Current Events > Anyone play Magic The Gathering Arena? Thinking of getting into it.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I haven't played Magic in years and I'm kind of getting the itch. I saw a cool esper colors deck on Youtube that I sort of want to build. But is it worth it? How far from rotating are we and which sets should I buy packs from? I'm not against paying a couple hundred to get in to start and I'd probably have to build my deck out of wild card anyways.

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A couple hundred would easily make you set for a long time.

It is definitely worth it to me just to play. Even free to play you get a decent amount. You get about 10 easy booster packs worth of free rewards every week. As long as you finish your quest and get 4 wins a day.

But the best way to get a large collection without spending too much is by drafting. You get to keep cards you draft, and also you win back gems and extra booster packs. Even at lower than 50 percent win rate you end up getting at least going even compared to just buying packs, when you do the quick draft.

Anyway! Right now in standard is 3 sets on Ravnica, which are going to rotate in september so I don't suggest focusing on them. The sets from this last year that will br in standard another full year are Throne of Eldraine(fairy tale/king arthur world), Theros Beyond Death, and Ikoria(kaiju mutated monsters world.) Oh, and the core set 2021 of course. Core 2020 rotates with the Ravnica sets.

The upcoming set will be Zendikar Rising in September. It isn't going to have Eldrazi, so if you like adventure world Zendikar save up for it.

And it is really easy to get multiple tier 1 decks going if you play consistently for a couple months.

It is definitely cheaper and easier than real life to be able to play each deck. The only downside is if you specifically want to get one exact deck, you can only get specific cards with wildcards. But before too long if you draft a lot you will get a ton.
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MrNintendo1213 posted...

A couple hundred would easily make you set for a long time.

It is definitely worth it to me just to play. Even free to play you get a decent amount. You get about 10 easy booster packs worth of free rewards every week. As long as you finish your quest and get 4 wins a day.

But the best way to get a large collection without spending too much is by drafting. You get to keep cards you draft, and also you win back gems and extra booster packs. Even at lower than 50 percent win rate you end up getting at least going even compared to just buying packs, when you do the quick draft.

Anyway! Right now in standard is 3 sets on Ravnica, which are going to rotate in september so I don't suggest focusing on them. The sets from this last year that will br in standard another full year are Throne of Eldraine(fairy tale/king arthur world), Theros Beyond Death, and Ikoria(kaiju mutated monsters world.) Oh, and the core set 2021 of course. Core 2020 rotates with the Ravnica sets.

The upcoming set will be Zendikar Rising in September. It isn't going to have Eldrazi, so if you like adventure world Zendikar save up for it.

And it is really easy to get multiple tier 1 decks going if you play consistently for a couple months.

It is definitely cheaper and easier than real life to be able to play each deck. The only downside is if you specifically want to get one exact deck, you can only get specific cards with wildcards. But before too long if you draft a lot you will get a ton.

Thanks for the tips. Is the season pass helpful? And sounds like I should use wild cards for anything that rotates in September and focus on newer sets.

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The season pass is good if you are going to play enough for it to be worth it.

I have gotten every one since they became a thing last year, but I value tie cosmetics a decent amount. If you are on the fence the best thing to do is wait and see what level you get to before it ends on september 17. You get all the rewards retroactively even if you wait to buy the pass one day before it expires.

Overall people say it is worth it around level 60 or so, but it depends. I really like the dog pets so I definitely wanted it. I don't have the data with me, but you go even on the price of the bonus packs and stuff around level 60 or whatever. So you would be getting a better deal than just buying stuff separately.

And yah, just farm for now and wait until Zendikar comes out. Really you end up floaded with tons of cards just playing sometimes. I am rare complete or almost rate complete on most of the sets ins standard, and I literally never buy booster packs. And I'm not an amazing drafter, but I tend to be a tiny bit above average.

But, I do tend to get enough packs winning draft that I won't be bothered to open them until I get 10, which let's me just open them all at once.

Or if you are trying to rare complete the set, the best way to do it is wait until you have saved up a ton of packs from drafting and open them all at once. Because of the way the duplicate protection works. You won't get rares or mythics that you already have 4 of in a normal booster. But you can still open them when you draft, so it is better to do as much drafting as you can at first so you dont end up picking rares in the draft you have 4 of already.
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@MrNintendo1213 Okay so I'm getting into the game and I built a deck though I could use a different one for alternates. But I need 14 rare wild cards to finish it. Any specific advice on getting those?

