Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015

 PC
User Score
3.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 127 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 127
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 127
  3. Negative: 89 out of 127

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. guinevere2
    Jul 17, 2014
    0
    Money grabbing pure pay-to-win sham with online store and DLC releasing at the launch day. Even "complete bundle" edition does not include all cards - the best have to be bought separately. You get the picture
  2. evilglenn3000
    Jul 17, 2014
    2
    Look this is really important, DO NOT SPEND MONEY in this game, you gain literally nothing by doing so. Now on to the game itself, well they flattened the story and although the range of cards is decent enough there is NO way to earn them all by playing the game. Sorry wizards you straight failed us this time.
  3. shadowstep
    Jul 17, 2014
    1
    Horrible excuse of a MTG game. Menu is clunky and lags, also is horribly designed unless you are playing on a tablet. Deckbuilding is nothing like it was hyped to be, what's the point of building a deck if you have such a small pool to work with?

    Don't forget about all the microtransactions. They really give this game an immersive experience, allowing you to spend real money on packs to    Horrible excuse of a MTG game. Menu is clunky and lags, also is horribly designed unless you are playing on a tablet. Deckbuilding is nothing like it was hyped to be, what's the point of building a deck if you have such a small pool to work with?

    Don't forget about all the microtransactions. They really give this game an immersive experience, allowing you to spend real money on packs to unlock random cards. Oh and that's the only way you can unlock cards in the "premium" pool.

    Tutorial is painfully long (like 10-15 minutes easy) and no way to skip it. Nearly gave up before finishing it. There is no excuse to not add a skip option.

    If you hated 2 Headed Giant or the Puzzle Mode, you're in luck! This game dropped both of those game modes. No excuse for them to be missing, these have been pretty standard in previous MTG games.

    Don't buy this game. All it is is a money grubbing, pay2win, microtransaction filled MTG ad that you have to pay $10 for. Maybe they'll learn next year.    … Expand
  4. Repentant
    Jul 17, 2014
    0
    Gone are the days of Two Headed Giant and Planeswalker . The pro of being able to build your own style of deck is negated by almost everything else about the game. Vanilla game modes, sluggish menu navigation and tedious grinding that encourages a pay to win format are some of the features you can look forward to if you make the poor decision to purchase this game.
    I have been playing    Gone are the days of Two Headed Giant and Planeswalker . The pro of being able to build your own style of deck is negated by almost everything else about the game. Vanilla game modes, sluggish menu navigation and tedious grinding that encourages a pay to win format are some of the features you can look forward to if you make the poor decision to purchase this game.
    I have been playing magic for close to 15 years and never have I been so disappointed with a Magic the Gathering Experience as I am now.    … Expand
  5. GhosTrooper
    Jul 17, 2014
    2
    Sadly is worst Duels of Planeswalker game i've seen. Can they make even worse interface? I doubt it, if you take card with your mouse, there is no step back. Good idea to collect cards and make you own deck, but not so easy as you think.... microtransactions, microtransactions everywhere, this is not game you bought, just a trial to try it.

    Please do not spent your money and your time    Sadly is worst Duels of Planeswalker game i've seen. Can they make even worse interface? I doubt it, if you take card with your mouse, there is no step back. Good idea to collect cards and make you own deck, but not so easy as you think.... microtransactions, microtransactions everywhere, this is not game you bought, just a trial to try it.

    Please do not spent your money and your time playing pirated version.    … Expand
  6. orctown-troll
    Aug 7, 2014
    0
    Do not buy this game. It is a sorry excuse for a sequel that has bare bones features compared to the previous installments, is riddled with almost mandatory microtransactions if you actually want to build a deck that has any strategical chance against the campaign opponents and the cheating/sabotaging AI is back worse than ever.

    Let's go through this point by point. The sealed format is    Do not buy this game. It is a sorry excuse for a sequel that has bare bones features compared to the previous installments, is riddled with almost mandatory microtransactions if you actually want to build a deck that has any strategical chance against the campaign opponents and the cheating/sabotaging AI is back worse than ever.

    Let's go through this point by point. The sealed format is gone, Two headed Giant is gone and the puzzle challenges are gone. Instead there is *only* the campaign mode where you fight duels against decks that have massively superior cards than you, that you can never have unless you buy the "premium booster packs" on top of... you know... *buying the game with your hard earned money*. The AI has the magical ability of without fault always drawing the exact card it needs to win, while you get shafted by either only land or no land cards at all. I have beaten both 2013 and 2014 campaigns and the revenge campaign of 2013 so cheating is nothing new for the AI in this series but man... the AI not only cheats like a motherfu*ker but uses game-breakingly strong cards that you can never, ever gain. So going through the game becomes an exercise in "let's hit the restart button until we give up in disgust". This on the easiest difficulty. Even the "help AI" has been sabotaged against you and it constantly tells you to make moves that are simply suicidal and *always without fail* automatically tries to choose the absolute worst way to use your mana. Even if you have the patience to grind through the "explore realm" levels to get all the possible cards you can, you still eventually run into a planeswalker there as well, who will without fail decimate you by cheating and prevent you from gaining even the weak pointless cards you could get from exploring the realms. Ajani, for example trumps your progress in one of these "explore" nodes and is absolutely impossible to beat, unless the game shows mercy and decides to eventually sometime in the year 2989 give you a duel that is actually possible to win. Ajani has a deck that, if drawn perfectly, is unbeatable by any combination of cards you can muster up. And as we have already established, the AI almost always chooses to draw a perfect card for every situation and beat you. The same thing happens with most other opponents, especially planeswalkers like Jace and Liliana. So that is the game designer's idea of "fun". Impossible cheating AI duels that transform the game from a game of Magic into a game of "hit the restart button 960 000 times and smash your head against the wall and then *maybe* you can progress to the next opponent and repeat the process".

