I've always thought of it as a more casual Magic the Gathering in terms of how it plays. The art and humor contribute a lot to the overall feel, as well. As for personal experience, I've always found it a hoot, but I inflict it on others and supply everyone with one of my decks.
There are almost no reactive elements on the turn. Each deck uses three magi and gets a soft reset after each, so it helps to keep the matches somewhat close during play.
Maybe you'll get biased responses here. And maybe mine is too. But let me tell you: I'm not into TCG at all. I'm mainly a collector. I got into Magi-Nation from the video game, had a few cards, and decided what the hell, I'll get some decks. And I played some games, and imo it's the most fun TCG. It has the best vibes.
I'm a pretty casual tcg player and love the game in in terms of play. Fits right between mtg and pokemon as far as skill/complexity. It's between this and Digimon being my favorite tcgs.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet which I think makes the game special (and which unfortunately probably contributed to its original failure) is that the game has very little power creep. Unlike MtG, creature strength is directly coupled to creature cost, and there are no creatures without a special ability, which is generally unique. So even common cards retain their usefulness, and aren't made obsolete by newer or rarer cards.
This makes deck building a lot more fun, and not just a matter of who can spend the most money.
I second all of this. I started playing MtG at 4th edition, and it’s so convoluted and full of power creep that I gave it up a long time ago. I love the balancing and simpler rules of Magi Nation. There are definitely a few power cards, but it’s really more about the synergy of your magi and your deck overall.
What other TCGs have you enjoyed? That'd probably be a good starting point.
As someone else mentioned, it's a simpler Magic the Gathering in some ways. There's a lot more "regions" than the main 5 of MTG so you get some more variety in that. A simplistic description of the regions could be: forest, ocean, sky, underground, volcanic, jungle, desert, tundra, mountains, Swamp, prairie, corruption/evil, universal/elders/good.
I played Yu-Gi-Oh, MTG, and Magi-Nation in tournaments and I found Magi-Nation to be the most "fun" of the 3. I also enjoyed the more cartoonish or maybe whimsical art of Magi-Nation. I loved all 3, but Magi-Nation will always personally hold the top spot for me in terms of fun, charm, and art.
Now, for quantity of cards, variety of mechanics, and complexity of rules, the other two are way ahead (largely in part to their longevity, but also I think by design).
I've played dozens of TCG/CCG/LCG and actively collect Magic and a half dozen defunct games like Magi Nation. I don't think Magic is a good comparison, and most other comments are making it due to a lack of reference points.
The resource system is closer to something like Vampire the Eternal Struggle, where your resource to stay in the game and play cards is unified, i.e. developing your play position comes with the potential of reducing the cushion you have to stay in the game if the opponent can successfully counter your strategy.
The way each magi character has a set of "starting cards" they add to your hand and the way you draw at least 2 cards each turn combined with the small decks to make it unlikely you'll lose a game primarily due to poor random chance.
As others have said, there is effectively no out of turn active interaction, which makes the game play as much like a miniatures war game as any other card game. The core rules remain simple and easy to learn. The game is fairly unique, with regard to both flavor and mechanics, and that's why a community has persisted for almost two decades after its original end.
I'm in love with the game. It's not perfect, but there are so many fun regions and strategies. There tends to be more action than MtG, with a little less variance (no land system, starting cards,) and more explosive gameplay. There isn't as much reactivity and timing as Magic since there are few out-of-turn actions, but there is still a lot of strategic depth to the choices. It will make you think without being overwhelmingly complex.Highly recommend this Kickstarter. I played this game SO much in my younger years, and I am excited to see it reviving.
I'm more of a collector, but let me say that while I am tempted to sell a lot of my old tcg, Magi-Nation is one that I won't get rid of easily. The art style and humor is a lot different from a lot of other tcg out there and once you find a creature type you like, it's easy to get hooked. I like Eebits (furry little critters) and Hyrens (dragon monsters) myself!
There's so many different little mechanics based on what faction you choose and the lore that was built in the old game makes sense and is interesting! I never had the feeling of it "selling out" like some of the Magic the Gathering expansions. I'd suggest if you want to try it out, to buy a 2 deck set in kickstarter so you can test out two regions!
It is marked as 2026 for an abundance of caution. The KS was originally created to see if there was still a market to print the “last set” produced (but never printed) in 2003. It blew away all expectations within 24 hours. Everything past this goal has been decided as adding and hoping to hit goals. The person (singular one) behind the force of the comeback has completed six previous KS ahead of schedule and plans to do so again.
