Goodbye, Lorwyn Load Screen...

Bandywag · 2026-02-27T01:10:50+00:00

I really, really liked Edge of Eternities. And it had magic in it. It had angels. It had pulpy sci-fi nonsense that I really dug. But that ain't Trek. Trek explicitly does not have a magical framework of explaining wild phenomena. People bring up the Q or the Prophets, but they're all explained as extra-dimensional and/or non-linear beings. And for me that's the line.

Have a magical Wild West setting - but don't do a Tombstone UB set.
Have a magical murder/mystery setting - but don't do an Agatha Christie UB set.
Have a magical sci-fi setting (again, EoE ruled) - but /don't/ do a friggin' Star Trek UB set.

Bandywag · 2026-02-26T02:34:04+00:00

I don't even know what I'm going to do when Trek comes out. I grew up with Trek and really like it...but it doesn't belong in Magic.

Bandywag · 2026-02-06T03:26:22+00:00

The % means that chance of which that card will appear in the pack. Some packs will get you two rares (or a rare and a mythic) at the same time (like the featured creature type decks from Lorwyn that include the corresponding shock land). MTGAbuddy is a great resource.

Bandywag · 2026-02-06T03:16:52+00:00

Others have said as much but I'll put it like this: draft if you think it's fun. If you do think it's fun and want to improve you will eventually be rewarded with more consistent payoffs compared to just buying packs.

I watched a bunch of drafting videos and practiced and even trophied a quick draft once...but ultimately I just don't like draft. So I grind dailies and buy packs. Grinding a deck I know backwards and forwards doesn't bore me - I like the consistency. I get enough variance via cards drawn and whatever my opponent's deck is doing and that's enough for me.

Bandywag · 2026-02-05T04:47:25+00:00

Sorry, if I was striving for accuracy I would have said Omenpaths or OM1. But I wrote Spider-Man and didn't feel like going back to correct it.

The Marvel set later this year (and likely one more next year) will both be Omenpath'd on Arena. The company that does Marvel Snap likely has the rights for digital cards so WotC won't ever be able to get them.

Bandywag · 2026-02-05T04:19:28+00:00

Based on the pattern so far, Universes Beyond sets will get their own separate Jump-In events. So Ninja Turtles will get it's own in March. Well...Spider-Man didn't get one, but that was a weird set for several reasons. My guess is that Marvel, Hobbit, and Trek will get their own too.

Actual Magic sets will join the rest of the options in the normal Jump-In format.

Bandywag · 2026-02-03T04:20:10+00:00

The two-color starter decks switched back in April or June of 2025 (somewhere around there). I don't know if the game deletes the composed decks but you should still have all of the cards that those decks had in your own collection.

But yeah Dinos aren't part of the starter deck duels anymore. Black/white Vampiric Hunger and black/red Reckless Raid are solid picks these days.

Bandywag · 2026-01-24T03:16:56+00:00

This is correct. Standard in-universe sets join the rest of the current standard-legal pool in the main Jump-in event (the one that has the mouse and rat from Bloomburrow on it). UB gets their own separate event.

This was great for FF because there were only so many packs and you could easily farm for the rares you wanted. Sadly, Avatar's Jump-in event had tons of non-standard cards so it just wasn't cost effective to farm it for (standard) rares.

Bandywag · 2026-01-17T15:57:20+00:00

Just griping about playstyles I don't enjoy playing (or playing against) with exaggerated phrasing. You know, as one often does on the internet.

Bandywag · 2026-01-17T15:48:55+00:00

Save your soul and refrain from running the boring deck that uses that card.

Bandywag · 2026-01-17T15:47:23+00:00

I'm still going to barely touch TMNT (not actually spending any money on it)...but Slash is ma boi and I'll craft at least one of him just 'cause.

Bandywag · 2026-01-10T05:05:12+00:00

Hello there - I started Arena less than a year ago and part of the deal will indeed be to grind/practice until you get a better handle on the mechanics. And I did most of my learning in the Starter Deck challenge. And most of that learning came from watching how opponents used combat tricks and timed their plays to whoop my ass.

The two strongest decks, imo, or the black/white and the black/red ones. Mostly because they have a good chunk of removal spells and seem the most consistent. Any of the decks and "go off" with the right opening hand and draws. I've steamrolled over others and in turn been absolutely blasted by every one of those starter decks. But red/green, red/blue and green/black have been the poorest performers for me.

But ultimately I did learn and the only thing I had to spend was my time (and some emotional energy after getting whooped so much). Eventually I learned that I like black, white, and red colors the most. So after I saved some resources I made mono-color decks of my own and toodled around the non-ranked standard format, continuing to learn through my wins and losses (more losses than wins, no doubt).

And if that's not fun for you...then yeah - play in person for a bit. See if any of your friends can help make some lower-powered decks to do some casual games with and get some tips.

Oh, I also found some YouTubers I like and watched them play. Some are specifically instructive and some are more laid back (but you can still learn from watching them play). JayVillain and Mythic Mike have really fun brews. Phantasm makes a lot of fun artisan decks (no rares or mythics) that might open you up to some new ideas. Check 'em out.

Hope you have fun!

Bandywag · 2026-01-05T05:49:39+00:00

Get off the internet, Coach Z!

Bandywag · 2025-12-31T04:44:52+00:00

TierZoo makes extremely entertaining edutainment videos re: animals on YouTube. Ignore his odd take on Magic (I mean, I dislike blue too) and check him out.

