Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014’s expansion comes very quickly after the release of the original, a game that accurately recreated the core mechanics of the original trading-card game but missed out on the depth of play. Its best feature, the sealed play mode, was slightly hampered by the nature of the game which encourages micro-transactions. The expansion was hoped to be a leap forward.
There is plenty of content to enjoy: a fresh campaign, new challenges and five new decks. Indeed, of what content there is it is roughly half of that included in the respective segments of the original and, for currently half the price, that is a reasonable deal. Players of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, who will make up the vast majority of those playing DoTP, might have slim hopes from cards from recently-released expansion set Theros. This would certainly legitimise the game as a worthwhile expansion.
Disappointingly, there are no cards from the Theros set, which was to be expected since DoTP 13’s expansion received no cards from then-new Return to Ravnica. Thankfully, though, this expansion’s new decks are interesting enough to halt any disappointment. There is a mono-black deck based around removal and massive creatures, a blue-red burn deck, a naturally creature-heavy samurai deck, an elf deck and a white-green-blue deck. Each is different enough than what you’ll find in the core game’s decks to be interesting additions.
The expansion also has a brand new campaign which follows on from the one found in the original game. Sadly it proves to be a little flimsier than the first game, if that is possible, with no hint of a story until after the first encounter. However, the story barely matters; the gameplay is what counts. From the outset it is a significant challenge, and the wide array of decks players will have likely amassed by this point allows for a variety of approaches to defeating enemies. Once the player has managed to get through this challenge they will be rewarded with a Revenge campaign as per the original.
Meanwhile, new challenges result in one of the most fun aspects of DoTP, and one of the most taxing. These are no exception to the rule, but it would be nice if they were focused on cards from the expansion’s decks. Nonetheless, they are ever useful on gaining a better understanding of your use of cards – though if you are playing DoTP and have the expansion pack, you’ll probably already be a fairly solid player.
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The expansion pack adds nothing to sealed play, which is a massive blow to the expansion’s potential to provide more replay value. This will be particularly disappointing to those who enjoy playing DoTP 2014 online, as this particular gameplay mode is the closest that console gamers have to playing the card game without having to turn to a computer.
It’s a shame to see that what new content is included is not presented in a fresh manner. The interfaces are scarcely different, with the same interface for each realm and no variation on the playing board since the core game. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it is indicative of what this expansion is about; providing exactly what is needed, and little more.
This is definitely a worthwhile purchase for those who enjoyed the main game. However, it is perhaps predictably merely a content add-on, and not totally satisfying at that. The much-wanted gameplay refinements will likely only arrive with the inevitable next installment in this series, but at least this will tide gamers over until then.