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- T
- Wizards of the Coast
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- Wizards of the Coast
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- Wizards of the Coast
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- Wizards of the Coast
Magic: The Gathering Arena
Released On: Sep 27, 2018
84
2.8
All Platforms
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
84
iOS (iPhone/iPad)
tbd
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
84
86% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
84
86% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
5% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
An excellent and faithful conversion of the iconic card game into a very welcoming computer free-to-play form. This is a hit. [Issue#300]
A great adaptation of one of the best card games of all time. It’s fast, it’s accessible, it isn’t any less complex than the original. Are you bored of Hearthstone? Try Arena.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 244 User Ratings
2.8
20% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
9% Mixed
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
70% Negative
172 Ratings
172 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 244 User Ratings
2.8
20% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
9% Mixed
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
70% Negative
172 Ratings
172 Ratings
This is a fun free-to play game. I get that there's micro-transection to get cards pretty fast. But crafting makes it easier to get the cards pretty fast so you won't feel forced to just buy, atleast it wasn't for me.
Plus although I don't like micro-transection all that much I feel like in a card game it's easier to handle for me, cause it's better than buying new sequel to a card game and start collecting all over again, right? And sure you can get cards in real life instead but keep in mind there are no craft in real life so getting those deck in real life will be expansive plus not everyone has many friends to play with either.
I saw some of the negative reviews and those are what I think about them. Also let me say I would like this game even more if it didn't had micro toward cards, but I still put it high up cause crafting won't make your hard work feel like a waste for pay to win players cause crafting is easy to begin with, and it's still better than buying new sequels everytime that's not free.
And maybe I'm just lucky but I didn't found much bugs either. I do have a bit of a control problem whenever it asks me to discard a card but that's for Mobile, PC version is ok.
That being said those negative reviews are old so maybe it was correct for some of them like the bugs at one point in the past but it certainly isn't like that for me now though. I wouldn't called it 10 but just putting it 10 here to make up for all those past negative atleast a tiny bit.
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PC
Really confused by the bad reviews. Cheaper than 'paper' magic and MTGO by a large margin, and possible to play free if you know what colors/strategies you like to play and don't care about set completion. Or, if you're really good, you can really rack up free **** in draft formats (I'm not, but have had some hot streaks).
Complaints about shuffler are complete eye rolls from me. Sometimes you get mana screwed or flooded. Happens in paper all the time too. Just the nature of the game: there is a reason 'Opt' is consistently one of the best 1 mana spells in Magic (scry/draw). Go play hearthstone lol.
Plenty of free packs and wildcards, easy to play a draft a week if you save your gold, and if you win you can keep going. Might be rough starting out, but as standard rotates out old sets you will naturally have many more options (as it's easiest to progress in the newest sets) if you stick with it.
Overall the game is very responsive. Runs fine on my 6 year old 'gaming' desktop and fine on my i5 laptop with onboard video (obviously graphics turned to low, but no problem reading cards or even deck building.) Some card interactions and turn phases/priority checks are a little tedious in the client vs paper, but overall many things like shuffles being automated make for a much faster gameplay experience (tokens, +1/+1 counters, anthems etc). Queue times are extremely short for ranked until you hit mythic.
Biggest complaint would be the sheer amount of net decking present but that is a problem that affects paper in 'current year'. Usually have no problem in ranked if you put together competitive 'jank' that is thoughtful of the current meta decks. Worth a try and brawl can be very fun if you get sick of standard. 'Best of 3' is also an option for some more thoughtful games versus hoping your deck lines up against the current meta with no sideboarding. Historic is shaping up to be an interesting format, but the price to entry is a little high if you're just jumping in now (you will need a lot of wildcards or know EXACTLY what your building for in your decks).
Overall highly recommended if you like Magic the Gathering as a card game.
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PC
If you’re looking to play Magic, there’s probably no better way than Magic: The Gathering Arena, and that says a lot. Wizards of the Coast seemed hesitant to move all-in on a digital product in the last decade, perhaps out of fear that it could cannibalize the gigantic paper audience, but Magic is finally where it needs to be in the digital space.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is an absolutely brilliant recreation of Magic only held back by Wizards of the Coast's monetization strategy and some unfinished business. With more of an open mind toward new modes of play (plus ways to keep your old cards relevant) and a better client, this could be the definitive way to play the best card game in the world for the foreseeable future.
Magic Arena is a stellar addition to the Magic: The Gathering family. It’s here to stay and the competitive landscape will likely be better for it overall as time goes on. While its monetization is a bit too aggressive for my liking, and the fact we really can’t have full control over what we do with our cards bugs me, it’s hands down the best digital Magic experience Wizards have implemented to date.
Magic the Gathering: Arena is a good free-to-play game, with enough content to feed any Magic lovers. It’s not as easy to play than many others trading cars games, but on the other hand, those games don’t have the same depth.
MTG Arena is not yet perfect and it's probably why it is not essential to every player. It remains a very valuable help and will evolve anyway to become an essential card game developing its esport side. If you have not played it yet, do not hesitate to download it for knowledge, and if you are practicing Magic, you will play it one day or another.
Coming from MTG Online, this is an insane experience that is legitimately free. There are of course in-game purchase options, but the need is minimal and will not take away from any fun you'd otherwise have playing this great game. Grinding is always an option in place of real money spending, and the play is clean, crisp, and well thought out. Excellent emergence out of beta.
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PC
tldr; low rating comes from people who don't play paper magic, the game has PLENTY of room for improvement, wizards can sometimes be evil, however the overall experience is still enjoyable as the digital brother of paper magic.
For once, I consider the Critic Review's rating more accurate, if not only a tad bit high. The user review rating is so low, because most of the gaming crowd, haven't step foot in the "arena" with paper magic. Which is a expensive card game of the big 3 TCGs. Not only that, it is the #1 most expensive card game. To make things worse, it is the 1st modern tcg, with all other tcg copying it.
If anything, magic is not even a teen game because I mostly just see older adults, some young adults, and the rare child or girlfriend, because the older adults brought them along. This is a game where the people have disposable income, and they have been playing since they were a older teen or younger adult.
With all that being said, you think the digital version of magic was going to be cheap? I think this is the worst criticism of the game, because its' game theory is completely separate from a VIDEO GAME. I wouldn't even call it free to play or fee to pay. Because paper magic is consider a investment, and premium in the collector's market.
Now onto the actual negatives of the games (which are plenty, but it is still enjoyable as a digital brother of the paper game). 1) is no way to trade your cards with other players or sale on the market for currency (which big mmos already do this, don't see why we can't do that here). 2) needing to fix some game balance issue's with stall decks (Hearthstone Control Warrior is worse). 3) extremely long game timers. 4) no auto deck builder like duels had. 5) organization and search engine needs more options, especially easy of life click options. 6) Not enough sets and formats have been added. 7) Top magic arena players need more representation in the pro scene. 8) needs more cross promotion with the physical card game, like physical packs should include one free scanner for a digital pack.
9) The biggest one, not enough guarantees they are going to pull the plug on us, like they did Duels. However if they do, I'm going to do more than just complain on Steam. Keep in mind everyone, this is Magic we are talking about, so be warned, this is a expensive game, and it is not a free to play. I wouldn't even call it a fee to pay, because paper magic is not cheap compared to other TCGs. So when you just pull/vanquish someone collection like that, or end support, it isn't cool. Especially with no way to transfer it out or compensation.
10) Shuffle algorithm is bad, but it is as bad as most digital TCGs, it can never compare to a physical TCGs shuffling.
11) Report system and tech support, is almost non-existent. Like most of the gaming industry.
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PC
This game ****. The card balance needs to be fixed. There will be days where I can't win a game. Wizards of the coast needs to be better,.
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PC
It has engaging gameplay loops that keep pulling you back in, but the sad reality is that this is just another game for whales to exploit lowly free-to-play users. If you don't buy cards in this game and construct a godlike deck made of countless rares and mythic rares, you're not getting out of Platinum ranked. You can get a mono aggro deck to Platinum easily, which speaks volumes about the state of matchmaking. If you're playing standard casual, you're getting rocked by master players with cards f2p can't seem to find. Bronze to Gold ranked is almost all the same skill level, it's where free to play players go to grind their wins because they can't go anywhere else. Even if you do get out of platinum and into mythic, you're going to get destroyed by the "rigged" shuffler algorithm. It's not uncommon, and I mean this happens on a daily basis, to somehow draw up to 6 or even 7 lands in a row. I have lost count of how often this happens, and people were complaining about this "bug" as far back as launch many years ago. The fact that it hasn't been "fixed" seems to all but confirm all of the conspiracy theorists' thoughts about how this feature punishes free-to-play players into spending money. The algorithm pits you against players based on deck composition, so you're either getting people with the same deck, or people with the exact deck to counter your cards, and then sometimes it's down to who gets to go first in a game that decides the outcome.
The economy is awful, often making it simply impossible for casual players to redeem wildcards to craft new decks. Rares and Mythic Rares are locked behind all-to-uncommon wildcards needed to create them, and copies of them once unlocked. This system may have been reasonable when there were only a handful of sets, but there are like 20 sets in MTG Arena now, if you don't specifically play standard, and even then, the handful of standard sets make up thousands of cards. If you're lurking on aetherhub or some other card builder site and you've spotted a popular mono white aggro deck or something that wins 55% of games, you're likely missing anywhere from 10-20 wildcards to make it. I've been playing casually off and on for a few years and I've still not been able to make more than a handful of new, fresh decks from scratch because MTG is so miserly with their rewards. Gold is locked behind dailies and weeklies, so once you've completed them, you can't make any more gold for the rest of the day. This is insane, as it restricts players for...playing the game. Card packs now cost 1300 if you want to guarantee a Mythic Rare in it. They strategically place this pack right next to the regular packs, and then hide Alchemy packs in-between so you could potentially buy an alchemy pack instead of a regular pack if you're not paying attention. The whole thing feels like a scam, and remains predatory toward casual players; this is ironic considering the entire game is marketed toward this demographic. The game is free to play, after all. Casual players don't drop whale fortunes on games.
The one upside is that this display of shortsighted greed has made me want to explore paper Magic for the first time. If I'm spending money, I'd rather have something tangible with collectible value, and then I know I won't get screwed by statistically impossible land draw dysfunction every 6 games.
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PC
Summary You know the name. Now download and get ready for the most colossal crossover card set in Magic: The Gathering's history. Unlock powerful decks, earn rewards by playing, and jump into action for players of all skill levels.
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
Initial Release Date: Sep 27, 2018
Developer:
- Magic Digital Studio
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Genres:
