Many of the adult game-players I’ve met have played Magic: the Gathering at some point in their past, usually during their childhood. I was a huge Pokémon fan as a kid, so I collected those cards instead and missed out on the Magic experience. But as a game designer, I’ve been interested in learning more about the juggernaut TCG that seems to be single-handedly keeping friendly local game stores in business across the country.

And what better way than trying out the new free-to-play online version, Magic: the Gathering Arena? My plan was to install it, learn the rules, play a few games, and move on to something else.

Oh, how naive I was.

As of writing this post, I’ve reached Level 22 in the current Throne of Eldraine mastery track, and I’m ranked Gold Tier 4 in Constructed (woo!). I’ve probably played a few hundred games at this point and I’ve built myself one White/Blue deck that brings me a win slightly more often than not, and another straight Blue deck that doesn’t win as often, but it’s very satisfying when it does (and probably very annoying for the other person).

One of my major takeaways from this experience is how much I enjoy the digital format of Arena. I did end up going out to buy a real-life Planeswalker deck (Oko, the Trickster), and I have played it a few times in-person with some friends at work, but the deck also came with a code I could use to unlock the same cards in Arena, and I’ve played it (and edited it with new cards) a lot more there.

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I was also given a free box of Ravnica commons and uncommons from the awesome folks at my local game store, and I’ve found myself wishing there were some way to also bring those into the digital world. Arena does have a wildcard system where you can “craft” specific cards you want, but as a non-paying customer (so far), I haven’t been given enough of them to allow me to sync my digital and real-life collections.

Of course, playing this card game has given me all sorts of ideas for games of my own. I’m not delusional enough to imagine “dethroning Magic,” but in between finalizing Crystal Quest and ordering a bulk print of Villages from China, I have been working little by little on a prototype I’ve been calling “Villages 2.” Small deck size, digital integration, custom content, and solo play are all things I would love to incorporate into this new game, but that’s a story for another day.

In the meantime, if you’re also a Magic: the Gathering Arena player, here’s the deck that got me to Gold rank today. It’s mostly White with a bit of Blue thrown in for support, and a lot of focus on effects that trigger when you gain life. Impassioned Orator and Ajani’s Pridemate are the stars of the show, with the former granting the latter a +1/+1 counter every time a creature enters the battlefield under your control. With support from Lifelink creatures like Healer’s Hawk and the soldiers created by Dawn of Hope, you can get each of your Ajani’s Pridemates up to 20/20 or higher within a few turns. Enjoy!