Comparison

Cantrip vs Explain The Card

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

Head to head
About

Cantrip

Easily build and manage your Magic: The Gathering decks. Search and filter cards from any set, and quickly add, remove, or sideboard cards with intuitive gestures.

Highlights
  • Powerful deck builder
  • Card search and filtering
  • Add/remove cards with swipe
  • Sideboard management
  • Supports all card sets
Features
Read full description

Cantrip is an poweful and easy to use deck builder for Magic: The Gathering. With Cantrip you can filter and search for cards from any set. Building decks is quick and easy using Cantrips deck builder which lets you add, remove, and sideboard cards with a swipe.

About

Explain The Card

This app helps Magic: The Gathering players build decks using AI, understand card rules, and analyze card interactions. It offers features like camera scanning for card information and offline access to game rules.

Highlights
  • AI-powered Commander deck building
  • Camera scanning for card information
  • Plain-English card explanations
  • Two-card interaction analysis
  • Offline access to game rules
  • Deck management and editing
Read full description

Explain The Card is your AI co-pilot for Magic: The Gathering. Point your camera at a card and find out what it really does. Ask a rules question and get a straight answer. Build a Commander deck in minutes, and keep your whole collection in your pocket. UNDERSTAND ANY CARD Scan a card, no shutter and no typing, and see its Oracle text, rulings, prices and legality right away. When the wording gets tricky, one tap explains it in plain language. Scan two cards to see how they work together, or whether one quietly shuts the other down. ASK THE RULES, GET A REAL ANSWER "Can I respond to this?" "Does my creature survive?" Ask the way you'd ask a friend at the table. Every answer is grounded in the actual card text, official rulings and the Comprehensive Rules, not internet guesswork, and comes back in the language you play in. BUILD A COMMANDER DECK IN MINUTES Pick a commander, choose a power bracket and a budget, and describe the deck you want in your own words: "goblin tribal", "lands matter", "pillow fort". You get a complete, legal 100-card list sorted by role, with a game plan for how it wants to win. Build from the cards you already own, if you like. DISCOVER COMBOS Search thousands of Commander combos by card name or in plain English, like "infinite mana", and see step by step how each one plays out. YOUR COLLECTION, SCANNED Fan your cards past the camera and each one lands with the right set and printing. Anything the camera isn't sure about waits for a quick check. Keep a binder and want lists right here, or export your cards for ten popular deck and collection sites, each in its own format. See what your collection is worth and how that has changed, down to a single box or binder, and share a dated valuation report when you need one. Scanning, exporting and value history are all free, with no card limit. ALWAYS WITH YOU The full Comprehensive Rules work offline, and widgets, Siri and Spotlight keep any card or rule a moment away. A NOTE ON AI AI features are powered by Google's Agent Platform (Gemini). Nothing is sent until you opt in, and you can turn it off any time in Settings. Scanning, card data, combos and your collection all work without AI. LEGAL Privacy Policy: https://rosalabs.app/etc/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Explain The Card is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the 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.

Screenshots

Cantrip4 screens
Explain The Card4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Explain The Card at 100% against Cantrip's 57%. Explain The Card also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 4 months). Cantrip's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ads (none vs shown). On price 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. Explain The Card sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Cantrip asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cantrip ships an update every 4 months, Explain The Card every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Cantrip versus Explain The Card: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCantripExplain The Card
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (15 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.6 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size142 MB47 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperWhite Bridge LabsDanny Hollek

Customer experience

Cantrip

All ratings15 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral20.0%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral28.6%
Negative14.3%

Explain The Card

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Cantrip

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Explain The Card

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Premium Annual$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • 50 Credits$0.99

Questions

Is Cantrip free?
Cantrip is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Explain The Card free?
Explain The Card is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cantrip or Explain The Card have ads?
Explain The Card shows ads; Cantrip does not.
Which is updated more often, Cantrip or Explain The Card?
Cantrip ships an update every 4 months, and Explain The Card every 4 days. Most recently, Cantrip was updated on October 16, 2026 and Explain The Card on October 8, 2026.

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