Choose Duelyst
Choose Duelyst if you want an Indie game with Online PvP and PvP. 3,201 Steam reviews back the pick.
Duelyst vs Magic Duels
Duelyst and Magic Duels both land in Strategy, Free To Play on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both share Strategy, Free To Play on Steam. Magic Duels (2015) is 1 year older than Duelyst (2016). Duelyst scores higher on Steam reviews (81% positive) than Magic Duels (79.3% positive). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Magic Duels
Choose Magic Duels if you want the Shared/Split Screen and Co-op side of the pairing. On Steam, it has co-op, so you can bring a friend. Magic Duels launched in 2015.
Both Duelyst and Magic Duels sit in Strategy and Free To Play on Steam and both list Multi-player, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (81% vs 79.3% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Duelyst |  Magic Duels | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2016 | 2015 |
| Genres | Strategy, Indie, Free To Play | Strategy, Free To Play |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Unrated | Deck Unsupported |
| Price | Price unknown | Price unknown |
| Steam reviews | 81% positive (3,201 reviews) | 79.3% positive (651 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player, Cross-Platform Multiplayer | Multi-player, Co-op |
| Developers | Counterplay Games Inc. | Stainless Games Ltd. |
Side by side
- Both share Strategy, Free To Play on Steam.
- Magic Duels (2015) is 1 year older than Duelyst (2016).
- Duelyst scores higher on Steam reviews (81% positive) than Magic Duels (79.3% positive).
- Magic Duels has co-op; Duelyst does not.
- Magic Duels is Deck Unsupported on Steam Deck; Duelyst has no Deck rating yet.
Duelyst vs Magic Duels — FAQ
- Which is better, Duelyst or Magic Duels?
- On Steam reviews the two are nearly tied: Duelyst sits at 81% positive (3,201 reviews), Magic Duels at 79.3% (651). The choice usually comes down to genre fit and the platform features each one supports — see the comparison table above.
- Should I play Duelyst or Magic Duels first?
- If you want chronology, Magic Duels (2015) came out before Duelyst (2016). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Duelyst and Magic Duels similar?
- They overlap on Strategy, Free To Play on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.