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[AstroLad]

my friend is an avid black player who was ranked as high as 63rd. he says he is now having trouble with green, red, red/black/green and elf decks now. I dont see black as the immovable force.

my rank isnt very high but I usually go with blue because I like how cerebral it is. i win maybe 30-50% of the time. 60% if you count all of the rage quits. which is awesome.

Well I certainly wasn't saying it's an "immovable force" or somehow unbeatable. I've played enough to have beaten Black and lost to Black with nearly every possible deck (maybe not lost, since I actually stay away from Black unless someone insists on playing Elves). That said, the majority of players gravitate to Black and Elves for very good reason, with Black seemingly becoming more popular by the day.

From personal experience, I particularly disagree with the assessment that Elves is a tough matchup for Black. I actually see it completely the opposite, that Black is the only tough matchup for Elves. I've probably played 25+ games of that matchup (since everyone used to love Elves), and won easily >80% of them. To the point where I'd gladly play Elves because it just felt like an auto-win pending a terrible couple of draws. ymmv

 

[Sonos]

The one thing I enjoy about this game is that everyone's decks are the same. Someone mentioned the blank deck earlier. It makes sense of course I just wouldnt want this nice, simple game to become the expensive mess that is MTGO.

I hear you though.

 

[AstroLad]

The one thing I enjoy about this game is that everyone's decks are the same. Someone mentioned the blank deck earlier. It makes sense of course I just wouldnt want this nice, simple game to become the expensive mess that is MTGO.

It is so good for casual play. The decks have some little annoying things about them that I think even new players pick up on after a while, but it's a great game for what it is (minus the bugs sadly).

 

[Sonos]

Bit off topic but did you see the Jones Soda Planeswalker google ad when we are on this thread?

:O

am i that much of a sucker...probably. damn.

 

[AstroLad]

The one thing I enjoy about this game is that everyone's decks are the same. Someone mentioned the blank deck earlier. It makes sense of course I just wouldnt want this nice, simple game to become the expensive mess that is MTGO.

I hear you though.

What I also like is that most of the decks really to play themselves. I know MTGOers complain that the game has too much luck, but that's what I love about it. So relaxing after a nice long day to just come home and bust out Ravenous Rats+Mind Rot+Mind Rot on some Elf spammer.

 

[mjolnirsbane]

I tried the demo and hated it compared to MtGO. You can download MtGO for free but then you have to spend real money on cards. Unlike XBL there is a robust marketplace where you can select individual cards to your liking.

Basically, I feel this version "dumbs down" everything Magic is all about. I am thankful that it will get some more casual players interested in the game but for my money I would rather play the "real deal" online. On a computer.

 

[BattleMonkey]

Well isn't that the point?

 

[AstroLad]

Basically, I feel this version "dumbs down" everything Magic is all about. I am thankful that it will get some more casual players interested in the game but for my money I would rather play the "real deal" online. On a computer.

You don't say. I can barely tell the difference between this and MTGO and I think they did a great job in "faithfully recreating MTGO on 360" as was their stated goal.

 

[Flynn]

Having never played Magic on a tabletop I really dig the "dumbed-down" version. The last thing I want to do is compete with someone in card acquisition. I want to compete with them on a mostly-level playing field with the same tools and see who can leverage the luck of the draw to their favor. That's interesting.

And that's why I've played nothing but sealed leagues since the '90s.

 

[mjolnirsbane]

Deck construction is one of the hallmarks of Magic. To take that out of the mix just seems... odd to me.

I agree that competing for the finest cards is whack and always leads to mega builds and broken combos -perhaps if they made all the cards available to every player, applied the tournament rules and let everyone construct it would work. I dunno, I guess I just figure if I want to play MtGO I will just play MtGO.

I also wanted to add that the turn system on the 360 seems clunky and weird. I played the tutorial and if I had never played tabletop or MtGO I would have been seriously lost.

 

[AstroLad]

if I want to play MtGO I will just play MtGO.

ding ding ding

 

[mjolnirsbane]

ding ding ding

LOL... fair enough. I suppose for what it set out to do it is a success.

 

[Flynn]

Deck construction is one of the hallmarks of Magic.

Granted. And a vital part of the business model at that. But people are abandoning that kind of play for cheaper, less life-consuming ways to play.

That's why Fantasy Flight has moved away from collectability for all of their games.

I think this game stands as a good entry point for new players and a nice way to lure old players back to the fold. They ought to sell the decks in a non-collectible format so people can play them face to face.

 

[AstroLad]

As far as the system, I had a couple of friends figure it out without too much trouble, but then again I walked them through a few points myself. I do think considering the target audience that the game could use an even more robust interactive tutorial. Some pretty important abilities that should be taught you can really only learn through solving the challenges. I read that they did away with priority because they wanted to simplify it, but I dunno--is priority really that much more complicated?

Other niggles:
--Way too buggy. Crashes more than any game I've had on 360, disc or otherwise.
--No stat-keeping at all, not even ranked W-L. Literally all you have to go by is your TrueSkill rank.
--No resign option, which I think would greatly reduce the amount of quitters (though that's become much less of a problem recently in my experience).
--No online co-op, which could be way fun.
--I do think they should let you add/remove all cards provided you stay at 60 or more. I mean, a single Memory Erosion in the core deck? Without any other cards to support it? Even someone totally new to the game would get annoyed by that after a few times with that deck.

Probably others too. But man, at 10 bucks for all these decks (compare to the price of Duel Decks and Intro Packs) and a good amount of single-player content, it's one of the best deals on XBLA as long as you're not looking for MTGO.

 

[Flynn]

Yeah, the game really could use a patch for stability.

Also, my friend and I discovered a weird issue around lag in an online player match. At some point during the game there was a connection problem. I played a card and removed a creature from play, but his game didn't see it happen before a timer ran out. From there out we were playing two separate games -- his with the creature on the table and mine without.

Once the lag cheaters figure this thing out online play will be shot.

 

[AstroLad]

Haha yeah that's happened to me a few times too. Never in a ranked match though afaict. I guess there is also a disconn glitch that doesn't give you a loss when you quit but I haven't seen that yet either. Does seem like most of the people playing now are mostly new to Magic and pretty decent people (i.e., not quitting) though as always it took the GAME OF THE WEEK KREW clearing out to get there.

 

[Alucrid]

I bought this game and it's been nothing but trouble. It keeps making me angry at myself for selling off my cards. :lol Honestly, it's fun. I find the interface a bit more annoying than Magic: Online's but then again it has a mouse a keyboard.

 

[Justin]

Any tips on which deck to use in the third campaign mission against the green deck? I dont think I am really grasping how the game works because I struggled through the first 2 fights.

 

[Insaniac]

out of curiosity was the promo a random planeswalker or was it Ajani Vengeant and then they switched to Garruk? Cause I got my Garruk and was pleasantly surprised (he is much more viable in a deck than vengeant)

 

[TheSeks]

Any tips on which deck to use in the third campaign mission against the green deck? I dont think I am really grasping how the game works because I struggled through the first 2 fights.

Green is generally trying to buff itself. IIRC the monogreen in the XBLA game takes a couple of turns to get going/put creatures down.

Red is the obvious counter to quick-beat down. More so if you get haste creatures out (so they can attack same turn).

Problem is you don't have buffs: +x/+x so you're going to be trampled if you don't go hard and fast.

@Insaniac: It was always Garruk. Where was it different?

 

[AstroLad]

Any tips on which deck to use in the third campaign mission against the green deck? I dont think I am really grasping how the game works because I struggled through the first 2 fights.

The first matches can be hard just because you don't have any cards unlocked. fyi you can unlock cards by winning any match (including repeating campaign matches and the like).

 

[desverger]

Just beat the single player yesterday. Beat Tezzeret with a black deck. 2nd turn he played Howling Mine, too bad I played Underworld Dreams on the next one :lol

After that, it was just a waiting game. His puny artifacts could do nothing to keep him alive. Enjoyable

Just the co-op campaign left now, wish the damn game wouldn't crash so much.

Any tips on which deck to use in the third campaign mission against the green deck? I dont think I am really grasping how the game works because I struggled through the first 2 fights.

I always liked White against Green in here. Holy day really ruins Green's day, and it has a bunch of first strikers to fend off the early bear assault and a decent amount of flyers as well.

 

[Mr YuYu]

I would like to play a Two headed Giant game (for the achievement) but i can't seem to get it to work.


I got one account with live and three other account my friends made on my xbox.

I start the game with my gold account. (Mr YuYu) then the second player launches his account. But then i get some error stating that the second account isn't gold or something???

