GDN: Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers: Expansion Pack 1 Review (XBLA)

Note: This is an expansion pack, it requires the original Duels of the Planeswalkers to use. A free version of this pack is also available if you merely wish to play against opponents who have the new content, but that version won’t let you use its cards and decks yourself.

It was pretty obvious that the main release of Duels of the Planeswalkers was the ’gateway drug’, and that the main way Wizards of the Coast was going to profit off this was to sell you expansion packs. The first of these expansions is now available, costing 400 Microsoft Points/$5, and adds a variety of new content to the game. The major additions are two new decks, but a few cards have been added to the existing ones, as well as four new Two-Headed Giant levels and three more puzzles.

The new decks are introduced to you by a new singleplayer campaign consisting of five levels, with two duels apiece against versions of these new decks followed by a showdown with Nicol Bolas’ deck. Once you’ve earned the new decks, you can use them just like any other and they’ll be explained in detail shortly. The only disappointment here is that Nicol Bolas’ deck, a tri-color one focusing on laying the groundwork for a lot of rapid drawing and resource creation in the late game, is not playable once you beat him. This leaves us to consider the two new decks you do get.

The Red/Green deck is a typical exercise in the stereotype of such decks; it builds up a large number of low and mid-cost creatures, supporting them with various buffs and getting rid of obstacles through a little enchantment removal backed by several direct damage spells. It adds a twist by using synergy in that most of its creatures are of the Warrior type, and a few of them provide significant buffs to their fellow Warrior cards. Very straightforward and easy to play, this deck is good at what it does but at the same time has most of the usual weaknesses you’d expect. I’d recommend it if you like the basic idea of the mono-Red deck from the original game but didn’t like its construction.

On the other hand, the Blue/White deck is a fascinating example of the game design that goes into Magic. It has very few creatures, mostly just enough to protect itself while it builds up for a late-game scenario. Once there, it either tries to summon a pair of 11/11 (!) creatures to crush the opponent, or uses a variety of mass-discard style effects. Two of these cards require the opponent to put half of their library in the graveyard, and from there a variety of forced-draw effects can be used to make the opponent run out of cards. I’m not entirely sure just how practical this deck is (and I’m sure someone will prove me wrong on that), but it is very interesting.

The rest of the new content is a mixed bag, though I suspect this is intentional since the normal card game operates on the same principle. The major thing is a few new cards for each of the existing decks, some useful, some situational, and some bad in order to encourage player skill in filtering them out of your decks. You also have the previously mentioned puzzles and Two-Headed Giant material; take those as you will.

As with the normal game, the content in this expansion pack cannot be traded or used in building wholly new decks. You can make modest changes to existing decks, but that’s it. At this point it’s probably best to assume Duels of the Planeswalkers content will generally be that way, disappointing as that may be.

At 400 Points, you are admittedly getting less bang for your buck than the main release of Duels of the Planeswalkers offered. Whether it’s worthwhile to you really depends on two major questions: Do you want a Red/Green ’fast attack’ deck and/or a Blue/White ’mass discard’ one? Do the extra cards available for the existing decks help you? If so, this might be $5 well spent. I was pretty happy to get a Red/Green deck I actually enjoy playing, so I like this expansion. Yet I can admit these things may not interest everyone, and if that’s the case then you may want to get just the free version and wait for the next pack to see what it offers you.