The world of Magic: The Gathering is full of tons of interesting lore and a very well-developed magic system that feels like it should be a perfect fit for an RPG. Cryptic Studios is working to deliver on that potential with Magic: Legends when it arrives on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2021. The game is described as a free-to-play action RPG with MMO elements and fans of the iconic card game will see a lot of familiar enemies, locations, and spells when it arrives.
The team at Cryptic have worked with Magic card designers, Pro Tour players, and an experienced ARPG team to figure out the best way to bring the essence of Magic and the power of Planeswalkers to this genre of gameplay. Players will be able to choose a class, build a deck of powerful spells, and battle enemies with their own attacks while they build up mana to summon creatures to help fight or just deal out massive direct damage if that is how they want to play. Each Class represents one-fifth of the color wheel and, from what we've seen, these classes appear to capture the core of each type of magic very well.
In addition to all of their primary attacks, upgrades, and the spells in their library; each Planeswalker also has a Spark power that is associated with their selected class. To understand exactly what that means and how it works, let's first break down some Magic lore to understand the reference...
What Is a Spark in Magic: The Gathering lore?
In the world of Magic: The Gathering, not every single being is magical or has the ability to walk between planes and visit other realms of reality. The gift is actually very rare. To represent this special awakening of power inside an individual, Magic refers to the planeswalker spark.
The planeswalker spark is an innate power inside an individual that, once awoken, grants them the power to walk between planes of reality. This is an incredibly rare gift and very few beings in the world possess the planeswalker spark. Some sparks are awoken during times of extra stress or pain, but that isn't always the case for every planeswalker.
What Is a Spark Power in Magic Legends?
So, back to the video game. In Magic Legends, a Spark Power is basically the ultimate ability for each class (similar to a Destiny or Overwatch ultimate). While working through a level, players have a Mana meter that they are building up. If players manage to entirely fill up their bar they are given a visual indicator that their Spark Power is ready to unleash when it's needed. Spark Powers are incredibly powerful and can be used to swing the tide of battle and take back a fight that was slipping away or knock a ton of hit points off of a big boss. They are big splashy powers that, once triggered, create some type of effect that lasts for roughly 15-20 seconds.
During a recent interview with Magic Legends Executive Producer Stephen Ricossa Game Rant had a chance to ask for some more details about Spark Powers...
Stephen Ricossa: ... Another Sanctifier power is the Spark Power. We've talked about these a little bit. For your Spark Power, you have this meter that you will fill up and at certain times you can choose to activate a mana surge, which gives you a massive boost to mana regen so you can cast spells really quickly or you can save it up until the bar is full and kick off your ultimate, which we call your Spark Power... We consider these Spark Powers to be kind of like the ultimate expression of that class, while also giving you kind of a tide turning moment. We've seen it with some of the other classes we've revealed, as well. You feel like you're not going to make it and then you run your ultimate and you basically reset the battlefield.
Ricossa went on to detail how the Spark Power works for the newly-announced Sanctifier class, as well as making some comparisons to the Geomancer...
Ricossa: For the Sanctifier, your primary attack gets replaced with a Wave of Radiance that you can cast non-stop instead of having it on a cooldown. And as you're doing that, you start summoning ranged and melee angels that just start filling up the battlefield for that entire 15 or 20 seconds that you're able to do this. I'll use an example from a different class, your Geomancer, when you hit your Spark Power you go from whatever your Geomancer model is to a 15 or 20 foot obsidian rock monster, all your powers are changed, and you're just destroying the battlefield with rock and lava for 15-20 seconds and then it goes away.
Spark Powers seem like a fantastic way to make players feel extra powerful for a very small window of time without breaking the balance of the game. As new classes are announced, it will be very exciting to see how they take advantage of this mechanic. Fans of black-mana may already be crossing their fingers that the final starting class might have the ultimate power to raise an army of zombies for 15-20 seconds or something else that involves controlling the undead or perhaps some way to pay a portion of health for a temporary benefit to damage. Other classes will likely arrive after launch as additional content, so there should be plenty of other Spark Powers to learn about in the game's future. Similar mechanics have worked very well in other ARPGs or MMOs, so it seems like a wise addition to the arsenal of each planeswalker, as well.
There is only one remaining launch class left to reveal, so hopefully the team at Cryptic is ready to offer a look at what the Black-mana planeswalker class has to offer in the very near future. Until then, be sure to check back for more Magic Legends news, updates, and features.
Magic Legends plans to release in 2021 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.