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[Yeef]

I don't get why they'd remove the cards instead of actually fixing the problem which is the whole sets for the expansions aren't there for the sake of "balance." I mean the previous Duels also had a problem with a few cards absolutely dominating or people using a certain deck (09/"Duels '11" being Elves) abuse. I don't get how changing these cards is suddenly gonna stop people from finding new cards to abuse in the "meta."

When a few cards are completely dominant, it means you either play those cards or you lose, which makes the meta stagnant. A Healthy meta is one where tons of different decks are viable and the highest level of play. As it is right now, Ramp decks are, in general, the strongest since Ulamog is the strongest card in the game and can, effectively, be run as a 3-of thanks to tutoring with From Beyond.

Putting in every card from the set isn't realistic. Certain cards would take a lot of extra work to program for little gain, like The Great Aurora, for example. Also, since there's no rotation, aggro and burn would just get progressively better and better as more sets are released.

The real issue is that, in regular Magic, what helps to balance the meta is the sideboard. Being able to tweak your deck against a specific match-up mid-match makes a lot of decks more viable.

 

[Xis]

As it is right now, Ramp decks are, in general, the strongest since Ulamog is the strongest card in the game and can, effectively, be run as a 3-of thanks to tutoring with From Beyond.

I wonder if they even considered tutoring effects when they set up the rarity restrictions? (Because tutors totally wreck the rarity restrictions).

 

[Nikodemos]

When's the update supposed to launch? I really want that Expedition Envoy.

 

[Yeef]

When's the update supposed to launch? I really want that Expedition Envoy.

No specific date, but in April around the launch of the paper set (which hits on April 8th).

 

[Adaren]

The update is confirmed for April 6! That's 2 days before paper and 10 days before MTGO.

I'm really hoping this is the second wind for the game. To draw the obvious comparison, Hearthstone had a 7 month beta period and didn't launch on mobile until a month after the beta ended. Magic Duels launched on 3 platform simultaneously (they tried to do 4) with absolutely no beta period, presumably because they were working up until the last minute to sync their release with paper Origins.

Hopefully a few months of heads-down work has allowed them to get everything sorted to a state where future releases will be smooth and they can start working on features and improvements beyond just new sets. Both OGW and SOI look amazing; I can't wait!

Here's a listing of OGW/SOI cards that have been confirmed to be in Duels. Of course, the best part of the whole thing is that they'll also be removing Acid Moss!

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I hope they start work again on the PS4 version after this.

 

[TheSeks]

When a few cards are completely dominant, it means you either play those cards or you lose, which makes the meta stagnant. A Healthy meta is one where tons of different decks are viable and the highest level of play. As it is right now, Ramp decks are, in general, the strongest since Ulamog is the strongest card in the game and can, effectively, be run as a 3-of thanks to tutoring with From Beyond.

Putting in every card from the set isn't realistic. Certain cards would take a lot of extra work to program for little gain, like The Great Aurora, for example. Also, since there's no rotation, aggro and burn would just get progressively better and better as more sets are released.

The real issue is that, in regular Magic, what helps to balance the meta is the sideboard. Being able to tweak your deck against a specific match-up mid-match makes a lot of decks more viable.

Right, but I mean replacing the powerful cards with new "slightly less powerful but probably still powerful!" cards isn't really fixing the problem. As you said, a sideboard would help. But the major problem is they make a new meta from the base set due to the way they restrict/ban cards and don't have people playtesting the more powerful combos. It seems like they need to get a few pros in to see the card lists they have and then have the pros tell them which ones are most powerful and ways to counter-act that before they release.

But given they're doing expansions now, it seems like that wouldn't solve the issue since more cards int he pool mean more elf decks and the like.

 

[Adaren]

Full OGW / SOI Duels Card List (Facebook)
New Screenshots (Campaigns, UI, deck types, etc.)

They don't have everything I was hoping for (Startled Awake q_q), but the list of cards is still massive, and they clearly didn't cut anything for power level concerns. This is more than I expected.

The game is going to be turned on its head come Wednesday. It's going to be absolutely crazy.

 

[Yeef]

Glad to see Broken Concentration (though I would've preferred Void Shatter, Dissipate and/or Negate). Having the only non-tax counter that cost 3 or less being a rare was pretty lame.

I've been running a janky UR prowess tempo deck, I was hoping that Nibilis of Dusk and/or Sanguinary Mage would be in the update, but I guess not. Stormchaser Mage and Umara Entangler did make it in though, they should help.

 

[archnemesis]

I'm pretty pleased with that card list. Now I can even make a janky five color planeswalker deck.

 

[ultron87]

I'm so glad Eldrazi Displacer is in. There should be some fun shenanigans to pull with that.

 

[TheSeks]

Patch happened but the servers are still down.

Wizards™.

 

[ricelord]

I hope they start work again on the PS4 version after this.

lol if only.

 

[Nikodemos]

They added two sets?

Darn, I've barely started unlocking BfZ!

 

[iamsirjoshua]

Played through the Shadows over Innistrad campaign. Really enjoyed it. Some neat twists thrown in there. If you follow the Magic storyline at all there's also some neat hints at what's to come. Definitely seems like the game is evolving and I'm looking forward to future sets.

 

[TheSeks]

Nearly 24 hours later and I still can't get the servers to come back up so I can buy the expansion stuff.

Way to go Wizards. :/

 

[IvorB]

Still nothing on PS4?!?

 

[shawnoftheshred]

Anyone else's game completely broken after the update on Xbox One?

Check this out - playing a 23 land deck that I used to win against the AI with at least 9/10...here are my draws, consecutively.
Attempt 1: no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, 2 lands on a mull to 4 (condede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399935

Attempt 2: 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, 1 land, no lander (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399939

Attempt 3: 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, 1 land (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399947

Attempt 4: 1 land, 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399956

So I finally decide to just start a game with a 1 land opening hand to see some new cards in action...I get up to 2 lands in play, opponent has 5 (it's not looking good on account of the mana screw). Play Knight of the White Orchard to catch up and...the card doesn't even fetch me a land.
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399924

...frustrating to say the least.

 

[Defect]

I just get infinite load loops.

 

[shawnoftheshred]

Anyone else's game completely broken after the update on Xbox One?

Check this out - playing a 23 land deck that I used to win against the AI with at least 9/10...here are my draws, consecutively.
Attempt 1: no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, 2 lands on a mull to 4 (condede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399935

Attempt 2: 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, 1 land, no lander (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399939

Attempt 3: 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, 1 land (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399947

Attempt 4: 1 land, 1 land, 1 land, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander, no lander (concede)
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399956

So I finally decide to just start a game with a 1 land opening hand to see some new cards in action...I get up to 2 lands in play, opponent has 5 (it's not looking good on account of the mana screw). Play Knight of the White Orchard to catch up and...the card doesn't even fetch me a land.
http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/shawnoftheshred/video/16399924

...frustrating to say the least.

Apparently there's a bug that removes all of the basic land from your deck? That'd explain my land light hands/why KOTWO was unable to fetch a basic plains. Which...uh...yeah, that's kind of a big deal. Hoping there's a quick fix or workaround. Sounds like a complete mess.

 

[Nirolak]

So Two Headed Giant first put my friend and myself on separate teams, and then crashed after a few turns.

Still completely broken.

 

[Yeef]

I think something might be wrong with the seeding algorithm for deck shuffling and/or opening hands. In a deck that has 14 basic lands and 9 non-basics, after seeing 30 7-card hands, everyone single one had either no basics or no lands at all. Tried duplicating the deck and replacing all of the non-basics with basic lands and did the same test. none of the opening hands ever had lands in them, even after mulling 3 or 4 times.

Just tried building a new deck from scratch with the maximum number of lands and it doesn't seem to have any issue; it might be related to running a deck built pre-update. I'll try rebuilding the same deck from scratch.

 

[shawnoftheshred]

I think something might be wrong with the seeding algorithm for deck shuffling and/or opening hands. In a deck that has 14 basic lands and 9 non-basics, after seeing 30 7-card hands, everyone single one had either no basics or no lands at all. Tried duplicating the deck and replacing all of the non-basics with basic lands and did the same test. none of the opening hands ever had lands in them, even after mulling 3 or 4 times.

Just tried building a new deck from scratch with the maximum number of lands and it doesn't seem to have any issue; it might be related to running a deck built pre-update. I'll try rebuilding the same deck from scratch.

See my earlier posts-there's a bug that removes basic lands from decks. Guh.

