Arena of the Planeswalkers Review Shadows Over Innistrad

Loonshit of the Planeswalkers: Shadows over Innistrad Review

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Howdy there, Magic fans. Let's take a look at the new Magic: the Gathering board game, Arena of the Planeswalkers: Shadows over Innistrad. Just first a little about myself: I have been a longtime fan of Magic: The Gathering and collected cards from various sets over many years. I have played tons of other pop card games every bit well, but I accept mainly been an avid lath gamer. I have played games all my life, but I started actually getting into games when I was in high school, and my interest has grown ever since. I have contributed to the gaming customs in a variety of means, including through many reviews, articles, and discussions, and have contributed heavily to a number of fan websites for my favorite games. If you've ever seen annihilation submitted by a user name of gamjuven, that was me. I take also been a playtester for a couple of games, including being a senior playtester for Plaid Hat Games' popular series,Summoner Wars. However, today I am here to talk about Arena of the Planeswalkers, and more specifically, the 2d expansion, chosen Shadows over Innistrad.

Arena of the Planeswalker: Shadows over Innistrad ($29.99)

Start, permit's delve into a fiddling history: Arena of the Planeswalkers has unfortunately been under the radar of many Magic fans, mainly due to a lack of advertising. This comes as no surprise to lath gamers, equally everyone knows that unless the product is D&D or Magic the card game, yous don't get a ton of publicity. This is a crying shame, equally Arena of the Planeswalkers is a very fun game. Information technology has its roots in another board game chosen Heroscape, which is a longtime favorite of many board gamers whose fanbase is however very active. When I first heard of Arena of the Planeswalkers, I got very excited because it combined two intellectual backdrop that I really enjoyed: Heroscape and Magic: The Gathering. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, and when I finally did, I was not disappointed. It really did combine my honey of miniatures combat with the card playing of Magic. The kickoff expansion didn't have the army / deck building aspect, and so for that it was lacking, but it was a great start.

And then, right around the time that nosotros were adventuring in Zendikar in the carte du jour game, fighting off tentacle Eldrazi, Arena of the Planeswalkers received a much-needed expansion chosen Battle for Zendikar. Nosotros got new spells, new units, an increased army size, and more flexibility for a game we already loved. We still didn't take a lot of army building, although with the inclusion of the game'south commencement multicolored planeswalker (Kiora) equally well as some new colorless units (Eldrazi Devastator and Eldrazi Scions), we definitely had more than options.

Then, early this year, information technology was announced that we would get another expansion. This would be a larger expansion that could actually be played all by itself—a second base-set game, if you will. This expansion would center around the famous Innistrad plane, which has e'er been one of my favorites. We finally got some more details a month ago, and I am fortunate to have already purchased several copies myself. I finally present to yous Loonshit of the Planeswalkers: Shadows over Innistrad!

What's in the Box

Shadows over Innistrad gives you 24 miniatures, 8 dice, several 2-sided map boards, 48 spell cards, three funky-looking Cyptoliths, 9 sand terrain tiles, 2 glyphs, and lots of petty red wound markers and augment tokens. The expansion is themed after the carte du jour set with the same name, so everything is dripping with that wonderful gothic horror theme. There are four Planeswalkers to choose from: Sorin (our friendly neighborhood vampire in white / blackness), Jace (Mr. Pop himself in blue), Nahiri (that one aroused Kor who put the Eldrazi away the first time in cerise / white), and Arlinn Kord (lady by mean solar day, Werewolf by nighttime in ruby / green). The planeswalkers figures are all prepainted and very well done, in my opinion. This doesn't terminate the more artfully inclined to repaint, but it's a dainty bonus touch. Also, Arlinn Kord too gets her Werewolf self in figure form to transform during the game, which is something Heroscape never touched upon but is an awesome addition.

The rest of the figures are separated into their diverse colors. Nosotros become the three-figured squad Avacynian Inquisitors alongside Avacyn herself for white. We become three Bloodline Noble vampires and a Mad Prophet in ruddy. We get 2 Lantern Geists and a Necro-Alchemist in blue. Nosotros go a Ghoul Vanguard and three Skirsdag Cultists in black. And lastly, nosotros go two Kessig Rangers in greenish that can transform into two Werewolves. All of these figures are mono-colored for ease of gameplay.

