Magic the Gathering Arena

[Frusciante]

hey guys I just got into the beta. How am I supposed to start playing? All the formats cost gems and I have to pay for the gems? Can I not play without paying?

 

[spectre]

hey guys I just got into the beta. How am I supposed to start playing? All the formats cost gems and I have to pay for the gems? Can I not play without paying?

The entry fee for most of the stuff can be paid with either Gems or Gold (apart from iirc Competitive Draft which is gems only).

You should be spending most of your early time in the ladder (it's there, hit the play button and it should bring up a list, swear to dog, the interface on this thing is atrocious), it's a single Bo1 match with no entry fee, it lets you earn geld from quests and win rewards, should be possible to earn about 1k per day and a bunch of cards, depends on the quest and how well you do.
That's enough for a booster, two runs in Quick Constructed or one run of Competitive Constructed, so pick your poison. Ive yet to try draft myslef, so you'll have to see that one for yourself, but the entry is quite steep.

I wouldn't touch the stuff with entry fee until you get yourself a deck that can reliably win at least 60% of the time. With all the free giveaways, you should have a bunch of staples for mono red, UW control and a BG ballista constrictor deck,
it pretty much depends on what you pulled from the starters and packs. Unfortunately, every yokel out there seems to be playing just those three decks.

 

[Scruffy]

or do like i did and play a muldrotha deck and actually have fun!

 

[Scruffy]

My control deck plays 26 lands. I am constantly stuck on 3. My goblin deck plays 22 lands. I never see less than 5 in the first turns.

 

[zerotol]

where the fuck is the free to play option

 

[spectre]

Fucking ladder constructed under the fucking play button.

 

[zerotol]

fuck yeah just won my first match with the explore deck (terrible btw doesnt even have constrictors in the build)

 

[zerotol]

on the play - opponent plays a llanowar elves - i push it, instant GG

 

[zerotol]

why the fuck am i constantly getting duressed in a BO1? Is this arena meta?

 

[Scruffy]

yup
lots of control decks, so people play duress

 

[spectre]

Half the meta is UW and UB control, people preside like motherfuckers.
Also, people want quick wins in the ladder, so an early Durex tells you if you should just concede and move on with your life.

 

[Scruffy]

If anyone wants access to the beta:

5au-ki8z-dm3
jjo-y1th-qtg
b3a-7g3j-zen
nuc-895m-rgk
adx-hye3-nmi


these are access codes

 

[FeelTheRads]

Here you go, fags, even more:

xnp-6aka-8ti
yww-fpt3-ops
45n-asqm-yo5
nb5-36so-eky
ort-b8q4-9uj

 

[v1rus]

8om-tibm-xg7
8h6-h5rz-ao6
cfe-zp9e-d9m
fqx-919e-x6q
hs5-a6cs-7rn

 

[Grunker]

"closed" beta

asj-61oz-9xd
cmw-3tqc-7zj
7hr-hwmu-9fh
gk5-kojp-esm
psh-4i8i-474

 

[catfood]

iau-x381-5ju
ipz-7mfz-d47
wmc-mwun-e3w
nux-yazo-kwy

I already gave one to a friend but I see there's way too many to go around anyway.

 

[DakaSha V]

True bros

 

[DakaSha V]

What is the cheapest and most viable way to play the game?

 

[Hevnknekt]

Your 5 Closed Beta Access Codes:
97c-4g9q-6yu
tjh-f8a9-n5w
rdn-hjmd-4fc
y4e-bbs8-6eh
ras-ni76-nn9

 

[spectre]

What is the cheapest and most viable way to play the game?

People get good results with draft if you're any good at that, it levels the playing field somewhat because you're no longer facing guys with complete netdecks.
I think the entry fee also got discounted recently for stress testing so it's worth a shot. Competitive draft is not free, so stay away from that.

The standard way of playing is working your way up - start with free play, once you get comfortable, try your hand at quick constructed and see if it's viable for you to break even,
then try competitive constructed if you're comfortable with sideboarding.

Of course, you'll need a good tier deck to make that happen, check your starter cards, there were plenty of giveaways for you to bild some form of aggro or control.
Generally speaking, just pick a play mode that lets you break even consistently and stick with it.

