Magic: The Gathering can now be played online!
While it is true that Magic: The Gathering has long been playable online through Magic Online via Steam, Wizards of the Coast has recently launched this all new official way to play. Magic: The Gathering Arena, or Magic Arena for short is free to download and play. It has a series of optional micro-transactions available, but I have not felt the need to purchase anything. The game plays well and has a variety of formats to play.
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Playing Magic: The Gathering Arena for the first time.
I am actually new to MTG as a whole. I started playing a few weeks ago, and quickly downloaded Arena to get some more games under my belt. I have since played quite a few round on Arena, and I have even uploaded some of my physical collection to the game. At the moment, some Magic: The Gathering physical card decks come with codes that can be redeemed online. When redeemed, they add the entire playable deck to your online collection.
Expanding your digital MTG collection.
Players of course earn new cards just by playing. Players can also purchase more cards as in game micro-transactions. There are quite a few ways to get new cards, and like I said, I have not felt the need to purchase any digital only cards. It is worth noting that new players unlock about a dozen playable decks just by playing enough games to fill out their mastery tree.
One thing that Magic Arena needs is more redeemable codes. Games like Pokemon TCG Online give codes in almost every single card pack you buy. Currently Magic: The Gathering is not giving a lot of codes out. The only codes I’ve seen are found inside newer 60 Card Planeswalker Decks.
Is Magic Arena better or worse than the competition?
Magic: The Gathering Online, or MTGO for short, has been around for a very long time. It has almost every card ever made playable. It features modes such as standard, modern, legacy, draft and more. Since Magic: The Gathering Arena is still in infancy, it is missing some of these other modes. Arena is also missing most of the actual collectible cards. With that said, Arena has plans to add more modes and cards to the game.
MTG Arena can be compared to Hearthstone or Pokemon TCG Online. It is very polished, officially supported and even coming to mobile in the near future. While we do not have an official date announced, Wizards of the Coast has stated that they plan to bring Arena to mobile platforms sometime in 2020. 2021 UPDATE: MTG Arena is now available on mobile!
What is Magic: The Gathering though?
Did I forget to mention what Magic: The Gathering is? Magic: The Gathering started out as a physical card game back in 1993. It has since had dozens of expansions and totals around 1000 unique playable cards. The cards themselves vary in price and rarity. Players can buy 60 and 100 Card Pre-Built Decks, 15 and 35 card booster packs and all kinds of other boxed sets. It is your typical Trading Card Game and can most closely be compared to games like Pokemon TCG and Hearthstone.
Play for free today at: https://magic.wizards.com/
Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I am having a lot of fun playing Magic: The Gathering Arena, and I hope to see Wizards of the Coast continue to improve upon their game.
Release Date: September 26th, 2019
Platforms: PC
Price: Free to Play
HFR Rating: 8 out of 10
