What to play? Runeterra, Magic, Mythgard or another CCG
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can give me some advise? I'm a F2P Hearthstone player since The Grand Tournament expansion. I played a bit of The Elder Scrolls: Legends when it started but I haven't played any other CCG's.
In Hearthstone i like to play my own decks or off meta decks I see on the internet. With these homebrew or off meta deck i still want to be competive, minimal rank 5/legend each month (on 2 servers). I don't play aggro (but I don't hate paying against it) but mostly more greedy midrange decks. I like to fight for the board. That's why I also like arena. Most important is that I'm never out of cards! I like to have a hand full of cards (draw of discover) so each turn there are many choices to make. I don't like polarizing decks. I want a chance to win in every game. I don't like the huge swing turns Hearthstone have at the moment, like Cheese Paladin. Besides Standard and a bit of arena/wild I don't play any other game modes. I don't like duels that much and i really dislike battlegrounds and solo adventures. I play around 80% of my games on pc and 20% on mobile.
With all this in mind, which CCG would you advise me to play? Runeterra, Magic, Mythgard or any other?
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Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can give me some advise? I'm a F2P Hearthstone player since The Grand Tournament expansion. I played a bit of The Elder Scrolls: Legends when it started but I haven't played any other CCG's.
In Hearthstone i like to play my own decks or off meta decks I see on the internet. With these homebrew or off meta deck i still want to be competive, minimal rank 5/legend each month (on 2 servers). I don't play aggro (but I don't hate paying against it) but mostly more greedy midrange decks. I like to fight for the board. That's why I also like arena. Most important is that I'm never out of cards! I like to have a hand full of cards (draw of discover) so each turn there are many choices to make. I don't like polarizing decks. I want a chance to win in every game. I don't like the huge swing turns Hearthstone have at the moment, like Cheese Paladin. Besides Standard and a bit of arena/wild I don't play any other game modes. I don't like duels that much and i really dislike battlegrounds and solo adventures. I play around 80% of my games on pc and 20% on mobile.
With all this in mind, which CCG would you advise me to play? Runeterra, Magic, Mythgard or any other?
As an avid Hearthstone control player also started from TGT era till now , I suggest you give Mythgard a try. Very smart mix of color/mana system which the best of both Hearthstone and MTG system. Apart from Lore , which Hearthstone benefits greatly from Blizzard WOW universe and fanbase, the gameplay blow Hearthstone out of the water, but not too complex to make your head hurt like Magic. Too bad this game comes from a small studio SO it really underrated
I suggest to give them all a try and see which did you like the most.
Thanks for the advise, that sounds very good
I personally really like Runeterra, it has a the same mana system as HS (going from 1 to 10 Mana) but up to 3 excess mana you end each round with gets converted into spell mana that you can cast spells with. After playing with that system, it was actually kind of uncomfortable for me to play HS and Mythgard because saving excess mana just felt like such an intuitive and necessary feature (it allows you to miss parts of your curve without losing as much Tempo). LoR also has a lot of passing imitative back and forth between players, so it has a level of interaction more similar to Magic than HS. That being said, the interaction does much it a more attention-requiring game than HS or Mythgard (you can’t take a break during the opponent’s turn). I also played Mythgard once and the board system and mana system seemed very interesting to me, so I think that it’s a good option too. From my understanding, Mythgard is like HS but with more of Magic’s mana system and a unique board system, while LoR is like HS but with simultaneous turns and an improved version of HS’s mana system. I’d recommend watching a few videos of top players for each game to try to get a sense of what the game play is like before deciding which one to play.
Disclaimer: I am a devoted LoR player and very biased.
That said, I'll always advocate for LoR. They work very hard to make the Champion cards relatively balanced in power level, which makes it very favorable for off-meta and home-brewing. There are big swing turns, but you have to work for them in advance rather than just play powerful cards on curve. There's also much more interaction -- your opponent has the opportunity to disrupt your plays, and good players will actually realize your about to make your big swing and commit their resources to countering you rather than just developing their own board. The game highly rewards playing a good strategy over just owning the best meta deck. Best of all, it's generous with in game crafting resources. My biggest peeve about HS was how much they expected you to spend just to stay competitive, and you needed to stay competitive to get rewards so it was a vicious cycle.
