Since the Duskmourn update I have noticed significant lag in some of my games. I can play, barely, but animations run slowly and it takes about a second to see the results of my actions. I think I've narrowed it down to occurring only on the new Duskmourn-themed playmat -- the one with the televisions at the top behind the opponent's avatar.
The computer I'm using isn't particularly slow, hasn't had problems like this in the past, and still doesn't seem to be affected by lag outside of games or on other playmats.
My graphics settings are on "Medium". I would like to turn them down to "Low" but I can't because I'm still affected by this bug from a previous update (for which the workaround is to raise the graphics setting to Medium):
https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48839012-constant-crashing-after-new-update
This is not the same issue as https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48880595-duskmourn-playmat-too-much-visual-noise although I endorse that suggestion as well.
Some possible solutions:
Short term: Reduce the amount of animation in the Duskmourn playmat.
Medium term: Add a feature that lets users block playmats they don't want to see in their games.
Long term: Give users greater control over the amount of animation in Arena. I would love to be able to turn off non-essential animations like the ones in certain sleeves, card styles, pets, and background ripple effects. I've always thought of these things not as enhancements but as distractions that I put up with in order to play Magic.
And if you have (or even if you haven't), would you consider voting for this suggestion?
I'd assume the problem was with my computer or my connection if it were happening all the time, but it seems to be limited to games with this backdrop.