Magic Duels Origins

[Heaven Canceler]

So, anyone else playing this game? I downloaded it yesterday, and I have found it to be somewhat fun, even if the start Cards are Kind of not that impressive and I cannot make the Kind of Green Ramp deck that gets me big creatures.

I have had a few annoying losses against the AI and I think there was one case where it was outright cheaintg. (Opponent had a Card that lets it take control of anything it targets with a spell or ability. He took control of a character, but had nothing on the field or graveyard that could have targeted me. The one card that has sacrifice: deal 2 damage to target character was still around too.)

The fact that you can Play for free and get every Card sooner or later does make it easier. No doubles is always good. Currently thinking of playing it and Angelic Saga turn-wise.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Okay, either I am just bad or the AI is fucking scary, because I lose like, 3-5 games before I win 1.

Hell, I get my ass kicked in the campaign 2 Level with Jace. That fucking Sphinx Counters everything I could hit it with and leaves me without a deck to Play.

 

[Marthis]

Yeah, that's mostly because the card quality sucks. The sphinx is casting spells that are simply more powerful than yours, and you loose more often than not if you cast an equal number of spells.
Honestly, you need to be very good at limited attrition matches to play properly in the campaign.

Even in Battle mode, the AI decks, which are procedurally generated (i think), are generally more powerful than player decks.

It's a common complaint.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Ah, I just counter-milled it!

I was already despairing and thinking I would lose again because I didn't draw any unblockable characters early, then I fucking drew this!

I even Held back a Counterspell to make sure he couldn't Counter it and just when he had emptied my deck, I reversed the entire Thing putting all of his Card into the graveyard! Screw you Sphinx!

 

[Marthis]

yeah, there is exactly one copy of it in that deck. It's your only chance for winning the last duel.

it's also an objectively bad card. Y U DO DIS WIZARDS?

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Seriously? They have a entire duel where you have to depend on a single Card to win? Sure, this one was hard, but you could win if you get enough unstoppable and flying characters out early enough. I saw a Play on YouTube doing that.

That is simple harrassment of Players. It is not even a cheap attempt at getting us to pay real Money to win, because the decks are premade for the campaign and you cannot Change them from what I have seen.

 

[Marthis]

yeah, they shore up some of the decks weaknesses and give the sphinx 40 life. No i'm not kidding.
he just drops a bunch of flying walls and mills you to death, once again showing that mill is not an interactive experience.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

I don't think mill as a concept is uninteractive, just how they do it here.

For example, the three Cards I remember one had "every time you draw a Card, the Opponent puts 2 Cards from his library into the graveyard". This is bad on its own because I don't know if it is possible to stop someone's drawing abilities permanently, but it would likely be a damned hard Thing to Counter. Plus, Blue is the big colour for drawing. You cannot interact with or stop this mechanic unless you have a hard Counter destruction Card.

Another Card had "Whenever you or a planeswalker you control gets attacked, the Opponent puts two Cards from his library into the graveyard" which is objectively unfair. Mostly because it absolutely ruins and "Death of a Thousand Cuts" sort of deck while leaving the "Single Monster pushes through" decks or the "Spell Damage Decks" more or less fine. Yes, there are ways to Counter it and I believe this one is a creature, so it is easier to get rid of, but still painful. And once again, a way of doing mill that you cannot interact with much, other than to not attack or use a hard Counter....

The last had "Every time this Card takes damage (From enemy creatures), the Opponent puts that many Cards from his library into the graveyard". This one is painful, because the Player is rewarded for blocking the enemy..... especially bad if the Card survives multiple turns.

Do you see the Problem with These Cards? The Problem is that the entire Situation is under the control of their owner and he has to do very Little to get his effects. He can literally just sit around and let me die slowly.

A better effect would be stuff like "Every time you destroy a creature" or "Every time you attack the enemy Player, that Player", "Every time you Play a creature with cmc of 6 or higher" or even "Every time you return a enemy creature back to his Hand" or a dozen other things that the Opponent can interact with or Counter. Or something that you actually have to do and which is somewhat expensive...

Are there any decks that really screw over mill? Like Black decks with creatures that can be played from the graveyard or something?

 

[Marthis]

well, the current standard metagame is dominated by delve cards and The deathmist raptor / Den protector recursion combo.

And to deal with this, the current standard mill deck runs sphinxes tutelage, enchantments that cause them to draw extra cards, and 12 fog effects.
Oh, and lets not forget the counterspells.

they just sit there milling you to death and preventing all combat damage. It is very frustrating to play against.

the last time there was an interactive mill deck was in zendikar block, when they won by landfall triggers on Hedron crab. They really had to work on not dieing on that one, and it required some tight play.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Sphinx's Tutelage is so cheap too, 3 cost for something that you don't even have to work on afterwards, just Keep drawing Cards until the Opponent dies....