Can't say anything about Magic or Mythgard. But LoR is good. I decided to try LoR after years of HS and I liked the turn mechanics, champion mechanics, deck building and spell mana. Also it's more f2p than HS. So I stayed.
Oh, there are also wonderful micro stories between cards and you can see a full card art directly in game.
Former HS player on mac, so LoR not an option and stuck on 64-bit OS so Steam Mythgard also not an option. So that leaves Magic, which I like fine. It is more complex and has deeper gameplay than HS, which I like a lot. They also have many ways to play and interesting events, like the current Momir event which is almost a puzzle. And while I'll never ever get all of the cards that's fine. The wildcard system (I currently have over 250 wildcards in about 7 months of play, including about 50 in the two highest rarities) means that I can basically craft the deck I need, as long as I don't need to totally change decks too often. And I love that in most of the draft formats you get to keep the cards. I always hated in HS Arena how I got used to playing with the cards in my Arena deck, just to lose them at the end of the run.
And as for deck styles, there are so many keywords and interactions that there are many viable archetypes at any given moment.
Edit: And the one thing I forgot to mention is that the most refreshing thing in playing Magic compared with HS is the almost complete absence of BM in Magic.
"The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways"
Thanks for all the advise! I decided to try Runeterra first and so far I'm having a lot of fun. I few months ago I started on the tutorial and I finished it yesterday, which was kinda boring. But the first few pvp games I'm really having a lot of fun! Getting a lot of rewards at the start too, so I can make my deck almost better after each game.
If you're interested, I made a guide recently for upgrading your starter decks.
https://outof.cards/legends-of-runeterra/guides/56-new-players-guide-to-upgrading-your-runeterra-starter-decks/
Thanks I'll check it out. I took some idea from the internet at first, not remember where. Missed like 15-20 cards but i added cards which did seem to fit in. Not all were that good so i changed a few times but so far i won all my games in casual mode except one (which I could have won too, but made a stupid mistake at the end).
This is my deck:
Haven't played ranked or other modes yet, my collection is probably too bad to get some wins there. Haven't crafted a single card so far too, just using what I got in my packs.
You've porbably already changed the deck a bit already, but there are a few cards here that you should try to find a replacement for:
1. Avarosan Marksman
2. Take Heart
3. The Undying
4. Scarmaiden Reaver
5. Revitalizing Roar
Other than that, all your cards have good synergy and are run in top tier constructed decks, which goes to show how few truly awful cards exist in LoR! A core card that I think you're missing is "They Who Endure" so I'd craft it if you have the resources.
The Undying I'm not removing just yet. As a beginner I play against other beginners and they often don't read the cards well. Surely in my first games they kept killing it... ;) It seems to be a sort of beginners trap. But the last few games the opponents seems to get smarter so I probably have to remove it soon because I agree that it isn't a very good card.
I got one copy of They Who Endure and I tried it too. But the games I played it, it was at maximum a 7-7 Overwhelm for 7. A worse Alpha Wildclaw. Maybe I was just unlucky, I'll try it again. I can see a lot of potential in a token deck for sure. In 2 days I got a free deck in my login rewards, I'll try not to craft anything just yet, maybe they're in that deck.
I'll agree Avarosan Marksman (only good for a needed ping sometimes) and Take Heart (most times a dead card, sometimes very good with Braum) are not that good and I have to replace them. Revitalizing Roar I just added, never drew it, but it's probably bad too.
Thanks to all who advised me to start playing LOR! I downloaded Mythgard too and got the free sets but I haven't really started. I play LOR now for more than 2 weeks and I really love everything about it! It's really difficult to go back to Hearthstone to do my dailies every day while this was never a problem before. Surely I get interested in Hearthstone again when the new expansion will launch but still...
Today I played the Gauntlet for the first time, hadn't touched the mode before because it seemed to be sort of qualification for some tournament. But the singleton mode was very good to play with my limited amount of cards, got to 7 wins at the first try. But I think it will get more difficult later on, like expeditions. Got 2x 7 wins on my first 2 expeditions but I got crushed in my 3rd. I think they match new players against each other on the first tries. But even I got crushed on my third try, expeditions were still so much fun too! I like ranked too, although I'm still playing at a low level. Even the single player games on the labs weren't bad. Pretty strange since I really dislike the single player content on Hearthstone and also the different modes like Battlegrounds, Brawls and Duels.
The game probably get a bit worse when it's not all new anymore, when I don't get new cards every day and when I'm not winning that much like at the moment. But I really can't imagine quiting this game in the future! Can recommend it to every one!
Runeterra is the best out of those hands down. Then magic. Mythgard is just too aesthetically unappealing for me. Runeterra is backed by Riot games so they have tons of money to improve their game like Blizzard.
Banned for spamming.
That sounds like a pretty common story actually. Long-time Hearthstone player comes and tries out Legends of Runeterra ...
And they never go back to Hearthstone again. It's basically my story, except I started LoR in May of 2020. I basically haven't even logged into HS since then, except for like 1 week of trying it again because a friend wanted me to ... and disenchanting cards that got nerfed.
Funny, because I hear mostly the opposite of that where people are playing LoR for like a month, and then go back to HS because they find it more fun. I guess it depends on where you hear those opinions.
Maybe you should try LoR yourself before you decide which is more likely
Some just find LoR's complexity to be maybe a little too much despite how f2p friendly the game is.
"Truth is in the shadows, waiting to be revealed by the light. But light only disperses the shadow." - Me
"If other people shared traits of those considered naive, the world would've become a better place." - Also me
I actually play the game every now and then, but those opinions are not just mine even though I agree with them.
This! HS is way more casual. Each player does their thing during their turn. In LoR there is much more interaction and you can't just sit calmy during your opponent's turn. And then there is spell interactions, combat interactions, different spell speeds, spell mana etc.
I like it but I get why some people don't. And to be fair HS is better if you are playing while taking a shit.
I read most of that article. I can see why he says some people might prefer hearthstone.
But personally, the reasons people think LoR is boring and go back to Hearthstone are the same exact reasons I'll never go back to it - it's too simple, too much RNG, and player agency has far less value in HS than it does in LoR.
The author of that article gave those as reasons that people leave LoR - well those are the exact reasons I won't leave LoR.
So, I guess we have to let each player decide for themselves whether they want:
Incidentally, it sounds to me like the original poster of this thread is in the "LoR is better" camp, at least for now.
I was actually refearing to the linked comments. But yeah, in the end it comes down to wether a player prioritizes the competetiv or fun factor of a game (even though I think you over exaggerated your examples).
I already played Hearthstone for 5,5 years almost daily. Mostly only one or a few games a day but I can't say it' isn't a good game if it kept me interested for such a long time. At the moment Runeterra is much more fun but the comparison isn't completely fair because all is new and exiting in a new game while the period before the new hearthstone year is almost always the worst time to play the game.
I can see Runeterra being my number 1 game for the coming years though because all what's Runeterra is doing differently is what I dislike about Hearthstone. Mostly the RNG. I don't mind a bit of RNG. I even like generated cards (for their normal cost). But I really hate the RNG which decides the game on the spot. In Hearthstone I always liked to play the more difficult decks. I got bored quickly playing the more easy ones, so I like the complexity of Runeterra.
When I play ranked or arena i only played the game and I wasn't doing other things on the site, this also makes Runeterra a better game for my playstyle because it keeps you busy all the time.
The game economy is of course also much better in LOR but this isn't an advantage yet because I'm just starting in Runeterra and I have a very nice collection (plus gold and dust) in Hearthstone at the moment. I really wonder how much time it will take until I can play all the decks I want to play in LOR. Anyone who started later can give me an indication?
