[Magic The Gathering: Arena] Your favorite CCG in a F2P format you can spend thousands on!

RickRude

So, there's a general magic thread in SE++ but I know I rarely go there, and didn't realize this game was going on. What is it? It's F2P Magic The Gathering in a format like hearthstone, and other less forms of CCG.



It's currently in open beta and you no longer need to wait for a key! Simply download the client here and register
https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena



Open beta is live!
Use code PlayRavnica for 3 free packs!
Announcement trailer
https://youtu.be/tpOySUK3Vdc [/b]

So what is it?

It's Magic the Gathering as we all know and love and in a free to play format. You get daily quests for gold (the free currency), which you can use to play in constructed events, and draft events. The current currencies are Gold that you get from quests, and Gems you get from certain events and can purchase. Packs are purchasable with gold and gems, and the various limited formats and quick draft/constructed.

Current events always available events

Currently they are running a free singleton event to celebrate the open beta, and the first sealed event to my knowledge with Guilds of Ravnica. For 2000 gems you get 6 15 card packs to build a deck with, and get 3 normal arena boosters no matter how many games you win.

They've changed up the modes but the closed beta events were

Free Play
Quick Constructed - Gold/gem fee with gold rewards
Competitive Constructed - Gold/gem fee with gold rewars
Quick Draft - Gold/Gem fee with Gem rewards
Competitive Draft - Gem fee with Gem rewards

And then they have rotating modes on top of it with a gold fee usually.

Differences From Magic Paper / MTGO

One big thing is boosters. If you purchase a pack, they are 8 card packs. There are wildcards you can draw in the packs that let you craft any card, and each pack moves you closer to guaranteed Rare and Mythic Rare wildcars. There is no dusting system, you get wildcards through various means and they are currently trying to figure out what to do with 5th copies of cards. Currently you get progress towards "The vault" which you open up and get a bunch of wildcards at once. They feel this is unrewarding at the moment and are looking to change it.

Drafts however you get full 14 card boosters, even with a land slot. There is no foils though. Also, you draft against AI pods, that use data from MTGA and MTGO to calculate how the AI drafts, and then you play until a set amount of losses, much like hearthstone, that varies on the Quick or Competitive draft. QD is Bo1, while CD, is B03 with sideboarding.

Useful tools
This section is for add ons. I know of one I can recommend that has been featred on the official forums. Has deck export/import functions, and most importantly (at least to me) gives you a link where you can go through all your draft picks pick by pick.

https://mtgatool.com/

Here's a sample of the tool with a draft I went 6-3 with
https://mtgatool.com/draft/802ab61c-71c3-4e49-8f36-ea09f0bbe665

So that's it in a nutshell

They plan on having the same release dates as paper, and parity with paper. They are not sure on legacy formats and such.

There's more to add, and I need to edit this I'm sure. Any tips let me know. I'm not great at magic just dabbled over the 37 years of my life off and on and love the game. Hated the price and could never play paper. This F2P game has me hooked.

And it's Free!!!!

RickRude

Some tips for players new to Magic.

Combat
@feral made these handy diagrams that explain how damage works and the different types of damage and the combat steps
















Phases and Steps of a turn
An in depth write-up written up by @Surfpossum

So in general, the way Magic works is that at any given time, only one player has priority. Priority is almost like an object that gets passed back and forth, and only the player who has priority can do stuff. When both players decline to do anything after having gotten priority, the game moves forward and either resolves stuff that is happening or moves to the next phase or step.

Generally, when something happens it usually goes on the stack: if a player plays a card, or activates an ability, or something on a card triggers, that *thing* gets put onto this thing called the stack. Players then get to decide if they want to respond to the thing on top of the stack; if they do, whatever they do gets put on top of the stack. When nobody wants to do anything more, the top thing on the stack is resolved or, if the stack is empty, the step or phase ends.

As an example, say Player 1 passes priority to Player 2 during their first main phase, because they want to move to their combat phase. There is nothing on the stack. Player 2 gets priority and casts Shock targeting Player 1's Grizzly Bears, then passes priority back to Player 1. Shock is now on the stack, waiting to resolve. Player 1 then casts Giant Growth targeting their Grizzly Bears, and passes priority back to Player 2. Giant Growth is now on the stack on top of Shock, waiting to resolve. Player 2 also passes priority, and Giant Growth resolves, giving the Bears +3/+3. Now we're back to Shock being on top of the stack, and Player 1 has priority. They pass, and Player 2 also passes. Shock resolves, dealing 2 damage to the Bears. Player 1 is once again given the opportunity to do stuff but passes, and Player 2 passes as well. The game then exits the first main phase (because both players have passed priority on an empty stack) and enters the combat phase.

So, given all that, here are the phases and steps of a turn:

Beginning Phase
This is the beginning of the turn. Players do not receive priority and therefore can't do anything, so entering this phase is just to let things that happen at the beginning of a turn get queued up to get added to the stack at the start of the Upkeep step.
Untap Step

• During this step, players still do not receive priority. Things get untapped, and if anything triggers it waits to get added to the stack at the start of the Upkeep step.

Upkeep Step

• At this point, anything waiting to go on the stack from the previous two steps does so; first, the waiting effects (triggered abilities) controlled by the active player are put on the stack in the order the active player chooses, and then the nonactive player puts their triggered abilities on the stack in any order they want. Then the active player receives priority.
• It's sometimes important to do stuff during this phase; it's the last chance to play stuff before the active player draws a card, for example, so if you want to tap one of their creatures before they draw a counterspell or tap one of their lands before they can use it to play an instant they draw, now's the time to do it.

Draw Step

• The active player draws a card, and then stuff that triggers at the start of the draw step is put on the stack, and then the active player gets priority.
• It's pretty uncommon for anything to happen during the draw step; you generally don't want to let them draw a card unless you have instant speed discard effects (pretty rare) and want them to draw a card and then make them discard it before they enter their main phase and get priority (because then they can cast whatever it is and it'll be too late to make them discard it).

First Main Phase

• Stuff that triggers when you enter this phase goes on the stack, then the active player gets priority.
• The main phases are when you get to play all your lands and creatures and stuff. Here's where the difference between instants (and abilities etc.) and sorceries (and creatures etc.) comes in: instants can be played whenever you have priority. Sorceries can be played during your main phase when you have priority and the stack is empty.
• Lands are a bit weird; they don't go onto the stack, they just pop into play when you play them. This means playing a land doesn't create an opportunity for players to respond before the land enters play.

Combat Phase
Beginning of Combat Step

• Stuff that triggers when you enter this step goes on the stack, then the active player gets priority.
• This is a chance for players to do stuff before any creatures start attacking. For example, this would be the last chance you get to increase a Mentor creature's power if you want it to mentor something bigger than itself because once you move to the next step, when the mentor ability triggers it will check the creatures' power to see which ones are legal targets. This would also be the last chance to prevent a creature from attacking (by tapping it, or killing it, or whatever).

Declare Attackers Step

• This is the part where you get to declare your attackers. Declaring attackers happens immediately at the start of this step, and doesn't use the stack. Any creatures you choose to attack with are immediately 1) attacking and 2) become tapped (unless they have vigilance). Once they are attacking, the only ways for them to no longer be attacking creatures (removed from combat) are if they leave play, regenerate, change controllers, stop being creatures, or a card or an effect specifically says they are removed from combat. This means that tapping or untapping them doesn't change whether or not they are attacking; you can activate abilities they have that require them to be tapped, you can use them to cast Convoke stuff, your opponent can try to tap them, whatever. They'll still be attacking.
• Once attackers are declared, do the priority dance. This is the last chance you have to prevent creatures from blocking (by tapping it, or killing it, or whatever). If no attackers are declared, the other combat steps get skipped.
• This is the point at which you can start to cast spells or use abilities that target attacking creatures.

Declare Blockers Step

• This is very similar to the declare attackers step, except the defending player is choosing their blockers. Once creatures have been declared as blockers, they will continue to be a blocking creature unless they leave play, regenerate, change controllers, stop being creatures, or a card or an effect specifically says they are removed from combat. Any attacking creature that gets blocked will continue to be blocked until it is removed from combat, regardless of whether or not anything is still blocking it. Think of it kind of like this: when they get blocked, they start to swing at the thing blocking them, and even if that thing goes poof they've already committed to the swing.
• After blockers are declared, do the priority dance. This is the last chance to do anything before creatures start dealing damage, such as altering their power or toughness, or giving them first strike, or whatever.
• This is the point at which you can start to cast spells or use abilities that target blocking creatures.

