Comparison

Magic vs Deep IQ

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Magic

Engage in strategic match-3 battles by collecting cards and building powerful decks. Recruit iconic characters, cast spells, and defeat opponents in various game modes. Join a global community and compete in tournaments for rewards.

Highlights
  • Match-3 RPG gameplay
  • Collect and craft cards
  • Recruit Planeswalkers
  • Build powerful decks
  • Real-time PvP battles
  • Daily challenges and events
  • Story mode campaigns
Features
Read full description

Magic: Puzzle Quest blends the original match-3 RPG classic with the lore and flavor of Magic: The Gathering. Recruit your favorite Planeswalkers, collect exclusive cards and build powerful decks. Summon the deadliest spells and lethal creatures on the battlefield to defeat your enemies in match-3 battles! FEATURES ● Join a community of over 2.5 million players worldwide! ● Recruit your favorite Magic: The Gathering Planeswalkers and master its abilities to enhance your strategies. ● Show off your skills on the battlefield and devise your own strategies to defeat opponents around the world in real-time PvP and different new events. ● Quest Journals! Access to daily challenges varying your play style and earn rewards! ● Craft powerful cards to build the perfect deck and battle enemy Planeswalkers in different tournaments. ● Play with your friends! Join a coalition to play with millions of players around the world and win bonus rewards in tournaments. ● Take on epic battles in the Story Mode and complete all Chapters! ● Compete in Standard events with your favorite cards, summon the deadliest spells, and unleash powerful creatures. COLLECT AND CRAFT CARDS Collect and craft some of Magic: The Gathering’s deadliest spells like Ghoulcaller's Harvest and creatures like Tiamat. MATCH MANA GEMS TO CAST SPELLS Mana gems are the core of your strength and power. Match-3 or more in a row to collect enough power to cast deadly spells and creatures. WIN REWARDS AND CLIMB THE LEADERBOARDS Enter daily events and Player-vs-Player (PVP) tournaments and show off your skills on the battlefield. Climb the leaderboards and win awesome rewards including mythic and rare cards from the latest sets! RECRUIT YOUR CHAMPIONS FOR BATTLE Find the latest Planeswalkers from Magic: The Gathering, recruit and pair them with your best deck and enter the arena fully prepared to decimate the competition: Make a pact with Liliana to summon an endless, undying horde of minions! Team up with the hotheaded Chandra and burn down the battlefield by casting fire, fire, and more fire! Or scheme darkness plans using spells to manipulate artifacts bringing them to life with the talented artificer Tezzeret. Each Planeswalker comes with unique abilities to activate and enhance your cards or wreak havoc on your opponents. Build up their levels and watch their abilities grow into an unstoppable force! NOW WITH VIP MEMBERSHIP PLANS! ● 3 plans provide players with more rewards and early access to special content ● 1 Week Basic Plan ($4.99 USD), 1 Month Master Plan ($14.99 USD), and 1 Month Pro Plan ($29.99 USD) durations ● You may purchase an auto-renewing subscription through an In-App Purchase ● Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration selected) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period ● You can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase ● Privacy policy and Terms of Use: https://bit.ly/2WMpKSD JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! ■ Facebook: www.facebook.com/MagicPuzzleQuest ■ YouTube: www.youtube.com/MagicTheGatheringPuzzleQuest ■ Twitter: www.twitter.com/MtGPuzzleQuest ■ Instagram: www.instagram.com/MagicPuzzleQuest The app is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. Developed by Webcore Games Game and Software ©2023 D3 Go! TM & ©2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC

About

Deep IQ

This app simulates a Magic: The Gathering opponent for solo play with physical cards. It uses dice rolls and lookup tables to determine opponent actions, allowing you to test your decks without a live player.