    This game is nothing more than a stripped down sham to try and force people to pay free-to-play microtransactions by causing aggravation and frustration. Do not waste your money on this crap. It's not even a game, it is a joke. The designer's clearly wanted to show a middle finger to every Magic player in the world, new or old, and try to prove that they can get the cash they want by putting out any insulting bullsh*t they want.    … Expand
  7. Penance
    Jul 16, 2014
    5
    Magic is back for another year, under the usual premise to improve on an the established and solid formula that MTG has been bringing players for years. Despite Magic 2015's attempt to offer players more creativity and customization, the game falls short and is buried under a pile of technical issues and bizarre design decisions.

    Magic 2015 is your standard DotP affair, and offers both    Magic is back for another year, under the usual premise to improve on an the established and solid formula that MTG has been bringing players for years. Despite Magic 2015's attempt to offer players more creativity and customization, the game falls short and is buried under a pile of technical issues and bizarre design decisions.

    Magic 2015 is your standard DotP affair, and offers both new and veteran players a relatively fun experience. The tutorial is easy to understand and completely option (minus the final 'test') that will get you into the meat of the game rather quickly. In terms of the general gameplay, everything that this game offers (single-player, multi-player) is rather standard.

    New to Magic 2015 is the ability to create your own deck for use in single-player and multi-player. Cards are unlocked by grinding single player matches through packs of cards called boosters. One of the worst things that this game does, in my opinion, is partition many cards behind a microtransaction paywall called Premium Boosters. The fact that your opponents may have other, possibly better, cards than you because they decided to pay more money is a huge downside -- and the first bizarre design decision Magic 2015 has.

    The second downside is the games unappealing visual design and user interface. Many of the elements of the UI are familiar to players of the previous iterations, but seem very heavily influenced by this games release on console platforms as well as iOS. Many menus take upwards of five seconds to fade out into white before changing screens. Many features are unnecessarily hidden behind menus within menus and a real pain to access. The notification system fails to actually notify the player on most occasions it seems and provides no real added benefit outside of the already in-place main menu system.

    The entire games visual design looks like it has been designed to be played in a science-fiction hospital, being almost completely white and void of any color and saturation. I found it to be a pain on the eyes and unpleasant, if not mildly irritating. It is worth mentioning that every single attack phase during your games, the playing board will split down the middle for no reason whatsoever - I have no idea what purpose it serves other than to bother the player.

    Pre-made decks, as were present in past iterations of the series, have been completely removed from the game. Players choose a very basic deck based on two colors and are stuck with it until they can grind out enough boosters to create their own alternate decks (provided they get the right cards in their boosters), which is not likely to happen until possibly dozens of hours have been playing into single-player alone. So, make sure you pick wisely! -- there is no feature to reset your choice of deck once the tutorial is completed. If you aren't satisfied with the deck you had no way of viewing before choosing, too bad.

    As mentioned, multi-player is your standard affair with no improvements over the past games. In fact, all co-op gameplay has been removed from this game. No longer can you play two-versus-one in the incredibly fun Two-Headed Giant mode that has been available for the past three years of Duels of the Planeswalkers, nor can you play two-versus-two anymore. Less is not more, and this game does a fantastic job of limiting what was previously available to players in this way.

    I had very few of the reported technical issues with the game. Windowed mode has some awful resolution issues, and some minor issues with video settings resetting themselves every time I start the game. I experienced zero crashing or freezing.

    To conclude, Magic 2015 is a game that is probably not worth the money for anyone who owns the previous versions. It brings nothing new to the table, and removes features completely. When you put down the money for that $10 price-tag, realize that you are paying for only a portion of the game. The developers have put a fair percentage of the game behind a microtransaction paywall in the form of Day One DLC, which an arguably be labeled Pay-to-Win. The interface is ugly and unnecessary, which is very important for a game that might eat hours of your time per session. Any owners of the previous Duels of the Planeswalkers game will be sorely disappointed.    … Expand
  8. strncat
    Aug 16, 2014
    0
    I understand & appreciate the concerns irt microtransactions. Personally, I actually don't mind spending money on a game if it's technically sound & rich in features. Magic 2015 isn't.

    The card collection is weak & not a full pool, the AI is ill-conceived (has overpowered cards & seems to play based on your 'unseen' hand & not your gameplay / cars on the battlefield). On top of lack of    I understand & appreciate the concerns irt microtransactions. Personally, I actually don't mind spending money on a game if it's technically sound & rich in features. Magic 2015 isn't.

