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Whether you’re a curious new player or afan of Commanderlooking to go digital,Magic: the Gathering(MTG)Arenais the easiest way to get involved due to the presence ofwildcards. Spending your wildcards carefully allows you to try a variety of ways to play the game.
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So, let’s dive in and take a look at how wildcards work, how to earn more of them, and what kinds of cards you ought to craft. In the end, you’ll be prepped to craft a collection to playMTG: Arenafor years to come!
What Are Wildcards?
Wildcards can be pulled in all ofMTG: Arena’s rarities from any booster pack you open. When building a deck,you may use a wildcard to “craft” any card of that rarity.
Wildcards don’t care about sets, formats, or any other restrictions—if the Wildcard is the right rarity, you can craft it! Ease of use is one reasonMTG: Arenais the most popular way to play rotating formats like Standard.
Wildcards are basically the only reason I playMTG: Arena. They make it easy to build decks without spending a fortune on packs or single cards.
How To Get Wildcards
Wildcards pop up in a couple of different places:
The main way you’re going to get wildcards is by cracking packs.Each card has a chance to become a wildcard of the same rarity.
Percentage
Each pack you open also advances theWildcard Reward Track.You can track your progress on the top-right side of the screen while opening packs.
The Wildcard Reward Track doesn’t care aboutwhereyour packs came from—prizes, new set promos, Mastery rewards, etc. Instead of consuming excess cards manually, every pack counts toward your next Wildcard.
As you open packs, you might open duplicates of cards already in your collection.Opening your fifth copy of a common or uncommon adds progress to The Vault.
The Vault opens when it reaches 1,000 points. Each excess common adds 1 point, and each excess uncommon adds 3 points. A percentage displaying your progress is shown if you hover over the orange “lotus” symbol on the top of your screen.
Opening the Vault takes a while, so it’s best to think about it as a “nice bonus” rather than a goal. When it’s open, you’ll receive 6 new Wildcards.
Your progress on the Vault never “expires.” Don’t sweat it if you open a ton of packs—points past 1,000 will be applied to your next Vault.
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Card Crafting Strategy
When choosing how to use your Wildcards, consider which formats you’re most interested in playing.Rotating formatsare fun because they keep changing, but inEternal formatsyou can continue ruining your opponent’s day with your favorite Mill Crabs long after they’ve left Standard—no need for drastic gameplay changes here!
I find it’s hard to go wrong if you craftMTG: Arenastaples using your Wildcards. Good cards which are playable inboth types of formatkeep your collection flexible enough to play a variety of ways.
Two types of cards remain powerful even when rotating into an Eternal format’s more competitive card pool:multicolor landsand strongremoval spells.
While they’re not terribly exciting, landsareterribly important.Having a good manabase will win you games.
Popular lands are also a type of card more likely to be reprinted in future sets. OnMTG: Arenaif you crafted a copy for a prior set, you can use that card again if it re-enters Standard.
Strong lands to craft for an enduring collection include thesurveil landsfromMurders at Karlov Manor,thefetch landsfromKhans of Tarkir, and theshock landsfromGuilds of RavnicaandRavnica Allegiance.Not only are these landsgreat in Eternal formats,it’s likely they’ll be reprinted for you to use in future Standard formats.
Removal Spells
Magic’s creatures seem to grow tougher and tougher, but there’s less power creep in its removal spells. Staples from the 90s likeLightning BoltorCounterspellstill see play onMTG: Arenawhen format-legal.
Removal which will last from Standard into Eternal (and perhaps even get reprinted!) tends to becheap, direct, and unconditional.One classic example isSupreme VerdictfromReturn to Ravnica,which I still think is the best board wipe ever printed.
Because there’s a pretty firm “ceiling” to how powerful removal can get, Wildcards spent this way will let you play with them for a long time. That’s what makesMTG: Arenaso enticing even on free-to-play accounts—the ease with which you can build a lasting collection of fun, powerful cards.
