Back in 1997, two of my worlds collided, when Wizards of the Coast and MicroProse came together to release Magic the Gathering: Duel of The Planeswalkers, also known as Shandalar.

I still occasionally play Magic to this day and I have always played computer games, while dabbling with Dungeons & Dragons along the way, so the fact that Shandalar is a wonderful combination of all three things, Magic + computer + role playing game created the perfect storm.

Microprose, 1997, 1-2 players, ages 6 and up. This game is really a blast, and a Magic junkie's dream. If you're jonesing to play some Magic and there aren't any warm bodies around, playing against this game's AI isn't half bad. Yes, it does some dumb things and there are a few bugs in the game, but overall the AI provides some decent challenge. Magic: The Gathering Arena is freeware software, meaning it is free to download and use, but the source code for Magic: The Gathering Arena is not available for the user to see. Magic: The Gathering Arena was developed and published by the company Wizards of the Coast. Read Full Description. One of the best computer translation of a non-computer games ever made, MicroProse's Magic: The Gathering not only deserves a Hall of Fame status for its faithful rendition of Wizard of the Coast's blockbuster trading card game of the same name, but also for the numerous innovations that are only possible as a computer game. For the uninitiated (and.

Starting Magic The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers in Shandalar

I never got into Magic: The Gathering Online (MTG:O), because for me Magic is meant to be played against a live opponent, where you can read your opponent’s body language, but a role playing computer game, based on random battles with Magic decks, that’s something I can get behind, and it was the fore-bearer to MTG:O.

As I said, it was released in 1997 by MicroProse, at a time when the once legendary game company was struggling. They put their most famous programmer’s name on the project, Sid Meier, best known for Civilization. It would turn out to be the last game he created at MicroProse, before leaving the company to found his own studio Firaxis Games.

Shandalar’s first incarnation came with four options for Magic players; Deckbuilding, Duels, Tournament Play and the Single Player RPG mode in the World of Shandalar.

Deckbuilding is easy and fun in Magic the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers

The Deckbuilding allowed you have free range of all 646 cards in the game, which consisted of 629 cards mainly from Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, with some additional cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends and The Dark. The game also included the five cards created from the Magic The Gathering Novels; Arena, Mana Crypt, Nalathni Dragon, Sewers of Estark, Windseeker Centaur, and Giant Badger, as well as 12 cards created for the game called the Astral set; Aswan Jaguar, Call from the Grave, Faerie Dragon, Gem Bazaar, Goblin Polka Band, Necropolis of Azar, Orcish Catapult, Pandora’s Box, Power Struggle, Prismatic Dragon, Rainbow Knights, and Whimsy.

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The Astral set cards had abilities that could not be used in the real game without logistical nightmares, such as random effects. This made these cards simultaneously great and scary at the same time.

The Astral Set in Magic the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers

The duels and tournament play allowed you to play with any deck you built, or the pre-made decks that came with the game, against any one opponent, or you could run the gauntlet and play a tournament.

All of that was great for testing out new strategies before you went to the game store with your actual deck, although it didn’t include some of the newer sets like Visions (1997), Mirage (1996), Alliances (1996), Homelands (1995), Ice Age (1995), or Fallen Empires (1994). However, it did allow you to easily play with the Power Nine, as well as, such rare cards from early expansion sets; Ali from Cairo, Old Man of the Sea, Psionic Blast, Juzaam Djinn, Berserk, Drop of Honey, Bazaar of Baghdad, Diamond Valley, Island of Wak-Wak, Library of Alexandria, and all of the original Duel Lands.

But the best thing about Shandalar was the single player mode, based in the land of Shandalar, where the roleplaying elements of inventory, gold, towns, dungeons, random battles, and character progression created a wonderful mix of Magic the Gathering and RPG.

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In the singleplayer mode of Shandalar were four difficulty levels; Apprentice, Magician, Sorcerer (spelled Sorceror), and Wizard. Then you selected your starting color; Red specializing “in the violence of Chaos and Combat,” White with a focus “on Healing, Protection and the Chivalrous arts of war,” Black with the power coming “from death and decay,” Green with magic that “can bring both soothing serenity and thunderous destruction,” and Blue which “thrives on mental energy, artifice and illusion.” Really, that’s no different than how the game was, before the colors got jumbled together in the weird vortex of the Time Spiral expansion Planar Chaos in 2007.

Back to the game, after you selected your difficulty and starting color, you could create your character’s look, then you give your character a name and you’re put right into the world map of Shandalar. The color you choose for your character allows you to walk faster through those parts of the map. If you select Green, you can walk faster through forests than if you had picked Red, and so on. It also decided the base starting deck you would begin the game with, although you could change your deck as you gained other cards.

Enter the domain of the Mighty Green Wizard and Paying for the Privilege

There are over 50 enemies running around the world of Shandalar waiting to take you down. They are either minions of one of the five Wizards (one for each color), or they are Mercenaries on their own. Either way, every duel is played for ante. Now, for those of you who are new to the game or have forgotten, back when Magic was a young game, almost all players played ante games and there were even ante cards, no banned in all tournament formats, as the original Alpha rules prescribed that all games were to be played for ante.

Of the nine ante cards that exist in Magic the Gathering only seven are in the game, because two; Amulet of Quoz from Ice Age and Timmerian Fiends from Homelands, were in sets not included within the game. Playing for ante is simple, before the game each player puts the top card of his deck aside and the winner of the game gets both cards. Shandalar works on the ante system because playing a few duels can net you quite the collection of cards to build a better deck with, or to sell for food or even to buy other cards, again to improve your own deck.

After each random duel outside of dungeons and castles, you will be give a choice to take some additional cards or take a dungeon clue about the location and creatures within a dungeon that contains some rare cards. The dungeons are hidden until the first clue about them is taken. Early on, it’s better to take the cards, to use or to sell, but once you have a deck you’re happy with and plenty of food and money, go for the clue and go after the rare cards.

You also have the option of not dueling in these random battles. You can pay off your enemy to avoid a duel or answer a riddle, and later in the game, when they fear you, they will give you tribute of a card, gold, food or information on another creature’s deck. The riddles are questions about what is the total casting cost of X, which of the following costs X Mana, what is the power or toughness of X, or which of the following has X ability.

The White Castle of Shandalar

Every so often one of the five Wizards will send one of their minions to attack a town. You don’t get the choice of a riddle or to pay them off, you have to face the creature and save the town. Also, while trekking across Shandalar things will appear; Mountains, Forests, Swamps, a ship, or and an Arena. These are wildcards, as I like to call them, so you could end up getting a free card, or being offered a battle for rare cards, or even being able to buy cards with money or amulets. These wildcards, so to speak, are tied to the Wizards of Shandalar. If you defeat the Red Wizardess you won’t see any Mountains appear as wildcards.

The Wizards of Shandalar aren’t hiding. They