Spending money and gems

The first and the most important lesson on spending gems is how to spend the money on them first, especially if you’re from outside the US.

1. Always select USD as the payment method, it will always be cheaper than EUR
2. Use paypal, add a US address there
3. Select address of delivery in the US (there are tax-free states btw)

This will be the most cost-efficient way to purchase gems in MTGA, up to 20% less easily. Let’s review the available bundles and how to get the biggest bang for your buck:

Bundles over $49.99 provide additional 2 cards that you can’t open in boosters. Thankfully they’re usually not constructed-viable and if they are they can be crafted with the wildcards. Usually you can simply ignore them.

The starter bundle does provide a boost that an experienced player can use to jump into a more competitive side of MTGA straight away as this may be used to play at the very minimum 3 drafts or buy 12 packs of your choice.

The bundle also provides five M19 packs. Even if you don’t get playable cards from those boosters your wildcard meter progresses.

It is evident that the starter pack that is available as a one-time purchase provides excellent value compared to any other purchase packs. You may hear on reddit people saying they’re ‘almost f2p’. Most of the time it means they’ve only bought the starter bundle. If you’re spending money on MTGA, start with it first.

The amount of gems you feel you need to buy depends on how you play and your goals in the game. If you’re a limited player you will need to buy gems for drafts at the very least initially. If you want to have a deck of your choice immediately you will buy the packs to get the wildcards.

It is perfectly possible to be a competitive constructed player without spending any money. There are many people who had played since the beginning of open beta and had not only built multiple tier 1 competitive decks but have stockpiled tens of thousands gold coins.

But make no mistake, it takes time, consistent dedication, knowledge and improvement to reach those results. Spending money may help you jumpstart your collection and build your first few competitive decks. But after a month of diligent playing it comes down to skill, not the size of your pocket to achieve success in MTGA.

That being said, there had been quite a few studies regarding how many boosters you need to open to reach a full collection. If you want to buy a set that is currently available and grind out the rest as f2p you should spend around $50 (but buy the $100 bundles).

If you want to open only specific sets, keep in mind the following:

• The strength of the set (rare dual lands)
• The chances of getting the cards for the deck you’re planning on constructing
• Don’t spend more than $200 on a set for a total of 200 boosters

If you’re spending gems you might also want to try limited formats - maybe you’ll enjoy them more then simply spending your money on immediately gaining the specific cards you want. Many players find that sealed is extremely fun for them to play and has a low barrier for entry.

Be mindful of your MMR in limited for sealed though and make sure you check the table in the guide to see where it matters. If you do want to jump into limited and improve your drafting game, there is a section in this guide that's dedicated to limited.

If you are still interested in constructed formats, we will be discussing how to build (and netdeck) good decks in Magic Arena next.