Magic: The Gathering Arena

 PC
User Score
2.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 209 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 209
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 209
  3. Negative: 147 out of 209

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  1. Ethix
    Jul 8, 2019
    8
    The primary complaint this game gets are about it's mechanics. I felt it necessary to sign up on this site just to create my first review to counter the negative reviews.

    Deep user interface, makes me think it's either for the higher IQ's among us, or it's just not that simple to get understand[period]. I have given this game a little effort (without paying) in the last few days...    The primary complaint this game gets are about it's mechanics. I felt it necessary to sign up on this site just to create my first review to counter the negative reviews.

    Deep user interface, makes me think it's either for the higher IQ's among us, or it's just not that simple to get understand[period].

    I have given this game a little effort (without paying) in the last few days... around 2-3 hours or so, per day. That could be 5 games or 15. I am glad I found MTG: Arena. I think it may be a little harder than {certain} other games in the CCG category. So, after all it's got my attention for now, probably because of that, but it might be a little deeper, which may a little more on the part of the user in getting used to. They have as far as I can tell, evened out the Pay-to-Win factors quite a lot with a little significant time put in above just simple participation.    … Expand
  2. FidgetyJester
    Jul 8, 2021
    10
    This is a fun free-to play game. I get that there's micro-transection to get cards pretty fast. But crafting makes it easier to get the cards pretty fast so you won't feel forced to just buy, atleast it wasn't for me.

    Plus although I don't like micro-transection all that much I feel like in a card game it's easier to handle for me, cause it's better than buying new sequel to a card game    This is a fun free-to play game. I get that there's micro-transection to get cards pretty fast. But crafting makes it easier to get the cards pretty fast so you won't feel forced to just buy, atleast it wasn't for me.

    Plus although I don't like micro-transection all that much I feel like in a card game it's easier to handle for me, cause it's better than buying new sequel to a card game and start collecting all over again, right? And sure you can get cards in real life instead but keep in mind there are no craft in real life so getting those deck in real life will be expansive plus not everyone has many friends to play with either.

    I saw some of the negative reviews and those are what I think about them. Also let me say I would like this game even more if it didn't had micro toward cards, but I still put it high up cause crafting won't make your hard work feel like a waste for pay to win players cause crafting is easy to begin with, and it's still better than buying new sequels everytime that's not free.

    And maybe I'm just lucky but I didn't found much bugs either. I do have a bit of a control problem whenever it asks me to discard a card but that's for Mobile, PC version is ok.

    That being said those negative reviews are old so maybe it was correct for some of them like the bugs at one point in the past but it certainly isn't like that for me now though. I wouldn't called it 10 but just putting it 10 here to make up for all those past negative atleast a tiny bit.    … Expand
  3. marcantoineg
    Feb 2, 2020
    9
    It's a good game. Don't let the negative reviews stop you from getting it. It's free and pretty generous compared to other mainstream card games. Much cheaper than paper magic too and no struggle to find opponents. Perfect for beginners who don't know all the rules. Yes Wizard is greedy with their events and there's still a few bugs. Overall, I played hours of arena and I'd say it'sIt's a good game. Don't let the negative reviews stop you from getting it. It's free and pretty generous compared to other mainstream card games. Much cheaper than paper magic too and no struggle to find opponents. Perfect for beginners who don't know all the rules. Yes Wizard is greedy with their events and there's still a few bugs. Overall, I played hours of arena and I'd say it's everything I want for a digital card game. A few advice to devs : stop rewarding wins only because it repels casuals and make cheaper events with DECENT rewards.… Expand
  4. laertan
    Mar 9, 2020
    9
    Best card game for free (seriously, I play it since the early beta and I didn't spend a cent). Sure, game isn't perfect, land screw/flood can be irritating, as well as constant getting opponents with better decks (even in unranked, which is odd). And when it comes to draft, card pick with real humans instead of bots would certainly make this format better. Still, despite all these flaws, IBest card game for free (seriously, I play it since the early beta and I didn't spend a cent). Sure, game isn't perfect, land screw/flood can be irritating, as well as constant getting opponents with better decks (even in unranked, which is odd). And when it comes to draft, card pick with real humans instead of bots would certainly make this format better. Still, despite all these flaws, I love this game, since it's the only possible way to play mtg without spending ton of money.… Expand
  5. Yaksa_Viguro
    Apr 20, 2020
    9
    The game is really good, but it is necessary to play a lot or pay in order to have the cards you want. I've never paid anything in the game, but with some time I got lots of cards and I could do nice decks. The wildcard system is really good and helps a lot. The graphics and animations are cool, and the sounds/music as well. I really love most of the animations which trigger when someThe game is really good, but it is necessary to play a lot or pay in order to have the cards you want. I've never paid anything in the game, but with some time I got lots of cards and I could do nice decks. The wildcard system is really good and helps a lot. The graphics and animations are cool, and the sounds/music as well. I really love most of the animations which trigger when some legendary cards enter the battlefield.

