The Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 game offers 10 deck choices to play with in the campaign and multiplayer. This guide gives more detail into the decks and their styles of play. One of the cool features in the game is that it gives you some metrics to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each deck. Here is a description of what each means:
- Creature Size: a high rating means the creatures are pure fatties
- Deck Speed: aggressive decks get a high score, slow decks get a low score
- Flexibility: this rates how well the deck can adapt to the opponent’s game plan
- Synergy: this rates how well the cards in the deck interact – the sum of the whole is greater than the parts
OMFG Network will add more content on the optimum decklist for each deck as we play through the game. On the deck lists below, bold cards are the unlocked cards as you play through the game and “CMC” means converted mana cost or the overall total mana cost of the spell. As you unlock cards, you can tell their rarity: black or unfilled is “common”, silver is “uncommon”, gold is “rare”, and red is “mythic rare”. As you move up rarity, the cards tend to be more powerful and splashy.
Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Planechase Guide
Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Challenges Guide
Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 DLC Details
Born of Flame – Chandra
This mono-red deck emulates the popular “red deck wins” deck that features aggressive creatures and burn spells. Your goal with this deck is either to play your aggressive creatures and use your burn spells to get your opponents creatures out of the way, or to deal direct damage to finish the game. This deck can have quite a bit of reach and is best against control decks that try to set up for the late game. One of the best strategies against this deck is life gain, as it tends to run out of gas quickly.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 1/5
- Deck Speed: 1/5
- Flexibility: 4/5
- Synergy: 4/5
Best Matchup: Dream Puppets
Worst Matchup: Celestial Light
Fully Unlocked Optimum Deck List:
|
Creatures |
CMC |
|
|
1 |
Dragon Hatchling |
2 |
|
1 |
Dragon Hatchling |
2 |
|
2 |
Torch Fiend |
2 |
|
2 |
Pyre Charger |
2 |
|
1 |
Chandra’s Phoenix |
3 |
|
1 |
Chandra’s Phoenix |
3 |
|
1 |
Chandra’s Spitfire |
3 |
|
1 |
Prodigal Pyromancer |
3 |
|
2 |
Firewing Phoenix |
4 |
|
2 |
Obsidian Fireheart |
4 |
|
1 |
Fire Servant |
5 |
|
1 |
Magma Phoenix |
5 |
|
1 |
Skarrgan Firebird |
6 |
|
1 |
Hostility |
6 |
|
1 |
Inferno Titan |
6 |
|
Non-Creatures |
CMC |
|
|
2 |
Searing Spear |
2 |
|
3 |
Searing Blaze |
3 |
|
2 |
Flames of the Firebrand |
3 |
|
3 |
Chandra’s Outrage |
4 |
|
1 |
Chandra’s Outrage |
4 |
|
2 |
Cone of Flame |
5 |
|
1 |
Fireblast |
6 |
|
1 |
Flame Wave |
7 |
|
1 |
Earthquake |
X |
|
1 |
Red Sun’s Zenith |
X |
|
Lands |
|
|
|
24 |
Mountains |
|
|
Sideboard: |
CMC |
|
|
2 |
Flame Slash |
1 |
|
1 |
Flamebreak |
3 |
|
2 |
Chandra’s Fury |
5 |
|
2 |
Searing Spear |
2 |
|
2 |
Fiery Hellhound |
3 |
|
2 |
Fire Elemental |
5 |
|
2 |
Furnace Whelp |
4 |
|
1 |
Rain of Embers |
2 |
|
2 |
Ruby Medallion |
2 |
|
2 |
Swiftfoot Boots |
2 |
|
3 |
Flames of the Blood Hand |
3 |
|
1 |
Flamebreak |
3 |
|
1 |
Firewing Phoenix |
4 |
|
1 |
Magma Phoenix |
5 |
|
1 |
Fire Servant |
5 |
|
1 |
Chandra’s Fury |
5 |
|
1 |
Beacon of Destruction |
5 |
|
1 |
Disaster Radius |
7 |
|
1 |
Blaze |
X |
|
1 |