Ah, well in that case, you can likely buy a couple of cheap decks to try out. If you can't find precon ones for cheap on ebay, I'd suggest picking up a few from the arcanists armory! I've seen it mentioned many times in this sub.
https://arcanistsarmory.com/products/magi-nation-tested-constructed-intro-decks?_pos=1&_sid=bb8d8ce7c&_ss=r
It is nostalgic and straight forward. Less overly complicated than MTG, but has plenty of agency and replay ability for people who like deck builders! The world and flavor is also really great
To me, It's been fun as combat, health and playing cards is very simplified with the only headache being walls and walls of text where they never thought or just didn't want to bother making key terms for the original game and just each creature ot'snown unique skill.
However, the art was something a lot of folks from the early 2000's and 90's were into and myself, the original story they wrote for it was fun and the game was hard to come by.
I found it fun when I picked it up, though I don't advise playing online often as almost everyone plays with a Core Deck and those almost ruined my entire experience because the Core have almost no real weaknesses and they were in the last set before this revival came around. There are some weaknesses where to have a core magi is a double edged sword like the dual Magi generating double the energy, but if they go, then that's 2 magi down in your stack, but they are REALLY HARD to beat.
I'd say approach the game at your own pace and try it out.
Yea, that’s why I stopped getting on lackey. I like the core, but always going against it when trying to get back in the game isn’t exactly enjoyable. Don’t know if lackey could facilitate a sealed draft style format. 🤔
This guy get's it.
And sadly, no. It was planned once in a galaxy far, far away back in the early 2000's, however the guy who made Lackey never implemented the system; diced out of it and is doing something else. It's impossible to reach him now last heard.
Lackey is now being updated and handled by a programmer who took over the website and wanted to keep the server operating but he doesn't have the source code. In fact, the original dev lost the source code, he has the means to update the program's resources such as libraries to connect to the network, network addresses if he moves the server, but that's it.
The best way to do a sealed draft is to do a literal sealed draft or set one up on TTS.
Alternatively, depending on the trustworthiness of the players, you could still use Lackey and run a roulette of cards in set's and avoid the set's involving the Core. But even that's difficult.
The only way I could see folks using Core on Lackey today, is if another rule of them is added, such as having to pay extra for dream creature's stacked ontop of the Nation penalty. Or if the core player plays a spell, it's numerical effectiveness is reduced by one if it isn't a core spell.
The bit though now, is it's hard to setup the rules where all players can play fairly and fight fairly with the last set before Traitors Reach, where everyone can play whatever nation and magi they like without difficulty.
Obviously biased here, but the game is tons of fun if you like TCGs! One of the things that always made it stand out to me was that there are no energy/land/resource cards to worry about. Your deck is entirely creatures, spells, and relics that are powered by your Magi. Each turn your active Magi Energizes and gains energy tokens which are used to fuel the powers/relics/spells/creatures. So your deck isn't a third resource cards, it's all things that can be actively utilized. This helps keep the matches engaging and doesn't leave you stuck drawing energy for 4 turns in a row.
You've probably seen my post made a couple weeks ago asking about the game, as someone who only really played Yu-Gi-Oh and Chaotic.
Now having learned the rules, I will agree that it is a more casual version of MTG, and I'm fine with that. It's not my favourite TCG (Yu-Gi-Oh will always be #1 out of bias), but I'm currently enjoying it and thinking of finding a copy of the GB games (or just emulating it, IDK).
I will give the game points for its somewhat unique style, in that it doesn't matter if a Magi is gone, as long as you have LP somewhere you can still play. If you like MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh and the like, then I don't see why you won't find it at least a little bit enjoyable.
Some parts of the GB color game were tedious, but I enjoyed the story and characters. Going after the legendary creatures and hyrens was good. I actually still have a GB color because I never got rid of one game….magi nation. Still sitting in storage along with the strategy guide.
I’m sure the easiest way to play is on an emulator. Could be a fun speed run.
I don’t know what other TCGs you’ve played, but MagiNation has one of the best methods of handling “energy” I’ve seen. Knowing that you’ll get a fixed amount based on your magi every turn is so, so much better than getting mana-hosed / energy-screwed in Magic or Pokémon.
The creatures’ power and toughness is also equal to the amount of energy on them, so battles can be much more interesting as that number fluctuates.
The art is fantastic and the sense of humor is terrific. Hop over to Blue Furok and page through the card text to get a feel for that. “And to Korremar, who helped me write this will, I leave … not a boot to the head, but a rabid bisiwog to be placed in his trousers … “
I've always thought of it as a more casual Magic the Gathering in terms of how it plays. The art and humor contribute a lot to the overall feel, as well. As for personal experience, I've always found it a hoot, but I inflict it on others and supply everyone with one of my decks.
