Duel of the Planeswalkers 2015

[mr friendly guy]

So the latest incarnation of Magic the Gathering intro game is on sale today on Steam. So far from what I read its doesn't sound like what I want in a DotP game despite the superior UI. Lets summarise

1. Allow you to create your own decks.

One of the fun things about MTG, is not just playing. Its also creating your own deck.

Having a deck creator is a good thing, and an improvement from the itinerations of the game since 2010. It appears however limited as you can only stack the deck with a limited number of rares, uncommons etc unlike in real MTG play. It gets worse when some of your opponents can churn our really rare cards, for example Kiora apparently pulls out a tropical island (can produce both green and blue mana).

Some improvements, but not as good as fan mods. Note when MTG first came out on computer, the UI isn't as good as current versions but you were allowed to create your own decks. Only in this version can you also do the same (well 2014 had sealed deck play which gave you limited deck creation), but has got nothing on fan mods.

2. User interface

Supposedly is better. I know in some incarnations, I got confused with the phases of the game and it sometimes not obvious when its near the last part of an opponent's turn. This is actually needed for magic because of the complexities of the game. To put it in simple terms, timing is everything and sometimes its more advantageous to play a card at the last stage of the opponent's turn rather than in the middle because you can keep those resources free to counter the opponent in the middle of the turn in case they do something.

The other issue I had with various incarnations is the problem with the upkeep phase. For those who don't play MTG, a turn is divided into several phases, draw, upkeep, main pre combat, combat, main post combat, end etc. Some cards activate during the upkeep phase.

In DoTP 2012 the upkeep phase works quite well (for cards that utilise it such as land tax). In 2014 apparently it doesn't have much of an upkeep phase as some modded cards which rely on upkeep don't always worked. For example I wanted to play a card "Mirror Universe" which allows you to swap life with an opponent during their upkeep phase, and only during this phase (if it could be played during any phase including your own rather than the opponents, it would make the card not only more flexible, but more powerful really). My deck was constructed around drawing cards at the cost of life for extra cards drawn. When I get low life, swap with the opponent and then use the extra cards to cast a spell which finishes them off. It was fun to play, but because DoTP 2014 didn't code for this very well, the modders had to play around with the code. Needless to say, it doesn't always work.

Now if DotP 2015 doesn't have cards which activate during the upkeep phase, then the engine most probably won't be designed with this in mind.

The colours for this looks ok. They describe it as more plain colours with a dash of bright colours so it stands out. Might grow on me, but I like the bright colours in DotP 2012 and 2014.

The other thing about UI is how easy it is to zoom in on the cards. In DotP 2012, if a card has several other cards "attached" to it, for example a create with several pieces of equipment, I found it hard to zoom in on the equipment to read its capabilities. In 2014 it wasn't a problem. Hopefully 2015 will keep this improvement.

3. Storyline

Well we know we try to cure Garruk who has been cursed since 2010 or something according to magic lore. It would be good if this cure in game becomes part of magic canon. Its not quite clear whether like DotP 2014 they will show videos of our progress as we meet other planeswalkers.

I would hope they at least show videos.

4. Game formats

As well as the usual 1 on 1 MTG format, the game also has other versions. For example there is

1. free for all up to four players (all iterations of DotP for the last few years has this)

2. Planechase format where you and your opponents can change the planes you fight on. The beauty of this is, each plane has different rules, so sometimes they might make you more powerful (depending on your deck type) etc.

DoTP 2013 had this. Sounds great in theory, unfortunately with the AI, what I found is that my opponents would take up time trying to change the planes (if they had no cards to play). So literally it would seem a long time before it got to my turn.

3. Two headed giant - this is a real fun format. You share life with another player. Your combined life is 30 (instead of the single 20). I loved playing this format online with a random player (except when the player is a dick). It relies on communicating with each other and generally if you play well together, you can win against ones who don't. DoTP 2012, 2013 and 2014 all had this.

4. Archenemy - This is another fun format. Its 3 players (20 life each) against an Archenemy (40 life). The Archenemy however has the advantage of scheme cards, which can't be countered and they have random effects. Its possible to structure decks specifically to

a) target the archenemy
i) you can have cards which interact with each other no matter who controls them, eg cards which have power and toughness = to the number of illusions on the field. So all 3 players have illusions and very quickly you can overwhelm the Archenemy with these cards will very quickly become powerful.

ii) milling decks - win by making the opponent run out of cards as opposed to lose life. They have doubled the amount of life, but the Archenemy still has the same number of cards. So if all 3 players start milling, the Archenemy is in a world of pain.

b) Play as the Archenemy

Generally decks that are "slow" and take a while to build up your resources. The scheme cards and the extra life allows you to survive. Or you can use life gaining decks.

5. Commander - never played this, and if there is a computer game version, most probably never will. It does however sound interesting.

Basically besides for basic land, everyones deck can only have one card each. Each characters also get a commander (a card who sort of serves as the leader).

6. Sealed deck play - you create your deck for one on one from boosters. So its a test of your ability to construct a deck from random cards.

Basically DoTP 2012 had Archenemy format, 2013 had planechase, all versions had 2 headed giant and free for all, 2014 had sealed deck (which I wasn't particularly keen on). DoTP 2015 doesn't have 2 headed giant and has only free for all. Unless they secretly have some other format, this is quite disheartening really.

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I am waiting to hear back on feedback from reviews, but unless its moddable I most probably won't get it. If it is, I will most probably need it to try out all the new mod decks people create. If they have a storyline with videos I will most probably just watch them on youtube.

[Grumman]

Basically DoTP 2012 had Archenemy format, 2013 had planechase, all versions had 2 headed giant and free for all, 2014 had sealed deck (which I wasn't particularly keen on). DoTP 2015 doesn't have 2 headed giant and has only free for all. Unless they secretly have some other format, this is quite disheartening really.

This is the reason why I will never buy another DotP. I don't like this "one step forwards, one step back" bullshit, I want a game that improves upon its predecessors.

[TheFeniX]

The lack of variety concerning gametypes has kept me from purchasing any later incarnations of MTG. Ditching Archenemy? Lame. No Hunter? Also lame, although I understand the games would be long and would probably be hard to implement. But no THG? Pfft.

[mr friendly guy]

Basically DoTP 2012 had Archenemy format, 2013 had planechase, all versions had 2 headed giant and free for all, 2014 had sealed deck (which I wasn't particularly keen on). DoTP 2015 doesn't have 2 headed giant and has only free for all. Unless they secretly have some other format, this is quite disheartening really.

This is the reason why I will never buy another DotP. I don't like this "one step forwards, one step back" bullshit, I want a game that improves upon its predecessors.

Yeah this pisses me off too. If they don't shape up, the only reason I would buy is because of modding as that adds so many more decks, and more cards which the previous version of mods did not. * Heck I would be willing to pay a bit more for DoTP that has these extra features such as Archenemy, 2 headed giant etc. If they don't want to charge people so much, they can just have the basic game and then have a DLC for those who are willing to.

* some versions make it harder to code for certain cards, but as a general rule with each new version the awesome modding community at slightlymagic.net add more cards and more flexibility for us to play with, and the old decks from previous versions of DoTP are reconstructed for download.

[mr friendly guy]

This review explains what is wrong with DotP 2015