Head-to-head

Magic vs Magic

Magic 4.7★ · Free + IAP 55

Winner Magic

Magic 4.6★ · Free + IAP 55

Magic (App B) is the better choice for most players due to its larger user base and more established presence, despite sharing many of the same criticisms as Magic (App A).

Full reviews: Magic · Magic

Both apps are named 'Magic' and appear to be the same game, Magic: The Gathering Arena, based on review content. App B has a significantly larger number of ratings, suggesting it is the primary or more widely adopted version. Both apps face severe criticism regarding bugs, performance, and a perceived 'pay-to-win' or 'rigged' matchmaking system, but also receive praise for the core gameplay.

Head to head

Features tie^R5^R11^R13^R15

Magic Users appreciate the core game of Magic: The Gathering and its potential for learning strategies ^R5^R11^R15. However, some users note the absence of popular formats like 4-player Commander, with only Brawl available ^R13.

Magic Players enjoy the freedom to create different decks and the ability to expand their digital card collection . The fundamental gameplay is highly praised . However, like App A, there are calls for more formats, specifically Commander ^R13.

Ease of Use tie^R5^R11^R15^R20

Magic New players find the game initially challenging but helpful for learning Magic's rules ^R11^R15. However, the app is criticized for frequent, large updates that make it unplayable until downloaded ^R5^R30. Performance issues like lag, poor touch recognition, and slow loading times are also reported ^R5^R20.

Magic Similar to App A, the game is seen as a good way to learn Magic ^R11^R15. Yet, users complain about constant, large updates ^R5^R30, slow loading, and poor performance, including being locked to 30fps on high-end devices like the iPad Pro ^R5^R20. Some UI elements are considered unintuitive ^R20.

Reliability tie^R1^R4^R7^R24

Magic The app is plagued with severe reliability issues, including frequent crashes during games, leading to lost progress and money ^R1. Users report being unable to log in, getting stuck on loading screens, or experiencing an inability to play cards due to glitches ^R1^R24. There are also persistent bugs related to disk space requirements, even when ample space is available ^R4^R7.

Magic Reliability is a major concern, with users reporting frequent crashes, freezing, and disconnections, sometimes leading to wasted money in drafts ^R1. Bugs prevent the app from opening, get it stuck on loading screens, or cause errors with collection data and connectivity ^R24. The disk space bug, where the app claims insufficient space despite plenty being available, is a recurring issue ^R4^R7.

Price/Value tie^R12^R14^R15^R17

Magic Many users claim the game is 'pay to win' and that the monetization is excessive ^R12^R14. They believe the algorithm favors paying players . However, a significant number of free-to-play (F2P) users assert that it's possible to be competitive and enjoy the game without spending money, earning cards through daily play ^R15^R17.

Magic There's a strong sentiment that the game is 'pay to win' due to aggressive monetization and an algorithm perceived to favor paying users ^R12^R14. Conversely, many F2P players report success, building competitive decks and enjoying the game for years without spending ^R15^R17. They highlight that packs are given out constantly and in-game currency is sufficient for card acquisition .

Support tie^R10^R41

Magic One user explicitly states 'bad customer support!' ^R10. Another reports being permanently banned for using the crash report system too often, suggesting a problematic approach to user feedback and issue resolution ^R41.

Pick Magic if

You are looking for the Magic: The Gathering Arena experience and this specific app version is the one you encounter first, as it appears to be functionally identical to App B.

Pick Magic if

You want to play Magic: The Gathering Arena and prefer the app with a significantly larger user base and rating count, which might indicate a more established or actively maintained version, despite shared issues ( ratings vs ratings).

Evidence note: Both apps are named 'Magic' and their reviews describe the same game, Magic: The Gathering Arena, with identical complaints and praises. This suggests they are either the same app listed twice or two versions of the same app with no discernible difference in user experience based on the provided reviews. The comparison is therefore largely based on the volume of reviews, with App B having a much larger dataset.

Frequently asked

Is Magic: The Gathering Arena pay-to-win?

User reviews are divided, with many claiming it is 'pay to win' due to aggressive monetization and a perceived algorithm that favors paying players ^R12^R14. However, a significant number of free-to-play users state they can be competitive and enjoy the game for years without spending money, acquiring cards through daily play and in-game rewards ^R15^R17.

