Hey and welcome to Magic: the Gathering Online! There is so much to Magic that it can be overwhelming at times, especially for new players. Added on top of that are the intricacies/eccentricities of the MTGO client and it's easy for a new player to have a case information overload.
Keeping that in mind, I wanted to make this New Player FAQ simple -- just enough to get you started off playing games (and having fun :D). Once you're settled in you can worry about tackling more complex issues by looking though the General MTGO FAQ, which is chock full of information - pretty much anything you would want to know (In fact, some of this was taken directly from there ). Chances are, if you have a question that isn't covered here, it will be covered there.
Even though I wanted to keep it simple, some things ended up being a bit wordy. Trust me, though, if you take the time to read though it, it'll help you tremendously.
However, this FAQ is not meant to deter you from posting. If you have questions not answered in the FAQ, questions about the FAQ's answers, or just want to introduce yourself; feel free to make your own thread or post in someone else’s -- we'd love to hear from you :D.
[indent]1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read. 2. MTG:Online Free Trial 3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost? What does an account come with? 4. I just signed up and I have these cards, are they supposed to make a deck? Where are my New Player Deck decklists? 5. How do I buy cards? 6. Should I buy a Theme Deck/Intro Pack? 7. Should I buy Booster Packs? Should I open them? 8. What are Event Tickets? 9. What are Bots? 10. How to Trade and where to find trading partners/bots. 11. How to get some free commons. :D 12. What are "Formats"? // Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? 13.Chronicles of a New Player - How dougnugget started up MTGO (cheaply, to boot). 14. What are the Vanguard Avatars for? 15. What is an ORC? 16. MTGO interface guides. 17. How do I find out more about Magic Online?
* What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon? (for users who signed before August 5th, 2009)[/indent]
1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read.Spoiler:Show
I HIGHLY suggest reading the Magic Academy Series, for both new players and players returning from a long hiatus. It covers important concepts of the game ranging from the very new player to intermediate players. If you read all of these articles, you should have a very good understanding of the game from which to build off of.
Additional, for returning players (from before 6th edition) the rules for Magic got a bit of a clean up with 6th edition. The biggest change (and probably the best) was the introduction of "the stack". I suggest you read about it here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php? … st15160342
Once you have downloaded MTGO, you can find a link to a Free Trial Server on the logon page. This will take you to a server where you'll be given an anonymous name and you will be able to play with the 5 Magic 2010 theme decks against others in the Free Trial. Using this, you can get a feel for MTGO's interface and see if it's right for you.
Also, once you’ve purchased your account, you can still play with the M10 themedecks against other players without owning the cards[/]. Just go into the new player room and start or join a game with the format “Freeplay Current Themedecks.”
3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost? What does an account come with? Spoiler:Show
The short answer is that it will cost only as much as you want to spend.
The long answer is a little more involved and depends on what you are looking to do.
There is no monthly subscription fee. Unlike many other online games, MTG:O mirrors the cost of the paper game, namely $3.99 per booster, and $12.29 per theme deck (there are also Event Tickets, which cost $1 each and are used to pay the entry fee for sanctioned events and leagues). This upside to this setup means you are not forced to spend anything after your initial account creation fee of $9.99. If you want to go three months without spending anything, you can. And if you want to spend a few hundred dollars a week you can do that too. The downside is that most players find that they will need to invest additional money if they want to be competitive.
Also, your paper cards will not entitle you to any cards on MTGO. You can not trade your paper cards for digital cards. Paper and MTGO are two separate platforms.
As I said, accounts cost $9.99, but they come with some stuff: 2 Event Tickets 1 M10 Booster Pack 5 Pre-built decks that are made from 150 lands and most of the following 173 cards:
4. I just signed up and I have these cards, are they supposed to make a deck? Where are my New Player Deck decklists?Spoiler:Show
So, you've just signed up and you have 300 cards, a M10 booster, and 2 Event Tickets. Want to play a game? You're going to need the decklists for those 5 decks that your account came with.
To find them: In your Deck Editior - Go into the deck editor. Click on the 'LOAD' button near the top of your screen. Then, select the dropdown menu and click "Themedecks". This will show you a list of folders, find the one named "New Account Decks". The 5 decklists are in there.
When starting a game - Next to the 'Deck' field, click the "BROWSE" button. Then, select the dropdown menu and click "Themedecks". This will show you a list of folders, find the one named "New Account Decks". The 5 decklists are in there. ImageShow
Magic Online now includes a store built into the client. Just click on the "Store" tab along the bottom of your Magic Online screen. Once you're done selecting items and adding them to your cart, click checkout and complete the process. Boosters and decks cost full retail prices ($3.99 for boosters, $12.29 for most theme decks/intro packs, and $1.00 for Event Tickets [all US dollars]). The game itself can be downloaded for free. You can also buy the paper "Core Game," which will give you an outdated install disk for the previous version of MTGO. The paper Core Game also comes with a code that gives you the cards in the Core Game in your new account see this for how to create your account with this code. Unless you've already purchased a physical core game set, I would suggest against it. You get more cards and more value from paying the $9.99 to create your account rather than going through the core set and its activation code.
Once you complete checkout, your order goes to processing. Processing can take anywhere from 2 seconds to 24 hours, so be patient. It does usually get processed within five minutes, however, so don’t let that “to 24 hours” scare you off, it is more of a failsafe to keep techsupport from getting bombarded by impatient users. If you're logged on to the game when processing completes, you'll get a pop-up box announcing your new goodies. If you're not logged on, the products will show up in your collection next time you log on, though there won't be a pop-up notification. If you haven't gotten your products after 24 hours, don't complain about it in the Support room -- they can't help you. Instead, contact the store via http://wizards.custhelp.com with your account name and the order number included.
Now, the MTGO store only sells boosters and theme decks/intro packs. To buy single cards or out of print boosters, theme decks, or intro packs, you'll need to trade with other players/bots. You can trade card for card or 'buy' cards by trading event tickets for cards. For more on this, I suggest reading the FAQ entry on trading and event tickets.
