Thoughts about how to spend Mana Orbs

Marvaddin

Hey all!

Ok, the craft system is about to be launched and looks cool! Not going to calculate how many orbs I will get, but I'm thinking about how to spend them.

My collection isn't that great:

Legacy:
Common 150/173 (86,7%)
Uncommon 95/187 (50,8%)
Rare 25/119 (21%)
Mythic 2/69 (2,9%) (Nahiri's Wrath and Crumble to Dust)

Standard
Common 274/274 (100%)
Uncommon 207/278 (74,5%)
Rare 61/190 (32,1%)
Mythic 7/113 (6,2%) (Lightning Runner, Combat Celebrant, Neheb the Eternal, Sandwurm Convergence, Majestic Myriarch, Day's Undoing, Dinavolt Tower)
MasterPiece 2/40 (5%) (Chain Lightning, Choke)

To me, it's clear I need to invest in Legacy, specially due to that generous lower price, and the fact I won't be getting those cards from free boosters. I play the most events where legacy cards are allowed, so it´s ok.

But, what about rarity?

Uncommon are the ones that are cheapest compared to standard cards, I can get 4,5 for the price of a legacy rare, 3,3 for the price of a standard uncommon. But, as I still get some boosters here and there in events, this can be a waste in the long run (although I will need years to be close to completion, as dupe rates will rise).

Rares are a good target, but I get some in events, and considering how low is my collection, I believe I can still get some for a low dupe chance (I have 4 dupes until now).

Mythics would also be great, but 5x more expensive than rares. Wow, that's 5x!

So, I'm not sure about how to spend my orbs. Experienced players can help me, please listing some of the most relevant legacy cards I should aim for? This will help me to decide where to spend my orbs.

Of course, this depends on what is my play style, and I tell ya, I'm usually a control player, that loves creature removal and mana damage. Beyond the initial PWs, I play Kiora (using Jace's Sanctum, Insidious Will, Censor, etc.) and WR Ajani (a deck which has some rush skills using Lightining Runner, Solemn Recruit, etc., but also removals like Nahiri's Wrath and Smite the Monstrous). Thinking about buying Sorin (is he worthy? Liliana is doing well with her removals - Oath, Defeat, To the Slaughter, Sting, etc.)

Also, if you guys want to share what are your plans to your orbs, feel free to do so.

Mainloop25

I will probably use some orbs to craft a couple of Origins mythics I'm missing. I will only try for 2 mythics each in a couple of other sets but I'd rather save as much orbs for the upcoming Ixalan. We have a month's worth of cushion to collect orbs so I will keep as many as I can to get centerpiece cards for whatever challenges Oktagon throws our way in the next set.

Kinesia

There are often some critical Rares or Uncommons that "power" things, engine pieces of a sort, I often feel like I can "make do" with almost any of the mythics but I "need" some of the rares and uncommons.

Mainloop25

For sure. If I didn't have drake Haven or new perspectives I would be chasing them hard. 

Dropspot

My collection is bigger than yours, I have all commons and almost all uncommons, and even hoarding dupes for a year I have only 12 shots at mythics. So I am probably going after some good rares I miss and complete uncommons. If something left I go after mythics. Having more options to build is sometimes more important than having 1 really good card.

Also my chances of getting the Mythics I want are really thin as I only have 20% of them. If I decide to go after mythics I would probably spend my 12 shots and only get 2/4 cards I really want... So I probably going after rares...

THEMAGICkMAN

im just gonna grab SOI mythics, because they're fun cards ive wanted for ages and ages

hawkyh1

imo the best value can be had from targeting cards that
form the 2nd half of strategies that you know you will likely
use. eg lightning runner works well with cultivator of blades
in red/green decks. as I understand it will be, I would target
origins first and mythics first. new card pulls are worth 10x
a dupe. higher rarity cards are usually much harder to get
from opening packs. you currently average a 50% chance
or better of getting a new card from opening legacy packs,
I would do that first. (maybe play more story mode for
crystals)

HH

blacklotus

i would recommend getting origins mythics first if you don't have some of the power mythics from that set. 

Origins look to remain in standard format for the long haul. And it has some of the best mythics in the game: Gaea Revenge, Evolutionary Leap, Infinite Obliteration, Days Undoing, Hixus, Starfield of Nyx, Hangerback Walker, Pyromancers Goggles, Nissas Revelation, Thopter Spy Network, Alhamarret Archive and Avaricious Dragon. 

babar3355

THEMAGICkMAN said:

im just gonna grab SOI mythics, because they're fun cards ive wanted for ages and ages

There seems to be some confusion around targeting specific sets.  The announcement reads:
Selecting a Set and Rarity determines the cost of the Booster that you would like to craft.