 

[Theldaran]

I think you can play Hearthstone for free and still get somewhere. Plus they do some giveouts of gold (like the current Fire Festival) and sometimes boosters. Is really WOTC more miserly than Activision Blizzard itself?

Because I think that climbing from zero to hero in Arena would be tougher.

 

[Monocause]

This is the deck I'm running with, give it a shot. The game's a blast! Thanks for the beta key.

2 Anticipate (M19) 44
9 Island (RIX) 193
11 Swamp (RIX) 194
2 Night Market Lookout (KLD) 95
2 Disperse (M19) 50
2 Contraband Kingpin (KLD) 177
2 Shielded Aether Thief (AER) 44
2 Essence Extraction (KLD) 80
2 Yahenni, Undying Partisan (AER) 74
2 Dukhara Peafowl (KLD) 207
1 Air Elemental (W17) 7
1 Air Elemental (XLN) 45
1 Tezzeret the Schemer (AER) 137
2 Aether Swooper (AER) 26
2 Disallow (AER) 31
2 Gifted Aetherborn (AER) 61
2 Aether Poisoner (AER) 51
2 Murder (M19) 110
2 Vengeful Rebel (AER) 73
3 Submerged Boneyard (M19) 257
2 Syndicate Trafficker (KLD) 101
2 Tezzeret's Touch (AER) 138
2 Ornithopter (AER) 167

I think if you select the deck above and CTRL+C plus click 'import' in the deck menu it should do it automatically. Also working on a red/green deck but it's still in early stages of refining.

 

[Jason Liang]

I installed it and fiddled around. Played through the two tutorial games fine. Interace is decent although I wouldn't mind a bit more animation. Opened the 3 core packs and got a Liliana hur hur hur.

- The deckbuilder could use more sorting options, like cmc, creature type etc...
- The wildcards seem like a good substitute for trading, although I would suggest being able to cash in unwanted cards for more wildcards as well.
- Standard environment card pool. A little intimidating to jump right in with 3 blocks worth of cards + core + Dominaria. Not sure how fun Standard is right now- I don't see many "inspiring" cards like Collected Company. Seems like Red is pretty good with 3 blocks worth of burn + Goblin Chainwelder... Looking at the cards you start with in the beta I think red will be very popular.
- Is it just me or not many good mythics to chase or cash in the wildcards for.
- They should implement pauper constructed, would be a good newbie format.
- Starting with Gearhulks is pretty nice...

Going to do some research on which packs to open, more later. I'm tempted to say fuck it and wildcard a set of Vinemares at this point. Shroud's been good since Deadly Insects.

Hm. Is it just me or they haven't implemented all the cards yet.

Game says I have 4 Chandras in my collection (lolz) but I can't add them... just checked the standard banned list and she isn't banned, so not sure if it's a bug or if Arena is using a different or older banned list.

UPDATE: Found the cmc filter, and the inventory issues went away after I closed and restarted. My goodness you start with a lot of booty already.

 

[zerotol]

Please break our servers in the stress test.

1 second it took.

 

[DakaSha V]

What is the cheapest and most viable way to play the game?

People get good results with draft if you're any good at that, it levels the playing field somewhat because you're no longer facing guys with complete netdecks.
I think the entry fee also got discounted recently for stress testing so it's worth a shot. Competitive draft is not free, so stay away from that.

The standard way of playing is working your way up - start with free play, once you get comfortable, try your hand at quick constructed and see if it's viable for you to break even,
then try competitive constructed if you're comfortable with sideboarding.

Of course, you'll need a good tier deck to make that happen, check your starter cards, there were plenty of giveaways for you to bild some form of aggro or control.
Generally speaking, just pick a play mode that lets you break even consistently and stick with it.

I guess what i need to know now, is how to best go about building a good constructed deck. I dont know what packs to buy, what to turn my wildcards in for etc. Should I just be able to look up a budget netdeck and build it fairly easily?

I have a lot of experience playing magic online but ONLY pauper. So my understanding of the standard meta is non existent

Btw there will be another wipe eventually yeah? Its my understanding that you lose anything you got with gold, and dont get any gold refunds after the wipe, but your gems are refunded. What about this welcome back for 5 bucks. It gives you 5 booster packs. Would I get those booster packs back after the wipe? (Im assuming yes, but making sure)