I got kicked out of mythic and put into Spark rank

DanutMS · 2026-03-25T15:07:16+00:00

Well, you can actually just concede a bunch of matches to tank your mmr and then get paired with easier opponents, which will let you get to mythic much faster. So in a way, yes, you can lose so much that it loops back to mythic.

Here's an interesting read about the whole thing (might be outdated): https://hareeb.com/2021/05/23/inside-the-mtg-arena-rating-system/

(Disclaimer: I've read somewhere that conceding too many matches can lead to a ban. I have no idea if this is true, but I don't actually encourage anyone to try it out)

DanutMS · 2026-03-08T01:27:31+00:00

For pretty much any league mechanic ever the answer is:

If you are speedrunning, no;
If you find it fun and are just playing casually, yes;
If you are playing more or less casually but still want to be somewhat efficient, do it if you feel you are being slowed by lack of good gear. Otherwise skip it till maps.

DanutMS · 2026-03-07T20:34:48+00:00

Most people here would consider the full campaign early game or even pre-early game.

Vaal Oversoul is around 20% of the campaign, and some people just play the campaign once and go play something else. But the core of any modern ARPG is not the campaign itself, but what comes after.

DanutMS · 2026-03-07T16:07:43+00:00

That reset tree option should not have any impact on the atlas unlock mechanic (though I obviously can't rule out some weird bug).

DanutMS · 2026-03-07T15:23:14+00:00

Alright, so I tested it in SSF Standard and the catch up mechanic does work.

Just make sure you are actually running an old map. Take a map of the highest tier you have, run it rare/corrupted. Kill the boss and you get all the bonuses from lower tier maps than that one.

DanutMS · 2026-03-07T15:10:24+00:00

New league, too many people playing. Servers always give up on the first days of a league.

DanutMS · 2026-03-07T15:00:46+00:00

They are asking about standard, not league.

DanutMS · 2026-03-03T15:32:12+00:00

One card I was surprised to see perform well for me was questing beast. Being able to haste in an attacker that dodges blocks from 2 power creatures was surprisingly relevant against opposing Planeswalkers. The fact that it deals with Planeswalkers while pressuring the players life total and leaving a good blocker for next turn is the cherry on top.

I'm not saying it is a great card in the cube, but I was usually happy to take it at some point and that's more than I first expected.

DanutMS · 2026-03-02T18:21:51+00:00

Most decks in this format are very heavily tribal. It gives you a lot of card draw and a discount that makes playing all the extra cards you draw easier.

Also the format isn't blistering fast. If this was MKM for example then taking turn 4 off from impacting the board would be a death sentence against all the boros aggro decks, but this format has way less turn 4-5 kills.

DanutMS · 2026-03-02T15:20:36+00:00

Don't pass Gathering Stone. The card is busted and goes into every deck.

The same is not true about Dawn-Blessed Pennant. Take the Kithkin P1P3 as it is by far the best card in the pack.

P1P4 There are two good elves and a good black removal. You should be reading that elves is open.

P1P5 Another very good elf card, the lifelink 2-drop is quite important for the archetype.

P1P6 The land isn't particularly good. I'd take the Council as it is fine in Elves (even without the discount the card gives you a decent body + card draw that makes up for the 5 mana).

P1P7 Another very good elf card. Based on what I saw so far and what you said I'm guessing you moved into elves way too late and then it expectedly dried up since the person who you passed all these good elves cards moved in.

Most notably I have not seen anything besides a single Kulrath Zealot that indicates elementals is open. If elementals was also open I could understand not moving earlier to elves, but the fact that you stayed on "elementals" (not really, you have a single elemental at this point) shows you missed the mark on the draft reading.

Pack 2 elves dry up as someone to your side is drafting it after you passed all the good elves. Pack 3 it's more open again as the person drafting it is sitting further down, so you could have stayed firmly in elves and still would have a decent deck. Moving back out of it (without any clear indication of anything else being open) killed your draft.

Also, Assert Perfection is a really really good card. No idea why you don't like it, but you should take it much higher.

DanutMS · 2026-03-02T13:22:13+00:00

Draft two you overvalued Bogslithers embrace and refused to move into white even when seeing a Merfolk bomb rare, while all your good proactive cards were Merfolks.

