Magic the Gathering Arena

[Multi-headed Cow]

Banned and restricted hitting historic: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl...banned-and-restricted-announcement-2020-07-13

TLDR summary: Agent of Treachery banned, Winota banned, Fires of Invention banned, Nexus of Fate banned, Burning Tree Emissary suspended.

Should be (SUPPOSEDLY) full wildcard refunds on the 4 banned cards, so if you want to craft a playset of whatever you're missing you'll essentially have the cards for free for brawl or if they ever get unbanned in MTGA formats. Ban goes live on the 16th so get in there. I'm going to hope I get wildcard refunds at least since I've got 0 nexus and 1 Winota and I'm going to go craft everything now.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

for the first time I havent seen any explicit wording like 'hey, wildcards!'
so im vary.

FYI nexus wildcard giveaway already happened in past

They actually did have "Hey, wildcards!" on Agent, Winota, and Fires.

Nexus is iffy since that was mentioned after the "Hey, wildcards!" bit, but since I assume a fair few people have crafted nexus after the standard/historic BO1 ban specifically to play it in BO3, I assume they'd have to offer wildcards. Would be kind of outrageous if they didn't.

 

[new fucking guy]

don't like the bans, but tbh I never do. I sometimes play no bans modern unironically
feels like they're making historic another urofest. BTE felt just about as oppresive as growth spiral in standard, which I consider perfectly fine for a rotating format, and suspect but more defining than oppresive for nonrotating ones

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

It's obviously fantabulous tempo when it works. You get to counter shit and still draw cards with my little sailor, or drop a nightshagger, or a shoreshark...etc. but you already know that.
I've seen people use it a lot, and they always make a sad panda when I Dispute or Quench it.

You should totally use it if the ladder is filled with midrange value grinders that don't use counterspells themselves. Like the Cultivate into Nissa, then ramp into Ulgix crap that seems to be popular.
Start with two. Maybe keep two more in the sideboard if it's Bo3 and you think the matchup allows you to use them.
It obviously sucks neger cock when you're on the draw, vs. aggro, or when there is <4 cmc shit that absolutely need countering (this also includes tereferi). I played a few games in upper Platinum yesterday, and it was all RDW, so
probably not the best card for such an environment.

Instead, I'd recommend looking into Lofty Denial. Worst case scenario, an overcosted Force Spike should still counter things, as people tend to play on cuver, and it's easy to immediately turn it into a better Mana Leak
(which is a great card for this type of deck) by dropping a Sailor (might justify playing 4), or Gelded Geese.

 

[Thac0]

Lofty Denial is incredible, I am brewing an Izzet Stormwing Entity/Sprite Dragon/Crackledrake deck with 4x Lofty and 3x winged words.
Shapes up to be just a stronger version of that Sprite Dragon/Raking Claws tempo deck I posted earlier.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

O SHIT!


2000 gold/400 gems per run hell yeah this is fucking sweet I'm so hyped I'll be playing this shit all the time if it's reasonably balanced (i'm assuming there's event rewards if there's no event rewards delete earlier message and replace with: FUCK THIS and FUCK YOU WOTC eat my SHIT)

 

[Thac0]

O SHIT!


2000 gold/400 gems per run hell yeah this is fucking sweet I'm so hyped I'll be playing this shit all the time if it's reasonably balanced (i'm assuming there's event rewards if there's no event rewards delete earlier message and replace with: FUCK THIS and FUCK YOU WOTC eat my SHIT)

Event rewards are 2 random rare or mythic cards. Pretty damn sweet garnish on top of the usual 1000 gold per booster rate. Probably better than buying normal boosters for collection speed even if you dont get Wildcard advancements. Cant fail the event either, its play until you start a new draft. The two ICRs are guaranteed.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Event rewards are 2 random rare or mythic cards. Pretty damn sweet garnish on top of the usual 1000 gold per booster rate.

WTF no gold/gem rewards? can't go infinite?
read: FUCK THIS and FUCK YOU WOTC eat my SHIT

Spoiler

still playing until i get my god damn dino land tho

Spoiler

suck my dick WOTC 8========================D

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

That's a pretty good price. 2k gold for what's roughly 2 packs and then a couple ICRs sprinkled on top. I guess I should maybe look over the Jumpstart card lists just to see how many cards are new to historic, since if they're in previously Arena-rotated sets I won't be that bothered to get them.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

event rewards are usually unique... unless with this one we will really get 2 ICRs on each 2k spent? Are those ICRs from jumpstart/historic/standard?

I have questions about event itself...
You pick 2 themes, each is packet of 20 cards. Is it constant or random(aka themed booster). Will it actually include any rares?
It appears out of 40 themes you pick 2 out of random 4(not necessarily unique) each time.

This might sound too good to be true... sounds fishy.

also 2k gold is cheaper than 400 gems... weird

The ICRs in the Jumpstart event are ONLY from Jumpstart apparently. Which means you will get some standard-playable stuff too, but a lot's historic only since it's just the rare/mythic slot of Jumpstart cards.

