Comparison

DeckLab 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

DeckLab

This app helps Magic: The Gathering Commander players build, organize, and improve their decks. It offers tools for managing decks, collections, and wishlists, along with card searching and scanning features.

Highlights
  • Commander-focused deck builder
  • Deck, collection, and wishlist management
  • Fast card search
  • Card Scanner
  • Commander discovery and suggestions
  • Deck sharing and export
Features
Read full description

DeckLab is a Magic: The Gathering companion app built for Commander players who want a cleaner way to build, organize, and improve their decks. With DeckLab, you can: - create and manage your Commander decks - choose your commander and add cards easily - organize your personal collection - save cards to your wishlist - search cards quickly - scan cards to save them or check rules - browse popular commanders - get commander suggestions for new deck ideas - share decklists and export your decks - keep everything synced to your account - ask questions about rules and interactions with DeckDoc DeckLab is designed to make deck building feel simpler, faster, and more organized. Whether you are testing ideas, saving lists, tracking your collection, or starting a new Commander project, DeckLab gives you one place to manage it all. Key features: - DeckDoc: intelligent assistant - Commander-focused deck builder - Deck, collection, and wishlist management - Fast card search - Card Scanner - Commander discovery and suggestions - Deck sharing and export tools - Sign in with email, Google, and Apple - DeckLab is an unofficial product made for the Magic community.

About

Explain The Card

This app uses AI to help Magic: The Gathering players understand cards, build decks, and manage their collections. It offers features like card scanning for rules and prices, AI-powered deck construction, and collection valuation.

Highlights
  • AI-powered card explanation
  • Rules question answering
  • Commander deck builder
  • Collection scanner and manager
  • Card price and legality check
  • Combo discovery
  • Pre-grade centering analysis
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, keep your whole collection in your pocket, and check a card's centering before you send it off for grading. 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. PRE-GRADE BEFORE YOU SUBMIT Thinking about sending a card off to be graded? Photograph its front and back, and Pre-Grade measures the centering and shows the best grade that centering allows under each major grading company's published standards. Nudge the guides if they're off, and save the gradings you want to keep. It's free and works on any card, owned or not. 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, Pre-Grade 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

DeckLab4 screens
Explain The Card4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: DeckLab at none against Explain The Card's 3. DeckLab also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.1). 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. DeckLab asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
DeckLab versus Explain The Card: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeckLabExplain The Card
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequency—Every 4 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size89 MB56 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperLuan Martins da SilvaDanny Hollek

In-app purchases

None

DeckLab

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 DeckLab free?
DeckLab 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 DeckLab or Explain The Card have ads?
Explain The Card shows ads; DeckLab does not.

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