Magic the Gathering Arena

[Alphard]

I thought only the hand drawer was rigged, but i wasvery wrong. I play my first draft and look a lot of guides, download a bot to help me pick cards, i consider cards for about 5 minutes each pick. I end with a mediocre deck , but that's not the issue. I get matched the firdst time against a platinum player (im bronze), and he absolutely destroys me. For some reason i get lucky and he let the timer run out. First ""win"". Ok , then the following game i get screwed by shuffler and lose, having only 2 lands on opening, despite mulligan (again 2 lands ). For the rest of the game i'm out of mana and fall behind and lose. Happens , i say, i got lucky once, now the karma is striking.
3rd game i win, with a close call. I win another too. So now i'm 3-1.
I lose the 4th game, 3-2.
All these three games seemed "normal" as far as draw is concerned.
Then i hope to at least reach 4th win to repay the draft cost.
Of course that would be too good, having a fair match. I pick 2 lands, as before, but rest of the hand seems fine, with a creature able to be channeled for a land.
Then the farce starts. In the following 12 turns i pick 9 lands, of wich 6 consecutive. What's the chance of that statistically?
that would still be possible if it was a single case, but apparently it happens to a lot of people, when they are winning " too much". seems everything is rigged to have you sit at around 50℅ win rate.

 

[lukaszek]

thats more or less confirmed, you get weaker/stronger enemies depending on how your assembled deck performs.
You being paired against plat as bronze means that queue was empty. Most likely. Or he lost 2 games in a row and devs tossed you as easy win

 

[Alphard]

thats more or less confirmed, you get weaker/stronger enemies depending on how your assembled deck performs.
You being paired against plat as bronze means that queue was empty. Most likely. Or he lost 2 games in a row and devs tossed you as easy win

that sucks. i tought i could have fun for a little as a f2p but even if during a draft to enter wich you grinded gold for a week, you cannot play real games, because the algorithm predetermines if you win or lose, then the game is not worth. i already uninstalled

 

[lukaszek]

thats more or less confirmed, you get weaker/stronger enemies depending on how your assembled deck performs.
You being paired against plat as bronze means that queue was empty. Most likely. Or he lost 2 games in a row and devs tossed you as easy win

that sucks. i tought i could have fun for a little as a f2p but even if during a draft to enter wich you grinded gold for a week, you cannot play real games, because the algorithm predetermines if you win or lose, then the game is not worth. i already uninstalled

you are over dramatizing really. You should be able to have on average 4+ wins per draft by the time you reach golden rank. Then it get harder. And I do rare draft ALWAYS.

While there are annoyances due to match making, bad rng(godly assembled decks going 0-3 due to bad draws) Id say you need to gid gud.
Aetherhub tracker can help with it as it will provide card rating.
Bronze/silver should be cake walk just because people are doing wrong plays, are easy to bait etc...

 

[Alphard]

thats more or less confirmed, you get weaker/stronger enemies depending on how your assembled deck performs.
You being paired against plat as bronze means that queue was empty. Most likely. Or he lost 2 games in a row and devs tossed you as easy win

that sucks. i tought i could have fun for a little as a f2p but even if during a draft to enter wich you grinded gold for a week, you cannot play real games, because the algorithm predetermines if you win or lose, then the game is not worth. i already uninstalled

you are over dramatizing really. You should be able to have on average 4+ wins per draft by the time you reach golden rank. Then it get harder. And I do rare draft ALWAYS.

While there are annoyances due to match making, bad rng(godly assembled decks going 0-3 due to bad draws) Id say you need to gid gud.
Aetherhub tracker can help with it as it will provide card rating.
Bronze/silver should be cake walk just because people are doing wrong plays, are easy to bait etc...

Look , i'm not bothered by the fact that i'm losing. I know i'm not a super skilled player and i often do mistakes. The problem is how, or even better, WHY i'm losing. Being flooded or land starved in a game every 4( or more if you are on a winning streak), with a balanced deck , is obviously the system trying to make you lose. Or when you face opponents based on your deck. When you win you often draw the perfect hand and opponents get screwed by the shuffler. Not all games are like this, but knowing that the system is at least partially rigged sucks all the will to play or invest time in this

 

[Axioms]

It is important to remember that regardless of the tech on Arena, which I'm also not a fan of, MTG is a luck based game. In fact hardcore fans including pros and streamers will defend this to the end because it lets worse decks win sometimes which is supposed to be good for players without netdecks or something. Oh lets smooth out land vs gas draw a bit? They will lose their minds if you suggest ways to do this.

 

[lukaszek]

MTG is a luck based game.

problem is that due to power creep, main lucky part is whether you go first or not

 

[Lim-Dûl]

It is important to remember that regardless of the tech on Arena, which I'm also not a fan of, MTG is a luck based game. In fact hardcore fans including pros and streamers will defend this to the end because it lets worse decks win sometimes which is supposed to be good for players without netdecks or something. Oh lets smooth out land vs gas draw a bit? They will lose their minds if you suggest ways to do this.

There are formats with better cantrips like legacy or pauper. I remember a couple years ago these formats turned to shit but who knows maybe they recovered. You can even play them for free with certain programs. Drawing badly sucks and I don't get why people insist on playing shit formats with only the new cards.

 

[Kjaska]

Tasha just saved me against a Scute Swarm x 40 onslaught. That guy will remember what her ability does for the rest of his life.

 

[Gyor]

Anyone else looking forward to Wizard's Presents on the 18th where WotC are making a ton of MtG & D&D announcements like Dominaria United Mechanics, what MtG sets are coming in 2023, and so on?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

MTG is a luck based game.

problem is that due to power creep, main lucky part is whether you go first or not

Agreed on the power creep. Things started going bonkers around 2011.

A bad shffule will kill, but I have found very reliable ways to avoid it.

60-64 cards, 20 of them basic mana. Dual lands or OK if you know what you're doing. Basic lands are still encouraged. Mana curve with an ideal average cost of 2, but no more than 2.5. I almost never have cards with more than 4 mana cost, even in a green or black deck. Once you have that mana curve, you need a mechanism to draw>sort>search. This is critical because without it, your low CMC cost can start to fizzle by round 5 if you have more mana than spells.

Have at least 4 cards with the primary function to do one of those and an another incidental mechanism. It could involve reanimating, mana shredding, or bouncing/exile. These cards can be used against yourself to control your own permanents and deck, so they can do double duty as offense and utility. It dramtically improves consistency. This is one reason why I dominantly play blue and black.

 

[anvi]

This game is buggy as shit now.

 

[lukaszek]

This game is buggy as shit now.

always has been

 

[anvi]

Seems worse now though. They need to hire a few non zoomers to right the ship.

 

[lukaszek]

i guess it was last time i bought pass blindly at the beginning, they are making those harder and harder to max

 

[Gyor]

i guess it was last time i bought pass blindly at the beginning, they are making those harder and harder to max

I just max Baldur's Gate pass today, but this was my favourite set this year.

 

[lukaszek]

i guess it was last time i bought pass blindly at the beginning, they are making those harder and harder to max

I just max Baldur's Gate pass today, but this was my favourite set this year.

I usually play 4 wins per day. I did miss few days here or there but never dailies that give those big xp. Normally I hit like 20+ levels past the one that gives rewards.
My stats show that I played more games than 80% of the players and earned more gold than 95%.

I might hit max lvl on last day looking at quick math. Anyway looking at my stats - expecting that only small percentage of playerbase unlocks paid mastery pass is insane. If not for 2k xp code they gave away - I wouldnt dream of reaching max at all

 

[Scruffy]

MTG is a luck based game

If you actually believe that, you have not understood much.

 

[Axioms]

MTG is a luck based game

If you actually believe that, you have not understood much.

If you don't believe it than you don't understand much. Individual games are decided on luck primarily. Of course over hundreds of games you can draw out which players only care about meta-minmaxing and those players will, on average, win more major tournaments than anyone else. But even PVDDR can eat shit on mulliganing twice and still not getting enough lands when you consider an individual game or match.

 

[Scruffy]

MTG is a luck based game

If you actually believe that, you have not understood much.

If you don't believe it than you don't understand much. Individual games are decided on luck primarily. Of course over hundreds of games you can draw out which players only care about meta-minmaxing and those players will, on average, win more major tournaments than anyone else. But even PVDDR can eat shit on mulliganing twice and still not getting enough lands when you consider an individual game or match.

What you described is not something BASED on luck.

 

[Jason Liang]

 

[lukaszek]

I knew Jason Liang would pop up thanks to liliana making a cumback, but I didnt epect him with drink in hand. Crispy could be interested, but apparently I cant tag him anymore

 

[Doktor Best]

thats more or less confirmed, you get weaker/stronger enemies depending on how your assembled deck performs.
You being paired against plat as bronze means that queue was empty. Most likely. Or he lost 2 games in a row and devs tossed you as easy win

that sucks. i tought i could have fun for a little as a f2p but even if during a draft to enter wich you grinded gold for a week, you cannot play real games, because the algorithm predetermines if you win or lose, then the game is not worth. i already uninstalled

you are over dramatizing really. You should be able to have on average 4+ wins per draft by the time you reach golden rank. Then it get harder. And I do rare draft ALWAYS.

While there are annoyances due to match making, bad rng(godly assembled decks going 0-3 due to bad draws) Id say you need to gid gud.
Aetherhub tracker can help with it as it will provide card rating.
Bronze/silver should be cake walk just because people are doing wrong plays, are easy to bait etc...

Look , i'm not bothered by the fact that i'm losing. I know i'm not a super skilled player and i often do mistakes. The problem is how, or even better, WHY i'm losing. Being flooded or land starved in a game every 4( or more if you are on a winning streak), with a balanced deck , is obviously the system trying to make you lose. Or when you face opponents based on your deck. When you win you often draw the perfect hand and opponents get screwed by the shuffler. Not all games are like this, but knowing that the system is at least partially rigged sucks all the will to play or invest time in this

Bro in my last PAPER prerelease i got manascrewed in 5 of my 6 games. Is the real life shuffler rigged now? (And yes i shuffled VERY thoroughly especially in the later games, even to a point i annoyed my opponents a bit) This shit is just part of the game, especially if you run decks with suboptimal manabases (which every limited deck is by definition). You circumvent this in other formats like Commander or Modern with mdfcs or channel lands or cycling lands. Thats why they're so popular.

The mana system in MTG leads to interesting deckbuilding choices and deeper strategical depth in deckbuilding, but it does have its drawbacks.
Limited is a luck based format, has always been will always be. Losing every 4th game to mana issues sounds absolutely normal. Your issue is confirmation bias because it happened in a game you were emotionally invested in.

 

[Pocgels]

Mulligan if you can't win with your starting hand

 

[Kjaska]

The art quality and production value is noticeably higher this set (duh). Love it, despite all the identity politics shoved in. I'm still not buying their pass, because it's still mostly skins for cards I'll never use and you can just wait until the relevant styles become available in the Daily Deal for gold AND they keep making the pets ugly. I'm still on that owl from ages ago.

Is there a counter to Life Gain fags I can deploy earlier than this:

Preferrably also a creature.