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Huxley
Oct 10, 2012



Grimey Drawer


Greetings, Planeswalker! Magic the Gathering: Arena is the newest digital implementation of the venerable and popular collectable card game. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, it’s casual, it’s totally playable without grinding yourself into a paste. Most importantly, it’s MAGIC with very few caveats.

Let’s start with the links, and not make folks scroll like crazy to find where I hid them:

Helpful links

Arena download site: https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena
Trad Games thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3979741
Daily MTG: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles
Discord: https://discord.gg/zg6fDFU
Deck overlay/collection tracker: https://mtgarena.pro/
Card database: https://scryfall.com/
Deck ideas and meta info: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/
Less-proven/currently brewing deck ideas: https://twitter.com/ArenaDecklists
Competitive reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/
Currently active promo codes: https://draftsim.com/mtg-arena-promo-codes/
Submit a ticket (for reimbursement after something you paid for breaks): https://mtgarena-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/requests/new




Welcome to the good one. Many of the common complaints about other CCGs go back to limitations those games placed on themselves due to technology at the time.

The upside is you get to play on your opponent’s turn. Spend some time getting used to the phases of each turn. Google “priority” in MTG terms, and get used to the idea of the stack and how triggers work (and resolve).

Combat works very differently in Magic than in many other digital CCGs. Most people here will tell you it’s better. Functionally it makes games a bit slower, but also a LOT less snowbally.



Welcome back! Many people used the Arena launch as an on-ramp back into a game they found too time- or cash-consuming. The good news is Arena is, in fact, MUCH less time- and cash- consuming.

You give up the ability to “cash out” your physical collection, so the game is 0% investment. It's NOT a CCG. It's a video game. There's no market to play or groundfloors to get in on. But for most people, $20-30 each set will go a long way toward making this a full Magic experience.

Now go check the price of a Scalding Tarn.

Let’s get started!

What can I do?

Magic is split broadly into two formats: constructed and limited. Constructed is decks you bring with you (standard, Brawl, pauper), limited is decks you build as part of the event (booster draft, sealed). Every constructed event has its own rules about deck construction.

Both constructed and limited offer Best of One (Bo1) and Best of Three (Bo3) modes. In general, Bo1 offers faster, more varied, and more random play. Bo1 is how most digital games are played, and is best for when you want to jam games for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s more random, so DO NOT GET SALTY about Bo1.

Bo3 offers longer, more strategic matches. Bo3 is how paper Magic is played in tournaments, so many familiar players prefer it. It takes more time and meta knowledge than Bo1, but it’s still very much Magic, so DO NOT GET SALTY about Bo3.

There is a limited ladder and a constructed ladder. Bo1 and Bo3 share a ladder, but will not queue into each other (obviously).

What is the ladder?

Ladder is similar to most other games. You win and go up, you lose and go down. The rank tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Mythic) have floors, so you can’t drop from Gold to Silver, but you can drop from Gold 1 to Gold 2. If you are having trouble in the unranked queue, jumping into ranked might be a great idea. Ranked will pair you with other people who are just starting out (or who are just coming back from a long break).

The rewards for ladder are intentionally VERY flat. The difference between Plat and Mythic is several hundred games played and only a few packs in rewards. This is the game’s way of telling you, “Plat 4 is fine, chill out and play what and when you want.”

Let me yell this from the rafters: If you are playing a reasonably competitive deck reasonably well, your rank prior to Mythic is a function of your time played more than your skill. R E LA X

How does the economy work?

There are a handful of currencies in Arena.

Gold is the hand-out currency, and it is most-commonly earned by completing your daily quests. You can spend gold on packs (1000 gold = one pack) or on events (5,000 gold for entry into one booster draft being the most popular, some tournament-structured events have gold buy-ins).

Gems are the in-app-purchase currency. You will most likely acquire them via paying money into the game. They also are granted as a reward for doing well in certain events. The most reliable way to convert gold into gems by using gold to enter Ranked Draft mode.

Experience is earned by completing quests, participating in events, cashing in codes, and winning games (up to a 15-game-per-week cap, rotating on Sunday morning, EST). Experience earns you free packs in the Mastery system.

Orbs are earned along the Mastery system, as well, and are used for unlocking the cosmetic versions of cards.

What is the Mastery system?

