Developed by Stainless Games, published by Wizards of the Coast.
Card/board game, released July 16 (360) and July 30th (XB1), 2014.
1 player offline campaign, 2-4 player online competitive.
Rated T for Teen.
As the newest version of Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers,
Magic 2015 brings 3 new blocks of cards and a great campaign to the table. It has a tutorial that does a good job of teaching basic gameplay, but people who are brand new to the game may have trouble constructing a deck that can defeat the AI regularly.
The core game is $10 and at the beginning it asks you some questions to determine what mana colours and deck archetype you will be using. As you defeat encounters and enemy Planeswalkers, you gain boosters which give you more cards to flesh out and shape your deck.
You can pay $5 for each block of cards to immediately unlock and gain access to all the basic ones, but there are a lot of great cards only available in "premium boosters" which you must buy. This is the first time Magic has done this in their DotP games and it comes across as pretty scummy. It is a shame that you could play the game forever and still not unlock certain cards unless you fork over more money.
For the first time, you have complete control over building a deck, including what lands/resources go in and how many. Magic players have been asking for this since the very first game; I don't know why it took 6 years.
The bad news is that the only multiplayer options are 2-, 3- and 4-player games. There is no more 2-Headed Giant (a community favourite), nor Planechase or Commander.
TL;DR:
+ you finally have full control over deck building
+ nice assortment of strategies for each mana color
+ campaign is better realized than previous iterations
+ as always, the art is incredible
+ the new user interface is faster and more streamlined
- some multiplayer modes conspicuously absent
- some of the best cards are locked behind the paywall
- n00bs may find it difficult to make a winning deck
? why use Garruk as a villain
? why don't more girls play this nerdy shit
Overall I give Magic 2015 a 7.5--it is a great game for MtG veterans but newbies may find it overwhelming having to make their own decks, and locking some of the best cards behind a pay wall is a shifty move.
A nice bonus is that if the game detects a Magic 2014 save, it will give you 1 free premium booster, but you can't use it until you get to the end of the first plane, Innistrad.
If you have a choice, buy the Xbox One version as it is worth 1000G compared to the 360 version's 400G.