One of the best Digital Collectible Card Games out there... until Ubisoft let it fall into the dreaded hands of the endlessly incompetent Blue Byte. After almost a YEAR with absolutely no support (including ignoring GAME-BREAKING bugs that any COMPETENT developer would fix in DAYS at most), they finally release the long-overdue draft mode.... together with an announcement that they wouldn't be developing any more content for the game, so it's basically dead (oh, but of course they're leaving the servers up so suckers can still buy cards with real money, because THAT doesn't take any effort). Hey, Blue Byte? YOU NEVER DEVELOPED ANY CONTENT FOR THE GAME AT ALL! Oh and just to add insult to injury, this last patch broke the blasted game, introducing more game-breaking bugs and crashes than they managed to fix! The uselessness on display is simply JAW-DROPPING! They took the game and KILLED it because they simply didn't care. A heinous display of incompetence by an utterly worthless developer squandered a potentially fantastic game. Damn you to hell, Blue Byte. Damn you to hell.

If you are thinking to begin to play this game I suggest read what I wrote.
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>>>Before the recent update (heart of nightmares)

<Short Game Review>
Card game evaluation from 1 to 5

Mechanics 4/5
It has a grid on the field that is quite distinctive it has melee lane and shooter lane, gives 3 main types of creatures (shooters, melee and flyers along with hybrids) other than creatures there are fortunes and spells each have the ability to change the flow of the game. There are factions that all heroes of might and magic fans should be familiar with. Each faction has distinctive characteristics. There are also differnet spell schools which do determine your limits and openents battlefield tactics for example if you know they have fire spells you can assume they have fireball so you would avoid have any creatures near eachother. Mana is produced constantly by +1 each turn. It has heroes what is expected from might and magic. Life points that each hero has differs which makes it more ineteresting as it represents the idea that everything has a cost and to master the game you need to master your ability of making your deck efficient, which limits you in way since all decks will have a weakness, so you have to decide whether you want to invest more in rushing to victory or playing a steady slow game. Another thing that was intresting is that you can redraw your cards at the beginning, with consiquence which is weird to me, but I am staying neutral with it. I gave it a four because I feel like they could of added another lane, made it at least 5x5 instead of 4x4, so then it would five enough space to make it more strategic. What I mean by that there would be a middle row on both sides which would be harder to dominate since the center would be the most dangerious spot on the field. By making a small difference such as that it would increase the variaty of formations possible, not sticking to them would bring additional dangers to the player.

Flow/Economics 4.25/5
I was really happy with this game. Economics of it was most appreciated, since there was a daily reward that grows for 7 days and then is collected on the 7th day along with being awarded 10000 gold and 100 seals per level. There were also some achievements that rewarded in seals. Prices seemed reasonable to me except the fact that five towers set packs were not available for gold, which didn't make sense to me. If you look pass that then everything else is accessible each level as you go on (except the fice towers they are only accesible later when you have enough seals) cards in the game at a reasonable pace. I liked the fact that they have a sacrafice pit to recycle cards in a way but you need a lot to do that. Another thing that it makes it flow more is that there are such things as wild cards which you can use for getting specific cards in the altar of wishes, but first you hace to unlock them though by buying packs. It's a 4.25 because I think each set of cards should be accessible with gold and only the boxes should be priced with seals as they are now. Only when the set is really new it should be priced with seals for a month and then it should change to the ordinary price as the other packs.

Aestetics 4.25/5
It's organized each faction has it's own field look, quality pictures on the cards, nice log in menu background. There are also alternate art for some cards. The flying creatures move up and down, there is some other animation. I cannot give it a five though, because that would mean there is no room for improovements to be made. The aim of each card game should be to become more lively and more animated, so there would be movement and with it comes character of each creature. Everyone wants to see their creatures come to life and all spells become animated. I think even basic animations would be a start like one for each type of spell I guess. When thinking about makes you think about the ability to change the whole field and that change gives certain effects.

Story 1/5
I think there is something written on those 13 quests. I think it needs some story each hero at least to add more depth to the game. More quests some short animations or at least pcitures with writing on it or descriptions on cards.

Total: 14/20 I would recomment this game to all people that like card games and strategy.
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<<<After the update

Mechanics 4/5
Nothing changed that would have a huge impact.

Flow/Economics 1/5
There seems to be no more daily rewards just some daily quests and no award for leveling, it almost seems that they don't want to reward their players really for playing the game. All prices changed to seals which disguisted me. I think it is also not fair as other people that are further ahead get the advantage as they had the ability to earn more seals. If you start just now you will never go ahead of other people. I was really disappointed by their choices that they made in this area as they also removed the achievements that awarded seals. I mean how will you feel knowing that there is no way to catch up with people unless you empty your wallets. Before it was player friendly now it's not. From play to win to pay to win.

