After most of a year closed to the public, Magic: The Gathering Arena is in open beta starting today. We’ve taken several looks at MTG Arena in its closed state, but the open beta is anybody’s game, with an special event already announced. Players have access to the latest Magic card set, Guilds of Ravnica, and the game’s sealed draft format. Perhaps the most interesting thing is a special, free constructed deck even in the singleton style—meaning a deck can only have one copy of any given card. Further, for those who play paper Magic, the game’s physical retail products will now contain codes that can be redeemed for MTG Arena cards, a tactic we’ve not yet seen implemented in online card games at this scale.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is a big step forward for the 25 year old game, as prior to this the only serious way to play Magic was the venerable, quite outdated Magic Online. A Wizards of the Coast representative called MTG Arena “the future of digital magic” in a press release.
You can download the client and register to play at the Magic: The Gathering Arena website.
