I've yet to spend a penny on MtGA, and I've put together two or three decent decks. I'm a but suspicious of Artifact, too: if I'm going to be buying "cards", why the £16 entrance fee?
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
Quick etiquette question for you lot: if you know you're going to lose, should you keep playing and put up the best fight you can, or should you GG and concede? I always do the former, but most MtGA players seem to do the latter. From what little I've watched of Starcraft, they tend to do the second option, too. When is conceding the same as rage quitting?
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
Yeah, a conceded game counts as a loss for you and a win for your opponent. I'll definitely try to concede when it's obvious I'm going to lose, but I have to admit that's generally only a turn or so in the future, so it's not a massive time sink. I just get narked when someone quits two or three turns in because things aren't going their way. Tonight I won a game against a white/black Vampire deck* that was at one point at 40 life when I was on 12. I clawed it back to 7-4 with a distinct creature advantage in my favour before they conceded.
*Roughly half the decks you'll play against are this now. It's getting tiresome.
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
It's just like Halo 3, from way back in t' day. If you quit just because you're losing, you'll never get the epic come backs.
MtGA is definitely worth it, despite the excess of white/black Vampire decks, if only for the weird decks you come across that really make you smile. I just played a guy who was running a Merman/Pirate/milling deck, and it was top - I only won by the skin of my teeth. Another deck I got thoroughly spanked by simply sat back and got as many lands out as possible. At the right moment s/he turned all of their lands into creatures and killed me in one round of combat. Wonderful.
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
Looking into it, the monetisation seems reasonable. Just part and parcel of the genre, and it looks like you can get most of your money back should you decide to sell. I'm buying it because Valve.