GameSpoon: Magic: The Gathering XBLA

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers was recently released on Xbox Live Arcade to provides us with a great opportunity to play this iconic card game.

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that was released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. MTG is a highly addictive game that involves two (or more) players who assume the role of a spell-casting "planeswalker" in a battle of strategy, skill and luck of the draw.

It was around 1994, the time MTG Revised was released, when my friends and I began to explore the card game. A good friend of mine introduced a few of us to MTG and taught us how to play. It took a while for me to grasp the concept of the game, but it didn't take long for my friend to take advantage of my lack-of-knowledge in order to swindle me out of some good cards. "Sure, I'll trade you this one card for 5 of yours!" I thought he was the sucker...I miss my "Force of Nature."

Don't worry folks, I got my revenge. After I picked up the game, I started investing all the money I had at that time into buying cards and building decks. The game consumed my life with an obsession that could not be tamed. I poured over catalogs of MTG cards and looked for ways to build the most effective deck that I could possibly imagine. A different friend of mine and I would spend hours playing against each other, trading cards, strategically building decks and traveling to our local hobby store to challenge others. It all paid off, when we both challenged our card-swindling buddy. Match after match, he failed to stand a chance. He loved his green and blue decks - one which was a stasis deck that backfired on him horribly against our hand and land destruction decks; sometimes revenge is sweet.

Anyway, time passed on and I started to drift away from MTG. The obsession fell into a deep slumber, occasionally awaking, but only for short times. Then Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox Live Arcade stepped into my life.

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers is a great experience. It captures the feeling of playing with the real, physical thing. As you play through the campaign, you unlock cards and decks to further expand upon your arsenal. The game play is smooth and smart - when you encounter one of the many complex situations that arise during play (i.e. what rule happens first and when does this take affect), you'll find the results to be satisfying; expected resolutions.

I've spent many hours playing the Campaign mode - both single player and co-op. I look forward to experiencing the Xbox Live matches too, but I'm saving that until I find the deck that is right for me.

My only complaint is the deck customization. I wish there was a DLC or inherit feature that allowed you to build a deck from the ground up; to be able to specify the number of cards you want, the type of cards you want and how many of each you want in your deck - total deck building freedom. Currently, preconstructed decks are the only type available to you. You do unlock cards to add to your decks, but the customization is restricted to just those bonus cards (meaning, you can only add/remove those unlocked cards). This is the one complaint I have on the game, but it is not something that would cause me to stop playing; I love this game.

Check out Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers on Xbox Live Arcade; for only 800 MS points the game could be yours! If you are new to MTG, there is a learning curve for mastering combos and strategies, but it is easy to pickup the basics! I highly recommend getting this game, try the demo or just buy the whole thing. If you like MTG, you can't go wrong.