The album debuted at number nine on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart, with first-week sales of 45,000 copies in the United States. It also entered at number three on "Billboard"s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and it reached number 11 on "Billboard"s Digital Albums chart. It ultimately spent 10 weeks on the "Billboard" 200 and 36 weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. As of August 2013, the album has sold 179,000 copies in the United States. "The Love & War MasterPeace" was well received by music critics. "Billboard" writer Gail Mitchell praised the album's themes and music, writing "Drawing from a palette rich in R&B, hip-hop and jazz, DeVaughn has crafted a powerful, thought-provoking album". Giving it 4½ out of 5 stars, Allmusic writer Andy Kellman cited "The Love & War MasterPeace" as "one of the most grippingly conscious major-label R&B albums of the last 30 years", viewing its love-themed songs as "imaginative and excellent" and praising its socially conscious material. "The Washington Post"s Sarah Godfrey called it "a masterpiece" and compared DeVaughn to soul musician Marvin Gaye, writing "like Gaye, he can deliver songs for both babymaking and movement-building". Ken Capobianco of "The Boston Globe" praised DeVaughn's vocals and called the album a "smartly executed set". "Toronto Star" writer Ashante Infantry gave it 3½ out of 4 stars and called it "a grooving, unconventional and utterly compelling album". Despite viewing its thematic concept as flawed, "Washington City Paper" writer Ben Westhoff praised its "wild ambition" and musical quality, stating "it instead works in the realm of the lush, the dark, and the dramatic, striving for a chiseled-in-granite sound. There’s not a note out of place here; the music is at times sweeping and blustery, at other times cautious and foreboding". "Detroit Free Press" writer Brian McCollum gave the album 3 out of 4 stars and wrote that it "dances a careful line between oldfangled soul and commercial R&B". Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" wrote that "The Love & War Masterpeace" is "destined to be split into separate love and war playlists", but ultimately praised DeVaughn's themes of "social consciousness and seduction", writing "at least Mr. DeVaughn has more than one thing on his mind".