Review: Magic 2014 for the iPad is like poker for nerds

The world’s most popular collectable card game is back for its second romp on the iPad. Magic 2014 has you casting spells and summoning terrifying creatures against a colorful
cast of adversaries, and you’ll need to have your wits about you in order to make it through the main campaign in one piece. The game should feel familiar
to anyone who’s played previous Magic: The Gathering titles, but there are a number of new features in Magic 2014 that should prove exciting to veterans of
the card game.

Back to basics

If you’ve never picked up a Magic card in your life, don’t worry: Magic 2014 has a tutorial that walks you through everything you need to know to play the
game (and possibly win). It holds your hand through basic actions, like summoning a creature, and even offers hints if you don’t know what card to play
next. Experienced players may find the slower-pace of the game trying, but it’s great for newbies who’ve yet to learn all the rules and card types. Should
you already know the differences between a triggered ability and an activated one, you can thankfully disable the hints in the options and skip the
tutorial.

The Campaign is broken up into four chapters with 4 matches each.

The game’s single-player is broken up into four different modes (Campaign, Sealed Play, Challenges, and Custom Game), with the Campaign making up most of
Magic 2014’s core experience. There’s a flimsy story concerning the planeswalker Chandra Nalaar chasing some wizard across the multiverse, but a bulk of the
Campaign is spent playing against decks with specific themes. For instance, there’s a deck that only uses zombies and another that only uses spells that
deal you direct damage. Playing through the Campaign unlocks new decks for you to use, and winning matches with those decks unlocks new cards.

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