Aestetics 4.5/5
They added some spell animation for each type and menu looks cool. Event animaiton different.

Story 1.5/5
They added more quests. There were description on every one of them.

Total: 12/20 I would not recommend this game anymore after the update.

Final remark: They ruined the game after the update. Changed it from play to win into pay to win. If you want to play you will have to pay. Before the update I liked the game so much that I chose to support it by buying some seals as a sign of my appreciation, but now I began to regret doing so. I am very disappointed.

-Thank you for taking the time to read.

I've been playing this game for less than a week, but I gotta say, it's probably the most fun I've had playing a card game in years. Now, granted, I haven't tried Hearthstone or Shadow Era or any of the other online card games that seem to be popular, but I used to play a ton of Magic: the Gathering and have watched a lot of friends play Hearthstone. Honestly? This game has just as much strategic depth as MTG, if not more, and both MTG and Duel of Champions blow Hearthstone out of the water if you like complexity in games like I do. The one thing that MTG has going for it though is that it's been out far longer and there are way more cards to play around with and collect (though there's no shortage of cards in DOC either). With a little more investment from its developers in terms of expanding the content and team, I can definitely see this game becoming one of the best/most popular card games around.

EDIT 10/12/15: Welp, they've just announced that they'll no longer be supporting this game with updates. Honestly, screw Ubisoft. They've proven that they have no idea what they're doing, and can't handle games that have potential, especially with how HOMM 7 turned out on release. Still holding out hope that eventually they'll turn it around with expansions, but definitely not gonna waste my money on it for now. Tl;dr: don't buy anything related to Ubisoft ever. Wait until it's in the bargain bin if you must.

Don't bother. The devs have abandonned the game, but not before releasing a final patch that broke just about everything.

The game now crashes more than my cat driving my car.

Sad end for a game that could've trumped Heartstone anyday if Ubisoft bothered enough to give it a dedicated team instead of leaving the commands to a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ group of nobodies that didn't care.

Otherwise, best CCG when it works. Artwork is quality too.

Admittedly, this is not a formal review but rather a warning to people interested in trying out a brand new TCG on Steam. I am trying to keep this brief because there is not much to say aside from the simple fact that the current developers completely abandoned this game. Exactly. No more future updates, thus the community is almost nonexistent. And yet, Ubisoft still have £193 worth of DLC available for anyone to naively purchase. You can stop reading here and AVOID this game entirely by trying a different TCG instead, with active developers and community. However, if you want a bit of a history lesson, then proceed reading.

I can attest that Might & Magic: Duel of Champions was an excellent TCG back in the day, and sadly only got into it just before it got ruined, which may explain my relatively low playtime compared to others. It had its own personality which made it distinct from other TCGs available on Steam and boasted some solid gameplay mechanics. Not only that, but the artwork featured in the game was stunning. Nonetheless, and perhaps most importantly, it was also very easy to get into and genuinely fun, whether that was with some friends or even strangers. Like most of these games, matches did not last too long, so the “one more match” mentality was inevitable. Up to a certain patch/expansion (the turning point where the developers, arguably, ruined the game) the grinding for booster packs and new cards was fair and at a tolerable level.

But then, as previously stated, some patch made things worse by making powerful cards way harder to obtain, almost forcing the player to spend real money on them if they wanted to beat stronger opponents. I suppose good things do not last forever, right? Naturally, players who spent money had an unfair advantage over those who were simply grinding them for free. Fastforward a few months later, the original developers were replaced by a different team and the game was eventually abandoned without a single notice from anyone at Ubisoft.

Nice one, Ubisoft. Thanks a lot.

Was good.. Until this recent expansion... Now it's another money hungry Ubisoft game. Good job guys, You f***ed up another game

It's impossible not to compare this to Hearthstone or Magic, but I think MMDoC can hold it's own against these two other giants of the CCG scene and here is why.

Comparing it to Hearthstone:
-MMDoC is much deeper strategically.
-You are rewarded with a lot more packs by just playing the game.
-Much greater card variety.
-Automated tournaments.
-Three formats to play the game, open, standard and weekly (the latter is a bit gimmicky, but can be fun)
-Spectator/replay mode.

Comparing it to Magic Online (Duels of the planeswalkers doesn't really compare as it is just a dumbed down experience)
-Much better UI
-Can get new cards by playing the game
-Free to play
-Ladder
-Much more newbie friendly

Conclusion:
It's a shame that Warcraft and Blizzard have a much bigger fanbase that most people looking for a Free online CCG are going to gravitate towards it without even hearing about this game. Admitedly, I've always thought the art in Might & Magic games were a bit generic, but the artwork on the cards are excelent.

It may not be as deep as Magic the Gathering, but as a computer game it provides a far better experience.

