t’s almost time to introduce everyone to Magic: The Gathering Arena!

Join us on Thursday, September 7 at 1:00 PM Pacific on Twitch.tv/magic and we’ll show you what we’ve been working on - with special guests Amaz and Gaby Spartz!

Well it would be pretty awkward if they invalidated people's Magic Duels collections to replace the game with a slightly different version of f2p Magic cards. I choose to be cautiously optimistic.

What Is MTG Arena?

Magic: The Gathering Arena is free-to-play, authentic Magic, reborn digitally for gamers, fans, and streamers.

You've heard us talk about Magic Digital Next and the Digital Games Studio, our efforts to translate the rich world of Magic into modern digital gaming experiences. MTG Arena is the first of those efforts and is intended to be the ultimate way to play the latest card sets in Magic. It is available to download with no fee and is a free-to-play-game.

First and foremost, MTG Arena is going to be an amazing place to play the game you love with all the depth, rules, and choices fans love, plus the striking and easy-to-understand visuals that make watching online exciting. We want popular MTG Arena streams to consistently be among the most-viewed streams on Twitch. We want players to eagerly anticipate MTG Arena draft nights with their friends around the world. We want pro players' competitive ladder matches to be watched with the same fervor as a Grand Prix.

To realize that vision, we're creating the game with three important goals in mind.

We want to create the deepest, richest digital card game on the market. Magic already boasts some of the deepest strategy of any TCG in the world, tabletop or digital, and MTG Arena's goal is to live up to that depth right at the start of Closed Beta. By the time we go into full launch, MTG Arena will feature the full card sets in Standard, with around 1,000 new cards added every year. That means deeper gameplay, more experiences to discover, and more room to explore.

We want to create a version of Magic that's as much fun to watch as it is to play. Viewing MTG Arena 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 communities, with viewing experiences packed 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. We've created an all-new Games Rules Engine (GRE) that uses sophisticated machine learning that can read any card we can dream up for Magic. That means the shackles are off for our industry-leading designers to build and create cards and in-depth gameplay around new mechanics and unexpected but widly fun concepts, all of which can be adapted for MTG Arena thanks to the new GRE under the hood.

To accomplish these lofty goals, the development of the game is going to take time, and throughout this process our work will be more visibly inclusive of our fans than any previous Magic product. We have great ideas about the game—soon we'll be inviting players like you to play and share your thoughts with us.

Heartstone the Gathering.

I recall reading somewhere that it's likely a MOBA.

I don't remember where I read this, just that I did. Most likely in a Steam forum.

Mtgo allows you to use cards from before ixalan and allows you to qualify for the pro tour (which I doubt they would do in a product where you don't pay for your cards). Also allows you to trade your digital cards for physical cards if you collect a full set

Bad call