6. Should I buy a Theme Deck/Intro Pack?Spoiler:Show
I can no longer recommend that players buy theme decks from the MTGO store. The main reason being that the contents of any given theme deck/intro pack can be purchased on the secondary market for 2-5 tickets quite easily. At one point in time, depending on the individual, it could have been worth it to spend the extra money on a theme deck/intro pack directly from the store. However, Intro Packs are only 41 cards (i.e. need cards added before you can start a game) and new accounts now come with 6 pre-built decks (for those intimidated by deckbuilding or the trading interface when they first start).
But, if you liked the look of one of the theme decks/intro packs (you could use one as a base for a theme and build off of it) and want to purchase the cards on the secondary market, the first thing you'll need to do is find the decklist. Luckily all the decklists are already saved on your computer for you to browse: Finding DecklistsShow
You can load these up in your deck editor to get an idea for a deck and then take it from there, buying some/all of the cards in the deck from the secondary market, along with others you think will complement the deck. If you plan on this, I suggest using the wishlist feature to make trading for the cards faster and easier.
7. Should I buy Booster Packs? Should I open them?Spoiler:Show
While at first glance, it may look like the best way to obtain cards is to buy booster packs and open them, this is generally considered a [i]less than economical way to go about things. This will make a bit more sense when you’ve gone though other sections of the FAQ, like ‘What are Event Tickets?’ and Trading, but bear with me for a moment.
You see, the MTGO secondary market (buying from other players) is a pretty nifty place. The market is very liquid because of the ease in trading. Additionally, the card supply is, for the most part, pretty high compared to the demand. Both of these factors mean that the majority of cards are dirt cheap. You can get many rares for as cheap as $0.10 each, but, boosters cost $3.99 from the store. I think you can do the math :D. What you generally open in a booster pack can be bought for $1 or less on the secondary market. Effectively causing you to ‘throw away’ $3. Now, you can certainly luck into opening a high dollar rare, but the odds are against it. Additionally, by purchasing singles, you can control exactly what you get, so that you get cards you want and not something you’d never use.
However, there is a certain feeling you get by ripping a booster and getting that sense of discovery when you see what you got. It’s basically a form of gambling :D. There’s nothing to really replace this feeling, so depending on how much you like it, buying boosters just to open them may be the right thing for you. After all, this is a game and you’re in it to have fun. We just want to help you get the most fun out of your dollar and, for some, that equals opening boosters .
You may then ask, “Why does anyone buy boosters then? What good are they?” Limited You need boosters to play Drafts and Sealed deck tournaments. So, that’s what they are mostly used/opened for.
One other thing, if you do want to purchase boosters, you can frequently get them cheaper on the secondary market than from the Online Store. Remember what I said about supply being higher than demand? Well, sometimes, certain boosters have a large enough supply that you can get them for less than $4 by buying them from other players.
And, if you find yourself with some boosters (perhaps you did well in a tournament or you have the M10 pack that new accounts come with) you could: try cracking it (most likely not worth it), use it to enter a draft/sealed deck tournament, or you could sell it on the secondary market for event tickets that you can then turn around and use to buy cards from bots.
Tickets, oftentimes abbreviated as tix, were originally designed as the “entry fee” for online tournaments. Rather than handing the tournament organizer $5 to enter like you would in real life, Magic Online includes Event Tickets as part (or all) of the entry price. The tickets are purchasable from the store for $1 each.
Due to the ticket’s $1 value in the store, they have become the de facto currency of Magic Online and thus most people trade cards for tickets rather than other cards. However, due to inefficiencies in converting tickets back into cash and other market factors, the actual market value of tickets is usually less than $1 (i.e. you can buy tickets for less than $1 each outside of the MTGO store, but there is the risk of getting scammed involved).
I've already thrown the word 'bot' around a few times. Bots are automated trading programs, it's as simple as that. People set them up so that they can trade 24/7. The majority of card buying and selling in MTGO utilizes these bots that people run. You can think of each bot as a different MTG retailer (i.e. comic shop or online MTG store). Some just buy cards for tickets; others only sell you cards for tickets, and some do both.
You can still find people that will trade you card-for-card (called casual trading), but bots have proven to be extremely efficient and convenient so they've "taken over" the marketplace so to speak.
Trading with a bot is fairly simple. When you enter a trade, the bot should begin giving you instructions in the chat box. This is also where the bot will tell you the price of a card if it wasn't listed in the classified ad. When you've selected your cards and the bot has taken cards/tickets from you, the bot will instruct you on how to finish the trade. Some just ask that you confirm, others need you to type something (like "done") before they will confirm the trade.
Now, there two basic types of bots: smartbots and "dumb" bots. Smartbots are able to set a specific price for every card in their inventory. When you select a card, the bot will tell you the price they charge for it. "Dumb" bots are incapable of variable prices for the things they sell (i.e. they sell everything they have for trade at a particular price, such as 5 cards for 1 ticket). Some "dumb" bots can set different prices for different rarities (i.e. 96 commons for 1 ticket, 20 uncommons for 1 ticket, or 5 rares for 1 ticket)
Because of the ability to set variable prices, smartbots generally have very large inventories. One stop shopping, one could say. On the other hand, "dumb" bot's limitation of selling all cards for the same price means they can only sell a certain subset of cards, thus they have a more limited inventory.
10. How to Trade and where to find trading partners/bots.Spoiler:Show
Where to Trade Trading (probably with bots) is the most common way to get cards on MTGO. First, I should probably familiarize you on where to go in order to find trading partners before I dive into the mechanics. The most common place for people and especially bots to advertise is the classifieds board. To get there:
Menu-->Community-->Marketplace-->Classifieds
The classifieds is a place where anyone can post an ad, which will stay as long as the user is logged on or they remove it. At the top of the screen, there is a place for you to enter search terms in to filter the multitude of ads. Frankly, it's not a very good search. It uses exact phrases, so I suggest you keep your searches simple. Even to the point of searching for part of a card name rather than all of it (i.e. search for "Elspeth" rather than "Elspeth, Knight-errant"). You can also search for general things like "common" or "rare", but it won't reduce what you have to look through by much .
The majority of posts here in the classifieds are by bots, which frequently list big ticket items, hoping to 'lure in' someone shopping for that particular card. You'll find that searching for many card names return zero or very few postings. This is pretty common with less popular cards, especially commons and uncommons. I don't have any type of optimal strategy to find cards if they aren't showing up this way. You can randomly open trades until you find the card. Some of the larger dealers have websites which may allow you to more easily browse their inventory; you could try searching the internet in order to find said websites.
