Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

 PC
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. PC Gamer
    Aug 8, 2012
    72
    The best adaptation of the Magic: The Gathering card game yet, but with too many frustrating elements still intact. [Oct 2012, p.70]
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  2. Eurogamer Italy
    Aug 12, 2012
    70
    New year, same problems. Without deck customization, Magic: Duels of Planeswalker 2013 couldn't be a masterpiece, just a good game.
  3. CD-Action
    Jul 31, 2012
    70
    A terrific way to taste Magic: The Gathering before you spend your money on a real deck. [September 2012, p.62]
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  5. IncGamers
    Jun 22, 2012
    70
    Solid, enjoyable, and cheap. Duels 2013 gets Magic going on your computer with aplomb, although it lacks the flair to stand out.

Awards & Rankings

78
#78 Best PC Game of 2012

User Reviews

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User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 104 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 104
  3. Negative: 24 out of 104
  1. erikbays
    Jun 24, 2012
    2
    I just wanted to play a game where my son and I can build decks and play each other. Apparently such a game does not exist. You have to useI just wanted to play a game where my son and I can build decks and play each other. Apparently such a game does not exist. You have to use the game's pre-made decks with very little customization allowed. The game is also extremely buggy on steam. Multi-player games are very difficult to join and usually one player gets kicked off and the other wins by default.… Full Review »
  2. Rayout
    Jul 21, 2012
    0
    I've put enough time to beat over 80% of the game and I can honestly say it is a broken piece of trash. I put around 10 hours of it but eachI've put enough time to beat over 80% of the game and I can honestly say it is a broken piece of trash. I put around 10 hours of it but each hour was frustrating and awful.

    Deck customization is limited in a horrible way. You cannot adjust the amount of land in the decks. Some decks have 4-5 more land than I would build a regular deck with and you end up flooded with it towards the end of the game. The RNG seems horribly broken and even with excess land I will sometimes have to re-draw 3-4 times and still end up with only 1 land or plain awful hands (or 2 lands and rest 4+ high mana cards despite the plethora of lower cost cards in the deck) and have to restart the duel. Even using card mana cost ratios similar to what I would use in my real decks generates results that are inconsistent.

    You are also limited to 10 different decks, of which only 1 is multi color which limits the experience. Why have two different blue decks? Why not combine the card pool and allow players to have more deck building ability?

    Each deck has 30 cards to unlock. You unlock one card with each victory. Unfortunately a large chunk the starter cards for many of the decks are just plain terrible which makes it hard to win the first battles. Too bad alot of the cards you unlock are garbage also and you may end up going through 15 battles and getting none of the cards you wanted to add to the deck.

    Some of the animations such as Exalted take forever to resolve and you must wait for a count down timer for each part of the round even though you are playing with AI. Why can't you just skip it? This drags the battles out far longer than they need to be.

    It is based off a console control system which makes the deck interface and the main menu a pain to navigate.

    All of this adds up to an incredibly negative experience for anyone who has enjoyed playing this game in person. Frustration from start to finish.    … Full Review »
  3. Barto
    Jul 7, 2012
    7
    For those who never played the previous editions: Duels of Planeswalkers does not allow you to build your own deck. It has a number ofFor those who never played the previous editions: Duels of Planeswalkers does not allow you to build your own deck. It has a number of predefined decks with 60 card plus 30 more that are unlockable in-game by winning matches or by purchasing deck unlocks.

    That said, this quite a nice game to play solo or with a friend. The available decks contains some pretty crappy cards. This is very annoying at first - even after unlocking some nice cards you're still stuck with them. However, after playing a while, I find it interesting to beat more powerful opponents with cards you would never put in your deck.

    The interface is great and the game flows nicely. Everything is quite self-explanatory and you can easily pause the game the read cards you don't know. This makes this game perfect for beginners, but you can turn off all the tips if you already know the game. It also contains some challenges to make the you more familiar with common strategies - also great for the inexperienced, but reasonably easy for long time players.

    There seem to be some problems with multiplayer, although I never had any while playing with my friends. However, I've had a number of crashes while playing Planechase, which is **very** annoying, because they tend to be long games.

    I don't think this game will ever have custom deck building like so many people have been asking. Wizards of the Coast wants to sell cards. They already have an online Magic game that requires you to buy boosters, decks, etc (MTGO). Allowing custom builds will threaten to cannibalize their own product.

    Bottom line, this is a very nice casual game and definitely worth the price. If you are a MTG beginner (even if you never played it before) or just would like to play a match when there is no one around to play with, this is an excellent game. If you are looking for the full MTG experience and can't get over the fact that you won't be building your own deck, this is probably not your game.    … Full Review »
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