The Mastery system is Arena’s answer to season passes. On the free path, you earn a pack of the newest set every other level, plus some cosmetic Orbs. Paying the gem-equivalent of $20 gets you the season pass, which has larger and more varied rewards, plus a few other cosmetic trinkets.

How do I craft cards?

Opening packs earns you Wild Cards. You collect Wild Cards of every rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Mythic), which you spend in the collection manager to acquire individual cards. You earn an uncommon and a rare wild card every six packs you open, and a mythic every fifth time around the circle. You can also open a Wild Card IN the pack (as in your rare for pack is a rare wild card). A rare wildcard is the best thing you can open.

There is duplicate protection in place on rare and mythic cards. You WILL NOT open a rare or mythic card of which you already own a playset (4 copies). The game simply rerolls that card in the background for you. Common and uncommon cards do not have duplicate protection.

Every common and uncommon you open past your 4th goes a small percentage toward unlocking your Vault. When the Vault hits 100% you get a little treasure chest in your top bar; clicking it gives you a small handful of Wild Cards. You start building toward your next vault immediately, whether you click the chest immediately or not. In practice, don’t worry too much about the Vault, it’ll just happen on its own about once per set and the rewards are relatively small.

How do I build a collection?

How you build your collection will depend on your goals and how you want to play. If you love to play constructed, spend your gold on packs. Packs lead to Wild Cards, which are what you use to craft your stuff. 5,000 gold is five swings at opening a card you need, plus moves you nearly all the way around to unlocking a rare Wild Card.

If you love to draft, spend your gold on drafts. You will earn wild cards more slowly this way, but you need them less because you primarily want to draft. 5,000 will give you any rares you draft, but only the packs you open as rewards will go toward your Wild Card wheel.

Craft cards you want to play in decks you expect to be fun. If you want to craft a card you currently own zero copies of, click over to the search interface and click on the toggle for cards not yet in your collection. They'll show up dark in the UI to show you don't have any, but you can craft them from here.

FAQ

I’m brand new ...

First off, I'll repeat this link from above. Every set has its own promo code for some free packs, and they'll occasionally put out codes for other freebies. After you finish the new-player stuff, go try every code on this page:

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

OK, done. I'm brand new, what deck should I build?

This is far and away the most-asked question, and also the hardest one to answer in an OP. Intro decks are going to change nearly every set, and “what deck is good?” is going to change a lot more often than that. So here’s a link:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard#paper

This contains the best information for what decks and cards are good at any given moment. It has recent tournament results, broad strokes at the current meta, and playable budget decks.

Look for cards that fit both into some of the budget lists and the current meta, and start there.

If you just want to play games to win, there’s almost always a common/uncommon heavy aggro deck that focuses on a handful of rares and a basic-heavy manabase. Seek it out. Feel free to ask the thread. We'd rather steer you in the right direction than have you spend all your new-player Wild Cards on a deck that is not going to be fun.

I want to spend some money, what’s the best way to do it?

Finish the New Player Experience completely to unlock the starter decks and cards, then buy the intro bundle. Its contents will probably change from set to set, but it’s always going to be the best value starting out.

Can I go infinite like on MTGO?

Probably not, it’s much harder in Arena.

Are they going to put in old sets?

Yes! The long-term plan is for Pioneer to be playable on Arena (see "What is Explorer?" section below). This means some large chunks of cards need to be dropped into the game. The plan was originally to rush Pioneer onto Arena, but the rising popularity of Historic and the success of the release of pre-launch sets seems to have shifted priorities behind the scenes. Right now, we seem to be alternating between dumping large sets of non-Pioneer cards into Historic (via Jumpstarts and other supplemental products) and releasing "Remastered" sets for blocks that were published into Pioneer before Arena launched. Explorer is here. Pioneer is coming. The timeline for that full transition is measured in years, not months.

What is Alchemy?

In early 2022, Wizards launched a new Arena-only format (a "Live" format, in WotC terms) named Alchemy. The format is parallel to Standard, sharing rotations and largely sharing cardpools, however Alchemy includes digital-only cards: specifically cards in Standard that have been adjusted for power level and cards introduced specifically for Alchemy. As Historic is also a Live format, all powerlevel changes to Standard cards also carry over to Historic. We haven't seen a rotation yet to determine if those cards will come "un-nerfed" when they rotate Standard/Alchemy.

What is rotation?

