Magic Puzzle Quest (& Marvel Puzzle Quest)

Ooooh, a new Puzzle Quest!  And it's a blend of Magic: The Gathering (ie MTG) and Puzzle Quest! Made by D3 (makers of Marvel Puzzle Quest) & Wizards of the Coast!  What could go wrong?

This was my thought as I dloaded Magic PQ, somewhat concerned that it might affect my addictive daily playing of Marvel PQ.  Well, I now doubt that, despite the fact that I think Magic PQ is a 3-4* game on track to be a 5* game.  But Marvel PQ already is a 4* game, IMO.

The Good:
Lots of Plainswalkers, lots of cards.  Deck building mechanic.  CCG.  Strategic play.  Looks very nice.

The Bad:
10 card decks?!?  Really?  Meh!  Plainswalkers get first weak power at Lvl 2, next at Lvl 14?!?  Tiles in match-3 game look very similar (esp Blue & Black), esp when a 'support tile' is in play.  While art looks great, not much animation here.  Lots of cards, but can be hard to know what's going on, and I haven't found a 'recap' / log button to see what opponent's action was.  And lastly -- this is an F2P game w/2 currencies, and despite getting both just by playing, clearly the emph is on spending real money for premium currency to buy boosters.  (And I won't be spending anything, most likely.)

My Tips/Tricks:
I'm a newb, but I'm a veteran MTG & Marvel PQ player.  I will likely update these as I play more.

1 - Spend your currency well.  I dropped 50 crystals (premium) to add all Planeswalkers (PW's).  Rationale: the game is new, and I can see their costs soon jumping.  Also, when new PW's arrive, I'm sure they will also cost.  And for deck building, you can't play cards that don't share a color w/your PW.  Sure, I like Green, but also like 'em all.

2 - Get an early booster or two, but then start saving for the rates.  I didn't want all my cards to be 'standard', but my first 2 boosters didn't offer much of anything interesting.  Oh well.  (Update:  got my main Blue PW to Lvl 14 &  bought a few more boosters & got a Black Mythic card.  Frustrating.)

3 - UI Tips:
3a - Deck design is on the Planeswalkers menu.  And, if you are new to Magic, there's a Quick Update option which has the AI do it all for you.  You can also empty  your deck and yoi can Autobuild it with the AI. Not bad!
3b - Support Tiles - to distinguish between your Support Tiles & opponent's in play, the counter will be on that player's side.  The color is the color of the glow (this took me forever to figure out).

4 - Card Selection - During play, check your hand frequently (ie every round!) & strategically rearrange cards.  Also don't forget to use your PW's powers, even if they suck.  And don't mana-charge up Support Cards that need creatures w/o 1-2 creatures in play.

5 - Cards cycle during play -- you can only have 3 creatures at a time.  Reenforcement is when you play two of the same creature.  If you have 3 creatures in play, reconsider swapping out a monster until the last minute.  Reenforcement of creatures in play is generally better than swapping them out.  Also, you can fully charge creatures and hold them in your hand.

I wish I had more tips, but if you post yours I will happily include them here (and in my gameplay!!).
Thanks!  Happy Holidays!

Heroes & Castles 2 - a 5 star game for Android & iPhone - trick / tip

This is a great game for Android & iPhone.  It's a 3rd person Tower Defense that plays more like a 3D 'Battle Chess' with all kinds of creatures.

This game is a very high quality & could be a console game.

**Highly recommended**

My trick for items: (Reposted from H&C2 Wikia)
Trick for items -- with 9-10 crystals minimum, save your game to cloud.

Go to Blacksmith & buy 1-2 items.

If you got a rare (or better) that you want, save game to cloud again (locking in item to your save).

If you didn't get anything exciting, blow the rest of the crystals on items just to see what you get (only for curiosity), then reload your game from cloud.

Suddenly you have all your crystals back, no purchased items, and can do go shopping again.

While this is a classic savegame cheat, after doing it ~20-30x, I got a few Epic items.

Wish I'd thought of this trick sooner!
(Reposted from rekzkarz.com)