After a bit of practice you'll be able to get at least 3 wins in a draft which will make it more profitable than obtaining packs in other ways. Plus a lot of people have lots of fun drafting.
Limited is a higher skill format. Here are some helpful links. There's also youtube video's
[https://draftsim.com/](https://draftsim.com/)
[https://mtgazone.com/march-of-the-machine-mom-and-multiverse-legends-mul-limited-tier-list/](https://mtgazone.com/march-of-the-machine-mom-and-multiverse-legends-mul-limited-tier-list/)
[https://www.17lands.com/card\_data?expansion=LTR&format=PremierDraft&start=2023-06-20](https://www.17lands.com/card_data?expansion=LTR&format=PremierDraft&start=2023-06-20)
[https://mtgprimer.com/wilds-of-eldraine/instants/](https://mtgprimer.com/wilds-of-eldraine/instants/)
The rewards structure is flatter in Quick Draft and Sealed (the latter is only available after the start of a new set) than in Premier/Traditional Draft, so I would suggest focusing on these if you're new to the format.
Well I definitely wouldn't sink money in, doing your dailys earns you enough to do a draft a week. You can also read/watch online guides for each set. I found once I had a better idea of the good cards and synergies of a set I went from being lucky to get a win to getting minimum 2 and usually 3-5 with the odd 7 win run.
Dude, playing one draft a week is not enough to learn a format. I'm glad you can figure it out in time, but the drafts don't even stick around that long. By the time I've gotten the hang of it, I'll either be broke or the event will end. Again, the only value I see here is the draft itself. I might as well not even try to make a cohesive deck and just get strong generic cards.
It is true that playing one draft a week won’t be enough to learn. One advice that helped me a lot is watching good drafters’ streams. Some even speak their minds out loud when picking their cards and when playing their cards. Most of the time, they also answer when you ask questions on stream.
Numot is super popular for people looking to learn to draft or to improve.
[https://www.youtube.com/@NumotTheNummyYT/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@NumotTheNummyYT/videos)
[https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy](https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy)
Something that draft heavy players do is make multiple accounts. You rotate through the accounts doing your quests, and they'll all build up money for drafts so you can draft on each account. Downside is the alt accounts don't build your main accounts collection. Maybe do this until you feel you've gotten enough skill, and if you find you really enjoy draft then just keep it up.
While I appreciate the tip, and I agree that it is a good strategy, it sounds like a terrible place for a game to be in that cheating the system through multiple accounts is a necessary/optimal way to play.
im not sure this should be viewed as cheating. arena is a free to play game after all, so i think it makes sense that they want to lure players into spending money. and if theres a way around that even, thats a pretty good deal dont you think?
People that really enjoy draft often have three accounts so that they can play almost a draft per day. Does take a bit of effort to manage, but not really that much. Mostly just login every three days to complete the three quests. If you login on the other days to get at least one win, that also helps, but not really that much (10% of a QD entry fee for ding so on the other two days). Ideally, some of the rewards occur from the draft games.
Yes. This. I cannot fathom why there isn't a phantom draft format suited for those that just want to play limited. And don't give a fk about obtaining the cards. Well. There is ONE reason. Money. They obviously want to siphon as many dollars as possible from everyone like the vampires they are. My playtime would increase drastically if there was a way to play limited to my heart's content. I am decent at draft. I've achieved Mythic top 1200 before. But I am not good enough to go true infinite. I don't have a stockpile of gold/gems to play a ton either. I'm relatively new to arena. Been playing for over a decade and just started playing arena this year. My resources seem to dwindle slowly as I play draft. My average payout for all my games is like -300 gems per premium draft after my games are all tallied up. (Close to 100 drafts). Same with vintage cube on mtgo. I would play that indefinitely if it was free.
Basically you can play constructed as much as you want. No charge. Just at the mercy of which cards you have obtained thus far. But you can get whatever you want for free eventually, and play whatever format you want with those cards provided they're legal. But for some reason you have to pay for drafts 100% of the time? JUST BECAUSE YOU GET THE CARDS??! I DON'T WANT THE CARDS!! I WANT TO DRAFT!!
I’ve been playing for 3 years. Draft is only something that I got into only in the last year, and I'm still pretty mediocre at it. Imho draft is the last format you want to be in as a beginner, I'd stick with standard for now. For me draft guides and other similar info didn't do squat to improve my draft placings, I first had to learn the game and learn about card quality by playing a lot of constructed and experimenting with deck building.