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Darkinsanity1 posted...

@MrNintendo1213 Okay so I'm getting into the game and I built a deck though I could use a different one for alternates. But I need 14 rare wild cards to finish it. Any specific advice on getting those?

The fastest way to get wildcards is indeed to open normal booster packs. It is a good idea to open a few boosters from Eldraine as well, or whatever set has the most amount of cards in your deck.

Plus you can get a ton of free packs, if you haven't already.

https://draftsim.com/mtg-arena-codes/

Enter the codes from here in the store, and you can get 3 packs from the most recent sets in standard.

But you will also get more packs from leveling up even without buying the mastery pass.

It can also be a good idea to just play around with the cards you already have for free before you decide exactly what to spend any gems on. And wait until rotation happens with Zendikar in September.
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I play it pretty much every single day

TC, I have spent $5 on this game - You don't need to spend money. I guess if you're just starting out you can throw some at it, but you win a like 4,000 in gold every day [Which would give you 4 packs] and you win packs as well. Then you get Wild Cards which you can turn into any card you want [Rare for Rare, Uncommon for Uncommon, ect]

Look how many I have -

https://i.imgur.com/ApkuUzL.jpg

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I spend $50 every paycheck drafting which usually lasts me until my next paycheck and gives me all the wild cards I need for any deck

I don't really play standard but my buddy told me the cycling deck is cheap to make

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Balrog0 posted...

I spend $50 every paycheck drafting which usually lasts me until my next paycheck and gives me all the wild cards I need for any deck

I don't really play standard but my buddy told me the cycling deck is cheap to make

Damn that's quite a bit! But not bad compared to playing a ton of paper magic. I usually spend around 50 for each new set that comes out, and I also have enough to build or play any deck I want.

And a nice suggestion for us players who almost only draft. Make multiple accounts! I have 5 accounts that I go through and finish the quests for every 3 days, and pretty much let's me draft at least twice a day. But I was doing pretty well during Ikoria which let ms have up gems. Now in m21 I haven't been winning as much, on top of playing jumpstart for the cool lands which doesn't get me any gems back, so now I'm a little short.
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I'm Bad_Mojo91572 if anyone wants to play.

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MrNintendo1213 posted...

Damn that's quite a bit! But not bad compared to playing a ton of paper magic. I usually spend around 50 for each new set that comes out, and I also have enough to build or play any deck I want.

I don't like Drafting myself, so I don't have to spend IRL money on Gems

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mrgoatthief posted...

Now I have Walls Chandra and it's poopy.

Walls and Chandra are both mythic rarity themes, so you got lucky for that at least. I've been trying to get all the special lands and it takes a lot of luck to get the more rare ones consistently.
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Bad_Mojo posted...

I play it pretty much every single day

TC, I have spent $5 on this game - You don't need to spend money. I guess if you're just starting out you can throw some at it, but you win a like 4,000 in gold every day [Which would give you 4 packs] and you win packs as well. Then you get Wild Cards which you can turn into any card you want [Rare for Rare, Uncommon for Uncommon, ect]

Look how many I have -

https://i.imgur.com/ApkuUzL.jpg

You don't win 4000 gold a day, that is just silly. You can get either 1250 or 1500 a day, depending on getting a 500 gold quest or a 750 gold one.

Plus the daily wins, you get 550 of the extra gold passed the Quest for the first 4 wins, and only a little bit from each after that.

Unless you are doing a ton of constructed events. But then you have a chance of losing the gold you spend to enter the events too.
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I definitely spend too much on it lol

But I mean I've bought booster boxes just to draft with my friends more than once because I like drafting so much


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Balrog0 posted...

I definitely spend too much on it lol

But I mean I've bought booster boxes just to draft with my friends more than once because I like drafting so much

Have you ever built a cube? That might be fun. I've never done it, because I dont have anyone to draft with irl, but I've thought it would be fun.

Although i prefer normal drafts to the rare stuffed cubes. So I would make a cube out of just a normal set with mostly commons and uncommons.
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Its fun. If youre like me and have to play a new deck every 10 games, you have to spend money. If you can play the same deck for a long time then you can grind out a deck f2p.

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Is it coming to android or not??

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Aelia posted...

Its fun. If youre like me and have to play a new deck every 10 games, you have to spend money. If you can play the same deck for a long time then you can grind out a deck f2p.

