What is NFT in Magic: The Gathering?
Are you among the die-hard fans of the famous tabletop card game Magic: The Gathering, released in 1993? Have you also been interested in the enchanting world of crypto lately? If that’s so, the news about the potential Magic: the gathering nft project is something you’d like to hear more about.
It’s no secret that Magic: The Gathering has been a well-known game for almost three decades now, long before the invention of Non-Fungible Tokens and their massive popularity nowadays. This game has attracted more than 40 million players worldwide, while its prize money in 2018 reached an impressive amount of approximately 10 million dollars.
But, before we move on to the news about the so-called – Magic: the gathering nft project, let’s get to know more about the original game and how it has evolved over the years, shall we?
Release and evolution of Magic the Gathering
Colloquially known as MTG or simply “Magic”, this game was created by Richard Garfield and released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic: the gathering represented the first trading card game ever created
Between the year of 2008 and 2016, there were more than a billion Magic cards produced. It was the period in which MTG’s popularity grew exponentially. The reason Magic: the gathering nft project to become so popular lately is because this original game has a lot of devoted fans from all over the world.
How is an original Magic game played?
As a Magic game player, you are taking the role of a so-called “Planeswalker: doing battle with numerous other Planeswalkers in the following manner:
- Casting spells
- Artefacts usage
- Summoning creatures
In order to defeat your opponent, you’re usually required to cast spells and attack with creatures. It’s necessary to do so because you want to damage the opponent’s “life total”, reducing the object from 20 to 0.
Even though the game’s original concept grew densely from beloved “Dungeon & Dragons” and other role-playing games, this original gameplay bears almost no resemblance to numerous other paper-and-pencil games.
However, Magic is known to include much more cards, and its rules are much more complex than numerous other card games. Magic is usually played by two or more players, either with physical cards in person or virtually on a computer or other digital device.
Rule formats of Magic: the gathering
Magic: the gathering can be played in numerous different formats that fall into two following categories:
- Constructed formats – Players use their cards to create decks with a minimum of 60 cards per single deck
- Limited formats involve players who build a deck out of a random cards pool with a minimum of 40 cards in a deck.
Keep in mind that new cards are released through expansion sets every day. When it comes to additional developments, they include the Wizards Play Network that people from all over the world are playing, the Players Tour community, and Magic cards substantial resale market.
Some cards are considered extremely valuable according to their utility in gameplay and rarity in production, where prices range from a few cents to more than 10,000 dollars! So, what about Magic: the gathering nft project? How did that come to be in the first place? Let’s find out!
Magic: the gathering nft project – explained
As you’ve learned, Magic: the gathering appeared in 1993, and it became a well-known game with more than 40 million players worldwide. Quite recently, there have been rumours about Magic being involved in what’s known as an “unofficial NFT project” revolving around Magic the gathering nft cards.
However, the creators of the game, Wizards of the Coast, claimed that the Magic: the gathering project has nothing to do with them officially. In addition to that, they’ve stated that they also might have the NFT initiative of their own. So, what is the NFT project that’s been in question?
MTGDAO NFT project
What happens to be the questionable NFT project is mtgDAO, with the intent to make the existing MTG cards into Non-Fungible tokens. It means that these NFTs will represent mintable pieces of digital property stored on Blockchain technology.
According to mtgDAo’s white paper, players are required the actual card to play the Magic game legally, and these NFTs are not created to establish actual ownership of the card. Instead, these NFTs will typically be used to allow cards to be played in the “mtgDAO format.
They explain that they’re not building any gaming software or printing official card copies. It’s evident that people will continue to play these games using cards in the form that is physical, using MTGO, Arena, or tabletop. Also, according to them, these NFTs could be observed in two following ways:
- For representing temporary ownership in a cube draft
- Not as ownership of the copyrighted card
Issues with Wizards of the Coast
So, the assumption that the project mtgDAO is legal is not correct. Another reason to believe so is that the official counsel of Wizards of the Coast has sent an email letter to mtgDAO that included the following message:
“Your enthusiasm for MAGIC: THE GATHERING is evident and appreciated. The team at Wizards is also impressed by the work you have put into developing a new format for playing MAGIC: THE GATHERING. Unfortunately, your intended use of Wizards’ intellectual property, including its trademarks and copyrights, would be unlawful.”
According to the email above, we can see why Magic: the gathering nft game project isn’t official or lawful. Even though people might think that the Magic: the gathering nft project will be considered legal since they’ll allow the reproduction of magic cards in the NFTs form exclusively by a player who has bought an actual, physical card, that’s also not correct.
Who has the exclusive right to reproduce the work?
The truth is that the copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work such as MAGIC the gathering cards in any format. Even though the copyright statute for making an “archival” or “backup” copy is possible in some circumstances, this prerogative extends to computer programs exclusively and not to any other type of work.
From this example, we can see how Non-Fungible Tokens are at the beginning of a pretty steam road to being completely developed in a way where copyright won’t occur anytime.
Even though some individuals cleared out their full support for this particular project, it’s undeniable that there’s no originality in “supposed art” that may become NFT. For that reason, it’s evident why Wizards of the Coast are reacting to this Magic: the gathering nft project in such a manner.
Can we expect official MTG NFTs shortly?
One of the main questions regarding the Magic: the gathering nft project is, “Can we expect it to be official in the near future?” Both Magic die-hard fans and Non-Fungible enthusiasts worldwide would be more than happy to know that there’s an excellent possibility for an MTG NFT official project sometime soon.
According to an email by Wizards of the Coast, the company is currently evaluating their plans for NFTs and the Magic: the gathering game cards. However, there’s no final decision regarding this matter yet. Thus, no connection between the Non-Fungible Tokens and Wizards’ intellectual property is, in accord with them, strictly prohibited.
Is investing in unofficial Magic: the gathering nft project a good idea?
Future investors should consider the official statement of Wizards of the Coast while considering investing in the mtgDAO nft project since it is done without the knowledge or consent of the game’s official company.
Many gamers and NFT enthusiasts are still wondering how a specific group of people could think that their idea of minting NFTs without any approval or licence by the game’s parent company, Wizards of the coast, is good.
Let’s take back to the white paper of mtgDAO. We can note that they’re “only adding a layer of scarcity to play Wizard’s cards in a completely new format and that in the long run, they think they’ll be able to buy the Magic brand from the company Wizards. Of the Coast.”
According to this statement, which is far from ironic, mtgDAO evaluates that they’ll be the next evolution of what that famous game and its passionate community are at the moment. They are convinced that they’ll significantly influence how the game will be controlled and operated in the future. Is it a mistaken assumption or not? It’s up to the world to see.
The current state of the mtgDAO nft project
At the moment, we can see that mtgDAO’a plans for its Magic: the gathering nft project is on hold. The creator of it hopes it’s not the very end of their goal to make this worldwide famous card trading game “web 3”.
Their primary motivation is to combine the beloved Magic game and web3 so that the whole community will enjoy engaging with them. Based on the creator’s recent tweet, he claimed that “It isn’t the end for mtgDAO” and that the passionate community always have a lot to contribute to the Magic game, in case the game’s actual owners will change their minds about it.
They hope for the luck to turn things around in their favour and make the Magic: the gathering nft project to be official and lawful. However, our professional opinion is that mtgDAO will need more than just a stroke of mere luck to convince Wizards of the Coast to allow them to pursue their goals.
We need to be patient about this matter to see how the Magic: the gathering nft project story will end!
