Magic The Gathering Thread: [XBLA VERSION TODAY!]

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Back during my childhood I got 'into' MtG, see I even know the acronym, look impressed.

For Design Tech I built a 'Wooden Tool Box' - but it was really to keep my MtG cards in. Yoink!

I've got loads of the forth edition, and then Ice Age and then some of the next stuff (can't remember the name) but that was when my friends and I realised it was a) massively overpowered extention and b) if you didn't keep up you couldn't win matches. (No defence against Shadow creatures etc). So we just ruled you could only use 4th/Ice Age cards and had a lot more fun. Then I got a GIRLFRIEND etc.

One of my proudest child like moments was not having nearly as much money as my richo mate, but due to extremely careful deck construction I always beat him. Despite him having some really powerful cards.

My two favourite decks was a green deck that mass produced Thallids (1/1 creatures) and Black/White deck that damaged everyone, but negated it for me.

I still have my cards, maybe I should crack them back out, or see if they are worth squillions on ebay (yeah right!)

Was I alone is this far too geeky hobby? It's much better than bloody Yu-Gi-Oh,

Anyhow, I always yearned for a GBA version like the YGO games (play matches earn boosters) but they only ever made an online version where you had to pay cash for pretend boosters. Yeah right! HOWEVER Apparently todays XBLA game is a version MtG Woo!

This trailer is all I know about it, does anyone know anything else about it? If you don't buy boosters with M$* I'm totally getting it.

*Why isn't M$ used to denote M$ points. It's funny and would piss on unix nerds.

LewieP · **Joined:** 29th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 7600

NNNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

Oooh. I actually really liked MtG -- I thought it was a really good game, barring the thinly veiled money-spending treadmill that WotC put you on just to keep up. I am officially Interested in this.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:49

I only ever played this with my friend's cards, but he had tons of them and had some awesome decks.

He had one that (I think) was entirely white, and won by just negating everything the other guy did and forcing him to run out of cards. That appealed to my sneaky nature.

Morte · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:49

Ooo...if this is anything like the Microprose MtG game then I'm definitely up for it.

myp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:50

No Sam and Max then? Gutted.

The Rev Owen · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:51

I heard that it plays a hard game, includes 280 cards and is based on some new rules coming out in the future.

Make of that what you will, I don't understand a word of it. I filled in a form on a website saying they'd send me a free starter deck, but it never arrived.

Runcle · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:52

I looked an hour or so ago, there was no magic, or rocket riot which I like the look of. Sam and max was there though.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:52

I was always attracted to it, but didn't want to spend the amounts of money required.

Morte · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:53

Oh and the original MtG game is available as abandonware (well it was last time I checked). It's a pig to get running under XP (Vista = No Chance) but worth it as it's basically the card game with ultra rare cards included.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

I was ranked top in the national extended ranking back in 99'. That should put me upfront in the nerd-o-meter.

So, WoTC releases this thing for the Xbox live when Magic Online is such a mess. So, how will this play?

The Rev Owen · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:57

Runcle wrote:

I looked an hour or so ago, there was no magic, or rocket riot which I like the look of. Sam and max was there though.

There's an entry for Magic on the new releases section of the Games page on the Marketplace web site, but clicking it gives an error.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Morte wrote:

Oh and the original MtG game is available as abandonware (well it was last time I checked). It's a pig to get running under XP (Vista = No Chance) but worth it as it's basically the card game with ultra rare cards included.

it's just so easy though. In this kind of games that is unforgivable. I used to make it harder by forcing myself to play with 5 colour decks.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

The Rev Owen wrote:

I heard that it plays a hard game, includes 280 cards and is based on some new rules coming out in the future.

Make of that what you will, I don't understand a word of it. I filled in a form on a website saying they'd send me a free starter deck, but it never arrived.

280 cards only?? that's less than one of the big expansions.

Morte · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 14:59

RuySan wrote:

Morte wrote:

Oh and the original MtG game is available as abandonware (well it was last time I checked). It's a pig to get running under XP (Vista = No Chance) but worth it as it's basically the card game with ultra rare cards included.

it's just so easy though. In this kind of games that is unforgivable. I used to make it harder by forcing myself to play with 5 colour decks.

If you're a MtG player I suppose it is but for someone who had no intention of getting involved in the card whore-age of the real game I found the PC version excellent.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

RuySan wrote:

Morte wrote:

Oh and the original MtG game is available as abandonware

it's just so easy though. In this kind of games that is unforgivable.

RuySan wrote:

I was ranked top in the national extended ranking back in 99'.

Hey, maybe these things are related!

The Rev Owen · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:00

RuySan wrote:

280 cards only?? that's less than one of the big expansions.

