First steps
First thing you need to do to play Orbis: Duels of Magic is register. You will find a link on the main page. After registering you wil be prompted to check your email for an activation link. Click the link to activate your account.
After that you can login.
To start playing you will need a deck of cards. After you login for the first time you will be offered a choice of starting decks. You can choose only one deck and you will not be offered the opportunity to change it. Do not fear because during the course of the game you will get the opportunity to get many more cards and rebuild your deck to fit your playing style.
Currently you can choose 1 of 2 starting decks: a frost deck focused on heavy shields and a fire deck which contains a variety of shield damaging cards. Keep in mind that choosing a frost deck will make it easier for you to build a deck based on frost cards and vice versa. If you need more information about the starting decks and schools of magic feel free to browse and ask for help in the strategy board.
Navigation
After you login you will see 7 tabs in the top of the page. Those will be as follows:
- News
This is where you can read about important things going on in the game. - Repository
This is where you can see your cards and build your decks. - Player information
This is where you can check most of your information, like your current resources, tournament and league status. - Games
This is where you can join queues to play different types of games. - Store
This is where you can buy new cards for the resources you gained by winning games. - Tutorial
This is where you read this tutorial (it is also available on the forums). - Forum
This leads to the game forum.
Managing your deck
Assuming you have already chosen a starting deck you can browse the cards you own and manage your deck under Repository.
Here is an example showing how your repository might look like.
You can see 4 columns in this section. On the left you can see the list of all cards you own. 2nd column will display details of cards you select - in the example above Icy gravestone and Ice charmers are chosen. 3rd column displays details of one of your decks, including the list of cards added to that deck. 4th column displays tabs letting you switch between your decks and also renaming your decks and choosig the current deck (the deck you will be using during your matches).
There is some important information about your currently selected deck displayed in the top of the 3rd column. First of all you can see how many cards are there in the deck. Furthermore you can see if the deck is valid or not. The deck has to meet some requirements in order to be playable (e.g. it has to consist of at least 40 cards). If the deck has't met any of the requirements the deck will be marked as invalid and corresponding information will be displayed in the top of 3rd column. In the example above the deck is marked as valid.
There is several things you can achieve in your repository.
First of all you can display details of any card by simply clicking that card. This will also select this card. You can see a preview of 2 cards simultaneously allowing you to compare those cards easily.
If you are having trouble finding a specific card in your repository you may use the search function - simply enter the name or part of the name of the card you are looking for and click the search button.
In order to add a card to a deck you will have to find the card in the repository (the leftmost column), then click it once to select it and then click it again to add it to the current deck. You will notice an arrow pointing right showing up on the card after you select it.
To remove a card from a deck find the card in the deck (the 3rd column), then click it once to select it and then click it again to remove it from the deck. You will notice an arrow pointing left showing up on the card after you select it.
Another thing you might do in your repository view is choose a starting position. In order to do that, select a card you wish to add to a starting position, then click one of the 5 starting position buttons in the top of the 3rd column.
If you chose a deck you are offered the opportunity to rename it and/or chose it as your current deck (the deck that you will use during your matches).
Playing a game
To play a game of Orbis browse to Games and click a button to join a queue. You have a choice of games. Friendly matches are not ranked and this is the game type you might want to start with. Click the 'Join a queue to play a friendly match' button. You will be placed in the queue. Depending on the number of waiting players you will have to wait some time before you are invited to game. After you have been invited to a game you should click the 'Join the game' link. You will be taken to the game screen.
This is how the match screen might look like at the begining of the game.
On the left you can see that it is turn 1 of the match. Current player is Test 64 and he only has 31 seconds until his turn ends.
Below that you can see how many Mana Points, cards in hand and in memory each player has. You might also notice that the opponent of Test 64 is called 'Test 61 mail'.
It is also easy to notice the cards cast on the circles. The 5 circles on top of the picture are the circles belonging to the opponent. The 5 lower circles are the circles of current player.
Let's look at the cards on current player's circles. His first circle is empty. On the 2nd circle he has Frost witch. On 3rd and 4th circles there is Huge icicle. The 5th circle is occupied by a Glacier. As you can see the current player is playing a Frost deck, while his opponent has a deck consisting of Fire cards.
Below the circles there is 3 more things to notice. On the left there is a log where you can see a list of important event that took place during the game. In the middle there is a list of cards in current player's hand begining with 2 Chilling winds. On the right you can see 2 preview windows, where one can display any card's details - there is Icicle snake and Chilling wind currently displayed.
