Developer: Leaping Lizard Software, Inc. Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Previewed by Irony on 4/10/02

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The Old Days:
As a dyed-in-the-wool gaming geek (not just computer games, but tabletop role-playing and even the occasional miniature board game), I went through a period in my life I like to call "The Magic Years." Those were heady times when friends would gather to trash talk each other and expound upon the virtues of their favorite Magic: The Gathering cards. Eventually we grew apart, and Magic no longer held the thrill it once did (pouring money into the hobby no longer seemed as harmless as it once did, either). I shelved my modest collection of cards and forgot about Magic completely.

Then, one of my roommates got a crazy idea: he would go to a Wizards of the Coast-sponsored premiere event for the new Magic expansion, Torment. After spending hours in a room with like-minded persons, he returned bearing gifts: a CD-ROM beta for Magic Online. We quickly installed the game (reserving judgment, since we'd both played other attempts to bring Magic to the PC), and became so utterly addicted that our sleep, work, and love lives suffered (and Banshee had to scold me into finishing a review, because I'd set aside all other games in favor of Magic Online).

The game is now in the final stages of beta testing in preparation for a Spring 2002 launch, and all indications are that the beta, at least, has been a smashing success (more than 90,000 accounts were created before the beta was closed). Representatives of Wizards have been very forthcoming at every stage, and also very solicitous of tester input, both on forums and in a special survey.

Users seem to agree on two salient points: (1) the game, developed by Leaping Lizard, is everything one could hope for in an online collectible card game, and (2) they're not sure they'll continue playing once the beta test is over. I'll talk about the first point first, and the second point second, for continuity's sake.

Preparing to Kick Butt:
If you've played Magic: The Gathering, Magic Online will seem familiar to you. There are some new rules for new expansions, such as "madness" for the Torment expansion, but everything works essentially the same online as it does in your basement (I kid because I love). For the beta test, all cards and event tickets were free.

In the game, players buy booster packs, tournament packs, and theme decks from the online store just as they would at their local gaming store. You virtually "open" these packs online, and check out what you got (which cards are in each pack is randomly determined as you open them).

All the cards you get go into your online collection, which you can sort by a great many criteria, trade, check out the art, and use to make constructed decks. Deck construction, in fact, is one of the best aspects of the game. Players can sort their collections in a spreadsheet view, searching by keyword, displaying only those cards which fit a chosen criterion like creature type or mana cost (mana is what fuels the spells in the game).

Here's how to do it: drag or double-click the cards you want to include in a deck, then use the available "stats" button to view statistics about your deck. Pie charts by color and card type let you know instantly what percentage of mana-producing land your deck contains (a vital piece of information), while a "mana curve" chart lets you know the average cost of your deck. Other available details include probabilities as to what kinds of cards you'll draw on each successive turn, and a list of formats in which your deck is legal to play (some expansion sets are not played competitively).

One of the best features of deck building is that your decks are saved as list files, not piles of cards like real-world cards, so you can have ten different decks all using some of the same cards, and you'll never have to search through your collection and pull cards from one deck to use in another.

Actually Kicking Some Butt:
Of course, deck building is just an exercise. It's the duel that concerns us, and Magic Online promises to shine here as well. The game has no single-player option: it requires internet connectivity and you have to play against an actual human being; luckily, there's lots of them.

Also, there's a format for everyone. There's a training room for beginners. In rooms for casual play, you can watch games as they progress, learning the ropes. Then, take your constructed deck to town in Wizards-hosted premiere events, where tournaments can last hours (this is no exaggeration; often, a tournament is won by whomever has the stamina to stick it out) and many booster packs can be your reward (plus, you have a rating for each format which goes up and down according to your record).

You can play against multiple opponents if the standard 1x1 duel becomes boring. Try Two- or Three-headed Giant, or Emperor: games with up to 6 players are common. One of my favorite formats is the booster draft where eight players choose one card at a time from newly-opened boosters, or the Rochester draft, where the boosters are opened and everyone can see which cards you take (politics play more of a role than you'd think). Sealed deck tournaments, in which you have a limited amount of time to make your deck up of brand new cards, are also extremely popular. All tournament play is timed as well, so practice in casual play before risking any hard-earned cash.

