“…but i think this game was meant 2 b like mtg…”

            -scarletskyterror022, Wizards.COMmunity Boards – Duel Masters Gossip  

“…Duel Masters is a rip off of Magic the Gathering which is a great card game.”

            -Lord Ganon, Zelda Universe Forums 8/03/2005 

“Magic is more fun for me because I'm older and MTG is a more intellectual and challenging game.”

            -Brohamsandwich, DMRealms – General Discussion 5/26/2005 

“Duel Masters is dummy version of Magic”

            -andrew_heisler2000, international cc – Yahoo! Groups 3/18/2004 

“The big issue that got me to quit the game was that Duel Masters was and actually is a cheap rip-off of Richard Garfield's masterpiece, "Magic: The Gathering". Not to mention the simplicity of the game, the lack of challenge, and not enough cards in the game's card pool is what killed it IMO. The color wheel is pretty much identical to Magic and the resemblance between the 2 games and their abilities is uncanny at best. The concept was a little different but not that different.”

            -Card Slinger J, TGCPlayer.com Forums – past TCGs 4/30/2005 

“...funny thing most Magic players were calling Duelmasters Magic for dummies.”

          -jaqueton, DMRealms – General Discussion 8/26/2005 

Wow…that’s quite a bit bashing from the Magic: the Gathering play community. Let’s let that settle in a bit…

(contemplating…)

(contemplating…)

(contemplating…)

Gee…that’s a lot to take in. Still, could it be true? Are they right? Is Duel Masters just a “cheap rip-off of Richard Garfield’s masterpiece??” Let’s see – Duel Masters has creatures and so does Magic. Duel Masters has spells and so does Magic. Duel Masters uses mana to deploy resources and so does Magic. 

Yeah, they are seemingly alike, aren’t they? Let’s look at a few more striking similarities… 

Duel Masters is printed on card stock and so is Magic. In Duel Masters, you draw cards and a player also does so in Magic! In Duel Masters, the objective is to beat your opponent and…oh my gosh…it’s the same objective in Magic!! 

Wait…that’s true for nearly any collectible card game. Hhhhmmm…perhaps we shouldn’t be looking at the similarities. I mean, what good collectible card game (ccg) doesn’t use some sort of resource management, like mana? So what if they call it something different? What about this creature thing? Oh! Most ccg’s have creatures or something similar…hhhmmm. Ah! The spells! That’s what makes Duel Masters a rip-off of Magic! No…wait…plenty of other ccgs have spells or some sort of cards which produce temporary effects… 

Okay – fine! If Duel Masters is so worthy of standing on it’s own, what makes it so unique? 

Shields. 

Shields are an absolutely brilliant concept and frankly a large part of what drew me into the game. In no other game do you add to your opponents ability to beat you by trying to beat them. Every time you hit one of their shields you are allowing them to draw one more card. That one card could well be the difference between establishing a good defense or a match loss.  

Many players barely take this into consideration. Their dueling philosophy centers around the idea that they must take down their opponent and any opening they find to begin achieving, they must take. This philosophy is why many players who are good at another game find that their skill does not immediately translate into skill in Duel Masters – even Magic: the Gathering players. In most games if you have a chance to knock off a few life points or take out that weak little creature that will draw you that much closer to victory then you do it.  

Duel Masters is truly unique in that when assaulting shields, which seems recklessly simple, (because you have what seems to be an opening) often leads to your loss. I laugh at how often I have played against new players who I allowed to take most or all my shields only to dominate the board as soon as they had finished helping to give me a truly full and powerful hand which I would go on to dominate and control them with. All the while that player is sitting there shocked and proclaiming to their friends, “I almost beat him! I took down all of his shields!” Whoop-de-do! Is it any wonder I ended up winning. I was five cards up on you without having to cast a single spell or creature to make it so.  

Frankly, this is totally counter-intuitive and there’s nothing wrong with you if you have been fooled all the way up to this point. It does go to show that Duel Masters takes more thought than non-Duel Master players realize.  

But wait – it doesn’t stop there. Duel Masters has a minimum card count for a deck of 40 cards. In every other ccg product you want to keep you deck size as small as possible. Ideally, this gives you more control over what you are going to draw, thus allowing you to exact your strategy with that much more precision. In Duel Masters, you see decks average out at five to eight cards above and beyond the minimum. Are Duel Masters players just plain stupid? 

Nope – this is yet another one of those counter-intuitive and unique aspects about Duel Masters. While shields are an outright brilliant invention, it’s simply the overall mechanics of the game which have dictated the trend and preference for more than the minimum cards. No other ccg has this and it’s taken some pretty thoughtful players to realize it.  

Now – tell me Duel Masters is a dummy version of Magic.