Magic: The Gathering - Tactics (Video) Preview

"Whether or not you’ll be riveted by MTGT will solely be based on how much micropayments you are willing to chip in."

 

Developer: Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Release Date: January 18, 2011
Platform (s): PC, PS3
Genre: Fantasy, Strategy, Turn-Based

 

Video Preview

 

Oh, Magic: The Gathering; you have shaped my youth from a medium-sized nerd-dweller to a full-size pro nerd, breaking the last frontier of games, films and books with your intricate card game. The times were different then and to much of you all this meta-talk I will spew is going to sound foreign. But no worries, for I have brought my translator with me. For every word you don’t understand replace it with ‘Epic’ if it is a proper name, ‘epic beast’ if it is a creature and ‘awesome’ for anything else.
 

Can you guess which Magic The Gathering classic angel this is?

 

Ah yes, the Urza (that’s your cue) saga was about to come out and we were all excited to see one of the strongest card sets to date unfold before our eyes. But before I was enticed to play, I had a PSOne game called Magic: The Gathering Battlemage that taught me the very basics (if flawed) and that made my hunger for spellcasting rise. Since then, I’ve amassed literally thousands upon thousands of cards, before I had no more employment to sustain my habit; right around when Planeshift released I believe. So you can see how you can link such a force of nature with illegal narcotics, holding you in its black vice. But enough with lame puns and backstory already! What’s this new game all about, damn it!?

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics (MTGT), as the name suggests, sees the franchise take on a ‘tactics’ strategy gameplay, while still maintaining the cards and spells. As a hybrid between the two, you play the role of a powerful mage, called a Planeswalker, in tradition of the more recent overpowered additions to the card games. These behemoths of magical prowess are key turning points in the game and such, so are you, with the ability to draw mana as a resource and cast spells to build your army. You can form creatures, cast sorceries, enchant targets with effects or have artifacts aid you in your battle. Some of those things can by themselves create other activated abilities and so on. It’s quite hard to grasp for newcomers, but seeing as this isn’t a typical card game, you get quite some help within the tutorials.
 

Magic: The Gathering - Tactics Angels in action.

 

Presented on a world map when taking quests for your campaign, the battlefield itself is formed like a tabletop, upon which your entities take up squares, just like in all other tactics games. Visually, this is presented adequately and with all the bells and whistles, blooming and special effects create an enchanting realm for you to destroy. Animations follow that same line and complete the combo with equal sound effects, although the score is a bit more enthralling than all other aspects, as to be expected from a fantasy setting. It’s not an Oblivion-like shock and awe campaign, but it all serves the spellcasting strategy hybrid. And as such it works like a charm and creates a nicer world than many previous iterations, such as the disappointing Battlegrounds, which didn’t actually show a lot of grounds.

Controlling the game mechanics themselves is surprisingly manageable with practice and the interface does its best to maintain a clear overview, if at all possible in the complex world of MTGT. The bottom of the screen holds most of your needed info, with mana used for casting and such, the abilities you can use with the selected character and of course your cards that hold all your power. Each turn, you get awarded a card and one additional mana, after which you can commence spellcasting. You can only cast creature spells in range of your Planeswalker, but other spells have no specific radius, if not specified otherwise.
 

In Magic: The Gathering - Tactics, white still represents good.

 

The left side shows you the turn order for you and your opponent, together with all the creatures on the playing field. Here you can also right click the respective icons to gain much needed info about them and what they are capable of. As MTGT is still a thinking man’s game, yours truly can only advise you do so from time to time.

When on the terrain, you can move around your Planeswalker and creatures the allotted space each turn and attack your opponent. This way, your goal is completely obliterate the opposition, but the campaign also has many other quests, that don’t necessarily require you to kill, but rather make a hasty escape, by activating pillars. By implementing ranged creatures to the game, even experienced card players will have to rethink known cards and possibly give them a new place in their hearts as each card hold many other abilities. A card is now not only divided in the basic attack and defense module, but also comes with a set range, movement speed and initiative.
 

I smell something burning...

 

There are a few tricks to know about MTGT though, as not all is as advertised. While Wizards Of The Coast (WOTC) would like you to believe it’s a free-to-play game, only the most basic experience will be available to you gratis. The first chapter of the campaign teases you with an epic story to unfold, but the next will have to be bought. This is a shame, as MTGT also offers a nice RPG element by leveling your Planeswalker and giving each color a talent tree of extra skills. Seeing as you can’t get very far, you won’t get to enjoy those if you don’t pony up.

There are other modes of play though, such as a PvP loose matches or even organized events and tournaments, like the MTG circuit has known for eras. There’s also an auction house where you can put up cards for sale and purchase others to strengthen your spellbook. You can also purchase booster packs for that and try and get a hold of some serious powerhouses. There are a lot of classic cards making their way back into the series, such as Serra Angel, Necropotence, but also the almighty Black Lotus. That’s right; the card weighing in at a minimum of hundreds of dollars in retail can also be found lurking in the boosters of MTGT, along with other ultra rares for the lucky few.
 

Which Green Rare is depicted in this Magic: The Gathering - Tactics screen?

 

But as said, most of the enjoyment you’ll like to have or will have will prominently be governed by micropayments. Understandable, the booster formula of the card   game should see a very small micropayment price if you want to update your spellbook; that’s basically how it works. But the chopping of every other aspect seems a bit farfetched, as this way it won’t really bring a lot of new contenders to the field; something I really regret. I enjoyed playing Battlemage so much in the day, I went out and bought myself stupid with the card game. As over 90% percent of all the money I made from one of the only 2 jobs I ever held went exclusively to cards, you can see how enthralling it can be.

WOTC run a very tight ship, always have, but that also will ‘limit’ the potential of this otherwise very successfully transposed hybrid. I use the term lightly as MTG has always been a subculture on its own. Once you get into the sway of buying cards and playing matches, you can get sucked in very deep and before you know it, you’ll know each and every one of your environment’s players personally. This way,
players create their own community and that is a very vast one.
 

Keeper of the hourglass, don't you know that opposites attract?

 

With the game being released this 18^th of January, it doesn’t look like a lot of the pay-to-play aspects will be altered. So whether or not you’ll be riveted by MTGT will solely be based on how much of these micropayments you are willing to chip in. You can start chipping at it a little and see where it takes you, but as a fan I like it and if I’d do such a thing as a micro-transaction, I’d be willing to at least see the campaign to its end. If by then you’ll have created a taste for the best card game on the planet, feel free to go further, as the rabbit hole is deep and complex and offers a lot of opportunities and a very large community able to upkeep any game for ages to come. Until WOTC offer me all the promotional cards I want though, I’ll just stick to the good old real thing; nothing will ever beat that, ever. MTGT is also set for the Playstation Network later this year.

If you still aren't convinced, here's a random busload of screens.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed.