Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

 PC
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

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  1. Nadeslos
    Apr 30, 2013
    0
    This game robbed me of $5 in a Steam sale. There is no deck customization and unless you buy all the packs, multiplayer is a stupid waste of time. Save your cash. I would recommend Ace of Spades and Aliens: Colonial Marines over this heap of crap.
  2. Damieno
    Dec 30, 2012
    0
    Don't waste your money, you will regret your purchase. This game is broken. Summon a creature with Haste, and half the time the game blows right by your combat phase anyhow if you've no other creatures. Want to bump a creature with its ability? Too bad, if you've already cast a sorcery or instant, the game won't let you, even though it's still main phase and you've a ton of mana lyingDon't waste your money, you will regret your purchase. This game is broken. Summon a creature with Haste, and half the time the game blows right by your combat phase anyhow if you've no other creatures. Want to bump a creature with its ability? Too bad, if you've already cast a sorcery or instant, the game won't let you, even though it's still main phase and you've a ton of mana lying there. What's the point of playing a game that is won or lost based on effective use of specific abilities, if the game doesn't follow its own rules?

    How embarrassing for Hasbro's software development managers that, after all these years, they still haven't developed a decent game engine to handle the moderately complex enough to be interesting algorithms behind this game. Fire some folks, and hire some folks who actually (a) know how to code, and (b) care about the game. We're out there.    … Expand
  3. Muerkier
    Feb 1, 2013
    1
    This game while much more graphically enhanced than Micrprose's game of 1997 but doesn't hold a candle to its grandfather. I could write a novel on all the glitches, problems, rule coding errors but there really is no need as the one major problem it has ruins the game even if it was glitch free. First off, Magic the game itself is just broken (even the real life card game). They have hadThis game while much more graphically enhanced than Micrprose's game of 1997 but doesn't hold a candle to its grandfather. I could write a novel on all the glitches, problems, rule coding errors but there really is no need as the one major problem it has ruins the game even if it was glitch free. First off, Magic the game itself is just broken (even the real life card game). They have had to think of more and more special abilities for the creatures for too many years and the whole system is just broken. The game no longer is about strategy and tactics as much as it is about "Who is going to get his broken, over-powered game busting card out first." In addition to that fact, Stainless decided to add a sub-routine back in the 2012 edition where the AI could access the library on the fly, get a card it needed for the situation at hand and simply overwrite a card in its hand. I call it "Dial-a-Spell." (This was for Planeswalker difficulty setting to make it more challenging). So, being that there were no core changes to the game engine between 2012 and 2013, the genius types (who had created their own 3rd party program after discovering the Dial-a-Spell sub-routine) were up and running right off the bat with this game. So, if the deck shuffling sub-routine doesn't land screw you (Happens often) or land glut you (Happens often) then you can look forward to seeing some of the Lamest decks ever created. Why they make decks that pure piss peopkle off I do not know. No Skill, No Talent Hack decks that take little to no thought to play. Jace grind deck. No purpose to that deck but grinding people's library into the GY. Takes alot of thought there. Gee, what will I do next? Guess I will grind some cards. LAME. How about Ajani Life deck? Alot of strategy involved there. Cast creatures gain life. Cast enchantments and sorceries gain more life. Cast broken OP Instant win creature game over. Yeah. Blue/white enchantment deck what a joke. Cast OP hexproof/ unblockable creatures, stack a ridiculous amount of enchantments on them attack game over. great fun to play against. Then after all that Lameness, you get to look forward to the deck hackers who type codes on the fly to get exactly what they need at exactly the right time over and over and over. They are NOT hard to spot. They are the ones who take forever to act on any given turn and cause alot of game syncing due to the memory access of their 3rd party program. I have been calling them out as I see them and that usually makes them go into hiding for awhile but this game is a poor excuse for a Magic game. Until they can do something about blocking the 3rd party access cheat and make the decks fully customizeable and STOP making such LAME decks this game will remain a stinker. P.S. Where are the Planeswalkers? My goodness we have had 3 editions of "DUELS of the PLANESWALKERS" and havent seen a single PW yet. Go Figure.… Expand
  4. 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 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    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 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.    … Expand
  5. 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 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.
  6. Yossarin
    Jul 24, 2012
    3
    This game looks a little nicer and has different cards from last year's version, but it's a lot slower and a lot less interesting to play. The main campaign is short! The 3 against one mode is gone, replaced by "Planechase" where you sit watching 3 AI players auto-resolve their moves against each other for 55 minutes out of every hour you thought you would be playing too. There is still noThis game looks a little nicer and has different cards from last year's version, but it's a lot slower and a lot less interesting to play. The main campaign is short! The 3 against one mode is gone, replaced by "Planechase" where you sit watching 3 AI players auto-resolve their moves against each other for 55 minutes out of every hour you thought you would be playing too. There is still no deck customization to speak of, and the color combinations the basic game comes with, are very very very limited. If you don't have any Magic games + you want to try it out buy the 2012 version instead.… Expand
  7. suneater
    Aug 22, 2013
    4
    Riding on the success of DotP 2012's improvements, the 2013 release introduces revamped decks, a new unlock system, and a new game mode. While 2013 has less decks available (16 versus last year's 19), they are overall more accessible for quick play because of the 10 promo unlocks provided post-release. The decks are also more balanced in power overall because you aren't locked out of theRiding on the success of DotP 2012's improvements, the 2013 release introduces revamped decks, a new unlock system, and a new game mode. While 2013 has less decks available (16 versus last year's 19), they are overall more accessible for quick play because of the 10 promo unlocks provided post-release. The decks are also more balanced in power overall because you aren't locked out of the best cards anymore. However, this is a double-edged sword; While you can unlock a total of 40 cards per deck, many of them are dups and you can only unlock one at a time. To put this into perspective, beating the first campaign (the longest in the game) will unlock 26 cards.

