As Short As Possible (Not As Short As Planned)
Unabridged Beginner’s Guide to MTG Arena
As of 30 August 2021, the guide has moved to MTG Arena Zone. Further updates are expected there rather than here.
As of 30 August 2021, the guide has moved to MTG Arena Zone. Further updates are expected there rather than here.
This guide assumes you have a general idea of what a Trading, or Collectible Card Game is, and a basic grasp of Magic: the Gathering. If you need an introduction or a refresher, please go through Appendix A first. If you want to get better at Magic, check Level One or Appendix C instead.
Arena is a “true” MTG game, but it started off Standard and only has full Core and Expansion sets from Ixalan onwards. Arena’s non-rotating format is called Historic. It also includes a couple of remastered older cycles, several curated Historic Anthologies, most of two Jumpstart sets and a bit more, less than one quarter of all Magic cards total.
Arena is only 1v1. Adding other modes, as well as expanding to older sets/non-rotating formats is not ruled out, but is as distant as one may think. Pioneer was going to be gradually added, but currently delayed with no timeframe given.
Arena is a free-to-play game with economics pertinent to this kind of games. You don’t have access to all the cards at the start, and unlocking them requires either time — both in terms of regular and continuous play — or money (or both).
Arena is not pay-to-win, rather “pay to get on even terms faster”. A daily non-paying player may expect to have a competitive deck in a month or two, depending on the meta.
Drafting on Arena is possible both in player pods (but you don’t play versus the same people) or with bots (games are still played versus people).
Cards in Arena cannot be traded between players, and you cannot sell your cards neither for real money nor for any in-game currency. Trading accounts is against ToS.
On Arena, cards of the same rarity effectively have the same acquisition cost. This means “budget” paper decks may not be “budget” on Arena, and fun wild combo decks might be as hard to build as full competitive decks.
That all said, MTG Arena can be a free (or much cheaper than paper) way to play Magic, that isn’t leaving any soon and is being pushed as the way to play Standard and for e-sports.
Arena for Windows is downloadable from Wizards of the Coast or Epic Games Store. MacOS version is available since 25th June 2020 via Epic Games Store only. Mobile is released for Android (January 2021), 4GB RAM required, and iOS (March 2021). Steam Link also works.
Just started — Getting cards — Getting resources — What next?
General interface — Collection interface — Game settings — Third-party tools
Constructed — Limited — Ranked system — Playing with friends
Turn timers — Holding priority — Visual cues — Stack — Auto tapper — Mana pool — Various
More on getting cards — Bans and suspensions — Mastery passes — Growing your collection
Common misunderstandings — Common rule confusions — Bugs — Shuffler and matchmaking
Overview — Card types — Combat — Stack — New sets and rotation — Sideboard
Color combinations — Mechanics and effects — Dual-color lands — Various
Understanding Magic — Getting better at Limited — Coping with variance — Tools to build your own deck
v. 2.01, 30/08/2021: Arena is struggling to recover after a backend patch that messed up a lot of stuff.
This guide is written by an experienced MTG player, free-to-play Arena player, non-native English speaker, straight white middle-aged Caucasian male playing on a Windows PC. That inevitably means some parts of the guide are less on point than the others. If you believe it doesn’t do justice to the matter as perceived from another side of either of those divisions and can be bettered, please contact me.
Recent changes:
v. 2.01, 30/08/2021: The guide moved on to the new home @ MTGAZone. Last cosmetic changes made here, "guide has moved" warning added.
v. 2.00, 26/08/2021: Fixed typos, formatting, updated and enhanced several sections, etc. The guide is ready to move on.
v. 2.00 beta, 20/08/2021: The guide's completely overhauled. Please forgive typos, having some formatting issues and unfinished or temporarily named sections. It'll get better soon.
v. 1.32, 12/08/2021: Various corrections and additions.
v. 1.31, 08/07/2021: A few correction and additions reflecting the current game state. Changed the mastery pass information to AFR.
v. 1.30, 12/04/2021: Appendix E on advanced search options added. A lot of small updates and corrections, including information on Strixhaven mastery pass.