I don't know yet if the meta in LOR is better, only playing in bronze so far.
I like the game modes of LOR a lot more. They're all based on the game I like (as Arena in Hearthstone). I'm not looking forward to the new game mode in Hearthstone or Battlegrounds because these are completely different games. I hate being semi forced to play them for the weekly challenges.
What I like about Hearthstone above LOR is the 'cleaniness' of the graphics. I like the way the minions strike into each other more. LOR is beautiful but I never cared much for cosmetics (still playing with my original heroes although I got a few new ones for free). But this isn't that important for me.
For now I keep playing both. A lot of LOR and just the dailies in Hearthstone. But I'm sure I will be playing Hearthstone actively again after the new expansion comes.
I tried LoR I liked it but I invested so much into Hearthstone that I don't want to let the money go to waste and stop playing. That's why they make their stuff overpriced. Hearthstone is a bit more fun though LoR can feel tedious at times but its right up there with Hearthstone.
Also I'm a lot better at deckbuilding in Hearthstone and understand the game way better than LoR so that's another reason I'm sticking to Hearthstone
But if I see a good deck that I like in LoR I'll switch back to it for a bit.
Banned for spamming.
Old thread but here's my thoughts: go with LoR for now, perhaps try Mythgard as well and see which you prefer. LoR is for sure more "polished" and has more dedicated support, since Riot is a big company.
However, do try Hearthstone as soon as the new expansion comes out. They are giving a full core set for free from now on each year so it's a really good moment for new players to come and try the game out.
I'll boop you
I tried LoR for a while but could never get into it. I think the number 1 reason why Hearthstone will always be a popular game is because of how clean the design is. The card design, the graphics, the UI, everything about the game is very clean, simple, and easy to understand. You can play the game for an hour and know how 90% of game works. Contrast that with Runeterra which has over 60 keywords after only being out for about a year.
I also think Runeterra is a very tedious to play. If I want to cast a two spell combo then attack, first I have to play the first spell and wait to see if my opponent has a fast/quick spell. Then I wait for them to pick their action. Then I play my second spell and wait to see if my opponent has a fast/quick spell. Then I wait for them to take their action. Then I attack and wait for my opponent to cast any fast/quick spells and also wait for them to pick blockers. To some people this is great because more interaction is good, but I would rather have my own turn where I can do all of my stuff without interruption.
I also don't like the rate at which Riot releases new cards and factions. It feels very rushed. I would rather the game update a little slower to give us more breathing room in between new sets of cards. I also disagree with their philosophy of "every card should be balanced and playable". When every conceivable strategy in the game will get you a perfect 50% winrate, game play becomes boring.
People seem to enjoy having less RNG, but personally I find that it makes the game very repetitive and stale.
If you like Runeterra that is fine, I just don't enjoy the game play experience. And the generous economy doesn't really make up for that.
Carrion, my wayward grub.
greetings to all of you avid TCG Players!
I have countless card games to my repertoire, including all 3 listed in the topic and more. Pandemic has hit hard my work and tired of RNG I decided to get to work on something I've had in pipeline for a long time. The idea is simply mix RPG (one of my favourite game genres) with Card Games (the wife would say to the point of addiction! :) )
I have a playing environment ready for demo for ‘LoF: Card Tales’ (the game's provisional name), but haven't published yet too much about the game as I'm really keen to get impartial feedback and perfect the game as much as possible. FYI, I believe the game currently is just a 'bit' over complex...
Here's what I've been referring to for someone willing to try a new Card Game:
Some of the issues addressed, making ‘LoF: Card Tales’ a unique TCG, are:
- No mana screw / mana flood
- Truly countless strategies, with no genuine power creep, as each Hero (3 per game) have their inherent strengths and weaknesses – irrespective of what cards you play
- Realistic opportunity to play all cards of your deck (all you assembled to use), minimising chance of not ever getting to see the best cards
- Game turns happen simultaneously, without the drawback of cards not impacting gameplay. Also, a game cannot drag endlessly as there are limited turns to test your wits.
