I'm a 20 year veteran of Magic: The Gathering and have always loved the game. I was the top streamer on twitch for Magic Duels, the F2P digital version as well as a top ranked player in the game for years. The problem is they always screw it up. Delayed releases, lackluster game and interface design as well as a plethora of other issues. Sad really because if Wizards got around to making a legitimate MtG digital version it would be a gold mine. Anyways, I have been looking for a great digital CCG to play. Personally for me Hearthstone just doesn't do it. The game just lacks the complexity that Magic holds, so I could never get into it. A great game but not for me.
Enter The Elder Scrolls Legends! I got my hands on this game a little over a week ago and FINALLY we have another good digital CCG. It has the professional design qualities of Hearthstone. It has the speed of Hearthstone. But, it also shares more complex game mechanics similar to Magic: The Gathering! I have been having a blast playing it and have streamed it on twitch almost every day since. I also prefer the The Elder Scrolls IP and lore over Warcraft. It offers Versus 1v1 casual and ranked, solo arena(draft) vs AI and sweet, sweet player vs player draft arena! Personally I think this game is way more fun that Hearthstone. Although Hearthstone may still cater to the masses and may be more casual friendly.
After playing and analyzing the game for a while of course it has some issues being in Beta. Mainly dealing with some overpowered cards that I'm sure they will fix. Other than that I am very impressed so far. It's free to play and you really don't need to spend any money on it unless you want to unlock all the cards. I actually love doing this via PvP play, it just adds to the content of the game. You get in game currency and rewards for wins and a great amount if you end up dominating in arena modes.
It has some great qualities from hearthstone and MtG as well as adding in some awesome original mechanics like dual lanes. You can place your creatures in the left or right lane. The left lane is basic without any properties similar to the battlefields in Hearthstone and MtG. But the left lane is the shadow lane. When you place a creature in the show lane they can't be attacked by other creatures for a turn. They also have support cards which play similar to artifacts and enchantments in Magic. Another mechanic they use are runes. When you damage the other player enough to get to a rune point they get to draw a card. If the card is a has the "prophecy" keyword you can play it for free. These things add a decent amount of complexity that appeals to me and a lot of MtG players.
The game just got out of NDA recently and is now in open beta for all to try. So check it out if you're interested, it might just be what you're looking for. I am posting a gameplay video of myself playing the game for you to check out in this article. Also you can come hang out with me live playing the game on twitch.tv/inaliz daily. https://legends.bethesda.net/
https://www.youtube.com/mrinaliz
https://twitter.com/inaliftw