Fixes Magic Arena's broken full screen implementation on macOS

arena-macos-full-screen-fixes.sh

#!/bin/bash

# this forces Arena into full screen mode on startup, set back to 3 to reset
# note that if you go into the Arena "Graphics" preference panel, it will reset all of these
# and you will need to run these commands again
defaults write com.wizards.mtga "Screenmanager Fullscreen mode" -integer 0
defaults write com.wizards.mtga "Screenmanager Resolution Use Native" -integer 0

# you can also replace the long complicated integer bit with any other scaled 16:9
# resolution your system supports.
# to find the scaled resolutions, go to System Preferences --> Display and then
# divide the width by 16 and multiple by 9. on my personal system this ends up
# as 3456 x 1944 (versus the bizarre 1728x1117 it will very temporarily select
# when clicking the full screen option in the client
defaults write com.wizards.mtga "Screenmanager Resolution Width" -integer \
  $(system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType | grep Resolution | cut -c23-26)
defaults write com.wizards.mtga "Screenmanager Resolution Height" -integer \
  $(bc <<< "$(system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType | grep Resolution | cut -c23-26) / 16 * 9")

The solution that works for me is adding this extra commands in Epic Games Launcher
-screen-width 3456 -screen-height 1944
(note that the resolution is specifically for my screen but you should set yours)

Apparently having the extra command -screen-fullscreen 1 was bugging it. I figured that all you need to know is to set the fullscreen mode in-game and then restart the game and don't open the graphics settings again (if that happens just restart the game once more).

I can't get any of the fixes to work for me right now, on my 2020 MacBook Air M1. (Default resolution 2560x1600) I've tried adding "-screen-fullscreen 1" to the end, "-force-metal" to the front of the command, having both and having neither, and have tried various resolutions in the command (2560x1600, 2560x1400, 1920x1080), but it's always the same behavior, where the cards are cut off once you're in a game. The original script doesn't work either. Hopefully somebody else has figured it out who can post what they found.

I can't get any of the fixes to work for me right now, on my 2020 MacBook Air M1. (Default resolution 2560x1600) I've tried adding "-screen-fullscreen 1" to the end, "-force-metal" to the front of the command, having both and having neither, and have tried various resolutions in the command (2560x1600, 2560x1400, 1920x1080), but it's always the same behavior, where the cards are cut off once you're in a game. The original script doesn't work either. Hopefully somebody else has figured it out who can post what they found.

Have you tried my solution? (right above your message)

Have you tried my solution? (right above your message)

I did, it didn't make any difference unfortunately.

Have you tried my solution? (right above your message)

I did, it didn't make any difference unfortunately.

You gotta start it from Epic Games Launcher tho, don't run it from it's icon on desktop (or launchpad), or extra commands won't work.

You gotta start it from Epic Games Launcher tho, don't run it from it's icon on desktop (or launchpad), or extra commands won't work.

I did all of this from the Epic Games launcher. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game and then testing out the various arrangements of startup arguments. I really wish I could remember exactly what it was I did the last time that I fixed it.

Following today's update (v2025.51.0, Edge of Eternities Alchemy), my MTGA client is always loading in a 16:10 resolution while fullscreen on my 16" MacBook M1 Pro — regardless of the resolution height that is set in this script and/or the Epic Games Launcher (i.e. the resolution width and fullscreen flag are still being set correctly, however the resolution height seems to be ignored/overwritten).

At a 16:10 ratio, the left and right edges of the screen are clipped (e.g. companions and cards in the stack both appear half off-screen).

Keen to hear if this is a widespread issue, and anyone else on this thread finds a way to restore a 16:9 ratio (without disabling fullscreen mode).

Following today's update (v2025.51.0, Edge of Eternities Alchemy), my MTGA client is always loading in a 16:10 resolution while fullscreen on my 16" MacBook M1 Pro — regardless of the resolution height that is set in this script and/or the Epic Games Launcher (i.e. the resolution width and fullscreen flag are still being set correctly, however the resolution height seems to be ignored/overwritten).

At a 16:10 ratio, the left and right edges of the screen are clipped (e.g. companions and cards in the stack both appear half off-screen).

Keen to hear if this is a widespread issue, and anyone else on this thread finds a way to restore a 16:9 ratio (without disabling fullscreen mode).

Same here. The latest update completely screwed it up. The original script was working for me, now it doesn't.

I've just updated the client to the latest version. I'm playing in windowed mode on a MacBook Pro M1 16", and it still works fine with my launch option string. That might help if full screen got messed up — you won't get full screen coverage, but it's better than cropped edges.

With the window this size, the game is very playable:

This is the string I use:

-screen-fullscreen 0 -force-metal -force-low-power-device -screen-height 1662 -screen-width 2992

@iliaslonski the issue is full screen.. Windowed mode I get 16:9 aspect, just not in full screen..

Hey all,

So for me, on my MacBook Air M1 (2020), with a native resolution of 2560x1600, I was able to get full screen to work with the new client version 2025.52.10 (the Omenpaths update) with just this command (my native screen width and the height converted with 1600/10*9):

-screen-width 2560 -screen-height 1440

The game opens in full screen with thin black borders on the top on bottom of the screen, but now being in the right resolution the cards and hand are fully viewable.