Magic: The Gathering Arena - Catch All

So seven copies of Goblin Gathering felt like too many, but six felt pretty good. The deck really needs a few more payoffs than I had, but I think it could be viable if you can get them. I really could have used the Vampire that drains your opponents when your creatures die.

Thanks to 4dswisscheese, I've gone on a Limited rampage.

I took his free code and got 5 wins (the max you can get). Used the gems from that to get another 4 win run. Then just did another run and got 5 wins. Drafted another deck after that and it's really good; expecting lots of wins.

I've turned his free code into 17+ packs and 6000 gems. Thanks!

Free wrote:

Drafted another deck after that and it's really good; expecting lots of wins.

In my experience, believing that in your heart of hearts is the surest way to end up mana screwed...

Congrats on the winning streak, though! What guilds did you end up in?

The first one was a disgusting Gruul deck (R/G). Had 2 Rhythms of the Wild, 1 Gruul Spellbreaker, 1 Ravager Wurm and tons of meaty midrange creatures to take advantage of Riot. Was an easy 5-0.

Second was a rakdos deck. It wasn't great and I struggled to 4 wins.

The third was a Gates deck. I noticed that the auto-drafter never drafted any cards that synergized with Gates. So i grabbed the 8/8 gate guardian guy and 1 copy of Gates Ablaze (deals damage to all creatures equal to how many gates you have in field). Had a few more gates cards and a copy of Ill-Gotten Inheritance.

I thought I would struggle to get 3 wins, but got lucky with some draws and got to 5 wins! Gates Ablaze was the MVP.

Free wrote:

I noticed that the auto-drafter never drafted any cards that synergized with Gates.

The Gates deck is real, and the payoffs are worth it. It looks like they might even make for a good constructed deck.

That said, apparently they just updated the draft bots so that they like the Gates-matter cards more.

Happy to enable you, Free. I had a lot of fun drafting that gates deck too, though of course now it's a little harder to get.

I've started trying the bo3 ranked playing the Izzet Drakes deck. Turns out I'm real bad piloting it. Slowly getting better, but started off something like 1-7. I should probably switch over to the Sultai one which is a little more intuitive and that I already have most of since I was playing the Golgari deck before Allegiance came out.

I just had my first 7-0 in a quick draft running a WUB deck leaning on flyers, high defense, and some nasty enchantments. I only got Ethereal Absolution out once, but in a few other games High Alert and Ill-Gotten Inheritance were just MVPs. The enchantments in this set are brutal.

There's some good stuff coming in this week's update.

So, Discord integration, eh? I might have to get off my butt and figure out how to use this Discord thing for more than just talking with my old WoW guild.

Happy Nexus of Fate ban day! In bo1 anyway.

Dryden wrote:

I just had my first 7-0 in a quick draft running a WUB deck leaning on flyers, high defense, and some nasty enchantments. I only got Ethereal Absolution out once, but in a few other games High Alert and Ill-Gotten Inheritance were just MVPs. The enchantments in this set are brutal.

High Alert is the real deal. I just had a 5-0 run in Ranked Draft because I was lucky* enough to draw my one copy early in every game. I did manage two more wins without drawing it at all, so I feel pretty good about that.

*I did have 2x Shimmer of Possibility and 2x Gateway Sneak to help me find it. Even so, most games I drew it naturally really early on.

I'm not sure how I feel about banning Nexus in Bo1, but I do know that Singleton makes me happy!

So what Singleton decks are everybody jamming out with?

I had a great run with a Kaya Orzhov deck with a heavy exile theme. Even if i haven't gotten to play Kaya herself yet.
I also have a merfolk/simic/adapt +1/+1 manipulation deck that i'm trying to make work, but it's not quite coming together.

I’m out of town for the duration of the event, but last time around I had fun with a Grixis dragons brew. My build strategy was “I opened one Nicol Bolas and would like to play him.” I also have a Selesnya deck that I tuned to prey on Rat Colony decks that we’re running rampant. That was fun for a bit, but it got old.

How are the Rat Colony decks this time out? What about the Persistent Petitioners?

New version incoming, features include card sleeves, 3-D card art, practice games against AI, and a more involved and rewarding tutorial

The practice AI and the tutorial quests make this patch look like a great time to jump in. I may have to cook up a new account just to see what the tutorial quests entail. (My degree is in instructional design, so I still have a professional interest in tutorials for games I already know how to play.)

