Magic the Gathering: Online (hereafter known as MTGO) is probably the most controversial topic in the Magic community since its inception. Many, many things have been said about this program by those who have played it and by those who have not. I have been playing the program for a few weeks now, and I feel qualified to give my opinion on the game and what it means to Magic in general.

First off let me say that the program is very well done, the art is spectacular, the look and feel are, for the most part, intuitive (except for those pesky Quirion Elves*), and the tournament organization is wonderful. However, where the program really shines for me is with rules enforcement. If you do not know how the stack works, when you can and should cast spells for maximum effect, or what happens if you do not draft a card in the allotted time, then you will learn quickly.

Since there is no adequate way to describe the experience of the game and people more talented in the literary arts than I, I will say what many others have said:"Don't knock it 'til you try it". The game is incredibly addictive, even more so then the real life version because there is never a lack of opponents. Many nights I have been up to the wee hours of the morning thinking,"I should be sleeping now, but they only need two more people for that Odyssey Draft... So I have time for one more." Of the four different types of game play available - Draft, Sealed, Constructed and Multiplayer - I play draft the most by far. I have only played one Sealed Deck game and have yet to play multiplayer, although I do enjoy multi-player. The Constructed scene is fairly robust and echoes the real world fairly closely as far as metagames go.

Draft is where it is at, though. One of the greatest things about the Drafting (and the program in general for that matter) is you never know who you are playing against (unless someone puts their real name in their description) so you could be playing against a Pro Player or an Unknown... And there is no intimidation. To date the only person I even know I have drafted with is none other than The Ferrett himself, and I only drafted with him - we never actually played. (Not that he SAID anything, to my recollection... - The Ferrett, who will be reviewing Magic Online himself in a bit.) For the record, my MTGO name is jagar (with a small j because I don't know of a way to change it.)

An important feature of the game that definitely bears mentioning is the tournament structure, tournaments are set-up pairings are made and matches are recorded all behind the scenes. This may not sound like an important detail but believe me the flawless execution of tournament organization done by this program is spectacular. Now that I have, to some extent, extolled the virtues of the game (and they are many), let's look at the drawbacks and controversial aspects.

No Older Cards
|Many people are hung up on the fact that there will be no pre-invasion cards in the game (and yes, this was pretty much confirmed by Nathan Sherman). I agree with people in that it would be cool to be able to use older sets (especially to draft them) but the logistics behind it are not worth the effort for Wizards - remember, unlike Apprentice the cards have to be programmed in with regards to rule interactions and this takes tremendous amounts of time and resources. As it stands, there are still some cards that do not work in the game (Captain's Maneuver, Aegis of Honor, Mirari, Nefarious Lich, Delaying Shield, and others), so to get all the cards working from Beta onward would take a prohibitive amount of time. So while, like others, I lament the fact that older cards will not be available - I understand it.

Lag, Disconnects, and Server Downtime
Nothing sucks worse then being randomly disconnected while you are drafting (except maybe being disconnected throughout the entire Deck Construction** process) because the computer picks the first card displayed for you. There have also been occasions when the lag is atrocious or the server goes down without warning. The obvious answer to all of this is,"Well, it is still the beta, and they will have that all fixed up before the release," and that is a very legitimate and hopefully accurate claim. However, Anarchy Online had the same problems with Lag - and when it went live, the problem went with it. I will breathe a sigh of relief once Wizards has the lag issues sorted out.

Hacking
Many people have stated how they are sure that within a week some people will have hacked the system and have four of every card without spending a penny. I have no doubt in my mind that someone, somewhere, somehow, will find away to cheat the system - but compare that to face-to-face Magic, where there are cheaters aplenty. Some get away with it some don't - eventually, most get caught and banned. (That would be nice - The Ferrett) The same will be true for hackers. People are making a mountain out of this molehill.

Apprentice
What will happen to Apprentice when MTGO goes live? While no-one can say for sure, I will state for the record that MTGO will not kill Apprentice because Apprentice has features that MTGO doesn't (namely, it's free and has all the cards available) and MTGO has aspects that Apprentice does not (pretty pictures and Rules enforcement). I do see a slight change in the role Apprentice will play; it will be less of an"entertainment" form of playing, and more of a deck-testing tool. For the pure fun of playing, the game MTGO is light years ahead of Apprentice... But it lacks the ability to test decks without some sort of financial investment.

Which brings us to the big question: Pricing.

Pricing
This is the crux of the entire game. I can say with complete confidence that with the possible exception of horrible constant lag, pricing alone will determine the success or failure of MTGO. Many theories have been bandied around as to what the pricing structure will be but let's cut to what we know as fact. From the Brain Burst interview:

"Since we're replicating Magic here, the purchase platform is that you'll be purchasing boosters and entry to events. We don't want to charge a subscription base, to allow the casual players a better chance to use the service. This way, players can come online and use the cards they already have to play against others when they want, and without having to worry about a subscription fee. The exact charge for boosters and events is still being decided upon."

