How to Turn Off Shadows in MTG Arena

To turn off shadows in MTG Arena, click the gear icon (Adjust Options) at the top right, choose Graphics, set Quality Level to Custom, and set Shadows to Off. This gives your graphics hardware less to draw, which can help Arena run more smoothly on a slower computer.

These steps are for the Magic: The Gathering Arena desktop app on Windows and Mac. Wizards of the Coast’s Game Lag and Freezing article covers the graphics settings, and option names can change after a game update. Search results for “Arena shadows” also show T3 Arena and Mage Arena, which are different games with their own menus.

Before You Start

• You need the desktop app. The Graphics options described here are in the Windows and Mac versions. The phone and tablet apps may not show a Graphics section at all.
• Nothing here affects your account. Graphics options change how the game is drawn on your screen. They do not change your cards, decks, rank, or the rules of a match.
• Note your current setting. Before you change anything, look at which Quality Level is selected, so you can go back to it if you do not like the result.

How to Turn Off Shadows in MTG Arena

1. Open MTG Arena and wait for the home screen to load.
2. Click the gear icon at the top-right of the window. Its label is Adjust Options. A menu opens with choices such as Gameplay, Graphics, Audio, and Account.
3. Click Graphics. The graphics screen shows settings such as Resolution, a full screen option, and Quality Level.
4. Click the drop-down next to Quality Level and choose Custom. The individual effect settings become available below it.
5. Find Shadows and set it to Off.

6. Close the options menu and go back to the game.

The change is a display setting only, so there is nothing to confirm and nothing is lost. If the board does not look different right away, finish your current match or close and reopen Arena, then check again.

To confirm it worked, reopen Adjust Options > Graphics. Quality Level should still read Custom and Shadows should read Off.

What the Other Custom Effects Do

Once Custom is selected, Shadows sits in a short list of effects. Knowing what each one does helps you decide what else to switch off. Exact names can differ slightly between versions.

Setting	What it changes	On a slow computer
Shadows	Shadows cast by cards and objects on the board	Off
Ambient Occlusion	Soft shading where objects meet, a second kind of shadow	Off
Bloom	A glow around bright light effects	Off
Motion Blur	Blurs fast movement, such as cards flying across the board	Off
Anti-Aliasing	Smooths jagged edges on cards and text	Low, or Off if offered
VSync	Matches frames to your monitor’s refresh rate to stop tearing	Leave on unless you see stutter

If you want the board free of every shadow effect, turn off Ambient Occlusion as well as Shadows. Shadows alone removes the obvious dark shapes, but ambient occlusion keeps a softer shading around objects.

Change one setting at a time and play a few turns between changes. That way you can tell which effect made the difference, and you can keep the ones that do not cost you anything.

The Faster Option: Use the Low Preset

If your goal is smoother play and you do not care which effects are on, you can skip Custom. Wizards support suggests lowering Quality to Low on the same Graphics screen as one of its basic steps for lag. A preset is a saved group of settings, such as Low, Medium, or High, so choosing Low lowers several effects in one click.

1. Click the gear icon at the top-right of the Arena window.
2. Click Graphics.
3. Set Quality Level to Low.

Which one should you pick? Use Low when you want the quickest fix. Use Custom when you want to switch off shadows but keep other effects, or when you want every effect off. A preset may leave some effects switched on, so Custom is the way to be certain that Shadows is set to Off.

How to Turn Shadows Back On

You can undo the change at any time, and it takes a few seconds.

1. Click the gear icon, then click Graphics.
2. With Quality Level on Custom, change Shadows from Off to an enabled value.

You can also choose one of the presets in the Quality Level drop-down instead. This replaces all of your custom choices with that preset, so it changes every effect, not just shadows. If you spent time on a custom mix that you like, stay on Custom and change only the one setting.

More Ways to Lighten the Graphics Load

Shadows are only one part of what Arena draws. If the game still feels slow, these settings on the same Graphics screen can also help:

• Resolution: a lower resolution means fewer pixels to draw. The picture looks less sharp, so try this after the effects. Your monitor’s native resolution looks sharpest. If you are not sure what your screen normally uses, check your screen resolution in Windows.
• Full screen or windowed: Arena can run either way. Full screen often runs more smoothly, so try the other mode if you see stutter.
• Frame rate: if the game stutters, try a different VSync or FPS Limit choice. A card game plays fine at 60 frames per second, so a higher cap mostly adds work for your graphics card.

