MTG: Arena

Chimney

Trakanon Raider
1,652
1,167
Maybe some of the suits were finally convinced that this F2P stuff can bring in gigantic piles of cash if you stop being cunts about your model.

Eh I feel like most people who were on the fence about spending $$ are still not going to do so and will just find something else to bitch about and those that are/were would do so regardless and this is just an added bonus. 5th card issue hasn't really done anything to prevent me from gathering the cards I want since I pop packs so regularly that I'm able to build a new deck or modify existing ones every two weeks or so with wildcards. The change will likely have me doing more gem events though with the rare/mythic conversion.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Arbitrary

Tranny Chaser
27,089
71,685
Eh I feel like most people who were on the fence about spending $$ are still not going to do so and will just find something else to bitch about and those that are/were would do so regardless and this is just an added bonus. 5th card issue hasn't really done anything to prevent me from gathering the cards I want since I pop packs so regularly that I'm able to build a new deck or modify existing ones every two weeks or so with wildcards. The change will likely have me doing more gem events though with the rare/mythic conversion.

There's another way of looking at it. Without a decent F2P ecosystem the whales don't have as many people to to leverage their wallet against. If they can't leverage their wallet they'll move on to something else. A fair model in a decent game that provides the pauper with a reasonable shot at victory in any particular match is what you're looking for. They feel satisfaction when they win on their terms even if it's stacked against them and the big spenders win their share as well. Magic is certainly a game that is able to provide that experience.
 

a_skeleton_02

<Banned>
8,130
14,248
Duplicate protection is pretty huge because I was debating buying in since I'm spending a lot of time playing this game even with a $5 initial buy in.

I want two Nexus of Fate to build tefari but didn't want to get fucked over cracking packs for nothing
 

Chimney

Trakanon Raider
1,652
1,167
Duplicate protection is pretty huge because I was debating buying in since I'm spending a lot of time playing this game even with a $5 initial buy in.

I want two Nexus of Fate to build tefari but didn't want to get fucked over cracking packs for nothing

How big is your collection though? I am at like 80% unique and still need 2kish cards to have a full collection currently and that is with pretty light spend. $125 since release.

My last 30 packs looked like this -

50 cards were 5th copy of various rarity.
4 mythic wildcards
5 rare wildcards
9 uncommon wildcards
10 common wildcards

Plus whatever wildcards you get for popping the packs.

In my opinion that is a great haul. I don't even notice the 5th copy losses as all that matters is the wildcards when I'm deck building and at this point most of what I don't have are cards that will never see play.

If your collection is smaller you're likely not going to get anywhere near the 50 5th copies I received in 30 packs unless you have some real funky RNG and also mine was probably pretty high since they were all Ravnica packs and I'm pretty much tapped on that set. If I opened RIX or something I'd have almost no 5th copies.
 

a_skeleton_02

<Banned>
8,130
14,248
How big is your collection though? I am at like 80% unique and still need 2kish cards to have a full collection currently and that is with pretty light spend. $125 since release.

My last 30 packs looked like this -

50 cards were 5th copy of various rarity.
4 mythic wildcards
5 rare wildcards
9 uncommon wildcards
10 common wildcards

Plus whatever wildcards you get for popping the packs.

In my opinion that is a great haul. I don't even notice the 5th copy losses as all that matters is the wildcards when I'm deck building and at this point most of what I don't have are cards that will never see play.

If your collection is smaller you're likely not going to get anywhere near the 50 5th copies I received in 30 packs unless you have some real funky RNG.

It all depends really, I've always bought what I needed in paper and I have an extensive collection modern and vintage.

I hate buying packs but I'd have no problem dropping the $100 on every new set in arena. My main hold back was no bo3 ranked no detailed tournament plans and blackholing duplicates.

Looks like they resolved 2/3 so I'm ready to rock
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,239
OK, so after that set rotation, the current cards will disappear from our profiles, or just not be playable with certain formats? Sorry if these are dumb questions; I never played competitive MTG so I"m not familiar with how the sets and blocks work.

They've mentioned that they will probably make a new Arena Standard format that includes all cards released since Ixalan. Dev quote was something like "don't worry, you WILL still be able to play with all the cards you currently have.. we just haven't worked out the details yet."
 

Kiroy

Marine Biologist
<Bronze Donator>
34,614
99,891
Maybe some of the suits were finally convinced that this F2P stuff can bring in gigantic piles of cash if you stop being cunts about your model.

maybe

I have a feeling they're growing much faster than they expected and will do anything to hold onto that growth rate, which means pandering to almost all major complaints. I'm wondering how rosy everything will be in a couple years when we are a few cycles in and they're figuring out how to get people to spend money in order to play what I guess i'll call 'arena modern'

We should also keep in mind, with this iteration of the game being so young, all future plans are going to live and die depending on if they can grow and keep an active user base. No point at all in adding a 'arena modern' if it's splitting up a user base more and people can't queue into matches in a reasonable amount of time. If they have the userbase, they could get all sorts of payed events going at the same time and have different game modes and just keep growing.