So we now know that the game will be sold on a per-pack basis. That means you will not have access to all the cards (not even in a casual play aspect). There will not be a monthly subscription fee and everything will not be free. This is not a huge surprise; I do have some issues with it, but I'll touch on that later. The big thing we don't know and that everyone wants to know is: How much per pack?

Since we don't know, let's examine the possibilities.

1-10 cents per pack: This is not viable; Wizards will not make enough money from this in the long run as after a few days people will have the cards they need and will stop buying packs except for drafting.
11-20 cents per pack: I truly believe that Wizards can survive with a 15 cent per pack price, but it is definitely not the profit-maximizing point. A price this low will see vast amounts of people playing the game, and drafting will be extremely popular - but the load on the servers will be horrendous. Furthermore, the value of cards will be almost non-existent and people will not want to trade or collect cards.
21-30 cents per pack: 25 Cents per pack is the upper limit I have heard some people mention as to what they will be willing to pay per pack - and although 25 cents is possible, I don't see it as the"profit maximizing value." And let's face it, that's what Wizards is after; and they should be after it. Assuming that event tickets are then three for 25 cents, cents the price of a draft would be approximately 92 Cents. This would attract a lot of people and still make a good chunk of money for Wizards.
31-40 cents per pack: This could be the"profit maximizing point" that Wizards is looking for, but I believe it will be a little higher than this when all is said and done. At 35 cents per pack, we are looking at about $1.30 per draft, this will keep a lot of people drafting and playing the game while still supplying a good income for Wizards.
41-50- cents per pack: I believe that 45 cents per pack is the profit maximizing point for Wizards. This would put a draft cost at $1.65 - high enough that people will put value on the cards, but low enough that you should always be able to find a draft. If your wondering why I keep referring to draft, it's simple; at any given time, provided there is no major premier event happening, 75%-90% of the people are in the draft room.
51-60 cents per pack: A price higher than 50 cents per pack will scare a lot of people away from drafting as it becomes an increasingly expensive prospect. At 60 cents we are looking at over 2.00 to draft; this won't stop people from drafting, but it will cut down on the number of drafts happening. I am not saying the product will fail at this price range, but I believe this isn't the"profit maximizing point." People will start weighing the cost of an online draft against the cost of a cardboard pack and the card board will often win that debate.
61-70 cents per pack: Again, draft is where Wizards has the highest potential to make money so if they want draft to be a huge success this price range is too high. People will only buy a few packs here and there and then play in Constructed events, generating zero income for Wizards.
71- 100 cents per pack: In this price range, Magic Online will still be a success but it will not achieve the potential it could at a lower range.
100-200 cents per pack: Anything more than $1 per pack will exclude MTGO from all but two types of people - those with vast disposable incomes, and those with no readily available location to play face-to-face Magic. Are there enough of these people out there for MTGO to survive? I do not know.
200+ cents per pack: The program will fail.

As stated above I believe that 15 cents per ticket or 45 cents per pack is the profit maximizing point for Wizards. How do I come to this number? Mainly by talking to people who play the game or want to play the game and by my own opinions. I plan on spending $20.00 per month on the game, but if those twenty dollars only get me four drafts per month, how long will I still be interested?

There are other issues to consider aside from just the price per pack - almost as important is method of payment. If the only method of payment is Credit Card, then there will be a lot of unhappy people and a lot of missed opportunity. The best method I have heard of so far is the"Phone Card" method that will allow you to buy a card at your local gaming store and then enter that card number on line to receive your Wizards dollars.

So let me conclude this article with a survey question:

Given that the MTGO price scheme is on a per pack basis, the game play is flawless, there are no lag or disconnect issues, and price is the deciding factor in your decision to play MTGO:

Why do you want/not want to play MTGO?

What is your ideal per pack price for MTGO? (Keeping in mind that Wizards has to make a profit)

What is the maximum per pack price you can see yourself paying for MTGO?

Send your responses to AlwardWayne@JohnDeere.com

Please put MTGO Survey in the title. I'll let everyone know the results of the poll in a week. If you play MTGO challenge me to a game so I can show you the power of my friend Josh's Shiftydance deck or join a draft I am in and"phear my l33t limited skillz" (current rating on line 1555)

Until next time, keep playing and keep learning.

* Whenever you play an ability that requires you to choose a color (such as Wild Mongrels), you can conveniently click on one of the Mana Symbols that are used to show you what mana is in your mana pool. With the Quirion Elves, you are prompted to choose a color when they resolve but clicking on the mana symbols has no effect; instead, you have to right click on the Elves and choose a color. This took me ten minutes to figure out.

** - If you do not submit a deck in the allotted time the program will submit a deck for you. That deck will consist of the 45 cards you drafted and 5 of each basic land.