Does Magic: The Gathering Arena have performance issues?

Yes, many users report significant performance issues, including frequent crashes, freezing, disconnections, and slow loading times ^R1^R5^R24. Some users also experience poor touch recognition and the app being locked to 30fps even on high-end devices like the iPad Pro ^R20.

Why does Magic: The Gathering Arena require so much disk space?

Users frequently complain about the app's large file size, with initial downloads and constant updates often being several gigabytes ^R5^R30. A common bug also prevents the app from working, claiming insufficient disk space even when users have 50GB or more free on their devices ^R4^R7.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 50 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

[R5] Magic 4/5 · GB Great for learning, but needs CONSTANT updates: This app is great for learning how to play and how to strategise before investing in expensive real life decks, however the app is in constant need to updating, and takes bloody forever to download everything new! Oh, and the app is completely unplayable until you update it. It’s so frustrating! It also takes forever for the app to load every time yo
[R11] Magic 5/5 · GB First timer: First time playing magic. I’m really enjoying myself. Was quite hard to get used to at the beginning but finishing the 5 colours really helped my gameplay. Only been two days but enjoying it all so far. Top game
[R13] Magic 5/5 · GB Decent game but add commander please: They have done well, but it doesn’t have an option for 4 player commander, only brawl. This can be good for testing out decks, but generally doesn’t give you a realistic view on how the deck plays as you can only interact with one person at a time
[R15] Magic 5/5 · GB New to magic: So I’m new to Magic despite my friends playing for years. I finally learnt the rules through the game and I’m enjoying it after a few months of play. I’m a casual player so don’t care about competitive decks or ranking but it means I can just play for free and using decks I unlock naturally. My biggest issue is that I’ve unlocked so many hundreds of cards and have no idea how to buil
[R20] Magic 2/5 · GB Poor performance: It performs extremely poorly on iPad Pro. Locked to 30fps and very choppy, also UI is not as intuitive as it should be (can’t scroll over cards, have to use a slider below?! On a touch screen?).
[R1] Magic 1/5 · GB Game crashes: Is ok but sometimes you lose your money because you in a mid of a draft and the game decide to crash and don’t let you log in for hours
[R4] Magic 1/5 · GB Bugged??: Downloaded app - said i dont have 1310 ish Mb required to download when i do … helped if the app worked …
[R7] Magic 1/5 · GB Disk space bug: Won’t even allow me to play the game because every time it loads up it says I need more disk space. Have tried deleting things and re-downloading.. same bug appears.
[R24] Magic 1/5 · GB Doesn’t work at all.: Played once, had fun. Next day it wouldn’t load past the splash screen. Next day it does but then it gets stuck on “loading initial scene”. Next day it gets past that bit and pops an error up saying it can’t find your collection before saying you’re not even connected to wifi. I am. Had the app for 4 days and I’ve seen the main menu once.
[R12] Magic 1/5 · GB Pay to win: Rubbish
[R14] Magic 1/5 · GB Great game at core, bad bad bad business practices: The core game is great but the problems are the level of monetisation and the rigged matches using algorithms that assign you a preset for your match. For example you might get the preset “land bias". So you pull land cards all match. Or a preset that means you only pull red cards from a multi colour deck. Or one that means you mostly pull sorce
[R17] Magic 5/5 · GB Great game!: This game is incredible just like the actual card game in reality! Anyone who is claiming pay to win either doesn’t know how to build a deck or is just rubbish at the game there is more than enough access to cards without spending a penny
[R10] Magic 1/5 · GB bad customer support!: bad customer support!
[R41] Magic 1/5 · GB Absolutely awful management: My account has been permanently banned for using the crash report system too often. Instead of fixing issues they ban the players bringing attention to them. Mtg is my favourite hobby but the absolute blinding greed of the people who run this app is vile.
[R30] Magic 1/5 · GB Oversized File: Love magic and wanted to download this so I can play on the go and learn new things with it. Installed a few days ago and every time I tried to use it it wanted another update each 1, 2 or 3GB is size. I uninstalled it today as my file was 11gb on my phone and that’s just too much. Developers sort this out…..thanks

Synthesized from 50 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store