Every week a new Midweek Magic event rolls around for players to enjoy and this week is one of the best variations of events, a phantom bot draft. Using their picks from three packs from Strixhaven: School of Mages, players will create a 40-card deck to duel each other for random prizes.
The prizes players can earn include two Rare Individual Card Rewards as well as a Mystery Cosmetic item. The Rare Individual Cards can be any rare or mythic card on Magic, new or already owned. The Mystery Cosmetic item has a wide range of possible drops, with the most common being a unique card style and rarer rewards including a pet or avatar.
Looking for more value from your Arena drafts? Check out our drafting guide here! And check out our guide on Strixhaven mechanics and archetypes to keep in mind while drafting.
This week’s Midweek Magic event, like all Midweek Magic events, is completely free to join through the Magic: The Gathering Arena app or game client. The timetable for Midweek Magic events has changed recently to be a little later in the day, now starting at 2 p.m. PT on Tuesday and running for 48 hours, ending on Thursday at 2 p.m. PT.
Strixhaven: School of Mages Phantom Bot Draft Rules
Like most drafts on Arena, players will be given three packs to draft from, picking one card at a time from the 15 available in a pack. This event has players drafting against a bot, so there are no other players competing for certain colors or synergies that you might be going for. That’s not to say the draft will be easy, as the algorithm will still prioritize better cards over others, but does give you a slightly better chance of letting a card get back to you the next time you see the pack.
From the cards you’ve drafted, you will need to then build a 40-card minimum deck to play against real players. Any extra cards you have left over after the deck building are automatically included in your sideboard, giving you access to them if you happened to draft anything that can access them.
This is particularly important in Strixhaven since there are cards with the keyword Learn, letting you grab a Lesson card you own from outside the game, your sideboard in this case, and add it to your hand. If you happen to burn through all your lessons, or don’t have anything good in the moment, you can also discard a card to draw a card instead.
This event varies from other traditional draft events in that you won’t get to keep the cards after the event, being a phantom event means the cards are only temporary for the event. Otherwise, all the regular draft rules apply like being able to include more than four copies of a single card in your deck.
If you need a quick refresher on how to draft Strixhaven, here’s part one of our guide on Strixhaven mechanics and archetypes to keep in mind while drafting.