Is the Oblivion Gauntlet F2P-friendly?

Bethesda is trying something cool for tomorrow’s Oblivion Gauntlet. You get to play with ALL cards from the core set and the new Jaws of Oblivion expansion, no matter the size of your collection. If you are a free-to-play player or still relatively new to TESL, you might ask yourself: is it worth entering this competition? To make it short: I think it definitely is! Here is why.

The Entry-Fees for the Oblivion Gauntlet

To enter one run of the Oblivion Gauntlet you need to wage three event tickets. One gauntlet run lasts until you have either lost a total of three games or won a total of nine games. Your rewards will be determined by the total number of wins you achieved in this run. You will need 3 wins to make a surplus and you can enter into up to three separate Oblivion Gauntlet runs as a maximum.

Thus, you will need nine event tickets to participate in three Gauntlet runs.

How to get Event Tickets?

How to get the event tickets? You can earn them by logging in once per day. The image below shows the daily login rewards for October 2019.

In total, you can earn up to 5 event tickets this month. An alternative way of entering is to buy them in the in-game store. The price for two event tickets is EUR 2.29, the price for ten is EUR 10.99 in the Apple Store. You might get them cheaper in Bethesda’s PC client.

You can also earn them when watching TES: Legends streamers on twitch as a twitch drop.

What are the Rewards in the Oblivion Gauntlet?

For each gauntlet run, you will already achieve a net gain, if you manage to win three games before you lose your third match. In this case, you will get your three event tickets returned, plus three Jaws of Oblivion packs, as well as 100 gold and 90 soul gems.

With better success, and four wins, your rewards are 3 packs, 125 gold and 130 soul gems, as well as 4 event tickets. This net gain of event tickets will allow you to participate in future events or in arena runs to even acquire more rewards. The upside above four wins is just icing on the cake. If you get to nine wins, the rewards are actually getting amazingly good: 12 packs, 450 gold, 440 gems and 6 event tickets is really a lot of value for nine games.

But what about the downside? If you win no games, you will still get three packs, 25 gold and 30 gems, but unfortunately no tickets. So this scenario should definitely be avoided, although you will still earn a special bonus for entering. You can find some deck recommendations for this gauntlet at chaotegaming.com.

Extra Bonus Reward – Horse Armor

For every gauntlet run, you will receive a copy of Horse Armor in each gauntlet run. Guaranteed! Horse Armor is a brand-new legendary card. You cannot soul-summon (craft) it, only earn it by entering the Oblivion Gauntlet. By entering into three gauntlet runs, you will be guaranteed a full playset. Horse Armor will be craftable with soul gems once patch 2.15 releases. The card is not only a fantastic reward for those who are familiar with the Horse Armor in The Elder Scrolls: Online.

No, seriously, you can actually use Horse Armor productively in an item deck conceived by petamax. The deck was piloted very successfully in the third WarpMeta qualifier in September 2019. It uses Dragonstar Rider, Gardener of Swords, Master Swordsmith and Skilled Blacksmith together with a number of low-cost items with special abilities to cycle through the deck quickly to buff Dragonstar Rider for a one-turn kill.