MTGA is way way more expensive than HS. It's not just the pack prices, it's the wildcard system which doesn't allow you to trade in your unwanted cards for different ones, the complete lack of duplicate protection meaning you can open 5, 6, 100 copies of a card without any way to dust them. And don't mention the Vault which is such crap value it might as well not exist. That's before you consider that you need 4 of each card whereas in HS you need 2 or 1 for a Legendary. The drafts are more expensive than Arena. And now they're charging for cardbacks. It's a joke. How people defend it is beyond me.
Arena isn't set up for viewing either, the viewing priority is on one player because the board has this weird 3D slant to it whereas in HS the board is flat. It's not fun to watch 100 tokens blocking each other and it's not fun to watch someone counter everything either.
And I get Magic. I play Magic. I spent a fair bit on my paper Arclight deck. But Arena is the worst.
And enough with pretending that counter spells and blocking make it super highbrow complex gaming. Sure, Magic seems more complex on the surface but it plays at a completely different pace to HS, the complexity in HS comes from having to play around your opponent's potential plays, not just herp derp me have counter spell in hand. I like Magic a lot but HS is the better digital game by a country mile.
There is duplicate protection for mythic and rare cards. You will not get a fifth copy of them any more by opening a pack.
And playing around doesn't mean only counterspells. In fact, you need to play around counterspells as well. And being able to react on the opponents turn and having to account for it makes the game deeper. HS is and wants to be a simple game on the base level, hence it's success with casual players.
It seems to me that you tried MTG Arena and found it isn't something for you and now pretend to know how the game works. It's fine that you think HS is better. I also think that HS is a really good game and deserves the success it has. But you reasoning is a mere opinion.
I would presume to know anything about me when you don't. Everything on here is opinion, including your comment. I already regret my post because this blind Magic fandom was bound to follow. FYI, I play Magic, I'm not pretending to know anything. In any case, think what you want, enjoy Arena if that's your bag, it's not mine.
Spreads bs, gets refuted by simple facts and then accuses the rest of us for being blind fandom...in a site about hs...ok dude...
As Horkiger said, you could say that you enjoy hs and dislike magic. We would be cool. This is what the thread is about afterall. But you spreaded missinformation and got salty when someone corrected you. We indeed know nothing about you, but with your attitude, we don't want to learn either.
The only misinformation from me was about the duplicates which has apparently been addressed. I never said I dislike Magic because shock horror I play Magic, it's Arena I have a problem with. It's amusing to me how quickly you fangirls have to race to its defence following any comment against it. FYI I'm not salty or hostile at all, I couldn't care less whether you like Arena or not, it's just a game.
I am back to playing HS. MTGA matchmakes based on your deck strength which enables terrible and boring mirror-matchups. Add to that frusterating RNG when it comes to land-draw and you are in for some serious irritation.
Do you guys know any sites like Hearthpwn for MTGA? Not just deck listings but also forums and a community.
reddit for mtga ofc is probably the biggest community for discussion and decks but other sites like mtgpro or mtggoldfish are good for deck lists and third party programs like trackers. right now i still play more mtga than HS but i still play a lot of HS so both for me still :) they both have their pros and cons
I like MTG more due to the lack of RNG. I just hate that it’s not Mac supported right now.
Except there is RNG in MTG, and it has a far greater impact on the gameplay than in Hearthstone.
In MTG, the cards themselves may not have as many random effects, but the RNG inherent in the shuffle is amplified a great deal, both by the size of the deck and by that game's mana system.
Yes, i'm aware that there are many ways to fix your mana, but that's really just a band-aid on a system that is fundamentally flawed. And even with all the fixes in the world you will still get games that are decided more by mana flood or mana screw than by skill.
In Hearthstone, the RNG effects are bounded. Even when something is random, you know what to expect within given parameters, and you can plan for the worst. In MTG, the limits of a bad shuffle are much, much broader, and you are utterly powerless to play around a bad mana situation. It literally makes it impossible to play the game.
