Gameplay
Apprentice lacks a rules engine; the game moves forward by the players typing out their current actions. Apprentice simply provides an interface that can keep track of the current phase of the game; cards in play and their current state; and cards in the graveyard. There is no concept of card ownership; players may use as many copies of a card as they would like in decks they create. Cards which interact with sideboards such as the Judgment "wishes" or the Dissension split card Research/Development are not implemented directly, and are instead usually adjudicated by creating temporary new cards on the spot.
The old 1.46 is freeware and is downloadable without need for either charge or registration. The current version is free while it is in beta, pricing model of full version is currently unknown. However, when Dragonstar Studios disbanded, they did not release the Apprentice 1.0 source code due to the legal agreement between them and Wizards of the Coast. Hence, the 1.0 branch is frozen in time without the possibility of any future upgrades or bugfixes. However, the simple data format used to store cards has allowed new sets to be added and the registry of cards updated.
Apprentice was officially acknowledged and licensed by Wizards of the Coast, as it only uses publicly available rules and lists of cards.
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