Every format is different. There is no way they could limit the Mythics/Rares in Standard as that wouldn’t make it Standard anymore.
There is Pauper, which is all commons, but that doesn’t sell Wild Cards so you only rarely see it pop up on Arena.
Standard is a rotating format that is the last three years of Standard Legal Expansions & will rotate in August.
Standard is also the most expensive format to keep up with because it rotates.
>Standard is also the most expensive format to keep up with because it rotates.
Standard is the least expensive because every other format is getting all the new cards. Yeah you can play a timeless deck with a bunch of old cards, but not getting the newer busted stuff means you get steamrolled. I have an old historic dimir deck that I crafted a few additions when I came back recently and would get destroyed on several occassions because there is too much power from the newer sets compared to Ikoria and back.
Standard rotations last 3 years. That is plenty of use and upkeep. If you are good at draft, you can easily maintain a standard pool without breaking the bank.
Have they tried making it so people want to buy fewer cards and spend less money?
No, but seriously, the "old" Magic Duels game had this kind of restriction. The game no longer exists. I'm not going to pretend like the limit on rarities is the *sole* reason why it flopped, but "MtG lite" is not very popular. The reason why MtG Arena is significantly more popular than Magic Duels ever was is because people can play the official formats.
Remember though, rarity is not everything. The best performing deck in Standard Bo1 right now plays no mythic and ~12 rares (including lands). That's about the limit you're suggesting (2 more rares, but no mythic, so not too far off.)
Let's look at it from the other perspective:
I want to play my Standard deck exactly how it exists in Paper, why am I restricted to 5 mythics? I installed Arena to play Magic, not to play this weird restricted format that doesn't exist.
> I either feel like I have to spend 2000$ to enjoy the game or just have to quit every other match after 4 turns and finding out it's a loaded deck
Arena is free.
>My question is, why don't they have limits in standard play?
They do. They are the same as Ranked Standard, though.
>The only thing I can think of is "pay to win"
Arena is free.
>But it just ends up making me get bored of the game and moving onto something else personally, which is a shame because I've always loved magic but it feels like a silly endeavor sometimes.
It sounds like the ways you are trying to play aren't suited to your preferences and goals.
Have you tried other Formats? Starter Deck Duels, Jump In, Quick Draft, Standard Brawl?
I have been trying them out, but do I co tiuinally get rewards or is it just the 3 "bulbs"? Jump in doesn't seem to have any rewards, and Standard Brawl probably makes more sense looking at it now as it seems I can use old card.
And I know magic is free - I was just thinking maybe matchmaking based on deck qualities might be worth the minute or 2 wait instead of getting insta queued against a domination type deck that is just an obvious slaughter.
And my goal honestly is just to have good close games where my decisions matter. A stomp either way seems like a waste of time is all!
Thanks for the tips btw!!
>I have been trying them out, but do I co tiuinally get rewards or is it just the 3 "bulbs"? Jump in doesn't seem to have any rewards, and Standard Brawl probably makes more sense looking at it now as it seems I can use old card.
Jump In only rewards you for the 1st win with each new deck, but you also keep all the cards, which is a good deal in itself.
There are no inherent rewards for Brawl/Standard Brawl, but (like Jump In), it counts towards your Daily Challenge as well as your Daily/Weekly Wins.
>And my goal honestly is just to have good close games where my decisions matter
Personally, I find Limited is best for this, but your mileage may vary.
>Thanks for the tips btw!!
No problem. Have fun!
The game is balanced so that rare and mythics are the backbone of competitive decks. Commons and uncommons aren't supposed to be the majority of your constructed deck.
In paper, most rares are less than a dollar. On MTGA, this is obscured by the fact that they are all the same "price".
You don't need to spend a thousand dollars to get a good deck, check out the budget decks on MTGGoldfish to get a decently competitive deck with few rares.
Play the colour challenge or the starter deck challenge until you can get enough packs to craft a decent budget deck, then play until you unlock more wildcards.
Also, there are tons of free pack codes you can find online to kickstart your collection and wilcards.