If you have an interest in Card games, do check this out!

MMDoC is a digital Card Collection Game (CCG) with cards belonging to six different factions, each having their unique heroes, crreatures, fortunes and buildings. Each hero can use spells from 1/2/3 schools out of a total of 7. There are also 8 event cards in play from both sides. A duel is a fight to death between two heroes, each having 18/20 Hit Points. Each card uses resources. Spells, creatures, buildings, events and heroes have synergies. One good combo can change a 25 turn long game. Nearly every game for the first 100 games teaches you something if you are experimenting. Just imagine. All this, for free. Paying money only to get in game currency that buys premium packs, or buying premium packs as-is. The best CCG concept, with the most balanced and innovative F2P model.

Only I have any clue how painful it is to mark a thumbs down on this game; because, this is was hands down the BEST digital CCG ever. Don't get me wrong, it still uses essentially the same game mechanics - easy to learn, complex to use and difficult to master - that made loyal users and fans of a lot of players. But just when everyone thought "Hey, Ubi isn't ****ing this up!", they did exactly that. And after botching it up, instead of fixing it, passed this game to a third-grade dev that goes by the name "BlueByte". Seriously, I don't say this lightly, but ROT IN HELL BlueByte. You sucked the life out of my beloved game. If you didn't want to manage the game, why acquire it?

In 2013 to early 2014 this was a lively game, with a great community, good CMs and responsive devs, regular tourneys. 1000+ concurrent players. Weekly, and by winning touneys, it was possible to earn a healthy amount of both, coins (for buying stuff) and seals (for premium packs - basically, packs with better chances of better cards and 2 wildcards). Alas, I came in JUST as that party was about to end. When I joined, UBI had "overhauled" the economy and made it impossible to earn seals (except for a couple of one time achievements). They also made the older decks restricted to "Open" format, so for the standard mode (used in tourneys) people had to start anew. Thus, player numbers were falling. And still, without putting in any cash, I was having fun playing both, ranked and unranked. It was so much fun making strategies, multiple decks, tactics and gimmicks to surprise the opponents, making knockout move combos. It had a few bugs and the guide was old and unintuitive so I even collaborated on a huge guide. That was how much I was into it AFTER the economy got restrictive.

But then, for a long time, Ubi didn't fix known bugs. No innovation, no balancing, no new cards, no interesting announcements. As people got used to it, a few decks came out too OP and the meta-game stagnated at all levels. Still, for a newbie like me, it was all fun and games. Then they released a new pack and more stackable units and cards that made stackable viable, which was enough for me to tinker but not higher level play. Basically, people wanted Draft mode and the devs were silent. Then one fine day, the dev changed from Ubi to BlueByte. BB wreaked havoc with the community. Absent CMs, no updates, just weekly epic cards in the infernal pit that only got more and more laughable each week, followed by mindless, childish, puzzles posted via facebook regularly only angered the playerbase more. Then BB released a couple new series, but about 80% cards were recycled from the older sets, bringing into the standard game the older, unusable cards. Of course, ♥♥♥♥ hit the fan as veterans with fine tuned OP decks with 10 epics gathering dust since an year and a half grabbed the matchmaking, and balance issues were everywhere. On top of that, when the draft mode was finally released, there were more bugs than players could possibly "adjust" to. Most of them giving the opponent an insta-win.

Soon, an announcement followed, that basically said "We're closing down all dev work on this game, you can still give us your money if you want by buying stuff in the game shop but we're officially killing the game from our side. So as long as you suckers want to play, you can, but we don't care." And that was it. An amazing CCG killed by stupid, lazy devs and utter greed, mismanagement and abandonment of a AAA developer like Ubi. I really loved this game and like many others, I've spent hours in game and in my mind thinking up good decks. Alas, the game is no more now that even the resilient guys (like me) have also started to uninstall it and play other games.

First of all, this game is now neither pay to win, nor unbalanced: reviews which say so are usually pre-Griffin Bane expansion, which immediately gives new referred players all six starter decks, plus tons of gold to buy cards upon completing the introductory campaigns, and brings back all Factions to competitive levels.

More complex, varied and ultimately satisfactory than Hearthstone, this game has very nice mechanics, with the board consisting of four rows and two columns (shooter and melee) for each player, spells which can affect single creatures, specific areas (squares, rows, columns) or even the entire board, and fortunes which usually manipulate cards and decks.
Creatures can be basic or have a lot of useful abilities (immune to retaliation, stackable, outmaneuver, etc.), including "enter the board" effects.

Simply put, this is the best CCG I've ever played.

P.s. Since I love the game, I'm glad to help new players to understand it, so feel free to ask for help and/or for my referral code, should you have no friends who play the game.

UbiSoft has gone UbiGreed... no more free seals :(