    The card collection is weak & not a full pool, the AI is ill-conceived (has overpowered cards & seems to play based on your 'unseen' hand & not your gameplay / cars on the battlefield). On top of lack of rich well designed features, it's SUPER SLOW & has a clunky UI that's cumbersome to use. Magic 2015 just feels like a quick money grab with little to attention to detail or actual QA. it feels quickly thrown together, poorly tested & feature poor. I don't mind paying for a product that's good. This problem is this Magic isn't. Given a choice knowing what I know now after having used the app, I wouldn't even bother with the download. One star is a bit generous for this failed release.    … Expand
  9. PhearMark
    Aug 8, 2014
    1
    If you liked Magic 2014, don't bother with this one.

    Pros:
    - Can build your own deck

    Cons:
    - Menus take excessively long to become interactive
    - Card selection is poor at best
    - The 'best' cards are only available through the premium boosters of which you only ever get one
    - Campaign rewards feel weak, especially the final 'boss' game

    Just avoid it. I wish I had.
  10. smarm
    Jul 27, 2014
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. (Disclaimer)
    I played this game via library sharing on steam. So I have not purchased the game (nor do I plan to). Nor have I shelled out money to make the game "playable" (echos of the "cash grab" comments); The person who owns the game had unlocked all the cards and so I was able to make a deck actually worth playing.

    (Poor AI)
    The AI is a straight drop in replacement for the poorly designed 2014. You can expect to: have the AI's draw exactly what they need when they need it and (seemingly) mess with your draws; So that your draws will be the worst depending on which deck you face.

    So for example, if you have ~30% creature removal, against creature heavy decks you tend not to draw as much as you do against decks that are not creature heavy.

    (On planeswalker difficulty)

    But at the same time the AI is ridiculously easy to beat with a constructed deck. Even given the vaunted "you have the choice to make your own deck", the game becomes tedious against the AI's once their strategy has been neutralized.

    This coupled with the removal of multiplayer features (playing against clever humans rather than stupid AI's), makes this a terrible game with almost no replay value.

    (Crappy card choices)
    Even with all the "premium unlocks" with booster packs, the card selection is very poor.

    I suspect that the card pool they've given you is a random selection of cards that you would get from actual booster packs; Mostly commons, a good amount of uncommons, few rares and only a handful of ultra rares. A terrible idea for a computer game, since you are routinely faced against decks that do not have this weakness, they are carefully constructed and have a reasonable amount cards that make them work correctly.

    (Very poor challenge curve)
    Most of the AI controlled decks (even on the highest difficulty) are ridiculously easy to beat. But then randomly sprinkled into their incoherant story based campaign are decks that are insanely difficult to defeat EXCEPT for very specific removal mechanics; The Hydra deck and the token deck for instance. Being hit for 25 5th turn as a matter of routine is not fun.

    This is so poor that it forces to player to play ONLY in one way to be able to defeat these decks.

    (MTG color strengths are absent)
    White is the most powerful color by far. The other colors cannot come close to competing. For instance, black has 1-2 cards that are creature removal, when traditionally it is the strongest color in terms of removal.

    Green has no large creatures worth the name, blue has little control, red has only a handful of viable direct damage, etc.

    All the strengths of the colors have been neutered of their traditional strengths.

    I feel that the people who designed the color selections did it by randomly selecting cards from boosters. There is no coherant theme or strategy involved in any of the unlocked cards.

    (The deck)
    If anyone's curious, here's the deck I ended up one shotting the game with (I only ever had to play one game against each AI to win):

    20x Plains
    3x Swamp
    4x Nimbus Wings
    3x Armored Ascension
    1x Baneslayer Angel
    1x Cobbled Wings
    3x Elite Vanguard
    2x Mentor of the Meek
    1x Arrest
    4x Deviant Glee
    3x Banisher Priest
    1x Planar Cleansing
    4x Gods Willing
    2x Hero of Iroas
    3x Reprisal 3x Ajani's Pridemate 2x Child of Night I only splashed black since the selection for white cards was so poor. With white creature removal (the only cards worthy of the name, since no other color has anything comparable) as the backbone, then Armored Ascension to make heavy hitting flyers. The rest is details since the computer can't deal with those two cards at all. Fantastically useful was the Gods Willing, but this was the cherry on top of the previous two items and only served to make easy games into ridiculously easy AI stomping games. I did have quite a bit of fun designing and testing this deck, which is why I haven't rated the game lower.    … Expand
  11. MrFreshdom
    Jul 22, 2014
    2
    Granted, the paperback version could never be recreated in a digital format. However this game makes zero attempts to play as a card game and wants to lead you in an adventure when all you really want to do is play Magic: The Gathering. Surely, It's trying to elaborate and immerse you in the world, but it does so by holding your hand every step of the way (tightly at that). Then comes theGranted, the paperback version could never be recreated in a digital format. However this game makes zero attempts to play as a card game and wants to lead you in an adventure when all you really want to do is play Magic: The Gathering. Surely, It's trying to elaborate and immerse you in the world, but it does so by holding your hand every step of the way (tightly at that). Then comes the worst part: Micro-transactions. If done in a right, quasi-ethical manner it would be all fine and dandy but it almost feels like punishment to play without them. In conclusion, this game is going to make you feel as it its nothing more than a ripoff in the end. Do not spend your money in this game, unless you want to come to the sad realization that a sector of the gaming industry is going down the toilet.… Expand
  12. calcipher
    Aug 9, 2014
    1
    Flushing my money down the toilet would've been a better choice than buying this game.

    - The game crashes constantly, even on high end machines, often in the middle of a match. Sometimes, it crashes the entire pc, forcing you to restart and lose the progress. I can run Skyrim maxed out on my machine and not a **** card game? Learn to code, please. - When you start, you're prompted    Flushing my money down the toilet would've been a better choice than buying this game.

    - The game crashes constantly, even on high end machines, often in the middle of a match. Sometimes, it crashes the entire pc, forcing you to restart and lose the progress. I can run Skyrim maxed out on my machine and not a **** card game? Learn to code, please.

    - When you start, you're prompted with a choice of ONE deck. The hints are very misleading: i chose the white/black deck that was described as removal based. Total removals in the deck: 3. You can't change your choice and you're stuck with your deck for the start of the campaign, unless you manually edit the save file.

    - That goes without saying, the deck is EXTREMELY UNDERPOWERED, regardless of your choice. You'll have a hard time beating the early battles, even if you turn down the difficulty to Arch-mage. Be prepared to grind your way through HOURS of frustrating losses, as the AI "cheats" constantly. The only way to go around this is turning down the difficulty to Mage, then suddenly every match is a piece of cake but no fun at all.

    - Even if you somehow manage to beat the AI, you're rewarded with a single booster pack. There's no guarantee the cards in the pack will boost your deck, they can be any color and, yes, you'll get doubles. The strongest cards, though, can't be obtained this way: they're reserved for people that BUY booster packs.

    - NO 2HG, no Sealed Play.

    - Clunky menus, that force you to go forth and back to check your progress.

    - The "free deck building mode" is a joke. Despite what the description on Steam says, you'll be very limited with your choices when building your deck, unless (of course) you don't open your wallet and start hunting for premium cards. Building a decent monocolor deck is nearly impossible.

    Magic 2015 is built around a single purpose: frustrating the player to the point of buying more booster packs through microtransactions. That is all. You won't enjoy this game unless you throw in it a **** of money. Even buying the complete edition (30$) won't get you 100% of the cards available, but will leave you at around 90%. In the end, to get the full experience you'll have to pay the same as a AAA+ retail game, but keep in mind this piece of **** will be replaced in 11 months.

    This franchise has suddenly turned in a Pay to Win product, and that means that, at least for me, this is the end. I won't buy any more games from Wizards, ever.
    I've been a Steam customer for 8 years and I've never been so close to ask for a refund. DON'T BUY THIS GAME and save your 10 bucks for something else.    … Expand
  13. Fattydangelo
    Aug 15, 2014
    0
    Pitiful .. Exact same game as before and again built for a 5 year old ... Why not just release expansion packs instead of asking people to buy a "new" game and then selling expansion packs .. Just like magic online shows wizards/hasbro only care about squeezing every dollar out of people instead of making the experience great .... Such a shame cuz magic is damn near the best game out there
  14. mac9891
    Jul 21, 2014
    0
    DO NOT BUY. THIS IS A LAZY UNDEVELOPED GAME. This is by far the worst and laziest iteration of the franchise. Although it boasts complete deck building which is true, it falls far from other games. With the introduction of premium booster packs you must pay to unlock some of the most powerful cards. Clear pay to win, the best part being your not guarantee the cards you want for yourDO NOT BUY. THIS IS A LAZY UNDEVELOPED GAME. This is by far the worst and laziest iteration of the franchise. Although it boasts complete deck building which is true, it falls far from other games. With the introduction of premium booster packs you must pay to unlock some of the most powerful cards. Clear pay to win, the best part being your not guarantee the cards you want for your money either. Also to unlock the cards you cant play pvp which is the best and most fun part of the game, instead after completing the campaign you'll have about 30% of the cards. To get a decent deck or a few decent decks to play with you will have to grind through awful boring you vs the computer match ups in the "explore" which are bad watered down duels with silly caveats which get painfully bad the 2nd,3rd, and 4th time or more through. This is the only way to keep unlocking cards and its bad. The next huge issue is they removed all the game modes they had previously devolved, all you can do is go 1v1, 1v1v1, or 1v1v1v1. They took out two headed giant the games clear favorite and for what, who knows they already had it figured out in the last game, this is a clear **** you, we care not about you just your money" to the fans of the game. And to boot the Interface is the worst of all the versions its slow, sluggish and glitchy.… Expand
  15. MaxPay
    Jul 21, 2014
    0
    Pros: deck building partially
    Cons: only 250 cards (remove multicolored/colorless and you're left with 40-45 per color), micro transactions, features simply ripped out of the game, AI, slow and sometimes unresponsive UI, white screens, some stuff is broken atm...
  16. Lakin
    Jul 20, 2014
    4
    This year wizards made me really sad. This game is filled with micro-transactions even if you buy the most expensive pack. Challanges are gone. Deck building is done poorly, for example no search for words function and theres really not that many cards to have any fun. even if you count copies theres
    like 980cards overall, Yu-gi-oh on Wii had 4000! Background in the game is just plain    This year wizards made me really sad. This game is filled with micro-transactions even if you buy the most expensive pack. Challanges are gone. Deck building is done poorly, for example no search for words function and theres really not that many cards to have any fun. even if you count copies theres
    like 980cards overall, Yu-gi-oh on Wii had 4000! Background in the game is just plain obviously so it runs well on tablets. In the end, magic is still fun which would give like a 7 but those things take it down to a plain average 4    … Expand
  17. CCkAzE
    Jul 19, 2014
    4
    Magic 2015 could have been a 10, but they inexplicably took out all game modes other than single player and multiplayer free-for all. Two headed giant has been a staple of this series, and in my opinon, the most enjoyable game mode of the DotP franchise. It's what kept me coming back year after year. Not only did they take it out, there was almost no warning. I would never have bought thisMagic 2015 could have been a 10, but they inexplicably took out all game modes other than single player and multiplayer free-for all. Two headed giant has been a staple of this series, and in my opinon, the most enjoyable game mode of the DotP franchise. It's what kept me coming back year after year. Not only did they take it out, there was almost no warning. I would never have bought this game if I knew there was no 2HG.

    All that said, the amount of freedom this game gives you to craft your deck is awesome. Unlike Hearthstone, you aren't limited by your "class" in your access to cards. You can literally make whatever deck you wish with every card in the game at your disposal. The types of decks you will encounter in multiplayer will be endless.

    Still, the microtransactions and left out features kill this game, and I cannot recommend it to anyone unless they are a die-hard MtG fan. Wizards of the Coast and Stainless really dropped the ball on this one.    … Expand
  18. Jerot
    Jul 17, 2014
    1
    I have now completed the game sans a few card specific achievements. So I'm updating my review.

    As a long time player of the physical card game and DotP series, I would highly recommend avoiding this particular incarnation of the game. It is first and foremost a mobile game, its IAPs and menu make this very clear from the start. The menu is particularly unresponsive to mouse clicks at    I have now completed the game sans a few card specific achievements. So I'm updating my review.

    As a long time player of the physical card game and DotP series, I would highly recommend avoiding this particular incarnation of the game. It is first and foremost a mobile game, its IAPs and menu make this very clear from the start. The menu is particularly unresponsive to mouse clicks at times and I found it much simpler to operate via keyboard. You cannot see any menu in its entirety without scrolling through each option one at a time, switching between sub menus is very slow compared to previous games.

    Content wise we have No revenge campaign, No alternate campaigns (Arch enemy/Planes chase/Etc.), No puzzles. Two headed Giant has been removed from multiplayer along with the old lobby system, meaning we now have to recreate lobbies every single game. All in all, you have about 1/3rd as much to do as any of the previous games in the series yet the price is almost identical, and now with even more day 1 "dlc".

    Card selection while pulling from a larger number of base sets is extremely limited. It appears they pulled a small list of cards from several sets to beef up the features list on paper. In practice you will have fewer compelling decisions to make about deck composition than in previous DotP games where you had a selection of 40 or more hand picked cards to customize your deck with. Several powerful cards are locked behind an additional paywall. While not new to a series where decks have been sold as DLC before, now we are expected to buy random booster packs of cards to finish a complete set.

    Navigating the game is painfully slow and clunky, comparing 2014 to 2015, If I want to change decks in 2015 I have to open up my player profile, click my deck icon, scroll to a deck, select it, and choose to equip it before backtracking to the original menu to select my opponent. Where in 2014 you hand a wheel of your current decks available after selecting an opponent, no additional menu navigation required. While it may not seem like a huge deal, in a game where you are expected to fight several hundred encounters to unlock all the cards for your self, small quality of life issues like this really add up.

    In general the game AI seems to have taken a major hit, enemies will react and play in extremely predictable ways. Almost certainly to accommodate the mobile release of the game this time around. Even the basic AI that chooses to tap lands automatically when playing cards no longer accounts for cards in hand and requires you to specifically set what is being tapped so you don't lock yourself out of plays. This hasn't been an issue since very early in the series. AI opponents almost certainly cheat especially on higher difficulties. Difficulty is achieved through extra powerful cards not available to the player, in previous games you would be playing against decks you could unlock and customize yourself. The only exception being "End Bosses" but even then they were usually unlocked as DLC later in the games life cycle.

    In my research I've seen numerous threads of people who are unable to run the game, and others having very poor performance even on top end systems. While I didn't experience anything too frustrating (Aside from a few lock-ups when trying to create decks) I still think it is important to mention as these games usually aren't patched very often in my experience.

    I would also like to mention during the pre-order period of the game, there was no clarity with what the DLC available actually included. Some people believed that for $5 you would get an entire additional set of cards to customize your deck with. However, in reality it only unlocks the cards from a specific chapter of the game which would otherwise be entirely free. The special edition of the game included all these packs at a discount, but even paying $35 there are yet more cards you will have to shell out money for. Compare that to Magic 2014 where $20 will get you the game and all four of its expansions, With a better interface, smarter AI, better multiplayer experience, and honestly 3-4x the content.

