Recent reviews by HAMiLTON

After **833 hours** in *Magic: The Gathering Arena*, I have compiled a **useful** list of tips for new players:

1. **Don't spend ANY real money on this game.**
There are several quests you can complete daily that reward you with gold, which you can use to buy booster packs and other items you might want in the game. I would, however, recommend that you **ONLY** buy booster packs with your gold.

2. **Get used to seeing the message "Waiting for the Server...".**
This message is displayed on-screen for almost every navigational click you make, so just get used to it. If you're lucky, you might even get to wait for over a minute to enter a match, which will always result in a Draw (also known as *'a waste of your time'*).

3. **Speaking of time, get used to seeing the opponent's timeouts burn out every game.**
Most players in the community are bitter and toxic right from the start. I often encounter players who wait until the very last second before making a move, trying to force more impatient players to rage-quit and find another game. However, if you stay in the game, you will be rewarded with a timeout for every round the opponent plays. If you're unfortunate enough that the opponent has an instant card or any other way to make a move during your turn, you will also see a timeout in your own round — for every stage of the round.

4. **Don't expect to be rewarded for making a good deck.**
Regardless of how skilled you are as a player or how awesome your deck is, the game follows a set of rules regarding matchmaking relentlessly. When doing the daily quest, you have to win 15 times to get max rewards. You will be matched against tougher opponents with better decks, first around your 7th win, and then again on the 11th win. That final stretch from 11 to 15 will more often than not become a nightmare, where the opponent "magically" draws all the right cards at the right time — and those cards just so happen to counter your deck perfectly.

5. **Speaking of tougher decks, you should instantly concede the game if the opponent plays a red/blue/black mana combo.**
This color combination is almost guaranteed to be what is called a "heist" deck. These decks are made for less talented Magic players who want to win easily but don't possess the intellectual capabilities to build their own winning decks. Heist decks specialize in using your own deck against you, so the better your deck, the more effectively this cowardly strategy works against you.

6. **Remember the rule of anonymity.**
As with everything on the internet these days, the more anonymous the player is, the more toxic they tend to behave. Since there is no way of obtaining an opponent's real name and address, they **WILL** behave accordingly. Therefore, I highly advise you to just concede the game instantly if you come across toxic behavior. Just find another game, and take solace in the fact that someone out there is having a worse life than you.

**Hope this helps, and good luck! You're gonna need it! :)**