Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, what to expect

Business

June 19, 2012

Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers is heading to PC, iPad, PSN and XBLA on 20 June 2012.

Wizards of the Coast developer Max McCall has shared some insight into what we can expect from the game, starting with a discussion on the gameplay modes.

“Planechase mode is Duels 2013’s biggest new feature. You can play it with up to three other players. Everyone shares the same planar deck, which consists of nearly every plane in Planechase (2012). There are phenomena, the graphics when you planeswalk or roll chaos are awesome and yes, there’s a planar die to roll, too,” said McCall.

“Encounters is another new game mode in Duels 2013. They are played against AI, but for Encounters in Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, the AI draws cards in a specific order, executing a planned strategy. Encounters are great for Duels; they add a puzzle-like element similar to Challenges, but you’re still able to play your deck, retaining the dynamic game play of Magic.”

McCall went on the detail the new decks. “Duels wouldn’t be Duels if there weren’t 10 brand new decks to play with. There’s a Goblin deck and a lifegain deck that beats down incredibly hard, as well as a couple of decks that are a little more wacky and offbeat.”

The gameplay has also been streamlined: “This year, we’ve added two additions to the Duels game: an end step and manual mana tapping. A big reason for implementing these changes was all of the feedback we received from the community after the release of Duels 2012,” said McCall.

“Because we want to streamline core Magic game play as much as possible, we don’t use a mana pool in Duels. When you want to cast a spell, you click on it and it happens. Having to worry about which lands to tap just adds bookkeeping to Magic. More bookkeeping means less face-smashing. Less face-smashing is a problem.”

“So, no mana pool. However, the AI that taps your lands isn’t perfect. It can’t always see that if you have a three-mana spell, three Islands and three Mountains, that you really want to leave up two Islands and a Mountain to cast Cancel. And if you cast a bunch of spells that draw you more cards, the AI might not leave you with enough colored mana flexibility to cast all of your new spells,” explained McCall.

That’s a problem, and we received a lot of requests from the community asking to let people tap their own lands. On the other hand, adding a bunch of mouse clicks to tap your lands for each spell brings us perilously close to a world where not enough face-smashing is happening. What we’ve done is take a middle-of-the-road approach. After all, most of the time, which lands you tap for a spell is irrelevant. But in Duels 2013, you can select a spell and then, if you’d like, cycle through various configurations of how you’d like to tap your lands. This gives you total control over your lands but isn’t in your face all of the time asking you to sign on the dotted line before you can cast your spells,” said McCall.

Wrapping up, McCall said “We’ve worked hard to make sure the fun experience you have in Duels 2013 carries over to our best card set designed for the new player – Magic 2013. When you play Duels 2013, you’re playing with cards from Magic 2013. When you buy Duels 2013, you’ll go into a store to receive a special booster – one with cards from Magic 2013, including a mythic rare alternate-art promotional card depending on your platform: Serra Avatar on Steam and iPad, Primordial Hydra on XBox, and Vampire Nocturnus on PlayStation Network.”