    Yes its playable, yes it magic, but for the cost, the problems, the lack of content... You are better off buying any other game in the series.    … Expand
  19. Sdric
    Jul 23, 2014
    0
    +Build your own deck
    -Can't build your own deck 'cause you won't get the cards for it
    -Poor variety of cards. -Paywall for "premium cards" -Poor AI With the new deckbuilding feature this could have been the best MTG of all time. Instead you get a paywall in your face. Make it rain extra cash or play with such a poor variety of utterly bad cards that you'll loose the fun in less than    +Build your own deck
    -Can't build your own deck 'cause you won't get the cards for it
    -Poor variety of cards.
    -Paywall for "premium cards"
    -Poor AI

    With the new deckbuilding feature this could have been the best MTG of all time. Instead you get a paywall in your face. Make it rain extra cash or play with such a poor variety of utterly bad cards that you'll loose the fun in less than a day.
    This new pay-to-win and DLC-spam trend is making me sick. Especially if the base game ist 80% copy paste of last years release.
    Do yourself a favor and avoid this scam.    … Expand
  20. vandana
    Aug 4, 2014
    1
    I've written two reviews of MTG:DotP to date. 2012 and 2013. I gave them high scores because at the time I felt like it was the best, cheapest and most enjoyable way to experience card games digitally.

    But things change and competition doesn't sleep. You are only as good as your competitor is not. There came a little game called Hearthstone that suddenly became major player in e-sports.    I've written two reviews of MTG:DotP to date. 2012 and 2013. I gave them high scores because at the time I felt like it was the best, cheapest and most enjoyable way to experience card games digitally.

    But things change and competition doesn't sleep. You are only as good as your competitor is not. There came a little game called Hearthstone that suddenly became major player in e-sports. It is not as complex and interesting as MTG, but I believe better suited for digital play.

    Magic the Gathering doesn't seem to make effort to compete on, what I would call, casual online ccg market. DotP has been stripped of many game modes and forced into microtransactions which no one will be interested in because competition has better options for 30-year-olds with money.

    Right now Hex seems to offer robust experience (we will see for how long), Hearthstone fun and casual - easy to learn, hard to master experience, and Magic in every single iteration is far behind. Now, lets talk about Hex. i believe Hex is all that MTG in Online form should be. It's a blatant and shameless rip-off, but still perfectly executed. if someone at Wizards had moved their brain at the right time, Hex would have never come to realization because DotP would have taken its place on the market...

    MTG Online requires too much money and too much unecessary knowledge to get into (trading), and is simply to hardcore and too obsolete when it comes to engine to attract new players. DotP is a shade of what it could have been. A demo to Magic which each year looses field to new competition and doesn't even try to improve anymore.

    Shame. Because Magic the Gathering is still the best card game out there. Just poorly managed and/or archaic in marketing and digital development.    … Expand
  21. Szmittu
    Aug 6, 2014
    1
    To be honest... As a big Magic: the Gathering fan, I cannot recommend this year's edition.

    Yes, you can actually build your own deck now... But options are limited. I feel, that I've had more freedom in last year edition, even when I was obliged to color/specific deck. Also, MtG 2015 is weaker in all other aspects. 2HG? Nope. Revenge campaign? Nuh-huh. Puzzles/challenges?    To be honest... As a big Magic: the Gathering fan, I cannot recommend this year's edition.

    Yes, you can actually build your own deck now... But options are limited. I feel, that I've had more freedom in last year edition, even when I was obliged to color/specific deck.

    Also, MtG 2015 is weaker in all other aspects.

    2HG?
    Nope.
    Revenge campaign?
    Nuh-huh.
    Puzzles/challenges?
    Naaaaaaah.

    Clunky gameplay?
    Yes.
    Unresponsive interface?
    Checked.
    Microtransactions, and a lot of them?
    But of course.