Combat Damage Step

• Basically, damage gets dealt, any effects that trigger off of combat damage get added to the stack, and then players do the priority dance. This means that once this step starts, damage is going to be dealt before players get to do anything.
• If any creatures have first or double strike, what actually happens is a second combat damage step is created after the first one; during the first one, double strikers and first strikers deal combat damage, and during the second one double strikers and non-first strikers deal combat damage. This allows players to do the priority dance in between first strike damage and regular combat damage (because they will get priority at the end of the first strike combat damage step). This could be important if, say, you have a first strike creature and a Thallid Omnivore: you can let the first strike creature deal its damage and then feed it to the Omnivore, and then the Omnivore would be bigger when it deals damage.
• Generally, blocked creatures only get to deal damage to creatures that are blocking them. If a blocked creature no longer has any creatures blocking it, it just doesn't get to deal damage... UNLESS it has trample. Trample lets the attacking creature deal any extra damage to the player or planeswalker that it attacked, and if nothing is blocking it then all the damage is extra damage.
• Because abilities that trigger off of combat damage (for example, Enrage) go onto the stack, players get a chance to respond to them before they resolve but after creatures have taken damage. To use an example: your 1/1 is blocked by a 3/3 Siegehorn Ceratops. The 1/1 deals its combat damage, and the Siegehorn's Enrage ability triggers and is put on the stack. You then receive priority and cast Shock on the Siegehorn. Shock goes onto the stack on top of the Enrage and you pass priority. Your opponent passes priority as well. Shock resolves, dealing 2 damage to the Siegehorn, which triggers another Enrage (which goes on top of the stack) and then the Siegehorn dies. By the time either Enrage would resolve, the Siegehorn is gone.

End of Combat Step

• At the start of this step, players do the priority dance, then at the end of the step creatures get removed from combat (are no longer attacking or blocking).
• This is your last chance to cast spells or use abilities that target attacking or blocking creatures.

Second Main Phase

• Exactly like the first.

Ending Phase
End Step

• This is when stuff that happens "at end of turn" gets put on the stack, and then the active player gets priority. This is generally the last chance for players to do the priority dance before the next turn begins.
• This is a good time to do things like play spells that draw you cards or play creatures with flash or create tokens (if you didn't need them for blockers), since now your opponent probably won't be playing any more creatures or sorceries that might affect your decision.

Cleanup Step

• This is when 1) the active player discards down to seven cards in hand and 2) effects that last until the end of turn end and damage gets removed and then we move to the next turn.
• Just kidding, if anything triggers and gets put onto the stack then players get to do the priority dance.

Note: I haven't mentioned every single time that stuff can trigger and get put on the stack, because there are a lot of weird cards out there. But I think that generally speaking, when stuff triggers it gets put onto the stack just before the next time a player would receive priority. But also don't quote me on that.

So there you have it, couldn't possibly be simpler. But really, if you can get comfortable with the idea of when players get priority and how the stack works, everything largely falls into place after that because MTGA doesn't have Humility in it.

Differences between Hearthstone and Magic for a new Player
Copied from https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicArena/comments/862vee/hearthstone_players_guide_for_magic_the_gathering/

If it seems like the game is exceedingly complex, it really isn't. There are lots of interactions, but the rules are straightforward, and each card does exactly what's written on it. Magic: the Gathering is very literal. Card text is uses specific terminology that you'll start to recognize as you play more. If two effects look similar but are worded differently, there's a good chance that they work differently in some cases. If you really want to learn, I encourage you to go to your Local Magic: The Gathering Game Store (LGS). You can find the closest one at The Wizards store and event locator. Magic Arena doesn't yet have a new player tutorial, so if you'd like to learn on a digital version, pick up Magic Duels: Origins for free on Steam, iOS, PS4, or XB1.

Something to note: if I were to talk about every exception to every point I'd be here forever. So assume that there are exceptions, and unless I talk about them they're usually not relevant. Also, I've included lots of pictures of cards.

MANA

Both games have a resource called Mana which you use each turn to cast spells, and replenishes when your turn starts again. In Hearthstone mana is given to you without expending other resources, and you always get an additional mana to use each turn, up to 10. In Magic, players get mana by playing and using Lands. Lands take up space in your deck. By default, you can play one land from your hand per turn. Each turn, you may tap, or use, a land to produce one mana of the appropriate color; plains produce white mana, forests make green, mountains make red, swamps make black and islands make blue. At the start of each of your turns you untap all your lands. In paper magic, tapping is signified by turning the card 90 degrees sideways, and untapping brings it back upright. In Magic Arena, tapped cards are shown slightly tilted, grayed out and with a tap symbol on top of them. Think of tapping a card as exhausting it's power for the turn, and untapping it as recharging it.

