At the end of last week, Magic: The Gathering Arena Omniscience Draft made its return, and this time the format focuses on Core Set 2020. Available until September 3, MTG Arena Omniscience Draft is an extremely fun alternative to the Magic: The Gathering Standard format, and it can be understood and mastered with a bit of instruction. Providing this type of instruction is the exactly purpose of this article, and hopefully it will offer assistance to those wondering how to win MTG Arena Omniscience Draft.
What is Magic: The Gathering Arena Omniscience Draft
Magic: The Gathering Arena Omniscience Draft starts as any other Limited draft format does: by selecting cards from packs of a specified set to be used when constructing a 40-card MTG Arena deck. As previously mentioned, the current iteration of MTG Arena Omniscience Draft uses packs of Core Set 2020, but the information provided in this Magic: The Gathering Arena Omniscience Draft guide will be applicable to the format in general.
While the process for constructing a deck in MTG Arena Omniscience Draft may be familiar, the gameplay featured in the format is quite unique. To begin, players start by drawing only three cards, and it costs zero mana to cast cards in MTGA Omniscience Draft. As a brief aside, the format is named after the powerful Magic: The Gathering card Omniscience, which allows players to cast nonland cards from their hand without paying mana costs.
Since mana is not required to cast spells in Magic: The Gathering Omniscience Draft, it is not necessary to add MTG lands to a deck. That said, players must still pay mana for activated abilities that require it, and they will receive mana in their mana pools during each turn of MTG Omniscience Draft to facilitate that.
How to Win Magic: The Gathering Omniscience Draft
With spells costing zero mana, the best cards in MTG Arena Omniscience Draft are those that draw additional cards, and they should be taken extremely highly when drafting. Spells like Drawn from Dreams and creatures like Cloudkin Seer are very powerful in the current Magic: The Gathering Arena Core Set 2020 Omniscience Draft format, but card draw should be prioritized regardless of what set is being used.
The reason to prioritize card draw in the MTG Arena Omniscience Draft format is simple, but for fully clarity: With all cards costing zero mana to cast, and games starting with players drawing only three cards, it is extremely easy for players to instantly expend all of their resources. Card draw allows players to reload these resources, and chaining draw spells and creatures that draw cards will keep players' hands filled with gas.
Beyond card draw, players will want many of the things that they do in traditional Magic: The Gathering Limited draft formats, such as powerful threats and removal. Cards that prevent an opponent from drawing additional cards, such as War of the Spark's Narset, Parter of Veils, have added value, and players obviously do not need to consider their mana curve or a card's color requirements when making their picks.
Thus, when there is no available pick that generates card advantage, players should look for evasive creatures or those that have an ETB effect, MTG Planeswalkers, and removal with few conditions. In the current MTG Arena Core Set 2020 Omniscience Draft format, cards like Meteor Golem, Chandra, Awakened Inferno, and Murder fill these roles very well.
Additionally, players should look towards building synergies within their MTG Arena Omniscience Draft decks, which should be done when building a traditional Limited deck as well. In the currently available format, cards like Empyrean Eagle and Master Splicer encourage building around consistent themes, and players should keep an eye out for these types of synergy-promoting cards regardless of the set being used in MTGA Omniscience Draft.
With a basic understanding of the MTG Arena Omniscience Draft format and an eye on card draw, finding success in this exciting Limited environment should not be extremely challenging. That said, with a cost of 750 gems or 5,000 gold coins attached to entering a Magic: The Gathering Arena Omniscience Draft, breaking even in the format requires players to get six wins before they hit three losses. Thus, players will need to remain focused if they do not want to lose currency by playing Omniscience Draft.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is available now in open beta on PC.