It feels totally unnatural. I've played a lot of REAL magic, and I don't ever see the variance in that that I do in Arena. Now that the meta is like 80% Red, you can play against like 20 Red decks a day and I see a mulligan like once, but EVERY game they drop the same cards early: Lavarunner, Shock. Without fail, My first creature will be shocked. My second will be Shocked. There will be two Lavarunners out. And likeise I always pull the same cards in my decks.
SO much truth here. First turn always Mountain, then Shock, then Shock again. I'll never forget the opponent that went Shock, Shock, Lightning Strike, Skewer, Skewer, Skewer, Shock. Boring
I started out at 24 land, but because EVERY game I have been flooded (sometimes 8 or 9 draw in a row)I tried dropping to 22.And yet I STILL get mana flooded. And for some..."unknown" reason, I draw more of the land I have LESS of. let's take a look:
Yes I have dual lands in there, and yes I have more Mountain than Swamp...but this is happening WAY too often.
I seem to have the worst luck with packs..I redeemed a code for Guilds, and got 3 Hatchery Spider. Then I kid you not, I got 8 Erratic Cyclops in a row from quest packs. It's just not worth buying packs (for me at least) let alone spending money to open Cyclops and Spiders..
Issue is, I have no valid proof to show Wizards to supplement my reporting, unless I record every match (if I knew of a good software I would) and with the amount of times I come up against stalling, I would be constantly be having to post/send to Wizards..
Even at my low rank I see a large majority of mono-red aggro, more than a third..over 60%, whilst the remaining decks being drakes or some form of control.
Mono Red
Mono White
RW Aggro
Mardu Judith/Hero of District One
Drakes or Phoenix
Esper Control
Nexus with Wilderness Reclamation
Explosion with Wilderness Reclamation
Gates
BG Explore
Those are your options from what I've played against in the Gold 1/Gold 2 level.
I've only come up against Drakes, Esper Control and mono red aggro down in bronze. Repeatedly.
I'm (somehow) Bronze 3 or something. Although, I do come up against a LOT of tier decks (still UW Teferi, Grixis, mono blue djinn etc ) all piloted well. I even tried the constructed, same thing.
2 Archway Angel
4 Gate Colossus
4 Growth Spiral
1 Shimmer of Possibility
2 Deafening Clarion
4 Gates Ablaze
4 Circuitous Route
3 Expansion // Explosion
4 Guild Summit
3 Azorius Guildgate
2 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
2 Gateway Plaza
4 Gruul Guildgate
1 Island
4 Izzet Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
3 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
More often than not I have found the Circuits to be absolutely useless, have never needed ONCE to cast those.
SO much truth here. First turn always Mountain, then Shock, then Shock again. I'll never forget the opponent that went Shock, Shock, Lightning Strike, Skewer, Skewer, Skewer, Shock. Boring
Yes I have dual lands in there, and yes I have more Mountain than Swamp...but this is happening WAY too often.
...aaand this is why I no longer play IRL.
I've only come up against Drakes, Esper Control and mono red aggro down in bronze. Repeatedly.
If I run 24 lands, like everyone "suggests" to, I draw 1-2 lands then nothing for eons.
If I run 21-22 lands, I draw land after land after land..
Also, if I put say 9 Forest and 14 Mountain (for argument's sake) I will draw more Forest. ALWAYS.
Damned if I do, damned if I don't..