was away for 9 months please update / help me

Magnumson

So Ive stopped playing in August '19 but due to Corona started again. My last information was that I should invest my pinkies in M19 Elite packs to get BSZ and Sarkhan, Nicol Bolas, Elspeth and Koth were the favorite planeswalkers to get. Now coming back after 9 months I realize that on Training grounds I can use 2 cards out of 10  

Please help me with the following questions:

- which are the top planeswalkers now
- is BSZ still so mighty and worth to invest pinkies?
- if not which card is?
- which are currently the most favorite cards to get?
- should I invest pinkies to get the most favorite card or try to craft it? Which strategy is better?
- what happend to Rising Tension and the 500 orb gifts? Is it still on? 
- do you personally see any benefit in VIP and if so, which? 
- do you actively use vanguards? 
- I have invested 400 pinkies and pulled Xenagos Vanguard, Can I be happy and do you think it's a good card?
- what's the best Vanguard?
- I invested 600 crystals and pulled Mirari. I'm happy because its my first masterpiece ever. I got a bit angry as it indeed took me three trials (each time 200) to pull it but I'm happy now. Do you think it's a good card?

Guys, I know my questions seem stupid but I was gone for 9 months and it feels so much happened during that time and I don't really seem to see through all this. If you guys would help me answering those questions Id really appreciate!

Tremayne

Welcome back!

that is a lot of questions, I’ll take a stab at some of them.
BSZ is a great card that see a lot less use after the nerf and reverting to legacy. I would not actively seek it out unless I didn’t have other legacy options covered by BSZ. Omniscience or Rashmi comes to mind. 

In standard there is a new BSZ which is Urza which is in the vault right now. Check him out and see if you can find a way to enchance your chance of pulling him with pinks, since he is a MP.
Vanguards does see limited use in standard, but due to the strange purchase setup, you should be careful chasing any vanguards especially since you probably miss a lot of standard card.
Minari is a great card in legacy, just find some great spells and start abusing the heck out of them, deploy the gatewatch is a simple and efficient combo.
Crafting depends upon the size of your pockets, so it is difficult to say for certain but focus on one set which I think should be Throne of Eldraine. This set has many powerful cards (and some duds) and I believe is also staying in standard the longest. (Can someone confirm that?)

VIP is great to quickly top up your collection. Due to recent changes in the packs awarded most veterans have cancelled their subscription but that shouldn’t be an issue for you in the first few months.
rising tensions has had is schedule changed so it now only turns up 3 times a week and plays tag team with a similar event. So it is there but less frequent.

Magnumson

Thank you so much! That was really helpful! Has anything changed for the planeswalkers? Still Karn, the Bolas, Brokhan?

Tremayne

Regarding PW - nothing has been done about the tricoloured PW so they are still very good to use. Personally I’m not using them as much, since it is more fun to challenge my deck building skills. Don’t know if you have Tamiyo, but she has turned into a beast lately with gem converters and prism array.

Personally I recommend Garruk, the cursed huntsman, he has made playing black green fun for me. The other black green PW are so far duds for me.

Best card right now in blue is Urza, in red I really like Haktos, from Theros, in black I’m struggling to build really strong decks so I might be overlooking something, but Grave Titan is a solid creature. In green I think the Rare Hydras Growth is really worth chasing. But Hogaark is a fun black green creature. Regarding white, I can’t come up with any exceptional cards, but there are a lot of good cards, like Godsend and Realm-cloaked giant, if pressed I would go with March of the multitude or Finale of Glory.

These cards are easily overlooked because they are non-rare Deathsprout, Kenriths transformation and impending doom.

my favourite vanguard is most likely Sorin, he gives all creatures lifelink on your turn and can help manage opponent vanguards. Second best in my view is Domri, and extra land, with creature boost and an emergency removal.

Magnumson

Thank you! Would you guys recommend to focus on the basic set first? That’s the set I got the most cards from already, like 60%. So a strategy could be to get them all first and then you can easily convert those cards into mana orbs and get a steady supply. Hix is a must afaik

Heartstone

If you mean 'origins' with basic set, then yes, it's always good to have that set complete.

As planeswalkers,  I would advicd any three colored one, and Nissa Worldwaker, which is the best monocolored green PW

madwren

The best sets to invest in are Origins and Theros, I'd say, depending on how long you're planning to remain. We're due to rotate Standard in about 6 months, which means everything pre-Eldraine will be rotating out. 

Top planeswalkers for me are Bolas God-Pharoah, Bolas Dragon-God, Sarkhan Unbroken, Tamiyo, and Ral Zarek. Karn, Teferi, Garruk Cursed Huntsman, Nissa Worldwaker, Elspeth, and Koth also sometimes work their way in.If you have good color coverage already, I'd save up for Narset, who should be coming with the next set as a red-blue-white planeswalker.