Every year in the fall, Magic releases a new set. And with the fall set’s release, we rotate all the sets from 2 years ago out of Standard. So with the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt in Fall 2021, standard will include the following sets:

Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Strixhaven, D&D: AFR, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, as well as any Premier sets that release before Fall 2022.

What is Historic?

Historic is the non-rotating "legacy-ish" format of Arena. It comprises every card available on Arena, starting with the game's open beta launch. Historic will eventually include the complete card list of Pioneer, but also has had larger releases of cards specifically for Historic that mostly have comprised cards not legal in Pioneer. The overall idea is, "If you can play it on Arena, you can play it in Historic."

Historic, of course, maintains its own banlist, along with a "Suspended" list. Suspended cards are on time out as the team decides whether to remove them permanently from the format (potentially resulting in wild card refunds) or let them back in once the format has gotten more powerful. Cards have actually returned from suspension: Field of the Dead returned (and was eventually banned), Burning-Tree Emissary was unsuspended and has been unproblematic.

What is Explorer?

Explorer is the non-rotating "Pioneer-ish" format on Arena. It comprises all Pioneer-legal cards currently implemented in Arena. The plan is to introduce all the relevant cards for Pioneer over a few years, then eventually retire the name Explorer and just call it Pioneer, aligning it with paper and MTGO. Explorer is a paper-aligning format. Alchemy changes are not live, and its banlist will largely match Pioneer until the Explorer-to-Pioneer transition is possible. Explorers lead to Pioneers, get it?

What is the most efficient way to break into Historic as a newer player?

kalel posted:

there were historic cards released in special "historic anthology" sets which you could buy in bundles, but there were also events called "jumpstart" which introduced new cards into arena. those cards could only be acquired by playing the jumpstart event (basically you choose two precons with one or two rares each and combine them into a deck, the contents of which were added to your collection) or by spending WC's. (one fucky thing is that the second jumpstart added some modern horizons 1 and 2 cards but these aren't searchable in the collection search interface, you need to manually type set:mh1 or set:mh2 into the search bar to see these)

if you're looking to buy packs specifically to break into historic, there's no real "best" set in terms of staples. most tier 1 decks use cards from all across the arena card pool. the real benefit to cracking packs is accruing wildcards, especially rare wild cards; opening six packs completes the "wildcard wheel" and nets you a guaranteed rare/mythic wc and uncommon wc, plus there's a chance you get bonus WCs of any rarity in any pack.

that being said, eldraine and ikoria are probably the most dense in terms of historic-usable rares but only by a very small percentage. my personal recommendation is to open standard packs, or better yet, draft the current set, because you get the same amount of WCs as packs from any other set, and WCs are the real bottleneck for constructed decks on arena; plus, by getting standard legal cards from the packs you open, it opens up the opportunity to play standard formats that use the standard card pool, especially brawl, which is a great format for beginners to accomplish dailies since you only need one copy of each card you want.

one last thing. A new format, alchemy, was introduced with a special anthology-esque collection of online-only cards with essentially hearthstone-lite mechanics, e.g. "put a random creature card of any on arena into your hand." these cards can currently only be created by using WC's, and not only are they legal in historic, but they've significantly impacted the metagame. wotc is also starting to apply monthly online-only balance updates to both these cards and real life standard-legal cards—these balance updates apply to the arena-only formats, which are alchemy and historic (and their derivatives). What this means is that if you craft a card, know that 1) you get the rebalanced version, for use in historic and alchemy, in addition to the paper version, for use in standard, and 2) wotc does NOT (currently) provide wildcard refunds for rebalanced cards. You may craft a card only for its text (in historic and alchemy) to be changed with the next update, and you're out those resources. Craft at your own risk.

now somebody stick this in the op so I don't have to type it all out again

What's the deal with packs?

If you came from paper, you're familiar with 15-card boosters. Arena introduces 8-card boosters as well, and they perform different functions. When you buy a pack with gold or earn it through a reward you get an 8-card pack. This has duplicate protection and advances your Wild Card wheels. You can open Wild Cards in these packs.

The 15-card packs still exist, but only as part of limited. There is no duplicate protection and opening them does not advance your Wild Card wheels. If you draft (or open in a Sealed pool) a rare or mythic you already have four copies of, you'll play the event with that card and be given some gems to compensate.

