Last updated on July 22, 2022

Today is a really exciting day. For years, Draftsim has been known for its awesome draft simulator. You may know and love the site for its lightning-speed set updates and its in-depth draft data analysis articles.

More recently, we've been publishing a bunch of really helpful guides for MTGA, which have brought many new Draftsim fans into the fold.

But now it's time to take things to the next level. Today we're officially launching our first desktop application — a free tracker for MTG Arena.

World, meet Arena Tutor.

arena tutor by draftsim logo

You might be one of the thousands of beta testers who's already had a chance to use the app. And if you are, thank you! You've helped so much to refine the app and making it ready for prime time.

It wouldn't be what it is now without your feedback.

Whether you're a brand new user or have been running AT for a while, I think you'll love some of the amazing new features I'm going to tell you about.

What is an MTGA Tracker?

To put it simply, a tracker is an application that you run alongside MTG Arena to enhance your play experience. You can use one to track your stats, track your collection, or give you help during a game or draft.

Arena Tutor does all of this and more.

Our application runs as an overlay while the game is running, and it has three main parts:

  • A lobby that tracks your match history, win/loss record, decks, personal profile and ranks, and generates sample hands
  • A draft companion that gives you pick recommendations, deck building recommendations, and lets you know which cards you need for your collection
  • A deck tracker that tracks the cards left in your deck and the cards your opponent has played

And best part is, all this completely free.

How Arena Tutor Will Help You Win More

Magic is a very complicated game. One that requires constant attention and mental focus.

You need to make the optimal decision every time you can, at every step of the game.

By using Arena Tutor, you'll be able to lessen the amount of variables you have to track throughout your match. That way you can spend your mental energy making the difficult decisions, not just tracking numbers.

Here are some examples to give you an idea of what I mean.

Calculate Your Outs

A very common question that you might have while playing is “what are my chances to draw card x.” Or “how likely am I to draw a land?”

Arena Tutor constantly tallies the cards that you draw to give you show you the percentage chance of drawing a card on-the-fly.

arena tutor deck tracker

So now you can know how many “outs” you have when you're in a dire situation, or just how unlucky you were to draw those 3 lands in a row…

Arena Tutor deck tracker zoomed in

The Arena Tutor deck tracker shows you the % chance you have to draw any card in your deck at a given time

Sideboard Better

Arena Tutor keeps track of what your opponent played so you don't have to

I particularly love this feature. In big tournaments in real life, I'm always scribbling down notes about what my opponent played so I remember how to sideboard. Not necessary for MTGA, especially when I use Arena Tutor.

This is particularly useful in Traditional (BO3) limited because you need to sideboard and change your deck configuration to beat your opponent's known deck after games one and two. I can guarantee you this will help you offload some of that mental effort so you can focus on beating your opponent, not on trying to remember what they played the previous game.

I think it could also be helpful in Standard to check your work and confirm what version of a deck your opponent is playing. You'll be able to note if they had any unusual cards or unconventional mana choices that might point toward potentially unexpected sideboard cards.

Draft Better

It can be overwhelming to learn a new set at first. The latest set, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is very complex and there are many crazy things going on. To wrap your head around how to approach your draft you need a baseline.

The good news is, you can now get Draftsim's patented card ratings inside all your drafts. Yes, this means during live, player/human drafts as well as during quick drafts with bots!

This will give you a baseline feel for how good any particular card is and relieve a lot of the stress and nervousness that comes with drafting a set the first few times.

We also update the ratings periodically, so as the draft metagame and our understanding of the card evaluations shift, so do the recommendations in the draft companion.

arena tutor draft companion

But there's even another level beyond that — the ratings update pick-by-pick based on what you've already taken in the draft.

So the recommendations you get are dynamic, not static and based solely on a pick order. The system will have you speculate on impactful cards, give weighting to a color if you have very strong cards in it, and lock you in to a color pair when you get later in the draft.

suggested pick from the draft companion

It's like having Draftsim's AI over your shoulder while you draft.

Of course, you're not obligated to follow the recommendations. And if you're a pro-level player, you'll have some differences of opinion. But this is a great way to check your work and make sure you didn't miss any important cards in the pack.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Check Your Draft Picks Against Your Collection

And, as a bonus while you're drafting, Arena Tutor will also tell you how many copies of a card you already have so you know whether or not you need to rare draft it!

Copies in draft on Arena Tutor

We got your back.

Build Your Draft and Sealed Decks Automatically

That's right, Arena Tutor can even build your decks for you. Well, a first pass, at least.

Whenever you complete a draft (or go in to edit your draft deck later, even), a helpful window will pop up with Draftsim's recommended build.

