Best free (but not p2w) Card Games for PC/Browser?

[Gregz]

I enjoy CCGs from time to time, but everything seems to be ftp with a nasty case of p2w. Hearthstone for example is terrible about this. The UI and production value is there, but you need to swipe your credit card to even hope to compete.

As described here https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1zdka3/what_pay_to_win_means_and_why_hearthstone_is_a/

I'm looking for a *grind* to win CCD/TCD. Do any good ones exist? Maybe something on a private server?

 

[Hoaxmetal]

CCGs

(but not p2w)

 

[FeelTheRads]

If you're looking for grind then Hearthstone also fits, no? Because if you grind then you'll get the cards eventually.

So... ?

I don't think there are any that are completely free as in no way to buy cards with money which automatically makes anything p2w.

 

[Ranselknulf]

There are free versions of MTGO out there.

Avoid the grind men. It's a terrible mechanic.

 

[Explorerbc]

If you started Hearthstone two years ago and played a lot of arena you could have had a full collection by now. The main problem for new players is catching up with all the expansions.

So I guess since most CCGs follow the same hearthstone model, pick one that is relatively new so you can keep up with future releases and grind slowly but steadily to a good collection.

Elder Scrolls Legends is in beta, Duelyst, Faeria and Runescape Chronicles went out of beta this year etc. I also know that Faeria has an option to pay 50 bucks and get every single card, dunno if there are others with this.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

you started Hearthstone two years ago and played a lot of arena you could have had a full collection by now.

Or just keep playing arena and you don't have to buy cards and it's the better game mode anyway.

 

[v1rus]

As previous posters have said, Hearthstone is truly grind2win. Anything you can buy with RL money can be bought with ingame gold(except hero portraits that is, which are purely cosmetic and kinda sucky). Sure, there's lots of previous content you are missing, but with the introduction of Standard, you should be fine. Get in now, and start buying classic packs, and you should be more than ready for when the rotation happens next spring. Sure, first couple of months you'll have next to nothing (unless you get lucky ofc), but you wont know how to play the game either, so it doesnt really matter, and it's gonna make you a better player eventually. I've learned the most about the game when my pro friend made me improvised miracle rogue and freeze mage decks. I almost never won, mind you, but I did learn a great deal about how game works. So, def give Hearthstone a spin, can't hurt, really.

Now, one thing people dont seem to get about HS is - sure, you 'll def need a couple of months (if not more) before you have a decent collection and that seems to throw most people of. But this aint "8 hours a day" couple of months, its "an hour every third day"

 

[Hoggypare]

I would recommend You Spellweaver if You haven't encountered it before. It features complex gameplay, mostly a twist and improvement on MTG. The reward system is very generous (the quests can give you even 12-pack boxes of cards, random epics, winning draft - 5 packs and a bunch of gold - and the packs there are proper ones 10 cards each). However make sure that You use a refer code (instant 75000 gold) and unlock all the quest zones ASAP. The new player experience is not as good, but the economy actually gets better later on and the gameplay is very enjoyable, skill based and mostly devoid of the abomination that is Hearthstones RNG reliant mechanics.

If that isn't to Your liking there is still Shadow Era. It doesn't build upon MTG formula and is quite unique. You can get a full collection relatively easy, as all cards are purchasable for gold and the system is all around fair. The deal breaker for me was that it doesn't have that many players and you can't buy packs for gold (only cards) so there is barely no excitement surrounding the opening of packs (as it hardly happens) when you intend to go f2p.

 

[Gregz]

As previous posters have said, Hearthstone is truly grind2win. Anything you can buy with RL money can be bought with ingame gold(except hero portraits that is, which are purely cosmetic and kinda sucky). Sure, there's lots of previous content you are missing, but with the introduction of Standard, you should be fine. Get in now, and start buying classic packs, and you should be more than ready for when the rotation happens next spring. Sure, first couple of months you'll have next to nothing (unless you get lucky ofc), but you wont know how to play the game either, so it doesnt really matter, and it's gonna make you a better player eventually. I've learned the most about the game when my pro friend made me improvised miracle rogue and freeze mage decks. I almost never won, mind you, but I did learn a great deal about how game works. So, def give Hearthstone a spin, can't hurt, really.

Now, one thing people dont seem to get about HS is - sure, you 'll def need a couple of months (if not more) before you have a decent collection and that seems to throw most people of. But this aint "8 hours a day" couple of months, its "an hour every third day"

I would, but did you read the link in the OP? Pretty damning testimony, and a lot of people chimed in and agreed with him instead of fanboying it up.

 

[v1rus]

I would, but did you read the link in the OP? Pretty damning testimony, and a lot of people chimed in and agreed with him instead of fanboying it up.

Read the first paragraph, and I got the shtick of it.