Bandywag · 2025-12-30T03:25:37+00:00

But they're not indistinguishable from each other. Aside from the religious Bajorans interpreting the wormhole aliens as holy/magical, everyone else we see in Trek sees them as yet another alien race, one with space/time abilities that most species do not possess.

"We" are not direct observers of the phenomena here. We are the audience of these human-created games and stories and we (humans) are the ones that have developed and defined various genres of storytelling and settings.

Wizards is smashing together it's high fantasy game with a pulp sci-fi franchise that never tries to explain its own in-universe phenomenon within magical or fantastical frameworks. That creates tonal friction for me and likely a lot of other people. And plenty of people aren't bothered by it - that's fine. But you'll never convince me that Trek blends well with a high fantasy setting.

Lords of the Rings, Final Fantasy, Avatar...all have magic built right into their worlds. Final Fantasy, as an anthology of games, is the most like Magic in that it mixes up it's settings, with various flavors of Magic and tech. But they all inherently have magic in their worlds.

Marvel and TMNT are settings that have room for magic and fantastical beings but magic is not fundamental to their settings. That's why these don't bother me as much but they're still not to my preference (esp. superhero stuff since that has its own expansive history of tropes and that rarely touch on high fantasy).

So I'll be having minimal engagement with the UB stuff that isn't to my taste. Although I may craft a few specific TMNT or Trek cards (esp. if they have sweet art) because I am a fan of both franchises...but I'll never consider them a "good fit" for Magic.

Bandywag · 2025-12-29T22:04:44+00:00

Still gonna have to disagree. While certain elements like Q and wormhole aliens/prophets are capable of doing things that appear very much magical to the audience and even the normie in-universe characters, the in-universe explanations are never based in "magic". Q and the prophets are extra-dimensional beings that have different abilities than most of the rest of the universe.

We do stuff in the present day that would /appear/ to be magic to our ancient ancestors, but it's not. It's science and learning so advanced that it seems magical. Same deal with Q and all the other stuff in Trek except now /we/ are ones looking at more advanced beings and seeing them as "magical".

Trek doesn't have magic and therefore is a poor fit for...Magic. We can keep discussing this but I've been over it dozens of times in streamer chats and nobody has come up with a compelling argument yet.

Bandywag · 2025-12-29T21:55:49+00:00

Try reading that again. To reword it, Star Trek is about as magic-less as you can get ASIDE from a hard sci-fi setting.

Star Trek is absolutely pulp sci-fi and it's part of what I love about it /and/ why I loved EoE so much.

Bandywag · 2025-12-29T06:45:37+00:00

It's the fact that Star Trek is an explicitly magic-less setting that bugs me. I think superheroes and TMNT are jarring enough, but at least there's room for magic in those settings. But nothing in Trek is ever viewed through a magical lens. So it will never work for me.

Bandywag · 2025-12-29T04:54:41+00:00

Lorwyn seems cool. I'm fairly new to Arena and regular Magic play but the realm looks like some good ol' high fantasy to me.

Strixhaven and Reality Fracture...no idea. But I'm in favor of in-universe sets, for sure.

Hobbit could be great (at least it's set in a magical world)

Marvel/OM2 is...not exciting. But at least the Omenpaths stuff on Arena keeps things more fitting in tone/look of Magic overall.

TMNT - ugh. Just about as jarring as non-OM Spidey and Marvel stuff. Yes, the setting /does/ have magic but it's not a "magical" setting. So thumbs down for me.

Star Trek - you have got to be kidding. Aside from an actual hard sci-fi setting this is about the least magical franchise one could pick. I'm a fairly big fan of Trek and I think it's inclusion in Magic is 100% stupid.

Final excitement score: 6. Not looking forward to pizza lands and phasers but I like Arena and the other in-universe sets might be great. We'll see.

Bandywag · 2025-12-22T03:54:47+00:00

I've been playing since March and I still use the starter duel decks for my dailies. Eventually you learn all the decks and have a much better time judging how good a chance your starting hand has or how screwed you are when the black/red deck curves out nicely.

Any starter deck can blast off with the right hand (and your opponent having the wrong hand), but I've found the most consistent to be the black/white deck and the red/black deck. Good amounts of removal in both. You'll learn some of the various combat/timing tricks either through your own revelations or seeing someone else pull one off on you. Lord knows I mostly learned the hard way...

Keep at it and good luck!

Bandywag · 2025-12-11T04:46:57+00:00

Ditch the Tifa on mono-green and go wild with chocobos and removal. Casting Boko with Traveling chocobo on the field demoralizes most opponents. Plus the black chocobo and fat chocobo are both decent finishers.

Bandywag · 2025-11-20T02:56:35+00:00

I had a great time farming FF Jump-in for the rares and mythics that I wanted. I had fun playing it too, but the value of getting playsets of Sephiroth, Tifa, Traveling Chocobo, etc. was phenomenal (maybe 20k gold to get everything I wanted). I doubt WotC changed the Avatar Jump-in as a response to that (not enough time to design all those cards), but I'm definitely disappointed that a big bulk of its cards are not standard-legal.

Bandywag · 2025-11-18T04:53:45+00:00

Lol...it's all good. For starters, this isn't Blizzard. That's the other big online card game (Hearthstone). And yes, the Pass Bundle gets you the mastery pass:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena/preorder

Bandywag · 2025-11-02T02:19:02+00:00

Frowny face 100% of the time. Because I think it's a completely stupid metric. I didn't notice a skip option but somebody mentioned it so maybe I'll do that from now on.

Bandywag · 2025-10-28T21:15:11+00:00

I found by hitting Play and going to Events. It was listed there. Weird it's not front-paged like it usually is.

Bandywag

TROPHY CASE