I think the sculpts for all of the figures are top-notch. They are made with decent plastic that tin can withstand a lot of abuse, and kids absolutely dearest them (I'one thousand a 31-twelvemonth-erstwhile child at center; leave me alone). We hit a lot of the cool Innistrad-themed checkboxes besides, with an Angel, a Zombie, Vampires, Ghosts, Werewolves, Inquisitors, and Cultists. The art comes from our favorite artists, and it's fun to have them brought into figure form.

Pieces of the Puzzle Comparison with Magic: the Gathering

Ever After Comparison with Magic: the Gathering

We as well get 12 spell cards for each planeswalker. Since nosotros accept dual-color planeswalkers, the spell colors are spread out, with 12 cards for the colors red, white, and blueish, while green and blackness merely get 6. These likewise use the same corresponding Magic art we all love, which fit into the game very nicely. Fun story: I brought my Loonshit of the Planeswalkers cards to the Gencon gaming convention last year and got several of the cards signed by the artists. I of the cards was Liliana's Caress, drawn past Steve Argyle. When I gave him the card to sign, he got very dislocated and turned the card over and over, examining it. He had never seen the cards before. I was the very first person e'er to inquire him to sign cards from this game. He signed it in beautiful purple ink (every bit he does with all of the black cards he signs), and it was a fun moment.

Gameplay

And now, onto the gameplay! If you happen to have played Heroscape before, you are ninety% of the mode to knowing how Loonshit of the Planeswalkers is played. If non, no worries—it'southward a very easy game to larn! The game has miniature combat with card playing, dice rolling, and army building, and is created for ages 10+. You lot start out by choosing a planeswalker and building an ground forces within that planeswalker'south colors, upwardly to a 500-point limit. You volition so build a deck of exactly 12 spell cards, upwards to a 200-point limit, also within your planeswalker's colors. Later your gather your figures and army cards and such, you will choose a scenario, set up the map, including terrain, roll a d20 die to come across who goes first, choose a side, and off you lot go! They also accept recommended armies and spell deck compositions in the rulebook, if you don't feel like figuring all that out your starting time time.

The goal is by and large to eliminate the opposing planeswalker, although at that place are several different scenarios with dissimilar goals for diverseness, if you cull. The games terminal a number of turns, which are tracked with a token in the rulebook. You start out with three spell cards in your mitt, and at the showtime of your turn, you draw an additional card. You then choose an army card to activate. In the commencement of the game, you only have your planeswalker on the map, but each planeswalker may summon the other units onto the battlefield subsequently they activate. You then move with the activated army menu figures, and set on with those same figures. You end the turn past moving the turn tracker marker by one, and then your opponent takes a turn. It'southward basically that like shooting fish in a barrel.

There are windows for playing spell cards, but they never become equally complicated as the bill of fare game can get. The spells are pretty self-explanatory and do similar things to what they do in the card game. For example:

There are sorcery spell cards, which are merely played then go to your graveyard, equally well as enchantments, which are played on army cards and provide diverse bonuses. There is no resource direction (pause for reader-recovery). All spells are free, but you lot tin only play three per plough, and you lot only ever have those 12 cards with which to commencement. The spells themselves are a resources that yous have to use wisely, because once those are gone, you take no more than to play.

You have a variety of numbers on an army card: motility, life, range, your power and toughness, your size and peak on the bottom left, and lastly, the point cost for the army card (with individual figure costs cleaved down for partial scoring, in case of a tie at the end of the game).

During your movement stage, y'all are simply looking at the activated army card's movement value and moving the figures on that carte du jour upwards to that many spaces. There are terrain rules for water, cryptoliths, roads, and the sand tiles, just in general, they either cost more than motion points to traverse or give you lot more movement points. Once you are done moving, you may assault.

Attacking is also very uncomplicated. You choose a target, meet if you tin run across the target (from the figure's point of view), so curlicue your power dice for that figure. The defending figure rolls die equal to their toughness. Spells, enchantments, special abilities, and terrain can all modify how many dice you roll, but y'all compare the amount of hits you take with the amount of shields your opponent has, then that effigy receives wound markers equal to the difference. Unless you accept a special ability that says otherwise, only the attacked figure receives damage, unlike the card game. If a figure receives impairment equal to its life total, it is destroyed and the figure is placed in your graveyard.

You volition spend your turns activating various units / heroes / planeswalkers, maneuvering around the map, and attempting to eliminate the opposition with attacks and spells. It's a fast and furious game filled with the highs and lows that dice rolling can give. One turn, you lot are sitting pretty on a hillside firing arrows down upon your enemies with your Kessig Ranger, only to exist destroyed the next plough past a swooping Avacyn and then have your former compatriot brought back past the spell Ever Subsequently, and being attacked by it!

