Magic Software is dead?

[gaddlord]

I am curious how many of you use Magic software and which particularly.
For years I have been collecting concurent to MTG Studio magic software and I am curious what you find good/bad in each one of them.

Here is an unordered list of what Ihave found so far.

Apprentice - http://www.magic-league.com/download/apprentice.php (discontinued)
Blue Wizard - http://home.hetnet.nl/~fam-wehrens/bluewizard (discontinued)
BotArena - http://www.deckbotarena.net/BotArena/index.html
Card Vault - http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=card_vault
CardBot - http://www.cardbotmtgo.com
CCG Maker - http://www.ccgmaker.com
Chaos - (discontinued)
Collector's Gateway - http://www.akidthaine.com/MTGcg.htm
Complete Magic Database - http://cmd.reinkvist.dk/download.htm (discontinued)
Daring Apprentice - http://daringapprentice.wikispaces.com
DCI Reporter - http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dc ... portermain
DeckBot - http://www.deckbotarena.net/DeckBot
Firemox - http://www.firemox.org
Fun Card Maker - (discontinued)
Generic Collectible Card Game - http://gccg.sourceforge.net
HQ Card Generator - http://www.slightlymagic.net/hqpics/4-mtg/13-hqcg
Incantus
Ivory Tower
Lord of the Deck - http://www.treefrogcreations.com/lotd (discontinued)
Magic Collection Manager - http://sourceforge.net/projects/magiccollection
Magic Convertor - http://wwwu.edu.uni-klu.ac.at/gkohlwei/ ... erter.html
Magic Drafter
Magic Interactive Encyclopedia - http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-I ... B00002EIWU (discontinued)
Magic Library - (discontinued)
Magic Project - (discontinued)
Magic Set Editor - http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net
Magic Spellbook - http://www.magicspellbook.com (discontinued)
Magic Suitcase - http://www.magicsuitcase.org (discontinued)
Magic the Gathering Battlegrounds - http://mtggame.com
Magic Workstation - http://www.magicworkstation.com (discontinued)
Magic: The Database Addons - http://alum.wpi.edu/~dan/mtdb.html
Magician - http://www.magician.googlepages.com/download.htm
MAGMA Magic Machine - http://www.magmamagicmachine.it
Manalink 2.0 - http://www.thepiratebay.org/tor/3947065, www.manalink.de/index.php#1 (discontinued)
Mindless Automation - http://mindless.sourceforge.net
MTG Card Manager - http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=159591
MTG DB - http://www.globware.com/freewareview.php?sid=26
MTG Deck Builder - http://www.mtgvault.com
MTG Editor - http://www.mtglair.de/editor.html (discontinued)
MTG Forge - http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/MTG_Forge
MTG Online - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Articl ... agiconline
MTG Play - http://www.nic.fi/~fuerte/mtgplay.htm (discontinued)
MTGO Card Value - http://www.aeea.cn:81/magic/download.html
MWS Picture Assistant - http://www.slightlymagic.net/hqpics/4-mtg/11-mwspa
Nate's Draft Simulator - http://www.n4te.com/dev/games/mtgo/draft
Nate's Magic Calculator - http://www.n4te.com/dev/games/mtgo/calc/index.php
OCTGN - http://www.octgn.org (discontinued)
Open Magic Data - http://sourceforge.net/projects/omd
Palm MWS - http://www.slightlymagic.net/software/pda
Shandalar - (discontinued)
The Magic Analyst - http://www.gmks.com/MAGIC/Analyst.html (discontinued)
Virtual Play Table - http://www.virtualplaytable.com (discontinued)
Wagic the Homebrew - http://wololo.net/wagic

So, which one you use and like. What do you miss in MTG Studio?

[bertold]

I use Magic Workstation to test decks against each other. This is something
I would really like to see one day in MTG Studio.

[Skylark]

Adding the ability to test decks would make my day. At least eighty percent of my time with that program is deck testing.

[gaddlord]

Adding the ability to test decks would make my day. At least eighty percent of my time with that program is deck testing.

Vote for it and share requirements at http://www.mtgstudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1112

[gaddlord]

This information is now available in our wiki page http://mtgstudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Links

[sauraun]

I have used GCCG for playtesting and to play against others. You can make a deck from proxies on there and it has all the newer cards. It also supports all formats currently available. Kind of a pain to set up and get running correctly under XP.

[Schwanke]

http://www.mtgolibrary.com/product.php

Magic the gathering online library for auto buying and selling mtgo cards with a bot. You run virtual machine or a spare machine with XP and a purchased copy of mtgo and then the bot screen scrapes information with OCR and the like and issues trade commands and the like.

Used for making extra Tix to spend on things or sell to others for cash outside of it.

[Azul]

I'd still rather do Online playtesting with
Online Playtable. It's updated further than the page says.

http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Onlin ... able_-_OPT

[gaddlord]

Your input was added to the Links wiki at http://mtgstudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Links

[Braveheartfan]

I have experimented with a number of these programs. First, a little backgound info....I only play casually and not as often as I used to due to our playgroup members moving away. I collect some cards and build decks.

I've tried a few of the games and in general I like them, mainly for the idea that they are set in the Magic multiverse and hold to the Magic theme. I don't always play them often but they are a nice distraction and I can get in a quick game or two when time allows without investing a ton of time. My favorites are the Duels of the Planeswalkers games. I have the newest version on the PS3 (which I have been playing frequently) and I have the Microprose version for the PC. I also have Magic Battlegrounds. It's fun at times as well.

I've experimented with several of the CCg Maker programs. They are ok if you want to create cards.

