Wizards of the Coast announced that they will be shutting down Magic: Legends on October 31st, 2021. The game was slated to release on PC and console but never officially released to the public before Tuesday's announcement, though the game has been in open beta since March. Despite the significant hype for the game, the MMORGP set in the Magic universe is dead upon arrival.

"All players who spent money in-game across Arc and the Epic Games Store during the Open Beta will be refunded their full purchase amounts," Wizards of the Coast said in their announcement. "Servers will remain open for play until closing day, however we will be closing the Zen Shop effective immediately. Later this week, all items will instead be purchasable using Aether, our free in-game currency."

While the open-beta of the game had mixed reviews, it was still a surprise to many MTG fans to see Wizards of the Coast kill Magic: Legends before even releasing it to the public. While the company didn't specify the reason they are abandoning the project, they did say that their vision for the "missed the mark" and that the game will be used as a learning opportunity for "future development efforts."

Bewildered Magic community reacts to cancellation of Magic: Legends

The Magic community had a mixed reaction to Tuesday's news. Many Magic fans were confused by the decision, since a large number of people didn't even get to try the game before it was shut down. 

"lol wut?" responded one Magic enthusiast, when I told them Magic: Legends was already shutting down. "What's the point of a beta if you aren't willing to fix the issue? Wizards just gets worse and worse every year."

A number of Twitter users expressed the same confusion with the game being shut down before the completion of the beta.

The beta testers who did try Magic: Legends reacted to the cancellation with split feelings. Some saw the RPG as terrible with no hope of redemption, while others viewed the game as good with some fixable issues. 

Magic: Legends was a flawed game during its open beta by all accounts, but shutting it down so early is still surprising and a major admission of defeat on the part of WOTC. For those who want to experience Magic: Legends before it joins Crucible and Anthem in big-budget failure heaven, you can still play the open-beta until the end of October.