    While I enjoyed the difficult challenges (the hardest challenges of the DotP games in my opinion), this game is riddled with issues that will never get fixed or improved since the devs have moved onto their next yearly release. Locking out all but two decks at the start is a terrible way to introduce new players to MTG, especially considering the target market for these games. The one new game mode, Planechase, is only worth playing with friends; The AI is terrible at it, seeming to attack and roll the planar die randomly. Despite being marketed towards new and casual players, this game can only be recommended for experienced MTG players because of the unlock systems and frustration with non-human Planechase.    … Expand
  8. beni757
    Jan 3, 2013
    0
    Broken multiplayer! 50% of your games will crash/not start.
    Developers do not patch the bugs just keep selling new dlc decks.
    The underlying game Magic cards is great. This game is not, constant crashes bugs errors losing sync.
  9. RabidWalrus
    Jan 3, 2013
    0
    This game offers extremely little deck customization, far off from the card game I grew up with or even the game released in 1997 by Microprose. You would think that a game released over a decade later would have many new and improved features such as multiplayer, right?

    Wrong, the multiplayer in Magic 2013 is buggy as all hell. Even getting a couple friends into the same game is    This game offers extremely little deck customization, far off from the card game I grew up with or even the game released in 1997 by Microprose. You would think that a game released over a decade later would have many new and improved features such as multiplayer, right?

    Wrong, the multiplayer in Magic 2013 is buggy as all hell. Even getting a couple friends into the same game is fraught with errors and game crashing. When everyone does make it into the game many animations in-game take forever to resolve, drawing the game out far more than is required. Even when you get partway into the game about one in every four games results in freezing where the game will progress no further. Everyone is still connected and present in the room as they can still discuss how much a turd this game is as they bash their heads onto their desks repeatedly.

