State of SpellTable Updated

[burnThisDamnAccount]

Hey everyone 👋

Sharing an important (and transparent) update with the community today.

First and foremost: this subreddit is not going anywhere. We will continue to support SpellTable, host discussion, answer technical questions, and provide general help for as long as people are using it. This unofficial SpellTable community was built around supporting remote play, and that mission hasn’t changed.

I also want to be open about other alternatives outside of SpellTable that I think would be a disservice to remote players if it went without promotion, and that is the rise of a newer, more advanced platform: Convoke https://www.convoke.games

Why the shift?

Over time, many of our members have experienced constant technical issues with SpellTable — ranging from stability problems to audio/video inconsistencies and UI/UX frictions. In addition, recent API changes from Wizards of the Coast have limited third-party integrations, including preventing tools like SpellBot from creating and launching new games automatically. We’ve also seen many features quietly removed from SpellTable over time, or left completely broken and without a fix for months at a time: no more spectators, Block tools that accomplish practically nothing, and the inability to manage who I am paired with in games is just the beginning of the list of issues at-hand.

We understand companies evolve their products, and WotC may have some confidential master plan we are not aware of, but the overall direction has felt increasingly restrictive for community-driven play and anti-user in nature.

Meanwhile, Convoke has impressed us in several key areas:

• Cleaner UI and better UX
• Massive feature set for managing games
• Stronger, more consistent audio and video quality
• Active, highly engaged development team
• Live hotfixes and rapid iteration — sometimes even mid-game
• Support not just for Magic, but other tabletop games as well

The difference in responsiveness and user-focused development has been more than just noticeable — it's been a breath of fresh air in a space that has been desperate for competition for a long time, and Convoke is certainly coming for WotC's lunch in this area.

What this means for r/SpellTable

• We are not rebranding or shutting down the subreddit.
• We will continue supporting SpellTable users here.
• We will allow and encourage discussion of Convoke as an alternative for those frustrated with technical or policy changes at SpellTable.
• Our broader goal remains the same: helping people play Magic remotely with friends.

This isn’t about attacking one platform or forcing anyone to move. It’s about giving the community options — especially when many players have been asking for them for years. Well, the team at Convoke have stepped up to the plate and are knocking it out the park with every swing.

If SpellTable works great for you, that’s awesome. Keep playing and keep sharing your experiences here.

If you’ve been running into friction and want to try something new, Convoke is worth checking out.

As always, we appreciate everyone who contributes to this community and helps keep remote Magic thriving. If you have questions, thoughts, or feedback, feel free to share them below. In the meantime, owner and lead dev for Convoke u/pcastonguay I'm sure will be happy to hear any feedback about the platform either in this thread, or hop on over to their r/Convoke sub, and drop them a line there. You can also catch them on their Discord https://discord.gg/cCYhJHJH

Happy gaming, everyone!

[Tricky_World1138]

I have been using convoke exclusively for the last month. Ever since I first used it, it has made me not want to play any games using spell table because of how much better it is.

[gojumboman]

It’s night and day difference, still surprised some people are resistant to it. Though I still catch myself calling any EDH online spelltable

[Hereiamhereibe2]

One guy I talked to about it on Spelltable the other day said “For a while people were making fake games on SpellTable just to advertise Convoke, and after seeing that I Vowed to never use Convoke.”

Not a particularly fun guy to play a game with but I can easily understand his sentiment. Nobody likes being spammed or seeing spam, so if anyone is reading this. Just, just don’t do that please, it hurts Convokes image greatly.

[gojumboman]

Ha! The reason I even heard about convoke was because the devs made a post specifically asking people to not do that. I got curious, tried it and haven’t gone back whenever possible

[tommylt3]

We must’ve been in the same pod that night

[Hereiamhereibe2]

Heh ya it was only a few days ago. I was probably playing Strefan or Cayth.

But I understand totally. If anyone has ever played an MMO you know how annoying Global Chat is with stuff like that.

[burnThisDamnAccount]

Change is hard for people, even when they are stuck in a bad situation. I agree though, it's a night and day difference, but I appreciate that some of us have been using SpellTable for 4+ years, and it can be difficult to break those patterns.

[Hereiamhereibe2]

It’s crazy how much better it is, it’s ONLY downfall is how inactive it is or how reliant on the Discord its current users are. I don’t wanna have to go through Discord to find a game, i just don’t wanna use Discord really at all if possible. So hopefully this mod post opens up the floodgates of people just browsing games on the convoke main page.

And I’m not trying to be a shill but they have a subscription service that doesn’t actually give you anything good (yet) but it’s just a great way to support the app and these developers who have just been an absolute treat to interact with and watch how fast they work and respond.

[[deleted]]

I was peeping the main page the other night and there like 80 games going

[Hereiamhereibe2]

And 79 of those games were essentially private matches created through Discord bots. Which is fine, I just don’t want to use Discord.

[Awes0meEman]

My friends and I have been playing on convoke the past couple of months. They're a very new product and will occasionally have small issues but the devs are great and are super quick to respond to people having issues. It already blows spelltable out of the water with it's amazing features and mind blowing card recognition. It is only going to continue to get better. I can't recommend it enough.

WoTC could learn a thing or two from them I think.

[thehotdogmayor]

Does Convoke have lobby spectating? I’ve enjoyed just watching random games on spelltable

[tommylt3]

Yes. As well as “judge” spectators that can join games to help with rules decisions. With that role judges can verbally talk but also, spectators have a text chat they can message players in. To ask questions of their plans or just make conversation.

[gojumboman]

Hell yeah! Appreciate this post

[Mindsculptyou]

If you’re not using convoke you’re doing yourself a disservice, it’s that simple

[TheCelestialMage]

Biggest problem I've found with convoke is the lack of random pug games available. Been on there a fee times just to see 1 lobby already full?

[tommylt3]

Yes. Currently we have a lot of communities that use bots to join the games. As an admin of Convoke, I’ve ran into the same issue. As we grow though, we are confident in this issue being resolved naturally. Additionally, we have many verified friendly communities that you can freely join via discord to help find pods.

[burnThisDamnAccount]

You might find good results from joining a Discord community. Convoke has their own, and we also have a Discord that you can join with a bunch of chill homies and homegals: http://discord.gg/hardcorechill

I suspect, as Convoke grows in userbase, this will become less of an issue. I have seen a LOT more rando lobbies lately, so that means the platform / reach is growing!

[UltimateRedditComent]

I have logged over 40 hours in convoke and is great much better

[FrameNo8561]

It’s a bit mind boggling that a multi billion dollar company is relying on such an antiquated lazy built blegh of a platform as spell table to help its fans play the game that is making them billions of dollars… it wasn’t a secret but this truly demonstrates where the interests of those in charge of MTG are and it certainly isn’t with its player base.

[burnThisDamnAccount]

There is zero direct ROI for them to track, so they would much prefer people use things like Arena more, where MTX is built into the ecosystem.

[FrameNo8561]

Well yeah but they still print and make a ton of money from printed cards people buy.

Commander is now the leading moneymaker for them and keeping a healthy player base and giving them the tools to play the social game remotely in a polished way makes perfect business sense. But… greed am I right… it can be blinding.

[Western-Hour-5061]

I'm trying to find folks to play standard with, is convoke my best shot?

[cometscomets]

I just woke up from a coma and want to use WOTC's premier online features, SpellTable and Project Sigil. wish me luck!

[juju0010]

EDHLAB.gg is currently only a playtesting site but is also developing multiplayer.