The games play very quickly for a minis game, especially with a 30-turn (i.e., y'all each have 15 turns) limit, as well every bit a frequent goal of losing whenever your planeswalker is killed. This game improved upon the original base ready, in that that are army-building options available with only this prepare. The original set had v planeswalkers, ane for each color, and 2 squads for each as well, but since everything was mono-colored, in that location was no army building. Shadows over Innistrad gives y'all a ton of flexibility. With the exception of Jace and the blue units, everything else can be mixed around. The aforementioned can be said with the spells. This is the biggest difference this expansion makes, and information technology'southward a very good improvement.

Another wonderful thing that this base set has that the others didn't is that there is more to buy if you love it. The first base of operations set came out, and one of the biggest gripes was that there wasn't plenty nevertheless. Well, there is some other base set and an expansion filled with figures to expand your drove. I am so thankful that Hasbro has continued to back up the game. We are getting exactly what we demand with each additional expansion. I also really like that this expansion is a standalone. Everything you lot need to play is in this set. It's very easy to dip your feet into the game and check it out.

The abilities are varied, thematic, and fun to use. It is thrilling to transform Arlinn and then run around pulverizing units. I express mirth with sinister glee (is there whatever other kind?) when I destroy a figure with Sorin, play a spell, and remove four wound markers from him. The diverse colors and abilities experience like their Magic counterparts. Cerise is ambitious and oftentimes hurts itself in the process of killing its enemies, while blueish disrupts and controls. White units never die, with their healing, while black resurrects and withers its opponents. Meanwhile, light-green boosts its units and moves them all nearly the battlefield, leaving no space safe. It's all wonderful fun.

Wrap Upward

The ease with which the game is played is a boon as well. Kids really honey this game, and it's a peachy gateway to other board games besides equally Magic: the Gathering itself. In that location is nothing quite similar looking at a table filled with terrain and miniatures, and this is specially true when it also doesn't require associates or hobby skills. This game has piece of cake admission and easy setup. It attracts people to the table. Magic already has a very dedicated fan base, and this game could have it too. There is room for both at the table, I believe. This game is very inexpensive, fifty-fifty including buying the other base of operations set and first expansion. The deals have never been amend.

If I had complaints about the game, I would be neglectful non to mention that some of the cards still have dominion ambiguities. This has been an ongoing frustration, and I'm non really sure why. Information technology seems like FAQs in the rulebook or after release could take easily fixed the issues, but for whatever reason, they haven't happened, and we the fans have been relying on contacting support ourselves. This, alongside the card game being so good well-nigh rules, makes information technology a niggling odd, simply then again, like I said before, this game isn't technically Magic: the Gathering or D&D.

The plow counter is also pretty dumb. It is in the rulebook, so if you have to await upward a ruling while playing, you have the awkward job of trying not to lose your identify with a plow marker that's so tiny that some people probably take accidentally thrown it abroad. It wouldn't have been too hard to include a carve up plough chart or player aids, for that matter. Luckily, board game fans are resourceful, and there are costless downloads to help mitigate these pocket-sized bug. One could besides complain about the lack of prepainted miniatures all around, only hoping for Heroscape ii.0 is a little too lofty. The sculpts and the existing pigment jobs on the planeswalkers are very decent, and as I said before, if one wanted to pigment them, nobody is stopping yous.

All in all, I really love this game. I especially enjoy what it does in terms of expanding what'southward already there, but it works as a standalone but fine. This is a great addition to one's library, whether ane is a fan of Magic or lath games in general, and it's a fine gateway into that gaming earth. Bring it to your next Magic nighttime at your local gaming store, and watch both kids' and adults' faces light up at seeing their favorite menu game brought to life on the tabular array. If you fabricated it all the way through this review, that is an amazing feat itself, and then requite yourself a pat on the back and then apace go out and get a copy for yourself! Thank you for reading!

Production Links

• Buy Arena of the Planeswalkers: Shadows over Innistrad from Amazon.com ($29.99)
• Purchase Arena of the Planeswalkers: Battle for Zendikar from Amazon.com ($xix.65)
• Purchase Arena of the Planeswalkers from Amazon.com ($13.79)

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Source: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/arena-of-the-planeswalkers-shadows-over-innistrad-review

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