Magic: Legends may still be very early in development, but it's never too early to start planning for which classes players are going to be taking control of in the video game adaptation. Fans of Magic: The Gathering are likely anxious to see how each piece of the color wheel is going to be translated into gameplay for a console and PC ARPG and the first Magic: Legends gameplay trailer and information offers some hints about the class system.
Like most ARPGs, Magic Legends intends to give players a handful of class options to master in the upcoming game. The game also provides an opportunity for small groups of co-op gameplay, so hopefully each of the classes will have distinct styles and mechanics that come together in harmony to make an exciting group experience.
The Magic Legends website confirms that there are going to be five playable classes in the game, but the name and details have only been confirmed for the first two on that list. Five is also the number of core colors in Magic: The Gathering, so it seems likely that the game will include one class per color-theme to start out. Hopefully hybrid classes (come on, Oko!) and colorless classes are introduced in follow-up content if the game does well and warrants patches and DLC. Maybe there could even be an artifact class at some point.
The Mind Mage - Blue Planeswalkers
The Mind Mage personifies cool intellect. As planeswalker that focuses on psychic powers, battle enemies from a safe distance, controlling projectiles with telekinetic powers, and lock down dangerous foes with spells that put them to sleep, or turn them against their allies.
It's not surprising that the blue class seems to be mostly inspired by one of the game's most iconic planewalkers of all time: Jace Beleran. These abilities all line up with blue Magic very closely, which gives fans of the franchise a solid idea of what the yet unconfirmed classes are going to be like.
Geomancer - Red Planeswalkers
The Geomancer draws upon the power of the earth to pummel enemies in close quarters with devastating stone and lava attacks. They are capable of absorbing blows that would otherwise incapacitate other Planeswalkers with their rock shield. Geomancers prefer to call upon creatures like goblins, kavu, and earth elementals.
Fans of Chandra, Sarkhan, and Koth (of the Hammer) will likely be drawn to this aggressive class. Once again, the class lines up with the red portion of the color wheel's main goals and mechanics and seems very in-flavor with the card game and its characters. Not every red planeswalker is a hot head who rushes into battle and tries to end the fight before it even starts, but many definitely do.
White Planeswalkers
Details about the white planeswalker have not been confirmed yet. If they follow the trend of spells inspired by the card game, it seems likely that white magic users will have healing abilities, call upon legions of small, but powerful soldiers, and use the power of flight or angels for evasion. It will be very interesting to see if white offers the ability to play as more of a healing, cleric sort of class and, if so, how difficult that play style will be outside of group play. That said, many white planeswalkers, including Gideon and Elspeth, are known more for their soldier-like abilities than their heals.
Green Planeswalkers
There are no details about the Green-inspired class yet, but it's easy to predict that it will have something to do with nature and summoning animals to help. Green magic has a close connection to beasts, so this class will likely use that theme to become a hunter-like ranged DPS class with support pets. Similar to white magic, green magic also has quite a few healing abilities and ways to gain life back from nature. It's possible that there will be the option to do at least some self-healing with the green class, as well.
Black Planeswalkers
No details about the Black-inspired planeswalker class have been revealed yet, but MtG fans can easily make some guesses. Black magic relies heavily upon interactions with the graveyard and occasional self-harm to increase other damage benefits. This class could end up playing similar to a necromancer or warlock that summons zombies or other demons to help assist in their DPS. There are tons of very cool and iconic black creatures from rats to vampires to horrors; so it will be exciting to see how this class uses those allies in the game.
There are still a ton of details that we don't know about Magic: Legends, but that should all change once invites start going out for the beta testing. Interested gamers can sign up for the Magic: Legends beta now, but so far there is no word on when that will take place or how many users will be invited to the trial program. Hopefully the final three classes are revealed in the near future and players can start looking ahead and planning for which type of character they hope to play as.
In the meantime, Magic fans can stay busy by playing in a Theros: Beyond Death pre-release event online through Magic: Arena or at a local card shop this weekend. The upcoming set officially releases next week, but this is the first change average players have had to get hands on with the new set and those awesome full art basic lands.
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for more Magic Legends news and updates. Until then, draw well, planeswalkers!
Magic: Legends is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.