Because people like me, presumably, are a good slice of Wizards of the Coast’s target demographic. I have to stress, it’s because of my love for the paper version of MtG, rather than a deep commitment to digital CCGs, that I’m writing this review.

If it can wrest away Hearthstone’s status as the game that’s actually recommended to tabletop MtG players, it will be quite something. But now, after a year in open beta, Magic: The Gathering Arena is out. By now, I’ve lost count of the number of friends who have approached me with wide-eyed enthusiasm and told me ‘mate, you need to play Hearthstone!’Īny digital card game exists by default in the shadow of the Blizzard behemoth, and most newcomers have failed so much as to nip at its ankles, many of them withering in the darkness despite being quite good. Even though there’s been a digital version of Magic: The Gathering in some form for more than seventeen years, it’s not the game that I, a casual but long-term devotee of the physical game, am recommended on a near-monthly basis.

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