Recommend a new Hearthstone for 2026

[J1M]

I used to like Hearthstone. It was quick to play and did enough of the things that Magic The Gathering did to be fun. I also enjoyed the solo modes. They were similar to the 'puzzles' in the Duels of the Planeswalkers games. But Blizzard changed changed design philosophy years ago and now I can't see myself ever returning to Hearthstone. I also enjoyed Gwent before they revamped that.

I'm looking for a new digital card game. I don't mind spending some money to play it, but I don't want to feel like I have to buy 100 card packs before I am trying the 'real' game. Single-player games are fine too. Here's a couple that I liked that may not be widely known:

[rusty_shackleford]

The Witcher one, not the multiplayer Gwent title, is a decent story-based game.

[J1M]

The Witcher one, not the multiplayer Gwent title, is a decent story-based game.

Played it at release. Considered it above-average. Emphasized a lot more direct damage effects than the game it was based on, which was unfortunate.

[Jordy]

I really did like Hearthstone back in the day, even just playing meme decks. Never found anything since that's scratched that itch.

[J1M]

I really did like Hearthstone back in the day, even just playing meme decks. Never found anything since that's scratched that itch.

What's really sad is that you and I can't just go play that version of the game now.

[Bhaalspawn Jr]

Don't remind me of that rigged trash.

I did like it in its early years though. I think it started going downhill when Ben Brode left iirc.

[Valter]

I also enjoyed the solo modes. They were similar to the 'puzzles' in the Duels of the Planeswalkers games.

Legends of Runeterra, Riot's TCG, has plenty of those single player challenges that are akin to puzzles. Or at least it did back when it launched.

[J1M]

I also loved Marvel Snap when it was in beta/early seasons. A shame what happened there too.

[Maledict]

[Maledict]

looks a lot like HS. It has a free demo, so I'll try it.

[J1M]

looks a lot like HS. It has a free demo, so I'll try it.

This is more of a drafting game or deck builder than a CCG. I found it interesting for about a week.

[Vaako]

I also played a little Hearthstone but not for long. Was too much of a pain if you didnt spend money. If you got pawned by people with multiple op decks/legendaries even in casual mode.

But you could check out what Kripperian currently plays on youtube. I dont watch him anymore, but I recently checked and it seems he also found another cardgame after years of Hearthstone.

[Rienen]

looks a lot like HS. It has a free demo, so I'll try it.

I have an embarassing (to me) amount of hours in this and Backpack Battles. Both have had peridos of time where there were clear metas/OP combos, but I mostly enjoyed using my runs to build interesting combos to see how far they could go. That said, playing that way in ranked modes often means that my set up will be doing great until it suddenly its chain-matched against perfect counters and/or opponents that simply zero me out in seconds. I still enjoy them though.

[Valter]

Midnight Suns is a card game? I thought it was marvel xcom

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If you are not offputted by the anime aesthetic, there is the second Shadowverse online TCG game, Worlds Beyond. I believe it is the most visually spectacular online TCG released yet in terms of effects and animations, though MTG has the best card art.

[J1M]

Midnight Suns is a card game? I thought it was marvel xcom

It has an XCOM structure, but the core of it is building up a deck of cards that represent each character. A mission involves shuffling three of those decks together. There's a mild positional element to it, but it's mostly about card combos. I thought it was a good game overall.

[Jordy]

No thanks - esepcially not for a demo.

► Show Spoiler

There is also no way out of the game from this part that I could tell. Had to Alt+tab.

[Decline]

@J1M

this game doesn't exist.

Welcome in 2026.

► Show Spoiler

There is Faeria which is sadly unsupported now.


The same developer collaborated with Richard Garfield on a successor. Never played it though.

[J1M]

@J1M this game doesn't exist.

Welcome in 2026.

Looks like I have a few suggestions to try before giving up. Then the final alternative to build my own. I'm curious how many people would play a digital card game with other members of the site if I was to make one?

[WhiteShark]

@J1M this game doesn't exist.

Welcome in 2026.

Looks like I have a few suggestions to try before giving up. Then the final alternative to build my own. I'm curious how many people would play a digital card game with other members of the site if I was to make one?