- Rather than Card Quantity, there is a focus on Card Quality so that all players can be on par at a start of a Game and enjoy putting their Heroes to the test
See you on the battlefield!
Card Structure link
Reach out on the thread Or message me directly with your interest and we can setup a Demo. Happy to take critics once you try it out!
thanks in advance for taking the time to give it a go.
The thing is, Draft mode of Runeterra sucks, i just wanted to say that because you said that you like to play Arena in HS. The game is great but draft is meh.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate
Because the Runeterra we are playing now isn't the last product. It simply released before it is completed and it won't be completed before all the regions hit the game. They are rushing it just because of this. You can easily see the blanks in the game while you're playing. You feel that something is missing all the time but I must agree that %50 winrate thing-y. It just gets boring because they simply act like it is a sport rather than it is a game.
Playerbase/developers seems like they forgot what the games for and games started to lose their origins as "playing for fun" and you always face people that tries to satisfy their success need instead of fun counterparts. That's sad in my opinion. Competitive Gaming and Multiplayer Gaming nowadays hurts gaming community so much in my opinion and that's not just Runeterra's problem. All of the card games and other genres suffer same thing unfortunately.
Look at the state of the Card Games nowadays. People searches for "best successful S Tier decks" around web to play the game. Where is all deck creating feature of the CCG ? Nowhere. Playerbase mostly plays them because games doesn't really reward for playing, They simply reward for success no matter what. While I can understand the philosophy behind rewarding people who is successful more, i honestly think that it is unhealthy for people and games themselves because it makes games stressful and people can easily get angry in games while they are simply playing those games for relaxing. At this exact point the "Play for satisfy your success need instead of satisfy your enjoyement need" steps in. What was the games for before and now ?
I really hate e-sports philosophy and how Game Industry evolved around it in years and how it forces playerbase to be successful instead of enjoying it and how earning money from Online Games is more beneficial than Single Player games and how it kills the Game Industry.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate
I started this thread but I'm already playing LOR for 2 months now. I'm really loving the game so far. But the draft mode Expeditions is actually by far my favorite game mode! If it didn't cost so many of my precious shards I would be playing it even more. ;)
What do you not like about it?
Don't worry, You will be swimming in those shards after a couple of months also, after 3 runs, it is free to play expeditions.
What I don't like most is how they changed experience reward firstly. Rewards for 7 win was giving champion card and they moved it to weekly chests which is fair and ok for me but Free runs now gives almost no experience which is a big con for me. I'm mostly a draft player in CCGs and in Runeterra, playing draft for a week doesn't reward. it is just a 3-times-run mode like aa Asian MMORPG dungeon which has limits to play weekly (Hello Lost Ark), lol.
Best draft mode is MTG:A's for sure but no mainstream CCG has come close to it unfortunately. Eternal and HEX was like it but well both games are dead now. I don't know about Mythgard's Draft mode tho because i didn't even try the game. Look at how is the MTG:A's draft mode and you will understand what i meant.
in MTG:A you are openning packs to make your deck with other players. You choose those cards which you also collect them. I mean you really collect your draft deck for your collection, so you can decide to collect most rare cards while winning lesser games or make a better deck to win more and get more rewards from your wins. It is all your choice and rewards are really decent which might keeps you playing draft mode and/or buying Battle Passes to save them.
I really thought that with first reveal of Runeterra, their draft mode migh tbe like MTG but no, it was even worse than HS-Arena and they killed even more with deleting free run experiences.
Also, I don't really like its card choosing system. 3-card choosing is so bad implemented draft system in my opinion. It forces players to those archetypes that I spoke about in my above post. Riot approaches its card game as an e-sport candidate more than a CCG which really hurts the potential of the game.
