There are so many good cheap artifacts right now that youll easily be able to play Sai, Master Thopterist in the mid-game and immediately create a Thopter token or two for your trouble
Rydia lets you disregard mana pips since it only cares that you pay
You can redeem Shinedust by completing missions or collecting duplicate cards
Milling is also a key part of Jace's theme, to reflect his ability as a telepath to make people forget things: the Living Guildpact, Telepath Unbound, and The Mind Sculptor can all do it very efficiently
Vets of other F2P games are probably familiar with similar systems, but it may be a bit of a head-scratcher for those used to paper Magic and with less video gaming experience
You always draw one card at the start of your turn, but there are Trainer cards that you can use to allow you to search for cards more readily during battle