Just for some variety for late night online scrabble I thought I might look at online MTG games. I played a lot of Magic from '96 through to 2000 or so and have of late been messing about with a few cards as a late night guilty hobby.

Has anyone tried either of these? I downloaded the free Magic online client and played some solo hands to get a feel for the interface which looks fine if not outstanding.

I have a 360 but never bothered to join Xbox live as I really don;t play frequently enough.

It looks like the online games both use the purchase of 'virtual' cards as an alternate to a subcription so I have no idea how much it will end up costing.

Planeswalkers looks like it will have more solo games but stuff like magic puzzles  are generally so simple that they are of naught but passing interest.

Has anyone tried either of these? Any recommendations?
What are the communities like? I would hate to end up stuck in a community which is either too competative, so dwadling over a move or making an error is seen as a crime, or not at all competative where people just crash a game when it looks like they don't have a chance to win.

Quote from: jibbajibba;402430Just for some variety for late night online scrabble I thought I might look at online MTG games. I played a lot of Magic from '96 through to 2000 or so and have of late been messing about with a few cards as a late night guilty hobby.

Has anyone tried either of these? I downloaded the free Magic online client and played some solo hands to get a feel for the interface which looks fine if not outstanding.

I have a 360 but never bothered to join Xbox live as I really don;t play frequently enough.

It looks like the online games both use the purchase of 'virtual' cards as an alternate to a subcription so I have no idea how much it will end up costing.

Planeswalkers looks like it will have more solo games but stuff like magic puzzles  are generally so simple that they are of naught but passing interest.

Has anyone tried either of these? Any recommendations?
What are the communities like? I would hate to end up stuck in a community which is either too competative, so dwadling over a move or making an error is seen as a crime, or not at all competative where people just crash a game when it looks like they don't have a chance to win.

I've played Planeswalkers quite a bit. As far as on-line competition, it's like any other game for the 360. Some people are cool, a lot are hyperactive 12 year olds that like to talk smack. A fairly typical cross section. And there are built in time constraints, so if you take too long on something it just pushes to the next persons turn. Once you get used to it, it's not terribly confining.

Surprisingly, some of the puzzle challenges are pretty difficult. Maybe some of that is my general inexperiance with Magic overall. I played a bit almost 15 years ago but not much since. To me the biggest drawback to Duels is that you can only partially customize unlocked decks. There is no "build your own". You have to unlock different decks by playing campaign and unlock more powerful cards as you win matches. A big let down to those used to building custom decks.

I like Duel of the Planeswalker. I've finished the solo and multiplayer campaigns and am slowly working on the puzzles. I don't think it had great replay value, but I've enjoyed it a fair bit.

I haven't played the other Magic product, so I can't compare them.

Seanchai