We'll see, i'm really dang happy with everything they said though, and i'll start drafting again if the algo is unfucked. Look forward to dropping a couple hundred bucks on packs in a few days.
 
Last edited:
  • 3Like
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 3 users

Pooch

Lord Nagafen Raider
86
25
I feel like any f2p pc game should just look at riot and that’s all you need, arena could rotate free entry events to get people in like league does champions and offer packs and cosmetic cards in the store aka guru lands full art bs etc for the whales but still able to buy with gold if you play enough, something along those line shouldn’t be hard
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,239
wow today has been brutal to me. i've gone 3-12 so far. about ready to throw my cards across the room. except they're digital.
 

a_skeleton_02

<Banned>
8,130
14,248
I think every 5th copy of a card should just be foil, put some glisten effect on it.

This way whales would even craft cards 5,6,7,8 for foils.

Once you have 8 of the same card then you can't get it anymore.
 
  • 1Solidarity
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 users

Kiroy

Marine Biologist
<Bronze Donator>
34,614
99,891
I think every 5th copy of a card should just be foil, put some glisten effect on it.

This way whales would even craft cards 5,6,7,8 for foils.

Once you have 8 of the same card then you can't get it anymore.

Thats a great idea.
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,239
What's your decklist?
What rank? What deck? Maybe we can help.

a bunch of different decks. been netdecking, copying decks with the best W/L ratio from MTGArenaPro... as best i can anyway, didn't have enough wildcards to make perfect copies.

White Weenie:

1 Legion's Landing (XLN) 22
21 Plains (RIX) 192
4 Healer's Hawk (GRN) 14
4 Leonin Vanguard (M19) 22
4 Skymarcher Aspirant (RIX) 21
4 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (M19) 3
3 Benalish Marshal (DAR) 6
3 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
4 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Venerated Loxodon (GRN) 30
4 Haazda Marshal (GRN) 13
4 Ajani's Pridemate (M19) 5

RDW:

4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
20 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Ghitu Lavarunner (DAR) 127
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
3 Runaway Steam-Kin (GRN) 115
4 Viashino Pyromancer (M19) 166
4 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
4 Risk Factor (GRN) 113
4 Wizard's Lightning (DAR) 152
1 Experimental Frenzy (GRN) 99
4 Arclight Phoenix (GRN) 91

Dimir Midrange:

4 Thoughtbound Phantasm (GRN) 55
9 Island (RIX) 193
4 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
9 Swamp (RIX) 194
4 Doom Whisperer (GRN) 69
4 Dimir Spybug (GRN) 166
4 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
4 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
4 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
2 Detection Tower (M19) 249
3 Dive Down (XLN) 53
4 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
3 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
3 Golden Demise (RIX) 73

Izzet Drakes

2 Opt (XLN) 65
7 Island (RIX) 193
2 Opt (DAR) 60
5 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Shock (M19) 156
3 Chart a Course (XLN) 48
3 Radical Idea (GRN) 52
3 Lava Coil (GRN) 108
3 Goblin Electromancer (GRN) 174
4 Enigma Drake (M19) 216
3 Crackling Drake (GRN) 163
3 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
4 Arclight Phoenix (GRN) 91
4 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
4 Sulfur Falls (DAR) 247
1 Izzet Guildgate (GRN) 251
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun (GRN) 192
3 Dive Down (XLN) 53

Mono Blue Tempo:

4 Mist-Cloaked Herald (RIX) 43
21 Island (RIX) 193
4 Dive Down (XLN) 53
2 Opt (XLN) 65
2 Opt (DAR) 60
4 Siren Stormtamer (XLN) 79
2 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
4 Merfolk Trickster (DAR) 56
2 Warkite Marauder (RIX) 60
4 Tempest Djinn (DAR) 68
4 Wizard's Retort (DAR) 75
4 Curious Obsession (RIX) 35
2 Chart a Course (XLN) 48
1 Sleep (M19) 74

once in awhile this WG Angel deck i brewed myself...

Earth Angel:

3 Resplendent Angel (M19) 34
5 Plains (RIX) 192
3 Shalai, Voice of Plenty (DAR) 35
3 Lyra Dawnbringer (DAR) 26
3 Serra's Guardian (M19) 284
4 Forest (RIX) 196
4 Adventurous Impulse (DAR) 153
3 Sunpetal Grove (XLN) 257
4 Tranquil Expanse (M19) 259
3 Selesnya Guildgate (GRN) 255
4 Rabid Bite (M19) 195
4 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168
4 Pelt Collector (GRN) 141
2 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Ixalan's Binding (XLN) 17
4 Druid of the Cowl (M19) 177
3 Memorial to Unity (DAR) 245
2 Settle the Wreckage (XLN) 34

started today Gold Rank 3, a couple bars from moving up to 2. now i've bottomed out at Gold Rank 4.

i hope it's just bad luck. maybe i'm just a bad.
 

Chimney

Trakanon Raider
1,652
1,167
This is what I run for white weenie.

4 Legion's Landing (XLN) 22
18 Plains (RIX) 192
4 Healer's Hawk (GRN) 14
4 Snubhorn Sentry
4 Skymarcher Aspirant (RIX) 21
4 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
4 Benalish Marshal (DAR) 6
4 Venerated Loxodon (GRN) 30
4 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
4 Make a Stand
2 Gird for Battle
4 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6

If you want to run your Ajani package I would make these changes since it's not as fast as the standard ascend package and you need the life gain to survive/get big/generate angel tokens.

22 Plains (RIX) 192
4 Healer's Hawk (GRN) 14
4 Leonin Vanguard (M19) 22
4 Dauntless Bodyguard
4 Resplendent Angel
4 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
4 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
4 Ajani's Pridemate (M19) 5
4 Ajani's Welcome
2 Seal Away
2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (M19) 3
2 Settle the Wreckage

Mono R - I am not sure what you're going for with the arclights? Is that a new thing I missed meta wise or you just trying to see if it works?

20 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
4 Ghitu Lavarunner (DAR) 127
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
4 Runaway Steam-Kin (GRN) 115
4 Viashino Pyromancer (M19) 166
4 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
4 Risk Factor (GRN) 113
4 Wizard's Lightning (DAR) 152
3 Experimental Frenzy (GRN) 99
1 Rekindling Phoenix

I don't play dimir - closest thing I do is u/b pirates which is great against creature heavy decks, but suffers a bit against control. It's still one of my favorites to play.

4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
4 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
1 Detection Tower (M19) 249
1 Memorial to Folly (DAR) 242
8 Island (RIX) 193
4 Swamp (RIX) 194
4 Dive Down (XLN) 53
2 Essence Scatter (M19) 54
4 Wizard's Retort (DAR) 75
4 Curious Obsession (RIX) 35
4 Fungal Infection
4 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 824
4 Siren Stormtamer (XLN) 794
4 Hostage Taker (XLN) 2234
4 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110
4 Plaguecrafter (GRN) 82

Izzet Drake - When this pops off it's a great deck, but I find it to be so/so in bo1. Niv is imo way too slow to play if you aren't doing control.

7 Island (RIX) 193
6 Mountain
1 Izzet Guildgate
4 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
4 Sulfur Falls (DAR) 247
4 Opt (DAR) 60
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Chart a Course (XLN) 48
4 Radical Idea (GRN) 52
3 Lava Coil (GRN) 108
1 Beacon Bolt
4 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
2 Chemisters Insight
4 Goblin Electromancer (GRN) 174
4 Crackling Drake (GRN) 163
4 Arclight Phoenix (GRN) 91

Mono U - I am not a fan of chart a course in this deck for bo1 or stuff like sleep. They are good for sideboard.

20 Island (RIX) 193
4 Mist-Cloaked Herald (RIX) 43
4 Merfolk Trickster (DAR) 56
4 Siren Stormtamer (XLN) 79
4 Merfolk Trickster (DAR) 56
4 Exclusion Mage
4 Tempest Djinn (DAR) 68
4 Wizard's Retort (DAR) 75
4 Curious Obsession (RIX) 35
4 Dive Down (XLN) 53
1 Spell Pierce
1 Negate
2 Essence Scatter

And if you just want to mindlessly grind up out of gold then go rats I am at almost 65% win rate with this cheesy deck in around 200 games played and most games are done by turn 5-6.

4 Drowned Catacombs
4 Watery Grave
12 Swamp
4 Sleep
4 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
32 Rat Colony
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,239
Mono R - I am not sure what you're going for with the arclights? Is that a new thing I missed meta wise or you just trying to see if it works?

mainly just needed something to fill in since i don't have the wildcards for more Steam Kins and Experimental Frenzies. it's actually done alright for me, tho.

gonna try that rat deck because fuck everyone. hope i don't see my opponents cast any Ixalan's Bindings. :D
 

Chimney

Trakanon Raider
1,652
1,167
mainly just needed something to fill in since i don't have the wildcards for more Steam Kins and Experimental Frenzies. it's actually done alright for me, tho.

gonna try that rat deck because fuck everyone. hope i don't see my opponents cast any Ixalan's Bindings. :D

I've never once been ixalan'ed, but soot/cannonade makes me cry. Games are so quick though it doesn't particularly matter. You will know by turn 3-4 if you are going to win.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Kiroy

Marine Biologist
<Bronze Donator>
34,614
99,891
I've never once been ixalan'ed, but soot/cannonade makes me cry. Games are so quick though it doesn't particularly matter. You will know by turn 3-4 if you are going to win.

I love non-counter control, you usually don't know if you're going to win by turn 3-4
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user