    However, as I remember, you can't skip the tutorial, which is really awful if you already know the game. Sometimes I get quite distrustful about the autenticity of random things, such as the land draw. There are some things that happen with a really really really low probability, happening quite more times than it should normally.

    There are lots of updates which evidences the effort in making the game enjoyable, with of course some attempts to put the hand in your wallet. In general I think it's really good.    … Expand
  6. Ambre
    Aug 6, 2019
    8
    Great game. A lot of new stuff implementing, many interesting thing to achieve and play, works even on low end pc. I dont understand why so many negative feedback on this site. Maybe it is one person with multyaccounts just angry at great game?
  7. Remmu
    May 24, 2020
    9
    I'm mostly going to address some of the negative reviews. Not to say they are all unjustified, but just to give my point of view.

    To put my experience into perspective, I've been playing Magic since around 2004-2005. I've played Magic Online and all of the different variations of Duels of the Planeswalkers games. I started playing Magic Arena right when it went into open beta in 2018.    I'm mostly going to address some of the negative reviews. Not to say they are all unjustified, but just to give my point of view.

    To put my experience into perspective, I've been playing Magic since around 2004-2005. I've played Magic Online and all of the different variations of Duels of the Planeswalkers games. I started playing Magic Arena right when it went into open beta in 2018. Which means I didn't have the unpleasant experience of having to lose my cards earned during the closed beta period. But one important thing to bring out is that even before they released the closed beta they already told people that they wouldn't be able to keep their cards. You can still find their FAQ and old blog posts about it. They were testing how the economy works during the closed beta and said there would be several wipes in the process. And everyone who used real world money to buy virtual currency called gems always got the gems re-added to their accounts once it was wiped of cards. Sadly the last wipe was the reason for many of the bad user reviews. I do understand it a bit since people were disappointed that they didn't get that much for supporting the game during the closed beta period.

    The mulligan system, which let's you redraw your starting hand of cards if you're not happy with it is by far the best one we have had in a Magic game to date. Not only is the new London system of drawing seven cards again and putting one back for every time you did a mulligan much better than the old one, but the system in this game also has a hidden feature where it actually draws you two possible hands and gives you the hand with the best land to non-land ratio.

    About the disconnections, I can only speak from my own experience. I think I get about one disconnection every 50-100 games and even then I can almost always re-join the match before I am truly disconnected. The only exception of late that I can remember is when I got the disconnection while there was a new update, so I wasn't able to rejoin the game before the update had finished which did frustrate me a bit since it was a ranked game.

    The animations look really good in this game, but I do have performance issues from time to time where the game just hangs from 1-2 seconds, even though I have checked that my CPU and GPU aren't even working 50%. Lowering the graphics settings hasn't helped against this either.

    I'm really hoping formats like free-for-all, two-headed giant, planechase, archenemy ect get added. For me personally playing with more than two people is one of the best parts of Magic.

