'Magic: The Gathering Arena' Enters Open Beta

The upcoming Magic: The Gathering digital game has officially entered open beta, with tons of all-new content for players.

Wizards of the Coast announced that Magic: The Gathering Arena had taken another major step closer to a wider release, with a free open beta available now. The game allows for full digital play online, using either pre-built decks or customizable decks made from an expansive library of current Magic cards.

The game is free to download, and players can earn new cards, in-game currency, and booster packs by battling other players. Players can also complete daily tasks to earn additional rewards like pre-made decks. While gameplay is similar to "real life" play, Arena adds plenty of cool graphics when utilizing spells or attacking with monsters.

The open beta will add some new content for those players who have been testing the game for months. Not only will the brand new Guilds of Ravnica expansion be available for player to use several days before its wide release on October 5th, the game is also hosting a a special "Singleton" constructed event in which players build decks that contain only one copy of any single card and a new sealed format in which players build a deck from six sealed booster packs, similar to the real-world tournament style.

In addition, any Magic: The Gathering player who purchases physical retail products (like booster packs) will now receive codes that can be redeemed in the game.

Magic: The Gathering joins the Pokemon Trading Card Game in having a digital platform for fans to build decks and play against other players online. And while the game enjoys a huge fan base -- it remains the largest collectible card game in the world -- adding a free-to-download platform should only encourage more players to play online.

You can download Magic: The Gathering Arena from their website.