An ex-Magic the Gathering player's love of the game
Trading card games are part of geek life. They are something that most of us at least dabble with at some point in our youth, be it Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon or even just observing classmates and friends playing them at lunch. For me, like most geeks growing up in the late 90s, it was Magic the Gathering. I have fond memories of learning it and playing my friends at it, meager though our collections were. The problem always was money; We didn't have much of it.
Our decks were cobbled together from the expansion packs we could afford and well over 60 cards a piece. Games lasted hours as we consulted the rule book, argued about instants and spells, checked effects and interpreted our own impression of what the rules meant. It was... fun in a way, but not in the way the designers of Magic intended.
This is what Hearthstone remedies in a way that even the Magic the Gathering video games (good though they are) could not accomplish. Even the Magic games are an attempt to digitize something that was already horrendously complicated and not made specifically for either touch screens, mice or controllers. Hearthstone, while deep, isn't nearly as complicated. There's no tapping. No mana burn. No bizarre interpretations of arcane rules and how they interact with other bizarre rules. The game takes care of all that for you and just lets you PLAY.
It's also heartening that there is no advantage to spending money except time. You can earn every card if you play enough, because all cards are either in booster packs or can be crafted by disenchanting duplicates you get. It'll just take a while, and you're pretty competitive even with the basic decks. Making custom decks in reality is a chore, but the game's search tool will let you make an all beast pack really easily, or only put in low level taunters, or stock the creatures in your deck with charge or divine shield or any other criteria you want.
There may one day be a better TGC made for the digital platforms, but I cannot envision one at the moment. Good on you, Blizzard. You've done it again, sir.
