Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers

I've had an off again on again relationship with Magic since 1995. For better or for worse, it and its heroin-like addictive properties are a part of my life and until they have Magic Anonymous I have to accept that. So when I heard that Duels of the Planeswalkers was coming out I got pretty excited. I figured that, worst case scenario, I'd have a distraction between games involving friends and cardboard crack. Turns out distractions only go so far.

MTG:DotP, for those who don't know, is a card game usually involving two players but can involve more. Each player brings their own deck to the table filled with resources (land), creatures, and spells with the purpose of defeating each other player while keeping themselves alive. Their turn usually consists of playing a land, casting various creatures and spells, and having their creatures attack other players to chip away at their 20 life points or hang back to defend when other players attack. Discussing each and every mechanic would take an hour or two but, really, that's the gist of Magic.

DotP looks and plays exactly like its paper counterpart. Each card in the game has the great artwork present on the actual cards and does the same exact thing. A relatively simple control scheme (move a cursor, select or view, X to pause the action so you can select the right card) keeps your mind on the strategy at hand rather than on what your fingers are capable of. Lands automatically tap (are used) so that the action is sped up a little. Stainless Games made the transition from cardboard to console pretty seemless and user friendly.

In addition to your normal one on one gameplay, either against the computer or against an online friend, you can play three or four player free-for-all games on XBox Live or the cooperative Two-Head Giant mode where you and one friend play against two others online or two computer players. And, as a quick little bonus, there are eight scenarios to solve where you're put in the middle of a game and given one turn to defeat your opponent. All these in addition to having eight decks to choose from and over a dozen cards to unlock for each deck gives the game plenty of replay value.

Sadly, though, there are some huge drawbacks to anyone familiar with Magic. First off, the lack of customization. Being given 8 decks to use and add cards to would be great if you were allowed to take some cards out. As it is, the 60 cards in your deck at the start MUST stay, forcing you to play some pretty bad cards and, in the end, makes everyone's version of a deck roughly the same thing. In addition, some of the most simple actions take forever. Opening turns are very often "draw-land-go" but this simple exchange, taking about 5 seconds on paper Magic, can take 30-60 seconds. When the decks are very simple and very similar, the game is slow as it is, but with this it becomes mind-numbing. The game can occasionally tap the wrong lands (if your deck has multiple colors), leaving you without an option you should've had. And, finally, there's no real balance between the decks. Two of them are so horribly overpowered that there's next to no reason to play any of the others, and some are so bad there's literally no reason to play them at all against others.

All these little things together take away a lot of the customization and strategy that make Magic fun and competitive. For new players this is a great game and tutorial but, for experienced players looking for something with a bit more depth, you might want to try the demo or hope it goes on sale again.

I had only played Magic: The Gathering once or twice in my life when friends tried to get me into the game. I just couldn't get into it at the time and that's a shame. I saw the demo on XBL and thought I would download it to give it a shot. I was hooked from the moment I started to play it. My desire to play it only grew stronger when I learned how/when to use all the cards. It's a must own for any card game fans or the strategy fans. Addictive though, once you really dip your feet into the gameplay...

My only concern with the game is the lack of customizing your own deck. That, afterall, is the spirit of Magic: The Gathering. Build your own unique deck to battle against friends. My hope that there might be a sequel around the corner or another expansion, but I'd rather not have to buy expansion after expansion for a variety of decks to choose. Once you're done with the campaign mode, there is a little replay value other than to finish collecting all cards. After that, it's all about the online play, and with no customization of your own deck, the game becomes stale after a few weeks. There is nothing I dread more than playing against a "Mind of Void" deck over and over.

Highly recommended, but once you've had your fix, you might find you've grown tired of the game.

A good combat card game, with a balanced system that make it good in the duels, but it have a few customization that let you short of options to play

Yes, the missing deck editor is very unfortunate. But this is still an awesome incarnation of the real game with lots of content and fun to be had.

I played Magic back in High School. I don't like Planeswalkers...

60 card limit on decks, minimal customization, I don't quite like the implementation of the game system. This is more of an advergame IMO, to get some exposure to a new generation.

This is a great marketing technique by Wizards to offer this $10 version when they have new core cards coming in July 2009. There are many new or renewed card collectors because of this lite version (myself included) I dabbled with Magic back in the mid 90s but this game makes it so much easier to keep track of everything and actually learn the game. It is definitely the most fun with live people/Xbox friends but I test out my decks on the computer AI so I know how they will play which is a nice feature.

Coming from someone who has never played MTG before, I can say that the card game is fun. That said, it's really only fun in multiplayer. The computer seems to have the right card FAR too often for it to be coincidence and it seems likely that it's chosen on the spot according to your difficulty, which is lame and not representative of the gameplay at all. Learn the basics in multiplayer and if you like the basic idea, then buy the full one and look for some friends to play with.