Should of bought Culdcept Saga.

Twesterm, your hatred for the PS3 is getting old.

Well you go into this game thinking that it will be full blown Magic game for $10.00 then you are either delusional at best or simply have too high of expectation. This is Magic card game for Xbox Live. It's Magic for casual console gamer. If you want the "real" deal then just download Magic Online. It's a fully support, fully sanction Magic CCG game in digital form.

I don't know what you were expecting, the game has beatiful graphic, it was fun to play, my two kids 12 and 9 play it all day yesterday. it's cheaper than buying two pre-made starter deck and you get a lot more cards to play with. You get on-line play, rank play, simple deck building (remember this is Magic for casual or Magic Lite). It was never design as a replacement for Magic On-line. Why would Wizard of the Coast want to share revenue they could get in full with Microsoft? They already have their own fully functioning digital version.

Anyway, sorry that you are disappointed but it's a breath of fresh air for XBLA (or any download service). It's nice to have nice card game (BTW, Tictet to Ride is a also a lot of fun i you haven't try it). We get so many arcade port, remake and tons of those match three games.

That's pretty terrible, the most important aspect of magic is pretty much in the meta-game, take that away and you take half of the game's playability. Then you remove the other half by getting rid of the mind game and you have a even more dumbed down version of yu-gi-oh :/

I remember there use to be a very old PC magic game that plays similiarly to puzzle quest (but no on rail), man that was fun, I use to use the deck builder in that game to produce a deck that runs almost entirely on mox and can kill you before you even get a turn (timewalk, timetwister, demonic tutor and regrowth combo).

Here's a good read from the designer of the game and reasons why they went this route with Duel of the Planewalkers for XBLA

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/43c

Oh and you could interupt action, let said you assign blocker. Before damage is dealt there is an optiion "A" pop up and at this point you can used card ability.  For example if you have those little Pyro guy, you can assign him to block before the damage is dealth you can tap him using "A" button to use his card ability to ping someone for 1 damage.

Some of the process have been streamline for simplicity sake.  Again, not to beat a dead horse but if you want a full functioning, deck building, sanction legal Magic, there is already one available (and have been available for quite sometimes).

This game is for people who just want to pitch two decks together for fun.  I bought several pre-made Magic decks (and they cost a lot more than the $10.00 asking price of XBLA version) and used them as is because it's balance and anyone of my family and friends can just pick up and play.  I pick up couple boosters here and there to beef up the deck (since those starter are usually only 40 cards) but they deck remain balance.  No tournament style shut down (read boring to play) in casucal non compettive setting).  Why would any of your friends want to come over to play with you when you have the uber decks that beat them down every round.

Sorry for the long rant on this but it's really annoying to see people dismiss this game without seeing why and who it is for.  This is the same as people dismissing those Wii party games as lame, but you know what, when you are getting together with friends and family they are more fun to play because the game offer easy to learn and easy to pick up and play for everyone. 

Which game?  Do you mean the XBox original one, that was arcade based?  Or do you mean the PC version with the same name as the XBox one?  The PC version was designed by Sid Meier, and had an RPG like element.  I thought this is what I would be getting under the same name, with it revamped.  Instead it is a a series of pre-built deck battles, with very limited customizability in the single player game.  I can understand for AI play sake they did this.

Anyone know if customizability is acceptable in the multiplayer version?  If they allow that, they then could sell booster packs and whatnot online for players to use.

All and all, I thought it was ok, but not worth buying.

@richard

the xbox version.

That's not Magic though, if they're using the name of the franchise and building a simulation of what the real life card game does, then I expect them to at least give me some of the most BASIC functionality that any Magic player demands and expects.

What's the point of dumbing it down to such a severe degree? That's just using a franchise's name to garner more sale and deceiving the fans that bought the game thinking they're actually buying Magic the Gathering.

Make your own game and call it Magik for Beginners or something and sell that, don't make a game called Magic the Gathering that actually simulate the card game then throw away everything that makes Magic unique.

And as for local multiplayer, how the hell do you play a game of magic with only 1 screen? does this mean the opponent can see my card whenever its my turn? Urrgh!

Seriously, for all I know this could a very fun casual game but I repeat: This is not Magic! From Twestern's description, not even Portal Edition is this dumbed down!

So yes, I'll dismiss this game despite the developer's justification of a casual leaning expirience, because in his effort to make the game more noob friendly he essentially destroyed what made Magic unique. He might as well create his own generic fantasy setting card game rather than decieve real player who are actually interested in Magic into purchasing this farce.

edit: I don't have this game, I am basing my criticism on the feature twestern has highlighted as missing in his comment and which I view as completely unacceptable in any Magic game that tries to simulate the real card game expirience.

Damn. Why would they do this? The PC manager they've had for years allows for complete deck customization, if I remember correctly.