Great for starting out with the game, though those who actually play will not be pleased
User Rating: 7.5 | Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers X360
I hate how these card games suck me in. Pokemon did it over 10 years ago, then Harry Potter, then Yu-Gi-Oh, and now Magic is having its turn with my money and time. And just like I bought Pokemon TCG for Game Boy then, I have now bought MTG: Duels of the Planeswalkers for XBLA. I had played a few times with friends, though I didn't understand the game well enough to warrant buying my own cards. I can safely say that this is the best method of teaching someone to play the game. The tutorial was a pain in the ass, demanding that you play the card it tells you to, only when it tells you to. As you play though, you receive pop-ups that give you information on what creature effects, such as Haste and Trample, are used for, and will explain most of how the game works. When these appear, you can shoo them away forever, or shoo them away this time only, in case you forget what an effect does. It's a good idea on their part, and of course those who aren't new can easily turn all the tutorial messages off before they even begin. If I had to pick one thing the game failed at, it would be Magic's strongest suit; deck customization. There are probably infinite combinations of strategies for those who have the right cards, but this game limits you to a handful of decks, which you can obtain new cards for by winning matches. If I want to add the card I just unlocked to my deck, that's fine, but if I want to take my red deck and my blue deck and build a combination deck, it cannot happen. Whether this was from laziness on the developers part or an attempt at balance for Live matches is beyond me, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Having played this game, I did go out and buy myself some cards, and have spent the past few days making all kinds of decks with varying strategies, and this only amplifies how much I enjoy the game. Still, having actual cards and decks I can go against friends with, I hardly play this anymore, on Live or otherwise. 
