Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 puts players behind a small pile of cards and asks them to win enough fights to earn more. That simple idea, carried across Android, PC, iOS, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, holds the whole game together. It also shows every weakness in it.
Trailer, via IGN.
The Deck-Building Hook
The core trick here is the custom deck. Players build their own piles of cards, then win matches to earn experience and add more cards of their choice to the collection. That loop turns a simple card game into something closer to a collection game, where winning a fight feeds back into what you can play next.
The game also lets players open virtual booster packs, giving more choices when building a deck. The game itself offers advice on building decks too, pointing players toward combinations that work well together. Taken together, these systems turn a plain card fight into a game with some depth to it.
The Realm System
The game breaks its content into realms, each tied to a particular color of magic. Players start with the first realm, four battles, free on iPad. After that, the game moves behind a paywall on the iPad, charging for the remaining realms, more cards and extra features. The other platforms keep the full game at a flat price of $10.
That split is the clearest sign of the game’s identity problem. The iPad version feels like a stripped-down trial version of a game that costs money elsewhere. The rest of the platforms get the full package at a fixed cost. It is a strange arrangement, especially since the game’s appeal rests on collecting cards over time.
The Fighting Itself
The actual fighting follows the rules of the original card game, though the game keeps things simpler than the physical version. Matches move quickly once the pieces are placed, and the bird’s-eye view gives a clear picture of what is happening on the board. Nothing here feels like a major step forward for the series.
Where the game stumbles is in the pacing between matches. Winning a fight earns experience and opens up new cards, but the game rarely tells players exactly what they have earned or why. The progress system is there, but it never feels fully explained.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The strengths of Magic 2015 are easy to see:
| Feature | Strength |
|---|---|
| Custom deck building | A real reason to keep playing |
| Virtual booster packs | More choices when building decks |
| Realm structure | Organizes content clearly |
The weaknesses are just as clear:
| Feature | Weakness |
|---|---|
| iPad pricing model | Split pricing across platforms |
| Progress tracking | Little explanation of earned rewards |
| Core fighting | Follows the original rules closely |
“Players are given the ability to create custom decks.”
That line sums up the whole game. It is a card game dressed up with a collection layer, and the collection layer is the part worth caring about.
Our Verdict
Magic 2015 is a solid, if modest, entry in a long-running series. It does not change the formula much, but it executes the existing formula well. The deck-building and booster-pack systems give it a sense of progression that the earlier games in the series lacked.
The iPad version, however, is a different matter. Its paywall structure leaves players who start on that platform feeling shortchanged compared to everyone else. That is a problem for a game that depends on a shared community of players.
For players on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Android, Magic 2015 offers a satisfying card game with a clever collection system. For iPad players, the value proposition is far less clear.
The game is best enjoyed as a casual diversion rather than a deep strategy title. It does not ask much of players, and it does not offer much beyond the core loop of winning fights and earning cards. That simplicity is both a strength and a limitation.
Magic 2015 earns a 5.7 out of 10.
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