We’ll need a few formulas along the way starting with the number of rares you are missing from your collection: Thanks to the Duplicate Protection rule, the number of packs you need to open in order to collect four copies of every rare a set can be calculated. Packs you open during a limited event (draft or sealed) do not have this protection. In short, when you open a “normal” booster pack you are guaranteed to open a rare or mythic rare you don’t already own four copies of in your collection. This guide is all thanks to a feature that Wizards of the Coast introduced called Duplicate Protection. But if you don’t have the money, or you just like the challenge, you can actually complete sets almost for free. If you have the money to spend you can just buy enough packs to open up pretty much whatever you need. In order to play a variety of decks, a requirement not just for playing competitively but also for completing events and daily quests, you need to collect more cards. The only way to gain cards is from opening packs plus some in-game rewards. You also can’t “dust” your cards, a term borrowed from Hearthstone which describes the action of destroying cards in your collection for a special currency that allows you to craft cards. You can’t trade cards on Magic the Gathering Arena.

You’ll have all your wildcards leftover to craft cards from other sets.

This process will be the quickest way to complete a set.

You will need to track your collection and performance in this spreadsheet.

We can calculate how many drafts we need to do to win those packs.

We can calculate how many packs we need to open to collect a set.

Duplication Protection facilitates this entire process.

Magic the gathering free to play