Magic: The Gathering Video Games - Magic: The Gathering (Microprose)

Magic: The Gathering (Microprose)

Named after the game itself, Magic: The Gathering was published by MicroProse in February 1997. The game takes place in the plane of Shandalar, where the player must travel the land and fight random enemies to gain cards, and defeat five wizards representing the five colors. The player must prevent one color from gaining too much power, and defeat the planeswalker Arzakon, who has a deck of all five colors. Adventure game and role-playing game elements are present, including inventory, gold, towns, dungeons, random battles, and character progression in the form of new abilities and a higher life point total. Two expansion packs were published, Spells of the Ancients and Duels of the Planeswalkers.

The game is notable as being the last game the esteemed game designer Sid Meier (Civilization, Railroad Tycoon) worked on while employed by Microprose, though his involvement was short. Meier left before development was complete to found Firaxis Games.