Today I will present a useful program which could be a viable alternative to Magic Workstation.

Its very user-friendly and provides a lot of features. I am speaking of Cockatrice which is basically an “open-source multiplatform software for playing card games, such as Magic: The Gathering, over a network. It is fully client-server based to prevent any kind of cheating, though it supports single-player games without a network interface as well.“

In my own view it got some features which make it superior compared to MWS:

• A lobby system which shows running games and players.  Its easier to find games since you can chat whit people.

• Easy reconnect after a crash (not that many crashes occur but also if you got disconnected from the internet) through the lobby system.

• Deck can be saved on the server and are accessible from everywhere.

• Nearly bug-free even though it’s still in development.

• Observer function which allow players to join running games and watch other people playing.  It’s even possible to see their hands or chat with other observers (based on the game settings).

• You can play multiplayer games. I tested it with four players so far but it’s even possible to play with more.

Apart this the whole interface is customizable and can be simply modified by the user. The developers are open- minded and want the community to bring their ideas and suggestions.

The program is still in the development but as far as I can tell it already surpassed MWS and is maybe an upcoming replacement for the old buggy program we used so far.

And of course you can use the old MWS-pictures and import all your mws.decks.

So visit their site today at: www.cockatrice.de

Download Link PC:  http://www.cockatrice.de/files/cockatrice_win32_20101110.exe

Download Link MAC OS X: http://www.cockatrice.de/files/cockatrice_mac_20101110.dmg.zip

Linux (you have to compile the source code): http://www.cockatrice.de/index.php?a=download