With the release of Dominaria United on MTG Arena, new and returning planeswalkers to the world of Magic ask, “Where should I start to expand my collection? Is our latest excursion to war-ravaged Dominaria worth my precious gold, or should I look into past sets, or even Remastered sets? Do these cards also give me good options to play in Alchemy or Historic? ” Here, we’ll take a quick dive into the 10 best packs to invest those sweet, sweet coins in so you can maximize the value of your daily wins and keep the grind going.
Number 10 Kamigawa Neon Dynasty
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Ninjas, samurai, cyberpunk? What more could you want! Kamigawa Neon Dynasty, Magic Arena’s cyberpunk, feudal Japan inspired set, offers our number 10 spot a solid choice for digital investment for MTGA. These packs contain great cards for gameplay and excellent aesthetic choices for in-game expression.
Sleek, varied neon ink alternate art card treatments that come in a variety of sharp colors on various cards throughout the set.
Stylized, uniquely rendered basic land art that represents the flavor of the set being heavily anime inspired.
Powerful old mechanics, channel and Ninjustsu, got brought back to modern magic for standard play.
Price: 1000 Gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Kamigawa Neon Dynasty
Number 9 Kaldheim
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Who else hears Viking Metal?
Number 9 is a Historic legal set Kaldheim, an expansion that brought back snow lands, powerful cards like Sagas and Modal Double Faced Cards, and a very inventive land cycle never before seen in Magic, making it a solid spot in the list.
These packs include cards with the old supertype Snow, which are highly synergistic and easy to make powerful decks out of.
Modal Double-Faced Cards with completely independent sides that can fill two different roles throughout any part of a game for multiple decks.
The inclusion of a common cycle of nonbasic lands with basic land types paired up to help with color fixing and smoothing strategies among different colored archetypes across formats.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Kaldheim
Number 8 Throne of Eldraine
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Are you feeling like life's a storybook?
Our number 8 pick is from the set Throne of Eldraine, which added a new level of power and interaction to standard during its time and now exists in Historic as a powerhouse of a set using Adventure cards for game-changing card advantage, making them a solid pick up for historic players.
Adventure cards were added, giving access to entire new avenues of play by giving creature cards additional use as powerful instants and sorceries that could then be cast from exile as creatures after use.
The inclusion of powerful planeswalkers like Garruk, Cursed Huntsman, and Oko, Thief of Crowns changed the face of standard and they continue to leave their marks in Historic.
A new mechanic was introduced called Adamant that pushed support for single-colored strategies, making it easy to reward heavy investments in game.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Throne of Eldraine
Number 7 Amonkhet Remastered
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Fall and worship our God-Pharoah!
Amonkhet was a set before MTGA had the historic format to have cards from old sets saved, and it was a masterclass in making the most of the graveyard in a game. Creatures were printed with the new activated ability Embalm, which could be activated from the graveyard to exile the card from that zone but create a token on the battlefield that was a copy of it, except it was a white zombie, evoking the image of the Egyptian mummy aesthetic the set was based on. Being remastered, however, gave the set a draftable experience that combined both Amonkhet and its subsequent set, Hour of Devastation, wherein we could find a chance to see cards from both sets to give the Historic format a new edge from an old favorite.
Powerful graveyard mechanics were introduced and made into strong assets in Historic’s metagame.
Extensive support for aggressive strategies poured in, using Exert to get more value out of combat.
Cycling returns, giving cards new utility outside of simply being played as a spell.
A new set that just came out earlier this year, New Capenna, added a handful of brand-new and incredibly versatile mechanics to the game that have changed how multiple formats define power. Each of the featured 5 demon crime families of the set has a unique ability that each denotes the values of each faction, but also gives a great balance in gameplay and adds more dimension to any deck that adds these cards to it. From the rough and hardy Blitz mechanic of the Riveteers getting in for damage done fast and dirty and the brutal and crafty Casualty mechanic of the Maestros making quick use of excess creatures on a table that may be coming to a standstill, these packs bring a whole new perspective on how a game can be played.
Powerful new abilities change how standard plays and adda competitive edge to strong strategies that have been tested throughout the current rotation.
Great aesthetics inspired by 1920’s Art Deco and film noir settings give a brand new artistic appeal to Magic’s fantasy settings for those that enjoy a change in the look.
Smart, simple card concepts for each color gave us more cards that are easy to use but no less powerful because they embrace Magic’s fundamental gameplay.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Streets of New Capenna
Number 5 Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate
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Some D&D in your Magic is a little like peanut butter in chocolate!
