Abandonware DOS title

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering (sometimes also referred as Shandalar) is an abandoned strategy game based on the popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, developed and released by MicroProse Software for Windows in 1997. MTG is set on the fictional plane of Shandalar. You can play a single-player campaign or simply play duels against computer opponents or against other players in one of the multi-player modes available.
Windows classic awardAbandonware DOS favourite
Magic: The Gathering screenshot
magic-the-gathering-8.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
magic-the-gathering-10.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
magic-the-gathering-3.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
magic-the-gathering-4.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
magic-the-gathering-5.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
magic-the-gathering-6.jpg - Windows XP/98/95
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4.18 / 5.00 (1224 votes)

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Magic: The Gathering downloads

Do you have trouble running this game on Windows? Read this guide.

To run Magic: The Gathering, first run setup.bat and wait for it to finish, then double click on Magic.reg to add what's needed to the Windows registry.

If you have trouble running or configuring the game, follow the instructions at shandalar.net.

If the deck editor (DECK.EXE) doesn't work (it could crash after a couple of seconds), download the "Deck editor fix" and follow the instructions included in the README.txt.

Games developed for old Windows versions may not run on recent systems. You may need a Virtual Machine to run this game properly.

Magic: The Gathering review

PC Powerplay (1997): "In it's present form Magic The Gathering is a highly enjoyable and excellent game. Adventuring in Shandalar is addictive, and is a little world within itself always throwing up new situations and challenges. The practice of building decks for both yourself and the AI to try out, works wonderfully and the whole package just generally impresses. It's only the beginning though, when the multiplayer and Card expansions are released this game has the distinct possibility of becoming a gaming juggernaut."

Collector's corner:

Two related products were released, the expansion pack Spells of the Ancients and Duels of the Planeswalkers. Duels of the Planeswalkers was an improved version of the main game that didn't require the original to be installed.

An oversized version of Aswan Jaguar was included in the game box.

The above text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This text is based on this Wikipedia article.

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Video

Video courtesy of Squakenet.com.

Additional info about Magic: The Gathering

Also known as: Shandalar
Status: abandonware
Input: keyboard, mouse
Distributed on: cd-rom
Abandonware DOS views: 203225

Comments

  • Joe R 05/06/2023 20:08
    Casting order of yawgmoth causes my game to crash :S
  • Nivny 14/10/2020 22:19
    Land Tax does work you just need to click on the card during your upkeep to activate the ability. I use Land Tax in the Arch Angel deck and it works every time.
  • Mikkel 03/07/2020 23:07
    everything works fine until i have to pick the color of my deck for shandalar. When i click one nothing happens and i don't know what to do to fix it. please help!
  • Flooded_Strand 08/12/2019 11:41
    A little bit buggy, but a great game.
    Some cards like LandTax and few other cards doesnt work correctly if its my turn, so they are unplayable.
  • Kyle 08/11/2017 20:46
    I'm having the same problem as a few of the others here. I've installed in just fine with no crashing, however, I don't have access to see any cards that are not currently in my deck. If I remove them, I can't see them. I have to add all of the color back into my deck to get it in there as painstaking as it is. However, I can't add any colorless lands (Mishra's factory, Stripmines, etc.) into my deck this way. Any thoughts on how to fix this? I'm running Windows 10 and I've tried almost all the compatibility options.
  • Elias K 23/10/2017 20:18
    I used to play this game over and over again. I had a wonderful experience playing this as a kid and I even still have a pentium 286 & 686 to play this but the 686 was too fast and I couldn't even walk around during a Shandlar. The 286 would take forever for the computer to calculate. I cannot believe you fixed this game for me! I learned to play Magic on this game. I played it 5 hours this weekend and it only crashed a few times in the beginning. I was able to adjust the resolution and go directly into the Shandlar from the link to solve the crashing issues. I'm running windows 10 and I never thought this would be possible. I just have to say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

    Also, There seems to be some text overlap when I go to buy some green summons. Maybe it's a resolution thing. I just started playing it again so I'll come back here and post again if any issues continue.

    Once again, I LOVE THIS GAME!!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
  • Alex 11/09/2017 21:24
    Hi All. I finally found Shandalar again and was excited when my download and installation seemed successful (I'm not a computer person at all). When starting up and selecting a new adventure, I get an error message, and then I cant enter a name or have a character picture, just a scramble of colors and pixels. After that the game works fine until about 2-3 mins into any given battle. At this point (it seems to be triggered when either character takes damage) the game tries to load a small graphic of the player portrait but fails and shows another scramble of colors and pixels, then the game forces a shut down. it's frustrating because I followed all the dload and installation steps, and am at a loss. Please help!
  • Jon 24/08/2017 21:26
    Hey guys, same problem as @Matt, the game will not show my collected cards for some reason. Downloaded the game from three different sites and all had the same problem. Did this ever get resolved?
  • AbandonwareDOS 08/08/2017 08:20
    @Matt, you're right, here's the correct link: https://www.slightlymagic.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=76
  • Noah 04/08/2017 09:31
    Could somebody help me? Once i downloaded the file, i ran the setup and the window said i am missing something in my program files with .ogg files. What do I do?
  • Matt 03/08/2017 20:01
    I can't get the game to show my collected cards in the deck edit screen. When I try to run it on the recommended settings, the game crashes.
  • Tawnos 19/07/2017 00:29
    I have Windows 10 and I used the deck fix to get the game to work, but I have one problem: The game doesn't show any cards from Legends, The Dark, Arabian nights etc.. Only the 4th edition as if it doesn't recognize the expansion sets. Anyone know a fix for this? Note: All sets showed properly on my laptop where I have Windows 7.
  • Urza 21/06/2017 13:04
    Re: Problems with Deck Editing screen and other weird graphics issues
    Try going to the directory and make the following adjustments to the executables using the "File Properties" Window (Right Click the file):
    • Go to the Compatibility Tab
    • Checkmark the box for "Compatibility Mode"
    • Select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" in the drop down menu right underneath it
    • In the Settings section below that, checkmark the box for "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution"
    • In the Settings section below that, checkmark the box for "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings"
  • Drossus 30/01/2017 10:41
    Got it going pretty easily on Win 10. Ran setup.bat, double clicked magic.reg then hit shandalar.exe for the game. Had to use the deck edit fix too. Great blast from the past!
  • Donny Kang 03/01/2017 15:16
    For the application to work properly on Windows 10 - Right Click on 'Magic.exe' and go to its Properties. Change the Compatibility Mode to 'Windows 8'.
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