If you are looking for other players to trade card-for-card, try searching for "casual" in the classifieds. Or, you could try going to one of the 'private rooms'. In any private message or game room chat, you can type "/join roomname" and a chatroom with name "roomname" will appear. All users who have typed "/join roomname" will be in the room. Some rooms to try: /join casual, /join trading, /join auction, and /join trade
How to Trade Now, trading itself is a fairly simple process. Right clicking on any username (or classifieds ad) will give you the option to trade with that person. Once in a trade you can see the other user's tradable* cards and they can see yours.
To select a card you want, just double click it. This will put the card in your "you get" pile at the bottom right. If you accidentally select a card you don't want or too many of a card, you can put it back by double-clicking the card in your "you get" pile.
Once you have selected the cards and are ready to finish the trade, each user needs to click the "confirm trade" button near the top of the screen. When both players click this, the trade will go to the second confirmation screen. It is important to review all the cards in the trade during this step to make sure your trading partner isn't taking something they shouldn't be. Once you've looked over the cards, each player clicks "confirm trade" again and the trade will then be completed.
I'm also going to note here that MTGO enforces a 32 item per trade limitation. If you want to get more than 32 cards, you'll need to do multiple trades. For example, if you see an ad where someone is selling "96 commons for one ticket", you will need to do three 32 card trades. In the case of humans, you'll just have to trust that they will allow you to trade with you for the 2nd and 3rd set of 32 cards (having taken the ticket from you as you got the first 32 cards) For bots, they should be programmed to remember your 'credit' the next time you trade, allowing you to get the remainder of your cards in subsequent trades.
There are also several ways to make trading easier. Heavy use of your filters can cut down on the cards you have to look through. You can also use the wishlist feature to make trading easier. You can use your trades with the Free Commons bots (see next FAQ entry) to get the hang of where the buttons are and whatnot.
Value Now, regarding the economics of trading, to maximize the value of your dollar, you'll need to shop around. It's just like cutting coupons and shopping at many different stores -- there are bargains to be had if you look. You can save money if you put time into it, but you have to decide if the amount of time you put into it is worth what you save. This causes some people to be 'brand loyal', they’ll find a bot that has a good stock and they believe has fair prices and shop only there. Sure, sometimes they will pay a little bit extra, but they feel it's worth it because of the time they save.
What to Trade for Of course, you will only want to buy cards that you like and want to play in. This will mostly be dependent on the format you want to play, so I suggest you read the FAQ entry on formats before you choose which cards to buy.
*Tradable - To mark a card in your collection tradable, you need to go into your collection and look under the card. Note that, only cards you mark tradable can be seen by those you trade with, and you must mark things tradable before beginning a trade. PictureShow
Old-time boards member Bent, created a trading guide that will introduce you to the dynamics of trading on MTGO: http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/ … 76046.html It's somewhat old, but the lessons taught still ring true.
There are a 2-3 bots in the classifieds that give away 64 free commons each. To find them, just go to the bottom left of your screen and go to
Menu-->Community-->Marketplace-->Classifieds
and search for "free". Several ads will be returned, but there are only 3 bots that are giving out free cards (occasionally, not all 3 will be online). When you find one of these bots, you can then right click on the bot's name to trade with it, however they are frequently busy so you may need to try several times or try again later.
12. What are "Formats"? // Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? Spoiler:Show
If you are receiving an "illegal cards" error when you try to start or join a game, it is most likely because cards in your deck are illegal for the Standard format.
Standard is the most popular format, so it is the default format for new games. Changing the format to Extended or Classic when you create a game will "get rid of" this error. Now, you don't know what a format is, of course :D. This Magic Academy article explains it quite well: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A … academy/21
The three main formats on MTGO. Formats are just subsets of cards. Classic being all cards, Extended being many cards (but not all) and Standard being a smaller subset.
Now that you've read the reasoning behind formats, I'll let you know that the current standard legal sets are: Lorwyn Morningtide Shadowmoor Eventide
Shards of Alara Conflux Alara Reborn
Magic 2010 (M10)
It is suggested that new players start with the Standard, Pauper, or 'Block' format.
Standard is the most popular format played and it has a smaller card pool in comparison to Extended and Classic. As a new player, you don't have many cards. Building a deck for the Classic format leaves you with a card pool of 5000-7000 cards. That's a lot to choose from. Standard's card pool is generally closer to 1000 cards. So, the reduced options are less overwhelming.
Block formats (Lorwyn Block, Alara Block, etc) are nice because they have the smallest possible card pool of any format, consisting of 1 to 3 sets. Another advantage is that Block decks are generally cheaper to build than Standard decks. However, block isn't quite as popular as Standard and the smaller card pool can sometimes make games feel repetitive because many people are using many of the same cards to build their decks.
Pauper is simply "Any common released on MTGO". If a card was ever printed as common on MTGO, it's legal for pauper. While Pauper may be more intimidating to would-be deckbuilders because it has a larger card pool than standard, its biggest asset is that it's dirt cheap. Even the most expensive common on MTGO isn't worth more than a couple of ticket, with the most expensive decks topping out at 30-40 tickets, if that. Also, the lack of extremely powerful rares is a bonus for some players, especially the budget minded who don't have access to them.
The easiest way to build decks legal for your format of choice is to use the filters along the top of your Collection, Deck Editor, and Trading screens. In the top-middle you will see a dropdown menu that is set to "All Cards(Online)" by default. Changing that to "Standard" will display only Standard legal cards that you own in your Collection and Deck Editor and it will display only Standard legal cards that your trading partner has up for trade when you are trading, likewise with the other formats/sets.
Just to note, legality is based on card name. Thus, if you filter for Standard and see a 7th edition Birds of Paradise, it is standard legal because it was also printed in Magic 2010.
