Pyramid Pick: Magic the Gathering: Interactive Encyclopedia

Pyramid Pick

Magic the Gathering: Interactive Encyclopedia

Published by Wizards of the Coast

Produced by Saltmine Creative

CD-ROM, $39.99

While overshadowed by Pokémon mania, Magic: The Gathering is still one of the most popular games around. And after over 20 expansions, there are a lot of cards to try to keep track of. But Wizards of the Coast has come to the rescue with the Magic: The Gathering Interactive Encyclopedia, a computerized play and collection tool. This is a Windows product, with minimum requirements of a Pentium 100 with 32 MB RAM; however, the recommended Pentium 200 is a little more realistic. The install is fairly smooth, with hard drive requirements ranging from 30 to 730 MB, depending on how many graphics you want on the hard drive. The program can be divided into these components: The Deckbuilder, Encyclopedia, Strategy Library, Links, Search, and Magic Online.

The Deckbuilder allows you to develop decks using the entire Magic collection, including the latest expansion, Mercadian Masques, or just your own collection. You can display cards you are working with in varying levels of detail. Searching for a card uses a powerful but simple tool which accesses the Encyclopedia. You can specify a number of search filters, including color, name, cost, rules text, power, creature type, rulings, or notes you have attached to the cards. And the search queries you develop can be saved for future use. The decks you create can be exported and imported, allowing for . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: January 21, 2000

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