I was introduced to Mag Blast in my gaming group using the 2nd edition. I'm a fan of Twilight Imperium and I loved the pictures and the gameplay of second edition. Eventualy I decided to pick up my own copy of the game, but I was disapointed to learn of the change in themes. I intended to look for a copy of the second edition but in the end I went with the 3rd edition just to check it out.

I brought the game to one of the gaming nights with my group. We all loved the 2nd edition but we found we liked the third edition much more. I've yet to see a review take note of the changes other than the pictures in the game, but there were several changes in game play balance. Overal we found third edition to play much better.

I don't have a copy of the 2nd edition to make an exhaustive comparison of the 2 versions. Suffice it to say for now that the game did play much better and we loved it.

Some changes of note, are the new races, at least 1 new direct hit option, and carriers can now shoot small blasts. Also the new cards are printed on much better quality paper like the current version of citadels.

To sum up, while I originaly wanted the 2nd edition over the third edition, I now find I much more prefer the third edition over the second, and I wouldn't even want the second edition anymore. My friend who has the second edition is also planning on upgrading to the third edition.

My only real complaint about the third edition is that the wording on some of the cards and in the rules could be a little clearer. I've had to reread cards and rules multiple times to figure out some of the finer options in the game. Once I got over that the game is as it says a "BLAST".