The cardboard fantasy world of Magic: The Gathering has become the basis for the free action RPG Magic: Legends, now available in open beta for everyone to try. I say “open beta” because that is officially its status, but it is basically available now. Magic: Legends looks like Diablo with deck construction. I like Diablo, I like deck building and I like Magic too much for my own good, so I will definitely try.
The basics of the action RPG look pretty straightforward, making that monster masquerading ARPG, so let’s take a look at a January trailer about building decks in Legends:
Therefore, the cards represent the spells our magician can cast and the creatures they can summon. We have a deck of 12 cards and we have access to a hand of four at a time, with new cards drawn at random to replace the cards we have launched. And while we start with a pre-built deck representing one of the five schools of Magic magic, we can take cards of other colors to build multicolored decks and change colors immediately. That sounds interesting. Somewhere between Magic: The Gathering and Guild Wars.
The open beta is now available on Perfect World Arc and the Epic Games Store.
Magic: Legends is made by Cryptic Studios, the gang behind City Of Heroes and Star Trek Online, and published by Perfect World. The full release is scheduled for later this year (on PS4 and Xbone as well), although developers say “this is considered a ‘smooth release'” and they do not plan to clean up the servers. Basically outside, just potentially not fully polished.
I love Magic: The Gathering. I played a lot of Magic in my life, tournaments and everything, until I had to stop because I was out of control. I still greatly admire how Wizards Of The Coast updated and adjusted it with new cards and stories over 28 years. An impressive achievement. However, my adoration of the table game makes me less interested in that. For me, a magic deck tells a story about a wizard’s master plan, setting everything from the landscape to plot twists as you try to frustrate a rival wizard with your own mysterious master plan. The magic I know and love cannot be reduced to an action RPG. But okay, okay, it’s a licensed game with familiar places, people and creatures and a broad concept of cards, okay. If I want my wizard story decks, I can just play Magic. I mean, if I don’t mind a kiss goodbye for another decade of my life.