Questions from a new player

BzhPunisher

Hello everybody,

First of all, I am a new player and I really appreciated the game for the past few days.
But the game doesn't seem really "new player friendly" and I got some questions.
(Sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker).

1) I am pretty sure all the PvP matchs are done with real players' decks but played by an AI. I just want a confirmation on that point.
That means there is not real PvP involved in the game ?

2) The only reward for regulars match (quick battle) seems to be experience for our Plane Walkers (and mastering cards). Am i right ?

3) from this question comes another : is there another way than story mode to earn crystal to buy boosters ?
If not, after we finished the story mode, how are we supposed to get new boosters and cards except with the free booster every 8 hours or by injecting real money ? (I thought it was a free to play, but maybe I was wrong ?)

4) I saw lot of opponents with Plane Walkers that are not available in the shop. They were available only for a limited time ?

5) I wanted to talk about the daily routine and ways to earn rewards:

- Daily rewards. Each consecutive days spent on the game every month : from experience to crystals and boosters.
I find these free rewards really decent and maybe the only system really friendly for beginners

- Story mode. Rewards : experience + crystals if you win with certain conditions. Not renewable.
Some missions are here to learn you the new mechanics and can reward you with related cards.
Good rewards, accessible for beginner, but limited volume.

- Quick battle mode : a 48h-72H event where you have to grind as most ribbons as possible : rewards depending on your ranking : experience, crystal, cards and boosters.
But when I look at the leader board and the amount of ribbons needed to have a decent reward, I have the feeling you need to spend those 48h non-stop on the game or to have a really fast deck to be efficient (my collection is tiny at the moment).
For information my best Plane Walker is lvl 44 (*4 ribbons) and with a good win rate (around 70%) and more than 6 hours of grinding I could only reach the position 550 (1 uncommon card and 250 experience, apart from experience for each win)
Good rewards but not accessible for someone with a beginner collection and/or 2 full days to spend on the game.

- Node of power and other related events. Rewards : depending of your results, from experience to crystals and boosters.
Not much difference with quick battle. But I am not sure to understand everything. There is some "tiers rewards" depending of the color mastery if I am not wrong.
If someone as a detail explanation about how it works I will be happy to see it.
I didn't play it enough to have a decent conclusion, but seems hard for new players to reach a good reward

To finish, I really struggle to get new cards, and I feel only free daily rewards can really help me to build a collection without putting money in the game.
I understand that on a free to play game, free players has to play/wait a long time to build something. But I have the feeling there is no consistent system to get boosters regularly and no really incentive mechanics that reward new players for playing match.
Of course if in some weeks I am still playing I will definitely put some dollars in that game.

If i missed something, if I am forgetting something in my routine I will be happy to read your recommendations to have a better game experience.

Thank you

BzhPunisher

andrewvanmarle

Hi BzhPunisher,

welcome to the game!

Yes it has been noted that the game isnt as friendly to new players as it was a year ago.

for now, the best way to earn additional boosters and specific rewards is to participate in the coalition events. Most of the top 25 coalitions have secondary teams that are open to new players, this is -the- way to get feedback on your deck and what to do to imrpove it with your current collection and earn boosters, rares, gems etc.
and best of all, if you find the group that fits, it'll increase your fun a lot too!

buscemi

BzhPunisher wrote:

Hello everybody

Hello!

BzhPunisher wrote:

1) I am pretty sure all the PvP matchs are done with real players' decks but played by an AI. I just want a confirmation on that point.
That means there is not real PvP involved in the game ?

That's right. It's been mentioned by the dev team as being a possible addition to the game for some time, but it certainly isn't coming any time soon.

BzhPunisher wrote:

2) The only reward for regulars match (quick battle) seems to be experience for our Plane Walkers (and mastering cards). Am i right ?

Nope! 3 different rounds of QB are played each week, ending on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When the round ends, players will receive rewards based upon their QB rank, and these rewards may include new cards, crystals, or runes (planeswalker experience)

BzhPunisher wrote:

3) from this question comes another : is there another way than story mode to earn crystal to buy boosters ?

There are a number of ways to gain cards and crystals: at the end of QB rounds, as above; by playing in Events; and also from the Daily Reward calendar on the Activity Hub page of the game.

BzhPunisher wrote:

4) I saw lot of opponents with Plane Walkers that are not available in the shop. They were available only for a limited time ?

They are only a few Planeswalkers available in the shop at the same time, but they are constantly on rotation. If a Planeswalker is unavailable now, he or she *will* be available in the future.

Mainloop25

For now, focus mostly on Story Mode and getting all the objectives for crystals. Save crystals for Big Boxes since they give you the best cards for the investment. Be selective with the Planeswalkers you purchase at first, because without the good cards, they won't do you a lot of good.

