deckhub extension magic the gathering arena

DECKHUB EXTENSION MAGIC THE GATHERING ARENA UPDATE
DECKHUB EXTENSION MAGIC THE GATHERING ARENA PC

For this reason, Magic Digital Studio has preserved a version of the game which preserves most of the rules in their entirety, for the hardcore player who prefers a pure experience.

It’s a difficult thing to balance, because some players relish in the ability to make decisions that seem to go against their own best interest in order to deceive their opponent. In other words, they wanted to create a game that felt like Magic was actually played in practice, rather than how the rules work in theory. From there they worked to streamline the game and get rid of unnecessary interruptions to the battle, until they arrived at something that more closely resembled the Magic experience, but also kept gameplay interesting. As Steefel put it, the team realized that while they had created the most faithful digital version of the card game, it was also an incredibly boring experience. In their first draft, Steefel’s team developed a version of the game which implemented every known rule of Magic: The Gathering, essentially stopping the game dead in its tracks to give players the opportunity to act at every phase of a turn.

I sat down with the head of Magic Digital Studio, Jeffrey Steefel, who explained the delicate balance between enforcing the complex rules of Magic, and providing an experience that is still entertaining and reasonably paced. If this were implemented, it would mean that players could bring their decks and accomplishments with them wherever they decide to play - something that no Magic video game has managed to pull off thus far.

DECKHUB EXTENSION MAGIC THE GATHERING ARENA PC

At the time of this writing, Arena is only available on PC through a closed beta, but the game was created using the Unity engine, and the developers plan to deploy on additional platforms in the future with hopes to allow for crossplay using a single Wizards account. The decision to bring development in-house will allow for prompter deployment of new content, with new sets being added to the game on the same day that they become available in the physical card game worldwide. The game hosts two currencies: “Gold,” which is earned, and “Gems,” which are purchased or granted to players on rare occasions. The free-to-play model will allow players to grind for their ideal decks or make in-game purchases to get better cards faster.

DECKHUB EXTENSION MAGIC THE GATHERING ARENA UPDATE

The game is planned to launch with a library of all the cards in the current “Standard” tournament format - basically meaning the last several card sets released - and will update its library with new sets as they come out. Rather than releasing a new game every few years, Arena will utilize the games-as-a-service model with regular updates and new content planned for the game for years to come. With Magic: The Gathering Arena, Wizards of the Coast is taking development in-house and attempting to harness the best of both worlds by appealing to hardcore players and newcomers alike while providing a payment model that is accomodating to everybody.

Magic Duels was Wizard of the Coast’s first run at a free-to-play model, and a departure from the success of Magic: The Gathering Online, which has seen huge success among hardcore players. Based on my time with the game, there appears to be a lot for fans to be excited about. Rather than attempting to make a video game based on Magic: The Gathering, Arena aims to recreate the card game experience completely, while retaining the free-to-play model that was championed by Duels. With Magic: The Gathering Arena, Wizards of the Coast has taken a more ambitious approach. While Duels’ free-to-play model and availability across many platforms served the game well in terms of capturing an audience, it was an incomplete representation of a game that’s at its best when presented in its clunky entirety. By simplifying the rules and limiting the library of cards available to the player. In 2015, Wizards of the Coast published Magic Duels, which aimed to draw newcomers into the world of Magic. For years, the games industry has attempted to harness the magic of Magic: The Gathering in a digital format.

Deckhub extension magic the gathering arena