Mojang Scrolls is so dead, long live fan-run Caller's Bane!

Mojang is best known for Minecraft. The problem with that is that anything after Minecraft has paled in comparison in terms of popularity and profitability. That's the tragedy that befell the generic-named Scrolls collectible card game that ultimately shut down in 2016. But out from its ashes rises Scrolls, now called Caller's Bane, but Mojang, now owned by Microsoft, won't be running the show. Or the servers, apparently.

Scrolls was born at a time when Blizzard's Hearthstone was carving a niche market and raking in the dough. Ever since then, almost anyone and everyone has been trying to recreate the magic of the Warcraft-based digital card game without much success. That even includes card game experts Wizards of the Coast and its Magic the Gathering franchise.

That eventually lead to the demise of Scrolls, ironically after Blizzard finally relented and gave it permission to use the name rather than sue the company. Since it was an online game, it relied on servers that were shut down almost two years ago. Back then, Mojang made a promise to allow its small community to run their own Scrolls game, and it is now making good on that promise.

But it's no longer called "Scrolls", probably to avoid potential unforeseen lawsuits. "Caller's Bane" is the name of the game, literally, and while it is definitely still Scrolls, it's not Mojang's Scrolls anymore server-wise. Those who want to play the game will have to hop on a server run by someone else. In this case, fan site scrollsguide.com volunteered to host one. At least for now.

While it's definitely good news for Scrolls fans, community-run servers have their fair share of drawbacks. At any point in time, a server could go, even without a trace. It's also not so clear how much control Mojang will have over the distribution and use of its property. It's free now, but it's still Mojang's.