Hello and welcome to a very special State of Beta where I get to give you a full rundown on everything coming with the Dominaria build on April 26. There's a lot to talk about, so let's jump right into it.
Chris Clay's AMA is back!
Now that I've had some time to heal, and catch back up at work, I'm happy to say I'm ready to face an onslaught of your questions next week! On Monday, April 30, I will be taking to the MTG Arena subreddit to answer everything I can from 12–2 PM PT. Make sure you get plenty of playtime in over the weekend so you can hit me with your freshest questions!
Server Downtime
Starting at 8 AM PT (3 PM UTC) on April 26, the MTG Arena services will be taken down to prepare for the Dominaria update. Service downtime is expected to last from 4 to 8 hours. However, this is a large update, and unexpected things can always happen. Follow the server status here during downtime.
Dominaria Content
We're releasing the entirety of Dominaria to MTG Arena, bringing a host of new cards and card mechanics and celebrating both the old and the new from Magic's original plane. This set is us coming home to where it all began. The art and style of Dominaria has also spilled outside the cards into MTG Arena with:
New Dominaria battlefield
New music
New visuals throughout the game
The Beginning of Events
Events will be a major way to enjoy Magic in MTG Arena. We want it to feel like there's always something new to check out every day. This update is our first step towards that goal with the first two events:
Quick Constructed
Quick Draft
We will have a schedule events through to June available to view (I'll update this with a link as soon as it goes live). Additionally, a few surprise events will pop up throughout the month.
Events also come with their own form of matchmaking. When you enter an event, you are primarily matched with other players with a similar net win/loss record. MMR plays a lesser role in matching you with players within your win/loss record. To keep match times reasonable, you can be matched with players outside your win/loss record if you or someone outside your win/loss bucket has been waiting a long time.
EVENT CALENDAR
With all of that information in the public, I can share with you our current schedule for upcoming events:
Name
Format
Start Date (3 PM UTC)
End Date (5 PM UTC)
Quick Constructed
MTG Arena Constructed
April 26, 2018
June 7, 2018
Hour of Devastation Quick Draft
Draft HOU-HOU-AKH
May 4, 2018
May 7, 2018
Dominaria Quick Draft
Draft DOM-DOM-DOM
May 11, 2018
May 14, 2018
Rivals of Ixalan Quick Draft
Draft RIX-RIX-XLN
May 18, 2018
May 21, 2018
Hour of Devastation Quick Draft
Draft HOU-HOU-AKH
May 25, 2018
May 28, 2018
Dominaria Quick Draft
Draft DOM-DOM-DOM
June 1, 2018
June 4, 2018
Quick Constructed
This best-of-one Constructed event will be offered at all times in MTG Arena. This is the place where players who have finished their daily quests can continue to compete for a chance at even more rewards. There is no limit to how many times you can enter a Quick Constructed event, and you will use decks you already have built to compete. Let's give a quick rundown on entry and prizes.
Entry Fee: 500 Gold or 95 Gems
Match Structure: Single Matches
Ends After: 7 Wins or 3 Losses (whichever comes first)
Event Prizes:
0 Wins: 100 gold and 3 individual Uncommon cards
1 Win: 200 gold and 3 individual Uncommon cards
2 Wins: 300 gold and 3 individual Uncommon cards
3 Wins: 400 gold and 3 individual Uncommon cards
4 Wins: 500 gold, 2 individual Uncommon cards, and 1 individual Rare card
5 Wins: 600 gold, 2 individual Uncommon cards, and 1 individual Rare card
6 Wins: 800 gold, 1 individual Uncommon card, and 2 individual Rare cards
7 Wins: 1,000 gold, 1 individual Uncommon card, and 2 individual Rare cards
All individual card rewards have a chance to upgrade to a higher rarity. And whether you end the event at 7-2 or 7-0, you still win the top prize. As long as you don't get loss number three, your loss record doesn't affect your rewards.
Quick Draft
This best-of-one Draft mode will have different events each weekend starting May 4. And yes, we are looking at offering Draft events every day in a future update. When a Quick Draft event is running, there is no limit to how many times you can enter, and you get to keep all the cards you draft and play with during that event. Unlike other MTG Arena boosters, Draft boosters will contain 14 cards in the same rarity distribution as tabletop (10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic). Additionally, Quick Draft will give out gems as prizes, giving players a way to earn into premium currency.
The drafting portion of Quick Draft will happen against seven AI drafters. Drafting against other players is not something we offer now, but we plan to in the future. One benefit of AI drafting is if you need to leave halfway through a draft, you can pick up exactly where you left off the next time you log in.
After drafting all your cards and constructing your 40-card Draft deck, you battle against other players who drafted within the same format. Let's give a quick rundown on entry and prizes.
Entry Fee: 5,000 Gold or 750 Gems
Match Structure: Single Matches
Ends After: 7 Wins or 3 Losses (whichever comes first)
Event Prizes:
0 Wins: 50 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
1 Win: 100 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
2 Wins: 200 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
3 Wins: 300 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
4 Wins: 450 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
5 Wins: 650 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
6 Wins: 850 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
7 Wins: 950 gems, 1 to 3 eight-card Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
Just like with Quick Constructed, whether you end the event at 7-2 or 7-0, you still win the top prize. Your loss record doesn't affect your rewards until you get to loss three.
Economy Updates
We have been listening to a lot of player feedback on the economy, and we've made updates across most rewards. Let's talk about what we've changed.
