Do the Duels of the Planeswalker PC Games that span from 2012 to 2015
allow you to play with the same exact cards from the paper magic
version?
There are some cards from the commercial for the game that I looked
up in Gatherer that are listed as "Welcome Decks", so I think maybe
its different.
There is also a recently released game just called "Duels" that
apparently has some cards from the Origins set, but its not
clear to me what the difference is between "Duels" and other
online forms of magic. Some say that "Duels" has 80% of
the Origins release, some say it barely has any of them!
I'm assuming that Origins is a released deck from the regular
paper magic game as well, but I'm not really sure about
that either! (I couldn't find it on Gatherer)
Duels is a game meant to teach new players how to play Magic. It is also used by players who want some sort of digital form of Magic to play without dealing with the poor interface and cost of Magic Online.
The older games (before Duels 2015) generally featured stock decks that you could use to battle against an AI and online opponents. You could unlock cards for those decks by winning games, and the cards unlocked for any specific deck could be added to that deck. You'd have stronger cards, but a larger deck size (the game would add lands as necessary for you). I think maybe the last game or two you were allowed to also remove cards from the deck, to make a stronger version of that deck.
Starting with Duels 2015, and improved upon in Duels Origins, you open packs (won by beating online/AI opponents) like you would in the paper game, and you can build your own decks with them. This allows for fully customised decks using the card pool available in the game. There is also a feature where you can add some cards to a deck (I like this, this, and this), and then the game will fill in the missing pieces of your deck for you.
The card pools varied throughout the games. With the earlier games, your stock deck had access to specific cards, and only those cards could be used with only those decks. The card pools usually consisted of some stuff from the past year or so, plus assorted splashy cards from across Magic's history. With Duels Origins, you get a set of "Starter" cards, which are taken from across Magic's history, and then get access to ~80% of current sets. The Starter cards are mostly staple cards that fill out decks or support some specific theme deck that the game can help you build. Then you have the cards of current sets. These are unlocked by opening packs (won by beating opponents, or you can pay real money to get them all now) to slowly build your collection. So, you open a 6-card pack, you'll get 3 commons from the Origins set, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare/mythic. Continue until you've collected all cards made available from that set. So far, you can collect cards from Origins, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, and Shadows over Innistrad.
The ~80% means that certain cards from these sets aren't available in the game (as far as I can tell, because the card either causes issues programming it into the game, or because the card is just too strong for the environment they're trying to create). For example, The Great Aurora is not available in the game, despite being from Origins. The game also limits you to having 4 of each common, 3 of each uncommon, 2 of each rare, and 1 of each mythic (so you can't run multiple copies of the same planeswalker, for example). But you can use those cards in any number of decks simultaneously.
The older games cost some amount of money to own, but Origins is free to play, and all cards can be unlocked just by playing the game. You can spend money if you want to, but you don't have to in order to have fun. I'd recommend downloading Magic Duels: Origins and playing that. It has some issues right now (sometimes the game skips your main phase if you only have instant-speed effects), but it's a pretty well-designed and fun game overall (and will be quite good again once they fix the main phase issue).
When you say that Duels of the Planeswalkers featured "stock decks", you mean that
they aren't the same cards that are used in paper magic, correct?
And with Duels Origins, how many of the cards such as "The Great Aurora" do you
think have been removed? I'm trying to figure out how simplified this version
of magic is.
When you say that Duels of the Planeswalkers featured "stock decks", you mean that they aren't the same cards that are used in paper magic, correct?
No, every card that is available in a Duels game has already been printed in paper. Emerald Medallion was printed in Tempest (paper), and then used in one of the Duels games (and then reprinted in Commander 2014 on paper again).
By stock deck, I mean that the composition of the deck is set. It is composed of a specific list of 60 cards (and a specific list of unlockable cards). If you have a Blue deck with Illusion creatures, those cards can only be used in that deck; they cannot be used in another deck, and another deck's cards cannot be used in the Blue Illusion deck. The stock deck (before adding extra unlocked cards) will be exactly the same in both your game and my game.
And with Duels Origins, how many of the cards such as "The Great Aurora" do you think have been removed? I'm trying to figure out how simplified this version
of magic is.
Thanks.
Based on comparing how many cards are shown at http://magicduels.wikia.com/wiki/Cards for each set vs a Gatherer search for all cards in the paper set, I've come up with these numbers. Since some cards from each set are included as Starter cards, I've gone through and counted, but I may have missed a card here and there, so these numbers are close but may or may not be exact. I've removed the usual 5 basic lands from both counts.