As a final note, these are just suggestions for which format to play. There is nothing wrong with playing Extended and/or Classic when starting out. But, some new players don't like the prospect of having opponent's with a vast card pool (or 'Bag-O-Tricks') to pull from while you, as a new player, don't have many cards to build decks from. There is also the fact that it's slightly harder to find a game with a Classic or Extended legal deck. A Standard legal deck can be played in almost all formats, so you can join games without much regard to the format. But, if your deck is only Classic legal, you'll have to specifically look for Classic games (not that they aren't there often, you just can click on a game willy-nilly and start playing). Conversely, there may be cards you want to play with that are only legal in Classic and many of the cards you get from the Free Common bots won't be Standard legal. If you have the cards or want to play with a particular card, I say go for it and try out Classic.
13. Chronicles of a New Player - How dougnugget started up MTGO (cheaply, to boot). Spoiler:Show
Doug was kind enough to chronicle his first week playing MTGO. His thread shows how a new player can go about starting MTGO - buying cards, building decks, playing in the casual room. And, he does it all without even using the full amount of his $9.99 coupon! (Previously, accounts came with a coupon rather than 5 pre-built decks, a booster, and 2 tix)
Your account should start out with the 5 basic avatars. Generally, 2 new avatars are given out during the release events of every new set. You get them by playing in or winning certain events during the release. Once these events are over, the only way to obtain these avatars is to trade with other players.
ORCs are moderators for Magic Online and the forums. It's their job to make sure MTGO is a fun and safe place for everyone. ORCs can't play or trade while on duty, so don't bug them with trade requests or challenges.
The primary duty of the ORCs is to enforce the Wizards Code of Conduct. If you misbehave, an ORC will issue you a warning. Just like in real-life Magic tournaments, a warning is a heads-up that you did something wrong. If you keep doing it, an ORC can mute you (you can't chat at all) or kick you from the game for up to 24 h. In excessive cases, punishment can be escalated immediately, skipping some steps. All conduct actions are reported to Customer Service, who can issue additional punishments, including extended bannings or even permanent removal.
On the other hand, ORCs are really nice and helpful guys and gals to those who have honest questions or problems. If you ever have a problem or need help figuring something out, just ask one of the ORCs. ORCs can usually be found in the Support room (click the "Chat with Support" button on the Home scene), and they also wander around the other rooms. You can also type "/join Support" in any chat prompt other than Duel or Trade chat prompts.
17. How do I find out more about Magic Online?Spoiler:Show
As I alluded to in the introduction, the General MTGO FAQ is the repository of pretty much all MTGO related knowledge. It's absolutely tremendous and can answer most questions. So, if you're the type of person who likes to learn everyting there is to know about something before jumping in or you want to learn some more advanced features of MTGO, you should probably peruse the General MTGO FAQ! Also, Tempeseye has created a nice listing of v3 features that may not be so intuitive, you can check out his thread, too: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=976671
What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon? (If you signed up before August 5th 2009)Spoiler:Show
Event Tickets
What? You need more explanation? Ok then.
Using event tickets to trade for single cards from bots is, by far, the most economical way to purchase cards on MTGO. As compared to opening booster pack, when buying singles on the secondary market you get more bang for your buck and you know exactly which cards you'll be getting. This is because the market is very liquid, making card prices quite low. This works against those who like to open booster packs; very rarely will you get a rare that is worth more than the $3.99 that was spent on the pack.
By going to the Classifieds (menu-->community-->marketplace-->classifieds) you can search for individual cards. Alternatively, since searching for many of the less popular cards will yield no results, you can just start trading with random bots until you find a well stocked one and get your cards from there.
Now, before you go and start buying up cards like crazy, I suggest you read the FAQ entry below about 'Formats'. This will help you determine which cards to buy.
7/30 and before (well, to 7/19 at least) version of FAQ, for referenceShow
Hey and welcome to Magic: the Gathering Online! There is so much to Magic that it can be overwhelming at times, especially for new players. Added on top of that are the intricacies/eccentricities of the MTGO client and it's easy for a new player to have a case information overload.
Keeping that in mind, I wanted to make this New Player FAQ simple -- just enough to get you started off playing games (and having fun :D). Once you're settled in you can worry about tackling more complex issues by looking though the main MTGO FAQ, which is chock full of information - pretty much anything you would want to know (In fact, some of this was taken directly from there ). Chances are, if you have a question that isn't covered here, it will be covered there.
However, this FAQ is not meant to deter you from posting. If you have questions not answered in the FAQ, questions about the FAQ's answers, or just want to introduce yourself; feel free to make your own thread or post in someone else’s -- we'd love to hear from you :D.
[indent]1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read. 2. MTG:Online Free Trial 3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost? 4. How do I buy cards? 5. What are Event Tickets? 6. What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon? 7. Should I buy a Theme Deck/Intro Pack? 8. Building your first deck. 9. How to Trade. 10. How to get some free commons. :D 11. What are "Formats"? // Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? 12. An example of a new player starting up MTGO (cheaply, to boot). 13. What are Bots? 14. What are the Vanguard Avatars for? 15. How do I get more basic lands? 16. What is an ORC? 17. MTGO interface guides.[/indent]
1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read.Spoiler:Show
I HIGHLY suggest reading the Magic Academy Series, for both new players and players returning from a long hiatus. It covers important concepts of the game ranging from the very new player to intermediate players. If you read all of these articles, you should have a very good understanding of the game from which to build off of.
Additional, for returning players (from before 6th edition) the rules for Magic got a bit of a clean up with 6th edition. The biggest change (and probably the best) was the introduction of "the stack". I suggest you read about it here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php? … st15160342
Once you have downloaded MTGO, you can find a link to a Free Trial Server on the logon page. This will take you to a server where you'll be given an anonymous name and you will be able to play with the 5 Tenth Edition theme decks against others in the Free Trial. Using this, you can get a feel for MTGO's interface and see if it's right for you.
3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost?Spoiler:Show
The short answer is that it will cost only as much as you want to spend.
The long answer is a little more involved and depends on what you are looking to do.
There is no monthly subscription fee. Unlike many other online games, MTG:O mirrors the cost of the paper game, namely $3.99 per booster, and $12.29 per theme deck (there are also Event Tickets, which cost $1 each and are used to pay the entry fee for sanctioned events and leagues). This upside to this setup means you are not forced to spend anything after your initial account creation ($9.99, but you will receive a $9.99 coupon for use in the MTGO store). If you want to go three months without spending anything, you can. And if you want to spend a few hundred dollars a week you can do that too. The downside is that most players find that they will need to invest additional money if they want to be competitive.
Also, your paper cards will not entitle you to any cards on MTGO. You can not trade your paper cards for digital cards. Paper and MTGO are two separate platforms.
Magic Online now includes a store built into the client. Just click on the "Store" tab along the bottom of your Magic Online screen. Once you're done selecting items and adding them to your cart, click checkout and complete the process. Boosters and decks cost full retail prices ($3.99 for boosters, $12.29 for most theme decks, and $8.99 for 10th Edition Theme decks, and $1.00 for Event Tickets [all US dollars]). The game itself can be downloaded for free. You can also buy the paper "Core Game," which will give you an outdated install disk for the previous version of MTGO. The paper Core Game also comes with a code that gives you the cards in the Core Game in your new account (but you don't get the $9.99 coupon) see this for how to create your account with this code.
Once you complete checkout, your order goes to processing. Processing can take anywhere from 2 seconds to 24 hours, so be patient. It does usually get processed within five minutes, however, so don’t let that “to 24 hours” scare you off, it is more of a failsafe to keep techsupport from getting bombarded by impatient users. If you're logged on to the game when processing completes, you'll get a pop-up box announcing your new goodies. If you're not logged on, the products will show up in your collection next time you log on, though there won't be a pop-up notification. If you haven't gotten your products after 24 hours, don't complain about it in the Support room -- they can't help you. Instead, contact the store via http://wizards.custhelp.com with your account name and the order number included.
Now, the MTGO store only sells boosters and theme decks/intro packs. To buy single cards, you'll need to trade with other players/bots. You can trade card for card or 'buy' cards by trading event tickets for cards.
Tickets, oftentimes abbreviated as tix, were originally designed as the “entry fee” for online tournaments. Rather than handing the tournament organizer $5 to enter like you would in real life, Magic Online includes Event Tickets as part (or all) of the entry price. The tickets are purchasable from the store for $1 each.
Due to the ticket’s $1 value in the store, they have become the de facto currency of Magic Online and thus most people trade cards for tickets rather than other cards. However, due to inefficiencies in converting tickets back into cash and other market factors, the actual market value of tickets is usually less than $1 (i.e. you can buy tickets for less than $1 each outside of the MTGO store, but there is the risk of getting scammed involved).
6. What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon?Spoiler:Show
Event Tickets
What? You need more explanation? Ok then.
Using event tickets to trade for single cards from bots is, by far, the most economical way to purchase cards on MTGO. As compared to opening booster pack, when buying singles on the secondary market you get more bang for your buck and you know exactly which cards you'll be getting. This is because the market is very liquid, making card prices quite low. This works against those who like to open booster packs; very rarely will you get a rare that is worth more than the $3.99 that was spent on the pack.
By going to the Classifieds (menu-->community-->marketplace-->classifieds) you can search for individual cards. Alternatively, since searching for many of the less popular cards will yield no results, you can just start trading with random bots until you find a well stocked one and get your cards from there.
Now, before you go and start buying up cards like crazy, I suggest you read the FAQ entry below about 'Formats'. This will help you determine which cards to buy.
7. Should I buy a Theme Deck/Intro Pack?Spoiler:Show
I can no longer recommend that players buy theme decks from the MTGO store...let me explain in detail.
Previously, WotC sold 60 card ready-to-play theme decks. I found these to be great for new players who were intimidated by the prospect of building their own deck and wanted to jump right into playing. Even when the Theme Decks were 60 cards and ready-to-play, they weren't the best deal for everyone. You see, the contents of any given theme deck can be purchased on the secondary market for 2-5 tickets quite easily. This meant that you'd be paying $5-8+ extra when purchasing the theme deck from the store. However, paying a bit extra would be worth it for some players because of the ease and speed of the process. You could call that bit of money a 'convenience premium'. So, it was worth it for some individuals who wanted to start immediately rather than bother with the time it takes to: do research, build a deck, learn how to use the interface, learn how to use the trading market, and then go out and obtain the cards; this was especially true for some older players who have more money than free time.
However, they have switched to 41 card Into Packs (which include an unopened booster). With this switch, the two saving graces of themedecks were lost. Every format (except Freeform) has a 60 card minimum deck size. Thus, if you were to purchase an Intro Pack, you will still have to do a bit of deckbuilding if you want to play a Standard, Extended, Classic, or other format game (see FAQ entry on 'Formats' if you don't know what these are). This doesn't do as much to alleviate the intimidation some new players feel when presented with the prospect of building their first deck and it completely removes the convenience that purchasing a theme deck could give.
As I've already said, you can buy the cards contained in any Intro Pack for 2-5 event tickets on the secondary market. So, one potential use that Intro Packs retain is the ability to act as a jumping off point towards building your own deck if you feel intimidated/overwhelmed. Luckily all the decklists are saved on your computer for you to browse: Finding Decklists
You can load these up in your deck editor to get an idea for a deck and then take it from there, buying some/all of the cards in the deck from the secondary market, along with others you think will complement the deck.
In this section, I'm not going to go into things like how many lands or creatures you should put into your deck; Magic Academy does a fine job on that front. Rather, I'm writing this more to help explain how you can approach conceptualizing your deck and finding cards on MTGO.
First things first, To view every card ever printed on MTGO, go into your collection and set "OWNED" to >=0. This will let you browse though all MTGO cards. Similarly, if you go into your deck editor, you can UNCheck the "My Cards" box and that will allow you to build decks with cards you don't own. Collection Deck Editor
Now, there are a TON of cards on MTGO. Seeing all of them there stretching to near infinity is a bit much. Thus, I suggest you use the filters (both in your deck editor and when trading for cards). First thing would probably be to sort by format, with Standard format being suggested for new players. (You may want to read the FAQ entry on formats, if you haven't already.)Filtering by Format/Set
It's certainly fine to just browse around and pick out cards you like, you don't have to get it right the first time :D. Decks aren't 'built', they evolve.
