I've been curious about Duel Masters since I first heard it existed, but I've already got a CCG addiction and how could anything compete with Magic? So I've never checked it out. Even so, little nuggets have dribbled down through Magic articles highlighting some interesting differences. This biggest is that there is no land, you can play any spell in your hand upside-down in place of a land. In Magic terms, all spells have "Exile CARDNAME from your hand: Put a basic land card that produces mana of this card's color onto the battlefield from outside the game." That's huge. You will never be land-screwed or land-flooded (though mana-screw is still possible, if you try real hard or get particularly unlucky). I'm concentrating on differences, but it's helpful context to know that Duel Masters has five colors that align directly to Magic's.
That's fodder for an entire article (or several) so we'll come back to that later. For now, my goal is to learn Duel Masters, absorb how it's different from Magic, and see what makes it tick regardless of its heredity. Why? You didn't hear? Ryan Miller is looking for an associate Kaijudo designer. Oh, and breadth of knowledge is important for a designer.The reason I'm sharing this with you is that in trying to learn about the game, I've discovered there are few good resources on the subject. I know from their tweets that a number of my friends in the Magic Design community are applying for the position and I know from the GDS2 that we can all do better if we pool resources. At the very least, we can help get each other up to speed.
For starters, here's an article and a video that give you the basics on how to play:
http://duelmasters.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_Play
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYryoUMRtX0
With that context serving as your base line, the best resource for more information I've found (thanks Metaghost and LuminumCan) is the Duel Masters wiki. It has a lot of great data, but in the immediate term, I intend to study the cards from the first set and the glossary of keywords.
Here are some rough notes explaining how Duel Masters is different from Magic:
- Instead of 20 life, you have 5 shields. Instead of dealing damage to you, each unblocked attacking creature destroys a shield. You lose when you are attacked with no shields.
- You attack with one creature at a time, in sequence, rather than in a batch. Creatures can attack a player or atapped creature they control. The defending player's creatures can't block unless they have the Blocker ability (and there's no double blocking).
- Power and toughness are consolidated into one number (and multiplied by 500 to look exciting, I guess). You never deal or track damage, you just compare stats. A 3000 power creature will survive combat with and destroy a 2000 power creature. The equivalent of Shock destroys a creature with 2000 power or less.
- Your shields are cards removed from your (40-card) deck at the start of the game. When one of your shields is destroyed, you add it to your hand. Some cards have a Shield Trigger ability that lets you cast it for free when you would draw it this way. There's another article or two here.
- All spells cost XC. That is, a green spell with a 4 in the upper-left-hand corner requires 4 mana and at least one of them must be green.
- There's no second main phase. Cast everything you mean to cast before you attack. You get decked when you draw your last card (rather then when you can't draw).
- Evolution creatures overwrite a creature of the listed type, change zones together, and have haste.
- Psychic creatures start the game in the Hyperspatial zone (Exile) and can only be cast if an effect allows it. After leaving play, they are returned to the Hyperspatial zone.
- Cross Gear = Equipment (with equip cost = mana cost)
Feel free to add to or correct this list or let me know if you've found other useful resources.
In future posts, we'll look at specific cards and mechanics and discuss how those make the game different from Magic and how they affect Duel Masters as an independent whole.
correction: any card with the circled number at the bottom can be land. essentially, any card.
ReplyDeleteIs there a typical type of card that lacks the circled number?
DeletePsychics, they lack the circled number
DeleteAnd cards that are all 5 civilizations.
DeleteCards of 5 civilizations have circled number but it's 0 so you can only use them for providing civilization not mana.(I am a DM player.)
DeleteTrue, but that can get a bit more confusing then we want right now. :)
DeleteWhoa. So you can tap one of these 5-civ cards in your mana zone to satisfy all the civ requirements for a spell, but it doesn't reduce the total cost? Interesting!
DeleteJay, I'm guessing the 5-civ cards aren't tapped at all, they simply exist in your mana zone to provide support for some of these later mechanics like "Civilization Breaker" which destroys X shields upon attack, where X is equal to the number of Civilizations you control.
DeleteLike a land with all basic land types but can't be tapped for mana, then.
