Comments on: Review and Analysis: Duels of the Planeswalkers by Zvi Mowshowitz

By: David

David — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:50:38 +0000

I wish I could buy a version for the PC =/

By: EatThePath

EatThePath — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:07:10 +0000

Zvi, all, I suggest you read the article on mtg.com about how the AI works. It’s true that changing the AI to the highest difficulty helps prevent some clearly bad moves, but it still does things like tap out before combat to play dudes, letting you block with perfect information and without fear of tricks. However, I think their methodology for the AI is solid and it could become quite a beast with some additions. At least in the precon environment, it would be easy to add matchup-specific behavior modifiers, for example, in the blue mirror there’s no reason to cast wall of spears, ever. And more general card-specific modifications like better timing and target choices for removal.

As it stands, 95% of the time my losses against the computer are draw dependent, but I am rather impressed that a computer can make me wonder 5% of the time if I could have made a better play.

Thanks for the review.

By: Duels of the Planeswalkers Around the Web « Casual Magic

Duels of the Planeswalkers Around the Web « Casual Magic — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:52:01 +0000

[...] best review I’ve read seemed pretty complete and is on Top 8 Magic by Will [...]

By: Tokwana

Tokwana — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:15:16 +0000

The default AI is bad. Change it to Planeswalker difficulty and you will find yourself no longer disappointed in it’s abilities.

By: leshrac55

leshrac55 — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:31:00 +0000

You know what I’d love? A drafting game where you draft a temporary deck solely for use in a mini-tournament (similar to Magic Online, but you don’t get to keep the cards and thus don’t have to pay for packs.) This would probably never happen as it’d obviously directly cut into their revenue from real Online drafts and I doubt the fact that you get to “keep” the Magic Online digital cards would be enough to move people over from a free version of the same thing, but it would still be a lot more fun than the pre-constructed decks with limited deck modification that they have now in DotP. A drafting system would inject a lot more (much needed imo) variety, strategy, and interest into the game. It also is a more interesting way of keeping the playing field level while still allowing skilled players to shine (and the TrueSkill system would allow players to play others at the same skill level). This would obviously probably take up even more space as well since whole sets would be needed, though they could just control this by not really using real boosters but their own version of “Boosters” with a limited set of cards. If they released some kind of drafting system in an update, that would be truly awesome.

That being said, I did enjoy the challenges and the game is still pretty fun, though I agree with most of your assessment… An ability to simply “Yield priority” with a simple button press would solve most of the problems with the timer, so that’d be a nice update. One other thing I’ve noticed is the occasional bug… In some cases, strange rule-breaking bugs. In one game I was playing the blue deck against the Black discard deck (man I hate The Rack) and I countered their Specter with a Remove Soul. On the next turn they used Raise Dead on it, then played it, and then ATTACKED WITH IT on the same turn. That was extremely unfortunate, and I haven’t found a bug submission form for the game yet, though I suppose I could just post it in the forums.

By: Godot

Godot — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:24:20 +0000

“Even the simple ability to substitute out cards as you put more cards in would have been most welcome.”

I couldn’t believe it didn’t have this feature. I won that first Blanchwood Armor and was trying to swap it out for Wall of Wood, getting really mad and figuring I just didn’t understand the interface. I was really bummed about that. Back in Shandalar, the gradual replacement process was a big part of the adventure appeal…

By: Luis (Not Vargas)

Luis (Not Vargas) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:15:31 +0000

The puzzle you’re stuck on and the last one were the two most enjoyable ones, I think.

By: Brian Paskoff

Brian Paskoff — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:00:31 +0000

I would have paid full price for a game with more in-depth strategy, deck customization, etc. However, I’m not at all disappointed I paid $10 for “Magic: the Arcade-ing” - it’s a lot of fun for what it is!

By: kittH

kittH — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:57:54 +0000

Blue Puzzle Spoiler:

ROT13:

cvat jvgu gur fgbyra cleznapre, obhapr lbhe crefhnfvba jvgu obbzrenat naq fgrny gur zbhagnvajnyxvat, unfgvat, entvat tboyva. gto.