Fans of the best-selling table top strategy card game Magic: The Gathering will be excited to hear that an all-new digital game has officially been revealed. Created by American game designer Richard Garfield in 1993, Magic quickly cemented itself as a go-to title in the table top gaming community.
Drawing certain inspiration from old school pencil-and-paper fantasy properties like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering has set itself apart as an in-depth strategy game that utilizes many different kinds of cards beholden to a series of complex rules that outrank many other like-minded titles. To date, Magic continues to draw roughly 20 million players worldwide, with an organized tournament system that hosts an international assembly of professional and amateur players. And in a bid to further the reach of the card game online, publisher Wizards of the Coast has just announced the free-to-play digital game Magic: The Gathering Arena.
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Per an official press release, Wizards of the Coast is currently looking for Magic players around the world to sign up for the Closed Beta for Magic: The Gathering Arena. Designed to bring the same tabletop experience to digital gamers without forfeiting any of the core tenants already familiar to Magic players - with a first iteration based on the Iaxlan release and casual Constructed play expected to arrive later this year - the new game aims, "To provide players and viewers fast-paced, exciting, and easy-to-follow matches."
In association with the newly-founded Digital Games Studio, Wizards of the Coast president, Chris Cocks, is eager to get longtime Magic fans to sing up for the Closed Beta for MTG Arena. Speaking to the enthusiasm that everyone has for the project moving forward, Cocks stated:
"We assembled some of the best game designers in the industry who are working to build a digital platform as flexible and expansive as Magic itself. But to make sure we really get it right, we need input from the Magic community, so fans should sign up for the Closed Beta and share your feedback with us."
Just how different MTG Arena will prove to be from the already-existing Magic: The Gathering Online community - which contrastingly operates as a virtual economy - remains to be seen. Boasting the establishment of a free-to-play structure may manage to draw many Magic fans to MTG Arena, and anyone interested can sign up now at playmtgarena.com.
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Source: Wizards of the Coast