In short, I would much rather be ganked by a Knife Juggler than told by my own deck that I won't be allowed to play.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
This thread is old, but it's an interesting discussion and I really like both games so I'll weigh in.
First cost:
Hearthstone is more f2p friendly than mtg arena. Mtg arena may look friendly if you don't look too closely, and you can open more packs, but it has a couple of serious issues. First of all, you can't disenchant cards which means that a useless rare card you pull is going to be useless forever. instead of dusting there is duplicate protection on rare/mythic cards. Which sounds great in theory, but barely matters for your average player, because the second issue is you need four copies of every card instead of 2/1. The most recent set has 53 rares (closer in rarity to epics in hearthstone) and 15 mythics. You get 1 rare or mythic card per pack, which means that you need to be well over 100 packs into a single set before duplicate protection is likely to make a huge difference. Then there is the bizarre vault system, which works a bit like crafting, it automatically takes your extra common/uncommon cards and when you have gotten enough it opens and gives you a few wildcards (used to craft any card of that rarity). The issue with the vault is, the rate it gives you is abysmal, and as a casual player you may not ever open enough duplicates to even see that the vault exists. It requires 900 commons/300 uncommons to open, and grants 1 mythic, 2 rare, and 3 uncommon wildcards. That many duplicates in hearthstone will get you a lot more with dust, in a game where you don't need more than 1 copy of a legendary.
In terms of the actual games:
I find that mtga is a more interesting game for deckbuilding. The game is much more complex so it is harder to get into, but there are a lot of cards that do interesting and weird things, and thus a lot of ways to build your own flavor of decks or decks utilizing unusual combos. The color system also allows for more deckbuilding flexibility, since any two cards can be played together.
Where hearthstone has the edge is in actual gameplay. First, the elephant in the room, mana screw/flood happen in mtg. What this means, for those who have never played mtg, is that your mana is actual cards in your deck and sometimes you draw too little of it and can't play your cards, while some other times you draw too much of it and don't have any cards to play. If you play very much mtg, these are things that will happen to you with some regularity. This leads to a lot more non-games than hearthstone has, where you win/lose because one player is unable to play cards.
The hearthstone gameplay experience is also much smoother. The gameplay is more intuitive, the interface is cleaner, and games don't tend to take as long. I also find that hearthstone more consistently gives me interesting and meaningful decisions to make every turn, with fewer highly polarized decks that make certain cards useless, more agency over what your creatures do, and every card you draw actually doing something.
I like MTG more due to the lack of RNG. I just hate that it’s not Mac supported right now.
Except there is RNG in MTG, and it has a far greater impact on the gameplay than in Hearthstone.
In MTG, the cards themselves may not have as many random effects, but the RNG inherent in the shuffle is amplified a great deal, both by the size of the deck and by that game's mana system.
Yes, i'm aware that there are many ways to fix your mana, but that's really just a band-aid on a system that is fundamentally flawed. And even with all the fixes in the world you will still get games that are decided more by mana flood or mana screw than by skill.
In Hearthstone, the RNG effects are bounded. Even when something is random, you know what to expect within given parameters, and you can plan for the worst. In MTG, the limits of a bad shuffle are much, much broader, and you are utterly powerless to play around a bad mana situation. It literally makes it impossible to play the game.
In short, I would much rather be ganked by a Knife Juggler than told by my own deck that I won't be allowed to play.
LOL. There is RNG in any card game, but HS is way worse in every aspect. Mana screwed:flood sucks, but not as bad as RNG summons and other high rolls. The RNG in HS negates a lot of skill.
For me, Flood/Screw is far worse. Simply put, when an opponent highrolls with his luck, I may loose a game. If I get screwed in magic? I very likely will loose the game.
So, it isn't worse in terms of influence on the game itself. Though in exchange, HS has a lot of randomness. Thing is, the randomness of HS is actually a selling point, since these mechanics would be extremly hard or close to impossible in an actual paper game. So, HS actually embraces randomness.
In Magic? There are a few instances of randomness, but most of them are restricted to coin tosses or selecting a random card (more often than not, it is not a permanent laying on the board, but either hand, lib or graveyard). Granted, there is Momir's Madness, but that is not a part of the 'evergreen' formats, instaed more like a time-limited event.