Red Sun’s Zenith |
X |
Pack Instinct – Garruk
Garruk’s deck features big green fatties and acceleration. The objective is to overwhelm the opponent by curving out with cost efficient creatures and using pump spells or overrun to win the game. This deck does not have much removal and can struggle against problematic creatures or fast decks.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 5/5
- Deck Speed: 2/5
- Flexibility: 2/5
- Synergy: 3/5
Best Matchup: Born in Flame
Worst Matchup: Obedient Dead
|
Creatures |
CMC |
|
|
1 |
Ulvenwald Tracker |
1 |
|
2 |
Garruk’s Companion |
2 |
|
1 |
Wildheart Invoker |
4 |
|
1 |
Master of the Wild Hunt |
4 |
|
1 |
Fangren Firstborn |
4 |
|
1 |
Chameleon Colossus |
4 |
|
1 |
Indrik Stomphowler |
5 |
|
3 |
Sentinel Spider |
5 |
|
2 |
Garruk’s Packleader |
5 |
|
1 |
Garruk’s Packleader |
5 |
|
1 |
Ant Queen |
5 |
|
1 |
Primalcrux |
6 |
|
1 |
Terra Stomper |
6 |
|
1 |
Rampaging Baloths |
6 |
|
1 |
Primeval Titan |
6 |
|
1 |
Primalcrux |
6 |
|
1 |
Khalni Hydra |
8 |
|
1 |
Primordial Hydra |
X |
|
Non-Creatures |
CMC |
|
|
3 |
Prey Upon |
1 |
|
1 |
Lightning Greaves |
2 |
|
4 |
Nature’s Lore |
2 |
|
1 |
Cultivate |
3 |
|
1 |
Blanchwood Armor |
3 |
|
1 |
Blanchwood Armor |
3 |
|
1 |
Jayemdae Tome |
4 |
|
1 |
Howl of the Night Pack |
7 |
|
1 |
Howl of the Night Pack |
7 |
|
Lands |
|
|
|
24 |
Forest |
|
|
Sideboard: |
CMC |
|
|
1 |
Timbermaw Larva |
4 |
|
1 |
Garruk’s Companion |
2 |
|
1 |
Wildheart Invoker |
4 |
|
1 |
Ant Queen |
5 |
|
1 |
Leatherback Baloth |
3 |
|
1 |
Fangren Firstborn |
4 |
|
1 |
Boundless Realms |
7 |
|
1 |
Garruk’s Companion |
2 |
|
1 |
Predatory Rampage |
5 |
|
1 |
Leatherback Baloth |
3 |
|
1 |
Primal Bellow |
1 |
|
1 |
Incremental Growth |
5 |
|
1 |
Jayemdae Tome |
4 |
|
1 |
Cultivate |
3 |
|
1 |
Epic Proportions |
6 |
|
3 |
Brindle Boar |
3 |
|
1 |
Leatherback Baloth |
3 |
|
2 |
Primal Huntbeast |
4 |
|
2 |
Timbermaw Larva |
4 |
|
2 |
Indrik Stomphowler |
5 |
|
1 |
Fog |
1 |
|
2 |
Emerald Medallion |
2 |
|
1 |
Primal Bellow |
1 |
|
1 |
Bountiful Harvest |
5 |
Dream Puppets – Jace
The mono-blue mill deck is featured by Jace with lots of card drawing and stalling effects like counters, bounce (return to hand), and tapping. Milling means moving cards from your opponent’s library to their graveyard so that they lose the game by not being able to draw a card named after Millstone. This deck takes a while to get going but when it does it can be hard to lose due to its high synergy. Unfortunately, several of the cards don’t really do anything until they are paired with other cards.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 1/5
- Deck Speed: 1/5
- Flexibility: 4/5
- Synergy: 4/5
Goblin Gangland – Krenko
This red deck is even more aggressive and synergistic than the Born of Flame deck but can get slowed down by large creatures on the opponent’s side of the table. Goblins are smaller creatures but in large numbers can beat the opponent before they have a chance to stabilize, especially cards like Siege Gang Commander and Goblin Wardriver. This deck has reach with some burn spells like Goblin Grenade.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 1/5
- Deck Speed: 5/5
- Flexibility: 2/5
- Synergy: 4/5
Obedient Dead – Liliana
This is a rendition of the popular mono-black control archetype that uses efficient removal spells, discard, drain spells like Tendrils of Corruption, and large, mana-intensive creatures. This deck gets a high flexibility rating since you can react to fast or large creatures, or swarms of creatures, with different effects.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 3/5