Don't take that as gospel, it's just what someone said on rllmuk.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:

Oooh. I actually really liked MtG -- I thought it was a really good game, barring the thinly veiled money-spending treadmill that WotC put you on just to keep up. I am officially Interested in this.

Indeed, it was really deep and thoughtful. Thinking about it, a huge factor on how good this game is how much freedom it gives you in deck design and how good the GUI is to construct them.

The Rev Owen wrote:

I heard that it plays a hard game, includes 280 cards and is based on some new rules coming out in the future.

Make of that what you will, I don't understand a word of it. I filled in a form on a website saying they'd send me a free starter deck, but it never arrived.

Gah! I hoped it would be the 4th Edition, hell they could even realease Ice Age (the whole thing) for DLC and I would probably get it. I wonder what edition they are up too now?

Still if it has 280 cards and allows you to have online matches then at 800 points I'm totally getting it.

myp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:04

Runcle wrote:

Sam and max was there though.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

LewieP wrote:

NNNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!

If there are enough other NNNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDS we could have a tourny...

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Morte wrote:

RuySan wrote:

Morte wrote:

Oh and the original MtG game is available as abandonware (well it was last time I checked). It's a pig to get running under XP (Vista = No Chance) but worth it as it's basically the card game with ultra rare cards included.

it's just so easy though. In this kind of games that is unforgivable. I used to make it harder by forcing myself to play with 5 colour decks.

If you're a MtG player I suppose it is but for someone who had no intention of getting involved in the card whore-age of the real game I found the PC version excellent.

Some really abusable cards like Dark Ritual/hypnotic Specter and Lightning Bolt were just too easy and cheap to come by. Besides, the game enforced a minimum of 40 card/deck instead of 60, so it was even easier to get to the good cards. And the devs thought it was a good idea to have the bosses with 5 color decks with hundreds of cards (like the 10 year olds in tournaments), instead of small mono-colored decks.

I played quite Mtg:online during the beta and also 2 years ago. The card game is ace as ever, but the client is beyond shitty. And WotC expects you to pay the same for virtual cards as real ones.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Dr Lave wrote:

Gah! I hoped it would be the 4th Edition, hell they could even realease Ice Age (the whole thing) for DLC and I would probably get it. I wonder what edition they are up too now?

Some years ago, WoTC amusingly started releasing 4 expansions a year instead of 3. They probably thought that the people that were still playing would play and buy no matter how much stuff they released and gave up on attracting new players.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

6 mins of some people playing it. (Haven't watched it yet).

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

RuySan wrote:

And WotC expects you to pay the same for virtual cards as real ones.

Suddenly, I am concerned. I see an endless world of micropayments for virtual boosters and losing games to people who bought all the expansions.

I am interested to see how they handle the temptation to monetise this out of existence.

Mr Dom · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:12

I spent far too much on Tragic the Saddening...
(I had my special deck in red plastic covers too)

Bumped into it again & almost almost bought a couple of starters & a whole box of boosters, but the whole 'keep releasing new expansions & declaring old ones obsolete so your loving crafted deck is now defunct' made me decide not to.

The original PC game sounds interesting for a bit of nostalgia tho...

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Seems to be Lorwyn, the expansion released 1 and 1/2 years ago. It's very good. I used to play loads of drafts and sealed decks of those on mtg online.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:

RuySan wrote:

And WotC expects you to pay the same for virtual cards as real ones.

Suddenly, I am concerned. I see an endless world of micropayments for virtual boosters and losing games to people who bought all the expansions.

I am interested to see how they handle the temptation to monetise this out of existence.

If they charge something like 400 point each time an expansion comes, for having access to all the cards in th expansion, i don't think it's a bad deal at all (since that's almost what a 15 card booster costs), specially if you can draft and do sealed decks as much as you want. But since this is wotc we're talking about, i seriously doubt it. They took out sealed deck leagues from mtg:online (that lasted 4 weeks) so that people would have to spend money on booster drafts.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Worry less Doc!

Quote:

Q. How many MS Points will Duels of the Planeswalkers sell for?

A. Duels of the Planeswalkers is priced competitively at 800 MS Points.

Q. Will there be additional downloadable content available?

A. Yes, Duels of the Planeswalkers will offer a variety of downloadable in-game content to customize your Duels play experience as well as theme packs and gamer pics to customize your Xbox LIVE experience.

Q. Can I purchase additional cards for my decks?

A. No, in Duels of the Planeswalkers all the cards in the set are available by defeating opponents.

Q. Will there be expansions or additional decks released for additional game play?

A. Yes, there will be expansions available for Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Q: What game modes will be available in the Xbox LIVE Arcade version?

