The game is lovely, really like it!
I played v1.3 at https://wizard-duel-ten.vercel.app/, and here are my thoughts:
## Balance
- It feels somewhat unfair that **losing a duel = losing progress**, and, if unlucky, you can go back from the very last to the very first level. Possible workaround: nerf opponents after player defeats them, so that coming back to the same level multiple times is less painful.
- **Tie = loss**, which was surprising to me. Suggestions: (1) reduce punishment for tie (e.g. restart current level instead of going back), or (2) give a fair warning in the rules that player loses after 50 turns pass (not "game ends in a draw").
## UI
- Apparently, most buffs do not stack, which is not obvious at first. E.g. playing "double damage" card two times in a row wastes the second card. This is fine, but I wish the game was more explicit about this.
- It is also unclear at first whether "next card is invalidated" debuff has higher or lower priority than "remove debuffs" card (it's higher).
Possible solution: hovering over card/buff/debuff could show a hint with description/clarifying comments.
- Alternatively, some kind of warning like "playing this card now will have no effect" would be helpful. This might be, for example, indicated by greying out no-op cards ("buff" card could be greyed out if player already has an identical status effect that doesn't stack. "attack" card could be greyed out if it won't deal any damage. If player is frozen/under the effect of level 3 location, all cards in hand might be greyed out)
- Would be nice to see **how much damage** an attacking card deals after applying modifiers. Either before you play the card (when card is selected) or at least in the battle log. Currently, battle log lists "base" damage of the played card, not the final damage received by enemy.
- [minor] I felt that some UI elements could be combined.
- "Current level" icon + number and clickable "Level effect" button could be a single element. Also, since levels have names, maybe put level name on the game screen (?)
- "Current turn" icon + number could open the "Battle log" when clicked. Personally, I only noticed "battle log" button at the top right after finishing the game.