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Magic: The Gathering Arena’s new Jumpstart mode gives players semi-random preconstructed decksInteresting!
Interesting!
Just ahead of its cardboard launch,Magic: The Gathering Arenatoday debuts the new Jumpstart game type in digital form. Jumpstart’s an interesting one, giving both players two curated 20-card packs each containing half a deck to smash together into one. Jumpstart has 46 different pack themes too (including angels, devils, dogs, dragons, cats, pirates, unicorns, dinosaurs, minotaurs, and minions), so you end up with something a bit weird but not wholly random. You have to pay for enter, but do get to keep the cards.
Jumpstart has 46 themes for packs, most of which have several variants so you won’t always get the same cards from the same themed pack. In Arena, playing Jumpstart will offer you a choice of three for each half, so you can have a little influence over what you get. But broadly, you’ll get two packs then bosh, there’s your deck. It’s somewhere between regular Constructed decks, booster drafts, and preconstructed decks? Fairly accessible, bit random, maybe interesting? For new players, hey, you have a new, functional, and vaguely themed deck ready to go. For veterans, hey, here’s a deck you’ve never seen before, make it work.
You can see the tabletop Jumpstart pack listingsover here- but do note Arena’s Jumpstart hasswapped a few cards. They do look like functional half-decks, with a spread of critters and spells across a mana curve and some consideration that you’ll likely have a multicoloured deck. Jumpstart introduces 37 brand new cards too.
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This is very tempting to me. I can’t get back into buying Magic boosters and individual cards again (having once been the sort to get four Cursed Scrolls way back when), I just can’t, but I do like the look of this format and it sounds less of an endless money sink.
Seethis blog postfor more on Jumpstart.
Magic: The Gathering Arenais free-to-play, available fromthe Epic Games Storeandits own installer. The Mac version is, weirdly, only available from Epic.