Origins - 164 digital vs 258 paper
Battle for Zendikar - 169 digital vs 229 paper
Oath of the Gatewatch - 141 digital vs 183 paper
Shadows over Innistrad - 194 digital vs 305 paper
So for each set it seems to vary from 2/3 to 3/4 of each set being included in Duels Origins.
allow you to play with the same exact cards from the paper magic
version?
There are some cards from the commercial for the game that I looked
up in Gatherer that are listed as "Welcome Decks", so I think maybe
its different.
There is also a recently released game just called "Duels" that
apparently has some cards from the Origins set, but its not
clear to me what the difference is between "Duels" and other
online forms of magic. Some say that "Duels" has 80% of
the Origins release, some say it barely has any of them!
I'm assuming that Origins is a released deck from the regular
paper magic game as well, but I'm not really sure about
that either! (I couldn't find it on Gatherer)
What do you know about this?
The older games (before Duels 2015) generally featured stock decks that you could use to battle against an AI and online opponents. You could unlock cards for those decks by winning games, and the cards unlocked for any specific deck could be added to that deck. You'd have stronger cards, but a larger deck size (the game would add lands as necessary for you). I think maybe the last game or two you were allowed to also remove cards from the deck, to make a stronger version of that deck.
Starting with Duels 2015, and improved upon in Duels Origins, you open packs (won by beating online/AI opponents) like you would in the paper game, and you can build your own decks with them. This allows for fully customised decks using the card pool available in the game. There is also a feature where you can add some cards to a deck (I like this, this, and this), and then the game will fill in the missing pieces of your deck for you.
The card pools varied throughout the games. With the earlier games, your stock deck had access to specific cards, and only those cards could be used with only those decks. The card pools usually consisted of some stuff from the past year or so, plus assorted splashy cards from across Magic's history. With Duels Origins, you get a set of "Starter" cards, which are taken from across Magic's history, and then get access to ~80% of current sets. The Starter cards are mostly staple cards that fill out decks or support some specific theme deck that the game can help you build. Then you have the cards of current sets. These are unlocked by opening packs (won by beating opponents, or you can pay real money to get them all now) to slowly build your collection. So, you open a 6-card pack, you'll get 3 commons from the Origins set, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare/mythic. Continue until you've collected all cards made available from that set. So far, you can collect cards from Origins, Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, and Shadows over Innistrad.
The ~80% means that certain cards from these sets aren't available in the game (as far as I can tell, because the card either causes issues programming it into the game, or because the card is just too strong for the environment they're trying to create). For example, The Great Aurora is not available in the game, despite being from Origins. The game also limits you to having 4 of each common, 3 of each uncommon, 2 of each rare, and 1 of each mythic (so you can't run multiple copies of the same planeswalker, for example). But you can use those cards in any number of decks simultaneously.
The older games cost some amount of money to own, but Origins is free to play, and all cards can be unlocked just by playing the game. You can spend money if you want to, but you don't have to in order to have fun. I'd recommend downloading Magic Duels: Origins and playing that. It has some issues right now (sometimes the game skips your main phase if you only have instant-speed effects), but it's a pretty well-designed and fun game overall (and will be quite good again once they fix the main phase issue).
they aren't the same cards that are used in paper magic, correct?
And with Duels Origins, how many of the cards such as "The Great Aurora" do you
think have been removed? I'm trying to figure out how simplified this version
of magic is.
Thanks.
No, every card that is available in a Duels game has already been printed in paper. Emerald Medallion was printed in Tempest (paper), and then used in one of the Duels games (and then reprinted in Commander 2014 on paper again).
By stock deck, I mean that the composition of the deck is set. It is composed of a specific list of 60 cards (and a specific list of unlockable cards). If you have a Blue deck with Illusion creatures, those cards can only be used in that deck; they cannot be used in another deck, and another deck's cards cannot be used in the Blue Illusion deck. The stock deck (before adding extra unlocked cards) will be exactly the same in both your game and my game.
Based on comparing how many cards are shown at http://magicduels.wikia.com/wiki/Cards for each set vs a Gatherer search for all cards in the paper set, I've come up with these numbers. Since some cards from each set are included as Starter cards, I've gone through and counted, but I may have missed a card here and there, so these numbers are close but may or may not be exact. I've removed the usual 5 basic lands from both counts.
Origins - 164 digital vs 258 paper
Battle for Zendikar - 169 digital vs 229 paper
Oath of the Gatewatch - 141 digital vs 183 paper
Shadows over Innistrad - 194 digital vs 305 paper
So for each set it seems to vary from 2/3 to 3/4 of each set being included in Duels Origins.