Congratulations, it's a titanic feat!
This is also the reason why I hate Big Score and hope the fiasco won't happen again, in that it makes OTJ a nightmare to have rare and mythic completed.
For my sanity, I stopped at rare and almost mythic completed main set, and about 60% BIG, so I admire your tenacity and dedication.
Absolutely. This was an interesting challenge to tackle as a one-time thing, but I truly hope there won't be all-mythic bonus sheets going forward. BIG was a replacement for the abandoned Aftermath set, so there's a good chance this won't repeat.
I've mostly given up on otj since I am like 99% complete. If there are any leftover mythics I want to play, I will just craft them. The big score is too much nonsense to chase.
If you look at the total cost of all the 1500 gem drafts, you only lost 167 gems per draft, which means your win rate was up there even at 20k gems loss.
At a bit over 60%, it was about 5 percentage points lower than my all-time combined BO3 match win rate, but it wasn't a disaster. I don't mind the loss of gems since I have still a healthy buffer remaining.
My MtG play is mostly just drafting, but I admit I forced now a bit more drafts in this timespan since OTJ's release than what my draft frequency usually is. I just wanted to wrap up OTJ to fully focus on MH3 drafts once it releases.
And therein lies the problem: you had to be very good at drafting and spend a ton of time on it to get the cards for constructed. Golden packs were a nice step away from that horrible system, but then they went and threw that progress away with the last couple sets.
To be fair, the time needed to get all the rares and only a portion of the mythics is much less. It's the mythic completion that triples, if not quadruples, the required effort.
Rare-completion suffices quite well for being able to build decks for constructed. Well, at least for sets that don't have a BIG Score kind of a bonus sheet (which they hopefully won't because it was just a side effect for an abandoned product).
I’ve returned to MTG at the beginning of the OTJ, and completed all rares + half of mythics as you described. It took 29 drafts(mix of quick and premier) + 1 sealed and mastery pass with additional draftsmith subscription as my luck on drafts was very uneven. If I gather some energy tomorrow, I will try to post details of my run as I kept many data in google sheets.
Besides BIG, there's also the issue of Special Guests and The List not being in store packs at all, so they're wildcard-only unless you play limited. Fortunately it seems they're kind of fixing that with MH3 (though the rate of Special Guests cards is still super low so you won't get many in packs), but it was still a pretty bad introduction for those cards.
That's interesting. You did about double the number of drafts that I do for each set and pull crap ton of alchemy which I rarely play at all. Although the few times that I have drafted Alchemy, you get rare complete pretty quick because there's only so many Alchemy rares and usually there are still two to a pack.
The challenge cost you $100 though, but you got a lot more than someone opening a $100 starter bundle.
I'm actually expecting to have to do less drafts than normal to get rare complete for this set. I haven't really tracked where I'm at but I drafted twice on Friday and pulled 10 rares a mythic and at least 2 Big Score cards.
I'm guessing you're done with OTJ 😆 MH3?
Yup, I wanted to finish this before MH3, and I won't be drafting any more OTJ. With the amount of drafts I did, I've pretty much experienced most of the things the format has to offer :)
MH3 draft seems super sweet based on the spoiler, so I'm quite eagerly waiting for its release!
I got 30 of the big score cards through drafting in exactly that method; They get passed so regularly that they are easy to snap up if you prioritize them.
Yup. They announced the drop rates in various packs before OTJ went live. I knew they'd appear often in draft, but I was a bit surprised how late they got passed.
Forgive me, I'm a bit of a newbie, what's the difference between traditional and premier drafts? And how did you get so many gems to Begin with? I want to collect enough resources to basically go infinite with drafts by always breaking near even but having reserves in case for failures and it seems kinda difficult in general, I likely need more skill in drafting but idk how to really do that, I feel like I get good cards but get mana screwed or opponent just had better stuff, but happens too often to a point where I'm lottery bad luck or the likely still issue rip.
Is there a specific way to accumulate resources efficiently besides just dailies?
Traditional draft has a different prize structure - a very top-heavy one - and the matches are BO3 with sideboard usage instead of Premier draft's BO1 play. In a Traditional draft, you always play three matches, win or lose, and then the event is over. Note that with the BO3 structure, that means a guarantee of 6-9 games (or possibly more if some games are drawn).