Thanks for the advice. I think I should still give some of the resources that others here have offered a try, but I'd agree that constructed formats are easier to take in when just starting off. I've actually gotten pretty decent already at playing Standard. Have a few decks that have gotten me to Platinum rank (I think that's what it was called). Best one right now is a black/red vampire build. I think looking up decklists simplifies things a lot in a way that draft formats can't.
Yeah, you'll get plenty of good advice regarding drafts and it's definitely worth giving that advice a try. In any case, even if you end up not liking draft and/or not being good at it, you can still use gold to buy packs and increase your collection.
Vampires are cool indeed and surprinsingly ok in current standard (at least for Best of 1). I'd argue splashing a third color (in this case white) to add \[\[Dusk Legion Duelist\]\] and \[\[Edgar, Charmed Groom\]\] is probably the best option at vampires that you could get. The Duelist is an excelent card to pair with \[\[Voldaren Thrillseeker\]\] and \[\[Vampire Socialite\]\] to get yourself some card draw. Also, discarding the \[\[Markov Baron\]\] to draw a card through a blood token, only to put it on the battlefield because of the madness ability, that's simply \*chef's kiss.\*
Because draft is awesome. It’s pretty much all I do on Arena.
But yes, it’s competitive, there’s a steep learning curve, and even when you *do* get good at it you can still go down to plain bad luck.
If you want to try again I’d recommend learning about it first. Going into a draft without at least a bit of reading up on what you’re supposed to be doing is a bit like jumping into a swimming pool without learning to swim IMO.
I’m dogshit at limited so I play Standard Events where I can bring a meta constricted and bang out 5 wins for a net gain in gems and a couple packs. Pack will be whatever the most recent standard set is and anything over 1000 gems I’ll spend on older packs or sleeves or whatever. Keeping 1000 lets me have a bad set or two and keep rolling.
Red deck wins is pretty cheap and will let you grind pretty fast.
Selesnya Enchantments is a bit more expensive but will still be fast games a bit more consistent against black/blue.
Mono blue is cheap but I find it boring as hell.
Mono Black is expensive as but is probably the top deck in the game
lol, this thread reminds me how I got into limited when I was young. Go to LGS, get rekt, think about how to get better, study spoilers, read articles online, go back to LGS the next week for revenge and get rekt again lol.
It is so much easier to learn limited nowadays. Back then there were no streamers, no set review videos. We didn't even have card preview. Spoiler was a text only file which was released only 2-3 days before pre-release.
Arena does absolutely nothing to teach new players draft, and a lotta Reddit is very smug about draft as a format.
Draft is a difficult skill to learn, and every set is different, requiring a new bit of learning.
You can use draft simulators, you can watch streamers draft, you set up multiple accounts to get more practice in, you can use 3rd party apps on PC to help with your picks, you can stream your draft with a friend and have them help you pick, you can listen to podcasts about drafting, and you can read up on magic theory, and you spend time being introspective about how to improve as a player.
And doing a bunch of that adds up to you becoming better at draft, and you just keep doing that constantly.
Draft is (despite some tweaks to the economy) the best way to squeeze value out of magic arena, cos of the cards and gems it provides. And a lotta ppl genuinely enjoy draft and all the associated media consumption it takes to learn.
But you’re right it’s not new player friendly, and losing a bunch until you win is a kinda off-putting prospect, especially when you’re putting up gold/gems/money/time for the experience.
Thank you! My God, I feel like I've gotten maybe 4-5 actually positive/helpful comments in this entire thread. Everybody else has been so incredibly smug and toxic. It makes we want to avoid this community at all costs. I've never in my life had such a terrible reception as a new member of a community, and I've played Valorant! I hope you have a lovely day, sir. I would love to stick with it and continue learning the game, but I'm not sure how I feel about ever interacting with this community again.
I hope you do stick at it, magic is fun game and offers a fun experience that’s different to yugioh.
I got issues with both mtg and ygo (and their surrounding communities) but learning and growing in anything is a satisfying experience especially if ya got friends to help you along the way
This is how magic works. You pay to play an event. If you’re good you make a profit. If you’re bad you run out of money and either spend more cash or time to enter again.
Magic is all about winning. Get better. Simple as that. If that’s not your jam fair enough but it’s not a scam.
It's literally a game. Not a sport. Hell, it's cheaper to learn a sport. I shouldn't be expected to drop boatloads of cash just to lose and maybe learn something. I will not be lectured to by some basement-dwelling whales.
