First seeing release in fall of 2018, Magic: The Gathering Arena was meant to act as an online simulator for the standard format environment, allowing players to buy packs, build decks, and participate in a variety of tournaments and experimental formats, all from the comfort of their own home. Recently however, with safety concerns regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, Arena has become the primary means for playingMagic: The Gathering worldwide with the game's biggest tournaments switching to the digital format until players can safely gather in person again.
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This means plenty of players are trying out Arena for the first time or returning from some time away. No matter the circ*mstances, here are 10 pro tips to help players get the most out of their experience.
10 Save Your Gems
Gems are the premium currency ofMagic: The Gathering Arena but if a player doesn't feel up to spending money for virtual jewels then they can earn gems in a variety of other ways such as through leveling up their mastery, or through prizes during a draft event. In the case that they get some of these shiny crystals they might feel compelled to spend them as soon as possible but it's best to hold back!
The shop has daily deals that discount the price of cosmetic items so it's in their advantage to save their gems until they spot somethingthat theywant on sale to make the most of it.
9 Re-Roll YourQuests
Besides gems, most players will be wanting to gather gold coins when playing in the Arena. Gold lets players buy packs which are an obvious necessity. The most efficient way to earn gold is through their daily quests. Every dayplayers receive a new quest that will reward them with either 250 or 750 gold coins.
They're usually pretty basic such as attacking with a certain number of creatures or playing a certain number of cards. However, once per day they can swap out one quest for another random quest, this is a feature that should be taken advantage of if they get a 250 gold quest as refreshing it offers the chance of getting an extra 500 gold!
8 Don't Fear Competitive
The 'competitive' label might be frightening to new players, or people who just playMagic: The Gathering for fun but it shouldn't keep them from at least trying it out. The first few ranks in competitive don't vary much from casual play and at the end of each season players get packs and gold just for playing a couple matches so it's well worth any player's while to get as high of a competitive rank as they can to take advantage of the free cards they can grab.
In addition, they may just find thatthey enjoy the opportunity to play in an environment that has higher stakes than the casual matches.
7 Save Your Wildcards
Similar to gems, lots of players will use their wildcards the second they get them, but if a player is trying to build a specific deck, sometimes it can be more efficient to save their wildcards for a little bit. Using their gold to get a few packs first because they never know what they might pull from them.
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It's deeply frustrating for players who use up their hard earned wildcards only to get the same cards that they just crafted in the very next pack. Generally, players should wait until they've spent all their gold for a day before using their wildcards just to be safe.
6 Look Out For The Vault
A mostly secret feature in Arena is the Wildcard Vault. Players might notice that even after getting four copies of a card it will still show up in packs. That's because it's contributing to the Vault.
The fifth and higher timethey pull a common or uncommon card from a pack, they'll have points added to the vault, 1 point for a common, and 3 points for an uncommon. It takes quite a while but after accruing 1000 points the vault will open it's doors and give them several wildcards, 1 mythic rare, 2 rares, and 3 uncommons as reward for their dedication.
5 Keep An Eye Out For Codes
In the shop page players can find the option to enter promotional codes, lots of these are strings of random numbers and letters that can be found by buying sealedMagic: The Gathering products like Planeswalker Decks, but some of them are free for anybody to use.
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The codes 'PlayM21' 'PlayIkoria' 'PlayTheros' and 'PlayEldraine' will give players three free packs of each of their respective sets for example, plenty to begin a sizeable collection of cards. More codes are being found all the time so players should make sure to keeptheireyes peeled.
4 Try Playing Brawl
A lesser known format, Brawl is inspired by the fan madeEDH. Each player chooses a legendary creature or planeswalker and can cast them at any time during the game but in turn, their deck can't have more than one copy of any given card, and the player can only use cards of a color that appears on their chosen creature or planeswalker.
Brawl is usually only available on Wednesdays in the arena but if players have the chance it's well worth checking it out, one ofMagic: The Gathering's greatest strengths is it's variety of formats.
3 Workshops Are Your Friend
On occasionplayers might notice a notification about a 'Workshop', these are special events that usually last for one or two days and have special rules that are often things they'd never see in their usual game ofMagic.
Players use preconstructed decks for these events and just winning one match is enough to earn them plenty of gold and experience points. Since entry is free there's no reason not to play.
2 Draft When You Can
Drafts have pretty steep entry fees whether players pay in gold or in gems, but they're well worth the cost since not only are they getting three packs worth of cards but they get a certain degree of choice as to which cardsthey get from the packs.
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Sometimes players will be lucky enough to get a free draft token in which case they should use it as soon as they have the chance since every win that they get with a draft deck nets them more prizes with the possibility of fully reimbursing their entrance fee.
1 Don't Worry Too Much
In the end, Magic: The Gatheringis a game and win or lose, it's important that a player has fun. Players shouldn't spend too much time concerning themselves with competitive strategies if they don't want to play competitively, they should just find a deck or some cards that they like and play using those.
Chances are good that they'll have a lot better of a time if they are playing with a deck that they enjoy than if they are forcing themselves to use one of the absolute top tier strategies.
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