DeleteThis can be confusing so beware.
DeleteThey can be tapped to provide civilization requirement for only one civilization not all civilizations at once, you still would need another card to provide civilization if you have a 2 civ card.
Eg. :
you have any 2 civ(fire/water or red/blue) card with a cost of 3, you tap one 5 civ card(for providing fire) and one blue card(for providing water civilization and one mana) and another card for mana.
Romit, I'm interpreting that as meaning that a 5-civ card can only be used to pay for "colored costs" (as we would say in Magic).
DeleteKnowing as little about the game as I do, I'm guessing that's just a system designed to prevent crazy decks that for whatever reason would only put 5-civ cards in their mana zone. Otherwise I can't see a lot of situations where your 5-civ card is nonfunctional.
Actually there are a few techniques in DM for returning any card from mana or summoning a creature directly from mana, and most 5 civ cards are powerful enough that putting them in mana makes it a win-win situation.
DeleteThough this is my thoughts on why 5-civ mana cards have 0 as mana number, actual reason may differ so I would rather let you confirm it from someone else.
Another game that I've never had the opportunity to play, but which was extremely innovative, is Hecatomb (also by Wizards of the Coast). It uses a mana system identical to Duel Masters, has four "colors," and from what I can remember it has similar combat rules to DM as well, but the extremely unique feature of the game was that it used plastic, pentagonal cards with transparent windows along their edges. The purpose of these was to enable the game's core mechanic: your "creatures" are made up of individual cards that are played on top of each other, stacking so that the combat statistics and abilities of each "minion" is visible through the transparent windows of the cards above it. You literally build your own customized creations in every game.
ReplyDeleteThe flavor was very niche (it had a horror theme, and the player is meant to be an individual attempting to bring about an apocalypse and remake the world in his or her image) which likely contributed some to the game's downfall. The biggest blow to it, though, was that rising oil prices made the production costs of the plastic cards too high to bear. It's a shame; the game only managed to put out a two-part base set plus a single expansion, with a second one never making it past the R&D stage. One of these days I may go ahead and buy a booster box or starter kit (if I can find one) on eBay, just so I can experience this game for myself (though I'd need to find someone willing to play with me, too. Preferably more than one, since the game is made with multiplayer in mind as well).
And a fun piece of trivia: The unfinished expansion set for the game had been planned to include a card representing Yawgmoth!
I played a game named ExistenZ last night. It was basically Magic with a board. And by 'basically', I mean the copied almost everything about Magic 1:1 and then simply added movement and range values to all the creatures. Unfortunately, it was also bad. Note to self, if you're going to clone a popular game, make sure it's better in as many ways as possible and worse in exactly none. Probably deserves an article to itself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was living in Japan, I acquired a starter deck for the short-live Berserk TCG (Berserk being a very popular Manga/Anime property that is not to be confused with this: http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/334/berserk-tcg-going-worldwide). I never learned how to play at the time, but I eventually found this poorly worded explanation: http://www.skullknight.net/encyclopedia/merchandise/tcg/index.html
DeleteThe key difference between it and Duel Masters, which it seems to be much more similar to than Magic, is that instead of attacking your opponent directly, your goal is to acquire territory. Because this aspect can lead to a great deal of back-and-forth, they've implemented a rather nihilistic resource system in which every card is "cast" via discarding other cards, and discarded cards are almost never shuffled back into your library. Thus, many games apparently end when someone gets "decked".
But it's also because of this territory mechanic that creatures all have range and movement values, as those values not only determine combat-order, but they also allow certain creatures to attack from within territories, while other creatures have to move from territory to territory.
So Many things to say about Duel Masters... awh heck just watch these guys http://www.youtube.com/user/EarthP0w3R?feature=g-u-u
ReplyDeleteFrom playing the Neopets TCG, I think my biggest takeaway would be "Darksteel Relics are fun for a lot of players".
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to this series. We'll be getting a promo copy of Kaijudo for review once it releases, which will be the first non-MTG set we review on-site. Bo helpful to know what I'm looking at before it arrives!
ReplyDeleteLucky lucky lucky!
