Magic: The Gathering Online Preview

You enter the room, look around, select a table, and then sit down to a ‘friendly’ game of cards. And like most card games, the ones you hold are the key to victory or defeat.

So what will it be: summon a creature that can fly, or play an instant?

Magic The Gathering Online is unlike most PC games you have ever played. Of course, you are probably familiar with or have heard of strictly card-based games with the card containing spells, offensive points and the like. That is precision what Wizards of the Coast have brought to the fore with this title.

The preview version of the game (a beta, so keep that in mind when reading this review) presented quite a number of challenges – especially to one unfamiliar with the jargon and the general ‘lay’ of the land. There were login problems, troubles creating an account, and server overload. It is likely that most of those problems will be cleared up by the time this product goes gold. And each time you do login, expect to be greeted with a stream of updates. The designers seem to be always expanding the look of the game, which translates into download time.

The idea behind the game is seemingly a simple one: you can either purchase real cards (this is an option that will appeal to collectors) in the MagicOnline store, or rely on the digital cards you receive in a game. During a draft, players in a game open decks which are drawn by the players in a couple of ways. Then it is a matter of playing your cards much like chess pieces – attacking or countering until one player is declared the winner.

This is not the type of game that, as a novice, you can just jump into and succeed. No, it takes some background work, as well as learning the strategies behind the play and a fair amount of luck.

However, judging from the influx of gamers, this is also a concept that has drawn a fair amount of enthusiasm and attention.

Magic The Gathering is one-on-one competition without a lot of frills. It is card playing, refined to its simplest denominator in terms of presentation, and with all the intricacies of the actual game play.

The decks are well designed, the sound is negligible, and the game play can be intense.

This is definitely not the type of game that will appeal to all fans of strategic play, but the niche it does inhabit will be an enthusiastic one.