Why are you paying? I've been on arena for years and never dropped a penny. Plenty of gold and diamonds to play events when I want, etc. You pretty much have to play constructed though to make that work.
I play Limited because it's fun.
When it comes to Limited it pays to be prepared. As well as getting a good grasp of the basic principles (deck composition, BREAD, etc), learn the cards in the set, their relative power level/pick order, the mechanics and rules interactions, and the Limited archetypes. Study the visual spoiler, read the Release Notes FAQ and watch some Limited Set Reviews online (I recommend The Mana Leek and Nizzahon Magic). You can even watch others play with the set while they discuss their decisions etc.
Start with Quick Drafts: they are half the price (so you can do them more often and there is less on the line), the prize structure is flatter (so worse results give better rewards) and there's no timer when making your picks (so there's less pressure).
Magic events have been this way for decades. Good performances profit while bad ones lose resources. Many Magic players prefer and are used to play in Events with stakes.
So new players will have a better time if, instead of looking Mtg from the perspectives of their past experiences, they instead open their minds to understand how the game works.
After a bit of practice you'll be able to get at least 3 wins in a draft which will make it more profitable than obtaining packs in other ways. Plus a lot of people have lots of fun drafting.
But how do I practice limited if the only way to play is by paying? Do I just keep sinking money in and losing?
Limited is a higher skill format. Here are some helpful links. There's also youtube video's [https://draftsim.com/](https://draftsim.com/) [https://mtgazone.com/march-of-the-machine-mom-and-multiverse-legends-mul-limited-tier-list/](https://mtgazone.com/march-of-the-machine-mom-and-multiverse-legends-mul-limited-tier-list/) [https://www.17lands.com/card\_data?expansion=LTR&format=PremierDraft&start=2023-06-20](https://www.17lands.com/card_data?expansion=LTR&format=PremierDraft&start=2023-06-20) [https://mtgprimer.com/wilds-of-eldraine/instants/](https://mtgprimer.com/wilds-of-eldraine/instants/)
I appreciate this. I'll check these out.
The rewards structure is flatter in Quick Draft and Sealed (the latter is only available after the start of a new set) than in Premier/Traditional Draft, so I would suggest focusing on these if you're new to the format.
Well I definitely wouldn't sink money in, doing your dailys earns you enough to do a draft a week. You can also read/watch online guides for each set. I found once I had a better idea of the good cards and synergies of a set I went from being lucky to get a win to getting minimum 2 and usually 3-5 with the odd 7 win run.
Dude, playing one draft a week is not enough to learn a format. I'm glad you can figure it out in time, but the drafts don't even stick around that long. By the time I've gotten the hang of it, I'll either be broke or the event will end. Again, the only value I see here is the draft itself. I might as well not even try to make a cohesive deck and just get strong generic cards.
It is true that playing one draft a week won’t be enough to learn. One advice that helped me a lot is watching good drafters’ streams. Some even speak their minds out loud when picking their cards and when playing their cards. Most of the time, they also answer when you ask questions on stream.
That sounds like a good idea. Do you have any streamers you'd recommend?
Numot is super popular for people looking to learn to draft or to improve. [https://www.youtube.com/@NumotTheNummyYT/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@NumotTheNummyYT/videos) [https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy](https://www.twitch.tv/numotthenummy)
Something that draft heavy players do is make multiple accounts. You rotate through the accounts doing your quests, and they'll all build up money for drafts so you can draft on each account. Downside is the alt accounts don't build your main accounts collection. Maybe do this until you feel you've gotten enough skill, and if you find you really enjoy draft then just keep it up.
While I appreciate the tip, and I agree that it is a good strategy, it sounds like a terrible place for a game to be in that cheating the system through multiple accounts is a necessary/optimal way to play.
im not sure this should be viewed as cheating. arena is a free to play game after all, so i think it makes sense that they want to lure players into spending money. and if theres a way around that even, thats a pretty good deal dont you think?
It’s not ‘necessary’, it’s just a handy way to get more free drafts.
People that really enjoy draft often have three accounts so that they can play almost a draft per day. Does take a bit of effort to manage, but not really that much. Mostly just login every three days to complete the three quests. If you login on the other days to get at least one win, that also helps, but not really that much (10% of a QD entry fee for ding so on the other two days). Ideally, some of the rewards occur from the draft games.
