The last time I was in NYC was back in 2007 for the World Championships, which were being held at the Javitz center. ManaNation.com was less than six months old. I—we—didn’t really have any idea what we were doing. I paid for everyone on that trip with a credit card.

How far I’ve come.

I’m riding in a taxi from LaGuardia to Times Square on a trip paid for by someone else. And again, I’m here for Magic. This time, rather than spending four days watching Magic and interviewing, I’m here for one day to get an early look at the upcoming Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 video game, WotC’s follow-up to the—how shall I say this?—unbelievably successful Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Wizards launched Duels of the Planeswalkers in 2009; initially, it was offered solely on the Xbox Live Arcade platform before later being ported to PlayStation and Windows (via Steam.) The game is one of XBLA’s most downloaded games of all time and, according to some, added to the growth of an already surging Magic. It provided an excellent gateway to new Magic players but also to numerous Magic players who had lapsed for one reason or another. (Recently drawing some attention this past weekend was Carrie Oliver, who first learned the basics of Magic on DotP.)

Duels of the Planeswalkers put players, regardless of their knowledge of Magic, in a position to easily play the game against computer opponents using prebuilt decks. Not having an Xbox myself, I only ever got a chance to play it at actual Magic events and gaming conventions. But play it I did. I always made time to sit down and duel on the game.

I eventually purchased the game and all of its expansions through Steam. It provides an excellent and easy distraction without requiring the work that Magic Online requires just to play a quick game. Even in the best-case scenario of finding opponents to play, there’s no guarantee of their quality and interest. And the final dagger for the quick fix on MTGO: Those games couldn’t just be paused and left waiting. So, for me, DotP provided a wonderful way to enjoy Magic in bite-sized chunks.

Aside: There’s something about the game of Magic. Permit me to wax philosophical a bit. Magic has become a comforting realm of sorts. As a kid, I would lose myself in books and the stories contained therein. Even today, I’m one of those moviegoers who loses himself in the films, and I grow frustrated when a director’s style or narrative doesn’t allow me to easily fall into the story they’re telling.

Magic provides this sort of realm for me. I can fall into the game, enjoying the narrative it tells and the characters it holds. I guess there’s more Vorthos in me than I realized.

But Duels of the Planeswalkers, both the original and I expect the upcoming release, provide me that same sort of escape. I can forget about bills, about chores, about work, and instead escape into the game with just a quick click of the mouse.

What Duels of the Planeswalkers Actually Is

So, as a fan of the original Duels of the Planeswalkers, when I got the invite to visit the Big Apple to get my greedy hands on the game, I jumped at the opportunity.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I thought it might be more of a cattle call with a handful of writers and reviewers in the room at the same time as they walked us through the game.

But what I found was much, much better.

It was just me for my scheduled time slot, and I got to pick the brain of one of Magic’s brand managers: Paul Levy.

Paul is a major boon to the game and the game’s community because he has a unique way of seeing the world that is Magic. He wants us to experience the game. And he wants to continue building and expanding ways for players to find the game. (Basically, I think he’s building a zombie army, and we’re his willing followers.)

After playing the game, talking with Paul, and reading what is out there online, I think Wizards has found the perfect way to follow the success of the first Duels of the Planeswalkers.

No longer is Duels of the Planeswalkers a separate entity in the Magic ecosystem, separated by the chasm that divides the physical world and the digital world; instead, they’re working to fold them together into the complex tapestry that is Magic, printed or virtual.

They’ve made some excellent strides in the core system of Duels, all of which I am very excited about. But for me, the most exciting advancement that Paul revealed to me during our discussion about the game is that Wizards is purposefully striding to unite the two playgroups, digital and physical, in new and innovative ways.

In my eyes, if the goal of the original DotP was to drive excitement and capture new players from the realm of the video game, then D12’s goal is to erase the chasm, leaving one area in which all can mingle and mix together.

Wizards is unifying their message and branding between the core set and Duels of the Planeswalkers; “Gather Your Allies” applies to both products in unique ways. They’re using the same art iconography to show players that these two things are linked. When the kid who’s played the game on his Xbox is walking through [insert big retail chain here] and sees Gideon standing among his planeswalker buddies, he’s going to drag Mom over and insist she buy him whatever it is because, as we all know, Gideon is awesome.

But that’s not it. They’re working hard to bring the Duels of the Planeswalkers players into their local stores, such as the free promo Titan when you purchase the game, and the “Magic Celebration” event, which has yet to be fully revealed (and I was told very little about other than that it is involved with D12 and game stores).

Tabletop games are an odd animal; they have generally reached a small segment of gamers. As Wizards— and their flagship, Magic—have grown, they’ve begun realizing that they need to keep expanding the market for their players. They’ve tried things over the years—mass-market commercials, free decks, and so on, trying to bring people from video games to Magic.

As I pondered this problem, I was reminded of an excellent article I read a few months ago about an advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and its work to help carrot farmers get carrots to hit the mainstream with kids. Up until CP+B’s campaign, carrots were advertised as an excellent alternative to unhealthy snacks—not exactly the way to get kids to switch.