You're offered 3 "Themes" in pick 1, and 3 different "Themes" in pick 2. Each theme booster has set cards but each is guaranteed at least one rare/mythic and every one has a chance at another rare/mythic. Additionally, even though each t heme booster has set cards, there are multiple variations on each theme. So picking "Above the clouds" has 4 potential results. And for example, if you're offered the "Milling" theme, you know you'll get Big Dick Mill Wizard in there since there's only ever a single mythic in mill theme boosters. Your land cosmetics are also varying rarity, though it doesn't impact the rare/mythic slot of other cards and doesn't show on the cards themselves. It's just the blinged out lands will be rarer (Again, supposedly). On the bright side, you can see what your land reward will be when you mouse over each theme booster, so if you see a fancy looking basic land you like you can take that booster.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/jumpstart-decklists-2020-06-18

There's the list of booster variants if you want to look it over. If you want to make the potentially juiciest picks when playing Jumpstart. I abso-fucking-lutely want that mill wizard even though with constructed mill decks I'd probably be better off ignoring creatures entirely, but it's a cool effect and I like mill. Maybe for brawl.

Edit: Though bear in mind those lists from WotC are for paper. Arena has some substitutions, which are as follows

• Chain Lightning -> Lightning Strike
• Lightning Bolt -> Lightning Strike
• Ball Lightning -> Lightning Serpent
• Ajani’s Chosen -> Archon of Sun’s Grace
• Angelic Arbiter -> Serra’s Guardian
• Draconic Roar -> Scorching Dragonfire
• Goblin Lore -> Goblin Oriflamme
• Flametongue -> Kavu Fanatic of Mogis
• Exhume -> Bond of Revival
• Fa’adiyah Seer -> Dryad Greenseeker
• Mausoleum Turnkey -> Audacious Thief
• Path to Exile -> Banishing Light
• Read the Runes -> Gadwick, the Wizened
• Reanimate -> Doomed Necromancer
• Rhystic Study -> Teferi’s Ageless Insight
• Sheoldred, Whispering One -> Carnifex Demon
• Scourge of Nel Toth -> Woe Strider
• Scrounging Bandar -> Pollenbright Druid
• Thought Scour -> Weight of Memory
• Time to Feed -> Prey Upon

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

that makes me extremely happy, although i guess there is no dup protection?

ICRs never have protection as far as I know, so you might end up hitting gems due to ICRs.
I'll probably end up dumping a fair amount of gold on that too. Scooping up the M21 planeswalkers would be decent (Especially if they count toward duplicate protection when cracking M21 packs, which they should even if they're labeled as Jumpstart rather than M21, due to the "Same art duplicate protection" thing they did because of reprinting the temples and fabled passage so soon (Though obviously if you already have playsets that won't stop them showing up in Jumpstart packs since those function like limited packs)) and then grabbing some other odds and ends that look fun. Plus who knows, maybe Jumpstart will be a lot of fun to play too. It does seem suspiciously generous for WotC on the gold price and the ICRs so I'm not sure what's up with that.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

GUESS WHO JUST HIT PLATINUM, BALLERZZZZ

 

[new fucking guy]

Plus who knows, maybe Jumpstart will be a lot of fun to play too. It does seem suspiciously generous for WotC on the gold price and the ICRs so I'm not sure what's up with that.

It's literally drafting precons, nobody would give a shit if not for the historic cards. I know I'd just craft stuff I wanted if they didn't smack icrs on the event.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Thac0]

Its
random 10 card booster with 1 rare+ + 1/6 of a wildcard of a standard legal set
or
random 12 card + 8 land booster with 1-2 rare + 1 rare+ ICR for a nonstandard legal set

The deal is good if you consider Jumpstart the same value as a standard legal set. Bad if not.
The format itself sounds really fun tho.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Thac0]

+ ICR for a nonstandard legal set

this assumems that you can keep getting them. Wording is weird so im not so sure about that. We shall see today how it goes

I'm still going to invest heavily into this. There are some m21 rares/mythics that I want full set so it takes precedence over quick draft with or without ICRs.

Assuming all packets are of same rarity ofc...

Its not that hard, 2 ICRs for every 2000 gold entry. So 1 per booster.
So they literally just replace the wildcard tick with a rare+ ICR.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Thac0]

+ ICR for a nonstandard legal set

this assumems that you can keep getting them. Wording is weird so im not so sure about that. We shall see today how it goes

I'm still going to invest heavily into this. There are some m21 rares/mythics that I want full set so it takes precedence over quick draft with or without ICRs.

Assuming all packets are of same rarity ofc...

Its not that hard, 2 ICRs for every 2000 gold entry. So 1 per booster.
So they literally just replace the wildcard tick with a rare+ ICR.

you are hopeless optimist. What Im saying is that it isnt clear ICRs will reset once you reentry into event

Thats impressibly pessimistic, we can see in that video that you need to abandon the event and start a new one. It would be impressively greedy when they track event wins over to a different event with a new deck. I dont think they even have the technology for that.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I'm on the Thac0 train here. I'll be really surprised if the ICRs don't reset when you retire a deck. If it turns out they DON'T reset I may not play as much Jumpstart just because I am a bit dubious about the power level on some cards for historic, but with the ICRs sprinkled on top it sounds tempting enough to make me want to go ham on it.