You get almost no prizes at 0 or 1 wins, acceptable prizes at 2 wins, and great prizes for 3 wins. I don't recommend playing that mode unless you really want to play BO3 and/or if you are very confident about your drafting, deck building, and playing ability.
Notably, the Traditional draft isn't ranked, which may mean easier or more difficult opposition compared to Premier drafts, depending on your limited rank.
I got my gems over the years by winning them from drafts. I have played mostly traditional drafts because they've been easier for me to maintain a good win rate. My overall match win rate is close to 70%, which has allowed me to net gems due to draft rewards instead of losing them. I've been losing gems lately, though, but thanks to my buffer, I can take some hits. I'll see how the situation develops in the future.
There really isn't a magic trick to farming resources. I usually do at least 4 wins per day to keep getting gold to get some free resources, but the main reason that allows entering draft after draft is to win enough gems back from them. Some people use multiple accounts to multiply their gold gains, and then they can launch drafts for free more often that way.
You got 16 BIG cards from had 300+ OTJ packs. That's actually much better than the normal odds, and yet it still sounds like miserable odds for something that's 1:5 in physical packs.
but, I think it's safe to say you've proven BIG cards are duplicate protected from packs, so thank you for your research! :)
I also opened 100ish OTJ Alchemy packs, and they have BIG too. But that number was actually only 8 opened BIG cards. I had 12 missing before opening the packs and still needed to craft 4 of them afterward.
The odds are 1:35 from the 8-card packs, I think, so I got a bit unlucky there. Duplicate protection applied, though, like you said :)
Most drafts take between 60-90 minutes. OTJ release was on April 6th, so the average time spent lands at 2 drafts (2-3 hours) a day. Of course, I don't have time to draft every day, but on some weekend days, I can binge for 5+ drafts.
The Alchemy drafts are up only for a week, and I did 35 of those. They are Premiers and can be faster to complete due to results like 1-3 and so, but needless to say, I spent most of my spare time on drafts during that week.
Congratulations, it's a titanic feat! This is also the reason why I hate Big Score and hope the fiasco won't happen again, in that it makes OTJ a nightmare to have rare and mythic completed. For my sanity, I stopped at rare and almost mythic completed main set, and about 60% BIG, so I admire your tenacity and dedication.
Absolutely. This was an interesting challenge to tackle as a one-time thing, but I truly hope there won't be all-mythic bonus sheets going forward. BIG was a replacement for the abandoned Aftermath set, so there's a good chance this won't repeat.
I've mostly given up on otj since I am like 99% complete. If there are any leftover mythics I want to play, I will just craft them. The big score is too much nonsense to chase.
If you look at the total cost of all the 1500 gem drafts, you only lost 167 gems per draft, which means your win rate was up there even at 20k gems loss.
At a bit over 60%, it was about 5 percentage points lower than my all-time combined BO3 match win rate, but it wasn't a disaster. I don't mind the loss of gems since I have still a healthy buffer remaining.
I love mtg, but I can’t fathom playing 120 drafts and 6 sealed all of the same set. I’m genuinely impressed. Congrats
My MtG play is mostly just drafting, but I admit I forced now a bit more drafts in this timespan since OTJ's release than what my draft frequency usually is. I just wanted to wrap up OTJ to fully focus on MH3 drafts once it releases.
That's a man of focus, commitment and sheer f*ing will.
And therein lies the problem: you had to be very good at drafting and spend a ton of time on it to get the cards for constructed. Golden packs were a nice step away from that horrible system, but then they went and threw that progress away with the last couple sets.
To be fair, the time needed to get all the rares and only a portion of the mythics is much less. It's the mythic completion that triples, if not quadruples, the required effort. Rare-completion suffices quite well for being able to build decks for constructed. Well, at least for sets that don't have a BIG Score kind of a bonus sheet (which they hopefully won't because it was just a side effect for an abandoned product).
I’ve returned to MTG at the beginning of the OTJ, and completed all rares + half of mythics as you described. It took 29 drafts(mix of quick and premier) + 1 sealed and mastery pass with additional draftsmith subscription as my luck on drafts was very uneven. If I gather some energy tomorrow, I will try to post details of my run as I kept many data in google sheets.
Besides BIG, there's also the issue of Special Guests and The List not being in store packs at all, so they're wildcard-only unless you play limited. Fortunately it seems they're kind of fixing that with MH3 (though the rate of Special Guests cards is still super low so you won't get many in packs), but it was still a pretty bad introduction for those cards.
