Magic Nations Online Client

CCGs are not a niche market anymore, not since so many titles have been released in recent years, each one of which is designed to cater to more casual audiences. However, gamers still desire some degree of complexity, otherwise the mechanics get too repetitive and boring. Hence, developers have to keep that in mind and come up with new ideas in order to stay ahead and maintain their player base.

Magic Nations is a turn-based strategy game with a CCG component, in which you have to place cards on the board and use them to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible. There are some new ideas included as well, but given the fact that the game is in early access at the moment, the mechanics are not that polished yet, so don’t expect an awful lot right now.

There are multiple factions to pick from, ranging from regular-sounding ones like Humans, all the way to Amazons and Necromancers. Not all of them are available yet, but the balancing is not even complete for the ones that are. On top of the balancing issues, there’s also a lot of RNG involved too, given the fact that the luck of the draw can make or break a match sometimes.

Every match starts with the two opponents placing their cards on the table on two rows, depending on whether they are ranged units or melee. Obviously, ranged units can attack from the back without being touched by the melee troops, which is useful. However, every card has unique stats, and you draw them randomly at the beginning. There are no redraws implemented yet, so you are pretty much stuck with what you get.

This gets annoying when you realize that the matches can be decided before any of the fighting is done if one of the players has a particularly lucky draw. As for the graphics, the artwork is definitely on point, even if there are not many occasions to admire it. The cards look nice, but there are not many original ideas in this regard, since there are only so many ways one can depict elves and dwarves.

All things considered, Magic Nations is not quite there yet, especially when it comes to the RNG factor and the faction balancing. However, the gameplay is fun, so there’s still hope here if the developers keep working on the game.