Old UI is gone?

Hello, I was hoping someone could help me. I watched a friend playing this game, thought it was fun, and signed up. Only, when I signed up, it looks like I can only play on the "new" UI. I asked my friend about it, and he was puzzled as to why I cannot access the old UI. It does not even give me the option, the button is gone. I can only hit the "play" button or "to archive", no option to play the old UI at all. It has been a couple days now, and still no change.

So...can new users only play on the new UI? Is this a way to phase out the old map style? If that is the deal than I am sorry for signing up for this game, as I was only interested in playing the old UI, the new one is too awkward to use.