I've tried a number of database programs: Magic Interactive Encyclopedia (semmed a little clunky), Card Vault, Magic the Database, Complete Magic Database, Magic Workstation (which I purchased/registered), Magic Suitcase versions 7 and 8 (Suitcase is being updated with each new set release and premade deck but the software package itself isn't being actively developed/updated), as well as a few others. I tried the trial of MTG Studio in the past but didn't experiment with it enough before the trials ended.

The main programs I use are Suitcase (version 7, my favorite program) and Workstation (I don't use this as often). I have been trying out MTG Studio and will be purchasing it very soon. I am quite impressed with this product and it's being actively developed which is a bonus.

As for what I like in the other software:

Suitcase 7:
-You can open the master database in either the top or bottom grid.
-You can open 2 decks or inventory lists at the same time, one in the top grid and one in the bottom grid.
-I like the search window in the task bar for each grid, top and bottom.
-I like having the buttons in a task bar for each grid to manipulate the list that's open in that grid.
-You can save the inventory list or deck list as whatever name and location you wish. You aren't limited to only one inventory or whatever.
-When you create a deck, you can copy cards from another deck list to the new list without removing the card from the current deck.

How I build decks is this: I take my idea and search cards from the master database and add them to a deck list. Once I have that general card list, I create a new deck (which is empty at this point) in the other program grid which gives me two open decks displayed. I then sort through the first deck list selecting certain cards and adding them to the second deck list. Once done, I will still have only a card list and not a deck ready to play yet. I'll create a third deck list and start focusing and eliminating cards from the second list by only copying selected cards to the third deck list, and so on. ( I may start with a deck I call Shadow. I create Shadow2, then Shadow3, etc, with each deck list smaller and more focused to the deck idea until I get to a deck to try playing with. Sometimes it only takes a couple lists, sometimes 7 or 8.) It's maybe not very efficient and a bit time consuming but sometimes this helps to focus an idea in a different direction than originally intended. The idea of having multiple lists is that I can go back and search a previous list for a card I might be missing. It's quicker than trying to remember what the card was or trying to search it out in the master database. I haven't cataloged my collection yet but I don't have many current cards. Money doesn't allow right now. So, I print proxies to playtest the deck, make any changes, then try to but the cards I need once the deck is workable.

For me, important parts of the program are the ability to have open decks in top and bottom grids, be able to copy cards between lists/grids without decreasing card count or removing the card from the current list as might happen in inventory lists (unless I was using an inventory list which I would then wish to decrease card count if I used a card in a deck), having a taskbar with search window for each grid (top and bottom) because this really speeds up things and makes it easier.

I will post some of this as feature requests in the proper thread once I have time and searched so I don't duplicate anything. I've been following this forum since I started the trial almost a month ago and remember seeing something similiar I think.

Otherwise, I love the direction Studio is headed in and the features it offers. You can count my money coming your way. Thanks for the product.

[gaddlord]

You can open the master database in either the top or bottom grid.

MTG Studio does not work in the sense ofopen anything anywehere. It works with three modes:
* Deck from Card Pool
* Collection from Card Pool
* Deck from Collection
which usually make more sense. Let me know why you may need to have 2 Card Pools opened at the same time or one deck opened both on top and bottom.

You can open 2 decks or inventory lists at the same time, one in the top grid and one in the bottom grid.

MTG Studio was the first one to provide ability to edit multiple decks simultaneously. Try openeing 2 decks and you will see that there will be tabs on the bottom of the screen for each deck. MTG Studio is not limited to just 2. You can open as many decks as you like.
As far as collections are concerned - I am planning to have support for being able to open unlimited number of collection files (the same was as we do for decks). This is the second most voted feature at voting system

I like the search window in the task bar for each grid, top and bottom.

Something which is not so obvious to spot is that in MTG Studio you can focus your Card Pool or Deck and simply start typing and it will lead you on each keystroke to the next matching card. You can use Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down to find the next match. Once adopted this search becomes a realy faster.

I like having the buttons in a task bar for each grid to manipulate the list that's open in that grid.

This feature I kind of dislike in MSC. It goes out of the usual Windows toolbars behaviour and even though present both in MSC and MWS I tend to avoid it in MTG Studio. I cannot promise doing it.

You can save the inventory list or deck list as whatever name and location you wish. You aren't limited to only one inventory or whatever.

Support for multiple collection files and ability to choose their location is pending.

When you create a deck, you can copy cards from another deck list to the new list without removing the card from the current deck.

You can do this in MTG Studio as well from the Cards|Copy menu. There was a bug in the latest beta releases (fixed in Beta 6) where Copy behaved as Cut. Should be fine now.

Otherwise, I love the direction Studio is headed in and the features it offers. You can count my money coming your way. Thanks for the product.

Thanks

[Braveheartfan]

Let me know why you may need to have 2 Card Pools opened at the same time or one deck opened both on top and bottom.

The reason for opening a deck in each grid relates to the way I create decks. I start with a large list of cards I searched and added to one deck as a starting point. I create a new deck named the same as the first except with a number after the name. I start sorting and selecting only certain cards from the first deck to add to the second deck. It's just a process of elimination as I start selecting cards and focusing the direction to take the deck in. I like doing it this way simply because I can go back to a previous deck list to search for cards I had already found but hadn't added to the latest deck. It's a weird process I know but it actually saves me time searching for certian cards when I can't remember the names.

It's just a way I like to create decks. I don't know if I can actually create decks this way in Studio or not with the open decks only being displayed in the bottom grid one at a time. I'll have to experiment with the copy function and see if I can copy cards from one deck to the other.

This was just one feature of Suitcase that I liked. I'm sure that as I get more used to Studio and become familiar with all the features it will be easier to use.

I am having a big issue filtering cards. Studio stops responding every time I try to filter editions. It doesn't matter if I use the filter window or the advanced filter. I created a thread in the BUGS Forum about it.

Thanks.