Now, if you're in need of inspiration. You can look though the vast array of Theme Deck/Intro Pack decklists to get started. The decks are purposefully built as unrefined, allowing you to switch out cards and tweak numbers to improve the deck. Finding Theme Deck/Intro Pack decklists
As I said, your deck need not be perfect in its first incarnation. Through playing your deck, you'll learn things about it. Certain cards may not do much, ditch them. Certain cards may be MVP, you may want more of them. You may find that you have trouble with opponent's creatures, you may need more removal. You may find that you're getting too many or too few lands, tweak the numbers. So on and so forth.
It's generally populated by other new players with similarly sized card pools/experience levels as you. But, you could also run into a veteran player looking to give advice....or, rarely, a jerk bringing an overly powerful deck to 'beat up' newbies. No worries, it's just a game and you can always block unpleasant people.
Once your collection has grown and you've gained some experience, you'll probably want to move to the casual decks room. It has more players and could be considered the 'next level'.
Trading (probably with bots) is the most common way to get cards on MTGO. It's a fairly simple process. Right clicking on any username will give you the option to trade with that person. Once in a trade you can see the other user's tradable* cards and they can see yours.
To select a card you want, just double click it. This will put the card in your "you get" pile at the bottom right. If you accidentally select a card you don't want or too many of a card, you can put it back by double-clicking the card in your "you get" pile.
Once you have selected the cards and are ready to finish the trade, each user needs to click the "confirm trade" button near the top of the screen. When both players click this, the trade will go to the second confirmation screen. It is important to review all the cards in the trade during this step to make sure your trading partner isn't taking something they shouldn't be. Once you've looked over the cards, each player clicks "confirm trade" again and the trade will then be completed.
I'm also going to note here that MTGO enforces a 32 item per trade limitation. If you want to get more than 32 cards, you'll need to do multiple trades. For example, if you see an ad where someone is selling "96 commons for one ticket", you will need to do three 32 card trades. In the case of humans, you'll just have to trust that they will allow you to trade with you for the 2nd and 3rd set of 32 cards (having taken the ticket from you as you got the first 32 cards) For bots, they should be programmed to remember your 'credit' the next time you trade, allowing you to get the remainder of your cards in subsequent trades.
There are also several ways to make trading easier. Heavy use of your filters can cut down on the cards you have to look through. You can also use the wishlist feature to make trading easier.
*Tradable - To mark a card in your collection tradable, you need to go into your collection and look under the card. Note that, only cards you mark tradable can be seen by those you trade with, and you must mark things tradable before beginning a trade. Picture
First, read "how to trade". There are a 2-3 bots in the classifieds that give away 64 free commons each. To find them, just go to the bottom left of your screen and go to Menu-->Community-->Marketplace-->Classifieds and search for "free". You can then right click on the bot's name to trade with it, however they are frequently busy so you may need to try several times or try again later.
11. What are "Formats"? // Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? Spoiler:Show
If you are receiving an "illegal cards" error when you try to start or join a game, it is most likely because cards in your deck are illegal for the Standard format.
Standard is the most popular format, so it is the default format for new games. Changing the format to Extended or Classic when you create a game will "get rid of" this error. Now, you don't know what a format is, of course :D. This Magic Academy article explains it quite well: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A … academy/21 Simple Picture Explaination of Main FormatsShow
The three main formats on MTGO. Formats are just subsets of cards. Classic being all cards, Extended being many cards (but not all) and Standard being a smaller subset.
Now that you've read that, I'll let you know that the current standard legal sets are: Lorwyn Morningtide Shadowmoor Eventide Shards of Alara Conflux Alara Reborn 10th Edition (Rotates July 29th 2009, to be replaced by Magic 2010 [M10])
It is suggested that new players start with the Standard format. Standard is the most popular format played and it has a smaller card pool in comparison to Extended and Classic. As a new player, you don't have many cards. Building a deck for the Classic format leaves you with a card pool of 5000-7000 cards. That's a lot to choose from. Standard's card pool is generally closer to 1000 cards. So, the reduced options are less overwhelming.
The easiest way to build Standard legal decks and buy Standard legal cards is to use the filters along the top of your Collection, Deck Editor, and Trading screens. In the top-middle you will see a dropdown menu that is set to "All Cards(Online)" by default. Changing that to "Standard" will display only Standard legal cards that you own in your Collection and Deck Editor and it will display only Standard legal cards that your trading partner has up for trade when you are trading.
Now, legality is based on card name. Thus, if you filter for Standard and see a 7th edition Birds of Paradise, it is standard legal because it was also printed in Magic 2010.
Now, there is nothing wrong with playing Extended and/or Classic when starting out. But, some new players don't like the prospect of having opponent's with a vast card pool (or 'Bag-O-Tricks') to pull from while you, as a new player, don't have many cards to build decks from. There is also the fact that it's slightly harder to find a game with a Classic or Extended legal deck. A Standard legal deck can be played in almost all formats, so you can join games without much regard to the format. But, if your deck is only Classic legal, you'll have to specifically look for Classic games (not that they aren't there often, you just can click on a game willy-nilly and start playing).
12. An example of a new player starting up MTGO (cheaply, to boot).Spoiler:Show
Doug was kind enough to chronicle his first week playing MTGO. His thread shows how a new player can go about starting MTGO - buying cards, building decks, playing in the casual room. And, he does it all without even using the full amount of his $9.99 coupon!
Bots are automated trading programs. The majority of card buying and selling utilizes bots that people run. You can think of each bot as a different card store in real life. Some just buy cards for tickets, others only sell you cards for tickets, and some do both.
The Avatars are used in a MTGO format called Vanguard. It's explained well here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Articl … e/vanguard If you don't have Avatars in your collection, it is because you haven't opened your Vanguard Booster. Go into your collection and find the pack with a big 'M' on it. Right click that and select 'open'
If you're asking this question you probably don't know what an Avatar is either :D. Go into your collection and find the pack with a big 'M' on it. Right click that and select 'open'. Within that pack is the 5 basic Vanguard Avatars and 15 of each basic land. If you need more land, you can ask other players (especially me), you generally don't ever need more than 50 lands, so the majority of accounts accrue large amounts of excess lands over time.
ORCs are moderators for Magic Online and the forums. It's their job to make sure MTGO is a fun and safe place for everyone. ORCs can't play or trade while on duty, so don't bug them with trade requests or challenges.
