Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Achievement Guide & Road Map

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013
Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Achievement Guide

Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 19 Achivements 190
- Online: 1 Achievements 10
- Approximate amount of time to complete: 10-15 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 playthrough
- Number of missable achievements: 0
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: None
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements?: N/A
- Unobtainable Achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: No
- Is there DLC?: Yes

DLC: Return to Ravnica
- Difficulty: 2/10
- Time to 50: 3-5 Hours
- Offline: 4 Achievement, 40
- Online: 1 Achievement, 10

Single Player:
A large portion of your achievement hunting in this title will be conducted in single player, however you can also take it to multiplayer. A total of 17 single player achievements make up the main bulk of the 200 in this title. A large percentage of them will come naturally as you progress through the various stages, however some are mode specific such as Challenge Master, Dragon Slayer, and Magic: The Puzzling. More luck is required than skill.

Multiplayer:
Playing Magic with your friends is one of the best features in this series, and with it come a few achievements. Only one of the games' twenty achievements require you to play multiplayer, and that is Otherworldly Being. Two-Headed Giant and Last Mage Standing can both be completed in the custom game tab using AI or via online multiplayer. An achievement trading thread for the online component exists here.

DLC: Return to Ravnica

Abbreviated Walkthrough:
Four of these five achievements can be boosted online with a partner if you wish. Guildmage is the only sinlge-player achievement, and only Insurrection requires playing online. The other three achievements can be unlocked in the singleplayer game or online. Therefore, players have a lot of flexibility in how to complete this expansion.

Most of your playtime with Return to Ravnica will be in beating the expansion campaign and then the Revenge campaign for the Guildmage achievement. The campaign isn’t very difficult if you understand the game’s mechanics and have already unlocked some nice cards for a variety of decks by playing through the base game. If you’re ever struggling, go back to play some easier matches to earn more cards, or switch decks to try a different strategy.

With careful planning, Insurrection, Near-Death Experience, and either Auramancer or Fury of the Horde can be unlocked in a single multiplayer match. It is technically possible to get all four in one game, as the Aura Servants deck has 20+ creatures in it when upgraded with unlocked cards, but this is tedious compared to just playing a second game using Collective Might, which can throw out creatures much faster.

Conclusion: Return to Ravnica is a great expansion for this game, and is well worth the $5 for 5 new decks, which bring new strategies and more variety to the game. With a little time and patience, these 50 points can be yours without much trouble.

[x360a would like to thank II KaotiK for this road map]

[x360a would like to thank ThrawnOmega for this road map]

Challenge Master

10
Solved ten challenges
(3)
The Challenge Master achievement is unlocked by completing all ten of the challenges under the "Challenge" tab in single player. While completing the challenges for this achievement, you will also unlock "Magic: The Puzzling", and "Praetor Slayer". A full guide on each individual challenge can be found here, including the five methods for Say Your Praetors.
Fearless Explorer

10
Defeated ten encounters
(4)
Encounters are mini-stages throughout the DoTP 2013 campaign. Encounters repeat the same exact card pattern each time, and are extremely easy to beat. Each new "plane" has two encounters, and once you complete ten this achievement will unlock.
Dragon Slayer

20
Defeated Nicol Bolas in the revenge campaign
(11)
After you beat the first single player campaign, Revenge mode unlocks. You must play through all of the Revenge games, before finally reaching Nicol Bolas in the final round. The achievement will unlock once you best him.
Avatar of Slaughter

10
Won a duel when an opponent controlled no creatures
(5)
This isn't as difficult as it sounds. Win a duel in any mode and simply kill all of your opponents creatures before winning. This is done easiest with decks sharing Red or Black colors, as they contain many removal spells and spells that force your opponent to sacrifice creatures.
Beast Within

10
Won a duel controlling a creature with at least 10 power
(1)
Celestial Light, a deck centered around gaining extra life, has a card called "Ajani's Pridemate", that for every time you gain a point of life it gets +1/+1. Using that method is the easiest way to unlock the achievement, however you can also just play any other deck and use enchantments, artifacts, or instants, to boost the creatures power over 10 by the time you win.
Master of the Wild Hunt

10
Won a duel controlling at least ten creatures
(4)
This achievement can be unlocked using Celestial Light, while also trying to unlock "Flawless" and "Beast Within". You will need to have at least ten creatures on the battlefield before taking your opponent to zero life and this will unlock.
Savor the Moment

10
Won a campaign duel with an opponent's library empty
(10)
Load the very first encounter available to you and use the "Dream Puppets" mill (forces opponents to put cards from their library into their graveyard) deck. Encounter opponents only have 33 cards available in their library, and this makes milling them to zero incredibly easy.
Flawless

10
Won a campaign duel with 20 or more life
(1)
While trying to unlock "Beast Within" using Celestial Light, you can also unlock the Flawless achievement, too. Using spells like Angel's Feather, Moment of Heroism, and Solemn Offering, you can easily boost your life total to 30 or more, and then you still have your creatures with Lifelink. Simply win the duel and have more than your starting life total and this achievement will unlock.
Praetor Slayer

10
Solved the Say Your Praetors challenge in all five ways
(6)
See "Challenge Master" for more information.
Archmage

15
Unlocked 30 cards for one deck
(3)
For each game you win, whether it be in single player or multiplayer, you unlock a card for the deck you used during that game. An alternative method to unlock this achievement requires that you've played Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. If you have, you'll receive a token to unlock 30 cards in any deck. Use the token and you'll get the achievement. If the above does not apply, simply win 30 games using a single deck and this achievement will unlock.
Jack of All Trades

