I've spent today working on the collection and deck editor screens for Planar Conquest, and I'm excited to share a couple more screenshots along with some important information they reveal.
The first screenshot reveals an important difference between Planar Conquest and Quest mode. Instead of being able to build any number of constructed decks as in Quest mode, you'll only be able to build one deck for every commander you unlock, but each commander/deck will have his or her individual record tracked. This is why you choose a starting commander when creating a new Planar Conquest. As per the Commander format, you'll only be able to include cards from that commander's color identity in the deck.
That said, I should note that this doesn't mean every game is going to be a Commander game. As promised, Planar Conquest will feature various game types including Constructed, Commander, Planechase, Archenemy, Vanguard, Draft, and Sealed. While the commander structure of the decks isn't relevant to the limited formats (since you'll be creating a new deck for those), it will also not get in the way of playing non-Commander games, since your Commander will simply sit on the sideline for those games (since he can't be part of his own deck). On a related note, commanders can be included in the decks of other commanders in addition to being able to have their own deck.
I will also mention that unlike Quest mode where you start with a generated sealed pool and need to build a deck before you can get started, in Planar Conquest you will start with a generated deck based on your starting commander and plane. This way, you can jump right into playing and simply upgrade the deck as you unlock more cards. Though one upgrade you can make right away if you desire is to add your chosen Planeswalker to your deck (assuming it falls within the commander's color identity). In other words, your chosen Planeswalker starts out as an unlocked card in addition to being your avatar for the map screen.
The second screenshot reveals a couple more important pieces of information. The first is that one of the goals of Planar Conquest is to collect all the cards from each plane, hence why the Collection screen shows cards you haven't unlocked faded out. This allows you to quickly search for both cards you have unlocked as well as those you're looking for.
The second is that Planar Conquest is a Singleton format (which would probably be more obvious if I posted a screenshot of the list view that has no numbers in front of the card names). This means you don't need to collect 4 of each card, just 1. It is also inline with the focus on Commanders, which is primarily a Singleton format as well. That said, Planar Conquest will not require 100 card decks like traditional Commander, which can take a long time to build. Rather, the minimum will be 40 cards, which does not include the Commander. Although that's the same limit as Quest mode has, I think you'll find 40 card singleton decks play quite differently than 40 card fine-tuned Quest mode decks.
Obviously there are still additional details of Planar Conquest I have yet to reveal, such as the structure of the events associated with each square of the map, traveling between planes, and the reward structure for wins. Some of that I'm still working out, so feel free to chime in if you have ideas I could incorporate.
Lastly, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about the details I have revealed so far. It's not too late to make some tweaks if people have objections or other ideas. Just keep in mind that one of my primary goals is to provide a different experience than Quest mode currently offers.
Thanks.
-Dan
Posted: 29 Nov 2015, 19:21
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