My humble opinion and recommendation: Spend the crystals on 1 Big Box as soon as possible. Battle For Zendikar > Shadows Over Innistrad > Origins > Kaladesh.

Best planeswalkers for new players: Koth, Jace2, Ajani, Nahiri, Kiora, Sorin. You can pretty much do everything with them, in addition to the basic 5.

Story Mode until your PW's are about level 30, then start getting into Quick Battle. It will probably take about a month or so before you start doing well enough in PVP events to get all the progression rewards.

It's not as new-player-friendly anymore because there is soooo much to tackle, but just focus on one thing at a time and you'll like it more and more as you get better cards and skills.

morgue427

have to agree save your crystals for cards untill you have good ones for certain colors( based on what you pull) they will rotate through fast enough, quick battles isnt a good way to get a lot of cards or crystals play the challenges since they are beating them to death, try to work on the secondarys goals but it can be more for the pree packs and the chance to see what works for other people and steal it shamelessly lol.

Astralwind

My 2 cents tips to a new player.
When you are building a deck, always think about mana cost. Regardless how strong your card is, if it's not coming out to play, it's useless.
Low level planewalkers usually face the problem of mana so make sure your average mana cost out of 10 cards are reasonable.

Do quick battle for runes. Story mode is the best place to try out a new deck. Participate in all events whenever possible.
Losing is part of the game. Without losing, you won't know how well or bad your deck is doing and won't know how to improve it.
Deckbuilding, in my opinion, is the most enjoyable aspect of the game.
And after a while, you would also be good at matching 3 gems and looking out for cascades.

BzhPunisher

First of all thank you for all your answers !
In my opinion, community is really important (especially in a game with coalition), and your help is really appreciated.
I have a solid background of MTG, Hearthstone and Duel of Champions players, so far that helped me a lot.

I will try to come back on all your advises.

andrewvanmarle wrote:

for now, the best way to earn additional boosters and specific rewards is to participate in the coalition events. Most of the top 25 coalitions have secondary teams that are open to new players, this is -the- way to get feedback on your deck and what to do to imrpove it with your current collection and earn boosters, rares, gems etc.

Could you recommend me a coalition to apply ? It seems to be be an important part of the game, I don't want to miss it.
My CV is not so bad, and in 4 days of FTP I managed to get a PW lvl 48 (I get 3 of them)and finished top 250 in QB (that was an improvement compared to my previous message). Even if my deck is composed only by common and uncommon card I beat regularly decks with mythic cards (of course the fact that an AI is at the helm of these decks helps a lot )

buscemi wrote:

Thank you Buscemi all your answers were very clear.
As you can see in my daily routine part I already applied your advises

Mainloop25 wrote:

For now, focus mostly on Story Mode and getting all the objectives for crystals. Save crystals for Big Boxes since they give you the best cards for the investment. Be selective with the Planeswalkers you purchase at first, because without the good cards, they won't do you a lot of good.
My humble opinion and recommendation: Spend the crystals on 1 Big Box as soon as possible. Battle For Zendikar > Shadows Over Innistrad > Origins > Kaladesh.

I will try to focus on the story mode to extract all the rewards.
Your advises for the shop are really useful but I can't find the battle for Zendikar box : maybe i need to finish the story mode related to this extension ?

Mainloop25 wrote:

Best planeswalkers for new players: Koth, Jace2, Ajani, Nahiri, Kiora, Sorin. You can pretty much do everything with them, in addition to the basic 5.
Story Mode until your PW's are about level 30, then start getting into Quick Battle. It will probably take about a month or so before you start doing well enough in PVP events to get all the progression rewards.

For PW I am focusing on Chandra for the moment. She is so powerful, especially her ability to give 3 damages to the whole opponent board. Associated with javelin lightning and spark of creativity my opponent get in trouble to build a board. I could reach a top 250 QB round with her.
By the way, what is the maximum level for a PW ?

Astralwind wrote:

My 2 cents tips to a new player.
When you are building a deck, always think about mana cost. Regardless how strong your card is, if it's not coming out to play, it's useless.
Low level plane walkers usually face the problem of mana so make sure your average mana cost out of 10 cards are reasonable.
(...)
Deck building, in my opinion, is the most enjoyable aspect of the game.
And after a while, you would also be good at matching 3 gems and looking out for cascades.

As a former TCG player I am used to the deck building. And you are right, it is one of the most enjoyable aspect of the game.
Currently, I have a really tiny collection (not even a rare) so i don't have so much choice, here is my deck, i would like to have your opinion :


PW : Chandra the roaring flame lvl 48
Her ability to give 3 damages to the whole opponent's board is really good. Combined with my spells, its hard for my opponent to keep his creatures alive.

