Board Game Arena

I figured arena would try to match you with people of around your skill level but I half my games are against 100 elo bronze players (I’m currently ~600 elo 7th in arena), if this continues I may just go back to regular matchmaking, is there really no skill based matchmaking?

No, unless you enable the level filters. Note that in Arena elo is ignored, so level refers only to Arena league.

play now ->
cogwheel under ur arena rank ->
player's level = My level (elite level) ->
start searching
Hope this helps, but it may take a long time to find an opponent

By the way, once you reach Elite, it makes little sense to filter by league.
* You can find 100 elo players (or 700+ elo players) in all leagues.
* Your progress within the Elite league is only determined by the EAS of the players, not their league. You can find players with EAS below 1500 (the starting value each season) in Elite, and players with EAS above 1500 in all the other leagues.
So, unless you are OK with just a probabilistic approach, it won't do much. It will also contribute to slowing down the progress of good players in lower leagues.

r0cketship_ wrote: ↑21 April 2025, 18:42 play now ->
cogwheel under ur arena rank ->
player's level = My level (elite level) ->
start searching
Hope this helps, but it may take a long time to find an opponent

I don't see a cogwheel, mind taking a screenshot?

Sorry, I don't know how to post screenshot here - not really familiar with BGA forum interface.
All u have to do is:
1) add TFM to list of ur favourite games (heart selected)
2) on the top of the site u have PLAY NOW/NEWS/GAMES... select PLAY NOW
3) there is a cogwheel there where u filter My level under Player's level (advanced options)
4) start games from PLAY NOW section
P.S. finding a game may take ages, so it is better to filter also "I prefer not to play" with +-1 level (u might get Platinum players if no Elite is available)
Hope this helps, have a nice day