15
Unlocked a card for each of ten different decks
(2)
Play and win ten different games with ten different decks in order to unlock this achievement. As you only start with two decks in the beginning, you will need to beat eight stages of the campaign to unlock additional decks to unlock cards for.
Otherworldly Journey

10
Won a duel on Xbox LIVE
(9)
Simply play and win a game on Xbox LIVE in any mode and this achievement will unlock. An Achievement Trading thread can be found here.
Maelstrom Wanderer

10
Won a Planechase campaign duel
(1)
Planechase is perhaps the most time consuming mode in DoTP 2013. Four people (AI, in this case) play at once and battle it out, and only one person can win. Win one duel in the Planechase mode and this achievement will unlock.
Two-Headed Giant

10
Won a Two-Headed Giant duel
Two-Headed Giant is DoTP 2013's cooperative play mode, pitting two teams of two against one another. This can be done with AI by simply navigating to the custom game tab, selecting Two-Headed Giant, and then choosing to use Remote Players, and inputting three other AI players. It is also possible to connect a second Xbox 360 controller and unlock the achievement while playing with a second human on your team. Win the duel and this achievement will unlock, and in the process it will also unlock "Last Mage Standing".
Last Mage Standing

10
Won a 3-player, 4-player, or Two-Headed Giant duel
(5)
See "Two-Headed Giant" for more information.
Mythic

10
Cast a mythic rare card
(2)
Mythic rare cards (or spells) are the rarest in the game, and can be easily recognized by their bronze colored set symbol (the D13 under the card's art). For example, Celestial Light, has two mythic rares; "Baneslayer Angel", and "Felidar Sovereign". Each deck has its own mythic rares.

The quickest deck to unlock mythic rares for is Talrand's flying "Crosswinds" deck. Complete four games and you will unlock your first mythic rare. Place that into your deck, play enough lands and then cast one of these in any game mode and the achievement will unlock. A full list of mythic rare cards can be found here.
Magic: The Puzzling

5
Solved a challenge
See "Challenge Master" for more information.
Time of Heroes

5
Defeated an encounter
The first encounter you will come across to complete this achievement is the second stage of the campaign, and is titled "Disturbing the Nest". Complete the encounter, and this achievement will then unlock.
Memory Adept

5
Entered the deck manager
From the main menu of the game, navigate to the Deck Manager tab, enter it and then select any deck. Enter the Deck Manager option and this achievement will then unlock. You don't need to make any changes to the deck for it to do so, either.
Sky Summoner

5
Defeated Talrand in the campaign
Talrand is the first opponent you face in DoTP 2013's "campaign" mode. He plays a Blue deck based around flying creatures, and packs quite a punch. Beat him and this achievement will unlock.

There are 5 achievements with a total of 50 points

Guildmage

10
Defeat the Sepulchral Strength deck in the revenge campaign
(3)
The expansion's campaign has five matches; one against each of the new decks added to the game. Once all five have been defeated, the Revenge campaign will unlock, and you will face the same five decks again. This time, they will have more powerful cards and be tougher to defeat, but the challenge is not too great if you have unlocked a fair amount of cards during your time in the game.

Sepulchral Strength is the final deck of the revenge campaign. This deck does its damage by throwing out a lot of creatures with abilities that help increase their own power and toughness, or those stats for other creatures in play. The deck also has a moderate amount of creature removal spells and can make opponents discard.

I would recommend using a deck with a good amount of direct damage or creature removal spells. Make an effort to kill creatures as quickly as you can once the computer has put them on the board. This will keep the computer on the defensive and unable to build up a strong offense against you. I won easily using the Born of Flame deck.
Auramancer

10
Win a duel controlling at least five Auras
(3)
Use the Aura Servants deck for this.

If trading online, simply build up to 5 auras and then win the game.
This can be unlocked at the same time as Near-Death Experience if you would like. Insurrection will also unlock doing this if you have not earned the achievement already.

If playing offline, play the deck against the Disturbing the Nest encounter, which is the first encounter of the original campaign. The computer does nothing but play Plains or Suntail Hawks, which are 1/1 flying creatures. Start with a hand with some flying creatures of your own or auras that provide Lifelink to earn back the life you will lose from early flying assaults. Once you have a few strong creatures out, the computer will likely hold its Hawks in reserve to block. Simply wait until you have 5 or more auras in play, then crush this easy opponent.
Fury of the Horde

10
Win a duel controlling at least twenty creatures
(10)
Collective Might is a good deck to use, as it has numerous cards that allow you to put creature tokens into play. I won't list them all, but I counted at least a dozen different cards that can do this. Having the Parallel Lives enchantment in play doubles the amount of tokens put into play. Simply build up a vast army and then overrun your opponent for this achievement.

If playing offline, this achievement is easily obtained against the Disturbing the Nest encounter. See Auramancer for more information.
Near-Death Experience

10
Win a duel with exactly 1 life
(12)
This is much easier to do online with a trading partner, though that is not required.

Online: Find a partner and have them whittle you down to one life, then win the game.

Offline: Once again, pound on some poor Suntail Hawks in the Disturbing the Nest encounter. This time, use the Born of Flame deck. Pause the game, and go to Help & Options. In Settings, tab over to Preferences, and turn off "Simplified Targeting." With this turned off, you can now damage yourself with your own magic, or target yourself with harmful abilities. Once the match is well in hand, torch yourself down to 1 life, and then win the game. Don't stress over the math as you can tap Prodigal Pyromancer to deal 1 damage to yourself per turn if you wish, which makes it easy to balance for how much damage the cards in your hand can do.
Insurrection

10
Win a duel on Xbox LIVE using an Expansion deck
(16)
Win an online game using one of the following decks:
Aura Servants
Sepulchral Strength
Mindstorms
Grinning Malice
Collective Might
This can be done in a ranked or player match.