    That's a big no-no for me...    … Expand
  22. MrMT
    Jul 31, 2014
    3
    I have to agree with the low scores here. I live 2013, and played it like crazy. I bought 2014, and was well into it until something wiped my progress, and I was back to the beginning with no unlocked cards. 2015 appears even more predatory - either you pay an insulting amount of money for unlocks, or you grind your way up through endless turgid battles to start building a deck - whichI have to agree with the low scores here. I live 2013, and played it like crazy. I bought 2014, and was well into it until something wiped my progress, and I was back to the beginning with no unlocked cards. 2015 appears even more predatory - either you pay an insulting amount of money for unlocks, or you grind your way up through endless turgid battles to start building a deck - which will never be as good as the one you pay a premium for. ie, this is pay to win. To those that enjoy pay 2 win, have fun. Personally, I prefer a game.… Expand
  23. et_phone_home
    Jul 30, 2014
    0
    Everything has been said in the bad reviews. Just wrote this to give it a pleasing zero. This year no money from me. Please make a favor to yourself and try Might and Magic Duels of Champions, especially the Ipad version.
  24. suneater
    Aug 21, 2014
    1
    After all the problems DotP 2014 had, I was really hoping that the devs had taken a step back and rectified the issues with it (deck construction locked into Sealed mode, bad challenges, restrictive campaign, etc.). Instead we get a barebones version of MTG that does everything wrong that it possibly can. Problems are apparent right when you start up the game; the UI is slow and heavilyAfter all the problems DotP 2014 had, I was really hoping that the devs had taken a step back and rectified the issues with it (deck construction locked into Sealed mode, bad challenges, restrictive campaign, etc.). Instead we get a barebones version of MTG that does everything wrong that it possibly can. Problems are apparent right when you start up the game; the UI is slow and heavily animated, obviously being designed for a touch screen interface. Instead of being given 1-2 prebuilt decks like in the previous two annual releases, you are given a choice between deck archetypes. However, you have no idea what cards are actually inside your deck before you lock in to using that "Intro Deck"-strength deck which can really screw you over at the start of the game. For example, I picked a supposedly B/G Reanimator deck but the only reanimator card in it was Rescue from the Underworld (a high costed, slow reanimator that requires saccing a creature as an additional cost). Because you are picking an archetype and not an actual deck, you also don't get unlocks specifically for your deck; while this gives you more freedom in deck construction, new players will be baffled about what they should add to their deck or how to edit it properly. A "Suggested Cards" tool is available but it isn't very trustworthy; using it with my best deck (G/W tokens), two of the three recommended cards are Phytotitan and Pelakka Wurm.

    While you can finally build your own decks with DotP 2015, you will really struggle to put something playable together without buying cards for real money. Buying all the cards in the game will cost you $20 and individual "planes" of cards will cost you $5 each. If you could just drop $20 on unlocking everything in the game you would be looking at spending only $30 total on DotP 2015. Of course, it isn't that easy... many of the best cards available (including Stoneforge Mystic, Doubling Season, Kozilek, and more) are locked behind "Premium Boosters" which give you 10 random cards for $2 (physical boosters in Standard cost between $2-4 and have 15 cards each). Last year's gambling mechanic was bad but it was only restricted to the Sealed Deck mode. DotP 2015 has essentially become Pay2Win with these boosters because the cards inside can be used in any game mode, including online.

    Speaking of online play, there barely is any! 2-Headed Giant has been removed for no reason and no other game modes have been added. You can only play 2-4 player FFA with your custom built decks; no Archenemy, no Planechase, no new modes. With the addition of deck construction and the rise of popularity in Commander/EDH, it is really disappointing that even that wasn't added.

    The only good thing that I can say about this is that they finally added non-basic lands. Deck construction is a nice touch finally but the rest of the game has suffered for it. It seems that in order to release the same game on every platform they had to cut content to make it work on mobile devices. DotP 2015 has a tedious, boring, and grindy single player campaign, no Challenges, no multiplayer modes outside of FFA, and no tools to introduce new players to MTG except for the tutorial. This is the worst DotP game made yet (even worse than the original DotP which was removed from Steam) and not even fans of the series should bother with this blatant cash grab.    … Expand
  25. Kriostyx
    Aug 7, 2014
    0
    Do not buy this game. It is a sorry excuse for a sequel that has bare bones features compared to the previous installments, is riddled with almost mandatory microtransactions if you actually want to build a deck that has any strategical chance against the campaign opponents and the cheating/sabotaging AI is back worse than ever.

    Let's go through this point by point. The sealed format is    Do not buy this game. It is a sorry excuse for a sequel that has bare bones features compared to the previous installments, is riddled with almost mandatory microtransactions if you actually want to build a deck that has any strategical chance against the campaign opponents and the cheating/sabotaging AI is back worse than ever.

    Let's go through this point by point. The sealed format is gone, Two headed Giant is gone and the puzzle challenges are gone. Instead there is *only* the campaign mode where you fight duels against decks that have massively superior cards than you, that you can never have unless you buy the "premium booster packs" on top of... you know... *buying the game with your hard earned money*. The AI has the magical ability of without fault always drawing the exact card it needs to win, while you get shafted by either only land or no land cards at all. I have beaten both 2013 and 2014 campaigns and the revenge campaign of 2013 so cheating is nothing new for the AI in this series but man... the AI not only cheats like a motherfu*ker but uses game-breakingly strong cards that you can never, ever gain. So going through the game becomes an exercise in "let's hit the restart button until we give up in disgust". This on the easiest difficulty. Even the "help AI" has been sabotaged against you and it constantly tells you to make moves that are simply suicidal and *always without fail* automatically tries to choose the absolute worst way to use your mana. Even if you have the patience to grind through the "explore realm" levels to get all the possible cards you can, you still eventually run into a planeswalker there as well, who will without fail decimate you by cheating and prevent you from gaining even the weak pointless cards you could get from exploring the realms. Ajani, for example trumps your progress in one of these "explore" nodes and is absolutely impossible to beat, unless the game shows mercy and decides to eventually sometime in the year 2989 give you a duel that is actually possible to win. Ajani has a deck that, if drawn perfectly, is unbeatable by any combination of cards you can muster up. And as we have already established, the AI almost always chooses to draw a perfect card for every situation and beat you. The same thing happens with most other opponents, especially planeswalkers like Jace and Liliana. So that is the game designer's idea of "fun". Impossible cheating AI duels that transform the game from a game of Magic into a game of "hit the restart button 960 000 times and smash your head against the wall and then *maybe* you can progress to the next opponent and repeat the process".

