Magic: The Gathering is best known for its cards– made of paper, they represent creatures, enchantments, heroes, and equipment for pushing your opponent to their demise. But its legacy is greater than its place on tabletops, spawning novels, animations, and even video games.
Though the most common way that Magic has been adapted to gaming is one-to-one ports of its gameplay, you'd be surprised to find that many games are more inspired by its themes than its cards. It makes sense, at least: cards were placeholders for things we couldn't fully realize, so why not go all the way now?
15 Armageddon
If there's anything to say about Magic: The Gathering: Armageddon, it's that its core concept is simple and effective. The game takes the card game's monster summoning and makes it the core of real-time battles, asking you to attack monsters while summoning and teleporting to avoid damage.
Sadly, this game is abysmal to play even if you can find the rare cabinets to play it on. It was so unenjoyable that it was quickly shuffled out of production before it could get a worldwide release.
14 BattleMage
Magic: The Gathering – BattleMage's only redeeming quality is its use of the original game's artwork, barely tying it to its inspiration. Otherwise, BattleMage is one of the least inspired attempts to convert Magic to real-time, representing combat with terrible visuals that were below par even in its day.
The gameplay is overly difficult, which grinds against the unfriendly UI to make the entire experience frustrating and repetitive. If this was your only real-time Magic experience, you couldn't be faulted for writing off the concept entirely.
13 Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 is a relatively recent attempt at simulating Magic's systems, proving to be the worst version of the concept. The moment-to-moment gameplay is fine, giving a solid structure for dueling, but the big issue is in monetization.
It isn't unrealistic to expect players to buy microtransactions, but Planeswalkers 2015 takes greediness to another level by making free players go through unreasonable grinds for worthless cards. Given that it lacks many features of the series' prior games, it's not worth playing at all.
12 Puzzle Quest
Magic: The Gathering – Puzzle Quest is actually interested in offering a fun experience, adapting the card game to the ever-present Bejeweled format. Each matched group of orbs gets you mana to use for your cards, mixing skill with card luck.
Despite its enjoyable gameplay, Puzzle Quest still feels money-hungry, putting limited-time cards and Planewalkers behind large crystal costs to prey on your fear of missing out. It's still playable as a free player, though, so it earns a spot in the mediocre Hall of Fame.
11 Tactics
Magic: The Gathering – Tactics is considered a fantastic tactics game, providing deep strategy without losing Magic's unique style and tone. Sharing a category with games like XCOM, Tactics is able to stand confidently knowing it's both unique and up to par with its contemporaries.
What seems to be a trend with Magic games, though, is a commitment to draining every dollar from your bank account. Tactics is still massively playable without paying, but your chances of getting enough to change the day-to-day gameplay are slim.
10 Magic: The Gathering (1997)
Despite releasing alongside Armageddon and BattleMage, the Magic: The Gathering video game was pretty good. The adventure mode allowed you to travel the world and challenge encounters in normal games of Magic. When it comes down to it, it's a consistent game that's slim on content.
The issue that stops this from sitting at the top of the hill is that there is no PVP mode– there isn't even a local mode for in-person meetups, so you either play against bots or not at all.
9 Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013
The third title in the Duels of the Planeswalkers series, Planeswalkers 2013 was more of the same without much variety. Most of the things that made the prior games good are still there, meaning that it still beats blatant cash grabs.
Given that this is the third installment, though, you would think that criticisms about the lack of deckbuilding would have led to any meaningful change– it was the most requested feature, as the bland decks that the games offer lend very little to individual choice.
8 Magic: Legends Open Beta
Magic: Legends had an open beta in 2021 to test the gameplay systems it wanted to introduce, and all said, it was a fairly solid experience. Unlike many other forays into real-time combat, everything was in working order and made sense in the new genre.
Unfortunately, the experience just wasn't memorable enough to click with its audiences, forcing the game into cancellation. One of the big issues came from player strength never really reaching any height, instead plateauing and making time spent in-game feel wasted.
7 Duels of the Planeswalkers
The original Duels of the Planeswalkers may not be the most robust Magic experience, but it might be one of the best for introducing newer players to the game. Where getting into something as dense as Magic can be difficult in real life, the tutorials provided do a great job of teaching the basics.
Unfortunately, as is the case for most of the series, Planeswalkers 2009 does not have deck customization, only allowing you to use prebuilt decks with a few card slots. These extra slots are negligible to the efficacy of most decks, making play for veterans feel hollow.
6 Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 fixed the problems of its 2009 predecessor and created an incredibly solid experience, adding a few things to keep gameplay fresh without affecting the core.
Deckbuilding remains off the list of new features despite all the improvements to the game, meaning that you're out of luck if you're searching for a pure Magic experience: a place where you can play the silliest decks and readily suffer the consequences. Regardless, the improvements on the first game make this a slightly stronger experience overall.
5 Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014
It's difficult to compare Planewalkers 2014 to 2012, as though it finally added deck customization, it did so rather disgracefully. Instead of just charging for cards that could be placed in different decks, this edition also charges for the right to build more than two– this is especially frustrating since decks don't share cards, and can't be deleted at all.
Still, if you don't mind paying a little extra, Planeswalkers offers nearly everything the 2012 edition did without being as money-hungry as the final title in the series.
4 Magic: The Gathering Online
That's right, a more than 20-year-old game beats out every title in the Planeswalkers series, and for one reason alone– you can build decks without barriers to entry. Aside from the typical card costs, you are in control of the destiny of your decks.
Even better, Magic Online actually had a thriving scene, hosting tournaments and getting exclusive card sets that aren't in the real-life card game. The only thing it needs is help for newer players, as it is just as difficult to break into as the real thing.
3 Battlegrounds
It might be a real-time game, but Magic: The Gathering – Battlegrounds connects its gameplay systems to the card game in ways that any fan will appreciate. Keywords like trample are important to your in-game monsters, and make sense in the context of the translated battle system.
The single-player mode can get boring at times, but when you can play one-on-one battles both online and against computers, there isn't really any reason to play it. It works fine as a tutorial, and can be left as such.
2 Magic Duels
Magic Duels was essentially an apology for the over-monetization seen in the final iteration of the Planeswalkers series. You go from a game that has no respect for your time or autonomy to one that has no problem giving you control without charging admission.
Though the deckbuilder is generally more opaque and difficult to use, the only thing you need to pay for are the booster packs. Duels almost feels like a recreation of the 2002 Magic: The Gathering Online, offering up solid gameplay without any hassle.
1 Arena
Magic: The Gathering Arena only barely squeaks its way above Magic Duels by being a bit more accurate to the rules of Standard, as well as offering a few more sets to play with – otherwise, you're getting about the same experience with a brand-new coat of paint.
The only issue is that players of Duels will have to re-obtain all the cards they bought for Arena without too much of a change in the way they play, making the whole thing somewhat anti-consumer. If this is your first digital Magic experience, though, it is undeniably the best.