Tips and advice for a new player

ElvaanStride

Hello everyone, I am new to the game but I have played Magic on and off for 20+ years. I am currently on my 6th day and have done well, but I have hit a point where I might need guidance on how to progress.

I have all 5 starting PWs, one of each color and they all are level 21. Should I make a concerted effort to level them to 26 so I can access their 3rd abilities?

Events are confusing. I finished 2nd in the Nodes of Power (?) event yesterday with 112 points. I am currently doing any event I can possibly do and progress in. My main concern is what should I be focusing on as rewards, cards or yellow Crystals?

Which dual-color PWs should I be aiming to get with my Crystals?
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I am also looking for any advice on my decks;

WHITE: Gideon, Battle-Forged

Steadfast Sentinel
Aven Battle Priest
Guardian Automaton
Yoked Ox

Accomplished Automaton
Renewed Faith
Mighty Leap
Farm
Murder Investigation
Dagger of the Worthy
---
BLUE: Jace, Telepath Unbound

Striped Riverwinder
Separatist Voltmage
Maritime Guard
Watercourser
Hekma Sentinels
Gone Missing
Disperse
Claustrophobia
Cave of Koilos
Dagger of the Worthy 
---
BLACK: Liliana, Defiant Necromancer

Undead Servant
Guardian Automaton
Khenra Eternal
Geyserfield Stalker
Ambitious Aetherborn
Weight of the Underworld
Rush of Vitality
Reave Soul
Infernal Scarring
Dagger of the Worthy
---
RED: Chandra, Roaring Flame

Relentless Hunter
Akoum Stonewaker
Valakut Invoker
Khenra Scrapper
Crash Through
Open Fire
Lightning Javelin
Uncaged Fury
Titan Strength
Cinder Glade
---
GREEN: Nissa, Sage Animist

Dwynen's Elite
Vastwood Gorger
Relentless Hunter
Outland Boar
Valeron Wardens
Accomplished Automaton
Wild Instincts
Cartouche of Strength
Dagger of the Worthy
Nissa's Pilgrimage
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Anything else I may have missed or should know, I would be appreciative of any and all responses.

Thuran

Do ALL the story modes, especially the amk and Hou training missions. They all give huge rewards, especially early om, and in the case of Hou traing it also awards some very important cards for the format  

PWs to get:
Kiora/N3
Ajani
Samut/nahiri
OB nixilis

ElvaanStride

Thank you @Thuran for replying. I completed all of the Training missions once I discovered they gave free cards. 

I have noticed Kiora is heavily mentioned, how often do the PWs in the Vault rotate?

Fiddler

I believe the PWs in the Vault are supposed to rotate every Thursday. Can someone else confirm?

Gilesclone

The rotation is irregular. Kiora was last offered a few weeks ago so we probably won’t see her for at least 5 or 6 weeks.  We’ll probably see Nissa 3 sooner.  

ElvaanStride

Well I can live with Kiora not being available for a little while, need to accumulate the Crystals needed anyway.

Brigby

Hi @ElvaanStrider.

First off, welcome to MtGPQ and our forum. There are a lot of helpful and experienced players here, so I'm sure you'll be able to learn a lot from them.

If you're interested in learning more about the game, and how to build progress in the early-stages, please consider checking out our Tips & Guides section!

If you're trying to figure out which Planeswalkers or cards you should look to acquire, then take a peek at the Deck Strategy and Planeswalker Discussion section.

In addition, if you're looking to see which Planeswalkers are available in the Vault, and when they'll be rotating out, you can check out the following article on our FAQ page: Which Planeswalkers Are Currently Available In The Vault

Hope that helps!

babar3355

@elvaanstrider My #1 piece of advice is get plugged into the community either through slack or discord for one of the community groups.  We spend a lot of time chatting, discussing cards, deck ideas, life in general, etc.  Let me know if you would like an invite to slack, but for newer players you might be better off chatting with @sarahschmara or @bken1234.  Good luck and happy matching!

Mainloop25

You're doing really well for 6 days in! My best piece of advice is to not tier up to silver too quickly. Competition jumps in difficulty from bronze to silver, and even more from silver to gold. 

