Magic Spellslingers is a new, online-only card game from Wizards of the Coast. Developed by Pipework Studios and Seismic Games, this card battler reimagines the characters and cards of MTG and places them in an 1v1 arena showdown. It’s free to download on Steam or on Apple and Android mobile devices.
What Is It?
Spellslingers is a 1v1 online card game. Even though it has the trappings of MTG, it’s more similar to other games like Hearthstone or Legends of Runeterra. You still have the classic CCG gameplay of attacking with creatures and casting spells, but it’s not the same as traditional Magic.
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You still play cards from your hand using mana, but you don’t have land cards that you can play and tap. Instead, your mana increases by one every turn.
Your creatures will also take permanent damage. There’s no more healing at the end of every turn, so blocking is a riskier option. To compensate for this, each body is more expendable. There aren’t as many utility creatures as there are in MTG; just about everything is meant for combat.
Some of the card types in this game also function differently. When you play an artifact, it has a certain number of charges before it gets depleted. These are free to activate once you’ve played the card. Also, instants are now called traps, and they trigger when your opponent takes a certain action. You don’t have priority to respond with these like you do in traditional Magic; they just happen.
Before each match, you choose which planeswalker you want to play as, and each choice gives you unique powers. Your planeswalker determines what colors you can play, as well as giving you a special power unique to that character. Chandra, for example, starts the game by dealing four damage to her opponent.
There are other differences between MTG and Spellslingers, but just know this: if you’re looking for another way to play Magic, this isn’t it. This is a different game with new mechanics that happens to have an MTG aesthetic.
My Initial Thoughts
Before we get into my thoughts, I want to give a quick disclaimer: I haven’t played enough of the game to give a full review. I’ve only played it for a couple of days, so there are plenty of cards and characters I haven’t experienced yet.
The game just had its soft launch on August 12th, and WOTC has been pretty quiet about its release. As far as I can tell, there’s been almost no build-up for the game. They waited until its release day to announce it on Twitter and their official website, and the official trailer didn’t get any lead time. WOTC’s relative silence about the game had many players skeptical, including myself. However, it’s actually a pretty fun way to jam a CCG on your phone!
PC
My experience on PC wasn’t great. I tried to play the tutorials, but I was unable to complete one of them due to bugs. Twice. The game wouldn’t let me attack with my creatures on my first attempt, and then the game wouldn’t progress after I skipped the dialogue on my second try. When I conceded the match to start again, it didn’t register and wouldn’t let me pull up the menu again.
The game’s presentation could also use some work. Its visual style doesn’t appeal to me, and the whole thing looks more generic than stylized. I also found the voice acting to be annoying, but there are options to mute the characters. Despite all of this, I decided to give the game a second chance on iOS. Some of the game’s design choices, such as sliding your creatures up to attack with them, suggests that’s where it shines.
Mobile
On mobile, I had a much better experience. The game works just fine, and I’ve had fun seeing the game’s deck variety.
What really sets this game apart are the planeswalkers. They each restrict your deck’s colors, and their abilities all make a big difference in gameplay. Liliana gives your creatures a boost when you reanimate them, Kiora gives you huge sea creatures when you get enough mana, and Kaya gives you extra creatures as you deal damage to your opponent. Those are just a few examples, and I’m excited to unlock more characters.
My biggest concern going forward is how often I’ll be able to unlock new characters. The progression is really slow, and I’ve seen other people express concern over the game’s economy. From my limited time, I can tell this game will be a grind if you want to go 100% free-to-play. You might find that the gameplay is fun enough to justify that, but you should know what you’re getting into if you want lots of characters and cards.
End Step
If anything you’ve read here piqued your interest, I would definitely recommend downloading Magic Spellslingers. It’s free to play, so there’s no harm in at least seeing if you like the game. I can’t say whether it’s better than other titles in its genre, but it’s great for getting a quick game in or grinding the ladder.
