Magic: The Gathering Online

 PC
User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 41
  3. Negative: 17 out of 41

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  1. YSS
    Nov 10, 2012
    0
    For those of you who have fond memories of playing MTG, and wanted a way to get back into the game.... RUN AWAY NOW.

    The current MTG meta has become less about skill, and more about 'How deep can you dig into your wallet'. Thanks to the money grabbing attempts of late, decks have gone up in price, and the entire experience feels like YGO.

    Sadly MTG is no longer the bastion of fair good TCG's
  2. MTGOSUCKS
    Apr 14, 2013
    0
    Overpriced. Terrible mods. Terrible game. AVOID. Basically it's like playing a badly designed lottery were the only skillz tested are either luck, or your 'credit card fu'

    Seriously, just avoid.
  3. MDC
    Sep 28, 2002
    10
    I love to play it but can't afford the cards so i want to play it on the internet for free.
  4. TharionW.
    Mar 22, 2007
    9
    Near 24x7 gameplay of MtG with friends around the world. Low system requirements and no monthly fee. If you love to play magic and want an average of 1,000 players online from around the world at any one moment - well MTGO is for you.
  5. Raezer
    Jun 3, 2016
    1
    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
  6. tsakiym
    May 11, 2015
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. beautiful game but u need money to play online,u need money to take cards,u need money to f*ck your self.
    I do not have to say anything more. But i need to write one hundred and fifty characters. i think my score can describe it.    … Expand
  7. McDeity
    Mar 15, 2015
    0
    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 evenMagic: 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.… Expand
  8. Azrael5578
    Sep 16, 2015
    0
    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. IThis 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.… Expand
  9. SteveA.
    Dec 19, 2007
    1
    I only gave this game a 1 as it is really the only option as far as online collectible card gaming goes. The game itself is great, everything else is atrocious. The server goes down constantly as it cannot support more than about 2500 people at a time. Release events rarely occur because lag becomes worse and worse as more users log on around release time. The user interface is at best I only gave this game a 1 as it is really the only option as far as online collectible card gaming goes. The game itself is great, everything else is atrocious. The server goes down constantly as it cannot support more than about 2500 people at a time. Release events rarely occur because lag becomes worse and worse as more users log on around release time. The user interface is at best unintuitive and in some areas downright confusing. We've been promised version 3.0 for the past two years and it has been consistently delayed. Accounts can be banned without review and without prior notice on the part of the player, and whole collections erased.… Expand
  10. Akuto
    Sep 11, 2011
    6
    A very fun game with some loose ends that need tying. For the ten dollar activation cost, I'm given nearly 1000 cards, many designed to be used in their pre-made decks. However, the gameplay itself took some adjusting to, since the program isn't exactly intuitive. A quick trip to the new user guide on the Wizards' forum fixes that. Another complaint is the New Player section of casualA very fun game with some loose ends that need tying. For the ten dollar activation cost, I'm given nearly 1000 cards, many designed to be used in their pre-made decks. However, the gameplay itself took some adjusting to, since the program isn't exactly intuitive. A quick trip to the new user guide on the Wizards' forum fixes that. Another complaint is the New Player section of casual games, which clearly has a lot of people who are neither new to MTG or MTGO. This makes it a hassle to find balanced games at times. All in all, worth the $10, but a bit demanding if you don't plan on spending more.… Expand
  11. Bainshie
    Sep 9, 2012
    0
    Avoid like the plague.

    Where do you start for something this bad? Lets start with the gameplay. Gameplay is like most TCG. Meaning it's bad, very bad. Balance among decks are often decided to be 'balanced' due to the flawed rock paper scissors ideas that so many games fall into. This means that 90% of games will be decided as soon as you start. If you have the counter to something, you    Avoid like the plague.