Am i doing something wrong or do I really need 2 gold accounts to play this??

 

[oldschoolpinball]

im having a total blast playing the game. I hope theres some good DLC comming soon

 

[Jonsoncao]

geez, my 360 keeps freezing while me play 2 vs 2, dunno why

never happens while playing just 1 vs 1, or other games

 

[Eggo]

I like this game a lot, but WTF is going on with the leaderboard? Tonight I lost a game, but jumped up 100 levels on the leaderboard. Later, I won a hard-fought game, yet when I checked the leaderboards, I dropped 100 places. I suppose it balanced out in the end, but WTH is going on? I hope that gets patched.

 

[Insaniac]

ever wonder what 50+ creatures attacking looks like?

Ever wonder what that + 2 overruns and a comp at 1 life equals?

 

[Ronabo]

ever wonder what 50+ creatures attacking looks like?
Ever wonder what that + 2 overruns and a comp at 1 life equals?

Yeah I did the same thing. Mine was worse though. I wish I had a picture or better yet video. The game got so slow and laggy when I did it.

quoting myself below.

So I spent almost two hours of my life playing the elf deck versus the computer. I ended up playing all but 2 cards in my deck. Final life totals Me: 129 CPU: -13798

The game was lagging so badly, I was afraid it was gonna crash at any minute. In fact there were a few times it locked up but started back up after a few seconds. If the performance issues and me being afraid of it crashing didn't happen, I'd had the computer down to -25K easily.

 

[Insaniac]

Yeah I did the same thing. Mine was worse though. I wish I had a picture or better yet video. The game got so slow and laggy when I did it.

quoting myself below.

Yeah i was using the Teeth of the Predator deck, Verdant Force FTW. If only I could put Coat of Arms in it....


The elf deck I can imagine getting some ridiculous numbers.

3 decks maxed out now

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Heck, I'd pay 5 bucks just for green or red decks using cards from the decks already in the game.

I need DLC NOW!

 

[Flynn]

Heck, I'd pay 5 bucks just for green or red decks using cards from the decks already in the game.

I need DLC NOW!

We'll know more after PAX.

 

[Zaphod]

I actually like the limited decks. It keeps the game balanced online. Of course a full fledged game would be fun but it's already available on PC anyway, if you have the cash to buy the cards.

The crashes have to go though. I want to get 100% but i cant start half of the 2v2 games without it crashing.

 

[Grecco]

Everytime this thread is bumped i keep thinking theres more DLC Semi suprised they havent announced any.

 

[Oreoleo]

We'll know more after PAX.

We'll know more NOW!!!

DLC + Title Update (Bug fixes) incoming!

Duel the Dragon, the first expansion to the popular Magic: The Gathering for the Xbox 360 set, features three new decks, six more ladder levels, new challenges including "multi-turns" that require more than one turn to win, and a final boss that is strongly hinted at in the title. They didn't announce a date for the DLC except for "soon." Even sooner than that, however, will be a full title update, which includes numerous bug fixes (no more freezes!), a forfeit option, and more.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/06/pax-2009-duel-the-dragon-dlc-coming-to-duels-of-the-planeswalke/

^^^ Glad to see Joystiq is finally unbanned around these parts.

 

[TheSeks]

We'll know more NOW!!!

DLC + Title Update (Bug fixes) incoming!



http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/06/pax-2009-duel-the-dragon-dlc-coming-to-duels-of-the-planeswalke/

^^^ Glad to see Joystiq is finally unbanned around these parts.

Forfeit = Quit because I'm a bitch? Good job, Wizards.

Now give me a full deck editor. I want mah Rainbows.

 

[ElyrionX]

Only three new decks? That's weak.

 

[Oreoleo]

Only three new decks? That's weak.

But they could be totally sweet and deadly! The picture on Joystiq indicates there will be new cards so it's not like it's just a quick swap of decks already in the game. And new challenges and a new boss! If the DLC is something like 400 Allards I'll be totally satisfied. Hopefully there's a few new achievements as well

 

[kuYuri]

Forfeit option, long overdue!

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Sounds sweet. Hopefully they offer up some more DLC by jan. I'm down for whatever they offer!

 

[AstroLad]

Damn that's awesome. Forfeit option is nice too.

 

[Grecco]

Only three new decks? That's weak.

Playing Magic the Gathering vs a DRAGON what more do you want

I want this dlc now.

