SCGMobile (Magic: The Gathering App)

EDIT: Unfortunately this app will be discontinued by the end of this month.

Since my phone got stolen and I was given iPhone for Christmas I was searching for an app that I could use as a card database for Magic: The Gathering containing oracle text and containing magic rules and IPG. On my Android device I used MTGFamiliar which seemed the best app I could find and it probably is the best one (I also tried quite a few). The MTGFamiliar though does not seem to exist on iOS. So I looked for something similar for iOS.

The AppStore showed me about 258 results so I tried the relevant ones one by one and I couldn't find one that would be good even as a life counter (which I'm not really interested in but I use from time to time). After a while I gave up and just downloaded MTGRules and was looking up the cards online.

Some time later at one major tournament though I needed really something. I asked around and I was finally redirected to StarCityGames and their SCGMobile. I downloaded it, opened it and to my surprise found an application that suits my needs (mostly). It does not contain any rules but contains more stuff a player and SCG follower needs.

So what does the app feature?

The application works in two modes - online and offline.

The application lets the user read SCG articles both normal and premium and it allows the user to favorite them. This way one does not need to search through all the content to find something.

It also has access to the store (which I don't really need but I guess it can be handy).

Then there is the Life Management that pretty much does everything one could think of. You can set your name, your opponent's, track the win rate of games and matches, there is commander damage, poison counters, dice roll (available from the life management screen), timer and mana counters (also available from this screen). The stuff bolded is something I find quite important because when someone uses this kind of application he or she does not usually have dice around. The timer makes it easier to track the time which I find good as well. Even when not playing in tournaments this comes handy because one can find out if he or she plays fast enough to win on time.

Next thing in the menu is Advanced Card Search. The normal search is a part of the menu so it is accessible after one tap. The advanced search is pretty much what it says. The result will show you the card's image, oracle text and its price.
I would like to make one note here. The Advanced Search screen also has a Update Card Database button (I was looking for a way how to update it for quite some time...till I googled that and landed on SCG's comment about that). The application does not update itself so one needs to manually update it. For that login is necessary (I have SCG account for ages and it worked). The app allows to create an account if you don't have it.

Dice and Coin is pretty much what it says. It has a history of rolls and flips.

Mana Counter - let's the user to count mana in mana pool both color, colorless and there is also a counter for storm. (many apps don't have this for some reason)

Hotlist - when one looks for a oracle text he or she can add the card to a hotlist. The most searched cards can be put there and accessed more quickly. I guess you can use that Hot list for whatever you want but this is the only thing I came up with. I always have to explain what my general does (The Mimeoplasm) even though I hardly cast it. So that's why it is on the list.

About - if you want to know who brought this app to us and who wrote it. Thank you guys!

So if you have an iOS device and you have a need for Card Database and a Life Counter I would recommend this application even though updating manually is not something I would expect from such an application. This isn't the only 'bad feature' but everything is something one can live with. After going through many of free apps I just couldn't choose one that would do what I want and would look at least decent even if they update automatically when a new set comes out. That is the reason why this app should get a good rating.

Anyway I hope this post saves time to some of you who would be downloading one app at a time and figuring out if it is a good one or not. SCGMobile does way more than I expected, looks ok, is fast and does not crash (many of these apps were just crashing).

Note: Some people want a deckbuilder along with card database (and that is why some people rate this app badly for some reason). This application does not have it so if you are looking for something like that you'll have to look elsewhere.
(the manual update is an issue but come on guys, you have to do this 4 times a year! that is not a reason to give this app 1/5.)