Recent reviews by Catrixa

Oh man do I wish there was another option instead of just "Recommend? Y/N"...

For people new to Magic:
This is a very solid intro to MTG. It's got some solid tutorials that get you going on evergreen mechanics and some of the new ones in Standard right now, which is pretty great if you want to transfer to MGTO or paper magic at some point. The story modes will get you a modest card base and shows off deck synergies (you play story missions with pre-built decks, so you don't have to dive right into deck building if you don't want to). You then get a mass of commons/uncommon at the end of each story block that you can use to build with later.

There is also an AI to practice with after you build a deck, so you can find out if your deck works before jumping right into multiplayer. Speaking of, it's pretty easy to just jump into a game and play someone. The matchmaking only checks your rank, so you wind up versus people that definitely have more cards unlocked, but it tries to pit you against people close in skill.

As someone who has tried teaching people this silly game in the past (to limited success), this is a pretty good tutorial. I'd suggest running the stories to completion, then popping off to a Friday Night Magic session near you, if you're interested in paper Magic.

For experienced Magic players:
Ever show up to a sealed tournament and wish you could keep playing your sealed pile forever? Even if that sealed pile kinda really sucked to begin with? And then slowly improve it by playing against people that have been slowly improving theirs? The rarity system restricts the number of uncommons to 3, rares to 2, and mythics to 1, so you always feel like you're playing limited... If that sounds like your jam, then this game is for YOU. Just remember that "slowly" is just shorthand for "a geological timescale will seem like it's faster paced than this mess." You get 30 coins per versus win, 15 coins per AI win, and like, 60-120 per quest you complete, depending on what quests are out there. You max out at 400 coins per day (or so I have read). It costs 150 coins for a pack, which gives you 6 cards (groan...). Luckily, you can't get more than the max number you're allowed per deck, so it's only 80 packs to complete a set. Per set. For all 7 current sets. You can see where I'm going here.

And I would have absolutely nothing to complain about if I could somehow affect what cards I got out of this at all. Hell, I'd trade entire colors in for a set of commons if they were the commons I was looking for. But good luck and godspeed to you if you have a specific deck in mind--it will take ages to build it. And speaking of: check what cards are in each in-game set before getting packs from that set if you're trying to build something. Not all cards from each set are actually in this game.

All that said, if you're itching for MTG, but aren't going to try to afford playing on MTGO, this can scratch that itch. If you're looking for a serious competititve environment online, go with MTGO.

To conclude:
I'll recommend this game, because it's good for new folk and does some of the things I'd like it to, but I feel like older players might want to look elsewhere, unless they have some serious patience.