Getting started in Harry Potter: Magic Awakened — a beginner's guide to the magical world of Hogwarts

All of the basics the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry doesn't cover

When a new mobile Harry Potter game is announced, it can be challenging to get excited when many of these titles are middling at best. Luckily, the newest collectible card game, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, is ready to break that mold. So far, there’s a considerable amount of promise, as the game is quite polished while still faithfully respecting the franchise’s deep lore and enchanting universe.

Sure, the PvP content in collectible card games is often judged by how quickly the loop becomes pay-to-win (after all, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened earned $228 million within the first two months of its launch in select Asian countries). Thankfully there’s little to worry about, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is actually plentiful in card-collecting opportunities without the need for the player to spend a single cent.

Today’s starter’s guide introduces the basics of Harry Potter: Magic Awakened’s collectible card mechanics, breaking down precisely which daily activities are worthy of your focus to building out your first deck.

Creating your Hogwarts student persona

This is a Harry Potter game, so you’re going to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry one way or another. After a series of cutscenes, you’re afforded the opportunity to create and customize your character.

Character creation

• Select your gender, male (wizard) or female (witch).
• Customize your face: skin tone, facial features - including freckles, glasses.
• Choose your hair color (8 choices), hairstyle (4 choices), and makeup style (4 choices).
• Pick your scarf and coat (4 choices each).
• Enter your character’s name.

Voilà, your inner witch/wizard is now personified in the Harry Potter universe. All that’s left is to get a wand, your owl, and then you’ll be off on your merry way to Hogwarts. Sound familiar?

You’re not done yet. The next big decision is choosing your house (Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor). Houses are essentially guilds, and even though the Sorting Hat suggests a house by default, you are conveniently provided the power to overrule the Sorting Hat’s decision with your own choice, just like Harry Potter in the first film.

Undercover Harry Potter: Magic Awakened’s gameplay

While the Harry Potter flavoring is exceptionally welcoming to any veteran fan, next, we peel off the layers to illustrate what’s happening for those who might not be as well-versed with the Harry Potter franchise.

Breaking down the card mechanics

To put it simply, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened plays out like a real-time role-playing game (RPG) using a collectible card game system for your in-battle equips. Cards bring strategy to each battle; they are your general abilities when fighting, and each skill requires a unique point cost for its use, so balancing your deck is essential. Upgrading and equipping cards that synergize together unlock your full potential in a fight.

Card types

Cards are categorized into rarity (from highest to lowest): Legendary, Epic, Rare, and Common. The rarer the card, the more potent it is. Also, cards can be further divided by type; Spell cards and Summoning cards. Spell cards go into effect immediately when cast, while Summoning cards and creatures are placed on the field to trigger their effects.

More importantly, decks need to include Companion cards and Echoes. Companion cards perform like assist characters, and Echoes generate buffs for your deck. Tip: Your deck should be built around your equipped Echo. This is your most important synergy to account for.

Acquiring and upgrading cards

Cards are unlocked via completing Yearbook entries (story), opening House Chests, and Library Passes (obtaining cards by gacha means).

Similar to equipment in RPGs, your cards can be upgraded. Upgrades cost Gold and card duplicates, so plan carefully.

Switching and customizing decks

You can create multiple custom decks. Tip: It’s strongly advised to have decks separately built for PvP and PvE-centered content. Once you’ve acquired several cards, you’ll quickly find out which ones are not usable for PvP-suited decks versus PvE. An example being Crucio (Spell card) would be better used in a PvE oriented deck (against a boss) due to its line of sight restriction - auto-targeting the first enemy and dependency on a stacking mechanic to reach full power, whereas something like the Protego Totalum Spell card generates a shield around your friendly units even blocking some enemy Spells, which would be excellent utility in a duel (PvP) situation.

Day-to-day activities

Prioritize these tasks every time you log in to stay on course, progressing through the content. Activities allocate Gems, Gold, cards, and experience points for your Spell Book level.

Class participation

Your efforts as a studious wizard/witch are well compensated. Class participation points are needed for opening up House Chests and Yearbook progression (story).

Classes are divided into mini-games. Examples include a rhythm game at the Ball, Harry Potter filled-trivia during History of Magic, and a tower defense game in Creature Care. Some classes are restricted when they are in session, so be mindful when you play (see Class Schedule for your first year)!

Class Schedule

• Monday: Charms and Divination
• Tuesday: History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts
• Wednesday: Charms and Creature Care
• Thursday: History of Magic and Creature Care
• Friday: Defence Against the Dark Arts and Divination
• Saturday: History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts
• Sunday: Charms and Creature Care

Your first time attending class places you with your NPC (non-playable character) classmates, but you’ll likely use the matchmaking queue to join other players once you’re accustomed to the general gameplay loop.

Tip: As a new player, it's a good idea to spend lots of time in the Forbidden Forest acquiring Echoes and ingredients for potions.

Opening up House chests

Chests contain cards, Gold, and Gems. Your performance determines your chest progression during dueling, classes, Forbidden Forest activities, house team flying matches, and dancing at the Ball. Only a maximum of 4 pre-determined rarity chests can be stored at once for you to open, but these refresh every 3 hours - so if you have a Legendary House Chest, better get enough points to open it otherwise you might not get another for a while!

Daily missions

Tapping on Homework opens your daily and weekly missions list. Gold is acquired by completing these missions.

Story-mode

Your Yearbook displays where you’re at in the story. Each year’s record has a story segment and completing these nets rewards (cards, Gold, and Gems). This is the best way to guarantee unlocking Epic and Legendary cards.

PvP/dueling

PvP (1-v-1 or 2-v-2) or dueling players plays a pivotal role in this game. Spend time collecting cards, putting together a decent deck, and synthesizing potions to prepare. Tip: You can craft a PvP potion that prevents a rank drop when losing a match.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, looking to the future

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is still in testing in the West, but the game already offers ample content, with plenty more planned for the future, so things are looking bright with plans for upcoming events, story-mode updates, and new cards. If you're already a Harry Potter fan, Magic Awakened is going to be a delicious feast, but if you're newer to the franchise, this would be an excellent title to get your feet wet, as it's the perfect introduction to the franchise. So make sure to check it out yourself when the game officially launches on the Play Store this year!

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