This uses the same “autobuild” logic that you might be familiar with over on the draft/sealed simulator.

draft companion autobuild suggestion

Our engine has looked at the cards in your draft/sealed pool and determined the strongest cards in your two main colors.

This is a great way to make sure you're playing all your best cards. And if you're trying to decide on which card is your 24th that you should cut from your deck, this is a good tiebreaker.

See How Your Deck Is Really Doing

I use a Google Doc to track the results of every tournament I play in. Yes, I manually track all my matches in a spreadsheet…

Well, thank goodness, Excel I need you no more.

most interesting man in the world hates excel

Source

Arena Tutor automatically tracks the performance of all your decks, whether you're completing a draft run, grinding the Standard ladder, or just playing a few games of Brawl.

Arena Tutor deck stat

You can also track your performance across decks for a particular season, and compare your ranking to your best all time.

Another really nice thing you can do with Arena Tutor is compare each version of a deck you make. Did you add or remove a few cards? Now you can track the win rate of that version independently to see if it really changed how well the deck was performing.

You might have to come to some harsh realizations regarding how your jank brews do, but I can't help you with that.

Playtest Your Deck With Sample Hands

Why MTGA doesn't let you do this, I don't know. But Arena Tutor does!

After you build your deck — limited or constructed — take it for a quick spin and see how it looks. Just click that button that looks like a hand of Magic cards in the upper right.

Arena Tutor sample hand with Fires

You start with a hand of seven cards, but you're free to click the refresh button to simulate mulliganing. You can click on a card to remove it from your hand (as if you were mulliganing or playing it) and you can draw more cards by clicking on the “Draw a card” button.

I can't stress enough how much trying sample hands helps you get your head around how your deck plays out. And if you try a lot of sample hands, you can even get a feel for whether you need to make tweaks to the mana base.

So be sure to give this a try for a new deck before you put your precious gold or gems on the line in a real match.

And So Much More…

I wish I had time to show you all the great stuff you can do with the app. Sharing decks with your friends, analyzing your top limited and contructed cards, a visual view of all your decks by win rate, etc, etc.

But I've got to get back to making even more awesome features!

We're planning on adding a lot more awesomeness to the app, so make sure to download it and it will automatically get even better as time goes by.

Next Steps

If you've made it this far, congratulations! It's time to give the app a try. Head over to our partner Overwolf's site and download it now!

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13 Comments

  • Avatar
    Justin May 12, 2020 12:12 am

    You all did an amazing job on this App!

    • Avatar
      Dan Troha May 12, 2020 9:36 am

      Thank you, that means so much to us. And I’m really glad you enjoy it!

  • Avatar
    Ben May 12, 2020 6:10 pm

    Glad to see you have gone live!

  • Avatar
    John Merrill May 27, 2020 8:14 am

    The draft helper does not seem to be working for the “Premier Draft Ikoria…”. I enter the draft and the window with the card ratings never appears. Also, when constructing the deck in the same tournament, the window with the deck suggestions does not appear. I have to reload close and reload the Draftsim AI, then it appears. This was never an issue pre-update and in other tournaments. Note: I have only tried 2 tournaments in Premier.

    • Avatar
      Dan Troha May 27, 2020 8:44 am

      Hey John – as the article states, the draft helper is only available for Quick Draft right now. We’re working on alternatives to this technical limitation that has been imposed by Wizards of the Coast. You can also find more info on the help page.

      • Avatar
        Ryan October 22, 2021 10:47 am

        The article says *all* drafts, with all in bold. Guessing the technical limitation imposed by WotC has been circumvented?

        • Avatar
          Dan Troha October 22, 2021 12:45 pm

          Yep, download the app and give it a try.

  • Avatar
    Jorge October 14, 2020 12:44 pm

    Does it work for Mac?

    • Avatar
      Dan Troha October 15, 2020 11:39 am

      No Mac support, for now unfortunately. If Overwolf supports Mac, then we will. Otherwise this is probably a little further down the road.

  • Avatar
    James September 10, 2021 1:14 am

    This app is fantastic. I downloaded it only recently, and so have only played 2 drafts with it, but the decks I made with its guidance got me 7 wins for both drafts.
    Keep it up the good work.

    • Avatar
      Dan Troha September 10, 2021 12:01 pm

      Thank you, it makes me SO happy to hear this!

  • Avatar
    swamp_hound November 20, 2021 6:36 pm

    it says it was last updated a year ago and there is obviously new sets out. will it be updated any time soon or work with the recent new sets?

    • Avatar
      Dan Troha November 21, 2021 8:14 am

      Yes, Arena Tutor works great with all sets on Arena. 😀 I’m not sure if your question means you’re having problems getting it to work, but we have some resources here. You can also jump on our Discord or subreddit if you need more help.

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