| Title | Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 : a pair of dirty cheaters |
| Author | Wader |
| Posted in | Game diaries |
| When | June 28, 2011 |
I started this article after finally downing Karn (the "final boss" of Duels of the Planeswalkers) for the first time. Karn's deck is a brutal artifact deck that in the first game wiped my board with Steel Hellkite's special ability. That was rough, but fair..
Read the full articleI've only gotten around to beating Karn with the blue-green deck. I guess I got lucky, because he went down without much trouble (the white soldier deck gave me more trouble, in fact). I'm not really looking forward to trying to take him down in Revenge mode, or whatever it's called, though.
Great entry, well thought out.
I stumbled about the stoneforge mystic / argentum armor combo myself and felt utterly cheap afterwards. Pretty much because it's a win button and there's no sense of accomplishment, except when you pull it out at the last minute.
I really like that white deck, there's some great stuff in there to mind fuck the AI: Gideon's Avenger will make it think twice before attacking you and Sword of War and Peace can do some severe damage against red or white decks.
I still don't understand the point of Archangel of Strife though.
I've actually been chewing through the entire game, over and over, with each individual deck.
Granted, I've also been using the "restart duel" thing to get, effectively, infinite mulligans. But still, each deck is, at full power, fairly capable of competing with Karn, assuming he doesn't get stupidly good draws.
Facing Karn as the final boss is a fun challenge. I wouldve been surprised if they didn't give him restricted cards, as there is a greater sense of satisfaction in beating a deck more powerful than your own. I found myself reaching for the 'restart game' button if i saw a turn 2 DS Colossus and i had no way to deal with it (most of the decks have very little in the way of dealing with a turn 2 colossus, jace has repulse, sorin has gatekeeper of malakir, thats about it). If he doesnt tinker or show and tell on turn 2, your in with a chance, just keep something in hand to deal with Colossus or his dragon when it comes out. Duplicant is his only form of removal, but he rarely uses it on weenie, so just flood the board with creatures, holding back your best beater til he duplicants something lesser, then drop your beatstick.
Karn's deck is fun to play against if theres no turn 2 shenanigan's, lets face it, Stainless Games could have gone off theme and threw in 4 oblivion stones for the hell of it.
I would be very afraid if I heard the names 'Teferi' or 'Mishra' mentioned in an upcoming DotP expansion, They're no longer planeswalkers, but Teferi playing Tolarian Academy or Mishra playing Suicide black would be like watching someone play with themselves for 3 turns til they smack you into oblivion.
I had no problem dealing with Karn playing with the Jace deck. Even on revenge where, albeit with a stroke of good draw luck, I beat him down without him being able to keep a card on the field for more than 1 turn. I repulsed his turn 2 DC, counterspelled his quicksilver ammy, cancelled his Wurmcoil and then repulsed his Steel Hellkite. Good times...
I could manage Karn with machinations deck. Since you are not affected by those "1 more mana to cast non-artifacts" creatures, It disables some bad effects. Among that, an earlier Steel Overseer, that you cant cast on second turn, makes you a huge advantage. By the way, feel free to use Etherium Sculptor, since only you take advantage from its effects .
I beat Karn with Tezzy's tricolour, it was incredibly humorous to see Karn with 11 mana and not play a single creature the entire game, so disappoint for him haha.
I've beaten Karn using chandra's deck... it was sooo difficult though..
i have a weird feeling that AI is cheting like 90% of time because it gets exactly the cards it needs. plus pretty often when im in need of land i wont get any and when i need some non-lands im getting lands :| am i only one that is so unlucky?
Beat him on revenge, TEZZERET FTW!!!!
I`ve broken Karn`s deck down whith the Kyora`s blue-green deck. That was not difficult. In fact, whith the Aether Mutation, pipe elf and the bring on Mana mechanism was, singularly, easy. Unlike the white soldier deck, although the Argentum and Stoneforge combo. Laterly gotten anothers matchs. He was finished owe me some life points (-15, -13, ...). High regards. See you.
Nick name Sony Network: Amaroke_TheWild
I've noticed something similar, I use ancient depths for the archenemy campaign and I've noticed that every time I drop a game winner, no matter how I do it, the next scheme seems to have a way of destroying it (or if it's indestructible, stealing it from me)
Actually, the computers draws in Duels isn't entirely random. At first they are nerfed, by ensuring the best cards are kept towards the bottom. At harder difficulties they are stacked to ensure the best cards are towards the top.
It is only semi random.
Its rigged every time. I hacked the game and edited karns deck to have all mana and no damaging cards, then every single time I dueled him my deck was stacked with all mana at the top, while his allowed him to always get a land, a rampant growth, an ornothopter, 2xhowling caves, and jayemndai tome, the game tries to stack both decks so it looks like the AI is playing the player but really its all predetermined for you to lose an XX% of time where XX is determined by your opponents difficulty level/rank.