A: The Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Duels of the Planeswalkers features a full single player campaign game vs. AI opponents and a second cooperative (two-headed giant) campaign vs. AI opponents. Duels of the Planeswalkers also offers online two player, online cooperative (two-headed giant) play, as well as 3 and 4 player online multiplayer (free for all) game play.

Q. Is there trading in Duels of the Planeswalkers?

A. Duels of the Planeswalkers does not support trading; you can unlock all the cards in the game by simply playing!

Q. What is co-operative play?

A. Co-operative play is a play style where you and a teammate play against other teams or AI opponents (there’s an entire co-operative campaign.) Co-operative play uses the Magic: The Gathering Two-Headed giant rules, which means shared life totals, team attacking and blocking, as well as team victories and achievements!

Q. What are the multiplayer rules?

A. Duels of the Planeswalkers multiplayer uses free-for-all play. Last person standing wins. You can choose to play ranked games against TrueSkill paired opponents or unranked games against your friends and strangers.

Q. How many players can play in a multiplayer game?

A. Up to 4.

Q. Is Duels of the Planeswalkers suitable for gamers unfamiliar with Magic: The Gathering or trading card games?

A. Yes! Duels of the Planeswalkers is ideal for gamers regardless of the familiarity with Magic: The Gathering or trading card games. Duels of the Planeswalkers is the best way for a gamer to learn to play Magic: The Gathering.

Q. What sort of features are there for new players?

A. Duels of the Planeswalkers comes with an online tutorial where you learn while you play, a mentoring system to provide live assistance, in-game hints and even an in-game rule book and glossary.

Q: Can I create new decks or modify my deck?

A: Duels of the Planeswalkers allows players to customize their deck with cards unlocked by defeating opponents. The core of the deck is constant but how you choose to modify your deck is up to you.

Q: What cards are featured in the game?

A: The game features cards from sets as far back as Invasion™ to recent sets such as Shards of Alara™.
[b][Ha, ha as far back as Invasion! I've never heard of that! - Lave]/b]
Q: Are there achievements and if so what type?

A: There are 12 Xbox achievements that can be earned ranging from ranked match wins to special awards for unique victories. The 12 achievements are worth a total of 200 Gamerscore points.

Q. How do I get a Garruk Wildspeaker Planeswalker promo card?

A. Please see Official Rules for details.

Q. I have registered to receive my Garruk Wildspeaker promo card, but it has not arrived yet. What do I do now?

A. If it has been less than 8 weeks since you registered, please be patient, your promo card is on its way. If it has been longer than 8 weeks since you registered, please contact a customer service representative at [email protected] (for U.S. & Canadian residents) or at [email protected] (for residents of Australia, New Zealand, & Singapore). Please see Official Rules for additional details.

Q. Is a Garruk Wildspeaker promo card available in my country?

A. The promo card is available in the following countries: United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, and Italy.

Q. Is Duels of the Planeswalkers challenging for the experienced players?

A. Duels of the Planeswalkers has a very advance AI that can be adjusted to provide challenging game play for even the most skilled of Magic: The Gathering players. Also, Duels of the Planeswalkers has ranked Xbox LIVE Arcade head-to-head competitive play.

If they sell new card sets as DLC which you unlock by playing then fair enough, if they start selling boosters down the line then that will kinda kill the online...

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/DuelsOfThePlaneswalkers.aspx?x=mtg/digital/dotp/faq

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:24

I'm up for this.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

i will wait, this may be the killer app that will convince me to buy an xbox.

Still, seems a bit cruel to not release it on the pc.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

RuySan wrote:

i will wait, this may be the killer app that will convince me to buy an xbox.

Still, seems a bit cruel to not release it on the pc.

That FAQ says they are considering a PC release depending on how the XBLA version goes. In PR speak that most likely means they have a PC version ready to ship but they want people who would prefer the PC version to buy the XBLA version first, then rebuy it again later.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

i think they probably just will hold it while MTG:online is very profitable.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:31

I've always been aware of MtG being "there", but never understood what it actually is. It's Top Trumps with barbarians basically, yes?

Rodafowa · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 15:32

Dr Lave wrote:

Still if it has 280 cards and allows you to have online matches then at 800 points I'm totally getting it.

My Magic decks were always more funny than effective. I'm very fond of my red/black deck that had tons and tons of mana-generating and mana-multiplying cards combined with tons of 1+X Fireball-style direct-damage cards. So in the unlikely event it survived to the middle game it was throwing around enough damage to wipe out opposing players in a single hit. Didn't often work, but when it did it was fun making the "Death Star's Main Laser Powering Up" noise while tapping land to power a Soul Burn or something.

Also fun: my white/blue defensive/countermagic You Can't Touch This deck that had a bunch of ways to pull cards in play back to my hand - so you could, f'rinstance, declare a weedy creature as a blocker then yank it back into your hand before damage was dealt and re-cast it the following round. Not hugely effective but incredibly annoying and that's the main thing, isn't it?

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

Dimrill wrote:

I've always been aware of MtG being "there", but never understood what it actually is. It's Top Trumps with barbarians basically, yes?

No, not really. Only in so far as you play it with trading cards. It's a very deep, both tactically (how do I most use the cards I have in play and the cards in my hand to damage my opponent?) and strategically (given this pool of cards that I own, which ones go in my deck?).

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:

Dimrill wrote:

I've always been aware of MtG being "there", but never understood what it actually is. It's Top Trumps with barbarians basically, yes?

No, not really. Only in so far as you play it with trading cards. It's a very deep, both tactically (how do I most use the cards I have in play and the cards in my hand to damage my opponent?) and strategically (given this pool of cards that I own, which ones go in my deck?).

Very basically (& with lies) you have three main types of cards: Land, Creature, Spell.

1) At the start of the turn you draw a card & can place a land down.
2) Each land gives one point of mana a turn which you can spend on casting spells and summoning creatures. The more powerful the card the more mana it needs.
3) Then you can attack with your creatures and you opponent tries to block your creatures with his own lest he take damage. If he takes 20 damage he dies.
4) Then it's your opponents go.

Mixing it up is that spells and things can be cast to change the situation.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Rodafowa wrote:

Dr Lave wrote:

Still if it has 280 cards and allows you to have online matches then at 800 points I'm totally getting it.

My Magic decks were always more funny than effective.

I used my "prosperous bloom" deck very much after it went out of fashion. Even after the rule "you're dead the moment you reach 0 life" i still used it. Just to annoy people and make kids cry.

Zardoz · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 16:04

Fucking hell this sounds deepgeek.

I'll give the demo a bash.

Wullie · **Joined:** 27th Jun, 2008 **Posts:** 6183

myp wrote:

Runcle wrote:

Sam and max was there though.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

For a bargainous 1600 points

myp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 16:08

WullieOoster wrote:

For a bargainous 1600 points

Yep, was already prepared for that. I'm going to make one of my exceptions, as I loved Hit the Road, and I've been jonesing for some decent point and click since I ditched my PC.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Hmmm, according to this Deck Guide you choose from one of 8 themed decks and then the cards you unlock by beating opponents are themed to that decks style. Bah, I was hoping that you could personalise more as time passed.

Still stoked though...

WullieOoster wrote:

myp wrote:

Runcle wrote:

Sam and max was there though.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

For a bargainous 1600 points

For that price you can pick up the season for the Wii with better pointer controls and saving you hard drive space and that.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 16:11

It's there, but it's giving "can't retrieve information from marketplace" errors.

Dimrill · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 16:15

Okay, it's let me buy it, but won't let me download it. Fuck's sake mikky srfot.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Bit presumptive to buy before you try Dimmers!

I think it's the problems with the downtime still. Grr, I hope its here for this evening!

myp · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 16:22

Dr Lave wrote:

For that price you can pick up the season for the Wii with better pointer controls and saving you hard drive space and that.

I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less than spack around with a wiimote trying to play a point and click game. They're inaccurate and annoying. Plus the XBLA has spangly HD gfx and cheevos.

Blucey · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 1951

800 M$P?

Fritzl: the DLC Rapening more like.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

myp wrote:

Dr Lave wrote:

For that price you can pick up the season for the Wii with better pointer controls and saving you hard drive space and that.

I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less than spack around with a wiimote trying to play a point and click game. They're inaccurate and annoying. Plus the XBLA has spangly HD gfx and cheevos.

Call Mr Chris we've got a wrongo here. The gesture stuff sure, but the pointer is made of beauty.

Anyway, I'm not going to derail my own thread Mr Wrongo!

If this appears on Live then I'm going to spend about an hour choosing my first deck. Easy.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32624

Bluce_Ree wrote:

800 M$P? Fritzl: the DLC Rapening more like.

See the FAQ that Lave posted.

Dr Lave · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 5979

Bluce_Ree wrote:

800 M$P?

Fritzl: the DLC Rapening more like.

I was thinking that if they do lots of DLC that unbalances everything (WoTC would NEVER DO THAT!) we could always run a tournament that uses the base 280 only.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Dr Lave wrote:

Hmmm, according to this Deck Guide you choose from one of 8 themed decks and then the cards you unlock by beating opponents are themed to that decks style. Bah, I was hoping that you could personalise more as time passed.

that just made me completely uninterested in the game. Good, i don't have to spend money on an xbox then.

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Magic The Gathering Thread: [XBLA VERSION TODAY!]
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