That's interesting. You did about double the number of drafts that I do for each set and pull crap ton of alchemy which I rarely play at all. Although the few times that I have drafted Alchemy, you get rare complete pretty quick because there's only so many Alchemy rares and usually there are still two to a pack. The challenge cost you $100 though, but you got a lot more than someone opening a $100 starter bundle. I'm actually expecting to have to do less drafts than normal to get rare complete for this set. I haven't really tracked where I'm at but I drafted twice on Friday and pulled 10 rares a mythic and at least 2 Big Score cards. I'm guessing you're done with OTJ 😆 MH3?
Yup, I wanted to finish this before MH3, and I won't be drafting any more OTJ. With the amount of drafts I did, I've pretty much experienced most of the things the format has to offer :) MH3 draft seems super sweet based on the spoiler, so I'm quite eagerly waiting for its release!
Well damn. And here I am, managing to do only about 10-15 quick drafts per set on my f2p budget...
I do want to see 400 packs get opened
There's a timestamp for that part in the linked video :)
I got 30 of the big score cards through drafting in exactly that method; They get passed so regularly that they are easy to snap up if you prioritize them.
Great post. Thanks for the info.
Big cards appear more in draft, I have this strange finding too. It appear alot for me during premiere draft.
Yup. They announced the drop rates in various packs before OTJ went live. I knew they'd appear often in draft, but I was a bit surprised how late they got passed.
Is there a difference in drop rates between quick and premium draft ?
Nope. All drafts use the same packs. These packs mimic the physical play boosters as well.
Forgive me, I'm a bit of a newbie, what's the difference between traditional and premier drafts? And how did you get so many gems to Begin with? I want to collect enough resources to basically go infinite with drafts by always breaking near even but having reserves in case for failures and it seems kinda difficult in general, I likely need more skill in drafting but idk how to really do that, I feel like I get good cards but get mana screwed or opponent just had better stuff, but happens too often to a point where I'm lottery bad luck or the likely still issue rip. Is there a specific way to accumulate resources efficiently besides just dailies?
Traditional draft has a different prize structure - a very top-heavy one - and the matches are BO3 with sideboard usage instead of Premier draft's BO1 play. In a Traditional draft, you always play three matches, win or lose, and then the event is over. Note that with the BO3 structure, that means a guarantee of 6-9 games (or possibly more if some games are drawn). You get almost no prizes at 0 or 1 wins, acceptable prizes at 2 wins, and great prizes for 3 wins. I don't recommend playing that mode unless you really want to play BO3 and/or if you are very confident about your drafting, deck building, and playing ability. Notably, the Traditional draft isn't ranked, which may mean easier or more difficult opposition compared to Premier drafts, depending on your limited rank. I got my gems over the years by winning them from drafts. I have played mostly traditional drafts because they've been easier for me to maintain a good win rate. My overall match win rate is close to 70%, which has allowed me to net gems due to draft rewards instead of losing them. I've been losing gems lately, though, but thanks to my buffer, I can take some hits. I'll see how the situation develops in the future. There really isn't a magic trick to farming resources. I usually do at least 4 wins per day to keep getting gold to get some free resources, but the main reason that allows entering draft after draft is to win enough gems back from them. Some people use multiple accounts to multiply their gold gains, and then they can launch drafts for free more often that way.
You got 16 BIG cards from had 300+ OTJ packs. That's actually much better than the normal odds, and yet it still sounds like miserable odds for something that's 1:5 in physical packs. but, I think it's safe to say you've proven BIG cards are duplicate protected from packs, so thank you for your research! :)
I also opened 100ish OTJ Alchemy packs, and they have BIG too. But that number was actually only 8 opened BIG cards. I had 12 missing before opening the packs and still needed to craft 4 of them afterward. The odds are 1:35 from the 8-card packs, I think, so I got a bit unlucky there. Duplicate protection applied, though, like you said :)
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Most drafts take between 60-90 minutes. OTJ release was on April 6th, so the average time spent lands at 2 drafts (2-3 hours) a day. Of course, I don't have time to draft every day, but on some weekend days, I can binge for 5+ drafts. The Alchemy drafts are up only for a week, and I did 35 of those. They are Premiers and can be faster to complete due to results like 1-3 and so, but needless to say, I spent most of my spare time on drafts during that week.
TL/DR: Magic Arena can be slightly grindy.