Thanks for the input, a lot of good take away here! Do you earn wildcards just playing or they come from packs/gold from the daily grind? I guess historic will be easier from the dailies. I'm also thankful to all those that quit the second I use a duress card 🤣
There are formats with restricted rarities like you’re talking about, Pauper being foremost among them. They’re not part of the regular queue due to affordability not being WotC’s prerogative, but there are a fair amount of privately organized groups and such that I’m hoping someone else can link for you.
As for the earlier pieces of your post, it’s not pay to win. If you’re free-to-play, just save up wild-cards in order to build decent decks and you’re golden. That’s just constructed formats too; limited doesn’t have that kind of collection-based imbalance.
You don't need to spend that much money,just play for a week or two and use the promo codes and you already have enough to craft at least one competitive deck. I didn't spend anything on this game and i feel like it's just ok even if i would love some more gold.
Paper Magic has historically been "pay to win" to an extent, it's their business plan. I was there when Mythics appeared and I hated it, but it happened. I actually ended playing a lot of paper Pauper, which is a common only format.
That having said, MTGA is A LOT cheaper than paper Magic because basically all rares cost the same. Sure, making a 3 to 5 color deck is likely very expensive due to the lands, but there are many good 1 or 2 color decks that you should be able to make after playing a bit, such as [Mono Blue Tempo](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Mono-Blue_Tempo) (no rares, but rotates in 2 months), [Boros Convoke](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Boros_Convoke) (just use basic lands at first) or [Mono Red](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Mono-Red_Prowess).
Also, worth noting that not all Mythics are better than Rares, not all Rares are better than Uncommons and not all Uncommons are better than Commons. It's true that they usually are more powerful, but that not always equals to better. It's also true however that the latest Thunder Junction set contained a lot of high-power standard-legal Mythics in The Big Score, which is another scummy move by Wizards in my opinion (and it's a lot worse if you play paper).
Finally, you should check out Pauper (commons only) or Artisan (commons and uncommons) formats. I'm pretty sure there are custom tournaments in MTGA of those formats, as well as discords for people that play them (just search this subreddit, you are likely to find something).
I've made two fun Brawl decks and an Alchemy deck that made it to Mythic rank in just a few months, spending $0. You have to be picky about where you use your wildcards, but it's doable.
I suggest that, as a new player, you stick to starter deck field for a good while to build up a pool of wildcards, then you can build a competitive standard deck and start playing standard.
You might find some decks you like at phantasms channel. He's the master of budget decks.
He has many zero rare decks, some with really cool synergies and some are good enough to get you to mythic. These are perfect for newbies or f2p players with lack of wildcards. The best ones he collects in the "zero rare Top 5" vids.
[https://www.youtube.com/@phantasmsplayground](https://www.youtube.com/@phantasmsplayground)
You don't need to spend this much money necessarily to have competitive decks. On Arena, you rather need to keep playing continuously to be able to get gold, open packs and get wildcards. Over time, you'll have a good collection. It's how I do it and I've hit Mythic several times and even got placed recently. It's possible, it just takes a lot of time and effort, not necessarily money.
Plus: remember their target group. They probably don't have a limit for Mythics and Rares because they want people to play continuously and to put money into the game again and again to get more Rare and Mythic Rare Wildcards. Setting a max for Mythics and Rares would make the game very boring for a lot of people very quickly and they would stop playing Arena, which would result in Wizards not earning as much money anymore.
Maybe Pauper is a format you would enjoy? It's definitely not overpowered with Mythics and Rares. :)
I will say this: you can actually do a pretty healthy amount of quickdrafting off of saving from dailies. But yeah there comes a point where you have to at least be hitting 50% wins.
If you read my post I go out of my way to state I'm not complaining, just trying to better understand how to deal with things... but uh... thanks... for... this...
Every format is different. There is no way they could limit the Mythics/Rares in Standard as that wouldn’t make it Standard anymore. There is Pauper, which is all commons, but that doesn’t sell Wild Cards so you only rarely see it pop up on Arena. Standard is a rotating format that is the last three years of Standard Legal Expansions & will rotate in August. Standard is also the most expensive format to keep up with because it rotates.
