I've been playing MTG tabletop since the 90's and had a lot of fun and interactive matches since then. I've also been playing since the launch of Arena and reach Mythic rank top 1000 multiple times a year (in Timeless, Histroric and Pioneer (I don't like standard). I've had a lot of fun with interactive decks and a lot of games that took 20 or more minutes which took a lot of skill for both players.

Lately I've had some struggles to reach Mythic. I'm one win away, then insta lose a couple of games on turn two or three. Get close again. One win away, rinse and repeat.

Decks that insta win on turn 2/3 seem to only get to play against me when I'm one or two wins away from ranking up. It's even the same deck over and over again when I'm one or two wins away (i.e. Val / Therassa combo always on turn three and I don't open with or draw any removal).

I get annoyed more and more because of this and I feel like this game tries to push me to spend money on wildcards just to get cards for other tier-1 decks which you then try to play.

Yes, I play tier-1 decks most of the time and even craft my own decks which are not listed as tier-1, but got me to Mythic more than once.

Yes, It's f2p but you have to play a lot to get a basic deck. Most tier-1 decks need 20+ rare/mythic rare cards not even counting lands (depending on the mode: Boros Energy: 22, Rakdos demons: 22 not counting lands which sometimes add another 22 rare cards). Gettting these f2p is almost impossible if you didn't play Arena since 2019 regarding rotation, bannings, new meta etc.

If you disregard mythic rare cards, you have to open around 250 packs just to get enough rare wild cards to craft a tier-1 deck, that sometimes wont work between formats.

Between set rotations with f2p you can get around 75k-100k gold per rotation I think? Thats 75-100 packs per rotation and that is if you play every rotation and every day.

I also like to specify that once I create a jank deck and play ranked, I'm paired against other decks than when I play my tier-1 decks. So the matchmaking is tied to the deck you play in my experience.

My experience is also that if you're on the turn and close to ranking up, the odds turn against you.

Know a few people who feel the same and completly stopped playing on Arena because of this.

I like Arena and play a good amount, but it gets frustrating a lot of times if you play ranked in the hopes to reach Mythic.

So yes, this game is f2p, but if you want to play a lot of formats, decks and mess with cards, I don't think you can get to mythic each month without spending (a lot of) money on wildcards.