Magic: The Gathering's latest digital release is taking it online, with the goal to have some people watch it in competitive eSports arenas. It's been 25 years since the best trading card game has been created, and now, there's an exciting new way to play it.
Game developer Jeffrey Steefel announced the Magic: The Gathering Arena online (via THR)
"The first and best strategy card game with the most vibrant global community deserves an outstanding digital presence," Steefel said. "I'm proud to introduce Magic: The Gathering Arena"
According to Steefel, Arena will be a digital version of the best strategy card game in the world: "First and foremost, MTGArena is going to be an amazing place to play the game you love with all the depth, rules, and nuances fans love, plus the striking and easy-to-understand visuals that make watching online exciting,"Steefel explained.
Bringing Magic to digital is also a way to cultivate spectator sportmanship for the game, just like Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone. "We want Kenji Egashira's [professional gamer] MTGArena stream to one day get as many viewers as the Pro Tour does today," Steefel explained "We want players to eagerly anticipate MTGArena draft nights with their friends around the world."
The scale of the project sounds more ambituous than previous Magic: The Gathering video games, aiming to get eSports presence for the Magic community. "To realize that vision, we're creating the game with three important goals in mind," he added. "We want to create the deepest, richest digital card game on the market. At the start of Closed Beta, we will launch with the same or greater number of cards than our competitors release in a year. By the time we go into full launch, MTGArena will feature the full card set in Standard—more cards than other digital TCGs have created in their entire lifespan, with 1,000 new cards added every year. That means deeper gameplay, more options, and more room to explore."
One of the primary goals is to get an engaging audience for Arena: "We want to create a version of Magic that's as much fun to watch as it is to play," Steefel explained. "Viewing MTGArena on Twitch or other platforms will be a fast-paced, exciting, and easy to understand experience for fans across the globe. Our goal is nothing less than creating one of the premier eSports viewing experiences with fun visuals, awesome sound, and cool ways to learn from and interact with our evolving catalogue of content. We want to create a game that can evolve."
Steefel explained how fans can get involved with the development of the game: "There are two primary ways you can be involved with the development of MTGArena: join the Closed Beta and play it at one of several events over the coming months. First, you can sign up for the Closed Beta at MTG-Arena.com."
Magic has a huge player base so its digital version will most likely succeed on getting an engaging audience and establishing eSports presence.
In another related news, Magic: The Gathering's latest set will be released later this month. You can watch the trailer below.
Read more:Here's A List of Magic: The Gathering Creatures That Will Be Officially Dinosaurs After Ixalan
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