First of all, imho, people are tossing the "pay2win" way too easily these days. Remember, there were (still are) games out there in which you can obtain the best _____ only through payment and payment alone.

Now, if you view it this way, every single game you don't actually buy (and heck, even some of those) is going to be pay2win. The game has to earn money, this way or the other. Now, when it comes to Hearthstone, Blizzard truly does offer the game for free, but thus makes you unlock the basic resource required for playing the game - the cards itself. They have to offer you something you really want so they could profit. There's virtually no other way they can earn some $$$, since if all cards (or at least, the most desired cards) were free, why (how?) the hell would someone spend money? The only other way they could earn money would be selling cosmetics, and judging by the current state of cosmetics in-game, they most prolly wouldnt break even. And this is Blizzard we are talking about here, they don't want to break even. Blizzard is an AAA company, and their game is AAA quality- it's top-notch, it's polished, it runs smoothly and it wants to earn huge amounts of money, really fucking bad. A completely free card game would have the quality of a completely free game. Now, let's compare Hearthstone to DotA - a game with no pay2win factor at all. DotA mostly earns through cosmetics, cosmetics which you can only buy with RL money. But that's okay, if you don't want to pay for the freaking cosmetics, you don't have to and you can still win gamez nps. Why can't Hearthstone have that? Cause DotA's competitors all had the same model, that's why. All Hearthstone's competitors use the same or rather similar payment method, and as such there is no real reason to make the game free.

So, CCG's are evil and they want your money. Now that we got that out of the way, this whole "THEY HAS MANY LEGENDARIES" is way scarier to newbies than it really is. Yes, it's better to use a legendary suited for your deck than some unused card you have to use since you have no other options, just like it's better to fight a scary demon mofo in a MMO of some sorts with some shiny swords rather than a stick and silly pants. But you have to get there, the game won't just let you have it, since the half of the game would be lost that way. Even when having a legendary does tip the favor of the game, that's cause that player invested more in the game, by spending money or ingame currency obtained through play, he did invest more than you. That's like you got pwned by a player with better gear in an MMO, except he could buy the gear with money. Yes, that sounds incredibly sucky, but trust me, it sounds way scarier than it really is.

Now, say you start playing Hearthstone right now. There's no way in hell you could make a competitive, optimized deck right at that moment. But that's all right, since you really dont need an optimized deck at the moment, since you barely know how to play the game. You'd lose often even with a top tier deck. And you could get a top tier deck in 3-4 months prolly, not that you would really need it tho, since you still would'nt know how to play the game good enough for it to actually matter. That guy beating you with optimized decks? Yeah, he most prolly played way more of this game than you, since he either unlocked the cards through game play or payed actual money to get it. And that's actually what's cool with Hearthstone's payment model. Hearthstone, like every other CCG, is a serious investment, it's just that the game allows you to choose which will you invest - your time/work or money (or even both.) The fancy cards do tip the scales, it's just that when it comes to newbies, a tip wouldn't matter at all - heck, half a kilo prolly wouldn't matter. Once it does start mattering tho, you 'll have 2-3 good, high rank playable decks. Maybe not most optimal, but good enough to compete. That is, unless you have had some serious previous CCG experience and thus possess certain foreknowledge that would allow you to learn the game faster - but then you would know that the game wants you to feed it moneyz before you even started. As you have said, you want a grind2win game - that's pretty much HS. It just let's you choose, do you want to earn the good stuff with the grind or with real money? You can grind a couple of optimal decks nps - and if you want more optimal decks, you can just grind some more.

Seriously tho, that's the whole point - the game itself really is free. You can download it right now and give it a spin. If you like it, play some more. If you start minding those god darn basterds with their fancy cards, uninstall the bloody shit. If you like it, then keep playing it. Heck, as I've said, even if you dont like it that much to grind it for realz, you can earn a respectable collection in just 2-3 months by playing an hour or 2 every third day or so. The money option = the grinding option, really. Throwing money at the screen doesn't mean you'll have a decent collection at all. Sure, you can use ungodly amount of money to obtain all_teh_shit, but you can also do the ungodly grind. Heck, if i remember well, 40 packs cost 60$ - you can earn 40 packs by doing your dailies/playing tavern brawls in less than 2 months by playing ever third day for the mentioned hour or so.

tl;dr Seriously, give it a spin. Not saying you will like the payment model, perhaps you won't, but there is no real reason not to try, and it seriously sounds like Hearthsotne is the game you are after.

EDIT - just another useful information - many of my RL friends play Hearthstone, some even on the pro level. Almost none of them spent any real money, and they play regularly, with top-tier decks, mostly between 10-1 rank, occasionally reaching legend. Heck, i spent more money on this game than all of them combined - and that's only cause I'm trying to have a complete collection and it's way more profitable that way than grinding the hell out of it. Most of the time when you face a guy with 10 legendaries and bunch of golden cards, it's prolly cause he spent shit tons of time grinding in this game - it's just that there is no real way to know that, and thus people like to assume OMFG ONLY REASON THIS BASTARD BEAT ME IS CUZ HE STOLE HIS MOMS CREDIT CARD. It is the more comforting option when you are the losing player, it really is.

2nd EDIT and final thoughts -
It's not that the game is pay2win, it's invest2win. Do you want to invest your time or money, its absolutley the same. Except you'll prolly be in a worse situation if you only invested money, since now that you have a top-tier deck, you could certainly use some fucking skill.

Now I'm off to collect my Blizzard paycheck. After that wall of text, the bastards better start paying me. I'll gladly take arcane dust instead of money tho.

 

[Parabalus]

You would have probably liked Ygo/DevPro and Dueling Network but they sadly got a cease and desist from Konami this year.

I'd like to add to V1rus' pro shill that HS has arena mode, which akin to a TCG booster draft, where you can keep "grinding" all day to earn everything for free IF you are good enough (top 20% of participants is enough). You can't pay2win that since nobody uses his own cards. If you enjoy the format you can keep playing it until you acquire a decent collection; it's also the best way to learn the game for constructed.

 

[Ninjerk]

Gregz, I didn't play HS two years ago when that post was made, but it smells suspciously like Scrub: The Post. He admits (in a dodgy way) that he plays a suboptimal deck and his Nat Pagle scenario is laughably unlikely. The chances of (1) going 2nd to have the coin (50%), (2) getting Nat Pagle in your opening hand (8/60ish, if it isn't in your opening hand the cards you mulligan are replaced and you have the whole deck to pull from again), and then 3 consecutive turns of his card text activating (50% * 50% * 50*) bring you to a 0.8% chance of ever seeing that occur--if you played 1000 games you could reasonably expect to only get that kind of value 8 times. The example is contrived, and he chose to use a marginal portion of the sample space of possibilities for a single card to prove his point.

In any case, if you're going to be wasting your time anyways (we could argue you'd be better served undertaking self-study of the classics or something), give it a try.

EDIT: I think that probability calculation is hilariously wrong.

 

[v1rus]

it's also the best way to learn the game for constructed.

While this is completely true, its the best way to learn the game, but formats still differ so much they actually require a different set of skills. In other words, both formats warrant active playing.

And another side note, as Ninjerk said, this happened two years ago, before he started playing, so he doesn't know that Nat was nerfed as hell. While now he is a 0/4 (0 attack 4 health) he was originally a 0/5 (that one hp meant a lot), that drew you a card at the end of your turn instead of beginning. This matters even more than hp, since the effect proc'ed on the turn you played it - now you have to wait for the start of your next turn, which means your opponent will prolly get rid of him before the effect proc's. He sees no play, at all, these days.

Speaking of the devil, that's the biggest problem I have with the game. It takes a lot of time for Blizzie to take the nerf-bat up, but when they do, they nerf the card to oblivion. Out of all cards they nerfed (there was a lot of em) only Knife Juggler sees play. Not saying the nerfs were unneeded (but a good deal of 'em was (give me back my fucking keeper of the grove)), but "nerf" doesnt mean "make the card so bad its unplayable".

On a completely unrelated topic, Sylvanas was 5 mana once, and saw almost no competitive play. It was the exact same card, yes, just 5 mana. Hearthstone truly is a fun game. Can't wait for the pros to discover that purify is OP. And for it to cost 3 mana, since 2 mana truly is nothing for such a powerful effect.

 

[Gregz]

I'd like to add to V1rus' pro shill that HS has arena mode, which akin to a TCG booster draft, where you can keep "grinding" all day to earn everything for free IF you are good enough (top 20% of participants is enough).

Thanks for the answers/info. I'm in the HS client right now, and the only way I see to play 'arena' is to pay an 'admission' fee, with gold or money. How can I grind it all day if it has an entry fee?

 

[v1rus]

I'd like to add to V1rus' pro shill that HS has arena mode, which akin to a TCG booster draft, where you can keep "grinding" all day to earn everything for free IF you are good enough (top 20% of participants is enough).

Thanks for the answers/info. I'm in the HS client right now, and the only way I see to play 'arena' is to pay an 'admission' fee, with gold or money. How can I grind it all day if it has an entry fee?

It costs 150 gold (100 gold is a pack). Arena rewards range from a pack to 2 packs and tons of golds and other goodies. You see, the reward is based on your score. If you got worst possible score, 0 wins and 3 losses, you get a guaranteed pack, so it's not that bad, but if you do anything better than 3 wins, it pays off. Heck, even 1 or 2 wins pay off sometimes. You can get as much as 600 or so with 12 wins. Warning, that takes a lot of experience tho.

