The Magic Analyst is a powerful and visually-rich card database for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It's a virtual library of all the cards ever printed, making it easy to catalog and appraise your collection, find key cards, and construct better decks.

I created a beta version of the Magic Analyst in June 1997 by laboriously parsing Wizards' text spoilers into a searchable Access database. This software proved useful for my own card discovery and deck creation, but I only shared it with friends and family.

In the spring of 1999, I significantly enhanced the Magic Analyst database to include a searchable Card form with a rough proxy of every card in the game (but without the card art, due to Wizards' usage policies). Version 2.x of the Magic Analyst also included inventory management for the first time. I released this version publicly through this website, but it was a bit clunky and didn't draw many admirers.

At the start of the new millenium, I took a sabbatical from work and used some of that time to completely rewrite the Magic Analyst database with an eye toward wide public distribution. Version 3.x launched in October 2002 with the ability to pull card images from Wizards' Magic Encyclopedia. That proved a big hit with fans who had purchased the Magic Encyclopedia, but were disappointed when Wizards stopped providing updates for it.

In 2004, I made another significant round of updates to the software to provide more extensive support for managing decks and valuing inventory. Version 4.3 of the Magic Analyst became phenomenally popular, and for a time was the top Magic software on the Web. The fan mail, at least, was rather gratifying. Unfortunately, the project never generated much money, so in 2005 I was obliged to take a real job, and I stopped producing updates for it after Ninth Edition.

Now, 12 years later, Magic is still going strong, and my kids are avidly playing Magic and taking an interest in deck creation. I've started overhauling the Analyst to accommodate all the changes to the game over these intervening years. Though some online resources crucial to the old Analyst have disappeared (e.g. - Wizards' text spoilers & Stephen d'Angelo's Crystal Keep), I'm finding a wealth of online resources that didn't exist a decade ago. This new Magic Analyst may someday make it to production.

In the meantime, there are more quality Magic resources online than ever before, including several databases of Magic cards that follow in the spirit of the original Magic Analyst.

• Includes all cards from Alpha through Judgment, with updates through Ninth Edition!
• Searchable via a powerful combination of designated fields and "fuzzy" card text matches.
• Robust card inventorying capabilities that make it easy to catalog and appraise your entire collection.
• Able to import current prices and rulings, both freely available online.
• Construct your own decks, import Wizards and Apprentice decks, and export new decks.
• Display actual card images if Wizards' Magic Interactive Encyclopedia is also installed; otherwise proxies.
• No clunky third-party UI to bog your computer down. Multi-tasks well.
• Entirely FREE -- we just ask for donations if you like it.

Download the Magic Analyst now for free! (3.1MB) ... OR ... Check out the latest Analyst Updates.

The Magic Analyst requires Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP and Microsoft Access 2000/XP. If you don't have Access 2000 or aren't sure, click here for help. If you're using Windows NT/2000/XP, click here for some tips.

Machines should have at least a 200MHz Pentium processor, 64MB of RAM, 20MB of free hard drive space, and a super-VGA (1024x768) monitor. Interactive updates require Internet Explorer v5.0+ and an internet connection. If you want to see actual card images as opposed to proxies, you can either scan your own cards or purchase the Magic Interactive Encyclopedia from Wizards of the Coast. (Second-hand copies can be found on eBay.)