Where do I submit a reimbursement request? Just had a draft stall and fail on P1P12. (Or similar game-breaking bugs.)

https://mtgarena-support.wizards.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

What is everybody talking about?

Often, players will refer to their deck’s colors by the officially sanctioned WotC names.

The Guilds (introduced in Ravnica block):

White + Blue = Azorius
Blue + Black = Dimir
Black + Red = Rakdos
Red + Green = Gruul
Green + White = Selesnya
White + Black = Orzhov
Blue + Red = Izzet
Black + Green = Golgari
Red + White = Boros
Green + Blue = Simic

The shards (introduced in Shards of Alara block, representing a color and the two colors it’s touching on the color wheel):

Red + green + black = Jund
White + green + blue = Bant
Black + red + blue = Grixis
Green + white + red = Naya
Blue + white + black = Esper

The wedges (introduced in Khans of Tarkir, representing a color and the two colors it is NOT touching on the color wheel):

Blue + red + white = Jeskai
Red + white + black = Mardu
Black + green + blue = Sultai
Green + blue + red = Temur
White + black + green = Abzan

Four- and five-color have some informal names but nothing yet set in stone.

Huxley fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Aug 6, 2022

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Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky
Ground floor! Also just did my last omni-draft. 2 out of 3 losses had T1 duress. Sad times. 1 out of 6 wins had T1 duress, but they missed.

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib
My last Quic k Draft loving sucked. Only game I won involved getting 2x Act of Treason in my opening hand and was able to use that to put some heavy damage on my opponent. Other than that I got loving smoked.

SalTheBard fucked around with this message at 18:24 on May 15, 2020

Oceanbound
Jan 19, 2008

Time to let the dead be dead.
hello my favorite constructed streamer is Jim Davis and my favorite draft streamer is Numot and my favorite planeswalker streamer is Kaya

Funkdreamer
Jul 15, 2005

It'll be a blast
Horse: "I'm just a horse, I cannot give you any further assistance"

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

Funkdreamer posted:

Horse: "I'm just a horse, I cannot give you any further assistance"

resistentialism
Aug 13, 2007

The best worst part of this game is counting all your lands for an X spell without mousing over your lands so your opponent doesn't get to know that you're counting all your lands.

Paul Zuvella
Dec 7, 2011

resistentialism posted:

The best worst part of this game is counting all your lands for an X spell without mousing over your lands so your opponent doesn't get to know that you're counting all your lands.

You can just like, use your eyeballs

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



Sometimes I get paranoid about mousing over the opponent's library or my graveyard and I'm like, what if they would have missed my plan except for that tell

Jabor
Jul 16, 2010

#1 Loser at SpaceChem
The worst part is trying to remember how many differently-named lands you have left in your deck so you know how many you can sacrifice.

Network42
Oct 23, 2002
To continue the theme my last omnidraft was miserable, just a pile of crap with nothing good, 0-3. It was a real downer because I ran probably a good 10 drafts and my worst record prior was 4-3.

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib

resistentialism posted:

The best worst part of this game is counting all your lands for an X spell without mousing over your lands so your opponent doesn't get to know that you're counting all your lands.

I wish there was a "Tap leftovers for X" feature

Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




untapped.gg has a deck tracker app you can use to see what's still in your deck

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

resistentialism posted:

The best worst part of this game is counting all your lands for an X spell without mousing over your lands so your opponent doesn't get to know that you're counting all your lands.

Lone Goat posted:

untapped.gg has a deck tracker app you can use to see what's still in your deck

It also has a thing that says how many lands you have on the board so you don't have to count em up

Doltos
Dec 28, 2005

🤌🤌🤌

How have I never thought of this

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

Doltos posted:

How have I never thought of this

Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




zoux posted:

It also has a thing that says how many lands you have on the board so you don't have to count em up

HOLY poo poo

Funky Valentine
Feb 26, 2014

Dojyaa~an

It's time to take Curious Obsession and Tempest Djinn out for their last rodeo.

Huxley
Oct 10, 2012



Grimey Drawer
I'm going to jam Ferocidon into every deck possible for the next three weeks.

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky

Huxley posted:

I'm going to jam Ferocidon into every deck possible for the next three weeks.

Mono-blue Ferocidon is peak meta-buster. Trust me.

