As with any competitive online game mode, ranked MTG Arena can feel like a never-ending grind. How you manage your deck and emotions during this grind will determine if and when you eventually reach the top rank. Mythic seems like a pipedream to many but is easier to achieve than you may think. Let me share the tips that helped me on my road to Mythic.
Results Are Not Always A Reflection Of Your Deck
Whether you build your own deck from scratch or are using a build you obtained online, if you reach Platinum or Diamond rank, it’s fair to assume it’s a well-constructed deck. However, there are conditions beyond your control in ranked MTG Arena, with the main one being yours and your opponent’s draw luck. You can start a match with a strong seven-card hand then draw six lands in a row; sometimes, the RNG is just cruel.
Difficult streaks can tempt a player to change their decks; don’t make changes unless absolutely necessary!
It can be easy to blame your deck in these circumstances, but that shouldn’t be your go-to excuse. Do not head straight to the deck editor and start playing around with land ratio or the mana curve. Your deck got you this far; you probably didn’t put that down to luck, so don’t blame a bad stretch on it either. Stick with what has worked and only make minor tweaks if you’re falling victim to the same issues repeatedly.
Take A Break When On A Bad Streak
If you hit a rough patch and find yourself on a losing streak, you may find yourself smashing the play button again and again in frustration to just get into another game as quickly as possible. This will lead to concentration lapses and misplays. You don’t want to play angry or frustrated as the tactical side of the MTG will be gone, and you’ll be relying only on luck.
Reaching Mythic is difficult, but the rewards are worth it.
Ranked MTG Arena can be relentless, with long grinding sessions that can leave you in exactly the same place you started. Forward progress is never quick and easy, but taking breaks during the win droughts can help you avoid overall fatigue and further aggravating bad play.
Taking a break could also be taking yourself out of ranked play. Take a fun deck out for a spin or try something new, maybe even try some draft. Anything to take the competitive edge off and reset mentally should do the trick.
Know Your Deck’s Weaknesses and Strengths
When moving up initially in ranked MTG Arena, the tactical aspect is pushed to the back of people’s minds and decks are typically much more basic or sometimes just poorly constructed. As you climb the ladder, you’ll need to have a much better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses. Use the ability to identify and track opponents’ decks as early on as possible.
Sultai Ultimatum’s win condition card, Emergent Ultimatum, sees many players concede as soon as you play it!
As an example, I’ll use Sultai Ultimatum. This deck relies on early-turn mana building and removal to get to its late-game threats. You are weak to any aggro decks such as red and white, which can flood the battlefield quickly and end a game in just a few turns. Your strengths are all in the late game, where you can fire off high mana planeswalker, enchantments and creatures to overwhelm an opponent who hopefully has few answers.
It’s hard to know what an opponent is playing until one or two turns into the game. Good card recognition and game sense will allow you to understand an opponent’s deck type and possible win conditions so you can act accordingly.
Finally, Use Your Mulligans!
It’s a piece of advice I have often forgotten to take myself, but the pre-game mulligan exists for a reason. If your starting hand doesn’t contain any early turn cards, use the mulligan to get yourself a new hand. Yes, you’ll have to put one of those cards on the bottom of your deck, but if what you’re left with is more playable than you initially started with, your win chance goes through the roof.
Yes, it’s intimidating starting with less cards in hand, but it’s worse to start a game with garbage.
The mulligan is a risk, of course, but if you have to go again and down to five cards then so be it. There is no strategy to starting a game with a poor hand and praying for top decks. Better to start with four or five playable cards than seven useless spells or minimal mana.
There you have it, a few simple tips on how to take your ranked MTG Arena game to the next level and reach the lofty heights of Mythic. Hopefully, these are of some use to you; feel free to drop a comment with any tips or tricks you’ve used to improve your play!