I have 27 decks and have only spent $5. I had a ton of wild cards still to use

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Whoa this topic got a lot more responses suddenly. I think Arena is a safe way for me to play, because when I get into paper magic I get obsessive and go crazy with foils and deck building. I can restrain myself a little more on Arena it seems like while still getting to play some Magic.

You do still have to spend some money to draft though it looks like. Or is there more ways to get draft tokens? Tbh I'm not big into drafting, but as a way to get cards it's decent.

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I never Draft. Dont like it

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draft is for good players like me

that's literally all I play other than commander in paper lol

mattfrank posted...

Is it coming to android or not??

Just get steam link on your phone and use your PC to play it. It's basically like having it as a phone app.

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Darkinsanity1 posted...

Whoa this topic got a lot more responses suddenly. I think Arena is a safe way for me to play, because when I get into paper magic I get obsessive and go crazy with foils and deck building. I can restrain myself a little more on Arena it seems like while still getting to play some Magic.

You do still have to spend some money to draft though it looks like. Or is there more ways to get draft tokens? Tbh I'm not big into drafting, but as a way to get cards it's decent.

You spend gems or coins to draft. Drafting is the best and almost only way to turn the free currency(coins) into the cash currency(gems).

It costs 5000 coins or 750 gems to do a quick draft. That is the best for people not as familiar with drafting. You draft against computers, so you have as long as you want to make each pick. But then you play best of one matches against real people who also drafted against humans. You play until you reach 7 wins, or 3 losses. You get gems for each win, and a chance at getting an extra booster pack. You always get one normal booster pack from winning, and if you reach 7 wins you are guaranteed the 2nd pack. Each win gives you a percent chance at getting the 2nd booster pack too. I think at like 6 wins you get back more gems than the cost. Yah 6 wins gets 850 gems. 5 wins gets 650 3 wins gets 300, 4 wins gets 450.

Doing quick draft or premier draft is what levels up your limited rank, which gets you minor rewards at the end of the month.

Premier draft is also best of one, with a similar set up to quick draft, play to 7 wins or 3 losses. The difference is it is a human draft, so you draft with 7 other players to make it more like a real draft. It is also more high risk high reward, because it costs twice as much to enter. And the rewards are more skewed towards winning. You only need 5 wins to make back more gems than it cost. 5 wins gets 1600 back, so you end up 100 gems ahead of the 1500 gem entry cost. And 7 wins gets 2200 gems. 4 wins gets 1400 gems, so you only lose 100 gems to play. Oh and you get more booster packs the more you win. You get 2 packs for 2 or 3 wins, and each win past 3 gets you an extra pack. So 7 wins gets 2200 gems and 6 booster packs. 6 wins 1800 gems 5 packs. And the tipping point of rewards is the 3rd win. At 3 wins you get 1000 gems and 2 packs. But 2 wins is only 250 gems and 2 packs.

So it is always worth it if you get at least 3 wins. And very worth it for every win after.

And traditional draft is the best of 3 draft. It also costs 1500 gems or 10,000 coins to enter. It is the closest to paper drafting, because you play best of 3 matches and the games are set up like paper. So you always play 3 matches no matter what.
But it is also even more high risk and reward than the other two. If you win 1 or 0 rounds out of 3, you only get one booster pack reward. If you get 2 wins, you get 1000 gems and 4 packs. If you get all 3 wins, you get 3000 gems and 6 packs. It is also not tied to your limited rank. So you wont rank up, which means you also wont have to fight only higher ranked people when you rank up.

As you can see, it takes a bit of luck and skill, but if you are willing to take the time to keep trying and learn to draft well, eventually the rewards from drafting are much better than just getting plain booster packs. Especially because you win those same booster packs for winning anyway.

Plus playing limited modes like drafting is the most pure and skill based form of magic. It is closest to how the game was originally intended to be played. You just open up some cards and work with what you have, without always having to use the most expensive 30 dollar cards, or the same deck as everyone else to win.
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soulunison2 posted...

draft is for good players like me

that's literally all I play other than commander in paper lol

Fuck Draft. Garbage level play

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Bad_Mojo posted...

Fuck Draft. Garbage level play

Lol wtf how can you be so wrong

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Bad_Mojo posted...

Fuck Draft. Garbage level play

its arguably the best format in magic's existance, your wins are on the back of commons and uncommons fammm

Bad_Mojo posted...

soulunison2 posted...

draft is for good players like me

that's literally all I play other than commander in paper lol

Fuck Draft. Garbage level play

Bad Bad Mojo! You're sleeping outside tonight.