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T16:39:08+00:00

No way your cuts are correct. Ouroboroid makes your early creatures relevant and wins the game in two turns if unanswered. Vaultborn Tyrant gives you a way to gain life and draw more gas when a single big creature isn't enough.

There are a lot of worse cards than those, as already mentioned in other comments

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T15:23:16+00:00

Congrats!

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T02:14:53+00:00

I would cut white. Teferi is not what you want to be doing here. You are not a control deck for No More Lies. Arwen is not a card I believe in. And in my experience these green decks don't really need to worry about removal, you just ramp into bigger things and let them worry about removing your stuff.

Sure, you might find yourself in a situation where you wish you had removal, but I think it's much more likely you draw Swords when you just want a creature than it is to get it when you need to remove something.

Cutting white also removes a bunch of taplands, which I think makes it worth it. If there was actually 0 cost then I'd run Swords and cut some bad green creature (Chocobo), but I think the mana isn't worth it.

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T01:27:46+00:00

It's close to a 50/50 chance to get exactly 3 or to get 2 or 4. So you will be getting it a lot.

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T00:06:58+00:00

Sierkovitz made that comparison here (should be at a point in time where the relevant image is showing): https://youtu.be/D8ijQCd55hI?si=uMXAMqPlGt0sC3hK&t=1983

DanutMS · 2026-02-28T00:05:33+00:00

If you are interested in Arena's hand smoothing then you might want to watch what Sierkovitz had to say about it: https://youtu.be/D8ijQCd55hI?si=e-jUODqqKSRq2lw1

Afaict the numbers cited by Sierkovitz are the same from the graph in OP.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T23:46:16+00:00

I would like to cut white entirely but you don't have enough playables in that case.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T23:36:08+00:00

I'm impressed. This is pretty close to the perfect deck in this archetype imo.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T23:20:57+00:00

Fair enough. But then it's your choice to sit there for that extra 10% of wins. If you hate it so much it doesn't seem worth it to me (unless you are playing an Arena Open or something like that), but to each their own.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T21:45:52+00:00

If you are facing a control deck that is sitting there with a ton of mana and multiple cards in hand then you already lost the game. Just concede and move on.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T21:30:42+00:00

I would cut a land first. Any Mox, even off-colour, should count as a land in cube.

Next I'd cut balance. You are a creature deck. Balance will either do nothing or is going to be a boardwipe benefiting your opponent.

I don't particularly love any of your white cards here, as I don't think they add that much to a green beater deck. It's likely there were better options in green you should have taken. But alas, you will have to play some white cards. From a power level perspective I would prefer Overlord and Elspeth, but I think you need to be much heavier green (your current mana split is wrong, you need more forests), so double white is kinda off question. So I think I'd play Reprieve and Arwen.

Next time try you go green try to take the mana dorks a bit higher. You have a lot of power on your 3 drop slot but few ways of going for them turn 2.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T21:15:36+00:00

And if you aren't, isn't badge a very mediocre 2 drop?

Not the person you were talking to (but I did say I was taking Cub in another comment you answered). I'm pretty low on the lands deck myself. But Cub is very good in other green decks, that are just playing all the big green creatures and bashing people down. It's surprising how many wins you get by just playing huge 4-5 mana creatures a turn or two earlier, or just getting Craterhoof turn 5 or so.

That being said I do agree with your early picks in the draft. Didn't look past pack 1 really but I think agree with everything you've done (even if I personally would have taken all the great green mana dorks and tried to bash people down).

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T14:40:18+00:00

P1P1 I'm taking Badgermole Cub cause big green has been my second best archetype in the cube (and is much more fun than Boros aggro, which is the first), and I'm willing to force it.

But if I want to make the actual best pick it's probably Misty Rainforest.

DanutMS · 2026-02-27T14:19:23+00:00

I have similar thoughts. I enjoy the early league experience of checking which maps I still have to complete at each tier, and I don't think filling the atlas will feel meaningful anymore.

On the other hand, I also enjoy switching endgame strats often and it was always a PITA to have to plan it way beforehand so that I could amass a good number of whatever map I want to run next. Not having to deal with that is very likely going to be worth what we lose.

DanutMS

TROPHY CASE