Life Total vs Decksmith
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Life Total
This app helps Magic: The Gathering players track their life totals during games. It offers a streamlined interface with features like two-way screen setup, quick life adjustments, and support for multiple players. Customize your experience with different backgrounds and counter types.
- Two-way screen setup
- Tap to add/subtract life
- 1-6 player layouts
- Dice roll feature
- Customizable backgrounds
- Poison and generic counters
- Game over detection
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Track life, damage, and counters when playing Magic: the Gathering with this FREE scorekeeper app. Set your phone on the table and simply start playing. Magic Life Total is a streamlined life counter for Magic: The Gathering card games. Track life totals, Commander damage & tax, poison counters, and more while playing every mode from 1v1 two-player duels to multiplayer Commander or EDH games. == COMMANDER & MULTIPLAYER == Play Commander/EDH and other multiplayer MtG games with layouts for up to 6 players. Track Commander damage alongside each player's life total, giving everyone a clear view of the game at a glance. Whether you're playing a casual Commander game, two-headed giant, or another multiplayer format, Magic Life Total puts all counters right at your fingertips. == MAGIC LIFE COUNTER == - Add or subtract life with a tap, or hold down to auto-tap. - Track Commander damage & tax during Commander games. - Toggle Poison counters and other generic counter types. - Change default starting life total to fit various game modes. - Keep the table focused on information that matters. == GAMEPLAY TOOLS == - Support for 1-6 players. - Multi-directional screen layouts, ideal for playing at tables. - Optional solo mode to focus only on you while still tracking the game. - Built-in dice roller. - Customizable backgrounds. - Game-over detection for quick resets. - Collapsible center bar that hides global controls when you don't need them. == CUSTOMIZE YOUR GAME == Choose from customizable backgrounds and configure active counters to match your deck setup. The interface stays clean and readable so you spend less time managing the app and more time playing Magic. Magic Life Total is built as an unofficial companion app and life tracker for Magic: The Gathering players. It is designed to make keeping track of life, Commander damage, poison and other counters quick and effortless during real tabletop card games. ============================== Magic Life Total 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. Have feedback or ideas for Magic Life Total? We'd love to hear what you want in your MtG life counter. Please contact us through our website or e-mail: contact@talisman.games.
Decksmith
Effortlessly manage your Magic: The Gathering collection with real-time card scanning and price tracking. Build and validate decks for various formats, analyze their composition, and connect with a community of players. Enjoy offline access and robust privacy controls.
- Real-time card scanning
- Automatic price tracking
- Format-aware deck building
- Collection inventory management
- Offline access
- Community features
- Privacy controls
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Your entire Magic collection, in your pocket. Decksmith turns your iPhone into a card scanner, a price tracker, a format-aware deck builder and a social hub for players — wrapped in a fast, beautiful, native interface. Point your camera at a card and it is recognised in real time. Name, set, rarity, artwork and current market price are filled in automatically. No typing. No spreadsheets. — SCAN. TAP. COLLECTED. — • Real-time card recognition straight from the camera — no manual entry • One-tap confirm adds the card, its artwork and its full data to your collection • Pick the exact printing you own, set foil or non-foil, and track multiple copies • Every card image is stored on device, so your collection stays gorgeous offline — KNOW WHAT IT'S WORTH — Live market prices in USD or EUR. Decksmith keeps the price you paid alongside today's value, for every single card, so you can see at a glance what your collection has done — card by card and as a whole. Refresh whenever you want an update. — A DECK BUILDER THAT KNOWS THE RULES — Build for Standard, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Pauper or Casual. Decksmith enforces deck size and copy limits for the format you chose, gives Commander its own dedicated slot, and tells you the moment a deck is legal. — SEE THE SHAPE OF YOUR DECK — An automatic mana curve, card-type distribution and average mana value for every deck you build. Spot the missing two-drop before your opponent does. — FIND ANY CARD, INSTANTLY — Search the full Magic card database or your own collection. Filter by colour, rarity, card type, set, mana cost, foil finish and double-faced cards. Sort by name, price or date added. Switch between grid and list whenever it suits you. — SMART LISTS — Build lists that fill themselves. Save any combination of filters as a smart list — trade binder, EDH staples, everything foil under €5 — and it updates itself as your collection grows. Or curate a list by hand. Give each one its own icon and colour. — YOUR CARDS, FULL SCREEN — A gallery mode built for staring at cardboard. High-resolution art, glowing foil borders on your foils, pinch to zoom into the tiniest detail, swipe from card to card. Double-faced cards flip with a tap. — EVEN BETTER TOGETHER — Join the Decksmith Community and the app opens up: publish decks with one tap, collect likes and comments, follow the players whose brews you love, browse their collections and decks for inspiration, send friend requests, and keep up with everything in a live activity feed. — PRIVACY YOU ACTUALLY CONTROL — The whole app works offline, with no account and no sign-up — your collection lives on your device. Create an account only if you want cloud sync across your iPhone and iPad, or the community features. Then decide exactly what is visible: profile visibility, whether you are discoverable, and whether new decks default to public or private. Block anyone. Export or delete your data at any time. — IMPORT AND EXPORT, NO LOCK-IN — Bring your collection with you via CSV from the popular collection and deck-building sites, or restore a full Decksmith backup — collection, decks and lists included. Export your data to a single file whenever you like and share it via AirDrop, mail or cloud storage. — BUILT LIKE AN APPLE APP — Written from scratch in SwiftUI. Dark from the first pixel, tuned for 120 Hz, alive with haptics, and quick everywhere it counts. No subscription. No ads. No account required. Card data and images provided by Scryfall. Decksmith is an unofficial fan app and is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast LLC. Start scanning. Start building.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Decksmith at 100% against Life Total's 60%. Decksmith also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). Life Total's advantage is ratings volume (7.3K vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Life Total sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Decksmith asks for nothing beyond the download.
Decksmith holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Life Total has 7.3K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Life Total's written reviews are positive against 100% of Decksmith's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Life Total | Decksmith |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (7.3K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.3K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 91 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | talisman.games | Waldemar Schneider |
Customer experience
Life Total
Decksmith
Bugs and requests
Life Total
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not loading past splash screen
- Randomly opening browser tabs
- Incorrect life total changes
- Music playback issues
Requested features
5 requests- Support for more than 2 players
- Commander damage tracking
- Planeswalker loyalty counters
- Life total history/logging
- Landscape mode for 2-player
Decksmith
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Life Total
- Ad-Free Upgrade$4.99
Decksmith
No in-app purchases