"Sets will affect the crafting cost in 3 ways:

• Legacy Sets (all Sets that aren’t in the Standard Rotation) are treated as a Single Set, and will be the cheapest you can craft to complete your sets!
• All Standard Sets, except for the newest one, will have the same price.
• The Newest Standard Set (most recent set released) will cost slightly more than the rest of Standard.

Selecting a Rarity will also affect the Booster cost. You can craft from Commons to Mythics from any Set. Increasing the Rarity will increase the cost. "

So you can target Ixalan (probably HOU at release) after a month but otherwise you choose between Legacy or All Standard Sets.  In other words you can't target SOI mythics but rather SOI/BFZ block together.  Or ORI/KLD/AMK/HOU.  

Anyway, still a great feature but not one where you can just grab that elusive Startled Awake because you have 90% of the SOI mythics.

This may change your plan of attack.  I lack most of the BFZ mythics and frankly don't want most of them (not you exert or drowner... I still swoon for you".  So I probably don't want to dump my set chasing legacy mythics.  Alternatively, I don't really care about most of the HOU or KLD mythics that I don't already have.  So I am at a bit of a loss for exactly how to proceed.  

Tilwin90

I lack a lot of Kaladesh & SOI essential mythics that I have wanted in such a long time. It's not "optimal" perhaps but I'd prefer to complete these two sets.
I lack way too many cards from BFZ to make it worth it, and only one important origins mythic (TSN) that I can get later on of course.
Or I understood this improperly and you can target only group sets together instead of a specific set?   That would be pretty sucky...

James13

Tilwin90 said:

Or I understood this improperly and you can target only group sets together instead of a specific set?   That would be pretty sucky...

You can target specific Standard rotation sets (Origins, KLD, AMK, HOU) for crafting individually.  Legacy sets (BFZ/OGW/SOI/EM) are treated as one big set for crafting but also cost less to craft from.  At least this is what the preview states at this time.

andrewvanmarle

For starters I'll target Doomfall from Hou, it's'my ONLY missing rare.

as for Mythics, I'm'going to focus on the sets where my chances are the greatest to get the cards I really want:

Origins:
Missing Starfield, Avaricious Dragon, Skaab Goliath and Erebos Titan.
Want starfield and dragon (wouldnt mind the other two), so 50%
Hou:
Missing: Scarab God, Scorpion god,Torment of hailfire, Hour of Eternity
Want: Hour of Eternity so 20%
Akh:
missing Sandwurm, Cascading cataracts, Cruel reality, Curator of mysteries, Hazoret, Bontu, Kefnet,
Want: Sanwurm convergence  (maybe cruel reality and cataracts) so 16.6 % or 50 %
Kaladesh and AER:
Missing: 8
Want lightning runner, Rishkars expertise (and i really dont want te rest) so 25 %

Legacy:
Missing 15 mythics (too lazy to write m out)
Want: Geralf s masterpiece, Drana Liberator of etc, Geier reach bandit, Gisela, Hero of Goma Fada So 33 %


I'm'not sure how many orbs I'll'get but from my mythic dupe count I'll'get 4 so it's'origins first then depending  on how many extra tries I get I'll'go for either HOU (for hour of eternity) or kaladesh

I'll'skip the legacy ones for now: not enough orbs I think to spend and I'd'rather spend them on standard cards.

Gilesclone

I’m missing a handful of uncommons.  It should be cheap and easy too get the 2 I care about.  Then rares.  I’m only missing 6 each in HoD and Ank.  I only care about 2 from each.  I still have 41 unopened HoD packs so I might get lucky there.  If not I still can probably get most of what I want from those 2 sets.
After that I’ll probably work on Origins.  I’m missing 20 from Kaladesh and really only care about 2 so that will be last.

Thuran

My first target will be key uncommons and rates I'm missing, such as Gideon's intervention, which I badly need for events.

After that, its on to the mythic, where I will target sets with highest chance of getting a mythic I actually want, and which has a broad use. Baral, heart of Kiran, most origin mythic are all good examples of cards with broad uses I'm missing. Then once I'm geared for standard, I'll go after legacy in the end.

Gunmix25

Mainloop25 said:

For sure. If I didn't have drake Haven or new perspectives I would be chasing them hard. 