ElvaanStride

Thank you for the warm welcome @Brigby! I have browsed through some of the Guides and will continue to do so.

@babar3355, I feel the biggest hole in my game is lack of a community. I will look into joining one soon.

@Mainloop25, when exactly do I tier up to Silver? When I fill my masteries to 100?

majincob

ElvaanStrider said:

 @Mainloop25, when exactly do I tier up to Silver? When I fill my masteries to 100?

When you enter an event it checks your highest mastery tier among the colors that are available to play in that event. I. E. If you are silver in black, but bronze in all the other colors you would qualify as silver in all events except those that don't have a black node. You can see the event colors in the event descriptions.

Sorin81

@ElvaanStrider I agree with mainloop. Don't tier up too quickly. Spend time grinding for the currencies and cards. 
Also getting involved with a community is something you should absolutely do. It's the one thing I regret not doing early on. @bken1234 can get you set with discord.
As far as dual PW get.
Kiora
Tezz 2
Nahiri

Welcome to the game. 

ElvaanStride

majincob said:

ElvaanStrider said:

 @Mainloop25, when exactly do I tier up to Silver? When I fill my masteries to 100?

When you enter an event it checks your highest mastery tier among the colors that are available to play in that event. I. E. If you are silver in black, but bronze in all the other colors you would qualify as silver in all events except those that don't have a black node. You can see the event colors in the event descriptions.

So I will stay Bronze as long as no Mastery hits 100? Gotcha.

When would you recommend tiering up to Silver?

Mainloop25

@elvaanstrider "When exactly do I tier up to Silver? When I fill my masteries to 100"

Only when you get enough new cards that you like and tier up naturally. Whatever you do, do not go out of your way to master cards. Let it happen as you play new cards you like. If you don't like the card, take it out of your deck and don't touch it anymore.

ElvaanStride

Mainloop25 said:

@elvaanstrider "When exactly do I tier up to Silver? When I fill my masteries to 100"

Only when you get enough new cards that you like and tier up naturally. Whatever you do, do not go out of your way to master cards. Let it happen as you play new cards you like. If you don't like the card, take it out of your deck and don't touch it anymore.

Understood. I don't like switching out cards often. I have found decks that work and I'll stick to them until I get replacements that are improvements.

Gilesclone

I’m with the crowd that says “let it happen when it happens “.   Level cards as you play with them, don’t go out of your way to play or not play a card based on leveling.  Play cards you think will help you win.

Sorin81

That's hard to say. It's different for everyone. 
Are you playing Training Grounds and consistently winning?
Do you place well in each event?
Do you have a decent card library? (Not as important early on because it will grow as you play)
These are a few questions you can ask yourself. When you feel you aren't being challenged anymore by the level of play you should tier up. Or you could just let it happen naturally as you get more and better cards.

Dropspot

My advice is to don't bother much to level your starting walkers to lvl60. Save those runes and use it to level better pws that you are inevitably going to aquire. 

Look a www.mtgpq.info and see how much it cost and what are the abilities of the pws at any level so you can make a informed decision on how to invest your runes.

As of best pws go I would recommend Nahiri and kiora first but the truth is that we don't really know when they will be available so it is possible that you will end up buying others that show in the vault first. Also dual colored pws are worth each gold they cost over mono colored ones.

ElvaanStride

Sorin81 said:

Are you playing Training Grounds and consistently winning?
Do you place well in each event?
Do you have a decent card library? (Not as important early on because it will grow as you play)

I win about 75% of the time and lose mostly to 40+ Mana Cascades by the AI

I started doing events two days ago (I'm on my 6th day) but I placed 2nd in the Nodes of Power. I just started doing one of the events today (the one without a Red node) and looks like I will just miss out on the booster.

My library is about what you would expect from such a new player, but I have focusing on acquiring cards as my top priority going forward.

ElvaanStride

Dropspot said:

My advice is to don't bother much to level your starting walkers to lvl60. Save those runes and use it to level better pws that you are inevitably going to aquire.

I have all of the starting walkers at 21, should I get them to 26 for access to their 3rd abilities?

Gilesclone

Skip Trial of the Planes until you hit platinum. The other events are all good experience.