If MTG Arena Still Lags

Graphics settings fix only one kind of slowness. Wizards says lag also comes from computers below the recommended specs and from network problems. Try these checks in order:

1. Check for an outage. Look at the MTG Arena status page first. If the service is down, changes on your computer won’t help.
2. Compare your computer with the system requirements in the MTG Arena Getting Started FAQ. Arena needs a 64-bit system.
3. Test another network or computer if you can. If a laptop runs Arena well on a different network, the problem is probably your connection rather than your graphics.
4. Restart your computer and router, and close programs that stream video or use a lot of memory. On Wi-Fi, try a wired connection.
5. Update your graphics driver and make sure Arena uses your dedicated graphics card. Here is how to update your graphics driver in Windows 11.
6. Reinstall the game if files are missing or corrupt, then restart your PC.

Wizards lists these requirements in its FAQ:

Computer	Minimum	Recommended
Windows	AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ or equivalent, GeForce 8800 or equivalent, 2 GB RAM	Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, GeForce GTX 560, 4 GB RAM
Mac	2.6 GHz Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 5000, 4 GB RAM, macOS 10.12	Not listed

The FAQ also names Windows 7 as the minimum and Windows 10 as recommended. Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, so keep Windows itself updated even if Arena still runs. These are the lowest specs Wizards lists; a computer near them is the kind most likely to benefit from turning off shadows.

The full list of display fixes is in Wizards’ MTG Arena Display Issues article.

Troubleshooting the Shadows Setting

The Shadows option is missing or cannot be changed

Set Quality Level to Custom first. With a preset selected, the preset decides the value of each effect for you. If there is still no Shadows option, your version of Arena may have renamed or removed it. In that case, use the Low preset.

There is no Graphics choice in the menu

You are probably using the phone or tablet app, which may not include the desktop graphics options. For mobile slowdowns, Wizards’ Mobile Performance Issues and Crashes article suggests checking that your device is supported, updating the app and the operating system, turning Wi-Fi off and on, closing other apps running in the background, restarting the device, and reinstalling the app.

Cards or art look wrong after changing settings

Wizards has a built-in repair for incorrect graphics or card art. Open the options menu, click Report Bug, and then click Repair Game Files. Arena downloads any files that are missing.

The Arena window is small and won’t maximize

On Windows, right-click the shortcut you use to start Arena and choose Properties. On the Shortcut tab, set Run to Maximized, click OK, and start the game from that shortcut. Wizards documents this fix in its Display Issues article.

Nothing helped

Contact Wizards support and include a game log file, a DxDiag report, and a screenshot of the problem, as the Display Issues article asks. DxDiag is a Windows tool that lists your graphics hardware; type dxdiag in the Windows search box, open it, and click Save All Information to create the report.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off shadows change gameplay?

No. Shadows are a visual effect only. Your cards, your deck, and the rules of the match work the same way with shadows on or off.

Will turning off shadows in MTG Arena fix lag?

It can help when your computer struggles to draw the game, but it is not a promise. Lag that comes from your internet connection or from a service outage is not affected by graphics settings. Wizards’ own first suggestion for graphics load is to set Quality to Low.

Where are the graphics settings in MTG Arena?

Click the gear icon (Adjust Options) at the top-right of the Arena window, then click Graphics. This is where you find Resolution, the full screen option, Quality Level, and the Custom effects such as Shadows.

Is Low the same as turning everything off?

Not necessarily. A preset can leave some effects enabled. To be sure every effect is off, choose Custom and set each one to Off or Low yourself.

Do I have to change the setting again after an update?

Your choice should stay in place, but check after a reinstall or a large update. If Arena suddenly feels slower, open Adjust Options > Graphics and confirm that Shadows still reads Off.

More MTG Arena Guides

With shadows off, play a match or two to see whether the game feels smoother. For other things you can do in the Arena menus, see these guides:

• How to search for cards you do not own in MTG Arena
• How to concede a match in MTG Arena
• How to block incoming friend requests in MTG Arena