Creatures

6 mana - Accomplished automaton : low cost, little body but can boost itself or another minion. early pressure on the board
9 mana - Akoran sergeant : basically a 3/3 with 1st strike, early pressure.
11 mana - Boggart Brute : can' be stopped, interesting output of damages for his cost.
11 mana - Prickleboar : help to destroy defender (+2+0 and 1st strike). Issue : I have only 1 support.
15 mana - Weaver of lightning : can combine with the 4 spells of the deck to clean the board. But I found it was a bit heavy and I didn't have so much opportunities to use its ability. Especially because he has reach, he get killed quickly by the opponent's creature.

I think the biggest weakness of the deck are creatures. But I guess I will have to wait to open some boosters before being able to improve them.

Spells

3 mana - Spark of creativty : 6 damages for 1 discard. Its low cost allows me to play it at any time and it can manage most of my opponent's big threats (I killed so much mythics with it )
4 mana - Act of treason : to finish opponent, to use one of his own creature to kill his defender : really versatile and powerful.
5 mana- Magmatic Insight : The card drawer of the deck, really important especially because of spark of creativity (discard). I am thinking to change it for Jayemdae Tome,I will test it.
6 mana - Lightning Javelin : 3 damages, really versatile

My creature being not really powerful I rely mostly on a good usage of my spells to win my games, even against far better deck than mine.

Support

3 mana - Vessel of volatility : the mana generator of the deck. I am thinking to change it for evolving wild (it is a spell so it could combine with weaver of lightning).


Sorry for the very long message. But as a new player I think i can learn a lot from veterans.
I still think, after we finished the story mode, its begins really hard to have crystals

Best regards

hueyTW

BzhPunisher wrote:

Could you recommend me a coalition to apply ? It seems to be be an important part of the game, I don't want to miss it.

you can find coalition at "MtGPQ Coalitions"

BzhPunisher wrote:

Your advises for the shop are really useful but I can't find the battle for Zendikar box : maybe i need to finish the story mode related to this extension ?

BFZ isn't at vault now. Extensions rotation as planewalkers.
Keep some budgets for special offer. A powerfull special offer is more useful than many bigboxs.

Mainloop25 wrote:

Best planeswalkers for new players: Koth, Jace2, Ajani, Nahiri, Kiora, Sorin. You can pretty much do everything with them, in addition to the basic 5.
Story Mode until your PW's are about level 30, then start getting into Quick Battle. It will probably take about a month or so before you start doing well enough in PVP events to get all the progression rewards.

BzhPunisher wrote:

For PW I am focusing on Chandra for the moment. She is so powerful, especially her ability to give 3 damages to the whole opponent board. Associated with javelin lightning and spark of creativity my opponent get in trouble to build a board. I could reach a top 250 QB round with her.
By the way, what is the maximum level for a PW ?

maximum level for a PW is 60 now.
my opinion: Level 48 Chandra 1 is enough, you can level her to 51 for better ribbon gain at QB. After you get Koth or other red planewalkers, you don't have any chance to use her again. keep runes for the above best planeswalkers.

Hint: Dual color planeswalkers need more runes to level up, you can focus on new mono color planeswalkers such as Koth, Jace2, Nissa 2, Liliana 2.

BzhPunisher

Again, thank you for your help,

hueyTW wrote:

BFZ isn't at vault now. Extensions rotation as planewalkers.
Keep some budgets for special offer. A powerfull special offer is more useful than many bigboxs.

What do you call special offer ? Big box you can buy with real money or specific card in the vault ?
These special offers are only for real money right ? can you give me some examples please ?
Do you confirm me than BFZ is the best extension to buy at the moment ?

Thank you

Mainloop25

I sent you a private message, in case you are still looking for a coalition

hueyTW

BzhPunisher wrote:

What do you call special offer ? Big box you can buy with real money or specific card in the vault ?
These special offers are only for real money right ? can you give me some examples please ?

Special offer is a time-limit bundle which can only buy with real money. For example, current mystic rare special offer is Bristling hydra. All mystic rare cards for special offer are exclusive cards(exclusive cards will not appear at packs before the release of next extensions). Sometimes dev put very powerful cards at special offer. For example, one famous top tier card Olivia, Mobilized for War is one of special offer when SOI release. You can see all current special offers from inventory (enable show all cards for current extension). All Exclusive cards are labeled as event reward or special offer.

BzhPunisher wrote:

Do you confirm me than BFZ is the best extension to buy at the moment ?

My opinion:
BFZ=SOI > Kaladesh >= Origins.

I give Kaladesh more scores for event objectives.