 

[Yeef]

Rebuilding the identical list from scratch (not duplicating) seems to have fixed it. Pretty annoying, but not a big deal, since I was planning to rebuild all but 2 or 3 of my decks anyway.

 

[archnemesis]

Half of my decks had Perilous Myr in them so I will have to rebuild those anyway.

I played through the two new campaigns yesterday and they are both fun. Too bad they don't last longer. I got near perfect hands for all matches and the AI was a pushover.

I thought I had saved up a lot of gold but I couldn't even afford the entire SOI set.

 

[Nikodemos]

Man, having to use Origins cards against the new AI decks is brutal. I'm barely winning 1 out of 3 matches, where before I could easily do 4 out of 5. I haven't even managed to unlock most of BFZ. In fact, I'm not even sure I should continue unlocking BFZ, rather than go for OGW/SOI.

I shudder to think what would happen were I to play against real opponents with full card sets.

 

[8bitsuperhero]

Did this game even get the Oath of the Gatewatch? Or did it just jump from Zendikar to Innistrad?

 

[SigmasonicX]

Did this game even get the Oath of the Gatewatch? Or did it just jump from Zendikar to Innistrad?

Both the Oath of the Gatewatch and Shadows over Innistrad updates were published at the same time.

 

[8bitsuperhero]

Both the Oath of the Gatewatch and Shadows over Innistrad updates were published at the same time.

Cool, I just thought it was strange reading the announcement, thought they were just blowing by Gatewatch.

 

[shawnoftheshred]

Just rebuilt my RW weenie deck to start grinding out some coins.

If anyone comes across some fun builds, please post here. I've been stuck with my weenie/ramp decks for too long and wouldn't mind a solid control build and something a little more mid-range that requires some real decision making.

 

[TheSeks]

Nearly 24 hours later and I still can't get the servers to come back up so I can buy the expansion stuff.

Way to go Wizards. :/

Quoting myself, apparently their update didn't actually update me. Steam verify the file integrity made it download the update. Now I have no version number to compare to the last one. Hahahaha.

At least I can play it now. :/ Just need to blow through the story mode(s) and then buy the cards and start the grind up again. But with these deck changes I dunno what deck to built to beat the AI's into submission for 400 gold daily.

Did this game even get the Oath of the Gatewatch? Or did it just jump from Zendikar to Innistrad?

The games' been on fire since launch, so they delayed Oath of the Gatewatch's launch to this one/Innistrad.

 

[Imperfected]

I just get infinite load loops.

Had this happen just now. Looks like it might be a heap allocation issue. An inconsistent one, at that, as it wasn't happening earlier; it might only occur when the decks being loaded in have a large enough variety of cards to require too much card art to be loaded.

 

[dickgumshoe]

So, there have been some minor adjustments to the user interface. I think making the stack kind of explicit is a good idea. Still no upkeep, no begin of combat. You still can't see the board or your hand when making choices.

The user interface of this game has to be designed by absolute morons.

 

[shawnoftheshred]

So, there have been some minor adjustments to the user interface. I think making the stack kind of explicit is a good idea. Still no upkeep, no begin of combat. You still can't see the board or your hand when making choices.

The user interface of this game has to be designed by absolute morons.

Agreed. I feel like this game would be huge if it was quick loading and had a very clean, easy to discern quickly interface.

 

[Karsticles]

So what sets are available in this game.

 

[Santiako]

So what sets are available in this game.

(Most of) Origins, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch and Shadows over Innistrad.

 

[Adaren]

Man, having to use Origins cards against the new AI decks is brutal. I'm barely winning 1 out of 3 matches, where before I could easily do 4 out of 5. I haven't even managed to unlock most of BFZ. In fact, I'm not even sure I should continue unlocking BFZ, rather than go for OGW/SOI.

I shudder to think what would happen were I to play against real opponents with full card sets.

If you don't already have BFZ, skip it for now. Ulamog, Gideon, Ob Nixilis, and a handful of other cards are great, but most of the set is hot garbage.

What sort of deck are you playing?

 

[Nikodemos]

If you don't already have BFZ, skip it for now. Ulamog, Gideon, Ob Nixilis, and a handful of other cards are great, but most of the set is hot garbage.

What sort of deck are you playing?

