Wizards of the Coast is looking to take its mega-popular Magic: The Gathering franchise into the world of mobile gaming. To do this, the company joined forces with veteran mobile developer Netmarble. The result is Magic: ManaStrike, a new game that will take the essence of Magic and boil it down into something more fast-paced for the mobile market.
Magic: ManaStrike was announced earlier this week, and will be shown in more detail at South Korea’s upcoming G-Star trade show. For now, we know that ManaStrike will be a “mobile synchronous combat” card game. As it’s a mobile game, the emphasis is put on quick action between highly-visual characters and spell effects. There will also be a heavy collection element involving well-known characters and spells from throughout the Magic franchise.
Delving further into the press release, the impression given is that ManaStrike targets more casual players with the aim of making them into hardcore Magic fans. The text makes it a point to mention that a detailed tutorial will exist, as well as easy-to-use pre-made decks. A quote from a Chief Officer of Netmarble also says that “We want to assure fans our game acts as a fresh new addition to Magic: The Gathering.”
The method of achieving this goal appears to be making ManaStrike focused on speed over drawn-out strategy. Phrases like “fast play,” “intense,” and “action-packed” dominate the description. While it’s true that many press releases go all-out on the adjectives to hype up a game, the word choice is important. Here, the wording implies a game that seeks to use stunning art and immediate payoff to excite players. Once they’re invested in the trappings of Magic, they’ll want to seek out the real-life card game.
Whether it works or not will be a different story. It’s not like the plan is totally out there. Nintendo stated once that its aim with mobile games is to build its console audience. There’s a strong argument to be made that Pokémon GO contributed to the impressive sales of Pokémon Let’s Go on the Nintendo Switch. Maybe a little taste of Magic: The Gathering will inspire some mobile gamers to go for the full meal.
Source: Netmarble
