Today, Wizards of the Coast revealed a host of updates MTG Arena economy, how much gems will cost, and how Constructed and Draft events will work. All of these changes, except for Draft, will be available Thursday, April 26.
MTG Arena Economy Updates
More Gold for Daily Wins
The amount of gold awarded for your first four wins in MTG Arena is getting a significant increase. You will now be awarded with either 250 or 100 gold for your first four wins, up from 200 or 50 gold.
- 1st win: 250 gold
- 2nd win: 100 gold
- 3rd win: 100 gold
- 4th win: 100 gold
More Gold for Completing Daily Quests
The amount of gold awarded for completing MTG Arena’s daily quests is being increased dramatically. Now, quests will reward either 500 or 750 gold.
Previously, the daily quests usually rewarded either 225 or 300 gold. When combined with daily win bonuses, your daily gold rewards would max out at between 500 and 600 gold—barely even half of a pack, which costs 1,000 gold. Wizards seems to agree that this is an overly conservative amount to set as the maximum daily reward of free-to-play currency. After these latest updates, a player’s daily gold rewards can reach between 1,050 and a maximum of 1,300 gold, which guarantees at least a pack per day without spending any real-world money.
Speaking of spending real-world money…
750 Gems Will Cost $5
One of the biggest unknowns up until today’s announcement was exactly how much gems would cost. Gems, of course, are the pay-to-play currency of MTG Arena, and now we know that the minimum purchase of gems will be 750 for $4.99. You can purchase packs of gems all the way up to 20,000 gems for $99.99. To start, Visa and MasterCard will be accepted as forms of payment. (All prices 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
Gems will be able to purchase entry into events (more below) as well as packs. Three packs will cost 600 gems, and you can buy…packs…of packs up to 100 packs for 18,000 gems. (Updated)
- 600 Gems: 3 Packs (200 gems per pack, or about $1.33 per pack)
- 1,200 Gems: 6 Packs
- 3,000 Gems: 15 Packs
- 9,000 Gems: 45 Packs
- 18,000 Gems: 90 Packs
What Happens to Gems After the Beta?
All gems that are purchased from the store (and those spent on events) will be refunded as gems to your account once the Beta ends. Gems earned through event prizes will not persist beyond the Beta or account wipes associated with the Beta.
Separate Currencies, No Conversion or Combined Payments
In response to questions from Hipsters, Game Director Chris Cao said that Wizards intends to keep gold and gems as completely separate currencies. This means that, for now, there will be no way to convert gold into gems, nor will you be able to enter events or buy packs with a combination of gold and gems.
Faster Vault Progress
Vaults will now take about 30 packs to complete, and will reward one mythic Wildcard, two rare Wildcards, and three uncommon Wildcards. Wizards estimates that the average player should be able to get around 10 packs per week by completing weekly and daily quests, as well as daily win rewards, meaning completing one Vault a month.
In addition, packs that you open during a Draft event (see below) will count towards your Vault progress.
Three Dominaria Boosters for Every Player
Player will be given three packs of Dominaria when they log in for the first time after this update.
Constructed and Draft Event Details
Structure and Availability
Both Constructed and Draft events will feature a play-at-your-leisure, one-game match structure. You play until you get either seven wins or three losses, and then receive rewards based on your number of wins.
Constructed events will be available at all times and will launch with tomorrow’s update. Draft events, on the other hand, will on be available on weekends and will launch on Friday, May 4. Upon their release, Draft events will not allow you to draft against seven other live opponents. Instead, you will draft against seven AI opponents and then play your matches against live opponents.
Constructed Event Cost and Prizes
Constructed events will cost either 500 gold or 95 gems (about $0.63) to enter. They will award a combination of gold and single cards (not Wildcards), with the amount of gold and rarity of the cards increasing the more wins you get.
- 0 Wins: 100 gold and 3 Uncommon cards
- 1 Win: 200 gold and 3 Uncommon cards
- 2 Wins: 300 gold and 3 Uncommon cards
- 3 Wins: 400 gold and 3 Uncommon cards
- 4 Wins: 500 gold, 2 Uncommon cards, and 1 Rare card
- 5 Wins: 600 gold, 2 Uncommon cards, and 1 Rare card
- 6 Wins: 800 gold, 1 Uncommon card, and 2 Rare cards
- 7 Wins: 1,000 gold, 1 Uncommon card, and 2 Rare cards
Draft Event Cost and Prizes
Draft events will cost either 5,000 gold or 750 gems (about $5) to enter and will only be available on the weekend starting on May 4. They will award a combination of gems and packs, plus the cards you drafted.The amount of gems will increase with the more wins you get but the number of boosters remain a random amount between one and three.
- 0 Wins: 50 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 1 Win: 100 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 2 Wins: 200 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 3 Wins: 300 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 4 Wins: 450 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 5 Wins: 650 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 6 Wins: 850 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
- 7 Wins: 950 gems, 1 to 3 Dominaria boosters, and all the cards you drafted
In addition, packs that you open during a Draft event will count towards your Vault progress.
Draft Event Schedule
Draft events will start on May 4 with Hour of Devastation. The Draft events will then cycle through Dominaria, Rivals of Ixalan, and then back to Hour of Devastation.
Different Philosophies for Constructed and Draft Events
When asked about the differences in price, prizes, and availability between Constructed and Draft events, Game Director Chris Cao stated that the two types of events are intended to serve two entirely different purposes.
According to Cao, Constructed events are supposed to allow players to continue playing MTG Arena and earning rewards even after they’ve completed all of their quests and received all of their daily win bonuses. That is why Constructed events are always available, are relatively cheap, and don’t have significant prizes.
Draft events, on the other hand, will be special events that are aimed at being a more approachable way to learn to draft. For that reason, Draft events will be more expensive to enter and will be more rewarding.
When asked about why Draft events only pay out in gems, while Constructed events pay out in gold, Cao also said that Wizards is testing Draft events as a way for free-to-play players to earn gems without paying for them, allowing them to enter gem-only events in the future.