You use mana to pay the cost of a spell, which is located at the top right corner of the card. For example, Nezahal, Primal Tide requires 7 mana total to cast. Two mana must be blue (the water drops), and five can be mana of any color.

It's important to note that unlike Hearthstone you're not guaranteed to get a new land to play each turn, and lands also take up space in your deck. Most decks run about 40% lands, depending on how fast or big the deck is. Also, it's possible for your shuffled deck to draw too many or too few lands in a game. This is called Mana Screw, it happens to everyone occasionally. That's why official paper Magic matches are best of 3 games.

Finally, the lands I referenced before (Plains, Island, etc) are called Basic Lands. You're allowed to have as many of each in your deck as you want, but they're, well, basic. They just tap for a single color and don't do anything special. There are also non-basic lands which do all sorts of fun things. Many tap for more than one color of mana, some do things when they come into play, some have special abilities besides making mana, some even become creatures. Non-basic lands fall under the same deck building restrictions as other cards though, namely you can't have more than 4 in your deck.

COLOR

In Hearthstone, you have nine classes, each of which gets access to exclusive cards, and a bunch of other cards that can be used by any class. In Magic, you have five different colors; White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green, often shortened to WUBRG (U is for blue). Decks may play as many colors as they wish and in any combination. Each color has a unique role, along with strengths and weaknesses. This is known as the color pie. You can learn everything you'd want to know about color and the color pie at [MTGSalvation's page.] (http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Color_Pie) It's important to note that while the meta changes from set to set, no one color is inherently stronger than another. Each color simply answers the question "how do I win?" differently. Also, while most cards have one color, some have more than one, and some have none.

/u/WizzMuch pointed out a very useful blizzard forum post that relates the different heroes to colors in magic. They're not an exact match, but some are very close.

For a quick rundown on colors (skip if you want):

White: The color of healing, protection and order. White has a lot of small creatures that build on each other, and Angels that serve as medium-to-big fliers. Combat tricks involve preventing damage dealt by opponents or preventing creatures from attacking. White also has a number of "board wipes", that kill off all creatures or all non-lands on the board.

Blue: The color of logic, technology, air and water. Blue loves to control the board by drawing extra cards, countering spells, bouncing creatures back into their owners' hands, and even milling (making a player move cards from their library directly to their graveyard). Blue creatures are a bit weaker, but many have flying or similarly evasive abilities, which can lead to a blowout if your opponent can't deal with them.

Black: The color of death, selfishness, and power at any cost. Black isn't necessarily evil, but it's rarely used for good. Black loves bringing creatures back from the graveyard, destroying creatures outright, or sacrificing its own creatures to get an edge. Black often uses its life total for advantage, like drawing extra cards or powering up creatures. Black can also force opponents to discard cards from their hand, sometimes even choosing which card for their opponent.

Red: The color of impulsiveness, chaos, fire, lightning, and earth. Red loves dealing damage directly to creatures or players. Its creatures attack fast and hard, even if they're not the most resilient, and some creatures can even power themselves up with mana. Red also loves playing dragons.

Green: The color of nature, instinct and survival. Green loves big, lumbering creatures, and has spells to get lands on the board fast to play those big creatures quickly. Green also has combat tricks that beef up their own creatures, or make creatures fight each other outside of normal combat. Green also hates fliers, and has effects to deal with them while not giving their own creatures flying.

CARD TYPES

In Hearthstone, you have four types of cards: Minions, Spells, Weapons and Heroes. Magic has a quite a few more. Each card has its types listed about halfway down on the left, underneath the art. Since lands were already addressed, the other main types are, in no particular order:

Creature: Just like Hearthstone, these are your army. You use them to attack, and defend from attacks. They have power (combat strength) and toughness (hit points) listed on the bottom right-hand corner.

Enchantment: Spells that effect the battlefield as long as long as they're in play. Some have passive effects, some have interesting abilities. An enchantment that only affects a single card is called an Aura.

Sorcery: Like Spells in Hearthstone. They can only be played on your turn during your main phases, have an immediate effect, and are placed in the graveyard afterwards.

Instant: Like sorceries, they have an immediate effect and go to your graveyard afterwards. However unlike sorceries, they can be played at any time, even on your opponent's turn or in response to another spell or ability (see the section on phases of a turn and prority). So long as you left lands untapped for them.

