If you're a fan of classic trading card games such as Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and the like, but felt like you lost passion for the games without a thriving online method of gameplay, (with exception to Magic, which has a few
okay online adaptations) then this CCG might be just for you.
Hearthstone brews together many favored elements from the above-mentioned CCG series, whilst introducing powerful new mechanics that would otherwise be tedious to execute on a traditional table, like this card:
(By the way that card looks way better in-game)
There are 9 different
classes you can play as, each with a
Hero (with a unique activated ability) associated with them. Choosing your Hero determines your class, as well as the types of cards you can put into a deck. (Paladins can't use Mage cards, and vice versa.)
The objective is akin to Magic's. Beat the enemy hero to 0 Health (Starting total = 30). As for Mill consequences, if you should attempt to draw a card while your deck is empty, you take x+1 damage instead, where x is the number of times you incurred this penalty previously.
The best part about this game is that it is
free-to-play, and earning cards for your collection
also costs no cash, however you can buy packs in sets of 2, 5, 15, and 40 if you do not wish to wait to earn free booster packs. The non-cash option costs 100 Gold, and earning Gold comes from several methods, including Daily Quests, secret Achievements, or simply winning in Play mode or Arena mode.
This guide is fairly useful if you want to farm up some fast gold for building the deck you want.
Notably, unlike other CCGs, trading does NOT exist in this game. However, there is a nifty method to get the cards you want without hoping for it to pop from a booster pack. There's a Crafting Mode from your Collection menu, which allows you to Disenchant (basically destroy) cards you don't want/need in exchange for Arcane Dust, which you can then turn around and spend creating the card you want.
So, with no mandatory cost to the player, and a very simplistic ruleset if you are already accustomed to CCGs, Hearthstone is definitely worth a look. I'm certainly having fun maining a Paladin deck. (Though I only made rank 15 last month cause I'm a baddie.) Hope to see you dueling me sometime!