Rather than trying to bring kids to carrots away from junk food, CP+B are trying to make carrots appear the same as junk food. They’re putting them in tearable snack bags like candy or fruit snacks. They’ve got a hip cartoon mascot. It’s an excellent read, and it came back to mind as I pondered the issue that Magic has had with video gamers.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 is our repackaged carrots.

That’s what Wizards is doing here. Video games are clearly here to stay, and they can’t pull mass quantities of people directly from video games to tabletop games, so instead they’re bridging the gap with the Duels of the Planeswalkers games.

Wizards is doing a very important thing here with the Duels of the Planeswalkers games, and though they haven’t provided numbers, I’m eager to see if we see another surge of players in local game stores after the game hits the market.

What this means is that in many ways, Duels of the Planeswalkers isn’t for you and me, the players who know Magic up and down, the ones who own thousands of cards to make decks, the ones who go to the game shop to hang out. Certainly, we can play it and enjoy it, but we’re not its target audience.

So as I transition into my game review, I expect for many people that the opinions they held of the original game will remain the same for the follow-up. However, I expect more people’s opinions to change for the better than change for the worse.

The Game Itself

D12 is Duels of the Planeswalkers++. The game is the same core, but with new features, a better menu system, improved deck-editing controls, and the major added game format of Archenemy. In many ways, pairing it with a core set is fitting. This game has a very solid and well-built core; this new version expanded on its capabilities and gave it a new shiny shiny skin.

Menu System

This is an example of an improvement that wasn’t a problem before, and yet the new one is a much better solution. It’s like a new model of a beloved car—sure, the old VW Beetle was a fine design, but when they revealed the new ones . . . people realized how old the original design looked.

Whereas previously we had a vanilla up/down menu with all of the options visible, the new version of the game has a rotating slider with images for each menu option. It’s a much more immersive design; it feels like we’re in the game rather than standing in the lobby pushing a button on an elevator.

I know it might seem silly to draw this much attention to it, but I want to point back to the part where I talk about Paul’s desire for us to experience the game as I discuss this. The game really does draw you in from the moment it opens. You’re shown the Gideon video that made the rounds a few weeks ago, and then you’re given this menu that puts you in the game. Just an excellent and likely overlooked upgrade.

Deck-Editing

Magic players universally hated the original Duels of the Planeswalkers deck-editor because it wasn’t really an editor. It allowed you to add unlocked cards to your deck, but you couldn’t pull cards out.

Highly annoying.

This was the first improvement that I recall Paul pointing out to me. Now players are able to have full control over the non-mana cards in their deck. So, as you unlock cards, you can slide them into your deck and pull out another card. The game does not yet allow you to mix and match cards from different decks, though, so you can’t mix Koth’s and Chandra’s decks together even though they’re both mono-Red.

The deck-builder also still manages your lands. It calculates what you need based on how many cards you’ve picked for your deck. So you can’t specifically cut an island for a White card, but it’s going to programmatically determine that for you.

Archenemy

This is the flagship feature for this new version of the game. You, and your buddies (AI or carbon-based), can battle against an AI opponent who is aided by the Scheme cards we all know and love (no new ones in this release of the game).

Your partners in the game are playing over the Internet, so given how fickle the Internet can be sometimes, the programmers have set it up so that if your partner is dropped, a computer AI will pick up where he left off so that the game can continue without interruption.

Currently, there is no ability to play as the Archenemy; that job is always filled by the AI. I’m sure we’ll see that feature added down the road somewhere, and I eagerly await the ability to sit in my own Iron Throne and say, “Come at me, you dogs . . . ” to the infinite AI opponents.

Puzzles

As you look at the map of matchups, you’ll notice these little accent dots that don’t hold the face of an opponent. Instead, they’re colored like . . . well, like the rarities of cards.

These little dots represent puzzles and challenges, often to teach a mechanic to players who might not know the mechanics, but also as ways to get players thinking outside the box. I failed the first one because I sped through the instructions and didn’t pay attention at all to what the hell was going on. I was like, chump block, swing—and I completely forgot the part that would win me the challenge.

Sadness.

But with that bitter taste of sadness comes important lessons in the game.

AI

Being less than an excellent player of Magic, I feel only marginally qualified to comment on the AI in the game. I would be especially interested to see a comparison of the AI’s improvements between the original Duels and D12.

I didn’t notice anything glaring in the AI in the time I’ve played it, but I also didn’t see any plays I’d call “brilliant.” Granted, these games don’t lend themselves to heavy-duty, deep-thinking scenarios.

Concluding

I’m excited about D12; I think Wizards has, despite the similarities between Duels and D12, taken the product in the right direction, and that they are doing exciting things to further the game and the community.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 releases later this week on all three platforms. Be sure to get your copy, and follow the game’s instructions to claim one of the sweet promo Titans!