For Your Consideration – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

I’ve been playing Magic for many years and in that time the game has continued to evolve. White borders all changed to black borders, card frames became more “modern,” painted pictures changed to photoshop paintings and style guides became a thing. Planeswalkers joined the party, cards started being two-faced and grew in power with each set. The game has even evolved into the digital age where people across the world can play Magic together online.

After all these years the game is still sticking around and is as strong as ever. I’d say it’s probably attributed to the game catering to all types of players in all walks of their MtG life. There are more ways available now to learn how to play the game that are less confusing for the beginner, there are more cards out now to make more advanced strategies feasible, and Wizards has recently released the second installment of what I feel is a great mix of nearly everything that Magic has to offer; Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013.

When I first heard about the first Duels, 2012, I was a bit skeptical. This game isn’t going to have anything for me since I’m a more advanced player that’s been playing for a long time. I had no plans on buying it since it seemed like a very limited version of Magic for newer players, but a friend of mine who was new to the game, thought that I’d like it and gifted it to me on Steam. I couldn’t not play it now! I played it, and enjoyed it. It wasn’t just playing Magic with crappy pre-cons. There were variable formats, online multiplayer, and my favorite part, challenges. Needless to say I spent many hours unlocking cards and beating everything that the game could throw at me.

Now Duels 2013 came out. I figured it was probably about the same as the last installment, but boredom and good marketing overthrew me and I decided to pick it up. I can say that I was, again, pleasantly surprised. More challenges, encounters, game formats, unlockable cards, deck building felxibility and a free promo booster! Heck yes! This is an amazing game for the casual Magic player.

There are cards in the game that haven’t been released yet that you get to play with which is pretty awesome. It allows you to see card interactions that you haven’t before and start the wheels turning on some new decks. The level tier system is set up much better than in the last game. It breaks up the monotony of playing game after game by including encounters that you would never see in games of Magic. The challenges were just as satisfying as before, with a couple of them leaving you stumped for a while. Pro tip: Read cards carefully. 😛 They could honestly make a game with 150 challenges and I’d buy it. They’re that fun.
Overall, if you’ve been debating on whether or not to check out Duels for yourself just weigh out your options. You can pay $10 in real life to buy a couple boosters, a D20, some commons and land. You can pay $10 on Magic Online and get enough cards to build a pauper deck that gets stomped (unless it’s budget boros) and call it a day, or you could pay $10, get a booster IRL which includes a mythic rare, (PS3 got lucky this time with Vampire Nocturnus), be able to play with infinitely better cards than your $10 got IRL or on MtGO, have game formats that IRL Magic and MtGO don’t have to offer available to you and be tied in with a new community of gamers that you would have otherwise not had access to. So whenever you do get around to buying it for yourself, hit me up on Steam @ Uberobot. I’ll remember to tell you to eat it when I’m swinging with my 16/16 Primordial Hydra that just Prey Uponed your Baneslayer Angel. 😉