Best Digital Card Games you've played

[ro9ue]

So I've played MTG growing up for many, many years prior to getting involved with video games on a regular basis. Soon MMOs took over for me. At first I really thought Hearthstone was fun, but it's much too RNG for my tastes.

The problem is I don't even hear of any other alternatives out there besides Hearthstone and MTG online. Anyone know if there are any other good collection-based card games out there? They don't necessarily need to play like MTG, but I do like something with a little bit of lore backstory. Hex is on my list to check out right now... but I'm hoping to find a good personal recommendation here on these boards for me to look at.

Totally different rulesets from MTG would be good too since Hearthstone/MTG are essentially the same game.

[StrawberryZebra]

I would strongly reccomend taking a look at Duelyst. It has similar mechanics to Hearthstone for the most part, just with the addition of a gridded board to play on. It makes a huge difference to how the game plays out, and brings something fresh to what is otherwise a rather repetative formula. As a bonus, there are very few high varience cards that exist in Duelyst, and the ones that do exist aren't played too frequently outside of gimicky decks. Finally, it's also got a very full Lore section you might like to take a look at, complete with lore for some, not all, cards. Though the Lore is still very much a work in progress.

There is also Faeria, which plays closer to MTG with the addition of a Hex based board. You get to slowly fill the otherwise empty game board with Lands as you play, which is both a nice touch and opens up some interesting options that wouldn't otherwise exist.

For something completely different, you can try Runescape Chronicles. It's set in the Runecraft universe, so has some Lore to it, though you don't need to be invested into it to enjoy the game. Interestingly enough, it pits your Avatar against your own cards, before forcing you into a duel with your opponent at the end, assuming you both survive. It makes deciding which cards to play, and in which order, far more important.

Finally, for something very familiar you can try Spellweaver. It plays very, very similar to MTG, just with a few minor changes to the formula. Being able to replace a card in your hand for a Shrine, their equivelent of Lands, means you're less likely to get screwed for resources. Personally, I think it would be a more enjoyable game if they took a few more risks with the formula, but it's solid enough for what it does.

[Treeskee]

Just popping in cuz I may want to try a few of these in a bit.

[ro9ue]

I would strongly reccomend taking a look at Duelyst. It has similar mechanics to Hearthstone for the most part, just with the addition of a gridded board to play on. It makes a huge difference to how the game plays out, and brings something fresh to what is otherwise a rather repetative formula. As a bonus, there are very few high varience cards that exist in Duelyst, and the ones that do exist aren't played too frequently outside of gimicky decks. Finally, it's also got a very full Lore section you might like to take a look at, complete with lore for some, not all, cards. Though the Lore is still very much a work in progress.

There is also Faeria, which plays closer to MTG with the addition of a Hex based board. You get to slowly fill the otherwise empty game board with Lands as you play, which is both a nice touch and opens up some interesting options that wouldn't otherwise exist.

For something completely different, you can try Runescape Chronicles. It's set in the Runecraft universe, so has some Lore to it, though you don't need to be invested into it to enjoy the game. Interestingly enough, it pits your Avatar against your own cards, before forcing you into a duel with your opponent at the end, assuming you both survive. It makes deciding which cards to play, and in which order, far more important.

Finally, for something very familiar you can try Spellweaver. It plays very, very similar to MTG, just with a few minor changes to the formula. Being able to replace a card in your hand for a Shrine, their equivelent of Lands, means you're less likely to get screwed for resources. Personally, I think it would be a more enjoyable game if they took a few more risks with the formula, but it's solid enough for what it does.

Whoa, really good suggestions. I just tried a bit of Duelyst and find it interesting, Faeria and Runescape I'm also downloading now.

[XangXu]

Honestly, Hearthstone has managed to capture the essence of what a physical card game should be like. Every other card game I've seen goes out of their way to add "video gamey" elements like 3d models on a playing field or something.

I like Hearthstone mainly because it IS identical to any physical card game, except the math is done for you, and the rules are solidified.

That's really all I want in a digital card game.

In fact the idea of my tablet functioning as a "Board" for board games is a very appealing idea and I wish more developers would take off with it.

[Vespian]

Totally different rulesets from MTG would be good too since Hearthstone/MTG are essentially the same game.

Err.. How? HS is for that retarded kid brother that can't deal with more than 2 rules in any game. 4th edition rulebook had 300 pages of rules.

[ro9ue]

Err.. How? HS is for that retarded kid brother that can't deal with more than 2 rules in any game. 4th edition rulebook had 300 pages of rules.

Well the only difference is complexity but the fundamental game in terms of overall mechanics is the same.

[Deleted]

I enjoyed the HOMM-Card game...

Has quite a lot of PvE and amazing artwork too. Especially the Haven Race with their Wolf Duchy. They look awesome.

edit: What the phuuuk, no longer available. Damn

[StrawberryZebra]

I enjoyed the HOMM-Card game...

Has quite a lot of PvE and amazing artwork too. Especially the Haven Race with their Wolf Duchy. They look awesome.

edit: What the phuuuk, no longer available. Damn

To be fair, it was in maintainance mode for well over a year. Ubisoft fobbed it off on a smaller studio that were clearly not up to the task of keeping it going after releasing Draft mode and it was shut down at the end of October this year. It's a shame, it was one of the better CCGs on the market imo, it's board allowed for some really janky decks to work out, some of which were boarderline broken (read: Dhamiria Mass Rage).

Loved playing my homebrew Miranda mid range deck, it was great being able to win more or less any match up, or at least having the tools to, even if I ultimately lost.

[Skayaq]

To be fair, it was in maintainance mode for well over a year. Ubisoft fobbed it off on a smaller studio that were clearly not up to the task of keeping it going after releasing Draft mode and it was shut down at the end of October this year. It's a shame, it was one of the better CCGs on the market imo, it's board allowed for some really janky decks to work out, some of which were boarderline broken (read: Dhamiria Mass Rage).

Loved playing my homebrew Miranda mid range deck, it was great being able to win more or less any match up, or at least having the tools to, even if I ultimately lost.

What a shame, I really enjoyed that game

[Deleted]

To be fair, it was in maintainance mode for well over a year. Ubisoft fobbed it off on a smaller studio that were clearly not up to the task of keeping it going after releasing Draft mode and it was shut down at the end of October this year. It's a shame, it was one of the better CCGs on the market imo, it's board allowed for some really janky decks to work out, some of which were boarderline broken (read: Dhamiria Mass Rage).

Loved playing my homebrew Miranda mid range deck, it was great being able to win more or less any match up, or at least having the tools to, even if I ultimately lost.

I liked the game too, it was amazing how well you could mess with the opponents deck in this game... I don't know much about how the game was played on higher levels... I literally played it for the PvE and then a *little* bit of PvP.

But people who enjoyed deck building must have had a blast. You could mess with your own deck as much as you could build decks that would mess with your opponents... like, forcing them to attack, stopping them from dropping minions/playing spells etc. etc.
Card placement was so important too - I liked the little puzzles they had where they'd introduce a pretty much 100% lost fight and you'd have 1 round to turn the tide and win. Teaching you to "never give up" and consider everything else first as well as playing things in the correct order.

The PvE was a lot of fun