Thanks to Golden Packs, Magic Arena’s economy doesn’t suck anymore

“Play draft.” That used to be the standard advice. If you wanted to get value for money out of Magic: The Gathering Arena, buying booster packs was for suckers. Instead of dropping 1,000 gold on a pack of eight random cards, you were better off paying 10,000 gold to sign up to a draft event. There, you and seven other players chose one card at a time from a rotating selection, each constructing a 40-card deck with which to play against the others (while also hoovering up any rares that caught your eye).

As well as keeping all the cards you picked, you’d earn prizes—both Arena’s premium currency of gems, and booster packs—for every match you won in the event. Maintain a win rate of just over 50% and you’d be getting the best value possible in Arena, according to the lengthy guides and analyses of Arena’s economy (opens in new tab).

Not everyone likes playing draft, though. It’s a solid time commitment, and is better when you’re already familiar with a set. Third-party extensions like the Untapped Companion (opens in new tab) and MTGAssistant (opens in new tab) include draft helpers to recommend card picks and explain potential synergies, as well as logs to make sure you don’t select cards you forgot you already own. The popularity of these apps suggests I’m not alone in finding the process a headache. I’ve never been into deckbuilding under time pressure anyway—that’s stress I don’t need just to feel like I’m getting the most value out of a game that’s supposed to be fun.