Might & Magic: Duel of Champions

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 75 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 75
  3. Negative: 16 out of 75

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  1. SiBellus
    Sep 7, 2013
    2
    The more I read of Duel of Champions reviews based around "I played the tutorial and it seemed kind of fun; so check it out!" the more I'm convinced reviewers are bought by the companies. That or people give a slightly positive review for playing the game for 3 days tops, get a kickback from the company for free in-game stuff, then just stop playing.

    Problems with the game after playing    The more I read of Duel of Champions reviews based around "I played the tutorial and it seemed kind of fun; so check it out!" the more I'm convinced reviewers are bought by the companies. That or people give a slightly positive review for playing the game for 3 days tops, get a kickback from the company for free in-game stuff, then just stop playing.

    Problems with the game after playing 2hrs (or 4 on weekends) a day for 1 month. 4 free codes redeemed (incl. GenCon 2013).

    1.) Balance is terrible: If you don't play Necro, don't play. They have a 2 Deck available advantage, the best Uncommon & Common cards in the game (Infect DoT that is common on Necro cards and will 100% destroy your deck.), and the best Heroes (one gets an Auto-destruct cheap ability usable every round).

    Pro-tip: 90% of the Leaderboard tops are made up of Necro players. The rest just swap based on luck.

    There are Heroes which are Clearly subpar, randomly given in packs.

    2.) No Draft. No Sealed. If you don't drop tons of cash/time on the game, expect to jump into Jackpot & Swiss games and lose. And then lose again. Then again. Players who spend $150 or who have played since Beta will crush you. It is very P2W. Which is fine in a TCG, but flunks out the CCGs (yes, I'm looking at You Kingdoms ccg).

    You Will open packs with a Ton of big cost creatures (5, 6, 7). If you play them, you will lose. Always. Can't play them in Jackpot, nor in Swiss (the only 2 formats for winning cards or worthwhile gold) So big fun cards are basically no fun at all to play with; and thus beg the question: Do the Devs actually ever play the game?

    tldr: you are stuck in 1v1 duels in order to have any chance. Again. And Again. And Again....
    Or you drop $150+, go Necro decks only, and play the Infect deck builds. And fall asleep.

    3.) The player base gets maybe 7% communication from the Devs. Bugs which were in at Beta are still present. More bugs every single patch that cause even basic functions to not work right (i.e. Retaliation). At the first 3 months there was open discussion. Then it died. Ubisoft care? Really?    … Expand
  2. Erdinc
    Apr 16, 2014
    2
    This game could have a potential, unfortunately it is a P2W (pay to win) I installed it on 11.04.2014. I have checked many guides since the user interface and especially game shop was a little complex for a beginner. I didnt know which packs I should buy and which packs include which cards. So i read guides and learnt that if I complete the campaign, I would earn enough seals (in-gameThis game could have a potential, unfortunately it is a P2W (pay to win) I installed it on 11.04.2014. I have checked many guides since the user interface and especially game shop was a little complex for a beginner. I didnt know which packs I should buy and which packs include which cards. So i read guides and learnt that if I complete the campaign, I would earn enough seals (in-game currency) and gold (2nd currency which everybody can grind this slowly) to buy a box which includes 120 cards, and a few packs (1 pack includes 12 cards) However when I played the campaign, I won no seals. I read the last patch notes and to my luck (or bad luck!!) seals are not awarded anymore to newcomers. (or to nobody) Disadvantage for newcomers after this April.2014 patch is that nobody will earn any seals. But people who have started playing this game before that date have earned around thousands of seal. There are some cards that can only be bought by seals in this game. (Two towers, and legendary decks) So as a new player I have no chance to even try those. Sad. These guys should just check Riot games and try to understand how their LOL marketing system is. Very greedy Ubisoft.. very greedy..… Expand
  3. RobinSeina
    Dec 14, 2013
    1
    Uimaginative, low strategy, forces you pay. Comlicated UI, and very not friendly to beginners.
    After week playing with it, I found it very tiring and boring.
  4. estee
    Dec 18, 2014
    1
    The game is absolutely terrible , from the graphics to the game-play , and even the HORRIBLE tournament system. Its mostly pay to win , because of how rarely you get new cards to use , because the packs are too expensive . Its also not new users-friendly. I would not recommend it to anyone , better go play Hearthstone.
  5. Crimson
    Dec 7, 2013
    2
    Designed from the bottom up to be pay-to-win. Unless you plan on sinking a TON of cash into this game you'll stand no chance. Even to progress in the single player campaign requires a bought for deck. The devs made sure you have no option but to hand them cash. Stay away from this one.
  6. tekris
    May 16, 2013
    3
    When i saw, i was sure this gonnabe an awesome game, and it is! WOULD BE. The speed of the game, IF YOU DONT PAY, a lot SLOWER then a crippled turtle, and the cost... I'd say, its not expensive, but when i realize, it's an copy of 'XY the GATHERING' and they release new packs, around 2-6 months, for ~15Euro (as instant buy), it's cost a lot, because if you want play good, and efficient,When i saw, i was sure this gonnabe an awesome game, and it is! WOULD BE. The speed of the game, IF YOU DONT PAY, a lot SLOWER then a crippled turtle, and the cost... I'd say, its not expensive, but when i realize, it's an copy of 'XY the GATHERING' and they release new packs, around 2-6 months, for ~15Euro (as instant buy), it's cost a lot, because if you want play good, and efficient, you NEED TO HAVE the MOST of cards, to build good decks. Or you play 2-4 hours day to have ENOUGH money... and get tons of the same RANDOM cards, you dont need.
    So you wont have free GOLD, when the expansion comes, OR NOT ENOUGH, and you played A LOT, and bougth tons of packs, contains 12 RANDOM cards!
    The result, if you wanna play enjoyable, even on MEDIUM level ~400-1000 rate, you will/must PAY for the game, or you need to sacrafice your life to get the good cards. So this game, if i suppose, get frequent updates, and content, then INSANE EXPENSIVE.

