Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds Updated Hands-On Impressions

The last time we played Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds was at GenCon Indy 2003, and the game seems to have come along even further since then. Battlegrounds is an action game based on the extremely successful collectible-card game Magic: The Gathering from Seattle-based publisher Wizards of the Coast. In the game, you play as a wizard character on a divided battlefield who must defeat your opponent by collecting constantly spawning mana crystals and using these crystals to pay the casting cost for creature, sorcery, and enchantment spells whose effects mimic those of the original Magic cards. Summoned creatures actually spring forth from the ground and charge forward across the border to attack enemy wizards or creatures, while sorceries, which can affect both creatures and wizards, are one-shot abilities, and enchantments enact permanent effects that last until they're dispelled.

Though we had previously been able to play with only the red and green colors, which are known for their directly damaging sorcery spells and small, mana-inexpensive creatures (especially goblins) and their additional mana producing capabilities, respectively, we were able to see the other three colors--white, blue, and black--in action at a recent Atari press event.

Black cards are generally associated with death, decay, and undead creatures, such as skeletons and zombies. The black deck we played was stacked with a few decent enchantments and sorceries, as well as the powerful juzam djinn creature (which originally appeared in Wizards' Arabian Nights expansion set for the card game). You'll be able to tweak your deck to include just about any of the game's 80 cards, but we found that this powerful creature was enough to win us a few easy victories.

White cards are generally associated with healing, protection, small cratures, and a few global effects that affect the entire board. True to form, the white deck we played wasn't especially heavy on powerful creatures (the toughest critter in our deck was the unimpressive venerable monk), though we were at least able to clear the board a few times using the wrath of god sorcery effect, which eliminates all creatures that are currently in play, similar to the effect of the card of the same name.

Blue cards are generally associated with counter magic, creature control, and flying creatures. The blue deck we saw in action was surprisingly effective as a creature-heavy attack deck, since it was equipped with the powerful flying mahamoti djinn (which also originates from the Arabian Nights set). This creature proved especially effective, since in the game, just like in the original card game, flying creatures can be blocked only by other flying creatures, or by creatures with special abilities, such as the green giant spider creature.

Magic: The Gathering Online is scheduled for a simultaneous release later this year on both the Xbox and the PC, and it will be playable over the Internet on the PC and also over Xbox Live. Developer Secret Level hopes to have an Xbox Live content update that will consist of additional cards ready at launch.