Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Expansion Review (PS3)

A few months ago, I reviewed Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, this year’s edition of the Magic: The Gathering video game. It was my first experience with Magic: The Gathering, and I ended up enjoying it, despite my initial trepidation. Now, the first expansion has been released, bringing new decks, new levels, and new challenges to the game. I’ve spent some time trying out the new content, and I’m going to attempt to give an opinion on it.

You may notice I used the word “attempt”. The reason for this is that the expansion clearly caters to high-level players; ones who have spent years mastering the subtle techniques and tactics contained within Magic: The Gathering. While I have spent some time playing, I am still only a level above complete amateur, so much of the expansion is lost on me. However, I have a basic understanding of some of it, so let me start with what I know.

First of all, the new decks tie in with the Return to Ravinica physical set, which should be in stores now. The five new guilds - Azorius, Golgari, Izzet, Rakdos, and Selesnya - are all taken from Return to Ravinica, although no cards from this deck are present. However, cards from the original Ravinica set feature in the expansion. The new decks are dual coloured, which makes a change from the mono coloured decks found in the regular game, and should help players engage in new strategies on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, purchasing the expansion doesn’t instantly unlock the new decks. Instead, it gives you new battles to face which, in turn, unlock the decks. In one way, this is good: Players have new levels to complete and enemies to vanquish, adding to the play time of the game. However, those who simply wish to play multiplayer may not like having to battle through single player first, especially since they just handed over money for the new content. To put it another way, if I were to wander down to Games Workshop and purchase a real Magic: The Gathering deck, would I have to battle the shopkeeper before he let me leave with it? No, I didn’t think so.

Aside from this, the expansion comes with new challenges. Challenges are a great way of learning some clever techniques, as they task you with finishing a battle victorious when the cards are stacked against you (like my choice of words?). Anyone who read my original review may have noticed that I conveniently left out this section of the game, and for one good reason: I simply can’t beat them. I love the idea of puzzle-based challenges, and were I an experienced player, this would likely be my favourite section, but the fact of the matter is, I suck at the challenges and can’t get past a single one. The expansion adds even more, which will please some, and remind others (like me) how much practice they desperately need.

I really wish I could sit here and write about the great balance between this new deck and that one; the complexities of the challenges added to the game; the opponents I trounced after customizing my hand with powerful cards I unlocked, but unfortunately, there’s just no way I can do that. In the time I’ve spent playing Duels of the Planeswalkers, I’ve gotten the hang of just one or two decks, and haven’t really started managing my cards and devising clever strategies. I can see that this expansion adds a bunch of new content, but as I said before, much of it is lost on me.

Look, the fact is, if you’re looking up reviews for the expansion of a video game that’s based on a fantasy card game, you’re obviously interested enough to purchase it. It costs a small amount and adds plenty of new content to Duels of the Planeswalkers. As I mentioned in my original review, part of the fun of card games is in the collecting, and this is exactly what this expansion delivers. Fans of the game shouldn’t think twice about picking this up, but if you’re an amateur such as myself, you’re probably better off just sticking with what you have.

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