Chased new perspectives for months. Was unlucky enough in card draws to eventually narrow my rares down to two. Which meant a high chance of dupes. Finally got it though... and duped. Smh. But yes it's one card I recommend anyone who doesn't have to chase down

Shecky

Hi, new to the forum.  Been playing since there were only two (maybe one) expansions.

I was wondering if anyone has compiled a list of "must have" uncommons and rares by set?  It would be useful in figuring out what to target for the upcoming booster crafting.

I was also wondering what would happen if you tried to craft an uncommon from a particular set but you already had all of the uncommons from that set?  I ask because I am only 20 uncommons (and 2 commons) short of having them all, but have no idea what I don't have. So, I guess my best method if I want to complete them is to try to craft from each set in turn until the craft is successful.  This assumes I won't get charge orbs if I already have all of the uncommons/commons from that set.  Any thoughts?

majincob

Shecky said:

Hi, new to the forum.  Been playing since there were only two (maybe one) expansions.

I was wondering if anyone has compiled a list of "must have" uncommons and rares by set?  It would be useful in figuring out what to target for the upcoming booster crafting.

I was also wondering what would happen if you tried to craft an uncommon from a particular set but you already had all of the uncommons from that set?  I ask because I am only 20 uncommons (and 2 commons) short of having them all, but have no idea what I don't have. So, I guess my best method if I want to complete them is to try to craft from each set in turn until the craft is successful.  This assumes I won't get charge orbs if I already have all of the uncommons/commons from that set.  Any thoughts?

You can select the checkbox when viewing your collection to see what cards you don't have... Regardless the screenshots Brigby posted shows that it tells you how many cards you don't have for that crafting configuration.

hawkyh1

try ticking all cards in the bottom right when viewing
the cards list. from here you can read the description
of each card including the darkened ones that you
don't own. target cards that sounds good or might fit
into one of your existing decks. everyone has their
own style of playing and hence favourite cards.

HH

wereotter

I plan on being pretty conservative upon implementation. I will definitely be getting the last two uncommons from Zendikar I'm missing, mostly because both are used in planeswalker decks and it drives me crazy that I'm missing those to decks from completion.

After that, there's one of the three missing rares from Kaladesh I would target, and then hang onto my orbs to determine how best to use them as time goes on. It's really tempting to spend them when you have such a large number, but I feel like it's also good to hang onto them for when they're usable for Ixalan and the like. Never know what's coming in the future that you might want to try to spend them on.

Marvaddin

I would like a list of must have cards, too, from someone that knows the game better than me (not difficult).

I did a little list of legacy cards (like said, I will go for them because they are cheap and not avaliable from free boosters) I might be targeting. Some aren't really necessary, but are things I can think about putting in a deck, lol. Yeah, maybe I'm exagerating a bit. And I removed the ones I already have, sure.

If anyone want to share any thoughts, please do.

BFZ / OGW:
Mythic:
Crush of Tentacles
Dragonmaster Outcast
Drana Liberator of Malakir
Exert Influence
Mirrorpool
Zendikar Resurgent

Rare:
Akoum Hellkite
From Beyond
Guul Draz Overseer
Noyan Dar Roil Shaper
Oath of Nissa
Prism Array
Ruinous Path
Scatter to the Winds
Shambilng Vent
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Zada Hedron Grinder

SOI / EMN
Mythic:
Angel of Deliverance
Behold the Beyond
Deploy the Gatewatch
Descend upon the Sinful
Geier Reach Bandit
Gisela the Broken Blade
Olivia Mobilized for War
Sigarda Heron's Grace
Soul Swallower
Startlerd Awake
Ulrich of the Krallenhorde
Wolf of Devil's Breach

Rare:
Altered Ego
Devil's Playground
Diregraf Colossus
Docent of Perfection
Drownyard Temple
Elusive Tormentor
Fevered Visions
Impetuous Devils
Noosegraf Mob
Prized Amalgam
Selfless Spirit
Wharf Infiltrator


Are you guys really sure you can target, let's say, Origins? I understood standard sets will be treated as a big block for crafting, pretty much like legacy, except the most recent one. Am I wrong? Any reliable info about this?

Shecky

Thanks everyone.  And yes, you can target each of the standard sets individually.

Although I understand there are certain cards that people love and other people don't use.  I am referring to the universally admired cards - Drake, Sandwurm, Olivia, Piggie, etc. etc.  I just wondered what the non-mythic/masterpiece cards might be.