For those who have not heard, popular card game "Magic: The Gathering" is getting another digital game called "Magic: The Gathering Arena" or more commonly known as "MTG Arena." With thousands of cards available for the game, the best news for "MTG Arena" is that the cards would not be locked behind microtransactions.
Developers Wizards of the Coast has recently released a blog post discussing how players will be able to get more cards to build their decks. While buying real booster packs will cost money, players would not need any of those to play or even win the game. Players should note, however, that "MTG Arena" will still feature Gems sold for real money in the future, although not as a means to give advantages to players.
As such, free-to-play gamers have the same access to getting more cards by using Gold, which can be earned through the game. "Both gold and gems can be used to unlock packs, events and more," reads the blog post. Gems are merely there to speed up gameplay and skip the need to earn Gold.
There are five different ways players who use either Gems or Gold to get cards. The games allow players to buy booster packs, draft packs, individual cards, wildcards, and through The Vault. Booster packs contain eight total cards including two uncommons, and one rare or mythic. Draft packs are available in a draft game mode where players have to choose cards from a total of 14 cards, excluding land. The cards chosen will be added to the player's collection.
Wildcards are a sort of exchange where players can "redeem a Wildcard one-to-one for a card at that same rarity." Both individual cards and The Vault are still being experimented on by the developers. The post says that they are looking for a system where players can get individual cards through play. As for The Vault, it currently is a system where getting a fifth duplicate of a card will instead add progress to "The Vault". When full, it will give players another opportunity to earn cards.
"MTG Arena" has no release date as of now. However, players who want to try it out already can do so by registering on their website for the closed beta, which is available already.
