The new free-to-play card game from the Wizards of the Coast called Magic: The Gathering Arena is currently taking closed beta registrants over on the official website.
You can use your date-of-birth and e-mail address to sign-up for a chance to participate in the closed beta test ahead of the game’s launch later this year on PC.
DualShockers is reporting that the free-to-play card game will allow players to compete against each other using various skills and tactics from the standard game, but with the freedom and typical monetary setup of a cash-shop driven game.
Wizards of the Coast unveiled the title with a live-stream and some of the gameplay from the upcoming title that you can check out below in an hour-long video.
Some of the highlights of the pitch is that the game is built for streaming, is designed to be easy for newbies, and is also being built up for the inevitable e-sports run.
They mention that the game was built on the latest engine and by gamers for gamers who also happen to be “world-class video game developers”.
The gameplay video isn’t all that enticing or exciting or anything different than what we’ve seen a hundred times before in the free-to-play CCG arena. Nevertheless, I’m sure that Magic fans will take a liking to it, much more-so than the way Dota 2 fans have not taking a liking to the upcoming Dota CCG.
Anyway, you can register now and hope to get a first look at the title when the beta tests begin and the inevitable ironing out and refining phases attempts to smooth the game out for the final release.
The Wizards of the Coast will be entering into a highly competitive market because the genre is currently being dominated by games like Gwent and Hearthstone. So we’ll how well this new Magic: The Gathering Arena does when it steps foot into the ever-competitive marketplace.