Highlights
  • Virtual opponent for solo play
  • Simulates opponent actions with dice and tables
  • Deck testing tool for physical cards
  • Supports multiple rule versions
Features
Read full description

Play Magic: The Gathering solo. Deep IQ is the second player. You bring the deck and the table. Deep IQ brings the opponent — a virtual adversary that rolls a d10 each turn against its current action table and resolves whatever it lands on: summoning creatures, casting setbacks, growing its board, attacking, and graduating to harder tables as the game goes on. There is no decision-making AI to second-guess; outcomes come straight from the dice and the tables, exactly like the pen-and-paper Deep IQ system that players have hand-rolled since 1996. The app just does the bookkeeping — faithfully, instantly, and without a single missed trigger. REBUILT FOR 2026 This year Deep IQ was rewritten from the ground up: • A clear two-phase turn cycle — watch Deep IQ take its turn, then take yours. The board locks while it's thinking and hands control back when it's your move. • A living board — tokens fly in as Deep IQ summons them and out as they leave, with life totals, counters, and a running turn log you can follow at a glance. • A responsive layout that reshapes itself for phone, tablet, and desktop, with the turn log docked beside the board on larger screens. • Six brand-new color rule sets — mono White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green plus a colorless build — each with its own flavor of opponent. • Multiverse Trial: a tougher, modern rule set with layered mechanics. • A built-in help and reference section that explains every screen and rule set. 14 BUILT-IN RULE SETS Every published Deep IQ variant, faithfully implemented: Rick Moscatello (1996), Bruce Richard (2013), Andy Tuque (2016), Nevan Vermillion (2016), Phill Webb (2017), John Taylor (2022), Wrath of Zorr (2021), the 2026 color suite, and Multiverse Trial. PLAYS YOUR WAY • Pick a rule set, choose Deep IQ's colors, and start a game in seconds. • Adjust life, apply setbacks, and manage the board with a tap. • Settings persist instantly — locale, theme, log position, and more. • Available in 11 languages. DEEP IQ PRO Everything above is free. Deep IQ Pro is a one-time in-app purchase that unlocks the custom rule set editor — build your own action tables from scratch, tune the mechanics, and import or export them as JSON to share with other players. If you have ever wanted to design your own solo opponent, this is the workshop. Bring a deck. Deep IQ brings the fight. Deep IQ is an unofficial fan tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Screenshots

Magic4 screens
Deep IQ4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Deep IQ at 100% against Magic's 62%. Deep IQ also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Magic's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 27 months) and ratings volume (4.4K vs 5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Magic sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Deep IQ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Deep IQ holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Magic has 4.4K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Magic's written reviews are positive against 100% of Deep IQ's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Magic ships an update monthly, Deep IQ every 27 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Magic versus Deep IQ: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMagicDeep IQ
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (4.4K ratings)4.8 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.4K — better5
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 27 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.213.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size277 MB25 MB
Age rating12+4+
Developer505 Go Inc.John Taylor

Customer experience

Magic

All ratings4,414 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral3.5%
Negative10.2%
Written reviews1,242 reviews
Positive61.9%
Neutral9.9%
Negative28.2%

Deep IQ

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Magic

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes during battles
  • Inability to delete cards from decks
  • Rewards not properly credited after matches
  • Facebook login issues
  • Planeswalker abilities not functioning correctly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Offline mode
  • More deck customization options
  • Better matchmaking system
  • More frequent content updates
  • Improved customer support

Deep IQ

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Magic

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Plan$14.991 Month
  • Master Plan$29.991 Month
One-time9
  • Starter Pack$1.99
  • Small Mana Crystals$4.99
  • Starter pack$4.99
Show 6 more
  • Training Pack$4.99
  • Mana Crystals$9.99
  • Special Offer Pack$14.99
  • Big Mana Crystals$19.99
  • Huge Mana Crystals$49.99
  • Super Huge Mana Crystals$99.99
1 purchases

Deep IQ

One-time1
  • Deep IQ Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Magic free?
Magic is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Deep IQ free?
Deep IQ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Magic or Deep IQ?
Deep IQ is rated higher. Magic averages 4.4 out of 5 from 4.4K ratings, while Deep IQ averages 4.8 from 5 ratings.
Do Magic or Deep IQ have ads?
Neither Magic nor Deep IQ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Magic or Deep IQ?
Magic ships an update monthly, and Deep IQ every 27 months. Most recently, Magic was updated on October 27, 2026 and Deep IQ on October 3, 2026.

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