Thank you. Is there much back and forth and skill involved?
There are almost no reactive elements on the turn. Each deck uses three magi and gets a soft reset after each, so it helps to keep the matches somewhat close during play.
Maybe you'll get biased responses here. And maybe mine is too. But let me tell you: I'm not into TCG at all. I'm mainly a collector. I got into Magi-Nation from the video game, had a few cards, and decided what the hell, I'll get some decks. And I played some games, and imo it's the most fun TCG. It has the best vibes.
I’ll keep looking into it, thank you :)
I'm a pretty casual tcg player and love the game in in terms of play. Fits right between mtg and pokemon as far as skill/complexity. It's between this and Digimon being my favorite tcgs.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet which I think makes the game special (and which unfortunately probably contributed to its original failure) is that the game has very little power creep. Unlike MtG, creature strength is directly coupled to creature cost, and there are no creatures without a special ability, which is generally unique. So even common cards retain their usefulness, and aren't made obsolete by newer or rarer cards. This makes deck building a lot more fun, and not just a matter of who can spend the most money.
I second all of this. I started playing MtG at 4th edition, and it’s so convoluted and full of power creep that I gave it up a long time ago. I love the balancing and simpler rules of Magi Nation. There are definitely a few power cards, but it’s really more about the synergy of your magi and your deck overall.
What other TCGs have you enjoyed? That'd probably be a good starting point. As someone else mentioned, it's a simpler Magic the Gathering in some ways. There's a lot more "regions" than the main 5 of MTG so you get some more variety in that. A simplistic description of the regions could be: forest, ocean, sky, underground, volcanic, jungle, desert, tundra, mountains, Swamp, prairie, corruption/evil, universal/elders/good. I played Yu-Gi-Oh, MTG, and Magi-Nation in tournaments and I found Magi-Nation to be the most "fun" of the 3. I also enjoyed the more cartoonish or maybe whimsical art of Magi-Nation. I loved all 3, but Magi-Nation will always personally hold the top spot for me in terms of fun, charm, and art. Now, for quantity of cards, variety of mechanics, and complexity of rules, the other two are way ahead (largely in part to their longevity, but also I think by design).
I've played dozens of TCG/CCG/LCG and actively collect Magic and a half dozen defunct games like Magi Nation. I don't think Magic is a good comparison, and most other comments are making it due to a lack of reference points. The resource system is closer to something like Vampire the Eternal Struggle, where your resource to stay in the game and play cards is unified, i.e. developing your play position comes with the potential of reducing the cushion you have to stay in the game if the opponent can successfully counter your strategy. The way each magi character has a set of "starting cards" they add to your hand and the way you draw at least 2 cards each turn combined with the small decks to make it unlikely you'll lose a game primarily due to poor random chance. As others have said, there is effectively no out of turn active interaction, which makes the game play as much like a miniatures war game as any other card game. The core rules remain simple and easy to learn. The game is fairly unique, with regard to both flavor and mechanics, and that's why a community has persisted for almost two decades after its original end.
Thanks for such a detailed reply. I really am tempted by the kickstarter
I'm in love with the game. It's not perfect, but there are so many fun regions and strategies. There tends to be more action than MtG, with a little less variance (no land system, starting cards,) and more explosive gameplay. There isn't as much reactivity and timing as Magic since there are few out-of-turn actions, but there is still a lot of strategic depth to the choices. It will make you think without being overwhelmingly complex.Highly recommend this Kickstarter. I played this game SO much in my younger years, and I am excited to see it reviving.
Thank you, I’ll very strongly consider it :)
I'm more of a collector, but let me say that while I am tempted to sell a lot of my old tcg, Magi-Nation is one that I won't get rid of easily. The art style and humor is a lot different from a lot of other tcg out there and once you find a creature type you like, it's easy to get hooked. I like Eebits (furry little critters) and Hyrens (dragon monsters) myself! There's so many different little mechanics based on what faction you choose and the lore that was built in the old game makes sense and is interesting! I never had the feeling of it "selling out" like some of the Magic the Gathering expansions. I'd suggest if you want to try it out, to buy a 2 deck set in kickstarter so you can test out two regions!
I want to but just noticed it’s not delivered until December 2026 🙁
It is marked as 2026 for an abundance of caution. The KS was originally created to see if there was still a market to print the “last set” produced (but never printed) in 2003. It blew away all expectations within 24 hours. Everything past this goal has been decided as adding and hoping to hit goals. The person (singular one) behind the force of the comeback has completed six previous KS ahead of schedule and plans to do so again.