Another thing I would like to add: I hate how MTG:A handles new Set releases. See, you can get the Set and play Sealed with a new Set in Arena even faster than in real life. The new Set will be released in 5 days in Arena. The problem is, that Sealed needs Gems, which are either aquired by spending money or playing a specific gamemode (normal Draft or gem-only modes). So, I normally only have Gold on Hand, having spend my gems in a Draft Frenzy. So, I looked into when I will be able to use my Gold to Draft - it will be on the 10th. So, around 2 weeks after it releases its Set. I can understand a week difference, since Drafts are only avaible post Release. Still, having to wait two weeks seems a bit too much for me personally. Last Set my Hype died down while waiting for the Draft - even going as far as when I eventually did Draft, I even didn't finish my second Draft. Of course, there is no recompenses for that - if you don't finish your run, it is you fault and you will only get the reward equal to the amount of wins.
for ppl looking into getting into a digital cardgame as newcommers I would definitely recommend mtg simply because its way easier getting cards and viable decks in the beginning, maybe I'am wrong but certaintly felt that way for me.
This thread is old, but it's an interesting discussion and I really like both games so I'll weigh in.
First cost:
Hearthstone is more f2p friendly than mtg arena. Mtg arena may look friendly if you don't look too closely, and you can open more packs, but it has a couple of serious issues. First of all, you can't disenchant cards which means that a useless rare card you pull is going to be useless forever. instead of dusting there is duplicate protection on rare/mythic cards. Which sounds great in theory, but barely matters for your average player, because the second issue is you need four copies of every card instead of 2/1. The most recent set has 53 rares (closer in rarity to epics in hearthstone) and 15 mythics. You get 1 rare or mythic card per pack, which means that you need to be well over 100 packs into a single set before duplicate protection is likely to make a huge difference. Then there is the bizarre vault system, which works a bit like crafting, it automatically takes your extra common/uncommon cards and when you have gotten enough it opens and gives you a few wildcards (used to craft any card of that rarity). The issue with the vault is, the rate it gives you is abysmal, and as a casual player you may not ever open enough duplicates to even see that the vault exists. It requires 900 commons/300 uncommons to open, and grants 1 mythic, 2 rare, and 3 uncommon wildcards. That many duplicates in hearthstone will get you a lot more with dust, in a game where you don't need more than 1 copy of a legendary.
Also, there are differences in how useful cards that you open are actually are. MTG has way more plain useless cards that you'll never play in your decks. Some are useless by design because there are pack fillers and have their use only in limited. Some are useless because they are meant as sideboard-only cards while MTG arena is centered around Bo1. Some are useless because they are printed to be used in non-standard paper magic formats.
MTG arena does beginning player part so well, with all those starter decks and free stuff given at the beginning that it looks that it is more F2P-frielndy while it is really not. At least not for player who can profit from events\drafts.
This thread is old, but it's an interesting discussion and I really like both games so I'll weigh in.
First cost:
Hearthstone is more f2p friendly than mtg arena. Mtg arena may look friendly if you don't look too closely, and you can open more packs, but it has a couple of serious issues. First of all, you can't disenchant cards which means that a useless rare card you pull is going to be useless forever. instead of dusting there is duplicate protection on rare/mythic cards. Which sounds great in theory, but barely matters for your average player, because the second issue is you need four copies of every card instead of 2/1. The most recent set has 53 rares (closer in rarity to epics in hearthstone) and 15 mythics. You get 1 rare or mythic card per pack, which means that you need to be well over 100 packs into a single set before duplicate protection is likely to make a huge difference. Then there is the bizarre vault system, which works a bit like crafting, it automatically takes your extra common/uncommon cards and when you have gotten enough it opens and gives you a few wildcards (used to craft any card of that rarity). The issue with the vault is, the rate it gives you is abysmal, and as a casual player you may not ever open enough duplicates to even see that the vault exists. It requires 900 commons/300 uncommons to open, and grants 1 mythic, 2 rare, and 3 uncommon wildcards. That many duplicates in hearthstone will get you a lot more with dust, in a game where you don't need more than 1 copy of a legendary.