- Deck Speed: 2/5
- Flexibility: 5/5
- Synergy: 3/5
Peacekeepers – Odric
The Peacekeepers deck is a take on the “white weenies” archetype and uses small creatures to fill up the board. Once there are plenty of creatures, the deck takes advantage with Glorious Anthem and Geist Honored Monk. It has lots of removal in the form of enchantments and tapping effects. This deck can be pretty fun but can run into a wall if you don’t draw just right.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 2/5
- Deck Speed: 4/5
- Flexibility: 3/5
- Synergy: 3/5
Exalted Darkness – Nefarox
The name says it all, this deck is highly synergistic around the mechanic exalted which gives +1/+1 to a lone attacking creature. This can make any of our creatures into a force to be reckoned with since exalted stacks, but is susceptible to targeted removal or bounce as you can find your attack step wasted by one spell. Creatures with evasion (unblockable, flying, landwalk) work well with exalted so you can take advantage of the bonuses and your opponent can’t just chump block (use a small creature to block). Exalted is a keyword mechanic in the upcoming Magic 2013 core set and was first featured in Shards of Alara.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 1/5
- Deck Speed: 3/5
- Flexibility: 2/5
- Synergy: 5/5
Ancient Wilds – Yeva
Yeva’s deck features a lot of elves and creatures with “enters the battlefield” abilities to go with a full set of Roaring Primadox that returns a creature each turn to your hand. You can use this over and over on cards like Elvish Visionary and Wood Elves to gain card advantage. The deck is also quite flexible with spells like Momentous Fall (resilient to removal) and Eternal Witness (returns any card from graveyard to hand). This deck goes big with powerful enchantments like Wild Pair and Lurking Predators.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 3/5
- Deck Speed: 2/5
- Flexibility: 4/5
- Synergy: 3/5
Crosswinds – Talrand
Talrand’s deck is a blue evasion and synergy type deck that uses defensive creatures to clog up the ground and flyers to hit in the air. The deck has some card draw and filtering, counterspells, and even Time Warp. Your goal with this deck is to keep the opponent at bay and grind them down with your flying creatures and recursive cards that give you card advantage.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 2/5
- Deck Speed: 3/5
- Flexibility: 5/5
- Synergy: 2/5
Celestial Light – Ajani
This is a pretty linear deck and is based off of a recent tournament deck called “Soul Sisters”. The strategy is to use creatures and spells for life gain and capitalize with creatures like Ajani’s Pridemate (gains +1/+1 counters whenever you gain life) and Serra’s Ascendent (becomes 6/6 flyer for 1 white). This deck can be quite a handful for some of the red decks but can struggle against control decks with removal mill.
In Game Stats:
- Creature Size: 2/5
- Deck Speed: 3/5
- Flexibility: 1/5
- Synergy: 4/5
I really hope they give us the ability to get many more multi-color decks. I would gladly pay $10 more for like 10 multicolor decks, some extra campaign stuff, and some other small bonuses. If they can add the ability for 3- and 4-player matches against the AI and online, it will be superb.
