Magic: The Gathering Arena has officially entered its Open Beta phase, which means there will be a large influx of users trying this title. While many aspects of the core MTG experience haven’t changed, one addition that will surprise new players is Wildcards. Exclusive to MTG Arena, Wildcards are a way to smooth out your decks without relying on the randomness of opening packs.
Obtained mainly from opening Booster Packs, Wildcards can come in Mythic, Rare, Uncommon, and Common. You can tell which Wildcard you obtained by the color or simply highlighting it with your mouse. Wildcards are able to be traded in for any card that is the corresponding rarity. So if you have a Mythic Wildcard you can use it to obtain any Mythic card (regardless of the set) for free.
This means they can be used to help give your decks better consistency, especially early on when everyone’s decks will be mixed in terms of power. However, Wildcards are a finite resource and once you use a Wildcard you cannot go back on the card you traded it in for. Because of this we strongly recommend waiting to use them until you figure out what deck you want to make and which cards you need.
There are a few ways to get Wildcards, but the simplest is by just playing MTG Arena. As you complete daily quests and challenges you’ll earn rewards in form of gold or Booster Packs. It costs 1,000 gold to buy a Booster Pack, which has a chance to reward a Wildcard. You can also just pay real money for Gems, which are also used to purchase Booster Packs.
For every pack you open two progression wheels in the top right corner of your screen will fill up. Once completely filled you will obtain a Wildcard of the displayed rarity. Again, this requires opening packs so it still will take a fair amount of time. Currently, there is no way to outright buy singles or Wildcards in MTG Arena. Because of this, make sure you use your Wildcards on cards you actually need.