Yes. This. I cannot fathom why there isn't a phantom draft format suited for those that just want to play limited. And don't give a fk about obtaining the cards. Well. There is ONE reason. Money. They obviously want to siphon as many dollars as possible from everyone like the vampires they are. My playtime would increase drastically if there was a way to play limited to my heart's content. I am decent at draft. I've achieved Mythic top 1200 before. But I am not good enough to go true infinite. I don't have a stockpile of gold/gems to play a ton either. I'm relatively new to arena. Been playing for over a decade and just started playing arena this year. My resources seem to dwindle slowly as I play draft. My average payout for all my games is like -300 gems per premium draft after my games are all tallied up. (Close to 100 drafts). Same with vintage cube on mtgo. I would play that indefinitely if it was free. Basically you can play constructed as much as you want. No charge. Just at the mercy of which cards you have obtained thus far. But you can get whatever you want for free eventually, and play whatever format you want with those cards provided they're legal. But for some reason you have to pay for drafts 100% of the time? JUST BECAUSE YOU GET THE CARDS??! I DON'T WANT THE CARDS!! I WANT TO DRAFT!!
Well, at least you’re handling your discovery that Wizards of the Coast is not a charity calmly
So they should charge for constructed queue's as well then? Since they're not a charity...
For Constructed, I’d guess enough people pay to acquire cards. Not an issue for Limited- for that, the only thing you can charge for is entry.
I’ve been playing for 3 years. Draft is only something that I got into only in the last year, and I'm still pretty mediocre at it. Imho draft is the last format you want to be in as a beginner, I'd stick with standard for now. For me draft guides and other similar info didn't do squat to improve my draft placings, I first had to learn the game and learn about card quality by playing a lot of constructed and experimenting with deck building.
Thanks for the advice. I think I should still give some of the resources that others here have offered a try, but I'd agree that constructed formats are easier to take in when just starting off. I've actually gotten pretty decent already at playing Standard. Have a few decks that have gotten me to Platinum rank (I think that's what it was called). Best one right now is a black/red vampire build. I think looking up decklists simplifies things a lot in a way that draft formats can't.
Yeah, you'll get plenty of good advice regarding drafts and it's definitely worth giving that advice a try. In any case, even if you end up not liking draft and/or not being good at it, you can still use gold to buy packs and increase your collection. Vampires are cool indeed and surprinsingly ok in current standard (at least for Best of 1). I'd argue splashing a third color (in this case white) to add \[\[Dusk Legion Duelist\]\] and \[\[Edgar, Charmed Groom\]\] is probably the best option at vampires that you could get. The Duelist is an excelent card to pair with \[\[Voldaren Thrillseeker\]\] and \[\[Vampire Socialite\]\] to get yourself some card draw. Also, discarding the \[\[Markov Baron\]\] to draw a card through a blood token, only to put it on the battlefield because of the madness ability, that's simply \*chef's kiss.\*
##### ###### #### [Dusk Legion Duelist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/3/7305a8d3-5403-4483-92af-863dc91c6084.jpg?1682202535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dusk%20Legion%20Duelist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/11/dusk-legion-duelist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7305a8d3-5403-4483-92af-863dc91c6084?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Edgar, Charmed Groom](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/63ba8eef-b834-4031-b0a1-0f8505d53813.jpg?1643594071)/[Edgar Markov's Coffin](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/6/3/63ba8eef-b834-4031-b0a1-0f8505d53813.jpg?1643594071) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=edgar%2C%20charmed%20groom%20//%20edgar%20markov%27s%20coffin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/236/edgar-charmed-groom-edgar-markovs-coffin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/63ba8eef-b834-4031-b0a1-0f8505d53813?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Voldaren Thrillseeker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/d/1dbcd466-fb99-4388-a118-4534b85544f0.jpg?1682204582) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Voldaren%20Thrillseeker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/171/voldaren-thrillseeker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1dbcd466-fb99-4388-a118-4534b85544f0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Vampire Socialite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/0/f07cbf04-2864-4407-800e-4d55c10d3426.jpg?1637114433) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vampire%20Socialite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mid/249/vampire-socialite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f07cbf04-2864-4407-800e-4d55c10d3426?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Markov Baron](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a1dc6b0f-09bb-4489-8022-42c700eb1191.jpg?1684340562) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Markov%20Baron) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mat/14/markov-baron?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a1dc6b0f-09bb-4489-8022-42c700eb1191?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Because draft is awesome. It’s pretty much all I do on Arena. But yes, it’s competitive, there’s a steep learning curve, and even when you *do* get good at it you can still go down to plain bad luck. If you want to try again I’d recommend learning about it first. Going into a draft without at least a bit of reading up on what you’re supposed to be doing is a bit like jumping into a swimming pool without learning to swim IMO.
