Comparison

Gauntlet vs Deck Familiar

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

Head to head
About

Gauntlet

This app helps Magic: The Gathering players track game lives, build and customize decks, and record game history. It offers detailed stats for players and decks, supports multiple players, and includes a powerful hand simulator.

Highlights
  • Life tracking for up to 6 players
  • Deck building and importing
  • Game history and stats
  • Hand simulator
  • Deck customization with card art
  • Deck organization with folders
Features
Read full description

Gauntlet is the most feature packed Magic: The Gathering utility app available. It’s a life tracker, deck builder and record keeper of your games. THE BEST LIFE TRACKER: • Select your deck and the decks your opponents are playing. Player tiles will be updated with the cover art of each deck. • Save the results when the game is over. Select a winner, and each player will have their career and deck stats updated immediately. • Full support for up to 6 players with custom life totals, and a turn randomizer to determine who plays first. • Other features include 21 unique tile colours, 15 unique counters, rolling D6, and a game timer. THE BEST MOBILE DECK BUILDER: • Brew on the go or import your decks from other deck building sites. • Customize your deck with art from any card in the multiverse. • Pick a format and your deck screen adapts to show things like your commander or your signature spell. • Bling out the cards in your deck with foils. • Shuffle up and draw an opening 7 with a powerful hand simulator. • Stay ahead of your competition with deck list data. View your mana curve, pip breakdown, and more. • Export your deck lists as text, or share a link to your profile on social media. • Keep your decks organized with folders, and sort them by name, games played, wins, and format. YOUR GAME HISTORY IN DETAIL: • Every game is saved making it easy to go through previous games and see who played, who won, and which decks came to battle. • Track wins and losses for each deck, and see how your career wins and losses change over time. • Follow your friends to stay up-to-date with their latest brews, deck performance, and game history.

About

Deck Familiar

This app is a customizable companion for various card game formats, offering real-time game tracking, deck building, and playgroup statistics. It allows for personalized game boards and detailed analysis of your decks and play history.

Highlights
  • Real-time game tracking for multiple players
  • Customizable game boards with personal art
  • Deck import and building with card art
  • Detailed deck statistics and recommendations
  • Playgroup stats and win rate tracking
  • Live game sharing across devices
Features
Read full description

Deck Familiar is your completely customizable companion for every way you play. Commander, EDH, Standard, Modern, Pauper, and whatever your pod dreams up. TRACK THE GAME • Fast, tap-to-change life totals for 2–4 players • Commander damage, poison, energy, experience, emblems, monarch & initiative are all a tap away • Go Live: share one game across everyone's phones in real time, so the whole pod stays in sync MAKE IT YOURS • Custom colors, gradients, textures, and damage symbols • Put your commander's art or your own photo on your board • Pin the counters and status icons your group actually uses BUILD & TUNE YOUR DECKS • Import or build decks, complete with card art and prices • Deep stats: salt score, synergy, and mana breakdowns • Card recommendations to fill the gaps in your list • Sort by win rate, last played, salt, and more KNOW YOUR PLAYGROUP • Log every game and let the numbers tell the story • Win rates, head-to-head records, and leaderboards for your pod • Group friends into playgroups and keep separate stats for each Deck Familiar is free to start. The optional Individual subscription lets you add players to your group, record stats for the group, and host and join live games for $2.99/month. Payment is charged to your Apple ID, and the subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://app.deckfamiliar.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://app.deckfamiliar.com/privacy Deck Familiar is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Card data and images provided by Scryfall.

Screenshots

Gauntlet4 screens
Deck Familiar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Gauntlet at none against Deck Familiar's 1. Gauntlet also leads on ratings volume (309 vs 3) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). Deck Familiar's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 83%) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ads and iOS requirement 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. Deck Familiar sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month. Gauntlet asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Gauntlet against 5.0 for Deck Familiar. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gauntlet has 309 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Gauntlet's written reviews are positive against 100% of Deck Familiar's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gauntlet ships an update weekly, Deck Familiar every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Gauntlet versus Deck Familiar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGauntletDeck Familiar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (309 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings309 — better3
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB15 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperScott CampbellHello World Devs

Customer experience

Gauntlet

All ratings299 ratings
Positive97.7%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative10.0%

Deck Familiar

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Gauntlet

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Developers have seemingly given up (according to one review)
  • App ruined for jailbroken phones (iOS 14 and up)
  • Board scrolls every time life or counters are moved
  • Does not track win-rate for the deck not shown as primary in a match
  • App is very small on iPad Pro

Requested features

19 requests
  • Scan cars to make adding decks easier
  • More precise search engine
  • Faster card loading times
  • Display card prices
  • Scan cards in deck building
Show 14 more
  • Add Android support
  • Add tournament bracket functionality
  • Deeper stat tracking
  • Leave notes about each deck
  • Leave notes about individual cards
  • In-app purchases for donations
  • Add play test cards
  • Better layout for exporting decks to text
  • Feature to track win/loss ratios without starting a game
  • Option for locking board scrolling
  • Android release (mentioned as desired)
  • Manual change of player names when playing 'against yourself'
  • Add friends who don’t use the app to games
  • Add full deck lists

Deck Familiar

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Gauntlet

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Deck Familiar

Subscriptions1
  • Deck Familiar$2.991 Month

Questions

Is Gauntlet free?
Gauntlet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Deck Familiar free?
Deck Familiar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gauntlet or Deck Familiar?
Deck Familiar is rated higher. Gauntlet averages 4.9 out of 5 from 309 ratings, while Deck Familiar averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Gauntlet or Deck Familiar have ads?
Neither Gauntlet nor Deck Familiar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gauntlet or Deck Familiar?
Gauntlet ships an update weekly, and Deck Familiar every 2 weeks. Most recently, Gauntlet was updated on October 25, 2026 and Deck Familiar on October 16, 2026.

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