Portal:Story
Story Mode is a set of battles against pre-constructed enemy decks which teach the game mechanics introduced with most sets, provide challenges (especially for new players), and give resources and card rewards. Story Mode content is always available in Magic: the Gathering Puzzle Quest.
Beating the first chapter of the Origins story using Nissa, Sage Animist unlocks Events and Coalition game content.
Story Mode was the only content available when the game was originally released in 2015.
Contents
Rewards
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 winning while completing the first optional objective. Crystals are earned by completing the second optional objective, and afterwards, by winning the same battle once with Planeswalkers of every color. Winning with colorless Planeswalkers does not advance the "win with every color" objective, but multiple-color Planeswalkers give a win for all of their colors.
Even though Story Mode battles are functionally equivalent to PvE battles, Story Mode is not considered a PvE event, and so games won do not count towards Quests that tally PvE wins.
Story Mode Levels
Story Mode has four levels, navigated via the arrows facing right and left at the top of the Story Mode screen. 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) |                       |
22 | 73 |
| Battle for Zendikar (Story) | Battle for Zendikar  |
4 | 35 |
| Heroic Encounters (Story) | Origins |
6 | 30 |
Origins
- Main article: Origins (Story)
The Origins story features battles of increasing difficulty. In each battle, all of the opponents' cards are from the Origins set. This is where new accounts begin.
All four Objectives give Resources as Rewards. Winning earns mana runes and opens up the next battle for play - this objective is unlisted. Winning a given battle once with a Planeswalker of each of the five colors earns 10 Mana Crystals. A third objective, the second listed, earns mana runes, and the final objective earns 15 Mana Crystals.
Training
- Main article: Training (Story)
The Training story features short chapters with specially designed battles to introduce players to the new mechanics of specific Card sets. The player is given pre-fabricated decks in these battles, including cards that they may not own or see elsewhere for quite some time.
Many Training chapters provide cards as rewards, and in some cases Card packs, from the corresponding card set. Like all new cards, these are helpful for players to improve their Decks and manage their Mastery level.
Battle for Zendikar
The Battle for Zendikar story features a tutorial (similar to Training) plus further chapters of increasing difficulty. The enemies' decks in the tutorial consist of mostly BFZ and some Origins cards, unlike in the Chapters, which are only BfZ cards.
Battle for Zendikar gives the most crystals of any of the Story sections: 20 for winning a battle with Planeswalkers of all five colors.
Heroic Encounters
- Main article: Heroic Encounters
Heroic Encounters feature a set of relatively high difficulty story battles, corresponding to the five Origins planeswalkers.
Heroic Encounters starts locked, and is unlocked by completing the Win the Game objective of every node in Chapter 1, Parts 1 and 2.
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.
The Mana Rune rewards for winning the game and completing objectives are unusually high: 1760 or more. Subsequent win Rune rewards are also the highest of Story mode, at 250. Heroic Encounters gives 15 Crystals for winning a battle with Planeswalkers of all five colors.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
5 colors in 2 games
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 planeswalker (such as Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh) in a first game, and another two or three color planeswalker (such as Huatli, Radiant Champion or Tamiyo, Field Researcher) in a second game to meet all five color objectives.
As of the Dominaria United set, all of the two-planeswalker combinations which cover all 5 colors are:
