ManaStrike
ManaStrike (previously known as Magic: The Gathering M or Project M) was a video game in the Magic: the Gathering franchise. It was developed by Netmarble Games, and is a mobile-centric real-time multiplayer battle game. It was released in January, 2020.
Description
Netmarble
Netmarble Games is a game publishing company, which has mobile games including Seven Knights, Raven (Evilbane in the U.S.) and Everybody's Marble. Since 2015, the company has licensed Disney-owned properties to produce games such as Marvel: Future Fight (2015),[1]
The game
ManaStrike was what's known as a tower rush game, popularized by the highly successful Clash Royale. Players build a deck with creatures, buildings, and spells as well as a planeswalker commander.[2] Each card has a mana cost and your mana builds up over time. You spend mana to play cards which puts your creatures or buildings on the board or casts spells.
Each player has three towers, two small towers that each defend a single lane (top or bottom) and a third tower which can only be accessed by destroying one of the smaller towers. You get a point for destroying a small tower, and if you destroy the large tower in the back you win 3 points automatically.
ManaStrike takes place in Nicol Bolas’s Meditation Realm and is largely a simulation.[3] That’s why you can see Jace battling Jace, for example. This conceit allows the game to do some “what if” character skins like the "Heart of the Aether" Gideon skin (a robotic version of the deceased hero). You'll see more “what if” character skins in the future.
History
On January 23, 2018, WOTC filed two new trademarks: "Manastrike" and "Planesiege". Both trademarks specifically referred to electronic, online multiplayer gaming.[4]
On February 5, 2018, Wizards of the Coast and South Korean mobile phone giant Netmarble Games announced they were working on Project M, the codename for a new game for smartphones coming sometime in that year.[5] The game was termed a “multiplayer battling game” in which “players show off their creativity and strategy as they battle across the planes of the "Magic: The Gathering Multiverse", and “game avatars will be fully animated as they race across the battlefield to defeat their opponent.” The released video and images looked like a multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA.[6]
In early January 2020, a first review of the game was published by Hipsters of the Coast.[2]
ManaStrike officially launched globally on January 30, 2020.[7]
In February 2020, Wizards of the Coast CEO Chris Cocks announced that the game would form part of Magic's "Year of Digital Expansion", together with MTG Arena, Magic SpellSlingers and Magic: Legends.[8]
In November 2020, less than a year after its launch, a termination notice was posted in the game's official forum. The game servers would remain open until February 24, 2021.[9]
Video
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References
- ↑ Marvel: Future Fight launches from Netmarble. Marvel Entertainment (April 30, 2015). Retrieved on July 26, 2017.
- ↑ a b Rich Stein (January 14, 2020). "An Early Review of Magic’s Upcoming Mobile Game ManaStrike". Hipsters of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (February 16, 2020). "I am suspicious about you being not allowed to seriously comment about "Heart of the Aether" Gideon. I am right?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ New WOTC Trademarks and Domain Registrations
- ↑ Project M (YouTube)
- ↑ Jason Wilson (February 5, 2018). "Magic: The Gathering and Netmarble announce ‘Project M’ for mobile", Venturebeat.com
- ↑ Gary Catig (January 30, 2020). "Magic: ManaStrike Globally Launched And Available Now". ComicCon.com.
- ↑ Derek Strickland (February 22, 2020). "MTG Arena will 'aggressively expand' onto other platforms through 2020". Tweaktown.com.
- ↑ Manaecho (November 6, 2020). "Magic: ManaStrike gets terminated". Manaecho.com.
External links
- Official site
- Wizards of the Coast (February 4, 2020). "ManaStrike: Bringing the Art of Magic to Life". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.