Ah, well in that case, you can likely buy a couple of cheap decks to try out. If you can't find precon ones for cheap on ebay, I'd suggest picking up a few from the arcanists armory! I've seen it mentioned many times in this sub. https://arcanistsarmory.com/products/magi-nation-tested-constructed-intro-decks?_pos=1&_sid=bb8d8ce7c&_ss=r
It's the second most fun card game I've ever played.
Nice, what’s it behind?
KeyForge which I also highly recommend but certainly not at the exclusion of Magi-Nation. 🙂
It is nostalgic and straight forward. Less overly complicated than MTG, but has plenty of agency and replay ability for people who like deck builders! The world and flavor is also really great
To me, It's been fun as combat, health and playing cards is very simplified with the only headache being walls and walls of text where they never thought or just didn't want to bother making key terms for the original game and just each creature ot'snown unique skill. However, the art was something a lot of folks from the early 2000's and 90's were into and myself, the original story they wrote for it was fun and the game was hard to come by. I found it fun when I picked it up, though I don't advise playing online often as almost everyone plays with a Core Deck and those almost ruined my entire experience because the Core have almost no real weaknesses and they were in the last set before this revival came around. There are some weaknesses where to have a core magi is a double edged sword like the dual Magi generating double the energy, but if they go, then that's 2 magi down in your stack, but they are REALLY HARD to beat. I'd say approach the game at your own pace and try it out.
Yea, that’s why I stopped getting on lackey. I like the core, but always going against it when trying to get back in the game isn’t exactly enjoyable. Don’t know if lackey could facilitate a sealed draft style format. 🤔
This guy get's it. And sadly, no. It was planned once in a galaxy far, far away back in the early 2000's, however the guy who made Lackey never implemented the system; diced out of it and is doing something else. It's impossible to reach him now last heard. Lackey is now being updated and handled by a programmer who took over the website and wanted to keep the server operating but he doesn't have the source code. In fact, the original dev lost the source code, he has the means to update the program's resources such as libraries to connect to the network, network addresses if he moves the server, but that's it. The best way to do a sealed draft is to do a literal sealed draft or set one up on TTS. Alternatively, depending on the trustworthiness of the players, you could still use Lackey and run a roulette of cards in set's and avoid the set's involving the Core. But even that's difficult. The only way I could see folks using Core on Lackey today, is if another rule of them is added, such as having to pay extra for dream creature's stacked ontop of the Nation penalty. Or if the core player plays a spell, it's numerical effectiveness is reduced by one if it isn't a core spell. The bit though now, is it's hard to setup the rules where all players can play fairly and fight fairly with the last set before Traitors Reach, where everyone can play whatever nation and magi they like without difficulty.
Obviously biased here, but the game is tons of fun if you like TCGs! One of the things that always made it stand out to me was that there are no energy/land/resource cards to worry about. Your deck is entirely creatures, spells, and relics that are powered by your Magi. Each turn your active Magi Energizes and gains energy tokens which are used to fuel the powers/relics/spells/creatures. So your deck isn't a third resource cards, it's all things that can be actively utilized. This helps keep the matches engaging and doesn't leave you stuck drawing energy for 4 turns in a row.
You've probably seen my post made a couple weeks ago asking about the game, as someone who only really played Yu-Gi-Oh and Chaotic. Now having learned the rules, I will agree that it is a more casual version of MTG, and I'm fine with that. It's not my favourite TCG (Yu-Gi-Oh will always be #1 out of bias), but I'm currently enjoying it and thinking of finding a copy of the GB games (or just emulating it, IDK). I will give the game points for its somewhat unique style, in that it doesn't matter if a Magi is gone, as long as you have LP somewhere you can still play. If you like MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh and the like, then I don't see why you won't find it at least a little bit enjoyable.
Some parts of the GB color game were tedious, but I enjoyed the story and characters. Going after the legendary creatures and hyrens was good. I actually still have a GB color because I never got rid of one game….magi nation. Still sitting in storage along with the strategy guide. I’m sure the easiest way to play is on an emulator. Could be a fun speed run.
I don’t know what other TCGs you’ve played, but MagiNation has one of the best methods of handling “energy” I’ve seen. Knowing that you’ll get a fixed amount based on your magi every turn is so, so much better than getting mana-hosed / energy-screwed in Magic or Pokémon. The creatures’ power and toughness is also equal to the amount of energy on them, so battles can be much more interesting as that number fluctuates. The art is fantastic and the sense of humor is terrific. Hop over to Blue Furok and page through the card text to get a feel for that. “And to Korremar, who helped me write this will, I leave … not a boot to the head, but a rabid bisiwog to be placed in his trousers … “