Puzzling...
As a recreation of the card game, MTG:DotP does a pretty good job. You are automatically steered through each phase of your turn, potential options are highlighted and any work to support your choices (such as tapping lands for mana) is done for you. The AI plays extremely logically and will typically play its cards in the best possible (if often predictable) manner. This does make for a pretty tough adversary and if the going is too tough there is an option to bury the CPUs most powerful cards to the bottom of their deck.One limitation of the game is that as you only start with seven cards and as you typically draw only one card per round, luck plays a significant part of game. While this does mean each game is different each time you play it (and there is an option to redraw your initial hand of seven with no penalty once at the start of each match), some games can become quickly dominated by one player.
Unlike Microprose’s 1997 version, there is no story or plot in MTG:DotP. It’s purely an opportunity to play MTG against an AI or online. While this doesn’t really matter and arguably is better off for it, it does make the game seem a bit hollow to start with and reminds you that this is not a full price title. That said, the game also has a puzzle mode where you have one move to finish off an opponent from a seemingly impossible position. This is fun, but not completely bug-free as I managed to reduce my opponent’s health to -2 on one challenge and still did not succeed – presumably as this was not the move the game had calculated was required to win. You can also chose to play co-operatively against two AI hands, which adds another dimension to the game if you have a MTG-versed mate on hand or you wish to play two hands at once.
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