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[Nirolak]

First up, here's the quote that goes with these pictures:

I want to close with the investments we're making in digital. Digital experiences are already an important part of many of our brands, and one we're investing heavily in, which is why we recently announced the creation of an all new digital game studio.

We've recruited an all-star team from across the industry, from players like Valve, EA, BioWare, Warner Bros, Sony, and more, to work on something we call Magic Digital Next, an umbrella term we use to describe an across the board re-imagining of digital Magic, that will include many different expressions, from casual to competitive, mobile to console, and beyond.

I want to show you now a sample of some of the cool work the team is doing. Let's let it roll.

*This video was not displayed publically and it's hard to find too many descriptions of it.*

*Applause*

Thanks. I got to apologize. I get goosebumps every time I see that dragon come out of the card. That's pretty cool.

So, if you're a long time fan like me, that clip gets you really pumped up. In fact, among the select few fans that we've shown that footage to, I haven't seen a more excited reaction since showing trailers for Halo to early Xbox enthusiasts in 2000.

So what's getting our fans excited? Three things.

1.) First off, it's real Magic, with no compromises. You get to play the cards you love, with the play mechanics you expect.

2.) Second, it's fun. Big visuals and epic chaos, and an intuitive interface that's accessible to new players and experienced players alike.

3.) And finally, it's watchable and shareable. Because Magic is a game that brings people together through creativity and competition.

This particular concept is just one of many new initiative to drive more world class digital and tabletop gaming experiences. We're looking forward to sharing more details with you, and of course our fans, as 2017 unfolds.

Source: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/7y7e83mm (starts at 2 hours and 22 minutes)

Pictures:

Additional Observations:

• You should read the above quote for the things they actually said regarding it being a full version of Magic, being very readable, having lots of dynamic effects, and being very shareable (I assume they mean easy to stream). They also noted the dev team comes from across a bunch of big publishers like EA, Sony, Warner, and Valve. But anyway, moving on to things I noticed.
• The player avatars now appear to be the actual Planeswalkers instead of just various pieces of card art. I'm guessing they also have voice sets now a la Hearthstone.
• The card back here is not the default Magic: The Gathering cardback, so presumably they are adding those as well.
• That thing in the middle seems to show four phases, so presumably the upkeep and untap steps are more naturally rolled in.
• They do seem to be following through on making things more readable. Norwood Ranger normally has flavor text on it, but they're instead focusing on a bigger, more viewable showing of the art. Card cost is similarly floating above the cards so you can always see it easily while also reading the title and seeing the art for each card in your hand.

Finally, here's their new statement on their digital studios: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-digital/magic-digital-next-2017-02-17

On Hasbro's earnings call last week, leadership spoke about the success of Pie Face, a future My Little Pony movie, and Magic's eighth consecutive year of growth, something of which we are all very proud at Wizards of the Coast! Also mentioned was something called "Magic Digital Next," which has been the subject of a lot of speculation and debate lately—so I'd like to provide some context for our fans.

Magic Digital Next—or "MDN"—is Wizards' internal umbrella term for the entire landscape for Magic: The Gathering experiences around digital games. Our evolving vision includes exciting work by our new digital groups to both bring great experiences to Magic players and to attract new fans to the amazing experience that is Magic. This includes, but is certainly not limited to:

- Upgrading to state-of-the-art back-end technology and systems to sustain and constantly improve digital and tabletop experiences;
- Improving and expanding the way you play the Magic trading card game digitally;
- Dreams of delivering deep gameplay experiences in Magic worlds and fiction on diverse gaming platforms and genres.

You have seen early evidence of our forward ambitions with the addition and growth of Leagues in Magic Online and our recent announcement about the early release of new sets for Magic Online starting with Amonkhet this April.

We're excitedly digging into an ambitious slate of MDN projects, and we can't wait to be at the point where we have solid plans to share. We're in for an exciting ride!

 

[TenCentCoast]

Will this finally be the Magic game that actually stays around and updated?

 

[Delusibeta]

Will this finally be the Magic game that actually stays around and updated?

As I understand it, it's being positioned as a replacement for Magic the Gathering Online, and I wouldn't be too surprised if Duels also gets absorbed by it.

 

[Nirolak]

It's supposed to replace everything except MTGO in the short term, and I think MTGO as well eventually.

 

[Haines]

This could be the product to get me back into magic.

Put a good few sets time I to paper and online last year to realize hearthstone just makes more sense unless your deep in.

I hope this is as good as it deserves to be.

 

[michaelius]

It's supposed to replace everything except MTGO in the short term, and I think MTGO as well eventually.

That would be great MTGO is stuff of nightmares

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

So long as I can in and out on a specific card, I'm fine. I suck at the meta game but I love looking at the cards and spending money.

 

[jon bones]

are they finally ready to get serious about a long term digital Magic product?

let's hope this is good

 

[Chairman Yang]

I think this being "real" Magic: The Gathering might actually hamstring its potential success. Aside from things like interrupts inevitably making the game vastly slower than card games designed to be electronic from the ground up, MTG strikes me as an aged, creaky core infrastructure kept alive and successful through heroic design efforts and sheer momentum. At its center, it no longer feels nearly as well-designed as newer games like Android: Netrunner or Duelyst. I really wonder how much it'll reach beyond the existing MTG fanbase.

 

[charlequin]

At its center, it no longer feels nearly as well-designed as newer games like Android: Netrunner or Duelyst.

This is a weird pair of comparisons for me, since Netrunner is a later Garfield design and heavily flavored by lessons learned from MTG and a design goal of hitting some very different design space, while Duelyst is much more of a simplified game in the Hearthstone vein. Only one of these can make much of a show at competing with Magic on the level of high-level strategic play.

 

[Fragamemnon]

I really wonder how much it'll reach beyond the existing MTG fanbase.

I don't think it necessarily needs to reach beyond that-when people play digital magic, they also play paper magic, and a BIG part of the overall biz effort with WotC is to make sure that their store partners keep people coming to the stores to play.

If people are playing other games digitally, it's easier for them to taper off playing Magic. I play HS to get my occasional tcg fix, and only play Magic four times a year or so in Vintage tournaments because I <3 the busted stuff in the game's history.

edit: it's good that they finally have a decent engineering team and are presumably paying them, this was a giant problem with mtgo.

 

[eggandI]

Wow this is a complete surprise to me. I had no idea they were working on this. Really hope this ends up being good. It's exactly the kind of MTG game I've wanted for a long time.