Years ago, long before I would have called myself a “gamer”, I was introduced to the card game Magic: The Gathering by my friends. We would hang out at each others house or go camping and passed our time playing one of the most obsessive games I have ever played. After growing up and moving away, I long lost my friends nearby that would allow me to continue my addiction and started to gravitate to console and online gaming instead. 

I knew Magic: The Gathering had went online some years back and recall thinking I should check it out as now I would have people all over the world to play with, but I never actually got around to playing the online game. That is until it came to Xbox Live Arcade and we got to play a Frag Doll Friday on it! My elf deck of course rocked the competition like I knew it would, and we had a lot of fun playing against fellow lovers of the game.

For those that don’t know, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers, is the version of the card game that is available on Xbox Live for 800 MS points. It is essentially a game of fantasy and strategy as you unleash a torrent of fantastic creatures and devastating spells to destroy online foes in your quest for domination. The best way to sum it up is it is an RPG you play out with cards instead of your avatar using spells, abilities, and combat.

Duels of the Planeswalkers base game features eight unique player decks, deck customization with unlocked content, single player and cooperative campaigns, ranked and unranked online single player and cooperative play, leader boards, and more. It has released two expansions so far bringing in more decks, challenges, and levels to complete. And let me tell you, these pre-set challenges will tickle your brain like nothing else and only the best of the best will solve them!

This game is one of the number one downloaded Xbox Live Arcade games for a reason: it not only bringing back all of us “old school” players who are just getting back in touch with the game, but also introduces new players to the franchise by offering a wonderful tutorial that walks you through it and an progressively advancing level AI opponent in the campaigns. These modes quickly get you on top of your game and prepare you to take on real people online!

What I love about it is that it helped me reacquaint myself with a lost love and is a good starter to learn all the new abilities and cards that have been introduced since I last played the game. I also really enjoyed the amazing prebuilt decks and the set number of unlockable cards for each deck as it puts everyone you game against on a level playing field.

So, for all you Magic: The Gathering fans and lovers of card games in general, if you haven’t played it yet Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers is the game for you! To celebrate the release of the PC version which is the exact same as the trading card game, we will also be doing a special night for this game coming soon on Saturday, June 26th exclusively on STEAM.  More Details coming soon!