Three Dominaria Boosters. Every current player will be granted three Dominaria boosters upon their first login. This is a one-time reward. New players will be awarded three boosters of each set available in MTG Arena, now including Dominaria.
One Additional Mythic Wildcard. Like the three Dominaria boosters, this is a one-time reward. Many players were upset over the removal of a Mythic Wildcard from the Vault, and we listened. So to everyone who opened their Vault since the wipe last month: this is for you. For everyone else: make sure you thank them because you're getting this anyway!
Daily Wins. The first win of the day will now award players 250 gold. Wins two through four will now award 100 gold. That should give players 550 gold in their first four daily wins.
Quests. Quest rewards will now be set at 500 and 750 Gold. We have also removed the quest type that requires players to win with a two-color deck, and we've adjusted some of the values to complete of the other quests. Together between daily wins and quests, players should be able to earn at least one booster per day with about 60 to 90 minutes of play.
Weekly Wins. Players will still receive a pack at five, ten, and fifteen wins for the week. These weekly wins will now reward Dominaria packs. Between daily wins, weekly wins, and quests, you have an opportunity to earn at least ten packs per week.
Individual Card Rewards. These are gone from daily wins and the Vault. We're happy we tried the experiment, and we certainly learned a lot. But the variance was too high here, and the player feedback pointed us more towards Gold rewards than Individual Card Rewards. We are still planning to use the system in event rewards, but at uncommon rarity and above and in greater quantities.
The Vault. The Vault will now reward one Mythic Rare Wildcard, two Rare Wildcards, and three Uncommon Wildcards. Vault Progress has been rebalanced a bit, but if you play daily, you should unlock the Vault at least every three weeks with consistent play of roughly 60 to 90 minutes a day. For the average player, this should happen once per month
For those interested in exact numbers, here is how the Vault progresses as of tomorrow's update. Vault progress comes from opening 8-card boosters or from adding a card to your collection after you already have a full playset:
Opening an 8-card booster: 3.33333333...%
Fifth (or more) copy of a mythic rare added to collection: 1.11111...%
Fifth (or more) copy of a rare added to collection: 0.5555555555.....%
Fifth (or more) copy of an uncommon added to collection: 0.3333333.....%
Fifth (or more) copy of a common added to collection: 0.11111111....%
End of Weekly Rewards. The Friday rewards of three boosters will end with this update. Now that the economy is more formed, we think it's time to test it without these gifts.
Gems Economy
With this update, players will now be able to purchase gems using real-world money. Any gems purchased with real money during the Closed Beta will be given back to your account after a final wipe at the end of the Closed Beta. Why? Because we're going to test the paid economy during the Closed Beta as well. Also, to purchase gems, you will be redirected to an external website to enter your payment information. We're working on integrating this process fully into the game for the future. Gems can be purchased at the following amounts, all of which are in USD.
750 Gems: $4.99
1,600 Gems: $9.99
3,400 Gems: $19.99
9,200 Gems: $49.99
20,000 Gems: $99.99
Pack Purchasing
Players will still be able to unlock packs for 1,000 gold. Starting with the Dominaria update, packs can be purchase at around $1 each (depending on the amount of gems and packs you purchase). We will be testing gem pricing on eight-card packs as follows.
600 Gems: 3 Packs
1,200 Gems: 6 Packs, which includes at least 1 Uncommon and 1 Common Wildcard
3,000 Gems: 15 Packs, which includes at least 1 Rare, 3 Uncommon, and 3 Common Wildcards
9,000 Gems: 45 Packs, which includes at least 1 Mythic, 3 Rare, 9 Uncommon, and 9 Common Wildcards. (The Dominaria 45-pack bundle will also include 1 copy of Firesong and Sunspear)
18,000 Gems: 90 Packs, which includes 2 copies of Firesong and Sunspear, at least 3 Mythic, 6 Rare, 18 Uncommon, and 18 Common Wildcards. (The Dominaria 90-pack bundle will also include 2 copies of Firesong and Sunspear.)
And since we brought up Firesong and Sunspear, I'd just like to mention that the card will be available through crafting with a Rare Wildcard and will not be appearing in packs of any type.
Putting the Pieces of the Economy Together
The in-game economy is still not in its final state with this update. We are working on adding more events and formats to the mix. There will be more in the store to choose from eventually, like cosmetic items, bundles, and potentially decks. But the foundations are in place now. Let me summarize the three pillars again:
Base Economy. Gives you a rewarding experience in your first 60 to 90 minutes of play. Or if you don't play daily, you can have longer play sessions a few days per week with larger rewards. You should also see a pathway to getting the cards you want weekly and monthly.
Events. These are designed to be the next step beyond your daily and weekly rewards. If you do well, you get out more than you put in and can keep playing. If you don't want to earn your way into an event or hit a rough patch, you can enter with gems. This is where we expect those who are playing many hours a day to play.
Paid Economy. Now that you have a way to earn gems, there is no paid-only mode. Purchasing gems is there to speed up your rewards. The paid economy works best in conjunction with both the base economy and events.
Polishing Continues
There is plenty we'll continue to work on to polish your gameplay experience. A few areas we've added some additional polish to with this update are:
We've added animated deck boxes for all your decks in the deck manger.
We've update deck selection so you can select your deck without a scene transition from the home page.
We've updated the look of the decklist in deckbuilder to allow for easier parsing of deck contents.
And more in the patch notes . . .
Play and Give Us Feedback
Jump in, play the new update, and give us your feedback. There are a lot of new elements we're testing in this Closed Beta update, and we greatly appreciate your help in improving them.
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