DeletePS- is it just me, or do those Crimson Hammer guys look like kitsune?
ReplyDeleteFrom the very cursory browing I've done on the DM wiki, I think they're supposed to be Liquid People (humanoids made from some sort of semi-solid fluid)?
DeleteThey indeed are liquid people of Water(blue) civilization.
DeleteAnd as shown from their civilization, they're made of water.
The pages worth reading for more knowledge of civilizations :
http://duelmasters.wikia.com/wiki/Civilization
For more knowledge of story arc should be :
http://duelmasters.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline
And for everything there is the best source is wiki(my other links are also from there.)
http://duelmasters.wikia.com/wiki/
Wow, none of the creatures in Fire or Nature (from the base set) can block? None?!
ReplyDeleteI take that back, none of them have blocker in any (English) set. Wow.
DeleteUnrelated, I just found the dual lands. Released in set 10, they require C or D (or is it C and D) and can produce either from your mana zone, but have "(This creature is put into your mana zone tapped.)" Not sure why that's in parentheses. And not upside-down to align with the mana symbol.
Apparently they're called Rainbow Civilization and in fact require both colors of mana to cast.
DeleteRainbow is actually something that's more of a slang for multicolored if anything, but due to the set names for dm-10, its slang that kinda stuck for most people for years.
DeleteThe reason thats in parenthesis, is because its to remind people that they can't use it right away. It can provide either/or, not both at the same time (hence the 1 mana number on the bottom) but since it can make 2 kinds of mana, it can't be used unlike mono colored mana. As for the Fire and Nature Blocker thing, No mono Fire creatures can block, unless they have Light in their civ (japanese version) and in the Jap version, there's only 1 mono Nature Civ. Blocker
DeleteSo a fire-nature card in your mana zone can help you cast other fire and/or nature cards but can't be used for spells of other civilizations at all?
DeleteIt's in parentheses because it's reminder text; multicolor cards enter the mana zone tapped by default.
DeleteYou can use a fire nature card for paying the cost of other civilization but you can't use it for paying the civilization requirement of those cards.
DeleteTrying to read about this game is mind-numbing, as everything's wrapped in preposterous language.
ReplyDeleteAnd hilariously, there's a "Restricted" list, except it's dubbed "Hall of Fame". There's something so pure and joyful about that.
One thing's for sure, you definitely can't gauge the rarity or power level of a card from its name!
DeleteWell, reading mtg cards from a DM players perspective can look like a crazy language as well.
DeleteThe English game never had a ban/restricted list, but the Japanese site at takaratomy do refer to it as the "Hall of Fame", so that's what I did for the wiki. (With a redirect as well)
If there's anything about the game you want to know or find...I should be the person to help. :)
That's very true — there isn't really a significantly greater linguistic barrier between learning "double breaker" vs. "double strike". I suppose I'm mostly referring to the overwhelming nature of the visual design, which seems to have changed at a rapid pace over the years, and the naming system.
DeleteI'm looking at "Infinite Orchestra of Love" and can't help but furrow my brow.
Also, thanks for clarifying the "Hall of Fame" and offering your assistance!
You made most or all of the wiki, Yami Michael? Awesome. Thanks so much for that, it's a great resource.
DeleteTo clarify, all I really meant about the names is that in Magic, proper names are almost always legendary creatures which are almost always rare or mythic rare and usually pretty strong. In Duel Masters, it seems like any card of any strength or rarity can have a proper name. Not worse, of course, just different.
These sorts of names are used a LOT in the Japanese language in general, because the structure of the writing lets you compress an entire word into just 1-3 symbols, allowing a much greater density of words and concepts to fit into a smaller area (in physical space and in one's memory).
DeleteThe choice to take those incredibly dense phrases and translate them (more or less) directly into English is highly questionable. It's easier than requiring the localization team to rename basically everything to something more appropriate for the language, but at the cost of often being nearly unparseable by your English-speaking audience.
Alex, I imagine Chah could go into more detail, but what you're describing isn't especially accurate, other than the notion that the translations are hyper-literal.
