Magic: Legends subreddit's top post is titled "Fastest Uninstall of My Life," not the kind of response a free-to-play action RPG in its first week of open beta was looking for. To make matters worse, popular commentator and streamer Sean Plott called "Day

. Plott, who is very active on the Magic: The Gathering arena scene, called Legends "terrible" after live-streaming it for a short time. While some comments were positive, what seemed like an exciting launch quickly turned tumultuous.

Putting aside for a moment the design criticisms of Day

, three major complaints now dominate the conversation: the complex currency system (with 13 different resources), monetization, and performance issues.

The biggest sticking point is the Dimir Assassin class, a top-tier class that randomly drops from "booster packs" that require premium Zen currency worth about $3 each. This class can also be purchased with in-game gold, but according to players, the price is enormous and would take decades to afford.

Another in-game resource, ether, can be traded for Zen in a player-driven marketplace. It is also worth noting that the Dimir Assassin is currently the only locked class. If you are the type of person who values what is offered up front in a free-to-play game over what you can earn as you play, Dimir Assassin may not be a problem. (After an hour of play, I don't get the impression that you will quickly exhaust the potential of the free class.)

Leaving aside the Dimir Assassin, the monetization of Magic: Legends is a bit much. In addition to cosmetic items, there are boosts and services like character renaming and new deck slots for around $5 each, plus a Battle Pass with two premium tiers for $10 and $25. There is also a per-day limit on resource collection. It is not uncommon for many free-to-play games to have such stores, but some restraint could have smoothed out some of Magic's other problems: Legendary

players reported frame rate issues, and I also experienced some experienced stuttering. The opening cinematic is also quite rough, with stiff-looking character lips and playful dialogue out of sync. While this is a beta, it is hard to tolerate it on that basis when loot boxes and premium battle passes are already available for sale.

The design of Magic: Magic:Legends has also received a lot of criticism. I enjoyed the game for an hour or so, but the deck system is potentially interesting: the deck system has interesting possibilities. Using spells from a small hot bar and dealing with new spells is cycled, adding yet another thread to an already hectic genre. However, I am not sure if this system will remain attractive after the novelty wears off. In combat, my best strategic option is often to cast spells I don't want to use in order to make room for other spells on the hot bar. I have tried putting multiple copies of one spell in the deck so that it appears more often, but I can only have one copy of each spell in the deck. Perhaps mixing and matching colors would make it more interesting. A blog post describes advanced deck building, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Based on the early game, Day

takes an even harsher view of this system.

"It's not that the game lacks interesting decisions; it lacks decisions. It's the button presses on cooldown. It doesn't manage mana. In the first three hours, at no point did we manage mana. The current implementation of the deck and how it works in combat feels like an anti-system. Rather than creating something new, cool, and fun, it feels like an impediment to gameplay. "

Magic Magic:Legends is stingy with its loot. This is an odd choice given how fundamental the joy of picking things up is to many of these popular games. I have so far found nothing, and Day[9] spent hours finding one tunic. Finally, Day[9] (I should mention that he hosts the PC Gaming Show every year) said he would give this game either a "0 or 1" out of 10 based on what he played.

Not a great start for Magic: In the first few days, complaints in all major categories have been recorded, including design complaints, technical complaints, and monetization complaints. However, I don't necessarily think it's a disaster. People like magic and ARPGs, and it doesn't take much to make them enjoy clicking and popping monsters. They like to shoot a line of ghosts at a goblin or a swarm of spiders. I like shooting a column of ghosts at a swarm of goblins or spiders: legend.

Magic: Magic:Legends is of course free, and can be purchased directly from the Epic Game Store or Perfect World's Arc Launcher. You might want to give it a little time, though, until the feedback is processed and some patches come out.

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