And Also, because of no free Run reward system, there is no draft mode ratings because playerbase rarely plays draft mode. I knew some people who holds their expedition tokens because they are waiting some overhaul to Draft mode. I am even sitting on 40+ tokens + 150k shards because I already collected almost all cards and expeditions after 3 run doesn't give anything even I call myself more of a draft player.
Riot is generous with its card game, I don't have any word for it but with this way, it loses the magic of the collecting counterpart of CCGs and it becomes an e-sport instead of a deckbuilding card game. Draft mode means nothing in Runeterra right now for players who started the game with its release.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate
I agree that Riot probably should restore giving more XP for expeditions. TBH, after playing regularly for a while you really stop to care about XP -- region reward roads start to max out, the differences between the vaults levels don't really matter because most things are duplicates anyways, and if for any reason you do want more XP it's so easy to duel-farm PvP and Lab of Legends for a quick 3000+/day. But that just means players like me don't really care how much XP we're "leaving on the table" by not doing expeditions whereas players like tnrg could potentially be using it as a much-appreciated catch-up method.
if u are stricktly f2p do not try Magic. if u want to play for full value of your time then LoR is the way to go. in my opinion Magic is was and will always be the best card game out there. but i do not recommend it to everyone not just because how expensive it can be.
overall HS seems to find a great balance between f2p and ease of access for all players. i guess thats why its such a succeful card game
What i already feel sad about this game is this honestly. It is a card game but not a CCG in most parts. After you keep playing daily, xp means nothing because You've already collected those cards and What can I do with my shards really? I have collected %95 of the cards and have dozens of wildcards with 150K+ shards. I will be able to craft all of the new released cards when they hit and there will be more shards that I will be able to collect until they hit. Probably I would collect all the cards from chests + regional rewards and I would be swimming in 100k+ shards in new expansion and so on draft means more nothing than ever with my %100 set so I can't even spend my shards to play draft because it is also not fun to play after bunch of runs thanks to 3 card choosing system. Shards should mean more in my opinion. We are getting a resource which we can't even spend anything because game already gives us the cards so easily. I can't even believe that I am whining about this but lol, I can't spend my shards to anything. :D
There must be so much more to do it in the game. Single player modes maybe, adventure like modes like lab etc. Because after you've done with collecting and completing those labs, you can do nothing except climbing ladder. I want to spend my shards to something, anything, cosmetics or even player icons.
Economy system of this game so generous, awkward and shitty at the same time like a tragicomic joke. Draft Mode means nothing, Shards mean nothing.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate
I'll agree the rewards aren't that good, you need 7 wins to get the shards back you used. Even if i can keep my high percentage of 7 wins runs (75% atm) it's not really worth it for the rewards. And a double 7 win Expedition didn't gave more too.
In terms of XP expeditions isn't that much different compared to ranked. You get 100 instead of 200 for a win and 50 instead of 100 for a loss but you get a 1500 bonus after 7 wins. Or is it less for the free runs? I never had time to play more than 2 expeditions in one week so I never played the free runs.
The draft mode you described of MTG:A sounds like a lot of fun too! Too bad I don't have enough time to get really into another CCG. I have never tried Eternal and Hex so my only experience is Hearthstone and I think LOR does it a lot better at the moment.
I can understand that having too many shards and wildcards maybe gets boring after a while. A part of the fun in playing LOR at the moment is that I know that each day I get a reward of the region reward track. But as a new player I'm very happy with how generous they are. I like making my own homebrew decks and in Hearthstone there were so much times I didn't craft a bad epic or legendary because it would be a waste if my new deck idea would not work out good enough. I look forward to trying all possible LOR cards in the future and not need to throw away a nice deck idea if i have to craft some general bad expensive cards.
Free runs gives no bonus experience and stays giving half amount for per match.
The best part of LoR is already that, You don't have to think about what to craft because you have all cards so you can try any silly deck you want without a concern. :) But well, There are not so much meme potential right now. I hope that change at near future. Sometimes it lacks some fun counterparts just because of that and became a chess-like game.
Unpopular Opinion Incarnate