Magic: ManaStrike Beginner’s Guide: Tips, Cheats, and Strategies

Magic: ManaStrike is the latest Clash Royale-inspired real-time card battler to hit mobile, and it’s pretty darn good. It’s also potentially a lot more complex than Clash Royale, so even if you’re an expert at that you may find yourself struggling here.

So we thought we’d put together a beginner’s guide to help ease you into the experience. We’ll detail exactly how it works and provide you with a bunch of tips and tricks.

Magic: ManaStrike Beginner’s Guide

How it Works

If you’ve played Clash Royale, you should find Magic: ManaStrike instantly familiar. It’s a very similar experience, with you building a deck of heroes, units, and spells, and then heading on out into real-time strategy battles against real opponents. Battles play out the same too, with you spending Mana (instead of Elixir) to play cards in your deck. Mana recharges over time, so you’ll have to manage it to gain the upper hand over your opponent.

Your goal is to destroy the opponent’s main tower, which in this game takes the form of a Planeswalker. Each player has three towers, and the winner is the player who destroys the most towers within three minutes. If it’s still a draw at three minutes, a 60 second overtime period initiates. If it’s a draw at the end of this period, the match ends as a draw.

To actually destroy an opponent’s tower, you’ll need to play cards, which is where your deck comes in. Swipe a card onto the playing field and it will appear where you placed it. You’ll ideally play with a strategy in mind, which will be determined by your deck.

This is where Magic: ManaStrike’s unique touch comes into play: its five different types of Mana. This includes White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green, with each type including its own unique cards. That provides a bunch of different playstyles to check out, but also a lot more to learn.

Each Mana type has its own Planeswalkers, which basically serve as heroes that you can drop onto the battlefield at any moment for free. They also have their own set of cards to play, which, again, are free. Choosing your Planeswalker and Mana type is the first big decision you make.

There are also a wide variety of cards that you can use across all different Mana types, so you won’t necessarily be starting from scratch if you decide to change Mana type later in the game. Instead, each type provides a lot of its own cards that provide a bunch of different opportunities for synergy.

Tips and Tricks

Now that you understand the basics, let’s take a look at a few more specific tips and tricks.

• Pick your Planeswalker: Picking your Planeswalker should be the first thing you do when you exit the tutorial. Not only do each of them provide you with a unique hero unit to play on the battlefield, but each has its own unique Mana type. You won’t have many cards unlocked at this point so just go with the Planeswalker that appeals most to you.

• Look for opportunities for synergy: As you start unlocking cards, look for opportunities to create synergies. Various different cards provide unique properties to specific units around them, and you’ll want to build a deck around these useful cards.
• Play with a strategy: Don’t just throw cards down like there’s no tomorrow, as Mana takes time to recharge. It’s also really easy for your opponent to counter that strategy. Instead, either decide on a strategy and play it or wait to counter your opponent’s actions.
• Your Planeswalker hero is free – use it: While cards cost Mana to play, your Planeswalker and its skills don’t. So don’t just keep them in your hand – play them. You’ve got nothing to lose. We would recommend that you play them appropriately though, and keep them well defended.
• Get your free daily rewards: Each day, you can get some free goodies for both logging in and playing the game. We recommend doing whatever it takes to get all of your free stuff each day – particularly if you have no plans to pay for content down the line.

Glen Fox

Head of Editorial

Glen has over a decade's worth of experience in gaming journalism, writing for Pocket Gamer, Pocket Tactics, Nintendo Life, and Gfinity. When he's not badgering everyone about the dangers of passive text, you can probably find him playing Wild Rift.