Some of you might be following me for long enough to
know that I'm big fan of Magic: The Gathering. Most of you probably even know
what the game is about, but for those who have no idea I will start a bit
further back.
Twenty-two, almost twenty three years ago the thirty
years old Richard Garfield with the help of Wizards of the Coast published what
is accepted as the first CCG game - Magic: The Gathering. The success of MTG
was so big that it continues even today with new sets coming every year. Not to
mention that the game inspired a ton of other card games.
But what Magic is actually? This is a game in which
two or more wizards clash into a duel, fighting by summoning mystical creatures
and using devastating spells. For this purpose they use different types of mana
that they drew from the surrounding nature. What all this have to do with video
games though?
After their huge success on paper in 1997 Wizards
tried their hands on video games with some doubtful success until the coming of
Duels of the Planeswalkers in 2009 and in 2011. Since then we see new DoP every
year. The games focus only on the card gameplay usually featuring short
single-player campaign and option for multiplayer over the internet. The other
rather successful video game about MTG is the online version of the classic.
Until the release of Magic: Duels though all Magic
games costed money. Duels is absolutely free. I guess you can look at it as
Wizards Heartstone. Although this comparison is unfair as the two games are
quite different in their core gameplay. But for sake of simplicity we will work
with it.
Now let's look in more details what Dules have to
offer and what it lacks. On launch the game features the new Battle of Zendikar
card set. This is quite cool as you will be able to try new cards and strategies for
free. Of course you will not start with all cards from the set. You will have
to... gather them (do you see what I did huh?). But if it wasn't this way what
fun it will be, what CCG it will be right? Getting more cards works by getting
boosters. You will be rewarded few while completing the single player campaign
and after that with duelling you will earn coins which will allow you to buy
more boosters. I'm sure you already suspect it, so I'll just confirm your
suspicions - In Duels also you will be able to buy in-game currency (coins)
with real money. I'll say no more about it, take it as what it is - a fact.
There is a lot written on the topic so I'll not make this article longer than
it should be by talking about this.
Similar to Hearthstone Duels also has daily quests
which should be completed with different two colour decks. What Duels has that
I have not seen in other similar game are the Community quests. This type of
quests continues one week and all people playing the game can take part in it
by contributing for completing the threshold of the quest. It's objective usually
is something like "Play 10 000 Instant cards". If the quest is
completed and you contributed to it, when its over you get the reward for it.
This is great way for both helping new players and keeping the game experience
fresh and new, because those quests are always different from the Daily ones.
And I almost forgot Duels continues the
tradition of Magic games with great, detailed tutorials which will lead you through
every aspect of the game. This is important because Magic is a hard and
complicated game and without proper tutorial it will easily turn away every new
player who might try it. There is even deckbuilding helper which will help you
make your first decks. In other words this is probably the best way to get into
Magic!
All this said Duels also inherited some of its predecessor’s
problems. For example it still looks terrible. I mean the
"battlefield" which you will look at in 90% of your time playing the
game. It is just huge metal table (steel I guess after all it’s developed by
Stainless Steel Studios.). Always! If not else it breaks the immersion of the
game. You are nor feeling like summoning those great beasts and using cool
spells. You feel like just playing cards to the table. Where is the fun in
that? Very few other digital CCG games have blank boards like that. Not to
mention that some are trying to bring the genre even further by combining it
with fully fledged MMO mechanics.
Other big downfall of the game is its speed. Duels as
every Planeswalkers before it is slow. This is mostly a result of its
animations and the fact that MTG is a slow game to begin with. Here some of you
will say " Well but Magic is Magic and with all the strategies and stuff
you cannot play it faster.". I disagree strongly. Other digital CCGs like
Infinity Wars and HEX which are not lighter by any means play a lot faster. And
look a lot better!
The
only explanation I can come up with is that Wizards don't want to change
something that obviously works and will continue to make their MTG games this
way as long as people continue to buy them. Now I can understand that. The game
has existed in this form for 4-6 years already and usually it’s not good idea
to change something that works. My problem with that is the fact that they
don't use what the possibilities that digital technologies give them and by
doing this they may fall behind other games on the market.
Conclusion
I have babbled enough. Let me now sum up
everything until now. Magic: Duels is brave step in innovative direction for
Wizards of the Coast. With it they will probably try to take place in the race
of free-to-play CCGs. But while it definitely has a lot to offer like Daily
quests and various game modes including the great Two Headed Giant. My hope for
this game is that they will continue updating it with new sets and that they
will implement more single player campaigns. Sadly Duels is far from perfect.
And to make it worse, MD has inherited some flaws from its predecessors. Like
the boring look and slow gameplay which puts it behind its competitors on the
market.
Still, still! If you can look over those
flaws Duels is without doubt the best way to get into Magic: The Gahtering.
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