    Magic Arena all in all is a fantastic game and it has come a long way since it got the meta score of 84. It's got a great tutorial and a good ranking system where you're only paired against people of your own skill level. Don't get disheartened if you lose most of your games. You can still climb ranks even if you lose more often than you don't and by completing daily quests you will get more gold and wildcards to get cards to build better decks. : )    … Expand
  8. DonKnottsGhost
    Nov 12, 2020
    9
    I've been playing Magic Arena on my Mac now for the last 2 months. Sorry to see that many people had a bad experience with it when it launched on PC, but my 10 year old son and are loving it. Truly free to play as I've made zero in-game purchases and we have about 10 good decks we have put together. Of note, some of those decks are from digital codes from our real world decks, but I'veI've been playing Magic Arena on my Mac now for the last 2 months. Sorry to see that many people had a bad experience with it when it launched on PC, but my 10 year old son and are loving it. Truly free to play as I've made zero in-game purchases and we have about 10 good decks we have put together. Of note, some of those decks are from digital codes from our real world decks, but I've always felt this was a nice feature of buying physical cards and then getting to practice the deck digitally against others online in Arena. I didn't even know how to play Magic the Gathering until we got stuck at home with the COVID pandemic. Now I've been able to learn on Arena and with my son and we have ranked up to diamond status online. Really fun to progress. I'm having as much fun playing Magic Arena online for free as I've had with some full price $60 games on our home consoles. It looks like many of the issues from before may have been worked out and there are lots of free cards to play if you use readily available free codes in the Shop.… Expand
  9. PeakZach
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Coming from MTG Online, this is an insane experience that is legitimately free. There are of course in-game purchase options, but the need is minimal and will not take away from any fun you'd otherwise have playing this great game. Grinding is always an option in place of real money spending, and the play is clean, crisp, and well thought out. Excellent emergence out of beta.
  10. Rafarodfer
    Apr 13, 2021
    9
    Estou gostando bastante do jogo, o sistema de batalha é muito bom, quando você começa o jogo ganha várias cartas e decks e pode conseguir mais coisas gratuitamente. Pode duelar contra seus amigos, pessoas desconhecidas e bots. Tem momentos que o jogo te coloca pra enfrentar jogadores com decks melhores ou vem uma sequencias de mãos ruis para você perder e querer gastar no jogo, porem nemEstou gostando bastante do jogo, o sistema de batalha é muito bom, quando você começa o jogo ganha várias cartas e decks e pode conseguir mais coisas gratuitamente. Pode duelar contra seus amigos, pessoas desconhecidas e bots. Tem momentos que o jogo te coloca pra enfrentar jogadores com decks melhores ou vem uma sequencias de mãos ruis para você perder e querer gastar no jogo, porem nem sempre isso acontece e você tem a liberdade de decidir se vai gastar ou não. Um dos melhores jogos gratuitos que já joguem e uma ótima forma de jogar Magic gratuitamente.… Expand
  11. djqualia
    Jan 12, 2021
    9
    I really enjoy MTG Arena. I used to play Hearthstone, and I appreciate the relative depth of Magic vs that (e.g. being able to play during other people's turns, and to bluff). I enjoy that there's always new sets of cards being added, with new mechanics, to keep things fresh. I just wish the mobile version was out already!
  12. supremememe
    Apr 4, 2021
    10
    Really confused by the bad reviews. Cheaper than 'paper' magic and MTGO by a large margin, and possible to play free if you know what colors/strategies you like to play and don't care about set completion. Or, if you're really good, you can really rack up free sh*t in draft formats (I'm not, but have had some hot streaks).

    Complaints about shuffler are complete eye rolls from me.    Really confused by the bad reviews. Cheaper than 'paper' magic and MTGO by a large margin, and possible to play free if you know what colors/strategies you like to play and don't care about set completion. Or, if you're really good, you can really rack up free sh*t in draft formats (I'm not, but have had some hot streaks).

    Complaints about shuffler are complete eye rolls from me. Sometimes you get mana screwed or flooded. Happens in paper all the time too. Just the nature of the game: there is a reason 'Opt' is consistently one of the best 1 mana spells in Magic (scry/draw). Go play hearthstone lol.

    Plenty of free packs and wildcards, easy to play a draft a week if you save your gold, and if you win you can keep going. Might be rough starting out, but as standard rotates out old sets you will naturally have many more options (as it's easiest to progress in the newest sets) if you stick with it.

    Overall the game is very responsive. Runs fine on my 6 year old 'gaming' desktop and fine on my i5 laptop with onboard video (obviously graphics turned to low, but no problem reading cards or even deck building.) Some card interactions and turn phases/priority checks are a little tedious in the client vs paper, but overall many things like shuffles being automated make for a much faster gameplay experience (tokens, +1/+1 counters, anthems etc). Queue times are extremely short for ranked until you hit mythic.

    Biggest complaint would be the sheer amount of net decking present but that is a problem that affects paper in 'current year'. Usually have no problem in ranked if you put together competitive 'jank' that is thoughtful of the current meta decks. Worth a try and brawl can be very fun if you get sick of standard. 'Best of 3' is also an option for some more thoughtful games versus hoping your deck lines up against the current meta with no sideboarding. Historic is shaping up to be an interesting format, but the price to entry is a little high if you're just jumping in now (you will need a lot of wildcards or know EXACTLY what your building for in your decks).

    Overall highly recommended if you like Magic the Gathering as a card game.    … Expand
  13. morof_r
    Apr 14, 2021
    9
    This game is really amazing, it's all of standard and historic Magic without compromise, including the very exciting drafts. The interface to build decks is very practical, it's easier than with real cards. In my opinion you get enough new cards without having to pay any real money. Also, the animations and sounds are a success.
    The only downsides for me are the boring tutorial and the    This game is really amazing, it's all of standard and historic Magic without compromise, including the very exciting drafts. The interface to build decks is very practical, it's easier than with real cards. In my opinion you get enough new cards without having to pay any real money. Also, the animations and sounds are a success.
    The only downsides for me are the boring tutorial and the fact that it's not very well optimised for macs, I had to do some weird manipulations I found online to get it to fit to my screen, and it sometimes crashes when I quit the game.
    For the people that say that the shuffler is rigged, you should go revise your probabilities. And I didn't experience rigged matchmaking or anything like that.
    In any case, try it, it's free!    … Expand
  14. BenzoSt
    Jul 12, 2022
    8
    The gameplay of Magic Arena is faster, flashier, and more responsive than the older Magic Online game. But Arena isn’t necessarily better than Magic Online if your true goal is to improve your skill at real (paper) Magic; since Arena rewards players with loot for every game won, players disproportionately play fast, aggressive decks and also tend to concede games at the first moment theirThe gameplay of Magic Arena is faster, flashier, and more responsive than the older Magic Online game. But Arena isn’t necessarily better than Magic Online if your true goal is to improve your skill at real (paper) Magic; since Arena rewards players with loot for every game won, players disproportionately play fast, aggressive decks and also tend to concede games at the first moment their luck takes a turn for the worse. Sometimes custom formats are available, and these opportunities are my favorite way to play because they give me a chance to capitalize on my strong deck building skills.… Expand
  15. PizzaWorm
    Feb 14, 2023
    9
    I'm aware the game has problems, but it's one of the most fun ways of playing Magic casually.

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PC Game of 2018
27
#27 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 28, 2020
    100
    An excellent and faithful conversion of the iconic card game into a very welcoming computer free-to-play form. This is a hit. [Issue#300]
  2. Vandal
    Dec 18, 2019
    90
    This is the definitive Magic experience on PC. It’s free-to-play, but it’s incredibly well balanced and lets us enjoy it without hassle. If you enjoy card-based games, give it a try.
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  3. GameSpace
    Dec 6, 2019
    80
    Magic: The Gathering Arena is an excellent entry point into the twenty-six-year-old franchise for new players and lovable for veteran players as well. While it’s generally a very fun experience, it’s not without technical issues.
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