Mabinogi [Perfect Quick Start] F2P Guide

This short quick start [completely F2P] guide will provide you with the easy step-by-step route to becoming an efficient player, give you an easy to follow daily routine for maximum rewards, as well as offer you some game tips from an old Mabinogi Duel veteran.

Introduction

Hi, and welcome to Mabinogi Duel for PC!

This guide was written by Danko (Dankovsky on Android), who played the mobile version for two years completely F2P and knows pretty much everything there is to know about the game and best strategies.

The purpose of this short guide is to give you:

• a basic overview of activities you can engage in the game
  
• tips on how to approach the game and your daily play
  
• maximum advantage from the start so you could get lots of gems and good cards as soon as possible

The guide will not cover basic mechanics and card strategies as I believe it's best to learn them while playing, not reading! Also I might make a separate guide for deckbuilding tips later if you'll be interested.

As I value both your time and my own time, I'll try to keep this guide as short as possible.
(this is my first guide so any suggestions or requests are appreciated)

Your Route to Success

TLDR version, follow this route to success:

• Step 1: Play Adventure mode until you're around Level 5. After you finish all the other steps aim to reach Level 10.
  
• Step 2: Purchase your Starter deck in the [Shop] and buy your first Boosters with Gems.
  
• Step 3: Complete three Daily Missions in Adventure tab.
  
• Step 4: Check out your Daily Quests (top left button). Aim to play Arena mode until they're completed.
  
• Step 5: Play Daily Draft mode until you get to Bronze/Silver (2-10 games).
  
• Step 6: If you have the cards, create Limited deck and play Limited to get extra wins for roulette or daily quests.
  
• Step 7: Win 1 Normal PvP duel for 10 Gems, if you can.
  
• Step 8: Check out your Weekly Event Quests (also on left sidebar). Try to complete them within the time to get Gold for trading.
  
• Step 9: Win some more arena games if you haven't completed your Winner's Roulette yet (10 wins).
  
• Step 10: Play extra PvP if you're hardcore, otherwise wait until you get more cards.
  
• Step 11: Repeat your Daily Routine (below) every day, buy all the boosters, and you'll be among the most successful Mabinogi Duel players.

Your Daily Routine

Follow this Daily Routine to maximize your Gems gain!

Your Daily Routine:

• Daily Login (3-6 Gems)
  
• Three Daily Missions (8 Gems + Card)
  
• Winner's Roulette - 10 wins (15 Gems)
  
• One Normal PvP Win (10 Gems)
  
• Daily Draft - Bronze/Silver/Gold (3/6/12 Gems)
  
• Three Daily Quests (18 - 42 Gems)

Total: ~70 Gems/Day
Time required: 1-2 hours

Other Opportunities

Other opportunities to keep in mind:

Event Quests:

• Free Boosters for adding 10/20/30 Friends (once).
  
• BiWeekly Event Quests (refresh every 2 weeks):
  
• 3 000 Gold for 5 Normal Wins.
  
• 5 000 Gold for 10 Normal Wins.
  
• 30 000 Gold for 50 Arena Wins.
  
• 50 000 Gold for 100 Arena Wins.
  
• Special Edition Hero Skin for 200 Arena Wins.

Arena Rewards:
>Daily Draft Arena [PvG] - refreshes every day at fixed time
Participation: 3 Gems
Silver: 6 Gems
Gold: 12 Gems
Platinum: 21 Gems
>Weekly Limited Arena [PvG] - refreshes every Thursday
Participation: 6 Gems
Silver: 12 Gems
Gold: 24 Gems
Platinum: 42 Gems
>Event Arena [PvG] - check the schedule, active ~3 days a week
>Monthly Ranked Arena [PvP] - each calendar month
Rank 11-20: 18 Gems
Rank 6-10: 36 Gems
Rank 2-5: 72 Gems
Rank 1: 126 Gems + Gems Gift Coupon
>Weeked Special Duel [PvP] - Fri-Sun only
Participation: 6 Gems
Silver: 12 Gems
Gold: 24 Gems
Platinum: 42 Gems

PRO Tips

Some gameplay tips from a Mabinogi veteran to help you on your road to success.

[PVE GAMES and QUESTS]
*Adventure Mode (Guide Comics)
Tip: Don't try to complete all the adventure quests at once. Take it easy, there is absolutely no rush, and there are many hours of content.
Tip: Use Adventure mode when you have nothing else to do or you desperately need XP/extra gems.
Tip: XP is basically useless after you reach lvl10 and is used only to increase your deck slots and friend slots.

*Daily Mission
Tip: During Mission 3 Extra Card reward, use gems to get extra cards only if there's a GOOD 4-Star card or ANY 5-Star card. Once you get it, you can leave the mission. If there are lower grade cards, don't waste your Gems.
Tip: Try to always have at least ~15 gems when you start the missions. This way by the end of 3rd mission you will have 24+ Gems and you'll be able to get any lucky card from Extra Card booster! This can save you from losing a really good 4-Star or 5-Star card.

*Daily Quests
Tip: Always cancel "friendly duel" quests. Most of the time they're an absolute pain to complete (you'll have to use Gold to cancel them). Try to complete all other quests. This can be an opportunity for some creative deckbuilding.
Tip: Quests refresh not daily but 20 hours after they're completed. This way you'll not miss quests, but sometimes it can be very annoying - if you completed the quests in the evening you can't get a new batch of quests next morning and have to wait till evening. Keep that in mind.