Artifact: Like enchantments, they stay on the field and have an effect, or have an ability. Generally, an artifact is a "thing" where an enchantment is "magic." Artifacts are usually colorless. Creatures can also be Artifacts, and Equipment artifacts can be given to a creature like weapons can be given to heroes in Hearthstone. Equipment stays on the battlefield if the equipped creature dies, and can be switched around during your turn. To equip something to a creature, you must pay the equip cost listed on the card. Finally, some artifacts are Vehicles. They're not normally creatures, but they can be turned into creatures by using your creatures to crew them.

Planeswalker: A special "ally", usually famous characters in MTG lore. Each has loyalty, and can use one ability once per turn, which changes their loyalty. Planeswalkers must have at least as much loyalty as the ability uses if it removes loyalty, and a planeswalker with 0 loyalty is dead. They cannot usually attack or block like regular creatures. They're kind of like hero cards, if you could choose one of three to use each turn.

You'll notice some of these cards are legendary. Legendary cards are special pieces of MTG lore. You can't control two legendary cards with the same name on the battlefield at the same time. If that ever happens, you have to choose one and put the other in your graveyard. Here's an example: you can't have two copies of the planeswalker Huatli, Warrior Poet under your control. But you can have one of them along with Huatli, Radiant Champion on the battlefield at the same time, since even though they're the same character, the cards themselves have different names. Also, even if you have Huatli, Warrior Poet in play, your opponent may still play his own Huatli, Warrior Poet.

Cards, especially creatures, can also have subtypes. This refers to any characteristics of the card, and creatures, spells or abilities may reference a card subtype for a certain effect. For example, Legion Lieutenant is a creature, more specifically a Vampire Knight. If there are other Vampires on the battlefield, Legion Lieutenant gives each an extra 1 power and 1 toughness. Spells can have no subtypes, one, a few, or literally all of them.

Here be Dragons: This is important, but can be complicated if you're seeing this for the first time. Feel free to skip ahead to Phases of a Turn and come back to this when you finish the rest.

When a card is on the battlefield (in play, on the board), it's always considered to be whatever type or subtype is listed on the card. However, when a card is not on the battlefield (like when it's in your hand, library, or graveyard) it's referred to as a card, and if necessary by the types listed on it. So for example, Dutiful Return refers to cards of the type creature that are in your graveyard. It cannot refer to a creature that's on the battlefield, since it wouldn't be considered a card. Also, any non-land card that is actively being cast (called "on the stack," see The Stack later on) is called a spell. For example, Dispel has an ability "Counter target instant spell." That means if someone just cast a spell, and the type on the card is "instant", you can cast Dispel in response to counter it (make it not work). If you look at Clutch of Currents, its ability doesn't refer to either cards or spells. That means it will only work on creatures that are already on the battlefield, not creatures in the graveyard or about to be cast.

Dr. Flamingo

Arena's great! At least since I managed to build most of my beloved God-Pharaoh's Gift deck! Also, this game fulfills one of my favorite things about Magic! RARE DRAFTING! It's not optimal to take off-color cards and lands in a draft just because they have monetary value... But that kind of thinking's for bots! I'll play a draft then take as many rare dual lands I can get my hands on.

Jam Warrior

I wanted to play this, but it consistently does a weird crash a few minutes into play where the game’s visuals freeze but the cursor still moves and I can tell from the sounds that the game is actually still running.

RickRude

Jam Warrior wrote: »

I wanted to play this, but it consistently does a weird crash a few minutes into play where the game’s visuals freeze but the cursor still moves and I can tell from the sounds that the game is actually still running.

That sounds really odd. Have you checked the official forums for anything?

https://mtgarena.community.gl/forums

Jam Warrior

Briefly but nothing obvious. My patience for PC diagnostics is thin these days. I suspect it’s more my PC (graphics card?) than the game.

RickRude

Jam Warrior wrote: »

Briefly but nothing obvious. My patience for PC diagnostics is thin these days. I suspect it’s more my PC (graphics card?) than the game.

If nothing else, if you haven't, you should send a bug report. It's still in beta, so I'm sure they'd like to know about it to try and figure out what's wrong.

WotanAnubis

I like Magic, but playing it makes me weirdly anxious. So I don't play a lot.

