Preservation edition · October 3, 2026 · Geekenstein Editorial
Historical source: Jake Petersen; October 11, 2013. This is a newly written, condensed account of the retained coverage, with original opinions attributed to their writer. It is not a full-text reproduction or a new firsthand review.
The historical coverage
Petersen reviewed the first Magic 2014 expansion through its five added decks and ten challenges. Sword of the Samurai combined Samurai with equipment; Dodge and Burn offered a blue-red tempo plan; Lords of Darkness worked toward large Demons; Hall of Champions used exalted; Sylvan Might developed an Elf board.
His reactions were specific rather than uniformly positive. He preferred the decisions offered by Dodge and Burn, while criticising Hall of Champions’ ability to produce the colours it needed. Sword of the Samurai’s equipment plan appealed to a different pace of game from the slower Demon deck.
These are assessments of the historical expansion and its constrained digital deck pools. They do not establish current platform availability or supply a new comparison with contemporary digital Magic products. Keeping the deck identities visible makes the old review intelligible without inventing fresh play results.
A present-day reading note
The following is new editorial analysis, separate from the historical writer’s words and play report.
The expansion review discussed five new decks and ten challenges. The decks explored equipment, counter-and-burn play, Demons, exalted creatures and Elves. Petersen preferred the tempo decisions of Dodge and Burn and criticised the mana consistency of Hall of Champions; those are his dated judgements.
Continue with a sourced reference
For the wider topic and primary references, read Magic 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers retrospective on KLXCards. The historical assessment above remains a separate, dated source.
Source and omissions
The original article container was retained in a Common Crawl capture dated 2017-07-28. Original prose, biography, advertisements and images are not republished. Named recordings are linked only where the original public upload is verified. Missing full deck quantities and media are stated rather than invented.
Common Crawl source record · Historical capture 20170728190518.