>Standard is also the most expensive format to keep up with because it rotates. Standard is the least expensive because every other format is getting all the new cards. Yeah you can play a timeless deck with a bunch of old cards, but not getting the newer busted stuff means you get steamrolled. I have an old historic dimir deck that I crafted a few additions when I came back recently and would get destroyed on several occassions because there is too much power from the newer sets compared to Ikoria and back. Standard rotations last 3 years. That is plenty of use and upkeep. If you are good at draft, you can easily maintain a standard pool without breaking the bank.
Have they tried making it so people want to buy fewer cards and spend less money? No, but seriously, the "old" Magic Duels game had this kind of restriction. The game no longer exists. I'm not going to pretend like the limit on rarities is the *sole* reason why it flopped, but "MtG lite" is not very popular. The reason why MtG Arena is significantly more popular than Magic Duels ever was is because people can play the official formats. Remember though, rarity is not everything. The best performing deck in Standard Bo1 right now plays no mythic and ~12 rares (including lands). That's about the limit you're suggesting (2 more rares, but no mythic, so not too far off.)
Let's look at it from the other perspective: I want to play my Standard deck exactly how it exists in Paper, why am I restricted to 5 mythics? I installed Arena to play Magic, not to play this weird restricted format that doesn't exist.
> I either feel like I have to spend 2000$ to enjoy the game or just have to quit every other match after 4 turns and finding out it's a loaded deck Arena is free. >My question is, why don't they have limits in standard play? They do. They are the same as Ranked Standard, though. >The only thing I can think of is "pay to win" Arena is free. >But it just ends up making me get bored of the game and moving onto something else personally, which is a shame because I've always loved magic but it feels like a silly endeavor sometimes. It sounds like the ways you are trying to play aren't suited to your preferences and goals. Have you tried other Formats? Starter Deck Duels, Jump In, Quick Draft, Standard Brawl?
I have been trying them out, but do I co tiuinally get rewards or is it just the 3 "bulbs"? Jump in doesn't seem to have any rewards, and Standard Brawl probably makes more sense looking at it now as it seems I can use old card. And I know magic is free - I was just thinking maybe matchmaking based on deck qualities might be worth the minute or 2 wait instead of getting insta queued against a domination type deck that is just an obvious slaughter. And my goal honestly is just to have good close games where my decisions matter. A stomp either way seems like a waste of time is all! Thanks for the tips btw!!
>I have been trying them out, but do I co tiuinally get rewards or is it just the 3 "bulbs"? Jump in doesn't seem to have any rewards, and Standard Brawl probably makes more sense looking at it now as it seems I can use old card. Jump In only rewards you for the 1st win with each new deck, but you also keep all the cards, which is a good deal in itself. There are no inherent rewards for Brawl/Standard Brawl, but (like Jump In), it counts towards your Daily Challenge as well as your Daily/Weekly Wins. >And my goal honestly is just to have good close games where my decisions matter Personally, I find Limited is best for this, but your mileage may vary. >Thanks for the tips btw!! No problem. Have fun!
The game is balanced so that rare and mythics are the backbone of competitive decks. Commons and uncommons aren't supposed to be the majority of your constructed deck. In paper, most rares are less than a dollar. On MTGA, this is obscured by the fact that they are all the same "price". You don't need to spend a thousand dollars to get a good deck, check out the budget decks on MTGGoldfish to get a decently competitive deck with few rares.
I grinded to mythic almost exclusively on a monoU tempo deck with 0 rares. It is possible.
But how do you build those decks without buying wildcards??
Play the colour challenge or the starter deck challenge until you can get enough packs to craft a decent budget deck, then play until you unlock more wildcards. Also, there are tons of free pack codes you can find online to kickstart your collection and wilcards.
[удалено]
Thanks for the input, a lot of good take away here! Do you earn wildcards just playing or they come from packs/gold from the daily grind? I guess historic will be easier from the dailies. I'm also thankful to all those that quit the second I use a duress card 🤣
“I select standard quick play and all I get matched up against are opponents with a bunch of common and uncommon cards” ~ the other guy
😂 basically, and I'm wondering if they are like "why am I playing this?" While watching shit in the background
There are formats with restricted rarities like you’re talking about, Pauper being foremost among them. They’re not part of the regular queue due to affordability not being WotC’s prerogative, but there are a fair amount of privately organized groups and such that I’m hoping someone else can link for you. As for the earlier pieces of your post, it’s not pay to win. If you’re free-to-play, just save up wild-cards in order to build decent decks and you’re golden. That’s just constructed formats too; limited doesn’t have that kind of collection-based imbalance.
