Magic cards were all the rave when I was in middle school, which was 1994. Well, they were the rave to some kids. Some people would play Magic at lunch time and others would whip Jell-O snack packs at them screaming, “I cast Butterscotch!”.  I won’t tell you which kid was me but I can tell you that I played Magic on XBLA last week and I have to say, I feel bad for throwing pudding at people.

While I still do not fully understand the game, I had a fun time doing the tutorial and campaign. There is an offline campaign and for noobs of the game, which is huge. You are walked through what a game looks like, feels like, and plays like. The menus are very simple and tips along the way telling you what to play, what to combine, and what to attack. I found this very helpful. The graphics are what you would expect. Nothing too flashy, but more than enough to discern which card from which and the different actions that can take place.

I had to ask a friend about this because I am so new to Magic. He said that a big deal with this or any card game is customizing your deck. In this XBLA version, that is not possible. You will unlock cards when you work your way through the campaign, but your deck is what it is. Whatever you draw, you get. From what I ascertained, this may not be pleasant for advanced players.

There is a lot to do here for 10 bucks. Offline single-player and online multiplayer; that is all you really need here. The game is confusing, at least to me, and has a learning curve, but once you get over it, you might have some fun here. Advanced players are probably going to want to play the real thing, but for anyone who might want to get in on it, it’s not a bad place to start. Remember, no one can cast, “Chocolate Swirl”, at you over Xbox Live. At least not yet.