Fortunately, the hurt of Duels has mostly faded, but not so much that I intend to ever spend money on Arena unless they offer a really good deal (like 'spend this reasonable amount, get a playset of these good cards'). And I like the various different modes. I'm not really interested in best-of-3 matches, really, so I'm glad I have ample opportunity not to play those.

Still wonder how they're going to handle rotation, though. I wouldn't mind if next to Standard and Draft and whatnot we also got an 'Arena' format - a mode where you can just keep playing every card ever released on Arena.

RickRude

That's something that is up in the air still I believe. Prerelease is the 24th of GRN, and rotation is a week after, it'll be interesting seeing what they do.

There was speculation of open beta at rotation but they still don't have a friend's list yet for one, and have other things planned.

Dr. Flamingo

Last night I played two Rivals of Ixalan drafts, and even with just the one regular Ixalan pack each, I managed to pull a Glacial Fortress and Search for Azcanta, both essential pieces of my deck. And then a Mythic wildcard for my last Angel of Invention, and one rare wildcard for one of my missing Champion of Wits. Four upgrades closer to the paper version of my deck, and all in one night, pretty great.

rahkeesh2000

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Still wonder how they're going to handle rotation, though. I wouldn't mind if next to Standard and Draft and whatnot we also got an 'Arena' format - a mode where you can just keep playing every card ever released on Arena.

It's grossly incompetent malpractice if they don't. Every CCG needs a mode where you get to use "all the cards" that you bought.

Ideally they'd support modern but that's probably very far off.

RickRude

They announced that an announcement is coming on 9-19. Could be details about rotation, pre-release, open beta, or a client overhaul as far as speculation goes.

WotanAnubis

rahkeesh2000 wrote: »

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Still wonder how they're going to handle rotation, though. I wouldn't mind if next to Standard and Draft and whatnot we also got an 'Arena' format - a mode where you can just keep playing every card ever released on Arena.

It's grossly incompetent malpractice if they don't. Every CCG needs a mode where you get to use "all the cards" that you bought.

Ideally they'd support modern but that's probably very far off.

I don't think Modern's going to happen. That's a whole lot of cards that need implementing and I wouldn't dare guess what part of the Arena audience would be interested in diving into it. It'd involve a lot of grinding.

RickRude

WotanAnubis wrote: »

rahkeesh2000 wrote: »

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Still wonder how they're going to handle rotation, though. I wouldn't mind if next to Standard and Draft and whatnot we also got an 'Arena' format - a mode where you can just keep playing every card ever released on Arena.

It's grossly incompetent malpractice if they don't. Every CCG needs a mode where you get to use "all the cards" that you bought.

Ideally they'd support modern but that's probably very far off.

I don't think Modern's going to happen. That's a whole lot of cards that need implementing and I wouldn't dare guess what part of the Arena audience would be interested in diving into it. It'd involve a lot of grinding.

I could see it happening at some point, it's a matter of printing the cards. Maybe even give the cards away with them only being use able in that format. They gave away a whole block for beta testing recently. But that was for testing purposes.

But likely there's not enough demand for it to bother implementing it at this point. They still don't have a friend's list in the game.

Dr. Flamingo

I could see them implementing older sets on a "Draft-only" basis from time to time, but I'm guessing they're gonna have their hands full trying to keep up with the sets coming out.

WotanAnubis

You know how in some games, players hoard all the healing items and really good weapons in case they need them later and then end up never using them at all?

I kind of have that problem with Wild Cards. I have a bunch, but I've never cashed in a single one because what if the card I cash it in for turns out to be crap and what if I need it later for a really good card?

RickRude

WotanAnubis wrote: »

You know how in some games, players hoard all the healing items and really good weapons in case they need them later and then end up never using them at all?

I kind of have that problem with Wild Cards. I have a bunch, but I've never cashed in a single one because what if the card I cash it in for turns out to be crap and what if I need it later for a really good card?

Use them now on whatever you find fun because there's at least one more wipe before release.

Armoroc

I've been having a lot of fun lately with the precon decks that the game provides. It's mostly a 50/50 chance of winning or losing, but it's provided me with a lot of good and simple strategies to follow and it's all free!

I drafted once with some of the gold that I grinded and it was also a learning experience! My deck sucked big time, but I was able to win once at least (the other player got a series of bad draws and conceded :biggrin:)

If the new set gets introduced in October I think I might give this some of my money.

WotanAnubis

I'll say this about Momir's Madness... it's cheap to enter.

BoomerAang Squad

Arena Open beta starts Sept. 27th.
Also, Danny Trejo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpOySUK3Vdc

Ilpala

Sealed, baby!

scherbchen

ugh, I hate Day9

Danny though!

WotanAnubis

I'm mostly indifferent towards Day9.

Surprised they got Trejo for this, though. Might WotC actually be considering supporting Arena for a while?

SniperGuy

Open Beta's gonna be the last wipe right?

RickRude

SniperGuy wrote: »

Open Beta's gonna be the last wipe right?

As far as I know yes. They are shutting down the store soon and then the wipe will happen and gems are refunded.

RickRude

Servers will be shutting down soon and the wipe will be complete. Serivers will be back up on the 27th. I believe. Gonna redo the OP soon to reflect open beta

Axen

Open beta is up and running.

WotanAnubis

Huh. Odd. From what I can tell, the 'official' start time is in another half hour or so.

Axen

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Huh. Odd. From what I can tell, the 'official' start time is in another half hour or so.

Yeah, it seems they decided to have a short open beta for the open beta. Came online a couple hours ago.

scherbchen

surprising nobody the servers seem to get slammed

WotanAnubis

Oh, yeah, by the way, I still got some codes for the Closed Beta if anyone wants them. :P

Axen

Speaking of codes, if you redeem the code PlayRavnica (case sensitive) you get three booster packs. I can confirm it works.

edit- Hm, is it just me or does the Draft Core Set 2019 event seem totally not worth the price of admission?

It costs 5000 gold to enter or 750 Gems, the premium currency.

With 0 wins you get 50 Gems and 1 Booster Pack. 0-6 wins also each come with a small chance to gain an extra Booster Pack (which maxes out at 40% at Win 6).
For 7 wins (the max) you get 2 Booster Packs and 950 Gems.
950 can buy your 3 Booster Packs with 350 Gems to spare (600 Gems being the cheapest option).
So in total for 7 wins you can walk away with 5 Booster Packs.

However, the problem I have with it is that for 5000 gold (the entry fee) you can just straight up buy 5 Booster Packs. The only thing you miss out on is the extra 350 Gems you could get if you win 7 matches. Still though 600 Gems is the minimum sale price.

The other two events seem fine to me. The Sealed Guilds of Ravnica one actually seems fairly generous since at 4 wins you basically break even and 5-7 wins is net profit.

edit 2- Although I suppose if you pay in Gems it looks better. I can see there being an argument that you break even at four wins. But it certainly isn't worth paying the entry fee in Gold.

WotanAnubis

Isn't it the case that you also keep the cards you Draft?

So you don't just get the booster packs, but also the deck you drafted (which you hopefully enjoyed)?

Axen

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Isn't it the case that you also keep the cards you Draft?

So you don't just get the booster packs, but also the deck you drafted (which you hopefully enjoyed)?

Had to look it up and you are right. Well okay, that makes it sound much better.

The in game description does say the cards are added to your collection and that you use them to craft a deck, but in my head I wasn't registering that as you actually get to keep keep the cards.

scherbchen

well it took all of 90 minutes but now every singleton deck seems to be Rat Colony so be prepared

RickRude

Axen wrote: »

WotanAnubis wrote: »

Isn't it the case that you also keep the cards you Draft?

So you don't just get the booster packs, but also the deck you drafted (which you hopefully enjoyed)?

Had to look it up and you are right. Well okay, that makes it sound much better.

The in game description does say the cards are added to your collection and that you use them to craft a deck, but in my head I wasn't registering that as you actually get to keep keep the cards.

The booster packs for drafts are also 14 card packs instead of 8, although there's no wildcards

Axen

scherbchen wrote: »

well it took all of 90 minutes but now every singleton deck seems to be Rat Colony so be prepared

They're cute fuzzy-wuzzies!

edit- Okay, so just a heads up, when looking at the Booster Pack options in the store if you happen to click on one the game will just buy it. No confirmation popup. At least for the ones that cost Gold.

Yilias

Rat Colony got me a Vraska so I guess it was worth it.

RickRude

Will this prompt to buy a booster from the store go away if I dont? Going through initial stuff but all my gold goes to drafting

Axen

RickRude wrote: »

Will this prompt to buy a booster from the store go away if I dont? Going through initial stuff but all my gold goes to drafting

It should.

RickRude

I'm thinking of doing a sealed event. Sounds fun. I'm scared though, haven't played that format since leagues in mtgo. I've been OK at drafting and this is a new format though.