Have always wanted to try this game even back in the days when it was just a physical card game. This allows me to at least learn how it works without the pressure of someone else on the other end being frustrated. Anyway, are there any good strategy resources out there that seasoned players can recommend? I was doing really well with the campaign and suddenly I hit a spot I cannot get past no matter what deck I try. I've lost at least 20 times in a row to the second person in Innistrad (encounter: Stampede). I do realize that they play the same hand every single time, so I've been trying to shuffle my hand until I get cards that have worked to an extent. But so far nothing has gotten even gotten half of their health down. I guess what I'm looking for is some things to look out for with going against certain deck builds. Right now it seems the opponent has 3 monsters out before I have anything to use, then uses an ability that essentially doubles their damage and I'm dead. Thanks!
What's the criteria for earning gold on the bosses in the campaign? It's not based on damage taken, because even a flawless duel with talrand still left me at bronze. Maybe it's based on turns taken?
Maybe empty out your task list and reboot? Because it's running perfectly smooth on my iPad 1 (except for the planeschasing duels as others have reported).
I'd consider skipping it for now then untill you've unlocked some more decks. I have beaten this encounter with goblin gangland,peacekeepers and obedient dead. There are countless ways to approach an encounter and part of the fun lies in discovering how to beat 'm with every deck.A very good way to learn the tricks of the cards and some advanced strategies is playing the challenges. Not everyone is a fan of this puzzle-esque mode but for newcomers i'd highly recommend trying them.
I forgot too. Now I'm wondering if I should switch to archmage now that I'm getting a grasp of the game. Do you miss out on rewards if you are just at the Mage setting?
As far as i can tell just the golden medals. I didn't see any achievements for playing higher difficulties.
Any suggestion how to optimise the deck. I am still at Mage (lowest level) but now I get too many creatures and not enough lands. Btw I find it a pity the minimum deck size if 60. Is it so also in the physical game?
Physical game requires the strict minimum of 60 cards only when played constructed sanctioned events, certain times proper written decklist is required, with also 15 extra cards listed as a sideboard (you may switch some or all of these 15 sideboard cards after the first game and then always between one subsequent game and another). There are certain type of tournament (draft) which eventually allow 40 cards as the strict minimum. There is no a maximum cards amount limit instead, provided you're fully capable to shuffle properly the deck. The 60 number is by the way the best, since skilled deckbuilders and players always know well how this limit is good for creating more consistent decks. Back to your first question... When you go to Deckbuild menu option, you may switch unlocked cards (you may pull off some of then or even some of your starting basic deck, of course you're still forced to a minimum deck size) with basic deck cards, and the game will add proper amount of basic lands (or you'll incur in mostly mana short situation, very bad thing...), so you cannot choose by yourself how many basic lands to put in deck. You may only choose how many spell cards (creatures, instants, sorceries, non-basic lands etc...) will go in you currently selected deck. Maybe there's one thing you may do to perform better, since I sense that will explain your weird situation of having too many spell while a poor amount of mana (for me, usually this game drops too many lands and fewer spell, LOL!!!). On the first starting hand you're entitled to take a mulligan, it's quite wise to check the medium cost of your current hand spells and how much lands you have: if you're starting with a hand (let's say) with 4/5 spells with converted mana cost of 4/5 and you have of course 2/3 lands you're at the very limit of proper playability, and it's better to start over again and hope for a fresh 7-cards new hands with possibily some 3/4 mana cost spells and 4/3 lands ready. This is a common sense when playing mana demanding decks (mostly monoblue or monoblack control ones), for sure the monogreen deck is quite different as initial approach, since there are some cards which will even provide to fetch some extra lands after the second turn. Monored decks instead need only a bunch of low-cost spells in starting hand (possibly burn spells or wicked goblins), while monowhite decks are another completely different thing, since they heavily relies of exactly with which specific cards you're starting. It's hard to explain here properly in few words, but let's say the more you play, the more playing experience you acquire, then the more you will know about how much a good starting hand will influence a match final outcome. Hope have helped you!
