Discovering Magic: The Gathering 30 years later

I’ve been visiting old memories and reliving my childhood these past few weeks by venturing into the realm of card collecting and games. It’s been a tremendously moving and exciting experience for me that’s made me realize I still had the passion for these kinds of games, especially after so many years. At first, I didn’t really think I’d ever give it a chance, but reliving the past and learning about the present has convinced me that it wasn’t too late to try.

I’ve always enjoyed playing card games and continued to do so throughout my life. I’ve even reviewed a few on TapTap like Legends of Runeterra, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, and Card Crawl Adventure. Heck, I’ve even spent over half a decade playing Hearthstone too. That said, returning to Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game and playing Pokémon Trading Card Game for the first time had to be one of the best things that’s ever happened these last few years. If you haven’t already, I wrote about these moments on TapTap and also confessed that card collecting might not be a great idea if you’re trying to save money.

After playing both titles, I felt I had to continue exploring, so naturally in this conquest of card games, I decided to embark on another adventure—one that I’d waited a while to do. I decided to start playing Magic: The Gathering through Magic: The Gathering Arena thirty years later since it was made.

Now, I’ve played Magic: The Gathering Arena before, but not a lot of it. At the time, I didn’t have a mobile that performed well, so the game would always crash or freeze. But since I have much more of a much wider choice of tools now, I can completely enjoy the game without any issues. I thought that since I’ve played most card games on PC, I’d give Magic: The Gathering Arena a spin on it too, so I downloaded the game and booted it up.

Playing Magic: The Gathering Arena for the first time felt enchanting. The game feels slightly more difficult than any other card title I’d ever played before, and learning the rules seemed pretty straightforward—although, I have to admit that for the first few hours, I had no idea what I was doing half the time—which could just be me.

Magic: The Gathering Arena closely resembles Hearthstone, but feels like a more polished, or in other terms, “mature” version of the game. The interface and buttons feel well-made and direct, while the sound design and interaction take the experience to another level. But when it comes to what sets it apart from everything else out there, Magic: The Gathering Arena’s visuals are the pièce de résistance. I’ve never seen such beautiful visuals and card art like those I’ve laid eyes on in Magic The Gathering Arena, which should say a lot considering I’ve basically played sixty to eighty percent of the best card games on the market. The visuals are out of this world, and seem as if they could’ve been taken from a cinematic movie or painting.

I had so much fun playing Magic The Gathering Arena that I even decided to purchase a few booster packs to see if the cards looked just as stunning in person too. To my disbelief, they did, and seemed to look even greater. If you scroll up, you can see a few of the rarer cards I’ve pulled so far.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Magic The Gathering Arena so much, and I didn’t think it’d be this great of a game, but I’m glad I gave it a try. Looking back, these past few weeks of me experimenting and experiencing titles again or for the first time have really had an impact on the way I think about card games. I realize now that card games are ingrained into my soul—they’re a part of me and a reason that I’ve grown to love gaming in general. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am, and I don’t think I’d be writing this post too. For that, I owe eternal gratitude to the card games that brought me to TapTap—and to this wonderful life of playing games.