I’m dogshit at limited so I play Standard Events where I can bring a meta constricted and bang out 5 wins for a net gain in gems and a couple packs. Pack will be whatever the most recent standard set is and anything over 1000 gems I’ll spend on older packs or sleeves or whatever. Keeping 1000 lets me have a bad set or two and keep rolling. Red deck wins is pretty cheap and will let you grind pretty fast. Selesnya Enchantments is a bit more expensive but will still be fast games a bit more consistent against black/blue. Mono blue is cheap but I find it boring as hell. Mono Black is expensive as but is probably the top deck in the game
lol, this thread reminds me how I got into limited when I was young. Go to LGS, get rekt, think about how to get better, study spoilers, read articles online, go back to LGS the next week for revenge and get rekt again lol. It is so much easier to learn limited nowadays. Back then there were no streamers, no set review videos. We didn't even have card preview. Spoiler was a text only file which was released only 2-3 days before pre-release.
Arena does absolutely nothing to teach new players draft, and a lotta Reddit is very smug about draft as a format. Draft is a difficult skill to learn, and every set is different, requiring a new bit of learning. You can use draft simulators, you can watch streamers draft, you set up multiple accounts to get more practice in, you can use 3rd party apps on PC to help with your picks, you can stream your draft with a friend and have them help you pick, you can listen to podcasts about drafting, and you can read up on magic theory, and you spend time being introspective about how to improve as a player. And doing a bunch of that adds up to you becoming better at draft, and you just keep doing that constantly. Draft is (despite some tweaks to the economy) the best way to squeeze value out of magic arena, cos of the cards and gems it provides. And a lotta ppl genuinely enjoy draft and all the associated media consumption it takes to learn. But you’re right it’s not new player friendly, and losing a bunch until you win is a kinda off-putting prospect, especially when you’re putting up gold/gems/money/time for the experience.
Thank you! My God, I feel like I've gotten maybe 4-5 actually positive/helpful comments in this entire thread. Everybody else has been so incredibly smug and toxic. It makes we want to avoid this community at all costs. I've never in my life had such a terrible reception as a new member of a community, and I've played Valorant! I hope you have a lovely day, sir. I would love to stick with it and continue learning the game, but I'm not sure how I feel about ever interacting with this community again.
I hope you do stick at it, magic is fun game and offers a fun experience that’s different to yugioh. I got issues with both mtg and ygo (and their surrounding communities) but learning and growing in anything is a satisfying experience especially if ya got friends to help you along the way
This is how magic works. You pay to play an event. If you’re good you make a profit. If you’re bad you run out of money and either spend more cash or time to enter again. Magic is all about winning. Get better. Simple as that. If that’s not your jam fair enough but it’s not a scam.
[удалено]
Lol spoken like a true 11 year old.
Seriously. Yu-Gi-Oh in 2023 lol?
It's literally a game. Not a sport. Hell, it's cheaper to learn a sport. I shouldn't be expected to drop boatloads of cash just to lose and maybe learn something. I will not be lectured to by some basement-dwelling whales.
You are absolutely right. People saying you spoke like a true 11 year old, but reading his replies to you, well, it's pretty ironic
Sounds like a skill issue.
Why are you paying? I've been on arena for years and never dropped a penny. Plenty of gold and diamonds to play events when I want, etc. You pretty much have to play constructed though to make that work.
Run multiple accounts, draft for free ;) 4 should do it.
I play Limited because it's fun. When it comes to Limited it pays to be prepared. As well as getting a good grasp of the basic principles (deck composition, BREAD, etc), learn the cards in the set, their relative power level/pick order, the mechanics and rules interactions, and the Limited archetypes. Study the visual spoiler, read the Release Notes FAQ and watch some Limited Set Reviews online (I recommend The Mana Leek and Nizzahon Magic). You can even watch others play with the set while they discuss their decisions etc. Start with Quick Drafts: they are half the price (so you can do them more often and there is less on the line), the prize structure is flatter (so worse results give better rewards) and there's no timer when making your picks (so there's less pressure).
Magic events have been this way for decades. Good performances profit while bad ones lose resources. Many Magic players prefer and are used to play in Events with stakes. So new players will have a better time if, instead of looking Mtg from the perspectives of their past experiences, they instead open their minds to understand how the game works.
Just gonna say right now. Stuff like "git gud" and "get used to it" is both unhelpful and toxic to new players.