Except for the medal matter, nothing is missed. Instead, lowering a difficult level and doing customized matches against AI can help greatly in faster unlocking extra cards of decks and even certain Gamecenter achievements. Not mentioning of course simply continuously winning at certain poorly performing Encounters (way much faster).
Okay a few quick questions. I am sorry if they have already been answered. First, I thought you could play 2 headed giant mode with another human player, but I can't see how to do that. There's no option to do so. The next I need to test out some more. I had a red card with a symbol on it, tapping lands gives +1/1. I know I need to do this after the card has been in my hand since the start of the hand, but doing so doesn't seem to help at all, I still can't play the card's benefits. When do I need to do this, or how?
Grazie jools. And no, I am really Italian not just playing it. I see my issue is the starting hand indeed when latest get one land and mana expensive monsters/spells. While this worked fine against a white deck (I am using red) I am am being crushed by the green one. I guess I just hope my iPad stops drawing such a horrible first hand for me!
You have the card on the battle field. Double tap it to enlarge. Now tap on the greyed out text with the ability explenation. It will then let you choose how many lands you wanna tap. This can be done at any time except when declaring attackers and blockers. So if you wanna use this when blocking be quick to tap the sandrunner when attackers are declared. A bit tricky sometimes but with a little practice you'll get used to it. I haven't tried any multiplayer yet so i can't comment on the two headed giant.
A lot of Magic strategy is about matchups between decks - it used to be people talked about Rock-Paper-Scissors because Deck A is really good against Deck B, but rubbish against Deck C. Some of the encounters are really unfair and force you to think about which deck you're playing. I think you're talking about the Encounter where he makes endless Hydras that double in size every turn? What you have to recognise there is that he's always going to be stronger than you in the later game so you have to try and end the game early. I played through the Campaign and Revenge pretty much solely using Chandra's red burn deck, but that Encounter was like hitting a brick wall - my burn spells can't hope to control his 5/5 Hydra turning into a 10/10. I switched my deck out to Liliana for her Murders and Innocent Bloods, which kill creatures of any size... it got better but as soon as I hit a single monster that I didn't have removal for it grew so big that I lost. I recognised that the key would be to win quickly, before the big Hydras could get going, and I switched to Talrand in order to beat him down from the air... and finally won. The Encounters aren't really at all like normal games of Magic, they're more like thought experiments, "faced with this problem, what tool is going to give me the best chance of success". Hope that helps!
I had this - I think they just got overloaded by the amount of people picking up the game. Seemed to be synched up this morning, but I'd expect a few wrinkles for a while until it's all ironed out.
Bug found... Ouch, maybe I've found a little bug... Completed all Challenges (even the 5 Praetors with each win) but the "Master of Puzzles" achievement won't result in my profile, even when reported by the final Challenge win screen. Playing always at Planeswalker difficult level (though this may irrelevant since these puzzles doesn't have difficult levels lol). This occurs in my ipad2, with GC profile of course loaded and I've tried to redo all of these challenges but apart from screen reporting victories, the achievement still won't get effectively assigned both nor in profile status not in Gamecenter profile. Probably is it a bug? Hope this will be considered by devs.
Lol... One thing greatly popular in magic: never pair a monored burn or goblins deck against a massive creatures monogreen. You'll be mostly of times... Let's say in our italian manner... ASFALTATO! (utterly crushed) ) Probably you picked a very bad matchup, of course that's only my opinion.
I used the Krenko's monored (as already said in a previous answer here), you maybe must pay some attention on initial starting hand sinergies, then you're going to an autowin each time. I'm unlocking this deck extra cards with only this Encounter... Of course, check my previous post here for a little detailed suggestion. Surely, this Encounter demand consistency and speed, it's useless to think of a decent strategy with wiping spells: once settled, opponent keep putting hydras, so sooner or later you'll end up short of removals. You always need to kill before being killed here.
