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Revision #2
Hand-written Russian version.
original text
Revision #3
Deeper article with inline citations from many sources; expansion names corrected (Griffin Bane, Time of Renewal), console edition and closure detailed; no manual Sources list.
original text
Might & Magic: Duel of Champions was a free-to-play online
collectible card game by Ubisoft Québec, published
set
by
in
Ubisoft
Ashan
.
,
Each
the
player
world
led a hero
of one
Heroes
faction
V
and played
creatures
VI
, spells
with
and
cross-platform
fortune
play
cards
between
against
PC
an
and
opponent
iPad[1]
. Its
It
factions
ran
were
from
those
2012
of
until
the
its
Ashan
servers
setting
were
known
switched
from
off
Heroes
on
V
31
and
October
VI
2016[1]
.
• PC:
Ubisoft announced the game on
13
24
September
April
2012 , with a closed beta already running in France[1][1]
.
• iPad:
The open beta began on
20
13
December
September
2012 (
closed
through Uplay, at first
in
without
September
North
2015
America[1][1]
).
.
• PlayStation
Sources give different dates for the full launch — Celestial Heavens and Gamepressure give 18 December 2012[1][1]
3
—
and the iPad
Xbox
version
360:
followed
23
in
July
December
2014
2012[1]
.
• Closed:
A
all
Russian
servers
version
shut
with
down
about
on
600
31
cards
October
was
2016
published
. Ubisoft
said
in
the
September
player
2013
base
by
was
Fabrika
too
Online
small
for
to
Russia
,
keep
Ukraine
developing
and supporting
the game
CIS[1]
.
• The game arrived on Steam on 7 November 2013[1][1].
• A separate paid edition for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Duel of Champions: Forgotten Wars, came out on 23 July 2014 for $9.99, with 650 cards, 30 single-player missions and no random packs[1].
How it played
• Cards
Each player's half of the battlefield had two rows of four slots — a front row for melee creatures and a back
were
row
collected
for
in
ranged
packs
ones[1][1]; moving
bought
creatures
with
between
real
lanes
money
was
or
central
in-game
to
currency
play[1]
.
• Each
Resources
side's
grew
battlefield
every
had
turn
,
two
and
rows of
four slots:
a front
card
row
also
for
needed
melee creatures and
a back
minimum
row
in
for
one
ranged
of
ones
the
. Flying
creatures
hero's
could
three
be
statistics
placed
—
in
Might, Magic
either
and
row
Destiny[1][1]
.
• Resources
Card
grew automatically
each
types
turn — there
were no
creatures
,
land
spells
cards
—
and the
fortunes, plus
cards
a
a
shared
deck could
of
hold
events
depended
both
on
players
the
could
hero's
buy
faction
into[1][1]
and magic schools
.
• A deck held one hero, eight events and 50–200 other cards, at most four copies of a card[1][1].
• Later updates added spectator mode and unranked duels in June 2014 and a draft mode in October 2015[1].
The design aimed to be easy to enter, and producer Stephane Jankowski said players who never paid could still reach the top — it only took longer[1].
Factions
Haven, Necropolis, Inferno and Stronghold at
were in the base
launch
game
; Sanctuary arrived with Void Rising and Academy with Forgotten Wars
Wars[1][1]
.
Expansions
Forgotten Wars
September 2013
155
The Five Towers
December 2013
80
Heart of Nightmares
April 2014
100
Griffin Bane
July 2014
100
Sins of Betrayal
October 2014
—
Time of Renewal
April 2015
170 (24 new, 146 rebalanced)
Names and dates follow the game's Steam announcements and the French Wikipedia article[1][1].
Competitive play
Ubisoft ran a world championship called Road to Paris. The 2013 edition had qualifiers at Gamescom and online and a final with eight players at Paris Games Week in November 2013[1]; more than 1,500 players took part[1], and the title went to Avkall with a Stronghold deck[1]. A 2014 edition followed, with monthly cups and world finals in January 2015[1].
Reception
• Critics liked it: Metacritic lists 84 for PC and 82 for iOS[1], Pocket Gamer gave 4 out of 5[1] and GameWatcher 8 out of 10[1].
• Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik called it his favourite collectible card game[1].
• The common complaint was the grind: paying players had an advantage early on, and others faced a long climb[1].
The end
• Most of the core team moved to Assassin's Creed Syndicate in 2014; work slowed and stopped in 2015, and a pitched sequel was cancelled the same year[1].
• On 26 August 2016 Ubisoft announced that the real-money shop was closing at once and that the game, its website and forums would shut down on 31 October 2016, without refunds[1][1].
• The console edition was delisted in August 2016[1].
• Fans have kept the game alive on a private server since 2019[1][1].
Ubisoft's next card game in the series came almost a decade later: Might & Magic Fates TCG.
Discussion: the game's forum board.
Added
Removed