Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers review on iPad

I was pretty into Magic cards as a sixth grader. I remember losing a lot. I remember games being fun but mostly I remember thinking "man this hobby is expensive!" It was the last thought that ultimately stuck with me and led me to abandon the hobby after about a year. I didn't think about Magic much for the next ten plus years, until i discovered Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox Live.

Duels of the Planeswalkers was an excellent, if somewhat simplified version of Magic. Crucially all of the systems are still intact and the game managed to digitize the over all feel of playing a game of Magic. Equally crucially for a nerd like myself, was the ability to play against a computer, dropping the "friends needed to enjoy this game" count from one to zero.

The original Duels of the Planeswalkers, was  a huge success, and Wizards of the Coast has followed it up every year with a new version, generally featuring more and different combinations of Magic cards, along with new play modes. However since Wizards of the Coast is still in the business of selling real ACTUAL Magic cards, they have limited the Duels of the Planeswalkers experience, never allowing players to build their own decks. This is a major part of what makes Magic fun. Unfortunately it was also a big part of reason why the Duels of the Planeswalkers games quickly started to get stale. While I played countless hours of the first two Duels of the Planeswalkers games, I just couldn't get into the 2013 version.

Never the less, a new version is out for 2014, and I thought to myself "this time it'll be different." And by golly for once I was right. Magic 2014 is interesting because in many ways it simplifies things, offering fewer play modes than in the last couple of versions. For instance, four player skirmishes and multiplayer games are still available in Magic 2014, but there is no longer a single player campaign built around it. Personally, I find this to be a good thing. While the four player battles of the past looked good on paper, the reality was that I didn't have the patience for it. Late game situations in particular saw AI taking what seemed like decades to make a decision as simple as "play a land card."

The trade off however is that Duels of the Planeswakers is finally FINALLY offering some sort of digital deck building. It's not an enormous part of the game however, and it's still pretty obvious that Wizards of the Coast is being very conservative in order to avoid cannibalizing actual card sales. But deck building has finally arrived and it's actually pretty good fun while it lasts.

The deck building portion of Magic 2014 takes place in it's own little single player campaign and in online play. Dubbed "sealed play" mode, players initially start out with six "booster packs" which are virtually opened and spread out on the table for examination. It's nicely done and does a passable job of capturing that "what'd I get?" moment fairly credibly. The game makes sure players all get the same number of "rare" and "uncommon" cards, but the actual cards themselves appear to be random.

Once players have opened all six booster packs they are presented with an excellent deck building interface, which allows sorting by color, rarity, type and casting cost. Any amount of land can be added for free and the game will tell players just how strong their deck is. Several other useful statistics are visible at a glance, the interface driving home just what a great game Magic 2014 could be if Wizards of the Coast would allow it.

Unfortunately, two decks, a short single player campaign and multiplayer are all that's allowed in sealed play mode. Additional deck slots can be purchased for real money. For some, this amount of content will be enough. The inclusion of multiplayer is particularly important, given Wizards of the Coast stand offishness regarding deck building. Indeed, sealed play is pretty good. It's just visibly and very obviously not as good as it could be.

Regular non-sealed play is, of course back and better than ever. The campaign feels a little bit shorter this time, but it flows nicely, alternating between serious battles and smaller puzzle like encounters. While previous versions of  Duels of the Planeswalkers have featured these before, 2014's encounters feel much more fleshed out and are generally "themed" better, being tied in with a loose narrative that passes for a plot.

The game is otherwise much as its always been, though the default decks are a little more interesting to me than the last couple of times around. This could just be a personal preference, but i'm defintely enjoying the regular single player campaign much more than I did with last years version.

It should also be noted that for the first time, I'm playing this game on an iPad, rather than on an Xbox or a PC. I bought the game within hours of its release and have thus far encountered ZERO bugs. The interface is excellent, the controls, smooth and intuitive. It just works really well on iPad and I strongly encourage owners of multiple platforms to spring for this version if they can.

Magic 2014 is on sale now in the app store, on Xbox Live and on Steam. It's ten dollars and worth every penny to any casual Magic fan. Pick it up right now if this describes you, its a glorious return to form after last years somewhat disappointing version. Yes, its not perfect, being visibly and obviously not as good as it could be. However forgive it for its deliberate hamstringing and there's still an excellent game to be found at an unbeatable price.

Magic can be found on the App store here, and on steam here.