The Particulars of the Butt Kicking:
Leaping Lizard has really outdone themselves with the duel interface. The program knows all the rules, so you'll never have to fight rules wars again (does anyone else remember that whole "Maze of Ith"/"Serra Angel" controversy? No? I'm so old.), which will make your friends happy. Players can customize the game play to pause at specific points in each turn and require a click of the OK button before continuing. Card effects appear with a sound effect and colored arrows indicating exactly what each card is doing, and to whom. Once you get the hang of the interface, the only mistakes you make will be caused by your own inattention.

Each game window has a list of the room's occupants and a chat area. You can view user-contributed information on each player simply by right-clicking their name, and you can add buddies to a buddy list (making them easy to find in the game), or block annoying individuals.

A nice attempt was made to clean up the language by replacing any naughty words typed into the chat interface with swear symbols (#&%!!). Of course, people get around this by cleverly misspelling the words or replacing the S with a $, but at least they made the effort (and monitors can ban particularly rowdy individuals if they see them causing a ruckus).

Will Women Like It?
Most women who have played card games online at places like Yahoo! Games will recognize the "feel" of the Magic Online community. While demographics on Magic aficionados are not readily available, personal experience has taught me that the game is extremely popular among young boys. One nice aspect of Magic Online is that despite its popularity among young boys and its ready attempts to attract that target audience, the game, to my knowledge, has not stooped to any kind of offensive stereotyping in its advertising or implied a gender difference at all.

There are female avatars you can use during duels, and the cards themselves feature artwork which stands head and shoulders above that of any other collectible card game or table-top roleplaying product available. There are some wonderful, vibrant, strong, and powerful women reflected in the artwork on these cards. In the realm of fantasy art, this is a refreshing treat, and is something that should be noted and applauded by both consumers and the industry.

Concerns:
Magic Online is great. Everyone that's played it pretty much agrees that it injects new life into the game, and makes it a great deal of fun to play. With that said, there are some concerns. Chief among them is pricing.

Wizards has always been very honest about their intended pricing model, and it promises to be quite a sticking point. Basically, everything will sell for its suggested retail value, i.e., boosters will sell for $3.49, etc. The problems here are many:

1. Will people be willing to pay for virtual product? If I buy a booster at my local game shop, I'm holding the cards in my fat little hands, touching what I'm buying. Having a virtual collection almost takes the fun out of collecting. 2. Will people be willing to shell out a considerable initial cost to build up the card pool necessary for constructed deck play? Rumors abound that Wizards will include some cards with the purchase of an online account, but any Magic player knows that the hobby can become a giant money suck if you dedicate yourself to building a substantial card collection. 3. Why ask online users to pay SRP when serious tabletop Magic players usually buy their cards by the box on online auction sites for far less? I received a box of real-life Torment boosters for my birthday that cost half what the same number of virtual boosters is expected to cost. No one disputes Wizards' need to recoup development funds and to make money off the game, but the truth remains: virtual property is not analogous to "real" cards.

The answers to these three questions would take pages and pages to fully debate: I know, because pages and pages have already been filled discussing them at the Magic Online forums, so I'm not going to rehash every argument here. Suffice to say, it will be very interesting to see what kind of response will come, and what changes Wizards decides to make.

The second major concern I hear voiced consistently is that of security. Wizards and Leaping Lizard have assured all comers that their security is the best, and that redundant and back-up systems are in place to keep everything nice and safe. I believe them, but I also believe that anyone shelling out hard-earned cash for a virtual product which resides on a third-party server is going to continually worry about security. My fingers will be perpetually crossed as I hope that my collection is never harmed or pilfered; I also hope I don't end up across a virtual table from someone who duplicated every card in the set and who has a collection the size of the Library of Congress.

With that said, if you're interested in the game, check out the forums. See what's being talked about, and dip your toe into the already-forming community to see how welcoming you find it - and if you see me, say hello.

Web sites of interest:

SideBoard Magazine Online