The primary duty of the ORCs is to enforce the Wizards Code of Conduct. If you misbehave, an ORC will issue you a warning. Just like in real-life Magic tournaments, a warning is a heads-up that you did something wrong. If you keep doing it, an ORC can mute you (you can't chat at all) or kick you from the game for up to 24 h. In excessive cases, punishment can be escalated immediately, skipping some steps. All conduct actions are reported to Customer Service, who can issue additional punishments, including extended bannings or even permanent removal.
On the other hand, ORCs are really nice and helpful guys and gals to those who have honest questions or problems. If you ever have a problem or need help figuring something out, just ask one of the ORCs. ORCs can usually be found in the Support room (click the "Chat with Support" button on the Home scene), and they also wander around the other rooms. You can also type "/join Support" in any chat prompt other than Duel or Trade chat prompts.
Hey and welcome to Magic: the Gathering Online! There is so much to Magic that it can be overwhelming at times, especially for new players. Added on top of that are the intricacies/eccentricities of the MTGO client and it's easy for a new player to have a case information overload.
Keeping that in mind, I wanted to make this New Player FAQ simple -- just enough to get you started off playing games (and having fun :D). Once you're settled in you can worry about tackling more complex issues by looking though the main MTGO FAQ, which is chock full of information - pretty much anything you would want to know (In fact, some of this was taken directly from there ).
However, this FAQ is not meant to deter you from posting. If you have questions not answered in the FAQ, questions about the FAQ's answers, or just want to introduce yourself; feel free to make your own thread or post in someone else’s -- we'd love to hear from you :D. [indent]1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read. 2. MTG:Online Free Trial 3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost? 4. How do I buy cards? 5. What are Event Tickets? 6. What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon? 7. How to Trade. 8. How to get some free commons. :D 9. What are Bots? 10. Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? What are "formats"? 11. What are the Avatars for? 12. How do I get more basic lands? 13. What is an ORC? 14. MTGO interface guides.[/indent]
1. Completely new to Magic: the Gathering? An Introduction, Tutorial & an article series all beginning and returning Magic players should read.Spoiler:Show
I HIGHLY suggest reading the Magic Academy Series, for both new players and players returning from a long hiatus. It covers important concepts of the game ranging from the very new player to intermediate players. If you read all of these articles, you should have a very good understanding of the game from which to build off of.
Additional, for returning players (from before 6th edition) the rules for Magic got a bit of a clean up with 6th edition. The biggest change (and probably the best) was the intoduction of "the stack". I suggest you read about it here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php? … st15160342
Once you have downloaded MTGO, you can find a link to a Free Trial Server on the logon page. This will take you to a server where you'll be given an anonymous name and you will be able to play the 5 Tenth Edition theme decks against others in the Free Trial. Using this, you can get a feel for MTGO's interface and see if it's right for you.
3. Is MTGO Free? How much does it cost?Spoiler:Show
The short answer is that it will cost only as much as you want to spend.
The long answer is a little more involved and depends on what you are looking to do.
There is no monthly subscription fee. Unlike many other online games, MTG:O mirrors the cost of the paper game, namely $3.99 per booster, and $12.29 per theme deck (there are also Event Tickets, which cost $1 each and are used to pay the entry fee for sanctioned events and leagues). This upside to this setup means you are not forced to spend anything after your initial account creation ($9.99, but you will receive a $9.99 coupon for use in the MTGO store). If you want to go three months without spending anything, you can. And if you want to spend a few hundred dollars a week you can do that too. The downside is that most players find that they will need to invest additional money if they want to be competitive.
Also, your paper cards will not entitle you to any cards on MTGO. You can not trade your paper cards for digital cards. Paper and MTGO are two separate platforms.
Magic Online now includes a store built into the client. Just click on the "Store" tab along the bottom of your Magic Online screen. Once you're done selecting items and adding them to your cart, click checkout and complete the process. Boosters and decks cost full retail prices ($3.99 for boosters, $12.29 for most theme decks, and $8.99 for 10th Edition Theme decks, and $1.00 for Event Tickets [all US dollars]). The game itself can be downloaded for free. You can also buy the paper "Core Game," which will give you an outdated install disk for the previous version of MTGO. The paper Core Game also comes with a code that gives you the cards in the Core Game in your new account (but you don't get the $9.99 coupon) see this for how to create your account with this code.
Once you complete checkout, your order goes to processing. Processing can take anywhere from 2 seconds to 24 hours, so be patient. It does usually get processed within five minutes, however, so don’t let that “to 24 hours” scare you off, it is more of a failsafe to keep techsupport from getting bombarded by impatient users. If you're logged on to the game when processing completes, you'll get a pop-up box announcing your new goodies. If you're not logged on, the products will show up in your collection next time you log on, though there won't be a pop-up notification. If you haven't gotten your products after 24 hours, don't complain about it in the Support room -- they can't help you. Instead, contact the store via http://wizards.custhelp.com with your account name and the order number included.
Tickets, oftentimes abbreviated as tix, were originally designed as the “entry fee” for online tournaments. Rather than handing the tournament organizer $5 to enter like you would in real life, Magic Online includes Event Tickets as part (or all) of the entry price. The tickets are purchasable from the store for $1 each.
Due to the ticket’s $1 value in the store, they have become the de facto currency of Magic Online and thus most people trade cards for tickets rather than other cards. However, due to inefficiencies in converting tickets back into cash and other market factors, the actual market value of tickets is usually less than $1 (i.e. you can buy tickets for less than $1 each outside of the MTGO store, but there is the risk of getting scammed involved).
6. What should I buy with my $9.99 coupon?Spoiler:Show
Event Tickets
What? You need more explaination? Ok then.
Theme Decks/Intro Packs Previously, WotC sold 60 card ready-to-play theme decks. I found these to be great for new players who were intimidated by the prospect of building their own deck. However, they have switched to 41 card Into Packs, which include an unopened booster. The big problem is that every format (except Freeform) has a 60 card minimum deck size. Thus, even if you purchase one of these, you'll still have to do a bit of deckbuilding if you want to play a Standard, Extended, Classic, or other format game.
Now, I also want to let you know that, if you still want to purchase an Intro Pack, it is actually cheaper to use Event Tickets to buy the contents of the deck from another player or bot as opposed to buying the Intro Pack directly from the store. The cards in most Intro Packs can usually be purchased for 2-4 Event Tickets. While this is cheaper, it takes more time, plus you have to navigate the trading interface. So, it's your decision -- do you want it fast and pay a few dollars more or do you want to spend some time to save a few bucks?
Now, the Intro Packs aren't all bad. You can use them as a jumping off point towards building your own deck. Before purchasing, you may want to look at the cards in some of the decks. Luckily the decklists are already saved on your computer: Themedecks
The Market Using event tickets to purchase single cards from bots is by far the most economical way to get cards on MTGO. As compared to opening booster pack, when buying singles on the secondary market you get more bang for your buck and you know exactly which cards you'll be getting. This is because the market is very liquid, making card prices quite low. By going to the Classifieds (menu-->community-->marketplace-->classifieds) you can search for individual cards. Alternatively, since searching for many of the less popular cards will yield no results, you can just start trading with random bots until you find a well stocked one and get your cards from there.
Trading (probably with bots) is the most common way to get cards on MTGO. It's a fairly simple process. Right clicking on any username will give you the option to trade with that person. Once in a trade you can see the other user's tradable* cards and they can see yours.
To select a card you want, just double click it. This will put the card in your "you get" pile at the bottom right. If you accidentally select a card you don't want or too many of a card, you can put it back by doubleclicking the card in your "you get" pile.
Once you have selected the cards and are ready to finish the trade, each user needs to click the "confirm trade" button near the top of the screen. When both players click this, the trade will go to the secondary confirmation screen. It is important to review all the cards in the trade during this step to make sure your trading partner isn't taking something they shouldn't be. Once you've looked over the cards, each player clicks "confirm trade" again and the trade will then be completed.
I'm also going to note here that MTGO enforces a 32 item per trade limitation. If you want to get more than 32 cards, you'll need to do multiple trades. For example, if you see an ad where someone is selling "96 commons for one ticket", you will need to do three 32 card trades. In the case of humans, you'll just have to trust that they will allow you to trade with you for the 2nd and 3rd set of 32 cards (having taken the ticket from you as you got the first 32 cards) For bots, they should be programmed to remember your 'credit' the next time you trade, allowing you to get the remainder of your cards in subsequent trades.
*Tradable - To mark a card in your collection tradable, you need to go into your collection and look under the card. Note that, only cards you mark tradable can be seen by those you trade with, and you must mark things tradable before beginning a trade. Picture
First, read "how to trade". There are a 2-3 bots in the classifieds that give away 64 free commons each. To find them, just go to the bottom left of your screen and go to Menu-->Community-->Marketplace-->Classifieds and search for "free". You can then right click on the bot's name to trade with it, however they are frequently busy so you may need to try several times or try again later.
Bots are automated trading programs. The majority of card buying and selling utilizes bots that people run. You can think of each bot as a different card store in real life. Some just buy cards for tickets, others only sell you cards for tickets, and some do both.
10. Illegal card error when starting/joining a game? What are "formats"?Spoiler:Show
If you are receiving an "illegal cards" error when you try to start or join a game, it is most likely because cards in your deck are illegal for the Standard format. Standard is the most popular format, so it is the default format for new games. Changing the format to extended or classic when you create a game will "get rid of" this error. Now, you don't know what a format is, of course :D. This Magic Academy article explains it quite well: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A … academy/21
Now that you've read that, I'll let you know that the current standard legal sets are: Lorwyn Morningtide Shadowmoor Eventide Shards of Alara Conflux Alara Reborn 10th Edition
The Avatars are used in a MTGO format called Vanguard. It's explained well here: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Articl … e/vanguard If you don't have Avatars in your collection, it is because you haven't opened your Vanguard Booster. Go into your collection and find the pack with a big 'M' on it. Right click that and select 'open'
If you're asking this question you probably don't know what an Avatar is either :D. Go into your collection and find the pack with a big 'M' on it. Right click that and select 'open'. Within that pack is the 5 basic Vanguard Avatars and 15 of each basic land. If you need more land, you can ask other players (especially me), you generally don't ever need more than 50 lands, so the majority of accounts accrue large amounts of excess lands over time.
ORCs are moderators for Magic Online and the forums. It's their job to make sure MTGO is a fun and safe place for everyone. ORCs can't play or trade while on duty, so don't bug them with trade requests or challenges.
The primary duty of the ORCs is to enforce the Wizards Code of Conduct. If you misbehave, an ORC will issue you a warning. Just like in real-life Magic tournaments, a warning is a heads-up that you did something wrong. If you keep doing it, an ORC can mute you (you can't chat at all) or kick you from the game for up to 24 h. In excessive cases, punishment can be escalated immediately, skipping some steps. All conduct actions are reported to Customer Service, who can issue additional punishments, including extended bannings or even permanent removal.
On the other hand, ORCs are really nice and helpful guys and gals to those who have honest questions or problems. If you ever have a problem or need help figuring something out, just ask one of the ORCs. ORCs can usually be found in the Support room (click the "Chat with Support" button on the Home scene), and they also wander around the other rooms. You can also type "/join Support" in any chat prompt other than Duel or Trade chat prompts.
After struggling for 4 days, I've FINALLY gotten far enough in the process of signing up that it's telling me I have to buy an account for $9.99, but the reason I'm here is because I already bought a Core Set pack with an activation code, which MTGO III apparently won't let me enter unless I buy an account. I haven't even been able to get an account so I can be frustrated with MTGO like everyone else, I've been frustrated for 4 days and I still don't even have an account to be frustrated with. *exasperation*
After struggling for 4 days, I've FINALLY gotten far enough in the process of signing up that it's telling me I have to buy an account for $9.99, but the reason I'm here is because I already bought a Core Set pack with an activation code, which MTGO III apparently won't let me enter unless I buy an account. I haven't even been able to get an account so I can be frustrated with MTGO like everyone else, I've been frustrated for 4 days and I still don't even have an account to be frustrated with. *exasperation*
). Chances are, if you have a question that isn't covered here, it will be covered there. 
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