Magic 2014 seals the deal

Title Magic 2014 seals the deal
Author Nick Diamon
Posted in Games
When May 7, 2013

Wizards of the Coast has revealed some new information about the upcoming Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers. Sealed Decks will be available to players for use in a campaign or against other mana-flinging wizards, but details were scarce until now..

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Conversely, Duels of the Planeswalkers' eschewing of Magic's horrible moneygrubbing business model was my favorite thing about the series, with the second being it providing me with a bunch of fun, well tuned theme decks instead of forcing me to build my own. That this latest entry is losing its way is decidedly disappointing.

I'm a bit confused about what this means. So I start a sealed deck campaign and I can save my progress as I go. If I want a change of scenery, I can start a second sealed deck campaign to see what cards I get there. And I can play them both freely. When I beat the final boss in the campaign, my deck is saved for going online.

Presumably, I can just delete a campaign and restart, right? But if I want to have more than two sealed deck campaigns going, or if I want to keep more than two sealed decks around for multiplayer, I need to buy additional saved game slots for $2, right?

Odd decision, but I can't see it impacting me. I'm not enough of a power player to care about maintaining multiple sealed decks, and my sealed decks have the same odds of getting any given cards as someone who paid ten bucks for five additional slots, right?

Although the "Sealed Deck" format really doubles up on MTG's element of randomization, I look forward to the added deck building tools. The 2012/2013 semi-customizable deck's always kinda bugged me. Why is my goblin deck locked at a minimum of 24 lands? The Duels of the Planeswalkers games have been a lot of fun to just pick up and play, but I guess what I'm really hoping for someday is a version of MTGO with an interface that doesn't look like its from 1998.

This is kind of misnamed. Sealed Deck usually means a tournament where you make a deck from your booster packs, and then your remaining cards form a sideboard that you can substitute in and out as needed in the second and third games of a match to more specifically address what your opponent's deck is doing.

Since in this game you unlock more booster packs as you play the campaign and you can switch your deck around at will before each new opponent, it's more like "you're a poor kid who can only afford ten packs ever" mode.

Which is still cool.

I guess it was only a matter of time. Those microtransactions are just too good a money-spinner.

Sounds about right. The only way they're getting more money from you is if you want to replay the campaign with different cards.

So it's just like buying DLC with a different character, different moves. Right? Not quite, because you don't control what's in the booster. It's like buying a DLC pack where you don't know which character you're going to get, and the really powerful characters are only in one out of every 8 packs you buy...

That's always been the appeal/addiction of Magic. You never have the cards you really want. That booster pack MIGHT have the card I want. Oh I opened some other cards. These cards will make an awesome deck if I combine with some other cards I don't have...

Almost. Sealed deck in casual formats (prereleases, say) allow you to change your deck as much as you want between games or matches.

Haha Magic is the very definition of microtransactions. The DoTP are actually a step back, in comparison.

Agreed. I look at the DoTP pricing structure and think, "Not bad, 8 decks for $10. Not tournament-level tuned decks, but everyone else's deck isn't, so it's fine."

I think the 2014 still has the old-style "constructed" campaign so there's that. Will they charge more for the whole package? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.

I understand, but DotP neatly avoided all that by including a complete game for a low price. Now they're jumping on the train it appears.