If you were a kid during the ’90s (like I am) then, there’s a good possibility that you’ve either played Magic: The Gathering, or at least know of a few people that did. While the card game has been around for ages, it really hasn’t managed to penetrate the digital side of things as much as anyone would have expected.
Wizards of the Coast’s new Digital Game Studio is said to be working on Magic: The Gathering Arena — a free-to-play (F2P) version online version of the card game that incorporates the latest rules, with WoTC also planning to update the digital games’ cards roster alongside the physical version.
Over on the official Magic site, Wizards of the Coast goes a little in-depth with how Arena will work. According to the company, Magic: The Gathering Arena “is a “free-to-play, authentic Magic, reborn digitally for gamers, fans, and streamers.”
The three important goals from Wizards of the Coast are:
We want to create the deepest, richest digital card game on the market. Magicalready boasts some of the deepest strategy of any TCG in the world, tabletop or digital, and MTG Arena’s goal is to live up to that depth right at the start of Closed Beta. By the time we go into full launch, MTG Arena will feature the full card sets in Standard, with around 1,000 new cards added every year. That means deeper gameplay, more experiences to discover, and more room to explore.
We want to create a version of Magic that’s as much fun to watch as it is to play. Viewing MTG Arena on Twitch or other platforms will be a fast-paced, exciting, and easy to understand experience for fans across the globe. Our goal is nothing less than creating one of the premier esports communities, with viewing experiences packed with fun visuals, awesome sound, and cool ways to learn from and interact with our evolving catalogue of content.
We want to create a game that can evolve. We’ve created an all-new Games Rules Engine (GRE) that uses sophisticated machine learning that can read any card we can dream up for Magic. That means the shackles are off for our industry-leading designers to build and create cards and in-depth gameplay around new mechanics and unexpected but widly fun concepts, all of which can be adapted for MTG Arena thanks to the new GRE under the hood.
Interested players can sign up for the closed beta at PlayMTGArena where codes will be sent out in waves. Players will be able to get their hands on the demo at select upcoming events. You can check out the latest news by following the game’s official Twitter.
For Magic players, would you be interested in an online Magic game that’s F2P? As someone who used to play a lot of it (White Weenie deck FTW!), it has definitely piqued my interest.