Accessible Arena

Accessibility mod for Magic: The Gathering Arena that enables blind and visually impaired players to play using a screen reader. Full keyboard navigation, screen reader announcements for all game states, and 12-language localization.

Status: Public beta. Core gameplay is functional. Some edge cases and minor bugs remain. See Known Issues below.

Note: Currently keyboard-only. There is no mouse or touch support. Only tested on Windows 11 with NVDA. Other Windows versions and screen readers (JAWS, Narrator, etc.) may work but are untested.

Features

• Full keyboard navigation for all screens (home, store, mastery, deck builder, duels)
• Screen reader integration via Tolk library
• Card information reading with arrow keys (name, mana cost, type, power/toughness, rules text, flavor text, rarity, artist)
• Complete duel support: zone navigation, combat, targeting, stack, browsers (scry, surveil, mulligan)
• Attachment and combat relationship announcements (enchanted by, blocking, targeted by)
• Accessible store with purchase options and payment dialog support
• Bot match support for practice games
• Settings menu (F2) and help menu (F1) available everywhere
• 12 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (BR), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Polish, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional

Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• Magic: The Gathering Arena (installed via the official installer or Epic Games Store)
• A screen reader (NVDA recommended: https://www.nvaccess.org/download/)
• MelonLoader (the installer handles this automatically)

Installation

Using the installer (recommended)

1. Download AccessibleArenaInstaller.exe from the latest release on GitHub: https://github.com/JeanStiletto/AccessibleArena/releases/latest/download/AccessibleArenaInstaller.exe
2. Close MTG Arena if it is running
3. Run the installer. It will detect your MTGA installation, install MelonLoader if needed, and deploy the mod
4. Launch MTG Arena. You should hear "Accessible Arena v... launched" through your screen reader

Manual installation

1. Install MelonLoader into your MTGA folder (https://github.com/LavaGang/MelonLoader)
2. Download AccessibleArena.dll from the latest release
3. Copy the DLL to: C:\Program Files\Wizards of the Coast\MTGA\Mods\
4. Ensure Tolk.dll and nvdaControllerClient64.dll are in the MTGA root folder
5. Launch MTG Arena

Quick start

If you do not have a Wizards account yet, you can create one at https://myaccounts.wizards.com/ instead of using the in-game registration screen.

After installation, launch MTG Arena. The mod announces the current screen through your screen reader.

• Press F1 at any time for a navigable help menu listing all keyboard shortcuts
• Press F2 for the settings menu (language, verbosity, tutorial messages)
• Press F3 to hear the name of the current screen
• Use Arrow Up/Down or Tab/Shift+Tab to navigate menus
• Press Enter or Space to activate elements
• Press Backspace to go back

Keyboard shortcuts

Menus

• Arrow Up/Down (or W/S): Navigate items
• Tab/Shift+Tab: Navigate items (same as Up/Down)
• Arrow Left/Right (or A/D): Carousel and stepper controls
• Home/End: Jump to first/last item
• Page Up/Page Down: Previous/next page in collection
• Enter/Space: Activate
• Backspace: Go back

Duels - Zones

• C: Your hand
• G / Shift+G: Your graveyard / Opponent graveyard
• X / Shift+X: Your exile / Opponent exile
• S: Stack
• B / Shift+B: Your creatures / Opponent creatures
• A / Shift+A: Your lands / Opponent lands
• R / Shift+R: Your non-creatures / Opponent non-creatures

Duels - Within zones

• Left/Right: Navigate cards
• Home/End: Jump to first/last card
• Arrow Up/Down: Read card details when focused on a card
• I: Extended card info (keyword descriptions, other faces)
• Shift+Up/Down: Switch battlefield rows

Duels - Information

• T: Current turn and phase
• L: Life totals
• V: Player info zone (Left/Right to switch player, Up/Down for properties)
• D / Shift+D: Your library count / Opponent library count
• Shift+C: Opponent hand count

Duels - Actions

• Space: Confirm (pass priority, confirm attackers/blockers, next phase)
• Backspace: Cancel / decline
• Tab: Cycle targets or highlighted elements
• Ctrl+Tab: Cycle opponent targets only
• Enter: Select target

Duels - Browsers (Scry, Surveil, Mulligan)

• Tab: Navigate all cards
• C/D: Jump to top/bottom zone
• Left/Right: Navigate within zone
• Enter: Toggle card placement
• Space: Confirm selection
• Backspace: Cancel

Global

• F1: Help menu
• F2: Settings menu
• F3: Announce current screen
• Ctrl+R: Repeat last announcement
• Backspace: Universal back/dismiss/cancel

Reporting bugs

If you find a bug, please open an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/JeanStiletto/AccessibleArena/issues

Include the following information:

• What you were doing when the bug occurred
• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• Your screen reader and version
• Attach the MelonLoader log file from: C:\Program Files\Wizards of the Coast\MTGA\MelonLoader\Latest.log

Known issues

• Space key pass priority is not always reliable (the mod clicks the button directly as fallback)
• Deck builder deck list cards show only name and quantity, not full card details
• PlayBlade queue type selection (Ranked, Open Play, Brawl) may not always set the correct game mode

For the full list, see docs/KNOWN_ISSUES.md.

Troubleshooting

No speech output after launching the game

• Make sure your screen reader is running before launching MTG Arena
• Check that Tolk.dll and nvdaControllerClient64.dll are in the MTGA root folder (the installer places them automatically)
• Check the MelonLoader log at C:\Program Files\Wizards of the Coast\MTGA\MelonLoader\Latest.log for errors

Game crashes on startup or mod not loading

• Make sure MelonLoader is installed.
• If the game updated recently, MelonLoader or the mod may need to be reinstalled. Run the installer again.
• Check that AccessibleArena.dll is in C:\Program Files\Wizards of the Coast\MTGA\Mods\

Mod was working but stopped after a game update

• MTG Arena updates can overwrite MelonLoader files. Run the installer again to reinstall both MelonLoader and the mod.
• If the game changed its internal structure significantly, the mod may need an update. Check for new releases on GitHub.

Keyboard shortcuts not working

• Make sure the game window is focused (click on it or Alt+Tab to it)
• Press F1 to check if the mod is active. If you hear the help menu, the mod is running.
• Some shortcuts only work in specific contexts (duel shortcuts only work during a duel)

Wrong language

• Press F2 to open the settings menu, then use Enter to cycle through languages

Building from source

Requirements: .NET SDK (any version that supports targeting net472)

git clone https://github.com/JeanStiletto/AccessibleArena.git
cd AccessibleArena
dotnet build src/AccessibleArena.csproj

The built DLL will be at src/bin/Debug/net472/AccessibleArena.dll.

Game assembly references are expected in the libs/ folder. Copy these DLLs from your MTGA installation (MTGA_Data/Managed/):

• Assembly-CSharp.dll
• Core.dll
• UnityEngine.dll, UnityEngine.CoreModule.dll, UnityEngine.UI.dll, UnityEngine.UIModule.dll, UnityEngine.InputLegacyModule.dll
• Unity.TextMeshPro.dll, Unity.InputSystem.dll
• Wizards.Arena.Models.dll, Wizards.Arena.Enums.dll, Wizards.Mtga.Metadata.dll, Wizards.Mtga.Interfaces.dll
• ZFBrowser.dll

MelonLoader DLLs (MelonLoader.dll, 0Harmony.dll) come from your MelonLoader installation.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

Links

• GitHub: https://github.com/JeanStiletto/AccessibleArena
• NVDA screen reader (recommended): https://www.nvaccess.org/download/
• MelonLoader: https://github.com/LavaGang/MelonLoader
• MTG Arena: https://magic.wizards.com/mtgarena