Right now my go-to deck is LegenVD's Zombiecycling deck, with a handful tweaks (Corpse Hauler instead of Perilous Myr since no more Myr, Telling Time instead of Bitter Revelation since RtB also causes life loss, Priest of the Blood Rite as finisher instead of Kothoped/Alhammaret; EDIT: oh, and one Rising Miasma instead of the second Languish; I've discovered that sometimes I'd prefer that my Murk Lurker remain on the field).
Have very few BFZ boosters and nearly no OGW/SOI ones.

 

[Yeef]

So, there have been some minor adjustments to the user interface. I think making the stack kind of explicit is a good idea. Still no upkeep, no begin of combat. You still can't see the board or your hand when making choices.

The user interface of this game has to be designed by absolute morons.

There's always been a beginning of combat, it's just hidden in the declare attackers phase. The timer will tick down before attackers are actually declared; that's your beginning of combat step. Unfortunately, the end of combat step is skipped unless there's a trigger, so you can't do Celestial Flare-type shenanigans.

 

[TheSeks]

There's always been a beginning of combat, it's just hidden in the declare attackers phase. The timer will tick down before attackers are actually declared; that's your beginning of combat step. Unfortunately, the end of combat step is skipped unless there's a trigger, so you can't do Celestial Flare-type shenanigans.

The whole pause for instant stuff is a bit funky. Sometimes the pause timer won't actually go through to let you counter things.

 

[dickgumshoe]

There's always been a beginning of combat, it's just hidden in the declare attackers phase. The timer will tick down before attackers are actually declared; that's your beginning of combat step. Unfortunately, the end of combat step is skipped unless there's a trigger, so you can't do Celestial Flare-type shenanigans.

I didn't know you could do that. It's a big fail that the game tries to hide so much of the rules.

 

[Nikodemos]

Apparently Disciple of the Ring is borked. Tried using her tapping ability and didn't do shit, despite exiling one of my sorceries.

 

[ultron87]

So, there have been some minor adjustments to the user interface. I think making the stack kind of explicit is a good idea. Still no upkeep, no begin of combat. You still can't see the board or your hand when making choices.

The user interface of this game has to be designed by absolute morons.

On iPad you can minimize the text window when you're making choices now to let you see everything.

Once they fix the ridiculous hold priority bug I'll be pretty happy with this update.

 

[Nikodemos]

Once they fix the ridiculous hold priority bug I'll be pretty happy with this update.

You mean the game automatically moving you to the end step if you only have instants in hand? I think that one's intended, in order to make matches quicker.

OBTW, I'm repeating my previous question: what kind of deck would you guys recommend for AI gold farming to a guy who has only Origins cards (and a few BfZ rubbish)? RW Renown?

I like my current UB Zombiecycling deck but it's slow (and DotR's abilities are bugged).

 

[ultron87]

The fact that they said that was intentional unfortunately shows the developers don't play a ton of Magic. There's so many cards in the game that kinda don't work if it automatically passes to combat or end step if you only have instants. All the new clue cards are the biggest example. Have some clues or instant speed draw and want to dig for something sorcery speed before combat? Sorry.

And yeah, a renown deck can handle the AI pretty well. They don't really play fast enough decks that can deal with Topan Freeblades and Consul's Lieutenants plus a bit of removal.

 

[Imperfected]

As I am now losing gold whenever I win a game, I think it's time to finally update my review of this game from "A complete travesty, but it's Magic so I'll take it" to "Actually Unplayable."

GG

 

[Nikodemos]

What? How are you losing gold when you're winning?

 

[Imperfected]

What? How are you losing gold when you're winning?

That's a question for someone in their QA department, I suppose.

I'm losing 20 gold per game won, in addition to not receiving gold for the win. (So, technically, more like -40 per game.) I can still earn gold by completing Quests, though obviously if I want to do anything with it I'd need to synchronize completing a few of them and quickly grab a booster before I lost all of the gold.

I'm sure it's a bug, I can even imagine it might get fixed, but at this point it just feels like it's always something with this damn game and I just can't be bothered anymore.

 

[dickgumshoe]

On iPad you can minimize the text window when you're making choices now to let you see everything.

Once they fix the ridiculous hold priority bug I'll be pretty happy with this update.

I've been playing on Steam only, I should have said that I talked about that client.

The game menu is clunky and idiotic and limited (deck building) and in several places it's obvious the user interface is made for controller input, where a different control element would be a much better match for mouse (deck selection for playing).

 

[too much eslim]

Wrong thread