Why could you hate drafting and call it garbage? I have a feeling you got unlucky a few times and are now just butthurt.

Literally the best format, and the most pure, aside from doing something like a sealed league.
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DuranOfForcena posted...

draft definitely isn't garbage, but different people play Magic for different reasons, and we all know this. i for one don't really like playing draft, even though i recognize the value in it for Arena. i'll do it every so often when i can, but i have always loved constructed the most, because i like building and tweaking a well-tuned control deck that uses the best cards and strategies available to counter what's prevalent in the current meta. i don't like throwing together the best deck that i can from a limited and random cardpool, it just doesn't appeal much to me.

Well I hate constructed but I don't think it's garbage

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MrNintendo1213 posted...

Why could you hate drafting and call it garbage? I have a feeling you got unlucky a few times and are now just butthurt.

Because I've been playing since Alpha and I like built decks. I hate spending money, even digital money, on chance. I don't enjoy gambling at all, tbh. That's not to say I don't gamble, I do, but only because the people I'm with at that time enjoy it.

Here, in Arena, I save all my gold until a new set comes out, buy down to like 10,000, which gives me like 40+ packs for free, use my 100+ Wild cards to fill in the gap, save until the next set comes out

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mrgoatthief posted...

Cauldron Familiar is banned.

Good

I f'n hate cards that make people's turn last 4mins

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Maybe they shouldnt make busted cards.

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God damnit. One of the biggest reasons I fucking hated playing Magic back in the day was dealing with fucking bans. I just got started and built this Esper deck and of course it has Teferi in it. Ugh bans are so god damn obnoxious.

And now my deck is missing shit and I have no idea what to replace it with.


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What are the possibilities of getting your money back from purchases? It's only been a few days since I made them to get started on this shit again. If I could get my money back I think I'd go back to not playing this irritating ass game.

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???????

You get fucking free wildcards for your Teferi, who was rightfully banned, and was going to rotate in like a month anyways, calm down and stop having a melty.

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RebelElite791 posted...

???????

You get fucking free wildcards for your Teferi, who was rightfully banned, and was going to rotate in like a month anyways, calm down and stop having a melty.

Stfu, it makes my deck that much worse. The one I literally just put together to get back into the game. I always fucking hated bans. And I have no idea what to replace him with. If they are going to continue doing this, then I might as well go back to not playing.

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Darkinsanity1 posted...

Stfu, it makes my deck that much worse. The one I literally just put together to get back into the game. I always fucking hated bans. And I have no idea what to replace him with. If they are going to continue doing this, then I might as well go back to not playing.

K, fuck off and play a game that requires less thought

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Stop going online and making OP decks that other people have made. I've been telling you from the start to not spend money on this game

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Is there a place we can submit feedback to the effect that they need to knock that shit off? It's becoming way too common for them to ban shit in standard of all things. Like the guy above said, the bans that originally happened in Mirrodin should have been a one time thing. And they've banned how many things this year? I see the article on Facebook every time it happens. I probably would not have started up had I known there was another one so close.

Or I would have tried avoiding decks that have things that might be banned, but you know what? That's very hard to do since most of the top decks are going to be playing cards that could potentially be hit, so it's very frustrating to build decks for that reason.

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Bad_Mojo posted...

Stop going online and making OP decks that other people have made. I've been telling you from the start to not spend money on this game

I made an Esper deck...don't think this deck counts as OP, just a color type and deck type that I happen to like. It was like #6 for most popular deck types online. I had no idea Teferi was considered OP. I just found a list that looked cool and made it.

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Darkinsanity1 posted...

I haven't played Magic in years

Darkinsanity1 posted...

It's becoming way too common for them to ban shit in standard of all things.

lmao

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I'd say make an EDH deck. In my limited and novice experience, standard rotates too quickly, the standard relevant cards are expensive as fuck, and when they rotate they become worthless.

So, it costs a shit ton to play competitively but your cards become useless in legacy formats. EDH is pretty cheap (I made an Elf tribal deck for like $80? buying singles) and also popular.

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Darkinsanity1 posted...

I made an Esper deck...don't think this deck counts as OP, just a color type and deck type that I happen to like. It was like #6 for most popular deck types online. I had no idea Teferi was considered OP. I just found a list that looked cool and made it.

Make your own decks. You screwed yourself spending money to make someone else's deck

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