Magic Duels: Origins Review

Magic Duels: Origins Gameplay

The core gameplay follows the rules of the TCG game Magic: The Gathering. Each player starts with twenty lives and has a deck of sixty cards, which include lands and spells. At the beginning of the battle, you start with a seven-card hand, which is also the maximum number of cards a player can hold at a time. The battlefield is in the middle, and it is a shared zone where players cast spells. Players use turns to play land cards, spells and order creatures to attack. Game phase indicator shows which one is now active on the battlefield, and phases occur in this order: Beginning, Main, Combat, Main, Ending. The game lasts until one of the player’s life rank reaches zero.

The land-type cards generate mana, which is used to cast spells. There are different types of mana, and players can identify it by its colour. Some spells require an only specific amount of the energy, while others demand a particular kind of mana to use. Spells come in different variety, such as sorceries, instants which have one-time effects and summon creatures to attack or protect from opponents. There is also the graveyard, which is the discard pile for the instant spells to go there after they resolve. Players can also use Stop Timer, and this is a tool which allows players to cast certain spells even during an opponent’s turn.

Story mode features five planeswalkers, which you can choose to play five unique scenarios for each one of them, and every game describes an essential point of their origins. Each mission provides a player with a complete deck to fight the opponent. For every successful duel in Story Mode, you earn coins. The currency is used to purchase boosters that contain six cards, and every pack guarantees at least one rare or mythic card, two uncommon and three common quality cards.

Deckbuilding allows players to filter the collection by the quality and types to make it easier to find necessary cards. A Wizard is always there to suggest you regarding what cards you should choose. Moreover, Magic Duels: Origins provides an opportunity to use the autocomplete system, which gathers up the deck automatically.

Battle mode becomes available after the player completes Story mode. In this mode, players have to build decks using their card collection. Before entering the battle, you have to choose an opponent: a real player or AI. AI has three difficulty levels, such as easy, medium and hard. In a case with real opponents, you can pick either casual or ranked game. Each successful ranked battle against a real opponent awards you with twenty coins, which is five more than a reward for the fight against AI.

The game features build-in friend list, which can be used to search for the friends or add recent opponents. Battling a friend does not provide coins; however, players are always supported with daily quests to earn more currency.

Two-Headed Giant mode allows for pairing up with a friend, random person or AI to challenge another human or AI team. PC and console players can also be randomly paired together against other teams.

Magic Duels: Origins is suitable for all lovers of collectable card games with the constant addition of new cards and mechanics. The active community of this game is always welcoming to new players. It will also appeal to fans of projects such as Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering.