Magic the Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia

Other products by Wizards of the Coast

Product Details

• Our recommended age: 5 - 20 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 0 months and up
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00002EIWU
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,444 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Imagine being able to play with over 7,000 Magic: The Gathering cards, with everything from the original Alpha release to Mercadian Masques (and then some). Now, for the price of a computer game you can have such a dream collection with the Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia.

The Interactive Encyclopedia offers more than just pretty pictures of every card in the massive database. It also lets players sort cards based on standard statistics like casting cost, color, artist, or any combination you like. You can use the Deckbuilder utility to sort the cards into decks, which then can be analyzed by the computer. There's a complete series of strategy articles and other helpful information right on the CD-ROM to help novices build an effective deck right away.

Once players have built the ultimate deck, the Interactive Encyclopedia lets them test their creations online against other players. Note that the computer doesn't enforce the rules of the game at all. As in a real match it's up to the players to tap cards, resolve the various phases of the game, and keep track of things. The Interactive Encyclopedia just serves as a virtual card table that happens to let you play with practically every Magic: The Gathering card ever created--cards that contain so many complex rules that having the computer resolve everything is far beyond the ability of current technology.

The few flaws this encyclopedia had when originally released have for the most part been amended by a series of patches, so be sure to visit the official Web site to download the latest version. It's also worth a visit because Wizards of the Coast regularly posts updated price lists for the cards along with new expansion packs, like the Nemesis card set, that can be added to the database. The only problem we had with the Interactive Encyclopedia was its overall sluggishness, which is somewhat forgivable given the size of the database. Beginners will absolutely love the ability to see all of the rare cards they've only heard about, and even experts should appreciate how easy it is to use the database so they can refine their decks. There's something for every Magic: The Gathering fan in this package. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Over 7,000 cards--each with a picture and full stats
• Expansion packs available for download
• Lets you play online with any deck you can imagine

Cons:

• Runs sluggishly on all but the fastest computers
• Search tools may not be robust enough for the most advanced players

Amazon.com Product Description
Every electronic card image includes full text and the original artwork. Players can access all of the Magic: The Gathering rules, including all Oracle rulings. Many cards include background notes from Wizards of the Coast's R&D department. All cards are fully searchable in an enormous variety of ways. Players can search by title of card, text of card, flavor text, artist, casting cost, toughness, power, card color, card set, and special abilities, and can combine these search attributes in any combination.

But the Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia is not just a reference product; it's a tool as well. Players can build and analyze their own decks with the included deck builder. You can see a graphical representation of the balance of cards in your deck. Then download or re-create tournament-winning decks and compare them to your own. Once you have input your collection into the program, you can track your cards and even determine if they are available for use in a new deck you've just designed. The collection manager includes an updateable (via the Web) price guide so you can determine the value of your individual cards or your collection as a whole.

Once you've created your killer deck, you can connect online and play your deck against other players who own the encyclopedia. Now you never need to be without an opponent. Now you can shake down that new deck before the tournament.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome gaming package!, November 27, 1999

By A Customer

As a magic player, I've found 3 huge features enormously beneficial to my game. They are: A) the Deckbuilder, that lets you build, analyze, and control decks to your heart's content. This deckbuilder is awesomely powerful, and contains every single feature I could think of -- it's amazing what they packed in here. B) the listing and viewing of every single card in the Encyclopedia section, that lets me just scroll through cards and compare them to the "real" ones I have in front of me on my play-mat. The fact that everything -- even Mercadian Masques -- is here, really kicks! And C) the Online Play section I think is done perfectly, because it doesn't constrain your style of play -- you just go online and get rocking with a friend. I really like the fact that they've respected how people really play Magic, and I can play championship decks against other people, and I can play decks built from any cards ever made -- I don't have to worry about buying the card -- I can just build a deck and play it. This product is really incredible !

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, but a must for every 'Expert' player, January 21, 2000

By	"dave3k" (Orono, ME) - See all my reviews

With the number of unique magic cards getting big enough to stretch to the moon and back, I was pretty excited when I first read about Encyclopedia. "Spoiler" lists have long been available from the web, but not with illustrations. Encyclopedia is true to its name, containing pictures of every card in existence--even the oddities and "lost" cards. I was a little disappointed, though not too surprised, to discover that the "play" feature isn't an AI-controlled game like Duels of the Plansewalkers. Instead, it's just a virtual card table to play virtual decks against virtual friends online. As such, not really my cup of tea--it's the encyclopedia and deck analysis that interested me. That's right, not only can you keep track of your decks, but you can get charts of every conceivable statistic--ratios of spell types is only the begining.

It all sounds a litte too good to be true, and without a doubt, there are some significant shortcomings of this program. It's quite slow and resource-heavy, and the sloppy programming goes beyond that--you need a patch (available free online) just to get accurate deck analysis.

Another major problem lies in the fact that your collection as a whole can't be managed with nearly the same flexibility as your decks. You can't see how much your whole collection is worth, for instance--you can only view the price of one card a time. (Price lists are available for free download from the web.) And to see any other important stats of your entire collection, you'd have to create a giant "deck" using all your cards! Ridiculous.

Buy this program for what its title suggests; it works best as a visual encyclopedia of every card in existence. The bells and whistles need some serious work.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wizards have their flaws too., February 28, 2000

By	"roninroad" (Fort Mill, SC) - See all my reviews

This is a marvelous product for those who love magic, or want to love it more fully through a more expansive library of cards to choose from. But ask anyone who's played with its Online segment and you'll find that they have their quips as well as their praise.

The main problem i had besides a few minor bugs that came about as a result of multi-tasking and such, was that the features could have used a bit more tweaking.

Who really wants to read articles and reviews from their Browser? If i wanted to use IE to read about magic i would have. It took away from some of the fun of the program.

The Search feature which allows you to hunt down that one card you love is a bit underfeatured. I wanted to be able to search for more specific items, enchantments and creatures with specific abilities.

Also the Online client worked by linking you up to a "chat room" using your browser then popping magic back up again when you find someone to play. It seemed a bit convoluted. I would have prefered a more unified program.

But as you notice i gave this review 4 stars. For all the little things(not too many of them), this is a SWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET program. It lets you feel a bit hardcore with all the selections of cards you have to choose from and still lets you play as simple as you like.

Snow White may have been beautiful but she had her blemishes too.