I'd actually recommend you you start with standard format, and then switch to arena once you get the basics. You'll just waste some gold this way. Your first run is free tho, but I'd wait a couple of days before you get the gist of the game.

EDIT - Just to make it clear - you earn gold from doing ingame quests. Major and steady income comes from doing your dailies - the least the quest can offer is 40 gold (you should prolly re-roll these, you can do it once a day), some of 'em offer 50, a good deal of 'em offer you 60 and one even offers you 100, while one offers you a card pack, for spectating someone else. Fun.

 

[Gregz]

I'd actually recommend you you start with standard format, and then switch to arena once you get the basics. You'll just waste some gold this way. Your first run is free tho, but I'd wait a couple of days before you get the gist of the game.

Already wasted it, the 'tutorial' tells you to play it, I had no idea what I was doing and was LLW then the final loss booted me out. Thanks for the info, I'll keep saving up and instead of buying a pack when I hit 100 gold, I'll try the arena. Been playing a few days now, and have some (little actually) experience with games like these (played Tyrant: War Metal pretty hardcore for about 3 months this past winter).

I've been playing ranked, got to rank 20, should I just keep doing that, or is it better(easier) to grind standards now?

Should I bother with (dis)enchanting yet?

 

[v1rus]

I've been playing ranked, got to rank 20, should I just keep doing that, or is it better(easier) to grind standards now?

Should I bother with (dis)enchanting yet?

Don't dis, especially since there is no real reason to dis. Heck, I'd recommend you don't dis anything (besides the extras) at all. Still, even if you do eventually want to dis sum stuff, better wait before you know the game well enough - that dust isn't going anywhere. Imho, people take the decision to dust stuff waay too lightly, and that goes triple if they are new.

But don't overthink it that much, really. Just play it. :D

Wanna buy some packs? Sure, earn the gold. Casual or Ranked? Whichever you want. Wanna try out that thing called "Wild"? Say hi to Belcher and Shredder for me. Wanna give arena another spin? Do it. Wanna uninstall that boring piece of shit? Go for it. Wanna sell your house so you could buy moar Hearthstone packz? I wouldn't, but eh, if you like it that much.

Seriously tho, just play the game, get some packs, see if you like it, and relax.

 

[Snorkack]

Best free Card Game?

Dominion.
https://www.playdominion.com/
(yeah, I know. That's not what is asked for in op. Great game nevertheless)
Nevermind. The online version is actually pretty shitty.

 

[Explorerbc]

I've been playing ranked, got to rank 20, should I just keep doing that, or is it better(easier) to grind standards now?

Should I bother with (dis)enchanting yet?

Here you go bro

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/4kzpod/hearthstone_beginners_guide_year_of_the_kraken/

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/32h69b/building_a_hearthstone_collection_basic/

Some stuff might be a bit outdated but it should be helpful still. I guess we could move this stuff in the Hearthstone thread tho.

 

[UglyBastard]

Gregz
Feel free to drop your Battletag in the Hearthstone thread, it's more fun with people on the friendlist who you can share your salt with and you need friends for some of the high value quests as well.

 

[v1rus]

Especially the "battle a friend" quest. You need someone to help ya do that one. Ill do it gladly mate, no fear.

 

[Gregz]

Gregz
Feel free to drop your Battletag in the Hearthstone thread, it's more fun with people on the friendlist who you can share your salt with and you need friends for some of the high value quests as well.

Especially the "battle a friend" quest. You need someone to help ya do that one. Ill do it gladly mate, no fear.

Thanks, can you guys link the HS thread?

 

[Trojan_generic]

Welcome to my poker site. With only 1000 credits per month you can play with B cards (value: 15) and for 10000 credits you can buy C cards for a year, value 16.

I never really got into card games where you can buy or earn better cards than the basic deck, although if someone finds Pazaak online for free, please tell me.

 

[Galdred]

I just gave Duelyst a try, and it is pretty nice.
It is a mix between Summoner Wars and Hearthstone: you and your creatures move and fight on a board, so positionning can screw you (or save a game that was going bad).
Positionning is not as important as in Summoner Wars (or any Tac RPG), but it adds a new layer to the card game, and adds some tactical decision making.

The business model is more or less the same as in hearthstone, but it is a bit easier to get legendary cards (as their drop rate is much higher).

Card Hunter was pretty awesome, with a lot of mind game (you had to wait for the opponent to be out of counter/movement cards to unleash the most devastating attacks), but you had to pay 10€/month to get double drop rate, which is MMO level subscription.
So basically, your grind is wasted if you don't invest money, and your money is wasted if you don't grind a lot while your "club subscription" is active.

 

[Ninjerk]

It's also ugly af.