f13.net

I've been itchy for some turn-based strategy the last couple nights and remember hearing people saying that the Wizard 101 mmorpg has basically swiped Magic's gameplay and made it 3-D.  Which is dandy, because I hate the fuck out of Magic Online's crappy client and nonexistent shiny.  I don't know much of anything else about it, though, besides the F2P/pay for later content cash shop model, so if there are any caveats that I should know before making an account, such as promotions, starter account specials, etc, I'd be interested in hearing 'em.

Likewise for gameplay; if my M:tG expectations are misguided and it actually sucks, letting me know to save me the time in installing/uninstalling the thing would be grand.

It's designed for kids. It's not Magic the Gathering... it's not even the Pokemon CCG. Very,very simplistic combat choices. That said, it's worth a download and a look at the basics to see a capably designed and implemented game with Free Realms' ambitions but without Free Realms' budget. It's cute. Play a little.

I think it is very fun for what it is. It's not ultra deep, but there are some card synergies to play with.

You can trial the first areas for free - give it a shot and see.

I noticed they just introduced a pet raising mini-game, which I'm curious about.

It's cute and definitely child oriented.  I played for a few weeks or so until I ran out of anything interesting to do.  But I liked the cute!

This is a post from 2008, so the game may have seen some updates in the meantime. (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=14631.msg528935#msg528935)