The plot of Master of Magic is to become the dominant wizard on two 'planes' of existence, the normal Earth-like one and the fantasy based plane "Myrror". You can do this by destroying your competing wizards (up to 4 computer players) or by casting the Spell of Mastery.

Game play is carried out in a 2D top down perspective. You move your armies around the board, fighting monsters to get treasure, and more importantly 'nodes'. Once you control a node you can summon a spirit to meld with the node and gain mana from it. You also must build up your cities so you can support and train your army. City management is very much like Civilization. You also must allocate your mana for use, or research. You must research to learn new spells. You can do battle with the enemy in a quasi-isometric perspective or you can have the game simulate the battles.

The game ends when your home tower is destroyed; you banish all the other wizards (by destroying their home tower) or someone casts the Spell of Mastery.

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Screenshots

Master of Magic DOS Raven completes his research and learns a new spell

Master of Magic DOS Once you become powerful enough, you can explore the magical world of Myrror

Master of Magic DOS The world after a bit of exploration

Master of Magic DOS Introduction sequence

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Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

"シヴィザード魔術の系譜" -- Japanese PlayStation release (Japanese spelling)
"MOM" -- Informal abbreviation
"Maître de la Magie" -- French title
"Civizard: Majutsu no Keifu" -- Japanese PlayStation release

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Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

Boundless yet sorely limited. Bursting with awesome variety and damnable tedium. An imaginative triumph that's an unbalanced mess.	DOS	J. P. Gray (120)
A classic for sure, but with some issues	DOS	Elliott Wu (44)
The definition of “classic” is “Master of Magic”	DOS	Technocrat (201)
Fantasy Civ perfected	DOS	StJude1 (11)
Fantastic, fun Civ clone set in a fantasy world.	DOS	Afterburner (496)
Empire building game full of game elements to keep you busy	DOS	Nathan Kovner (55)
The immortal manifestation of perfection (and some bugs :( in computer strategy games!!!	DOS	DarkTalon (162)
Great, in-depth game	DOS	Laey'zur Tiberius Hawke (10)
Civilization meets Magic: the Gathering.	DOS	Lord Zimonov (9)
The best of the Civ-like games	DOS	Tony Van (2855)

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Critic Reviews

Coming Soon Magazine	DOS	Mar, 1995	90 out of 100	90
Play Time	DOS	Nov, 1994	87 out of 100	87
PC Joker	DOS	Nov, 1994	85 out of 100	85
Power Play	DOS	Nov, 1994	85 out of 100	85
PC Player (Germany)	DOS	Oct, 1994	84 out of 100	84
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	DOS	Dec, 1994	10 out of 12	83
Game Informer Magazine	DOS	May, 2008	8.25 out of 10	82
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	DOS	Dec, 1994		80
Privat Computer PC	DOS	1995	4 out of 5	80
PC Fun (French)	DOS	Nov, 1994	13 out of 20	65

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Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
[MoM Notice]	3	Thibault Droulers (2) Jun 05, 2012
Dragonsword has moved to Realms Beyond	1	Hans Noe Oct 23, 2010
MoM unofficial patch v1.40	5	Sciere (779511) May 16, 2010
Active fan site at dragonsword.com	5	lilalurl (732) Apr 24, 2010

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Trivia

References

One of the merchants may try to sell an item called "idspispopd". This is a cheat for Doom.

Release history

The original game had an onslaught of bugs that almost prevented playing. Microprose released a patch and later a completely new version of the game (which had a different manual and disc). The original disc and manual can be considered a collector's item.

Unofficial patch

There is an fan-made, unofficial patch (v1.40) that focuses on the correction of many bugs still left in the 1.31 version and tries to improve the game's AI performance. The download link can be found in the related links section.

Awards

Computer Gaming World
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #141 in the "150 Best Games of All Time" list
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #13 Most Rewarding Ending of All Time
- May 1997 (Issue #154) - Introduced into the Hall of Fame

Information also contributed by Andrew Grasmeder El-ad Amir, and kyr ub.

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Related Web Sites

Help Site for Master Of Magic (This is an interactive guide on Master of Magic. For those who do not have the manual paper because they download abandonware version of this video game.)
Master of Magic: Hero Page (A site dedicated to everything about heroes in Master of Magic, including cheats, oddities and descriptions.)
Sector 5, Ratai's Realm (Master of Magic Online Guide. Has other things like chat rooms and custom wizard submission.)