 

[Ronabo]

I want to be able to to the co-op online.

 

[ElyrionX]

Playing Magic the Gathering vs a DRAGON what more do you want

I want this dlc now.

Hey, I want the DLC now too. I just wished it gave us more!

 

[CorwinB]

Relapses indeed...

I got out of MtG 10 years ago and sold all my stuff, tried the XBLA game a couple weeks ago, liked the new rules, got a couple starter packs and boosters from Magic 2010, and all of a sudden yesterday I was organizing a Shards of Alara booster draft with some friends at my home, and I've already acquired (reacquired for some) 6 pieces of the Power 9 (still need 2 Moxen and Lotus) and rebuilt my old "Zoo" Red/Green/Blue deck.

 

[TheSeks]

Monogreen unlocks suck.

They want too much mana for what the green deck shouldn't be doing. It should be using giant growths to beat the creatures in front of it to get the other player to 0 early, not building up creatures that late, esp. with the mana problem that some of these have (6GG, seriously?)

Sure, they're powerful but useless if your goal is to beat down anything with trample/overrun and giant growths quickly.

 

[Eggo]

Relapses indeed...

I got out of MtG 10 years ago and sold all my stuff, tried the XBLA game a couple weeks ago, liked the new rules, got a couple starter packs and boosters from Magic 2010, and all of a sudden yesterday I was organizing a Shards of Alara booster draft with some friends at my home, and I've already acquired (reacquired for some) 6 pieces of the Power 9 (still need 2 Moxen and Lotus) and rebuilt my old "Zoo" Red/Green/Blue deck.

Did you make the Zoo deck and go to UCLA?

Today I got 200/200 achievements by finishing the co-op campaign with a friend. Unfortunately, he didn't get the Planeswalker achievement, even though I did. His save says 100% complete, but no achievement for him. How messed up is that? Any workarounds for this?

 

[Eggo]

About the 2v2 crashes, don't know if it's been posted yet but the only loading screen that let's me through is the Hellkite Overlord one. The rest crash the game before it finishes loading, so if you get any of the others you can always swiftly quit to the dashboard.

I read on the Xbox forums that the Dragon loading screen always works, which has been the case with me. I read the Angel loading screen works sometimes, which I have gotten to work. Lastly, I read anything else will not work. However, my friend and I were able to get through with the Banshee loading screen once, but it has frozen every other time, so I say just wait it out. At worst, you lose 5 seconds to wait to see if it loads. Best case scenario, you get through.

 

[Mr YuYu]

I would like to play a Two headed Giant game (for the achievement) but i can't seem to get it to work.


I got one account with live and three other account my friends made on my xbox.

I start the game with my gold account. (Mr YuYu) then the second player launches his account. But then i get some error stating that the second account isn't gold or something???

Am i doing something wrong or do I really need 2 gold accounts to play this??

Quoted cuz i still have no idea how to do it.

 

[Saurus]

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/56c

Wizards Announces Duels of the Planeswalkers Expansion
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The legendary dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas has come out of hiding, and now he's more powerful than ever! This expansion pack for Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers features new cards and new decks to add to your arsenal. Now you can wield the power of Tezzeret's "Relics of Doom" deck, unlock three new cards for each of the eight original decks, or defeat the new single-player campaign to unlock Jace Beleren's "Mind of the Void" and Sarkhan Vol's "Cries of Rage" decks. This expansion pack also contains four new opposing teams for Two-Headed Giant play as well as three new puzzling challenges to test your Magic skills. Are you ready to duel the dragon?

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/56c

Wizards Announces Duels of the Planeswalkers Expansion
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The legendary dragon planeswalker Nicol Bolas has come out of hiding, and now he's more powerful than ever! This expansion pack for Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers features new cards and new decks to add to your arsenal. Now you can wield the power of Tezzeret's "Relics of Doom" deck, unlock three new cards for each of the eight original decks, or defeat the new single-player campaign to unlock Jace Beleren's "Mind of the Void" and Sarkhan Vol's "Cries of Rage" decks. This expansion pack also contains four new opposing teams for Two-Headed Giant play as well as three new puzzling challenges to test your Magic skills. Are you ready to duel the dragon?

I hope this is the first among several expansions.

I wouldn't mind them adding in a few decks comprised of cards already see (imagine a pure green with green cards hand picked from all the sets!)