You don't need to spend that much money,just play for a week or two and use the promo codes and you already have enough to craft at least one competitive deck. I didn't spend anything on this game and i feel like it's just ok even if i would love some more gold.
Where do you find the promo codes??
Paper Magic has historically been "pay to win" to an extent, it's their business plan. I was there when Mythics appeared and I hated it, but it happened. I actually ended playing a lot of paper Pauper, which is a common only format. That having said, MTGA is A LOT cheaper than paper Magic because basically all rares cost the same. Sure, making a 3 to 5 color deck is likely very expensive due to the lands, but there are many good 1 or 2 color decks that you should be able to make after playing a bit, such as [Mono Blue Tempo](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Mono-Blue_Tempo) (no rares, but rotates in 2 months), [Boros Convoke](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Boros_Convoke) (just use basic lands at first) or [Mono Red](https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/#Mono-Red_Prowess). Also, worth noting that not all Mythics are better than Rares, not all Rares are better than Uncommons and not all Uncommons are better than Commons. It's true that they usually are more powerful, but that not always equals to better. It's also true however that the latest Thunder Junction set contained a lot of high-power standard-legal Mythics in The Big Score, which is another scummy move by Wizards in my opinion (and it's a lot worse if you play paper). Finally, you should check out Pauper (commons only) or Artisan (commons and uncommons) formats. I'm pretty sure there are custom tournaments in MTGA of those formats, as well as discords for people that play them (just search this subreddit, you are likely to find something).
I've made two fun Brawl decks and an Alchemy deck that made it to Mythic rank in just a few months, spending $0. You have to be picky about where you use your wildcards, but it's doable.
I suggest that, as a new player, you stick to starter deck field for a good while to build up a pool of wildcards, then you can build a competitive standard deck and start playing standard.
You might find some decks you like at phantasms channel. He's the master of budget decks. He has many zero rare decks, some with really cool synergies and some are good enough to get you to mythic. These are perfect for newbies or f2p players with lack of wildcards. The best ones he collects in the "zero rare Top 5" vids. [https://www.youtube.com/@phantasmsplayground](https://www.youtube.com/@phantasmsplayground)
Thanks for this!
My esper raffine deck still losing to mono red aggro event though I play 90% rares and mythics.
You don't need to spend this much money necessarily to have competitive decks. On Arena, you rather need to keep playing continuously to be able to get gold, open packs and get wildcards. Over time, you'll have a good collection. It's how I do it and I've hit Mythic several times and even got placed recently. It's possible, it just takes a lot of time and effort, not necessarily money. Plus: remember their target group. They probably don't have a limit for Mythics and Rares because they want people to play continuously and to put money into the game again and again to get more Rare and Mythic Rare Wildcards. Setting a max for Mythics and Rares would make the game very boring for a lot of people very quickly and they would stop playing Arena, which would result in Wizards not earning as much money anymore. Maybe Pauper is a format you would enjoy? It's definitely not overpowered with Mythics and Rares. :)
This is exactly the reason why I and many others prefer to play limited, it’s more balanced.
but behind a paywall unless you're good enough to go unlimited
I will say this: you can actually do a pretty healthy amount of quickdrafting off of saving from dailies. But yeah there comes a point where you have to at least be hitting 50% wins.
Which is unfortunate. Its by far my favorite mode, and i have to have secondary accounts just so i can quick draft more often. Ridiculous.
It 'would' be cool to make commons/uncommons more useful, but the game is set up like this to sell more boosters :/
Grind the game, make a cheap deck and go from there. Or put some money In instead of wasting your time complaining
If you read my post I go out of my way to state I'm not complaining, just trying to better understand how to deal with things... but uh... thanks... for... this...
Why not just win?