The time has come for Magic fans and MMO Action RPG fans alike to become Planeswalkers and save the multiverse from its greatest threat. Players will explore some of the franchise’s most iconic planes, collect mana-based spells and gather the power needed to overtake their enemies during combat.

An ancient force moves in darkness, posing an ever-growing threat to the entire multiverse. Players will experience the power of becoming a Planeswalker as they discover exciting mana-based spells and strategically build out the perfect hand of balanced attacks to control the chaos of the battlefield. While openly exploring the vast planes from Magic: The Gathering, players will fight alongside iconic characters and legendary creatures made popular by the original card game.

Among the longtime fans of Magic: The Gathering is the development team at Cryptic Studios, who have been working on the game behind-the-scenes since 2017. Development of this MMO action RPG is an extension of a licensing partnership between Wizards of the Coast and Cryptic Studios following the success of Neverwinter, the critically acclaimed MMO based on the tabletop adventure, Dungeons & Dragons. The team currently developing Magic: Legends is helmed by executive producer, Stephen Ricossa, former executive producer behind the popular MMORPG, Star Trek Online.

Magic: Legends Open Beta is almost here! Jump into the game on March 23, 2021 on Arc or Epic Games Store and receive platform exclusive cosmetic goodies.

We want Magic: Legends to be the next great free-to-play experience for all players - so today we want to discuss a number of systems in place that allow you to make the most out of your game time to acquire store items and more. These systems are the Currency Exchange, the Broker, and the Battlepass:

The Currency Exchange

The Currency Exchange is the engine that drives free-to-play in all Cryptic games, and will do so in Magic: Legends as well. The Currency Exchange allows Planeswalkers to convert their earned in-game currency for the paid currency at a player-driven exchange rate, which ultimately allows for the purchase of all ZEN Store items through gameplay. Now let’s take a look at the details for the Currency Exchange.

The Currency Exchange facilitates the conversion of the earned ‘Refined Aether’ currency into the paid currency, ‘ZEN’ - and on the flip side, converts ZEN into Aether - at a community-driven rate. Unrefined Aether is earned from completing Overworld Activities and Missions – or as Battlepass rewards – and will refine automatically. Each account has a daily Aether Refinement cap of 50,000, and a maximum Aether storage cap of 2,000,000.

To exchange Aether for ZEN – or ZEN for Aether – navigate to the main menu and select ‘Wallet’. Here, you will see your various currency balances and the currency exchange icon.

Upon opening the currency exchange menu, you will see tabs for ‘Buy ZEN’, ‘Sell ZEN’, ‘Open’, and ‘History’. Here you can place Buy/Sell orders for both currencies, view other open market offers, and track your exchange history. If you place a Buy ZEN order, you will make an offer into the community to provide X Refined Aether to Receive Y ZEN. A Sell ZEN order will provide X ZEN to receive Y Aether. Regardless of buying or selling, the offer you make will show up in the ‘Open’ tab, which is visible to other Planeswalkers, and if the demand of another player matches your listed supply, you can complete the exchange.

As an example, if you wanted to purchase the Premium Battlepass, you could earn Aether from various gameplay activities (progressing through the Free Battlepass track as you go). Once you’ve earned enough Aether, you enter the Currency Exchange, make the Aether to ZEN conversion at a market rate from another player, receive the ZEN, and buy the Premium Battlepass, unlocking all of the Premium track rewards from your unlocked BP levels!

The Broker

The Broker is another system in Magic: Legends that allows you to leverage an earned, in-game currency to purchase ZEN Store items, and more. The Broker acts as an intermediary that facilitates trades among Planeswalkers. You can sell various items to the Broker for an immediate payout of gold, and the quantity of items you and other players have sold will then be reflected as inventory in the Broker for other players to buy with gold. Gold is acquired via enemy drops, skirmish and mission rewards, and Battlepass levels.

Items that the Broker will buy/sell include:

• Spell Pages
  • You cannot buy new, single spells from the Broker
    • You can only buy pages to upgrade a spell you have already unlocked
  • Spell pages bought/sold via the broker must be transacted in stacks of 12
  • The gold buy/sell price shown in the Broker reflects the stack price, not an individual page price
• World Enchantments
  • World Enchantments of all three difficulty tiers can be bought/sold through the Broker
  • As discussed in our Difficulty & Prophetic Quill blog, these Enchantments can be applied to Missions at higher difficulties for greater rewards
• Unlocks
  • Unopened Booster Packs
    • Unopened Booster Packs are contained in your inventory (the Bag icon on the main page of the Store)
  • Class unlocks from booster packs
    • Class Unlocks are contained in your inventory (the Bag icon on the main page of the Store)
  • Choice packs (Trait, Artifact, Spell) from Booster Packs and the Empyrean Store
    • Choice Packs are contained in your inventory (the Bag icon on the main page of the Store)
    • You cannot make a selection from a choice pack, then sell the single Trait/Artifact/Spell you’ve received on the Broker

Buying/selling items on the broker requires the consumption of a Trade Token for each transaction. Beginning in Open Beta, you gain 10 Trade Tokens per day, and can hold a maximum of 30 at a time. Specific to Spell Page transactions, upgrading the Aetheric Core in your realm will allow you to trade more stacks of spells per single trade token used.

The Broker buy/sell prices for each listed item have established floors and ceilings and will fluctuate between these values based on supply and demand – with some monitoring for exceptional circumstances. The Broker functioning this way allows you to continually sell items like page stacks for a spell you have maxed out – or don’t currently use – and continually get gold to put towards another spell’s pages, or other items on the Broker that suit your needs.

The Battlepass

The Currency Exchange and Broker aren’t the only systems that make the most of your playtime. The Magic: Legends Battlepass will be jam-packed with new items alongside each major content update we release. Starting at Open Beta launch, the Battlepass will feature 50 levels of rewards, and include both Free and Premium tracks. The Free Battlepass track will include character and creature summon cosmetics, various in-game currencies, spell pages/relic fragments for upgrading loadout components, and even a new Trait for your loadouts. The Premium Battlepass track will cost 1000 ZEN, feature all of the Free track rewards, additional character and creature cosmetics, and some other rewards including a spell and Artifact.

Battlepass levels are advanced by completing Daily & Weekly challenges to earn Battlepass XP. These objectives can vary, and you may be tasked with earning Aether from various Multiversal sources or completing a small number of Overworld Skirmishes and Ordeal Missions - to name a few. If you progress on the Free track and then elect to purchase the Premium Battlepass later on, the levels you’ve previously unlocked will grant their Premium track rewards automatically.

Checking Out

We crafted these systems (and others) to offer you complete control over your experience across the entirety of Magic: Legends. Our goal has always been for Magic: Legends to be fully playable and equally fun for all players from beginning through the endgame without the need to spend a dime. Our sincere hope is that the Currency Exchange, Broker, and Battlepass empower you throughout your adventures in the Magic Multiverse as you improve your Planeswalker, offering you the greatest experience in the Multiverse.

Key Features:

• Become a Planeswalker – Players can choose from five diverse classes and switch between different Planeswalkers at any time.
• Walk Your Own Path – Players will need to cross various planes to save the multiverse, but how they weave their path is up to them.
• Control the Chaos – Control the chaos in real-time combat. Choosing what spells go into each hand requires strategy, as they will be drawn at random during attacks.
• Collect and Upgrade – Players will discover a myriad of spells and collect spell fragments to make them more powerful.
• Fight Together –The planes in Magic: Legends can be traversed alone or with up to two other Planeswalkers.

Magic: Legends will make its worldwide debut on PC, Xbox One and PS4 in Spring 2021.