Baldur’s Gate being a beloved D&D expansion makes it a great tie-in to the Magic universe, as found in the Alchemy Horizons set released this July. This set brings in cards that actually make great use of the MTGA’s online client by being able to change colors and abilities on the fly using the new Alchemy-only ability Specialize. This never-before-seen ability allows creatures to add a second color to themselves and add a new text line of abilities that underscores this adoption of a new color identity. This adds great versatility in a format that celebrates ingenuity, and if you’re a big Alchemy fan, get ready to have fun with gameplay that will rarely ever resemble a previous game.
Specialize and other Alchemy-only mechanics allow for the set to get great use out of an all-online client, making for a unique and powerful experience.
Pack Tactics returns in this set from the original D&D Standard set, Advetures in the Forgotten Realms, giving creature-based strategies a push in Alchemy.
Another new online only ability debuted, called Double Team. Non-token creatures with Double Team create copies of themselves in their owners’ hands, so each creature with Double Team is actually 2 creatures, for a deadly second round of combat and interaction in following turns.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Alchemy Horizons: Baldur’s Gate
Number 4 Kaladesh Remastered
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Let's get building!
Just like Amonkhet, Kaladesh was a set from before the Historic format’s creation, where Vehicles were introduced to the world of Magic. This artifact-centric set was full of new strategies centered around tokens, artifacts, and Energy, a new counter type that acted as a new resource used to pay for abilities on several different cards. This set is definitely an investment for Historic players that would like to see how they can work with these inventive and unique mechanics.
Unique artifacts with powerful abilities add a level of depth to Historic that can lead to strong strategies in varied archetypes.
The ability fabricate serves 2 functions in that it both supports a strategy that rewards lots of small creatures with tokens and it supports a more counters and power centric strategy that would rather have a stronger singular creature to work with.
Multiple cards throughout that utilize energy have powerful abilities that can easily be built around with help from other Historic sets.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Kaladesh Remastered
Number 3 Guilds of Ravnica
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The Return to Return to Ravnica
We return yet again to Ravnica in magic, but this time we focus a bit more on the introductory set to the 3 based on the plane that set the stage for Magic’s War of the Spark. This is because this set greatly encapsulated Ravnica for modern magic. Giving the Historic format 5 of the 10 shock lands seen in every Ravnica set outside of Dragon’s Maze was nothing to sneeze at, and with Ravnica Allegiance giving the remaining 10 it was the start to a very streamlined gameplay experience.
5 shock lands added to standard back during its time means this set now has value for Historic gameplay, making decks easier to operate by balancing mana and color fixing.
Strong guild mechanics compliment existing strategies in Historic with new play lines that can make a big difference competitively.
Introduction of the now evergreen mechanic Surveil in this set has changed how magic is played overall on MTGA and even in paper magic.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Guilds of Ravnica
Number 2 Ravnica Allegiance
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Return to Return to Ravnica 2: Electric Boogaloo
Ravnica Allegiance packs have to outperform Guilds of Ravnica in this regard; while both have 5 guild color specific shock lands, Ravnica Allegiance brings much more powerful guild-specific effects to the table. These abilities definitely have to be looked at when building around any strategy in Historic, because in some way or another, they always become relevant in game.
This set completed the 10 Ravnica dual land cycle, making mana bases much more clean and workable overall across formats, especially Historic.
Guild mechanics such as Riot and Spectacle have seen constant use throughout Historic’s time because of their key utility throughout the format.
Having this set in a player’s collection will always give them pieces to powerful archetypes in Historic that still see play now.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
Ravnica Allegiance
Number 1 Dominaria United
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It's new, it's fresh, and it's the must have.
As MTGA’s most recent set, it really can’t be helped. The best set to invest in every time on MTGA, since these packs all cost the same amount of gold and will always only be digital and contain the same number of cards, is always the most recent set. When rotation for standard hits, you’ll always have a headstart on your collection, so you can always have pieces in case formats change across the client. Not only that, this set has a thorough wash of powerful returning mechanics like Kicker and sagas that only continue to be shown as powerful assets to any standard or Historic deck.
New sets always need to be invested in so you can adapt to formats and continue winning games to gain rank and finish daily play challenges.
The more you collect a new set, the closer you get to having 4 of whichever card you need, which then means you can have as many of that card as you need through any decks you may build.
This set has multiple powerful mechanics and cards that are changing formats even now, a week after release.
Price: 1000 gold normal packs 1300 gold Mythic packs
The heart of the game is the challenge. Whether I'm clearing the final Souls-style boss or racking up wins on MTG Arena, I live to keep growing and share my experience with those looking for a grind.