After you enter the game screen you might have to wait for the other player to join the game. After both the players joined the game will start. At the start of the game first player is determined. You can see which player's turn it is by looking above the game statistics window. When it is your turn you will see 'End turn' button above the list of cards in your Hand.
During your turn you can play your cards. To play a card you should follow the steps below.
- Choose the card to play
You can choose the card you want to play by clilcking the card's name. You can only play the cards in your Hand. - Click the 'Play ...' button
You have to click the button that shows up above the list of cards in your Hand. - Choose the target of you card
Finally, you have to choose the target of your spell. To do so, click the shield or circle you want to target your card at. After you do so the card will get played and you will see new entry in the log stating the effects of playing the card. If there were any errors while playing the card (eg. not enough mana points) you will also be notified and the card will not be played. Both in case of success and error you will be able to see what happened by looking below the statistics window.
After you play all the cards you wanted to play you can end your turn by clicking the 'End turn' button that is displayed above the list of cards in your Hand.
The game ends when one or both of players loose all their shields or any of the players runs out of cards in his memory.
Game types
Currently there are three game types available:
- Friendly
In a friendly game you get the opportunity to play a game that is not rated in any way. You can practice your skills and try your decks out. - League
Every player enters the league. Each week the played league matches are analyzed, league positions are calculated and players get rewards. The reward for participating in league matches is called valor. Depending on league position a player gets different amount of valors. Valors can be used to purchase new cards. - Tournament
Each player gets the opportunity to participate in tournaments. Tournaments are events that consist of two phases: qualifications and finals. During qualifications the players have to play a specified number of matches. Those with best results are then qualified to play in finals. The finals are played as a single-elimination tournament. This means that each player gets an opponent he has to face during each round. Only one of them wins and enters next round. Depending on the final result the players are rewarded neptuses. Neptuses can be used to purchase new cards.
The league
Participating in league matches is the easiest ways to get the resources needed to buy new cards and improve your deck.
To get the reward you should play 10 league matches during a league week. League week starts on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. If you play 10 league matches during such week then you will be rated and you will get valors. The amount you get depends on the league position you have. The league position is computed each week and depends on the win/draw/lose ratio of your league matches during current week and your league position last week. In short: the more matches you win the more probable is that you will get a higher position than last week.
Keep in mind that you will not get any valors regardless of your position if you won't play the minimum of 10 league matches during current week. You are not limited to 10 matches though and if you wish you are welcome to play more. If you manage to change your win/draw/lose ratio than it will get you a better league position.
When you join the league match queue you are put into a queue. The algorithm that picks an opponent for you is going to try to achieve the impossible:
- Matching skill and deck
The algorithm picks opponents with matching skills and decks. It assumes that players league position corresponds to those factors. It won't be true every time but works most of the time. - Quick matching
The algorithm won't wait infinitely for a perfect opponent for you. It will find an opponent for you in a finite time. - Randomness
The algorithm doesn't always pick the best matching opponent. Instead it finds several opponents in order to meet the above conditions and picks one of those randomly.
The tournament
Some of the cards that are available to purchase in the store are only accessible to those who posses so called neptuses. Those are gained by participating in tournaments. To participate in a tournament you have to get an invitation. Currently the invitation is sent to all the players each time a tournament is about to begin.
Each tournament consists of two phases: qualifying rounds and finals. Each tournament takes a week. Qualifying rounds take 6 days and the finals are organized on the seventh day.
During the qualification rounds each player participating int the tournament is required to play exactly 10 tournament matches. A won match is worth 3 points, draw is worth 1 point and you get no points for losing a match. Those who do not manage to play 10 matches during the qualification rounds are disqualified. From those who weren't disqualified, 64 best players are qualified to the finals.
The finals are played as a single-elimination tournament. This means that each player gets a specified opponent and is supposed to play a match with that player. Only one of them is going to qualify to the next round.
The important thing about the finals is that the matches are played at fixed times, forcing the players who qualified to the finals to be online and able to play their matches during the finals. The finals will usually be played between 20.00 and 24.00 on Saturdays or Sundays. First round is starting at 20.00. The players get 15 minutes to join their matches. Those who didn't join are eliminated. After all the matches of the first round are finished the next round is started. This process is repeated until the final round. With 64 players the finals will be played over six rounds.
The player who wins the tournament gets 100 neptuses, but all the participants will get a reward according to their achievements.