Magic: The Gathering is the XBLA Deal of the Week

Back in the days before video games “became mainstream” and Snoop Dogg performed at awards shows dedicated to the medium, older gamers tended to hide their participation in the hobby. People tended to look a bit sideways at anyone over the age of say, 14 or so who copped publicly to enjoying them.

Another group that had long experienced the same manner of ostracism (worse so, in most cases) were players of tabletop role-playing games and their eventual bastard cousin, the collectible card game. When Magic: The Gathering, the most famous and longest-running CCG on the market today, eventually came in stripped-down form to Xbox Live Arcade as Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, it was like a match made in socially-reclusive geek heaven. And for this week, you won’t have to tap your entire pool of space bucks to tap some virtual mana.

Yes, until next Monday, January the 18th, MTG: Duels of the Planeswalkers will be 50% off for Xbox Live Gold members. This knocks it down from 800 MS points to only 400 (yay math!); a mere $5 in real human dollars. That’s right – for less than the cost of two booster packs it can be yours.

Now admittedly, it may not be as feature rich and customizable as its real world counterpart, but you also won’t find yourself pawning off your possessions either, in search of “just one more pack”. Trust me; I used to play and I saw people forgo food for cards. People call World of Warcraft addicts bad but they get off light in only paying $15 a month.

And if you’re on the fence about the matter, feel free to check out our review of the game here or maybe download the demo. Tell you what – do both of them; download the demo and read our review. Everyone wins!

[Via: Major Nelson]

Tags: Deal of the Week Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers sale Stainless Games XBLA Xbox 360 Xbox Live Arcade