    Where do you start for something this bad? Lets start with the gameplay. Gameplay is like most TCG. Meaning it's bad, very bad. Balance among decks are often decided to be 'balanced' due to the flawed rock paper scissors ideas that so many games fall into. This means that 90% of games will be decided as soon as you start. If you have the counter to something, you win. If not you lose. The other 10% is decided by the luck of the draw, with both players not counting on skill, but luck to pull them through.

    This creates decidedly uninspiring gameplay, with both losses and wins feeling equally empty and pointless

    Then you have the price. Cards that are worth anything are often more expensive then their physical counterparts, thanks to the infection of bots in the trading. Even then, a second tier pauper (Commons only) deck will cost you anywhere from $15- up to $100. Standard decks cost anywhere from $70-$500. A deck is made up of 75 virtual cards. That isn't including the $30 a pop events, or the super expensive stuff (There are single virtual cards that sell for over $200).

    And last but not least, the entire client is just.... bad. Those of you lucky enough to be alive during the 90's, would remember the amount of crapware that came out around that time. Games like Snakes and ladders badly drawn, programmed and shoved onto CD's to fill up whatever magazine or cereal it was trying to entice you to buy. This game looks and feels exactly like those. Trading is possibly the worst system in any game ever, the entire UI looks like some prealpha rubbish created by a 3 year old on crack, and the thing is generally slow and confusing to use.

    As a final nail in the coffin, is the retarded moderation, the only game, including stuff designed for 3 year olds' which censors out the word 'piss'. The entire censorship and over zelous moderators smells of a bunch of 5 year old girls who haven't grown up enough to realize that people might say and do 'Boo boo's'.

    Actually, scratch that thought. Most 5 year old girls would be insulted to be compared to these guys.

    In conclusion, there is nothing good about this game, nothing, It's a place for fat nerds to high five each other because they spent waaaay too much money on what is basically a lottery with priddy pictures.

    Avoid at all costs.    … Expand
  12. StevenP.
    Jan 31, 2006
    10
    The convienience of being able to play against anyone at anytime is great. It makes for a powerful study tool for those who are serious about magic.
  13. Gamemasduck
    Nov 14, 2004
    10
    It is fun cuase i like magic. i like meeting other people who like the game and battling them.
  14. TilvenCavan
    Nov 17, 2015
    0
    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    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.    … Expand
  15. MarkW.
    May 18, 2006
    10
    It's fun....I am a small fish and I have over 14,000 cards ($2000 approximate value) with an initial investment of about $100.00. It's a game for very smart people and you dont have to worry about it ever being "Dumbed Down". If you are smart you won't have to buy to many cards....you will win them or trade other people out of them. Then sell them online for cash someday It's fun....I am a small fish and I have over 14,000 cards ($2000 approximate value) with an initial investment of about $100.00. It's a game for very smart people and you dont have to worry about it ever being "Dumbed Down". If you are smart you won't have to buy to many cards....you will win them or trade other people out of them. Then sell them online for cash someday before you die. The tickets used as currency in the game sell for about .90 on the dollar.....small price to pay to run your own business.… Expand
  16. DominickL.
    Oct 18, 2002
    0
    Sucks cause u gotta pay.
  17. jhp
    Sep 23, 2014
    0
    Terrible. Play Hearthstone by Blizzard instead.

    MTGO management are a bunch of vampire cockroaches trying to suck 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    Terrible. Play Hearthstone by Blizzard instead.

    MTGO management are a bunch of vampire cockroaches trying to suck 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.    … Expand
  18. EquinoxAlpha
    Nov 13, 2016
    1
    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    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!    … Expand
  19. BenzoSt
    Jul 12, 2022
    7
    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 theThe 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.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

76
#76 Best PC Game of 2002
30
#30 Most Discussed PC Game of 2002
16
#16 Most Shared PC Game of 2002

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. GameSpy
    79
    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.
    Read full review
  2. Game Revolution
    67
    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.
    Read full review
  3. Computer Games Magazine
    90
    An addictive game that's quick to play, easy to learn, delightfully detailed, and almost infinitely replayable. [Oct 2002, p.72]
See all critic reviews »