Magic: The Gathering Online

« An addictive game that's quick to play, easy to learn, delightfully detailed, and almost infinitely replayable. [Oct 2002, p.72] »

« Graphically I was disappointed. I was hoping for a little animation. »

« In serious competition, it suffers from the same drawback as the real world version of the game - players with deep pockets can buy themselves more powerful decks. »

« It won't replace the fun of facing off one-on-one with your friends, and those bluffing techniques you've perfected are all but useless, but when your friends are unavailable or you're hit with a bout of insomnia, MtGO is your best alternative. »

« Its aesthetics need more polish - and it needs to offer more help for newcomers. [Sept 2002, p.64] »

« It's because of its accessible nature that Magic Online is undoubtedly the best software representation of Magic: The Gathering released thus far--quite possibly surpassing the physical card game in many respects. »

« It's fun and really true to the series. Having said that, I probably won't play it too much longer, mostly because it just whet my appetite for some face-to-face play. »

« I'm quite impressed that they managed to make a computer version that actually follows all the arcane rules. Still, I can't see myself buying any more cards beyond the ones I already have. »

« The online version of the famous fantasy trading card game Magic the Gathering. The gameplay can be dreadfully tedious due to lag and because you must manually pass through each phase of each turn. Nevertheless, this program is a useful tool for improving your skill at Magic, and I think that every card ever printed on cardboard is also available in this game. I occasionally play the Pauper format, which is fun and very inexpensive. »

« This is a game meant for reasonable experienced players that know how to play magic. For people that like myself are a long standing Magic player that wants to play online against other people. When you start out, you get a bumper starting pack which contains quite a few basic cards, with nearly the entire back catalog of cards available to buy in singles in their virtual formats via external trading sites, or if you want you can buy credits to spend in the shop ingame to buy packs of randoms. You have a collection screen that is filterable where you can view all your cards which is easy to sort through to build your own decks... There are various places you can play these decks against others, in tournaments online where you can win cards and player points, There is a cost to enter these tournaments however which can cost you upwards of £30 in some cases There are other areas where you can play against other people for free in the usual 1v1 / commander and free for all 3way and 4way multiplayer. First thing you will notice is how bad the actual client looks, it looks like it was designed and programmed in the 1990's. The way the screen is represented reminds me of Windows 95. Not only does the client look bad, but it also doesn't function properly, with constant issues with the shuffler performing exceedingly unusual behavior that leads you be at the mercy of it when you play The shuffler which according to the very lackluster support is 'working as intended' but for any player that has played Paper magic knows it doesn't resemble a real work shuffle one bit. In fact your win will be dictated by whether the shuffler 'decides' you can play or not. To worsen this issue the game goes down at least once a week for 'server maintenance' that lasts several hours each time. The issues with this game doesn't end there however, just like all online games this game suffers from its fair share of Trolls and Griefers. The trouble is there are so many of them online on mtgo that you will be hard pushed to find a game that isn't ruined by some idiot pulling an infinite loop or an instant win card. or just sat there with a deck full of counters, no intention of winning just simple there to make your life miserable. Games should be played for fun, simply put Magic the Gathering Online is about as much fun as putting your appendages through a cheese grater. AVOID AT ALL COST! »

« Buggy as hell, a lot of the time you will lose games for all the bugs. The interface is archaic the cards and events are super expensive and the overall experience is simply frustating and not fun. Seriously, stay away from this thing »

« Log in, ready to play. Wow a set of draft tournaments specifically for new players. Wait, they don't teach you anything about draft or how to choose cards, oh and there is a timer, choose fast. Now make a deck from those cards you chose in a hurry.... Now lose every game because, 1. You can't make a winning deck from those cards. 2. The other players, NOT NEW, they just have New Player Points to spend and want some cards. 3. There is nothing about the game targeted to new players, or casual play. Ok lets try a casual game. Get beat in a hurry. Make a new deck. Get beat again. Try a new format. Ok you are on round 4 and may have the advantage. ...Your opponent quits because his go to starter move didn't happen. One more chance.... Commander, i spent an hour or 2 making a 100 card deck. ... Opponent quits on round 4 because you sent his commander back to his hand. You go into chat to call him out, and let other players know he is a poor sport. There is no method of leaving feedback on a player. Oh you can't say anything negative in chat about another player's behavior because it is "harassment."!!! ... the reason being, that there is no proof to offer, even tho I can watch a replay of the game in questions, i just cant let other players watch it, because then the "poor sport" opponent would feel "harassed". So what do I do now??? I go download Hearthstone and forget I ever played this pile of garbage whose only goal is to bleed it's playerbase of cash. »

« This game is a complete failure compared to the physical game. its completely set up to soak every dollar from you for nothing tangible in the end. Trading is useless because cards are so devalued. Every draft is set up with "Random" input yet somehow its nearly impossible to go 3-0 because every time you are conveniently mana screwed when it comes down to the last match. Its comical. I don't recommend purchasing or supporting this money pit. If you have the option get into the actual card game at a local gaming shop. You'll enjoy the experience a hundred fold more than this garbage. »

« [SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.] »

« Magic: the Gathering is a wonderful game, with excellent creative, design, and development teams. However, Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast have made it clear that their online computer version is not a priority. Pricing is the same as for physical packs, but digital cards do not appreciate in value like their cardboard counterparts. The software is riddled with bugs. Magic Online even has a page listing their known bugs, but unlike other computer games, their software team doesn't view any of these as critical, taking up to a year to remedy. If one of these issues causes a game or match loss, there is a reimbursement process, but the headache of registering, filing a complaint, and awaiting deliberation is quite the headache, frequently resulting in no form of reimbursement. Ultimately, if you are looking for a computerized card game , there are better (and cheaper) alternatives available. It is saddening but Magic: Online is no substitution for actual cards, and it shames the game of Magic. »

« Terrible. Play Hearthstone by Blizzard instead. MTGO management are a bunch of vampire **** trying to **** every last dollar from the desiccated remains of what was already a skeletal base of players. One draft a day (~2 hours of entertainment) costs $10... so $3650 a year for this. Hearthstone is free. Trying this after Hearthstone was painful. Worse yet, their program is prone to bugs and crashes that result in you paying $10 and getting screwed halfway through an event. No returns either. Also, from reading forums, MTGO management completely disregards customer feedback. People say prize payouts used to be way higher, there didn't used to be a $2 additional entry fee for all events, and things like splitting prizes between the first and second player are intentionally impossible even though this is extremely popular in real life. I looked at job postings on their Careers page and it is apparent that whoever is running things is terribly misappropriating resources. They need WAY more software developers working on this. There are embarrassingly immature comments posted by many of the higher-ups on forums arguing with players. They insinuate the blame for all MTGO's problems lies on the developers but less than half the openings they have are for new development positions. Way over-managed. PS - I'm a huge fan of paper MTG. The core game is great. It just got destroyed in translation. »