Is Magic the Gathering Arena Worth Playing?
Magic the Gathering is a free-to-play digital collectible card game that is currently under development by the developers, Wizards of the Coast and in particular their internal development studio known as Magical Digital Studio. The game, which will exist as a separate independent entity online from Magic Online, is currently under closed beta development. The developers have been at pain to explain that the game I s not actually a replacement and successor to Magic Duels as it does feel like it is. Having sampled the closed beta version of the game, this article will look to look to explore the game further and find out if it is worth playing.
One of the main features of the game, that is bound to be very attractive to players, is how quick the gameplay has been speeded up. The game also goes back to Magic the Gathering core, magic, and it is a pure magic game. This means that the combination of cards in a deck is such that it abides by the current standard of sets of cards that are tournament-legal which you can buy in shops, like MTG Lion for instance. It was announced that, once the game is fully released, for players to be able to build their card collection, they will have to do so through blind parks. However, one thing that sets it apart from the conventional physical card game, is the fact that players will be able to exchange wild-cards that will come into play with their card of choice.
Another quite handy feature of this online card is just how effective its card search engine is. It will allow you to not only search for and find all your favorite cards, it will also allow you to refine your search by allowing you to sort the cards further by type, color as well as mana cost. The game’s developers have stuck true to the fact that the game is card game. This means that even sounds and soundtracks only some into play when necessary so that they don’t destruct from the gameplay. When playing the game, you will find that the phase indicator, a feature on the bottom of the screen to be quite useful. This is because that through it you can be able to monitor every player’s turn in magic. It is basically the bedrock on which the entire game rests. This is no exaggeration as you will need to pay attention to the phase indicator as certain cards can only affect certain phases of the game etcetera. Through the phase indicator, you will be in no doubt in which phase you as a player are currently in and which of the cards in your possession are appropriate for playing at any particular moment making the game very much worth playing. It also allows you to move your cards around as you please which helps with speeding up of the game which again makes the game more and more attractive to play.
Given the speeding up aspect, though attractive, can lead to one missing out on certain steps. To counteract this the developers have integrated the toggle a “stop” feature which allows to take it slow and acts a bit like a stopgap. This is another fantastic feature especially for rookie players without experience another thing that should ensure that new players aren’t put off. In the other extreme end this feature should come in handy for the more strategic players who like to play the long game and have a number of cards that you want to play over a number of phases of your turn. For those now worrying this opens up a window for the game to begin to drag you back, you will be happy to know that this only becomes an option if you want it to be otherwise it’s full steam ahead. The one thing that Magic the Gathering Arena has got absolutely right is that as a game it is not overbearing at all and it lets you play and respects your gaming intelligence and only steps in when needed. The graphics and animations are also very much of the top drawer variety to go along with the gameplay.
With the game still in the beta phase it is hard to state comprehensively what to expect from the game’s full release but even now during development, major updates have been continuously made to the game. This includes updates in terms of graphics as well as looking to enhance the player experience. There is also talk that developers are looking to add more cards into the game with Hour of Devastation being among those touted as new additions. The full list of decks was published online and you can see the full list on mtglion.com. While on there you will get the opportunity to learn more on the game and so much more so make sure you pay them a visit but from the foregoing it is safe to say that Magic the Gathering Arena is very much worth playing.