MTG Arena – HOW TO FIX Stuck on “Loading Initial Scene” on Launch (PC)

Easy solution for how to fix the bug where MTG Arena is stuck forever on the “Loading Initial Scene” message when you try to launch it. This error is most commonly seen on the PC version of Magic the Gathering / MTG Arena. It is commonly caused by the game crashing or force closing while something in the game is loading, for example if your computer unexpectedly crashes or reboots when the Magic Arena is first starting up.

For me, this happened when Windows update forced a reboot while I was trying to launch MTG Arena. Once the updates were installed and I tried to launch MTG Arena again, the game froze on the Loading Initial Scene… screen forever.

Luckily, the solution is easy! Follow the quick instructions below to get MTG Arena running normally again:

Solution to Stuck on “Loading Initial Scene” for MTG Arena (PC):

1. Make sure MTG Arena is closed. If necessary on PC you can force close it by pressing Alt+F4
2. Open your Windows Explorer / file browser / My Computer so that you can look at the files on your computer
3. Copy and paste or navigate to the following folder in  the file browser:
   • C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\AppData\Local\Temp\Wizards Of The Coast
   • 
4. Delete the folder you will find there titled “MTGA” (Don’t worry this will NOT delete the game.)
5. Note: If you can’t see the folder, you may need to enable “show hidden files and folders” in Windows settings:
   • In the search box on the Windows taskbar, type folder, click on the first result, then click the “view” tab”
   • then find the option for Hidden files and folders and select show hidden files and folders

This seems to only delete some temporary background files which may have been corrupted due to a crash or other error at an earlier date. Then when you launch MTG Arena again, the files are generated again from scratch and everything should be working correctly! This bug fix comes from the MTGA support website.

Are you getting the Stuck on “Loading Initial Scene” on Mobile / Mac / Android / Apple Devices?

1. The above solution is for specficially for PC. For Mac computers you may be able to navigate to a similar directory and delete the temporary file, unfortunately I don’t know what the file path is on Mac installs. (Post in the comments below if you know!)
2. For Mobile / Android / iPad / iPhone installs, you are not going to be able to delete specific files or folders. Your best bet there is to completely uninstall and reinstall the application from the App Store / Play Store.

How do you prevent the “Loading Initial Scene” Bug from happening again?

• Avoid force closing the MTG Arena application, especially while it is initially starting up or actively loading a screen.
• Always close MTG Arena using the menu option, rather than force closing it using your keyboard or other method.

Do you have any insights, solutions, or any other problems with MTG Arena? Post them in the comments below!