I would try it. I like card games and PvP. I used to dabble in standard in physical MtG, and I've since played various digital card games (Hearthstone, Scrolls, Duelyst, Shadowverse). @A Chinese opium den plays Yu-Gi-Oh!, so he might be interested.

[Norfleet]

Then the final alternative to build my own. I'm curious how many people would play a digital card game with other members of the site if I was to make one?

I don't actually like card games at all, but if you make one, maybe I will take a look. If it's just something you FOUND, though, I'll pass, because I've learned from experience that people here have an attention span worse than a goldfish and if I follow them anywhere, they'll promptlly abandon on me.

If it's your OWN game, though, at least if you abandon, the thing will just straight up die so I won't incur any additional liabilities.

[Jordy]

I'll give it a shot.

[J1M]

Decided to try some card games tonight. These two are the most promising, but I only have a couple of hours into each of them.

Dfiance is a poorly spelled game that is pretty interesting. It has multiple zones of play, a limited number of turns, and the goal is to have the highest strength, similar to Gwent or Marvel Snap. It also has a spell mana system that seems to be similar to Legends of Runeterra, but I didn't completely figure it out.

Early thoughts: The designers put together a lot of elements that I like individually. I think I would prefer if the game was 8 turns instead of 10. I like that the zones are different (number and types of units that can be deployed), and that the zones grant a small amount of victory points for each turn you are winning them. This could be really good if the card design is done well. It probably needs a rebrand due to the unfortunate name. Currently sits in an indefinite Season 1 state while they switch game engines.



I also tried Legends of Runeterra, which interestingly stopped development of its competitive mode and is largely focused on a singleplayer mode that is similar to Hearthstone Adventures. You accumulate extra cards and passive traits across a series of games. As expected, these can be more powerful and novel than something in a balanced competitive mode. There are roguelike progression elements as well. There's probably dozens of hours of gameplay for someone that liked the single-player Hearthstone modes here if you can stomach the Riot art department.

https://playruneterra.com/en-us/

[J1M]

I'd be interested to see a mode in Gwent/Snap/Dfiance which was more of a 'race' than a direct opposition of an opponent. For example, first side to reach 100 strength. There would still be disruption of the opponent, but the strategy would be around how much of direct strength cards to include versus how much of an engine to build. Essentially porting the tension from a drafting deckbuilding game like Dominion into a constructed format.

I'd also be really interested to see a game try a mode where you play at least two rounds against someone and in the second round you swap decks with them. I think this would be great for letting people try new cards and add new complexities to deckbuilding considerations.

[J1M]

A few more interesting things about Dfiance.

1) There is no monetization of the game right now. It is free to play and there is no way to spend money.
2) Cards of higher rarity are significantly stronger so it can be hard when matched against someone with a higher ELO when you are getting started. When I was matched against someone 200 ELO higher due to low population the game gave me a free card as a form of compensation.
3) You can build a "golden" deck which allows you to use any card, not just the ones you've collected for ranked play. This golden deck can be used in training modes and tournaments, levelling the playing field between new and established players.

[J1M]

Had to stop playing Dfiance because I couldn't get any matches above 2800 rating. Which is a shame because it's a good game. Fortunately, they are rebranding it to something else (possibly "Voidspark") as part of the engine switch so when that happens there will be a surge of players and it would be a good time for anyone interested to jump in. I didn't really understand the reason for the engine switch. The game runs really well and has pretty high production values. But then I tried the web client and the performance was dogshit so maybe that's a problem with Unreal at the moment that they think will be solved by switching to Unity.

Until then if anyone wants to play a match send me a message and we'll figure it out.

[rusty_shackleford]

Had to stop playing Dfiance because I couldn't get any matches above 2800 rating.

Being too good at a competitive game is something rarely discussed, you often simply do not have enough people to play against unless you organize matches

[J1M]

Had to stop playing Dfiance because I couldn't get any matches above 2800 rating.

Being too good at a competitive game is something rarely discussed, you often simply do not have enough people to play against unless you organize matches

That is an interesting topic, though in this case it just means I moved out of the ratings that include training bots and new players. Matches seem to be limited to within 200 rating points.

[Vergil]

Thunder Bluff