Hearthstone is very well designed for what it is--an online-only Magic the Gathering that is accessible in a casual way.

I simply won't spend on Magic Online since I can't exit. In addition, why should I spend hundreds of dollars on something whose value can plunge drastically?

If you have actual physical cards, you can sell them. Powerful modern cards hold their value reasonably well.

You can exit from MTGO pretty easily? There are automated bots that will buy your cards for tickets, and those same companies will give you cash for those tickets (95 cents per ticket right now, not a terrible rate).

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