That quote you were thinking of is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”, Arthur C. Clarke. In most of the stuff I read, it seems it’s a little of both and neither are mutually exclusive. In Mistborn, the characters performing magic had to ingest bits of metals to activate various magical abilities. In The Gearheart, there was a magic system involving drawing sigils, but the main character had a mechanical hand that had a series of gears and gems (I think) that could draw the sigils faster that humanly possible. IMHO, a mix of the two makes a better story.
That quote you were thinking of is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”, Arthur C. Clarke. In most of the stuff I read, it seems it’s a little of both and neither are mutually exclusive. In Mistborn, the characters performing magic had to ingest bits of metals to activate various magical abilities. In The Gearheart, there was a magic system involving drawing sigils, but the main character had a mechanical hand that had a series of gears and gems (I think) that could draw the sigils faster that humanly possible. IMHO, a mix of the two makes a better story.