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I've had a ton of fun playing an old version of Shandalar on my PC. The computer opponents are great and I love the card antes and everything, but there's only around 600 cards and the rules are somewhat out of date (you get a mulligan ONLY if you got no land or spells).

Are there any newer MTG computer games? I have these preferences:

  • I do NOT want online play. I know there's plenty of places for that, but it's not what I'm looking for.
  • As many cards as possible. 600 sounds like a lot, but at this point I've pretty much seen all of them, so there as many new things in the game.
  • True to actual MTG rules. I don't want an RTS or anything, I want to play real Magic, just against the computer.

I know there's a list here, but many of those come nothing close to my conditions. If I need to I'll ask on gaming, but I thought I'd try here first as I don't know how many people there actually play Magic.

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You should definitely give "Wagic: The Homebrew" a shot. It's pretty much what you are looking for. It has over 8000 supported cards, a shop system and an extensive list of AI opponents. – AyaProgram Sep 5 '11 at 14:29
FWIW, this would be a question to ask on Gaming chat, not on the site itself. Game-rec questions are prohibited per the FAQ there. (Something else you should add to your list is an AI that can handle many cards in play: the old DotP locks up if you have more than 10-12 creatures in play. The combinations are too much for it.) – Dave DuPlantis Sep 6 '11 at 3:17
Maybe you should rethink the online aspect. I know you specifically said you don't want that, but MTGO meets both of your other requirements beautifully and you can always find an opponent. – TimothyAWiseman Jan 25 '12 at 18:39

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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

If you enjoyed Shandalar, then the spiritual successor is Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012

Download the demo. It hits all your points, just ignore the online play option.

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The new Duel of the Planeswalkers games are at best the spiritual successor to the Shandalar Duel and online play modes. It's little more than an expensive advertising campaign (expensive for the buyer) for MtG and MtG:O, and it has absolutely nothing on the still great Shandalar campaign mode and deckbuilder. – Hackworth Sep 5 '11 at 10:34
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@Hackworth, DotP is definitely a limited experience compared to MtGO or IRL Magic, but it's comparatively cheap and offers quite a large number of hours of Magic play against AI opponents who give at least an appearance of knowing what they're doing. It's not everything I could imagine wanting out of a digital Magic game. It's still a good game and excellent value for money - compared to the competition! – thesunneversets Sep 5 '11 at 11:53
up vote -1 down vote

It sounds like what you're looking for is basically a Magic artificial intelligence. Magic is a complex game so creating an AI to play it is pretty difficult. That being said, it has been done (well, attempted); I have memories dating from probably 5+ years ago of playing against a computer opponent in some program whose identity I forget. The computer wasn't all that good though. (I wasn't all that good back then, and it didn't take me long to learn to beat it reliably)

From the list you linked to, under the section "Independent and freeware adaptations" there are a few listings that mention AI being included. I'd suggest you take a look at those if you haven't already, although I wouldn't expect too much because, as I said, it's a very difficult problem... even more so because Wizards tends to crack down on independent developers using the Magic brand.

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