Also, there are differences in how useful cards that you open are actually are. MTG has way more plain useless cards that you'll never play in your decks. Some are useless by design because there are pack fillers and have their use only in limited. Some are useless because they are meant as sideboard-only cards while MTG arena is centered around Bo1. Some are useless because they are printed to be used in non-standard paper magic formats.
MTG arena does beginning player part so well, with all those starter decks and free stuff given at the beginning that it looks that it is more F2P-frielndy while it is really not. At least not for player who can profit from events\drafts.
That should read "can't", shouldn't it? Because profiting from drafts will help big time with filling your collection.
However, I agree. After playing it for some time now (but only casually since I lack time), I've come to the conclusion that Hearthstone is easier to get the top tier decks than MtgA. There are cheaper decks and budget versions of top tier decks but the power of cards in mtga generally matches the rarity (not necessarily the other way around). Almost all powerful cards that define a deck are rare or mythic. And since you need to get 4 of them, it is harder to collect them in particular because there is no dusting of useless cards.
I am p2p (about 100 bucks an expansion) and I cannot play all decks I would like to. I do not complain since I have several good decks so I can play different playstyles, but in HS 100 bucks an expansion enabled me to actually play whatever deck I wanted. However, I am also playing less than in the previous years and I think that playing MtgA a lot offers more value for the player than playing a lot of HS does. In particular if you are good at drafting and constructed events. The daily rewards are more generous.
All in all, I think that Hearthstone is the easier and cheaper/less time intensive game for beginners. Dusting bad cards is an advantage since you can use the dust for all cards whereas the wildcard system of MtgA is more restrictive (I have 100 useless uncommon and common wildcards but only 2 rare and mythic). But it is kind of hard to compare since in magic you get a rare or mythic card in every pack.
Guys please stop spreading bs about mtga being more expensive.You are deluding your self and others when claiming that hs being more generous. Even without the rewards from modes that put hs to utter shame, in mtga you can build a tier 1 smorc deck on the second or third day of playing.Can you claim the same about hs!?If you want to play more expensive decks, you have to pay or grind, like any card game.
This is getting ridiculous, hs fanboys claiming shit out of their ass just to sement their opinion.If you want back up the game you love for some reason then at least attack magic where it is actually inferior to hs.Like the shity land system without great fixers, the shity interface and presentation in comparison to gorgeous hs, and the terrible launcher that demands reinstalling every 4 days lol...
HS and MTGA are absolutely different games, it's like comparing football and american football for example. Personally I prefer HS because it's a fun and active game, while MTGA is quite boring and its mechanics are mostly outdated for me (I used to play MTG in early 2000's so I know what I'm talking about). Only good thing about MTGA is less RNG.
The biggest difference for me is the way the Mana/land thing works. There is absolutely nothing more frustrating than Land starving in mtg.
I know you can have terrible draws in HS aswell, but you do atleast get a mana/land every round. And in magic, you can still have bad draws AND 0 lands, or a board filled with land.
I like the carddesign and spells and features in mtg better. Seems its more versatile.
I have to note, that its been a while since i played MTG, and im not playing that much HS, best on ladder is rank 7.
Guys please stop spreading bs about mtga being more expensive.You are deluding your self and others when claiming that hs being more generous. Even without the rewards from modes that put hs to utter shame, in mtga you can build a tier 1 smorc deck on the second or third day of playing.Can you claim the same about hs!?If you want to play more expensive decks, you have to pay or grind, like any card game.
No one sane would argue that MTGa does offers a far better start. Especially if you don't mind playing mono red because a huge part of it is given in starter decks. But continuing to build your collection as an or mostly F2P is harder in MTGa than in hearthstone. More cards needed to build a deck, more useless cards in packs, no way to convert useless cards into something, 5th cards give almost nothing. More expansions per year. No way to return part of the cost of cards leaving standard. Unlike basic cards you get from Hearthstone that will stay with you forever, cards from starter decks from MTGa will become useless in standard after two rotations (barring few possible reprints)
Guys please stop spreading bs about mtga being more expensive.You are deluding your self and others when claiming that hs being more generous. Even without the rewards from modes that put hs to utter shame, in mtga you can build a tier 1 smorc deck on the second or third day of playing.Can you claim the same about hs!?If you want to play more expensive decks, you have to pay or grind, like any card game.