Roderic, you are in luck, there was a leak on the DLC coming out which features 5 new multicolor decks based on the Return to Ravnica set that is coming out in the fall, check this out:
http://www.toptiertactics.com/2012/06/duels-of-the-planeswalkers-2013-dlc-leak-promises-a-return-to-ravnica-with-5-dual-colored-decks/
I played all 3 from psn.The first was horrible.the second a lot better and this one just a little better than the second game.I recommend the game if you like magic. What I would like for 2014 if they make it: A lot more unlockable cards and decks (variations is nice and not always knowing what your opponent probably will do or cast from hand) they can triple the price for the game if its good.Make the game a 30-40 dollar game.good for them and good for us!!! Also the deck building is still not good enough.The deckbuilding is so important so you can add your style of play not commercialmagic.The deckbuilding is the biggest downside for the magic game on psn. We should be able to edit landcount and mana types.For the multicolor decks they should add more of the non-basic lands to make the game 50 times more fun.Dual lands from revised edition is a must.5 color decks with only dual lands would make the game so much more fun than it already is.Its still a fun game though. The game should also have a kind of deck creating feature that would allow you to make your own original decks.(using the cards not used from the other decks or similular. Also they should not make aggro decks with 25 landcount its just stupid. 17-20 lands is plenty for decks with highest casting cost of 3.(maybe that messes up the game for the makers i dont know)Anyway the game is a kind of commercial for magic to attract new customers for their paper version that in my opinion is extremely overpriced(google black lotus price and value and you will get surprised).this is the reason the game is so simple,really wizard of the coast magic is not that hard to learn.at least make some of the decks more challenging to master.After all magicplayers like to use their brain.Add more complexe cards and combos.they should also make a vintage deck for us old magicplayers with mox and ancestral recall black lotus etc.I would pay 60 dollars for a game like that no problem (gladly do it).The game should be much bigger download size is about 1500 mb.The game is good compared to its mbsize no doubt. I feel this game is not even close to its potensial.So wizard of the coast you know what to do.Bigger and more advanced game.increase the price if its bigger and better(it must be worth it)Fix landcount and make the deckbuilding much much better.Also for online play increase the time limit or remove it would be best.we know what we will do its just not time enough for all effects in the game is stealing the time(destroying the online experience)
I sort of agree, but if you want all of those changes the best thing to do is just go play Magic Online. I think Duels is more for new players and for keeping the fun level up for just $10. It’s also a great marketing strategy as it lures lots of people into playing the card game or online game. That said each new version of the game is getting better so we’ll see in the next one.
What you’re asking for is the full M:tG experience. You really can’t expect to get that out of a $10 game or even a $40 game.
How do you unlock different decks? I can only play with the red and green deck, I’ve been playing with those two decks for 3 days now.
Daniel, if you play through the campaign and beat a certain opponent you will unlock their deck. If you only play challenges or against other people online you won’t unlock any new decks.
jesse i know….but i was so exited about this game and i know it can be so much better(dckbuilding). I’m not sure but isn’t magic online expensive…?Buying cards for real money..?
Overall i give this game a grade of 4 out of 6 in a dice roll. if deckbuilding was improved including landcount + option to create original decks i would give it 6 out of 6.but a great game for only 10 bucks(insane).
Also I was hoping they didn’t included so much of the same cards from 2012(considered its probably 1 mill different cards in magic.
So far i must say garruk has finally got 4 of garruks companion and 3 leatherback baloths making this a lot faster deck.he really needed this.in the 2012 game I pretty much unlocked all my cards against him.he was so slow then.
chandra is more powerful now I think.Exept why doesn’t she get lightning bolt?fire servant would be much better if he was 1/4 for 3 or 4 red mana but anyway glad we have 2 of him now.
Lilliana should get demonic tutor, after all its back from reveised now i think.she could need dark ritual or some sort of manaramp.now she kills everything pluss icy manipulator the best artifact in this game probably.but maybe she would be too powerful.Black always good.
jace has become weak and have no defense against creature decks,and almost all decks have creatures.but a fun way to win if you can…
Crosswind is a fun deck.always loved blue.replace mana leak and cancel for 4 counterspells would make a difference though.also some manaramp is needed(blue always need mana free to intimidate and use)
the other decks looks good too.Lets hoooppee dlc will have more cards for each deck they probably wait and see whats needed for balancing the game.
does anyone know what is unlocked if you buy deck key game packs for the decks?? Is it only the 30 locked cards the game starts with or has the key game packs the dlc cards for each decks also???
guys you should try 2headed giant with an ai player on your side…….the ai in this game mode is the worst ever in a game i have ever seen looool….
I cant remember the ai was this bad in magic 2012…
maybe 2013 was a little rushed…….That happens a lot with todays games….really bad direction in the gaming industry….Games should be better and better not the opposite….