Huxley
Oct 10, 2012



Grimey Drawer

Cynic Jester posted:

Mono-blue Ferocidon is peak meta-buster. Trust me.

Cynic Jester
Apr 11, 2009

Let's put a simile on that face
A dazzling simile
Twinkling like the night sky

It wouldn't be peak meta-buster if everyone was running it. :cmon:

resistentialism
Aug 13, 2007

I'm back playing boros star of extinction decks in the casual queue, it's good.

AngryBooch
Sep 26, 2009
Ya'll ready for... food tokens?

Bedurndurn
Dec 4, 2008
This is clearly the fault of whoever wanted to run the Horse Tribal deck.

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

Horses gotta eat, I don't make the rules

I guess food tokens are gonna be the new treasures

GrandpaPants
Feb 13, 2006


Free to roam the heavens in man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness of the universe!

3cc to take control of an opponent's creature in exchange for giving them food (assuming food is an artifact) seems pretty good?

Waffleopolis
Apr 24, 2005

It's time....for the MAIN event!
Oko looks strong. Whatever food tokens do can help, the +1 can be used on your own 1/1 tokens to beef them up for aggro and can remove major threats your opponent has, and the -5 can help you too. I wonder if we'll get more permanents that will have a negative impact on your side of the field that would make the ult more useful.

Justin_Brett
Oct 23, 2012

GAMERDOME put down LOSER
I guess there's food in a lot of fairy tales? But the ones I can think of all seem pretty specific in their uses to justify making it a mechanic.

flatluigi
Apr 23, 2008

here come the planes
https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1168992065994334208

for reference, the non-showcase border vs this showcase border from a few weeks back

Rhaegar
Jul 16, 2006
I feel like it's going to be pretty jarring to go from the a theme around the ultimate battle between the planeswalkers and nicol bolas to a theme around generating food tokens to pump your fairytale minions.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Just quite a contrast.

Funky Valentine
Feb 26, 2014

Dojyaa~an

"I went 0-3 five drafts in a row? It must be the work of..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUrkEOa1rR8

Spiderdrake
May 12, 2001



Rhaegar posted:

I feel like it's going to be pretty jarring to go from the a theme around the ultimate battle between the planeswalkers and nicol bolas to a theme around generating food tokens to pump your fairytale minions.
I mean we went from the penultimate battle between the planeswalker team vs nicol bolas which the latter won to merfolk and treasure tokens while Jace got abs and a gorgon girlfriend.

No you're right this is more jarring, but Wizards doesn't seem to get transitions.

Kashuno
Oct 9, 2012

Where the hell is my SWORD?
Grimey Drawer

flatluigi posted:

https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1168992065994334208

for reference, the non-showcase border vs this showcase border from a few weeks back



That is a really busy card. I wonder how it works because I'm kinda confused on how I'm supposed to read it

Veib
Dec 10, 2007


I'm playing Esper Control. Opponent plays turn 3 Unmoored Ego and chooses Teferi...

...

... Timebender and concedes immediately.

Gareth Gobulcoque
Jan 10, 2008



Played against a dude in draft with, rare chandra, uncommon chandra, drakuseth, omnath, risen reef, and what seems like all elementals, congrats on your draft.

zoux
Apr 28, 2006

Veib posted:

I'm playing Esper Control. Opponent plays turn 3 Unmoored Ego and chooses Teferi...

...

... Timebender and concedes immediately.

I've definitely picked the wrong Nicol Bolas before

This drove me up the wall in HS but it's worse in MTG, when your salty opponent ragequits out of the game and leaves you to sit there for three minutes until all the ropes have roped

Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




Kashuno posted:

That is a really busy card. I wonder how it works because I'm kinda confused on how I'm supposed to read it

the non-promo version will likely have reminder text explaining what the heck is happening here

sephiRoth IRA
Jun 13, 2007

"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."

-Carl Sagan

Kashuno posted:

That is a really busy card. I wonder how it works because I'm kinda confused on how I'm supposed to read it

Yeah, what is that Welcome Home mechanic?

Oh, it’s just an activated ability they’re calling welcome home. Is that any different than a standard ability?

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Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




sephiRoth IRA posted:

Yeah, what is that Welcome Home mechanic?

Oh, it’s just an activated ability they’re calling welcome home. Is that any different than a standard ability?

seems like it's not an ability called "welcome home" but a sorcery called "welcome home"

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