Magic: The Gathering video games
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Several Magic: The Gathering video games exist for multiple systems. Benefits of successful video game versions include convenience, practice, and challenge. Drawbacks include limited AI, bugs, and continuous updates as new card sets are released. Computer and video game versions often expand on artwork, and may include unique cards that rely on randomly generated numbers or variables.
- Magic: The Gathering, published by MicroProse. The game takes place in the plane of Shandalar, where the player must travel the land and fight random enemies to gain cards, and defeat five wizards representing the five colors. The player must prevent one color from gaining too much power, and defeat the planeswalker Arzakon, who has a deck of all five colors. Adventure game and role-playing game elements are present, including inventory, gold, towns, dungeons, random battles, and character progression in the form of new abilities and a higher life point total. An oversized version of Aswan Jaguar is included in the game box. Two expansions were also released, adding cards from older sets:
- Spells of the Ancients - adds cards from older editions of the base set and from Arabian Nights and Antiquities expansion sets.
- Duels of the Planeswalkers - adds cards from Legends and The Dark expansion sets.
- Twelve unique Astral cards were added to the game:
| Card name | Casting cost | Card type | Description | Illustration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aswan Jaguar | 1GG | Creature - Jaguar | When Aswan Jaguar comes into play, choose a random creature type from those in target opponent's library.
GG,T: Destroy target creature of the chosen type. It can't be regenerated. |
Pat Morrissey |
| Call from the Grave | 2B | Sorcery | Return target creature card chosen at random in the graveyard to play under your control. Call from the Grave deals to you damage equal to that creature's casting cost. | Quinton Hoover |
| Faerie Dragon | 2GG | Creature - Dragon | Flying
1GG: Play a random effect. (1/3) |
NèNè Thomas |
| Gem Bazaar | – | Land | As Gem Bazaar comes into play, choose a color at random.
T: Add one mana to your mana pool of the color last chosen. Choose a color at random. |
Liz Danforth |
| Goblin Polka Band | RR | Creature - Goblin | X2,T: Tap X target creatures chosen at random. Spend only red mana on X. Goblins tapped this way do not untap during their controllers' next untap phases.
(1/1) |
Quinton Hoover |
| Necropolis of Azar | 2BB | Enchantment | Whenever a non-black creature is put into a graveyard from play, put a husk counter on Necropolis of Azar.
5, Remove a husk counter from Necropolis of Azar: Put a black Spawn creature token with swampwalk named Spawn of Azar into play. That token has power from 1 to 3 chosen at random and toughness from 1 to 3 chosen at random. |
Rob Alexander |
| Orcish Catapult | XRR | Instant | Randomly distribute X -0/-1 counters among a random number of random target creatures. | Melissa Benson |
| Pandora's Box | 5 | Artifact | 3,T: Each player reveals his/her library. Choose a random creature card from each library revealed this way. For each player, flip a coin. If heads, put a token into play that is a copy of that player's revealed card. Then each player shuffles his/her library. | Amy Weber |
| Power Struggle | 2UUU | Enchantment | At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player exchanges control of random target artifact, creature or land he or she controls, for control of random target permanent of the same type that a random opponent controls. | Mark Tedin |
| Prismatic Dragon | 2WW | Creature - Dragon | Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, Prismatic Dragon becomes a random color. 2: Prismatic Dragon becomes a random color. (2/3) |
Amy Weber |
| Rainbow Knights | WW | Creature - Knight | When Rainbow Knights comes into play, it gains protection from a random color permanently.
1: Rainbow Knights gains first strike until end of turn. WW: Rainbow Knights gets +0/+0, +1/+0, or +2/+0 until end of turn, chosen at random. (2/1) |
Douglas Shuler |
| Whimsy | XUU | Sorcery | Play X random fast effects. | Anson Maddocks |
- Magic: The Gathering: BattleMage is a real time strategy game published in 1997 by MicroProse, with cards used in real time. It is set on the continent of Corondor, where a planeswalker named Ravidel forces the most powerful mages to fight each other, so that he can eventually destroy them and conquer the land. The game was considered a failure for its unfair AI, unfriendly interface, and unbalanced gameplay.
- Apprentice was designed to emulate real-world play over the Internet. It allowed players to connect to each other and play, but all the rules-enforcement was done "by hand," just as in the real world.
- Magic: The Gathering: Armageddon is an extremely rare arcade game based on Magic: the Gathering, published by Acclaim. Gameplay exists in the form of real time combat, with characters representing one of the five colors (Blue for counterspells and water creatures, White for healing and soldiers/knights, Red for fire and mountain creatures, Black for death and undead creatures, Green for elves and forest magic).
- Magic: The Gathering for Dreamcast, published by Sega, released June 2001 (Japan only). It takes place in the town of Magic Heart, the surrounding areas of Murg, Camat Island, Lydar Forest, Yeluk, Tornell, and The Balance Tower. It includes cards from 6th edition, Alliances, and Tempest. There are also 10 unique cards:
| Card name | Casting cost | Card type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hapato's Might | 2B | Instant | Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is a random number from 0 to 6. |
| Murgish Cemetery | 4BB | Enchantment | 3B, Discard a card: Put an X/X black creature token into play, where X is a random number from 2 to 6. |
| Camato Scout | 1UU | Creature - Merfolk | When Camato scout comes into play, it gains landwalk of a random basic land type. (2/3) |
| Saji's Torrent | 1U | Instant | Tap X creatures, where X is a random number from 0 to 5. |
| Lydari Druid | 2G | Creature - Druid | When Lydari Druid comes into play, all lands become a random basic land. (2/2) |
| Lydari Elephant | 4G | Creature - Elephant | Lydari Elephant's power is a random number from 3 to 7, determined as it comes into play, and Lydari Elephant's toughness is a random number from 3 to 7, determined as it comes into play. (*/*) |
| Velican Dragon | 5RR | Creature - Dragon | Flying
When Velican Dragon becomes blocked, it gets +X/+O until the end of turn, where X is a random number from 0 to 5. (5/5) |
| Ashuza's Breath | 1R | Sorcery | Ashuza's Breath deals X damage to all creatures, where X is a random number from 0 to 2. |
| Arden Angel | 4WW | Creature - Angel | At the beginning of your upkeep, if Arden Angel is your graveyard, there is a 1 in 4 chance that you can return it to play. (4/4) |
| Tornellan Protector | 2W | Creature - Cleric | T: Until end of turn, damage dealt to target player or creature is reduced by X, where X is a random number from 1 to 3. (1/2) |
- Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia is an application that includes almost every card up to Mercadian Masques plus an updatable database, a strategy information section, deck builder with street pricing, and online play mode.
- Magic Workstation is similar to Apprentice in that is gameplay only, but adds more graphical support. It is not officially supported by Wizards of the Coast.
- Magic: The Gathering Online focuses purely on gameplay, and includes no additional storyline. It was released in 2002. Included are cards from Invasion and all later sets, with updates available as new sets are printed; plans to release older sets have also been announced; presently both Mirage and Visions have been digitally rendered. Games are held in chatroom-style sessions, and virtual cards can be won or purchased with real money.
- Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds was released in 2003 for PC and Xbox. It was another attempt to do a real-time battling game, with wizards frantically running around casting spells.
