Portal:Story
Contents
Overview
Story Mode was the original content for Magic: the Gathering Puzzle Quest. It is where all players start out; Events and Coalition game content is unlocked for a new player only after they beat the first chapter of the Origins story using Nissa, Sage Animist.
The Training section should be given a high priority; it is designed to teach players the mechanics of the game and it earns card rewards which are needed for Events and later sections of the Origins Story games. The Training section can be accessed by activating the white arrow facing to the right on the top right corner of the Story screen.
Resources are given as rewards for each game played in Story mode. In addition to the Runes awarded for every game played (more for winning, naturally), Runes are earned for defeating each enemy player and for winning while completing the first optional objective. Crystals are given after winning once with every color, and for completing the second optional objective. Winning with a colorless Planeswalkers does not advance the "win with every color" objective, but multiple-color Planeswalkers give a win for both, or all three of, their colors.
Although the player is matched against pre-constructed enemy decks in Story mode, just as in the PvE games in the Events mode, games played and won here do not count towards Objectives that tally PvE plays and wins.
Story Mode Levels
Story Mode has four pages, navigated by activating the white arrow facing to the right on the top right corner of the Origins screen, on the left side on the Heroic Encounters screen, and on both sides on the Training and Battle for Zendikar screens. Each level has at least 4 chapters, and each chapter has up to 20 battles.
Story mode level | Set(s) | Number of Chapters | Total Number of Battles |
---|---|---|---|
Origins (Story) | Origins | 6 | 79 |
Training (Story) | 21 | 68 | |
Battle for Zendikar (Story) | Battle for Zendikar | 4 | 35 |
Heroic Encounters (Story) | Origins | 6 | 30 |
Origins
The Origins story features battles of increasing difficulty. In each battle, all of the opponents' cards are from the Origins set.
Training
The Training story features short chapters with specially designed battles and prefabricated decks to introduce players to the new mechanics of specific Card sets. Many Training chapters provide as rewards Cards, and in some cases Card packs, from the corresponding card set.
For players who enjoy seeing new cards, it has the advantage of allowing the player to use decks of cards that they may not even see elsewhere for quite some time, let alone own. For those seeking to avoid the increased difficulty of opponents at higher levels of card Mastery, the card rewards can be added to Nissa's deck to replace cards that have high XP and are close to being Mastered.
Battle for Zendikar
The Battle for Zendikar story features a tutorial (similar to Training) plus further chapters of increasing difficulty. The enemies' cards consist of mostly BFZ cards, and some Origins cards.
Heroic Encounters
Heroic Encounters feature a set of relatively high difficulty story battles, corresponding to the five basic planeswalkers. Each level starts with the enemy getting some sort of advantage in the form of creatures and/or supports that are in play before the battle begins.
Strategies
- Early on, play to win and run through the initial rewards, as you will not have the card collections to meet all of the objectives early.
- Some Training chapters are harder; some are easier or more lucrative. An example of the latter is the War of the Spark chapter, completion of which yields five Vanguard cards, three of them Green, which are quite powerful early on. Since the player is not using their own Planeswalker, there is no damage done that has to be healed in the event of a loss, and the card order is not fixed for some of the hardest games, so they can potentially be attempted repeatedly. But on the other hand, for those who prefer to pick the lowest hanging fruit first, the games will forever be there to try again, until completed.
- All rewards in a single Story mode battle can be earned in two games. To do this, you would meet the two optional objectives in addition to using a three color walker (such as Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh) on one run and an opposing two color walker (such as Huatli, Radiant Champion) to meet all five color objectives.
All of the combinations, as of the 2021 Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set, are:
Narset of the Ancient Way and :
Any of the three Nicol Bolas and :
Sarkhan Unbroken and :
Tamiyo, Field Researcher and :