While tabletop players of Magic: The Gathering still have a few days to wait until the final Standard-legal set of 2020 releases, folks over on the collectible card game’s digital counterpart, Arena, have had full access to the expansion since last week. Boasting hundreds of cards (reprints and new additions) as well as keywords such as Landfall, Party and Modal Double-Faced Cards (or MDFCs, for short), Zendikar Rising marks a long-awaited return to one of the most popular locations in Magic‘s multiverse and, so far at least, reception to the product appears to have been predominantly positive.
As has become standard in recent years, however, many fans continue to freely criticize Wizards of the Coast for continuing to raise the cost of assembling a competitive-worthy deck, especially in Arena, where no secondary market exists, meaning cards therefore have no resale value. The disquiet is particularly prominent this time around, of course, as Zendikar Rising‘s release coincides with Renewal Season.
For those not aware, the term is used to describe each annual Standard rotation which, in this case, means War of the Spark, Ravnica Allegiance and Core 2020 are no longer Standard-legal sets but can still be used in Historic – Arena‘s take on tabletop’s Pioneer.
With a smaller pool of cards to choose from, then, new creatures and sorceries introduced with Zendikar are likely to form the backbone of a new meta game, making skipping on packs and crafting singles not feasible. Fortunately for those a bit cash-strapped, though, a handful of free packs can be yours by inputting a one-time use code in-game. Simply head over to Arena‘s dedicated storefront and enter ‘PlayZendikar’ in the Redeem Code box to receive three free packs. It’s not a massive amount by any stretch of the imagination, but it could be all you need to pull that one Mythic Rare required to complete a deck.
Magic: The Gathering – Zendikar Rising is out September 25th for tabletop and will be followed by Commander Legends in November. See here for everything you need to know about the latter.