    So overall:

    Gameplay 8/10 (If you like card games, and this "random card draw" stuff)
    Music/Graphics 6/10 (Would be a lot better)
    GameMech 8/10 (The logic of fight/buffs/spells)
    Pay/Cost 1/10 (Insane expensive, for a constant "UP TO DATE" deck)

    Like this, i cant give more then 3, because of the money system.

    The best bet: Dont play/Dont buy.

    Could be an epic awesome game... to sad    … Expand
  7. neemz
    Oct 19, 2013
    0
    A truly terrible game. Rarely are games balanced, and certain decks which people have paid a lot of money for will always win. I would not recommend this game to anyone and would advise against this game in favor of others.
  8. tjohobbit
    Mar 24, 2016
    2
    So sad. I really want to love this game and have tried it at multiple times but still its soooo unbalanced.
    Mechanics are nice in thought but so unbalanced so you have your 3 decks that are playable and the rest is useless if you meet someone with the other decks.
    Some cards that are so OP and needed if you gonna stand a chance. Some factions are just useless because the amount of    So sad. I really want to love this game and have tried it at multiple times but still its soooo unbalanced.
    Mechanics are nice in thought but so unbalanced so you have your 3 decks that are playable and the rest is useless if you meet someone with the other decks.

    Some cards that are so OP and needed if you gonna stand a chance.

    Some factions are just useless because the amount of counters to them so hopefully you dont start the wrong faction and like them like I did.

    I seen a lot of ppl writing good reviews but they never wright anything so clearly they dont have something good to say but I guess its payed players or ubi personal.

    I have at least played 886 matches so have at least a clue about what I say.

    The good though is that it is nice looking and after a while you can buy the expansions for gold that you can earn ingame and hopefully some day the devs understand that a balanced game and a game where you have at least a chance with all possible tectics will earn them more becasue players stay.

    I had my friends come and play and we all have a lot of experience playing magic,Vampire,Battletech and so on with ccg and they have left so instead of a influx of 15 players its only me checking in playing a couple of games and see nothing have changed.

    Do not play tourneys as a new player becasue you will be so overrun if you have not copied a deck online and have a had a lot of luck with cards.

    Just noticed there is a lot of gamebreaking bugs to cope with. Matchmaking is terrible too. I meet ppl that clearly should play in higher tiers and I just started again so play at the very lowest tier.

    And of course they break mechanics all the time. So necro for example have low dmg but instead counters and then new patch oh everyone can cure alla counters.
    Missile troops have no retaliaton but wait lets make a new mechanic that do so the always do retaliaton dmg even though it says they cant be retaliated so I guess next patch there will be a immune to retaliation even true retaliation and so on.

    Devs you know maybe you should balance your game instead of just doing same old stuff and fool players and make their decks useless just to steal more money.
    Also maybe search for some gametalent to help out with ideas?

    Spells Spells Spells. Instead of hoping to play you creature for 7 mana you can play a spell that is ongoing through the game that give all creatures +1 atk and blast atk = Strikes the target and all neighbours for 4 mana....well guess whats best in the game and there is also alot more of creaturekill spells then dispells so ....    … Expand
  9. AtlasOrion
    Jun 17, 2014
    1
    Don't be fooled by the high score, it's only helped by the fact that there's only FOUR published review scores........ I'm sure that if a real, credible, gaming magazine reviewed this they'd pan it into the dark ages. Don't waste your time with this game.

    Pay2Win aside it's a horrible game, the UI is rough, small, and could be confusing for some. It has lots of bugs and glitches, for    Don't be fooled by the high score, it's only helped by the fact that there's only FOUR published review scores........ I'm sure that if a real, credible, gaming magazine reviewed this they'd pan it into the dark ages. Don't waste your time with this game.

    Pay2Win aside it's a horrible game, the UI is rough, small, and could be confusing for some. It has lots of bugs and glitches, for example: if you try to destroy a spell on a unit that doesn't have a spell that can be destroyed you are locked in, forced to try to make a choice on the inchooseable. Only way out is to quit the game. IKR.

    This is another ubisoft abomination that should be avoided, especially with so many other great card games out there like solforge or even hearthstone. Could have been really good, which makes it doubly disappointing.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. GRYOnline.pl
    Feb 3, 2014
    90
    Ubisoft's card game demands lots of thinking, detailed planning and constant changes in tactics. The developer is strongly supporting the game (new decks, add-ons and balance fixes), what makes it a great tournament game. Perhaps it's not the best product for gamers avoiding long time engagement, but even they should consider it. Duel of Champions is a great game for a thinking player.
    Read full review
  2. Games Master UK
    Feb 9, 2013
    84
    Accessible, challenging and endlessly strategic with a great community. [March 2013, p.89]
  3. GameWatcher
    Jan 22, 2013
    80
    Ubisoft are to be applauded for grasping, as Hi-Rez Studios did with Tribes Ascend, that the secret to a successful free-to-play title is building a healthy player base first and foremost and watching the income flow from that, rather than nickel and diming gamers for even basic content. It also helps if your core game is any good to begin with, and Might & Magic Duel of Champions is most certainly that. In fact, I'd heartily recommend it to fans of the Might & Magic series or online trading card games in general even if it had a price tag attached.
    Read full review
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