    I will not be purchasing the next year of this title and if I were Hasbro, I would seriously consider dropping Stainless Games as they have definitely left a stain on what was once an amazing game.    … Expand
  10. Judge3030
    Jun 20, 2012
    3
    Game still does not allow for deck building. We had a better magic game back in 1997. Don't be fooled into buying a yearly product designed to constantly milk you of your cash. There are alternatives which offer all cards for free.
  11. Inks
    Jul 19, 2012
    0
    to continue their saga from 2012 of you fighting the boss. getting his life down to -80 an looking for a reason why he still alive when ther is none. coast makes an epic yet cheap cheating game once agian of creatures dying off for no reason to getting online an trying to play only to have it lag every 5 seconds until yer kicked. grats coast you make crap games and take greed to a wholeto continue their saga from 2012 of you fighting the boss. getting his life down to -80 an looking for a reason why he still alive when ther is none. coast makes an epic yet cheap cheating game once agian of creatures dying off for no reason to getting online an trying to play only to have it lag every 5 seconds until yer kicked. grats coast you make crap games and take greed to a whole new level...i despise you.… Expand
  12. realangrygamer
    Dec 12, 2012
    0
    Outraged by the bugs, lack of service and constant loosing your saves on steam. If I should make a suggestion, that would then be " Stay away from product ! "
  13. klucko
    Oct 1, 2012
    0
    Worst game ever if u own more then 2 computers with steam on them u lose your deck data if u turn the other computer on even if u don't have the game installed on the other computer, so basiclly u wasted a few months of your life cause u turned on your laptop, they offer no fix for this how ever u can buy decks to get back to where u where.... so they can make more money what a scam and aWorst game ever if u own more then 2 computers with steam on them u lose your deck data if u turn the other computer on even if u don't have the game installed on the other computer, so basiclly u wasted a few months of your life cause u turned on your laptop, they offer no fix for this how ever u can buy decks to get back to where u where.... so they can make more money what a scam and a waste of time and money, only recommend this game if u like wasting your life and time to start over from 0 again… Expand
  14. cambria
    Jun 9, 2013
    4
    When you go to apply blockers to your enemy, there is an idle timer of about 2 seconds before it auto-finishes your decision making, with no option to freeze that part of the timer. Then you realize your enemy's 5 attackers' line all overlap so you can't tell which ones in the group are blocked cuz the line is opaque and hard as heck to orient. Then you block the wrong guy because youWhen you go to apply blockers to your enemy, there is an idle timer of about 2 seconds before it auto-finishes your decision making, with no option to freeze that part of the timer. Then you realize your enemy's 5 attackers' line all overlap so you can't tell which ones in the group are blocked cuz the line is opaque and hard as heck to orient. Then you block the wrong guy because you HAD to pick something before the block phase finishes (on its own with or without you). So you lost a game when you had just finally built up a return army to wipe him on the next turn, because the engine sucks and this is just the most recent quirk. Try it yourself, if you play MTG irl, this game is infuriatingly stupid. Nevermind the stupid deck unlock grind, why bother when we gotta re-buy the 2014 version, and the 2015 version, new grinds new grinds. No thank you.… Expand
  15. m0skit0
    Mar 19, 2013
    3
    Let me sum this for you:
    - Whole zoo of bugs that are never fixed (2013 version is basically 2012 version with the year changed). Anything that can broke, will.
    - Pre-made decks that you cannot customize - A multiplayer mode that (almost) never works. It will always give you the infamous "Game is no longer available" (this when searching for a game...) - The interface when playing is    Let me sum this for you:
    - Whole zoo of bugs that are never fixed (2013 version is basically 2012 version with the year changed). Anything that can broke, will.
    - Pre-made decks that you cannot customize
    - A multiplayer mode that (almost) never works. It will always give you the infamous "Game is no longer available" (this when searching for a game...)
    - The interface when playing is WAY improvable.
    Yes, the single player campaign is not bad, the details and drawings are excellent, but hello, this is a Magic The Gathering game. What we want is build our decks and play against other people (not a stupid AI with bloated decks). This game simply ruins the fun. A waste of money.    … Expand
  16. ApexPhilosopher
    Oct 23, 2019
    2
    I don't know what the hell people are talking about. MTG 2013 is trash compared to MTG 2014. You can't change the number of lands in your deck and there is a bug that won't allow me to tap creature card abilities. Game is broken. Go play MTG 2014. (I haven't played MTG 2015 since its release so I cannot recommend for or against it.)

Awards & Rankings

78
#78 Best PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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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 Master (Greece)
    Aug 31, 2012
    75
    Definitely superior to its predecessors. The, admittedly few, improvements are more than welcome, as is the case with the new Planechase mode ('Archenemy' will be missed, however). [August 2012]
  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.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Aug 10, 2012
    80
    Extremely catchy strategy based on the classic trading card game Magic the Gathering. Nothing more nothing less. [Issue#220]
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