Comparison

Chrono vs ManaDecks

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

Head to head
About

Chrono

Features
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We have all been trapped in that pod. The board is a clogged mess, someone has been staring at their hand for ten minutes trying to sequence a cantrip, your cold brew is empty, and you are aging in real time. Enter Chrono-Tithe. Chrono-Tithe is not just a sleek life counter. It is an automated tax collector for slow play. Instead of a passive chess clock everyone ignores, it enforces an escalating β€œTithe Tax.” Overstay your welcome in the think tank and your life total starts draining automatically. It is the perfect way to keep the table moving, or to quietly pressure the pod while you assemble your lock behind a wall of artifacts. CORE FEATURES (always free) THE TITHE ENGINE: An escalating turn timer that ramps through four tiers, from Standard to Accelerated to Punishing to Lethal. Choose the turn the tax starts to tighten and watch it change the way your pod plays. BLIND-TAP LIFE TRACKING: Zero-friction split cards. Tap the right side of a player’s color block to gain life, tap the left to lose it. Press and hold to swing by 5 at a time. You never have to take your eyes off the board. FULL COMMANDER TRACKING: Poison, energy, experience, +1/+1, commander tax, and per-source commander damage, with 21 from a single commander tracked and flagged automatically. Monarch and the Initiative too. BUILT FOR THE TABLE: 2 to 6 players, format presets for Commander, 1v1, Two-Headed Giant, and Brawl, a pre-game lobby to set seating and decide who goes first, plus a dice roller, coin flip, and random-player picker. PLAY TOGETHER, ON EVERY PHONE: Connect the whole pod over local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and everyone plays on their own screen, in sync. Tap your own life, pass your own turn, track your own commander damage, and watch it land on every device instantly. No internet, no accounts, no server. Joining a pod is always free. POST-GAME BREAKDOWN: Average turn length for every pilot and a golden Efficiency Star for the fastest player at the table. Hit Replay Pod to run it back with the same roster in one tap. MINIMALIST AND TACTILE: Deep true blacks, fluid gestures, and subtle haptics, designed to preserve battery and reduce visual fatigue during long matches. Scales cleanly from iPhone to a 12.9-inch iPad, and the screen stays awake during play. CHRONO-TITHE PRO (optional, one-time) The full game is free forever, with every life total, counter, timer, and tool included. A single one-time unlock (no subscription) adds: HOST MULTIPLAYER: Host a synced pod so the whole table plays on their own phones. Joining a pod is always free; hosting one is Pro. THEMES AND ACCENTS: Ten background themes and a full neon accent palette. CLOCK MODES: Alternate ways for the clock to bite. Three are live: Sudden Death (at the Lethal tier, overtime eliminates you outright), Time Bank (unused seconds roll into your next turn), and Chess Clock (one game-long budget per player). Team Clock is on the way, included free. TIMER-ONLY MODE: Switch the Tithe off to time turns with no life loss. COMMANDER ART AND SEAT COLORS: Set any commander’s art as a seat’s background and give each seat its own color. MATCH HISTORY: Every pod saved and synced to your own iCloud, so it survives a reinstall or a new phone with no login. All future Pro features included, free. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No ads. No tracking. Your roster, settings, and history live on your device and in your own iCloud, never on our servers. Multiplayer is a direct device-to-device connection over your local network, not through any server of ours. Chrono-Tithe collects zero data about you. Set your pod. Start the clock. Pay the tithe. Chrono-Tithe is an unofficial fan-made utility. It is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Magic: The Gathering and Commander are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast.

About

ManaDecks

Features
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ManaDecks is a deck builder for competitive Magic The Gathering players who need their sideboard plans ready before every match. Building a list is only half the work. Winning also depends on knowing which cards to bring in and take out against each opponent. ManaDecks keeps those plans in one place, so preparation is straightforward. Everything starts with your decklist. You can create unlimited decks across the formats you play and save multiple versions as a list changes. Each deck keeps its own result history, so you can see whether recent changes are working. Sideboard guides are the core of the app. For any matchup you can choose which cards come in and which go out. Keep separate plans for playing first or second, preview the resulting decklist before saving, or store several plans for the same matchup as the meta shifts. You can also write a deck primer covering strategy, mulligans, and key interactions. Match results are tracked so you can measure performance over time. For competitive preparation, ManaDecks offers a look at the current metagame, including tournament decklists, results, and the archetypes showing up in supported formats. Players preparing for Friday Night Magic, RCQs, regional events, leagues, or larger tournaments keep their preparation and results in one place.

Screenshots

Chrono4 screens
ManaDecks4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chrono at every 4 days against ManaDecks's fortnightly. ManaDecks's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Chrono sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and ManaDecks sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chrono ships an update every 4 days, ManaDecks fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Chrono versus ManaDecks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChronoManaDecks
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 4 days β€” betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” better
Requires iOS18.615.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size21 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNICHOLAS SALVATORE PUYAFredrik Bjurhager

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Chrono

One-time1
  • Chrono-Tithe Pro$4.99
2 purchases

ManaDecks

Subscriptions2
  • Plus$1.991 Month
  • Premium$4.991 Month

Questions

Is Chrono free?
Chrono is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ManaDecks free?
ManaDecks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chrono or ManaDecks have ads?
Neither Chrono nor ManaDecks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chrono or ManaDecks?
Chrono ships an update every 4 days, and ManaDecks fortnightly. Most recently, Chrono was updated on October 15, 2026 and ManaDecks on October 4, 2026.

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