Okay so from ready the base book (not core excett) there is a Magic Level maximum as defined by your intelligence. So an intelligence 10 character would have a maximum Magic Level of 50.

Now it does state that you do not automatically start at your maximum Magic Level and that the book recommends half that amount for Mystic archetypes and a quarter that for those of Mixed Mystic archetypes.

So per my understanding if you have an intelligence of 10 for a maximum of 50 Magic Levels and you were to raise your Path Rating to 30 that would take up 30 of your Magic Levels.

Then if you were to put 20 into the MetaMagic Spheres that would take up the rest of your Magic Levels.

So once this is done you are unable to spend anymore Magic Levels until your intelligence raises so your maximum can raise.

We just recently started up a new campaign and the majority of the party are Mages. So when I went reading through the Magic section this seemed odd but balancing for the magic.

You have been almost completely correct, with the small correction that your maximum Magic Level is not only set by your Intelligence. It only sets your Base Magic Level.

You can also increase your Magic Levels with the Natural Knowledge of a Path Advantage, Gradual Magic Learning Advantage, and spending Development Points.

And as for your limits to Magic Levels at character creation, the GM's Toolkit actually has a more in-depth section for limiting Supernatural Abilities on page 15, based on the supernatural level of the game.

You say it sets your base magic level, but the chart says max magic level. Was that just a translation error?

The other Advantages to help increase the magic level and spending DP I knew about but thought that was part of buying your Magic Level up when your intelligence rises.

Here's a thread that talked about this.

http://cipher-studios.com/AnimaBB/index.php?topic=9303.0