8 Magic: The Gathering Arena Beginner Tips for New Players

The Magic: The Gathering card game has been around since the early 1990s, but only since the 2018 release of the digital MTG: Arena have players been able to play it on Windows and Android platforms. Now it’s one of the best alternative collectible card games to Hearthstone. Although not quite as straightforward to play as Hearthstone, some players prefer MTG: Arena’s greater tactical depth and bigger deck diversity. Here are some Magic: The Gathering Arena beginner tips for players who are new to the game.

Read also: How to Build a Magic: The Gathering Arena Deck in 2021

1. Swap quests

Completing quests is the best way for new players to rack up gold in MTG: Arena. You can get 250-750 gold for finishing quests. So, make sure you take notice of the quests and try to finish them.

Note, however, that you can re-roll, or swap, a quest once per day to get a different one by clicking the quest on the menu. This is a good option for getting quests that either reward more gold or match your deck color better. For example, a quest that requires you to cast 20 green spells won’t be much good if you’re playing with a blue/white deck combination. Clicking the quest will re-roll and might give you one that better matches your deck’s colors.

2. Get free card packs

The best way for beginners to expand their card libraries is to enter MTG Arena free pack codes. Yes, that’s right, you can get free card packs by entering a few codes into the Redeem Code box on the Store tab. Furthermore, there are a total of eight codes that will give you 22 free card packs! These are the free deck codes (in bold):

• PlayEldraine: Provides three Throne of Eldraine packs
• PlayM20: Provides three 2020 Core Set packs
• PlayTheros: Provides three Theros Beyond Death packs
• PlayIkoria: Provides three Lair of Behemoth packs
• PlayM21: Provides three 2021 Core packs
• PlayZendikar: Provides three Zendikar packs
• PlayKaldheim: Provides three Kaldheim packs
• TryKaladesh: Provides three one Kaladesh Remastered pack

So, you’ll get 154 cards with those deck codes! None of the above codes have any expiry date at the time of writing.

3. Build a specific type of deck

To climb the rankings ladder in MTG Arena, you’ll need to build a specific type of deck with a clear play style. Don’t just throw a collection of fancy Mythic and Rare cards together willy-nilly to form a deck. You won’t get very far in the game’s rankings if you do. An effective deck will have a single theme, and perhaps a subtheme, and include cards that serve its theme.

An aggro deck

MTG Arena has four main deck-type archetypes with different play styles and victory modes. These are the four main deck types in MTG Arena: aggro, mid-range, combo, and control. The Magic: The Gathering Arena deck types Wikipedia page provides further details about those deck types. Build a deck that fits one of those archetypes.

4. Get the mana balance right

Mana lands fuel your deck. So, your deck must have the right mana balance. If you have too many mana cards, you’ll draw more lands than you need. If there aren’t enough land cards in your deck, you’ll often get card locked with insufficient mana to play your cards.

The amount of mana cards you’ll need to include in your deck depends on the archetype you’re playing. As a rule of thumb, at least 33 percent of your deck (20 in a 60 card deck) must be mana cards. However, 20-22 land cards are the bare minimum for an aggro deck with lower mana values. Mid-range decks with more four to six-mana cards will need to include about 24-25 land cards out of 60. If you’re playing a control deck with numerous higher-mana cards, you’ll probably need more like 26-27 land cards in it to ensure you don’t have to wait too long to play your big hitters.

The mana curve for a deck

5. Mulligan for a better hand

Mulligan gives you a chance to get a better starting hand, albeit with fewer cards. Make the most of the mulligan option to get a better opening hand. Ideally, you’ll have a starting hand that will at least give you something to play in your first three turns without needing to wait around for more cards to be drawn. These are some of the conditions for when you should consider taking a mulligan:

• You don’t have enough mana to play anything in your starting hand.
• You have too many land cards in your hand (five or more).
• Your starting hand won’t help your game plan during the early game.
• You can’t play any cards in your starting hand during the first three turns.

The Mulligan button

6. Play in Constructed Historic or Standard Events

MTG: Arena includes numerous events players can play in with an entry fee. Those events include Constructed Historic and Standard, Premier Draft, Traditional Draft, and Quick Draft among others. Events like Traditional Draft and Premier Draft offer big rewards for a good number of wins. However, they also have high 10,000 gold entry fees that amount to a big gamble if you don’t get a good number of wins on the board.

For example, Traditional Draft offers one pack for zero wins and a couple for two. One pack amounts to just 1,000 gold. Thus, you’ll effectively lose 9,000 gold you could have got nine packs of cards with if you enter Traditional Draft and don’t get any wins. That’s a massive gamble to make for the chance of big prizes. It makes much more sense for a seasoned MTG Arena veteran with a proven deck to make that kind of gamble than a beginner.

Most beginner players probably won’t be able to rack up that many wins in events. With that in mind, beginners should enter the events that offer the best value prizes for zero wins. In that respect, Standard Event and Historic Event are the best ones to enter as they have low 500 gold entry fees.

With no wins in those events, you’ll get at least three uncommon or higher cards and 100 gold back. A single win will net you 200 gold and three cards, which is better value than spending 1,000 gold on an 8-card pack. Therefore, you only need to win one game to get some value from Constructed Standard or Historic events. Thus, Constructed Standard and Historic are the best value events for no wins; and you could scoop up to 1,000 gold and three cards with several wins!

7. Check out MTG Arena apps

There are a few Magic: The Gathering Arena tracker apps available. Apps like MTGArena.PRO, Arena Tutor, and MTG Arena Tool have some very handy tools for players. Those apps incorporate in-game deck trackers that provide complete statistics.

The Arena Tutor app overlay

Arena Tutor is one app that’s worth noting. You can view win/loss stats for your decks and track cards you’ve played during a match with that app. Furthermore, Arena Tutor also incorporates a draft companion that provides deck-building recommendations for players. That app is freely available, and you can check it out by clicking Download Now on the Arena Tutor website.

8. Get decks from MTGGoldfish

If you aren’t getting a sufficient win rate to climb the MTG Arena rankings with your own decks, check out the MTGGoldfish website. There you can find a plethora of proven decks that you’ll probably fair better with. You can export decks there directly to MTG Arena by clicking the Export to Arena option on the deck pages. A page will then open that provides further details for exporting the deck to the game.

The MTGGoldfish website

Those Magic: The Gathering Arena beginner tips will help new players win more games and expand their card collections more quickly. You can also read the game’s official starter guide at the Magic: The Gathering Arena website.