Just like paper MTG, you will need a lot of resources to play in the Arena. MTGA is a free-to-play platform but you will need a lot of grinding to craft a deck that can compete in ranked matchmaking. The backbone of the deck building in Arena is the Wildcard. Present in Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Mythic Rare variants, you can swap these to any card in the game that shares the same rarity. 

Getting Wildcards can be easy if you will pay real money to buy booster packs in the game. However, there are a lot of new players that are not yet willing to put in some dough just to get up to speed with other players. Luckily, we listed down a few tips that will help you get those Wildcards that will help you brew your favorite deck whether in Standard, Historic or even Brawl.

Win many games

It may seem counterintuitive that to get wildcards, you need to win a ton of games since you can only get many wins with decent decks. However, it is still true that to achieve everything that I have mentioned above, you need to win games. Your daily and weekly goals will provide you with decent rewards in the form of packs, experience points, and gold but the only way to get these rewards is by getting those dubs. It may be difficult for a starting player to grind for these wins but once you get the hang of your decks, you can string many wins which will allow you to get your rewards. 

Finish your daily and weekly quests

You need to play a lot of MTGA to hone your card wielding skills. The game also incentivizes you to keep playing as they give out daily challenges that you can complete. These challenges will reward you with either 500 or 750 gold. Earn enough of these so you can buy booster packs that may contain Wildcards. One tip that you can consider to maximize your gain is to re-roll your quest if it will only give you 500 gold. Doing so will give you a 50% chance of getting a higher reward so keep that in mind.

You are also given rewards every time you win a game. There are two meters that you fill up every win. One meter is the daily meter and the other is your weekly meter. You get rewards from these meters every time you win. Rewards include gold and experience points which will help you in getting more Wildcards.

Open multiple packs

This is really the only legit way to get those Wildcards in the game. Save up your money as one pack costs 1000 gold. You can also redeem free packs from codes by going to the Shop and redeeming the rewards. Most common codes include the words ‘Play’ and the set (Example: PlayM21 gives you three free M21 booster packs).

Opening a booster pack will give you 5 Commons, 2 Uncommons, and 1 Mythic or Rare. Usually, these are cards but you will sometimes get Wildcards from the packs. When you open a pack, you also fill up two meters on the upper right side. Once you fill the meters, you will get an Uncommon Wildcard or a Rare/Mythic one. However, even if you don’t get a Wildcard either from the pack or from the meters, you can still get some through the vault, which will be explained in my next point.

Complete the vault

You will inevitably complete the playset of certain cards in a certain set. Once you have four copies of a certain Rare or Mythic Rare card, the next duplicate that you will get will give you 20 gems or 40 gems, depending on the rarity. For Common and Uncommon cards, duplicates will contribute to what is known as the vault. You may not know it exists but it is there. Once you get 100% progress, you can crack open the vault, the counter will reset, and you will receive 3 Uncommons, 2 Rares, and 1 Mythic Wildcard.

This is a very long process but here are a couple of tips to help you fill the vault meter quickly:

• Play draft or sealed events -  Playing in these events will give you 6 packs that contain 14 cards and 3 additional booster packs even if you don’t win any games in the event. You will get a lot of cards in these events, especially Commons and Uncommons, which will help complete your playset of cards.
• Use your extra Common and Uncommon Wildcards to complete sets of cards - This will help you get more duplicates that will contribute to the vault progress.

The vault is not the easiest way to get Wildcards but it can still provide you with some especially if you are a Draft or Sealed player. 

Final thoughts

These are the ways you can earn Wildcards in the game. It will be challenging to get many of these so you should always plan what deck you want before committing to crafting a card. The Wildcard is the most essential resource especially for new players that are playing with the starter decks so always be sure to spend these wisely.

Magic the Gathering is still undeniably pay-to-win as most Tier One decks are expensive on paper and may need a lot of Rare and Mythic Wildcards in the Arena. Microtransactions will always be a huge part of competitive online games but you can still grind your way to get these resources. At least in the Arena, you don’t necessarily need to pay real money to be able to play (and win) games.  

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