I'm kind of excited for the Mythic Invitational next week. I caught one of Twitch's tournaments and watching on Arena is way nicer than watching tabletop events. And I kinda dig the tabletop events.

Vargen wrote:

The practice AI and the tutorial quests make this patch look like a great time to jump in.

This is what I'm thinking, maybe dip my toe.

For anyone just jumping in, redeem the codes:

PlayRavnica
PlayAllegiance

in the store and you get 3 booster packs of Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance. If you play in paper and attended either the GRN or RNA prerelease look at the ad card that came in your prerelease box. The GRN prerelease box had a code for a free entry into a Sealed Event and the RNA prerelease box had a code for a free entry in a “traditional” Draft event. For those new to Arena, any event or play mode that includes “traditional” in its title is a best of three with sideboard mode. All other modes and events are best of one.

The code with the new update is STARTERSTYLES

Is that just cosmetics or is there more to it?

Just some cosmetics and a card back. The same stuff you'd get going through the new full tutorial, i think.

Also SUPERSCRY for the Opt card style
edit: And ParallaxPotion for Revitalize

Two more for Sunday morning:

FoilFungus
ShinyGoblinPirate

On stream they said the codes were case-sensitive. At any rate, “SuperScry” just worked for me.

And I tried STARTERSTYLES in all caps and it worked. So maybe they aren’t case-sensitive. If anyone has trouble redeeming, try capitalizing the first letter of each word.

Oh hey, the starter styles one has the new Magic Online card back (or something very close) as a sleeve.

Is anyone else watching the PAX tourney? I really like this casting setup with the face cams and the view of both players’ hands. Judging by the viewer count I’m not the only one who likes it. About my only complaint is I find myself rooting for the player whose view they’re using, because my brain thinks of their cards as mine.

I think the tournament is a good format for showcasing Arena but a bad format for showcasing Magic more broadly. The random deck pairings in the first two games introduces a lot of luck and even when players get to pick the decks in the third game, the lack of sideboarding means we're not seeing the match-ups at their most interesting (in particular, the control mirror ends up very much being about who draws fewer dead cards, rather than back and forth interaction.)

I think it showcases a different side of Magic. Magic’s variance makes the game more accessible, because even a scrub like me has a chance against a pro. Having a high-variance format and tournament structure lets them show that off, with streamers and ladder grinders advancing well into the tournament alongside Pro League players. I wouldn’t want this at the next pro tour Mythic Championship, but for an invitational special event it worked well.

"I've seen the reverse time thing before."

"Music is kinda cheesy."

"This thing is so Video Game Trailer it hurts."

"OK fine, that was really effective and now I'm all invested in the story. Magic movie pls."

...

Also, damn, they opened with that? For most stories that face-turn would have been the big climax.

If you want card previews, Wizards is showing them in story order here.

Or you can check the usual Scryfall list that gets updated as new cards are officially previewed.

I haven't looked too closely at Mythic Spoiler because they've also got unofficial leaks in their list, and I enjoy the show of Wizards' official preview season. Also they sort by color instead of by release order, which makes the new stuff harder for me to track.

War of the Spark is live on Arena. Use code PlayWarSpark for three free packs.

Man, there's nothing like a bit of bad luck in a Sealed event for flushing gems down the toilet. At least at my local game store I can play all 4 rounds even if I lose them all. I think I'll hold off doing more events until WAR draft hits.

As tends to happen, I've got an extra code for a draft from the Prereleases. DM me if you want it.
Edit: Gone!

Haven't jumped into a draft yet, but have been enjoying the sealed, though I feel like I've been generally lucky with the pools. Lots of gods and rare walkers and proliferate shenanigans.

4dSwissCheese wrote:

As tends to happen, I've got an extra code for a draft from the Prereleases. DM me if you want it.
Edit: Gone!

Haven't jumped into a draft yet, but have been enjoying the sealed, though I feel like I've been generally lucky with the pools. Lots of gods and rare walkers and proliferate shenanigans.

Thanks for the code, got a solid 2-2 run out of a dimir bontu deck. Won two matches at nil, lost the other two 1-2. Needed just a bit more removal for a better result.

I just used a Spark Double on a Charmed Stray and i'm not ashamed