Magic: Legends is an upcoming action RPG with a special twist: instead of fixed skills, you fight with a deck of cards and spells that rotate. You build your decks yourself, significantly influencing your play style. Principal Lead Designer Adam Hetenyi explained to MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus in detail how it all works.
What is Magic: Legends? The new free-to-play action RPG from Cryptic Studios and Perfect World brings the famous trading card game Magic: The Gathering (“MTG”) into a gameplay reminiscent of the Diablo series.
Alone or in a group of up to three players, you control a “Planeswalker,” among the most powerful beings in the Magic universe. Unlike traditional ARPGs, you do not gain increasingly more abilities but cards. These represent spells and are assembled in the form of decks.
What is so exciting about deck building? Decks, your actual abilities, are the absolute core of the game. In Magic: Legends, you build your own deck from over 175 different cards. This ultimately determines who you are in the new ARPG.
The decks are independent of the actual class you play. Each of the five currently known classes can use any deck. This should provide you with countless combinations.
In the interview, Adam Hetenyi answered some questions about the unique system and allowed me to take a deeper look at the feature. Additionally, there was insight into the current build of the game and its mechanics.
Deckbuilding in Magic: Legends – How does it work?
At the beginning of our interview, Adam showed me a bit of gameplay from the current test build of the developers. Unfortunately, I can’t show you any images of that. But I can at least summarize how deck and class building will look in Magic: Legends.
Decks in Magic: Legends consist of twelve cards, four of which are active at the same time while playing. When you use a spell, its card is shuffled back into the deck, and you draw a random new one. You can have up to two different colors in your deck.
The colors of the cards in the decks are independent of your Planeswalker and follow different fundamental ideas that later determine the orientation of your deck:
- Blue – Focuses on control of opponents and refreshing your own spells
- Red – Uses elemental powers for spells with great firepower but also brings a risk (expensive cards or creatures with less life)
- Green – Summons powerful creatures of the wild and strengthens them
- White – Heals and strengthens allies
- Black – Drains life from opponents and uses typical “dark” powers like necromancy
From these colors and spells arise thousands of combinations with different approaches. They determine your play style, and even a single change can make a difference in gameplay.
Every deck can be played by every class, and just this leads to differences – the same deck can function as a healing deck for the Sanctifier, but as a tank deck for the Beastcaller.
Adam Hetenyi explains in the interview how this works in detail and gives tips on how you can build your own decks.
Magic: Legends in Interview – Deck Building as the Cornerstone
MeinMMO: Magic: The Gathering is the most complex game in the world. How do you ensure that Legends is also playable for beginners?
Adam Hetenyi: There is a really accessible learning curve in the game. We guide you through our core systems, giving you only a few spells at a time so that you understand how the rotating spells work.
This is an important point because ARPGs usually have a fixed rotation with fixed buttons. And we have twelve spells in the deck but only four active at once – people need to get used to that. This is part of what sets the game apart from others, what allows it to function as a Magic ARPG.
People will need to practice a bit before it becomes a habit. But we believe that most good, deep game systems are characterized by having a certain learning aspect. You start with two spell slots and then unlock the others.
MeinMMO: Do I need to know the rules of the Magic card game to build my own decks and play the game?
Adam Hetenyi: No, absolutely not. If you are familiar with MTG, it will give you some insights about deck building. You will instantly recognize more synergies. However, you do not need to know MTG to play Legends.
The idea of a spell is not too hard to explain. It is a spell that you cast. A summoning is also self-explanatory. For complicated things like combos with triggers and effects or status effects, it gets more complex.
But players do not have to deal with those complexities right from the start. You will not find legendary artifacts in the first 10 minutes of the game. This level of complexity builds up, and you will become more familiar with it over time.
Decks as “a kind of mix” of MMO classes and Magic cards
The types of decks you can build are diverse, as Adam explains to me. They are “a kind of mix” of typical MMO classes and Magic decks. Whether you play a pet class, a support character, or a tank depends entirely on how you build your deck. In a group, you can even focus more on specializations.
In this, Magic Legends focuses on customization, Adam emphasizes. In a creature deck, for example, which is based on summoning and strengthening allies, it may be enough to exchange two spells and you will become the tank for the group.
Basically, you can choose whether you want to focus on decks with immediate effects or prefer to build complex “machines,” as Adam calls them, that need to get started and then work continuously well. However, everyone should feel comfortable with what they want to do.
MeinMMO: Will there be dedicated PvP and PvE decks?
Adam Hetenyi: Not really. […] For the moment, we will likely see players using similar decks in PvP that they already have for PvE. Only the strategy will differ against an intelligent opponent compared to hordes of AI enemies.
Interestingly, creatures are still very effective in PvP. If you choose the right summons, you can really put pressure on your opponent. […] This way, you can get kills with skill shots and combos that you prepare with your summons.
At this point, Adam also explained another system of Magic: Legends – enchantments. These enhance levels that you play with additional effects, such as enemies exploding upon death or hitting harder but being slower. This makes it harder, but the rewards will also be better.
For such things, clever players can then build extra decks that only work for exactly these enchantments and are otherwise rather weak. Adam says: “This is a sort of extra level of deck building. You create your own challenge and at the same time the solution for it.”
MeinMMO: What should I consider when building my first deck? Can you give three tips for newcomers?
Adam Hetenyi: Yes, of course.
- Consider which color feels the most natural to you. The different colors have different themes, and for beginners, it is important to choose a play style that suits them.
