It’s probably been about a year since I uninstalled MTGArena from my iPad. Kind of fed up with Standard BO1, constantly playing against the same decks, and opponents who just rope you when things don’t go their way… I haven’t missed it, to be honest! I rather play in person with actual cards.
That being said, in recent months I’ve been pretty hooked on Magic and I want to improve as a player and, above all, as a deck builder. For the years I’ve put into it, I’m actually quite bad, I won’t lie to you! And I think MTGArena and MTGO are the best options available to work on that.
On top of it, I’ve got a new computer and I’m curious to see what the gameplay experience is like on a more capable machine, with a better screen, with a mouse! and with the help of companion apps that provide overlays with in-game information, like Untapped.gg, 17Lands or Draftsim.
What’s the plan?
I’ve read many times that the best way to become a better Magic player is to play Limited, and especially Draft. And I’ve also read that it’s the most fun… so I guess it’s worth a try, right?
I must have played 2 or 3 drafts in the past, on Arena, and the experience wasn’t very successful… I don’t even remember which expansions I played… but I do remember that I barely won any games and, honestly, it wasn’t very fun…
But let’s not get sidetracked: the plan. I want to start from the beginning, reading the introduction to Magic by Reid Duke: Level One: The Full Course, with special attention to chapters VI, VII, and VIII, and learning about drafting Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) , the expansion I’ll start with.
Besides that, I’d like to do it in F2P mode, partly because I think limited resources are another incentive for creativity. I want to try out the various apps I mentioned earlier to see how much they actually help improve performance. I’m sure they make things easier… whether they really help you become a better player, I guess we’ll see…