    This game is nothing more than a stripped down sham to try and force people to pay free-to-play microtransactions by causing aggravation and frustration. Do not waste your money on this crap. It's not even a game, it is a joke. The designer's clearly wanted to show a middle finger to every Magic player in the world, new or old, and try to prove that they can get the cash they want by putting out any insulting bullsh*t they want.    … Expand
  26. quesse
    Aug 18, 2014
    0
    Failure of a game. The trend lately is to design games purely around making cash. I would rather pay $15-$20 upfront for a full game then $9.99 for an incomplete game that pesters you to pay money all the time. Who thinks this is a good idea? All this game does is just piss people off. It is a short term money grab that will tank your franchise in the future.

    Please please please stop    Failure of a game. The trend lately is to design games purely around making cash. I would rather pay $15-$20 upfront for a full game then $9.99 for an incomplete game that pesters you to pay money all the time. Who thinks this is a good idea? All this game does is just piss people off. It is a short term money grab that will tank your franchise in the future.

    Please please please stop the madness.    … Expand
  27. jerkbot
    Aug 21, 2014
    0
    The only reason I bought this game year after mother grabbing year was for playing 2v2 with my friends. I was hoping they'd allow 3v3 or 4v4 one day soon, but instead they remove 2v2, and my reason for ever buying the game.

    That's what passes for progress in Magic: The Revenue Gathering 2015! Do not buy, removal 2v2 is just the canary in the coal mine for this stripped-out, pay to    The only reason I bought this game year after mother grabbing year was for playing 2v2 with my friends. I was hoping they'd allow 3v3 or 4v4 one day soon, but instead they remove 2v2, and my reason for ever buying the game.

    That's what passes for progress in Magic: The Revenue Gathering 2015!

    Do not buy, removal 2v2 is just the canary in the coal mine for this stripped-out, pay to win abomination.    … Expand
  28. Yaywalter
    Jul 25, 2014
    1
    I love me some Duels of the Planeswalkers. Even though I have no shortage of real life Magic opponents, there's still a place for an enjoyable digital single-player campaign using a more restricted/guided card pool than the 10,000+ cards I have in real life.

    But even though DotP 2014 was overall pretty great, 2015 isn't... not as much, anyway. I appreciate certain aspects... the sleek    I love me some Duels of the Planeswalkers. Even though I have no shortage of real life Magic opponents, there's still a place for an enjoyable digital single-player campaign using a more restricted/guided card pool than the 10,000+ cards I have in real life.

    But even though DotP 2014 was overall pretty great, 2015 isn't... not as much, anyway. I appreciate certain aspects... the sleek new interface, the fully customizable deckbuilder. Fantastic stuff. But those are the bones, where's the meat? 2015 is significantly pared back from 2014 in this regard.

    And lastly, sleazy F2P tactics are absolutely unacceptable in a single-player game that you're already shelling out good money for. This is not Magic Online, we don't want to buy any damn virtual cards for a ****ing single-player game, okay Wizards? The entire card pool should be unlockable through gameplay. I'm fine with it if you want to make them slightly difficult/grindy to unlock, if you really want to drain some poor saps of their hard earned money, but they should be reasonably attainable to anybody who doesn't wish to part with their cash.    … Expand
  29. LemonFennec
    Aug 2, 2014
    0
    Between massive amounts of micro-transactions, the debilitatingly crippling, short, and mediocre card list, and the removal of game modes that kept fans entertained, I can honestly say that I regret purchasing this game. I would not recommend this game to anyone.

    Other notable things to warn others: This game has incredibly slow loadtimes, bad menu systems, and the AI in charge of your    Between massive amounts of micro-transactions, the debilitatingly crippling, short, and mediocre card list, and the removal of game modes that kept fans entertained, I can honestly say that I regret purchasing this game. I would not recommend this game to anyone.

    Other notable things to warn others: This game has incredibly slow loadtimes, bad menu systems, and the AI in charge of your land tapping mechanics does not account for costs of cards in hand, meaning that it will waste colors you could have used for other spells.

    There is literally no excuse for how bad this game is.    … Expand
  30. chez
    Aug 3, 2014
    0
    Huge money grab using recycled content. Decks are very basic and not fun to play with. No new gametypes or multiplayer content over previous versions. Do not waste your money.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 25
  3. Negative: 5 out of 25
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 22, 2014
    70
    Duels of the Planeswalkers is an invaluable tool for learning how to play Magic: The Gathering. [10/2014, p.64]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 17, 2014
    77
    The card game takes one step forward and two steps backwards. Free deckbuilding is a big plus, but when you consider that the play modes from old Duels are cut completely and some of the card pool available is behind an IAP paywall, the new Duels doesn't compare well against other, cheaper, slicker and - quite frankly - more fun competition like Hearthstone. Duels is simple not on par with the competition. [Sept 2014]
  3. games(TM)
    Sep 16, 2014
    50
    The poor AI becomes increasingly apparent and even more of a chore upon completing the campaign. [Issue#152, p.114]
See all critic reviews »