DeleteJapanese is no more of a compressible language than English, as most readings for an individual kanji are typically just a single syllable/phoneme, and much of the language used in Duel Masters is actually imaginary or borrowed language, so it's written in katakana. And since Duel Masters is effectively a kids game, and kids aren't expected to have memorized most of the outrageous kanji used in some of these, you'll notice that every kanji is written with a pronunciation guide above the character.
In short: There's no purely linguistic explanation for this naming system; I'd say it's just done for "style", something that evokes Chinese mythology and grand fantasy. And is often ridiculous.
Actually in Japan DM is meant for 12+ afair, and 12 is quite an age for remembering difficult pronunciations, that's not saying that it may very well not be kanji as you said and just be katakana but I thought I should point this out :)
DeleteI thought I saw that the boosters say 10+. Either way, I believe that age-group is typically expected to know roughly 2000 of the 10,000+ practical kanji, so I can't imagine things like 超神聖 (choushinsei/supernova) are in your average middle schooler's Kanji vocabulary. And the difference between writing 超神聖 vs. ちょうしんせい is only the width of ~3 characters, relevant only because they spent another 10 characters phonetically spelling "Black Hole Thanatos".
DeleteGood point on the phonetic spellings. Those totally contradict what I was saying about compression. :-/
DeleteThe Duel Masters game file and set files for Octgn can be downloaded here: http://octgn.gamersjudgement.com/viewforum.php?f=12
ReplyDeleteVery useful for searching for and reading through cards. That we can build decks and even play each other is icing.
Put together a Darkness deck and a Fire/Nature deck. Neither have blockers. Game seems pretty uninteractive, but I'm probably missing something. My fault for building without blockers? Racing seems good (for the player who wins the die-roll).
ReplyDeleteAlso not sure how anyone gets past four mana. Again, I'm probably just building wrong, but Aggro seems dominant.
DeleteOkay, I built a Light deck with blockers and it stomped the RG deck. The only card that even slowed W down was Rothus, the Traveler which is a 3R 4/4 with "When ~ ETB, each player sacrifices a creature."
DeleteAre you still working with just the first 10 sets?
DeleteSomething I was confused by:
Every creature that naturally has Blocker also has a line of text saying that that creature can't attack. But it's not like Defender, in which the inability to attack is part of the keyword.
So, at some point they printed a Darkness creature that gives all of your OPPONENT'S creatures Blocker. And that's it. It doesn't say that those creatures can't attack.
What gives?
I am working with just the first 12 sets.
DeleteCreatures with blocker in the first set (in all three blocking/Esper colors) have can't-attack, can't-attack-players, or no attacking restriction at all.
What zany creature is this? And from which set?
I tried to find it again, but no dice. It was a Super-Rare from one of the later sets (20+).
DeleteOnce I get some time to set up OCTGN, I'll definitely join in on some learning.
The ability to not attack is different then the ability of blockers, though most low cost blockers can't attack and that "zany creature" metaghost talked about was : Diablost
DeleteAlso an example of a really powerful blocker, although this one is evolution :
DeleteAlkaizam
Romit, can you explain the tactical value of Diablost?
DeleteBecause it seems to me that Blocker is a beneficial ability under most circumstances, so I can't wrap my head around why that card grants that ability to opposing creatures.
It's a drawback. You get an undercosted 6000 power / double breaker for just 5 mana. To compensate, you give all your opponent's creatures the ability to block it.
DeleteIt's funny, I was somewhat expecting DM cards to eschew drawbacks and lean more heavily toward all-upside cards, but that's definitely not the case. Maybe the opposite.
Ah, I didn't register that because so many of the other Super Rares are things like:
DeleteWhen CARDNAME attacks, return each permanent defending player controls to their owners' hands.
And then they have Worldbreaker to boot.
Oh combine it with Scarlet Skyterror, instant field clearance.
DeleteYou can even use Crystal Paladin instead for a less powerful field clearance.
I won't be watching this post now, so you guys can contact me on my Google Account if you want to, else DM Wiki is your source for more information.
DeleteSince these days, cost 5 6000+ power double breakers are easy to get with psychic creatures, it's best if you use Diablost as the center of a deck with lots of blocker hate.
ReplyDelete