MTG Deck Collection Management App.

I have found myself in definite need of a MTG deck collection management application. I have been collecting these cards off and on since about 1995. When my mother passed away in 2011, I inherited her collection and now – I have too many cards to build a deck without help.

I have always wanted to be able to build a deck and have fun with close friends and family members with what is in my collection. I have embarked on the adventure of finding a MTG deck collection management app. that will work best for my needs.

Five have been reviewed. One key ingredient is that they had to be compatible with iPad.

Each of these were downloaded and sampled against a few cards that I had lying around. I’ll discuss them in the order presented in the icons, but note: this is in no particular order. I downloaded and tried them out as I found them.

MTG – Dragon Shield

My initial thought was that “this is it! This is going to be the winner!” MTG – Dragon Shield had me at hello until I met another. It’s got a lot of great features with it; including a bulk scanning mode, wishlist, tradelist, they even have a ‘Craft your own art sleeve’ option. Gah!

As an artist, how can I say no?

I was disappointed when it came to building my deck, though. The ability is there, but not quite as intuitive to get a card from my inventory into my deck. I’m almost certain that they have a deck play simulator, but I had a hard time finding it.

Dragon Shield almost had me. I kept looking because there was something missing from the user interface. They were close.

Manabox

I cannot tell a lie. Manabox did not have a chance after I had a look at Dragon Shield. I have opened it up, poked around and just said no to using Manabox as my Deck Management tool.

They do have some incredible deck features, though. There’s a strategy utility with win conditions, you can test your deck, and some really cool stuff involved. I have a lot of cards to add, though. The UI for that didn’t seem as hasty as I would like and I walked off fairly quickly.

I think this is a fantastic tool, it’s just not the app for me.

TopDecked

Another great utility, that has a UI that just didn’t quite cut the mustard. The focus on the commander unit when I aim to build a deck start off as a major turn off. I had a hard time finding the scan feature.

I like the idea behind the binder option, but that’s a lot of buttons I have to push to input a bunch of cards.

Cascade

The winner! Cascade has all of the things that I’m looking for ranging from deck simulation to an ease of mass importing. The text feature for importing my deck is just as easy to manipulate as the scan feature.

One thing I hadn’t pointed out is some of the scanning issues that I faced with a few of the other application. They wouldn’t recognize the card and I couldn’t easily take note. This app. has an easy way to navigate from text to scan for new cards. I can update the number of card with relative ease and – BONUS – I have an easier time recognize the set recognition and updating it as necessary.

I am excited about this one.

Card Castle

Just say no. I have a lot of cards and this utility does not offer any flexibility on input. The tool offers a simple scan and go function, there’s no opportunity to input on text. If there is a deck builder utility, I’d have to involve another device. It was a clear no.

There we have it, folks! A quick type up on MTG Deck Collection Management App. If you are looking for a good one, I recommend Cascade or MTG Dragon Shield.

I’m going with Cascade.