*Event Quests
Tip: Get 30 friends asap to receive free Boosters!
Tip: Win at least 10 Normal duels a week for extra 8000 Gold.
Tip: Try to win 50/100/200 arenas every 2 weeks. 50 Wins will give you 30k Gold, 100 wins will also get you 50k Gold, and 200 wins will also get you a Special Hero Skin (500k Gold worth).

[PVP/PVG GAMES]
*Arena
Tip: There are two game types: PvG (player vs. ghost) where you play against AI controlled player decks and PvP where you play against other players in real time. Normal Duel, Monthly Ranked Duel, Weekend Special Duel are PvP arenas. Daily Draft, Weekly Limited, Event Arenas are PvG arenas. PvG arenas are generally quicker and easier. Try to get win streaks for maximum points.
Tip: In Daily Draft if you don't like your draft deck you can cancel it and reroll it any time for free. You can do this as much as you want.
Tip: Weekly Limited is a fun arena to deckbuild some interesting decks. It's not very good on rewards, though, but you can play it reliably to complete most daily quests.
Tip: Event Arena is short time PvG arena open only for about half a week. It's great because you can play any deck there without limitations and it usually gives good rewards. Level 10 and up.
Tip: PvP arenas are for the most hardcore and patient. If you're really determined, aim to reach Rank 1 in Monthly arena.
Tip: Join Monthly PvP Arena near the end of each month even if you don't play it - you'll receive easy 18 Gems! This also works with other arenas, you don't have to play them to get participation rewards (you might have to play 1-2 games to be eligible).

[CARD TRADING]
*Boosters
Tip: Use 30 Gems to buy a Booster. Every 10 Boosters you'll get an extra card (a random 2-star card or higher it seems).
Tip: More importantly, when buying a Booster there's a chance to get a weekly Limited Edition card! Always try to obtain at least 1 copy of this card as it will be unavailable in the future (although the regular version with same stats will always be available). It might cost millions in player shop a few years later!
Tip: Sometimes you might want to hoard Gems instead of buying boosters. For example, I try to stop buying boosters when I get this week's Limited Edition card, so I can save them to get the next week's LE card more reliably.

*Cat Shop
Tip: You don't really have to use the cat shop unless there's some cards you really want to get quick. You'll get them from boosters soon enough. Be wary that the cards are pretty expensive, and you can only buy 0-3 star cards so far.

*Card Exchange Post
Tip: You may sell your cards to the Appraiser, however this is mostly not recommended unless you need Gold ASAP. Keep your cards (even duplicates!) for Cat Merchant Trading, and your 4-Star/5-Star cards for real player trading.

*Personal Shop Board
Tip: Opening your Shop costs 10 Gems. It will only remain open for limited time (72 hours I believe), after which you'll have an option to pay 10 Gems to renew it. It's generally not a good idea to keep your shop open at all times as it's just a waste of Gems. Only open it when you have some great cards you want to sell for Gold.
Tip: You can only sell 4-Star and 5-Star cards in Personal Shop. I suggest you only sell extra cards you won't ever need. Please check other shops' prices before listing your cards.
Tip: The shop has 15% commission. If you sell a card for 100k Gold, you'll only receive 85k Gold. Yes, it hurts.
Tip: I *suggest* you open your Shop early, but only so you would get your fixed special shop code. While the game is only starting you can get a pretty cool 2-digit shop code (like "AB"), later the game will use 4-digit codes (like "J5V1"). My shop's code is "MJ" by the way, visit me sometime!

*Cat Merchant Trading
Tip: In mobile version Cat Merchant is a notorious scammer that steals your best cards and leaves you only junk. On PC, however, he is very useful and gives good deals. Always use "Get Advice" to check how good the deal is, and you can usually ask for different cards ~3 times before he leaves. "Give me more" is more risky and has about 50% success chance (depends on how good the deal already is).
Tip: No matter how you trade or how good the deal is, always check that you don't trade away your most important cards which you use in your decks.

[MISC]
*Duel Practice Mode
Tip: You can test your decks at any time in Duel Practice mode (located on Adventure tab). There you can play vs Cat Merchant (random cards deck) or vs Mirror (basically against one of your decks controlled by AI). You won't get any rewards this way.

*Friends
Tip: Befriend people you play against until your friend list is full. This way you'll complete beginner quests, can view their personal shop at any time, can trade gifts, etc.

[Rarity]

I miss this game

[Lady_Galadhiel]

Nice guide Danko

[Kou Bi Ge]

666666

[Danko]

Hey Kurumi, thanks for your input, I've never considered to try "random rental deck" before.
Also good to know that you can get better bonus cards.

[Aaron]

Just an additional thought.

To get the first win of the day in normal duels; You may be better off using the random rental deck. They are usually built okay, and sometimes you can luck out and get a really good deck. This is of course until you are able to build a consistent deck of your own.


As for the bonus cards. I did manage to get Druid: Tarlach 4⋆ as a bonus. Although I'm sure it's rare to get anything noteworthy.

This is really good advice to newer players!