- Decide whether you are more interested in summoning creatures that help you in combat or whether you prefer to be the heroic wizard who does everything themselves. This determines more about your gameplay.
- Improve your deck based on these decisions. Creature decks, for example, want boosts or healing for allies. Pure spellcasters want cards that provide them with more mana.
Creatures are very efficient, but they offer little immediate effect. If you can keep them alive, they are very valuable. But if they die often, they become less useful. With spells, you must pay attention to your mana and ensure you always have a spell you can cast.
MeinMMO: “Mythic Rare” cards are supposed to be the heart of a deck around which it is built. Can you briefly explain what these cards are?
Adam Hetenyi: “Mythic Rare” spells are the strongest spells in the game that stand alone and are the rarest. This does not mean that they are the only valuable spells – you can build a deck around a “Mythic Rare” spell, but decks also work without these cards.
You do not have to use them if you have them. They are rather an indicator that they are a significant advantage when you operate in their gameplay field. For example, the green spell “Rampage” fits ideally into green creature decks.
New cards, “when you simply play the game”
MeinMMO: Earlier information stated that you can obtain cards by completing missions or through boosters. What is the easiest way to get new cards?
Adam Hetenyi: The easiest way is to simply play the game. You unlock spells fairly quickly by just playing. At a certain point, you will probably want specific cards. […]
Additionally, you have your meditation area, something like your personal project space, where you can spend your arcane library’s ether and planar mana to unlock special spells. Ether is the all-purpose currency in the game.
Booster packs also contain spells, but only a small selection. They are a shortcut but not really necessary. Boosters won’t propel you forward dramatically but will only slightly expand your range of options.
MeinMMO: Do you ensure in this way that there is no Pay2Win?
Adam Hetenyi: Yes. Whenever a free-to-play game is released, players are concerned that it might become Pay2Win. At Cryptic, we have thought a lot about monetization because we see games as long-term projects.
We want players to enjoy and play the game. Of course, we also want them to pay for it, but not at the expense of their enjoyment. Even here, we experimented a lot […] and concluded that it does not help or retain the player base in the long run, even if you get a short-term boost.
Players need to feel connected to their progress – if they just jump to the end, it feels empty. That’s why we want players to stay in the game, give them things to do, and ensure that most of what they get also comes from gameplay. Monetization should rather complement that.
MeinMMO: Loot is an important feature in hack-and-slash and ARPGs. How will Legends bring that rewarding feeling of new loot?
Adam Hetenyi: Ideally, it will feel very rewarding. As you say, a good loot system is a cornerstone of an ARPG. We received feedback that we do not have enough of that in the game. Just spells and artifacts aren’t enough.
Therefore, we have implemented an entire equipment system. First, it is good for the game, and secondly, players expect such features from an action RPG. They are used to it, and not having this feature would be seen as a deficit.
You will receive equipment drops and unlock cosmetic options. I cannot go into detail yet, but you will get equipment for killing enemies, which you can then pick up.
“We will bring updates several times a year”
MeinMMO: MTG has just announced the new set Kaldheim. Will there be cards from the new set in Legends?
Adam Hetenyi: Not yet. Our plan with the MTG releases is to hook into them. However, we hope to celebrate simultaneous releases at least to some extent in the future. Right now, we are focusing on the planes we are visiting – for example, Dominaria. […]
The cool thing about working with Magic is, of course, that there are so many places and background stories, spells, and characters to draw inspiration from.
MeinMMO: How often will you bring new cards and content into the game?
Adam Hetenyi: We will bring updates several times a year with new content, spells, and events.
We cannot give more specific details about release times yet, but we can say: with over 25 years of content, there are many planes and stories to explore. As Wizards of the Coast brings more content for Magic, we hope to incorporate all of that into Magic: Legends.
MeinMMO: But that means you are definitely going in a Games-as-a-Service direction?
Adam Hetenyi: Yes, absolutely! That is essential for everything here. You cannot just release a game and then walk away. We see our open beta as chapter 1, and there may be 20, or 40, or 100 chapters. […] We will continuously bring new missions, levels, spells, and classes throughout the year, year after year – that is the plan.
MeinMMO: Thank you for the conversation.
Details about Gameplay – How do I play Magic: Legends?
Decks are certainly the core of the game, but they are not the only factor when playing. Your play style consists fundamentally of 5 components:
- Your class determines your starting deck and the abilities you can cast without cards. The starting classes include the Mindmage, Geomancer, Beastcaller, Sanctifier, and Necromancer
- The cards and the deck determine your orientation – whether you cast many powerful direct spells or summon companions
- The colors of the spells indicate which fundamental “theme” they follow
- Artifacts enhance your spells and give you synergy to make combos even stronger
- Equipment that you collect while playing and that can also change your appearance
The cards you draw are randomly selected from the deck. If you’re unlucky, you may find that you keep drawing only creatures and no boosts – or vice versa.
There are cards that grant you mana or allow you to draw new cards to prevent something like that. A hand swap, known as a “mulligan,” is not yet in the game but could come.
Adam told me: “We currently have no mulligan mechanic, but that’s something people are asking for. I’ll keep that in mind for the future. We haven’t found a good way to implement it yet.”
Magic: Legends will be released for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox and will be free. The beta of the new ARPG starts on March 23, 2021. If you want to get a sense of it yourself, the beta is the ideal opportunity to get to know deck building and other content.
