These are the Z-fold play guides from the final iteration of this product. The central game design challenge for these was developing them to refer to the gameplay script (and specific card interactions) from each player’s point of view. The core UX design principle for these guides was to let the visuals tell as much of the story as possible, using text sparingly where necessary. A key learning from focus-group testing of previous intro products was that players bounce off of walls of text, so this product was designed to provide gameplay information at the moment that information became relevant.

This generalized rulebook was also provided as a reference guide to accompany the demo experience. All the concepts and game rules terms contained within the demo had fleshed-out explanations in the rulebook, and an FAQ was also included on the back page based on player questions in focus-group testing. Narrowing the scope of this book to only those Magic concepts present in the demo decks was also a key decision in development—one of the most persistent reasons players bounce off of strategy games is the introduction of too much complexity too quickly.