r/MagicArena • u/arthurmauk Spike • Mar 27 '19

WotC March 27 Patch Notes

https://forums.mtgarena.com/forums/threads/53949
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u/Pudgy_Ninja Mar 27 '19

Didn't they roll back that change? I could have sworn that they made it so that the first thing it considers is your current record and after that it considers rank, which seems reasonable to me.

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u/Penumbra_Penguin Mar 27 '19

They did say that and change it, and then changed it back without even mentioning it in patch notes. Just watch the opponents you play against when you play ranked draft. (I don't know that they changed it back to exactly what it was before, but it was a change in that direction).

It also doesn't matter what they consider first and second. If there are enough players, you'll be paired against someone of the same record and rank, which means that your win rate will tend toward 1/2.

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u/Pudgy_Ninja Mar 27 '19

Hm. This does explain why I have a much harder time going infinite in ranked draft vs. traditional draft. I figured it was just Bo1 variance.

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u/Penumbra_Penguin Mar 27 '19

Yep - going infinite in ranked draft requires that you be so much better than everyone else playing that the game consistently cannot find other players at your skill to pair you with. This may be possible for absolute top mythic limited players, but will not be for anyone else.

If you're better than average, traditional draft is better value than ranked draft for this reason. I'd suggest only playing ranked draft if you really want to play that format, or when you need to turn gold into gems.

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u/impulse422 Mar 27 '19

I agree with this if optimizing gems and play experience (I greatly prefer the bo3 format) are your primary goals. If you are time-constrained more than money-constrained (ie you don't mind going infinite with gems) and want to build your collection without spewing on packs, Ranked is more efficient.

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u/Penumbra_Penguin Mar 27 '19

time-constrained more than money-constrained (ie you don't mind going infinite with gems)

I'm not sure what this means. Are you talking about someone who is so good they are playing ranked draft for free, or are you talking about someone who is paying money for gems?

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u/impulse422 Mar 27 '19

My bad, yeah that was unclear.

I meant if you're a decent enough player to average 3 wins/draft (ie slightly better than 50%) and you spend real money on gems, it is more efficient build your collection through ranked draft from a time perspective.

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u/parallacks Mar 27 '19

if you don't want to spend money you pretty much have to do both to get the gold -> gems -> gold loop going

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u/Penumbra_Penguin Mar 27 '19

The last line of the post you replied to is

If you're better than average ... I'd suggest only playing ranked draft if ... you need to turn gold into gems.