# How do I play Magic: the Gathering on the computer nowadays? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 25, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261 "2012-06-25T16:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261/21 "2012-06-26T18:24:39Z")
The current game is just the card game. As noted, you get new cards whenever you defeat an opponent. The cards themselves are different – every year they add several hundred, and Duels has a card pool of several hundred cards, most of them from the last few years. But there are some older cards – Giant Growth is still around. The paper game has close to 15,000 unique cards available now. You should give Duels a shot – I believe there’s a free demo version on Steam (that’s how it’s worked in the past). –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261/22 "2012-06-26T20:25:29Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I know - I’ve played it a lot, way back when. The AI isn’t always brilliant, but I don’t need it to be brilliant. I just want it to be fun. > > Is Duels download only? I can’t go to a store and buy it? I don’t have a Steam account; I’m not much of a PC player normally (I know, throw bananas at me). I missed this question the first time through the thread. FWIW, I believe Duels is also available through Xbox Live Arcade. Yes, still download early, but if you prefer to game on a console than a PC, you might want to give it a look. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261/23 "2012-06-26T20:39:54Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The way the original game worked was almost like an RPG. Basically, you wandered around the magical land of Shandalar and as you wandered, you battled people. Kind of like Pokemon, I guess. You could battle creatures of any color, go into dungeons, towns, etc. > > When you battled, you had to put up an ante of a couple of cards, as did they. When you won, you took their cards. You could also buy cards at towns. Using these cards and the won cards, you could assemble or reassemble your deck. > > The goal was eventually to defeat the top wizards of each color. > > There was also a portion of it that was just straight card-playing, and here you had access to all of the decks in the library to build a deck. Now I had the original game + two expansions so I had a ton of cards. It wasn’t updated beyond that, so there was still a limit, but that was still hundreds of cards, and cards of each color, and even non-colored cards. You could put as many cards as you wanted in your deck. > > …Seriously, I think I’ll just go back and play that game again, clunky as the interface is. You’re talking about the old Microprose game. That was my introduction to Magic as well. ---
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261/24 "2012-06-26T20:40:22Z")
I play ['Wagic the homebrew’](http://wololo.net/2010/03/13/wagic-0-11-released/)sometimes and really like it. Simple little download game, I play it without card graphics but you can install those too. [From Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagic#Independent_and_freeware_adaptations): “Wagic, The Homebrew is a game with rules enforcement, that includes an artificial intelligence and focuses on solitaire game versus the computer. Although a Windows, Linux, and Maemo version are available, it is primarily designed for the Sony PSP.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-magic-the-gathering-on-the-computer-nowadays/626261.md?page=1)