No one sane would argue that MTGa does offers a far better start. Especially if you don't mind playing mono red because a huge part of it is given in starter decks. But continuing to build your collection as an or mostly F2P is harder in MTGa than in hearthstone. More cards needed to build a deck, more useless cards in packs, no way to convert useless cards into something, 5th cards give almost nothing. More expansions per year. No way to return part of the cost of cards leaving standard. Unlike basic cards you get from Hearthstone that will stay with you forever, cards from starter decks from MTGa will become useless in standard after two rotations (barring few possible reprints)
- A mythic wildcard every few packs v/s a legendary every 30-40 packs..
-Gold to buy packs everyday guaranteed+ pack reward missions v/s about 160g daily average in hearthstones( 100g requiring 3 wins*10).
I really want some specific legendaries( some from old expansions) in hearthstones but it's not as easy as trading a wildcard.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Winning!? Nah dawg *Meme-ing!*!! (but also winning)
- A mythic wildcard every few packs v/s a legendary every 30-40 packs..
The 'few' is actually 24, if you are speaking about the wildcard wheel. Considering that you need 4 of mythics in MtG instead of 1 of legendaries in Hearthstone, I'd say Hearthstone is more generous.
Game play: I prefer MTGA over HS. I've been playing MTG and HS for a long time, but MTG is more complex and has more different deck styles. The power level between cards is higher on MTG than in HS. But the impact 1 card has seems less relevant. The use of lands adds an extra dimension in the already complex game. Also I really like to use spells in your opponents turn (Flash and Instants). Gamewise I would play MTG over HS.
Graphics and Artwork: This is an easy one. The art of MTG is outstanding. I could look at pictures all day. HS is nothing in comparison to that. The graphics seems also better on MTGA. The way a mythic card comes into play seems way cooler than a legendary from HS. One thing HS does better than MTGA is the gameboard. The silly things you can click on are a fun thing to do by itself. Still, I'll use MTGA over HS due to the beautifull artworks.
Time investment and costs: Yes, MTGA gives you some starting decks you can work on, as well as some dual decks if you play along a little further. But after a few matches you come to see you have to invest a lot just to play a decent deck. To play F2P on MTGA, you have to invest a lot of time. You may get more packs in a day, but the result is also less. Remember that you can have the same card 4x in a deck. If you want a good deck, you need staples and to do that, you need to open a lot of packs. On HS you start with the basic set and you open packs while grinding for gold. Doing you daily quests on HS requires between 15 min to an hour, while doing your quests on MTGA requires multiples hours. Also, MTGA doesn't give you the option to dust cards. Overall, HS cost less and is less time consuming than MTGA.
For me: I play HS more than MTGA. I don't have and don't want to invest that much time in a game. If I play MTG, I'll play with the real cards.
The only misinformation from me was about the duplicates which has apparently been addressed. I never said I dislike Magic because shock horror I play Magic, it's Arena I have a problem with. It's amusing to me how quickly you fangirls have to race to its defence following any comment against it. FYI I'm not salty or hostile at all, I couldn't care less whether you like Arena or not, it's just a game.
I am back to playing HS. MTGA matchmakes based on your deck strength which enables terrible and boring mirror-matchups. Add to that frusterating RNG when it comes to land-draw and you are in for some serious irritation.
reddit for mtga ofc is probably the biggest community for discussion and decks but other sites like mtgpro or mtggoldfish are good for deck lists and third party programs like trackers. right now i still play more mtga than HS but i still play a lot of HS so both for me still :) they both have their pros and cons
Except there is RNG in MTG, and it has a far greater impact on the gameplay than in Hearthstone.
In MTG, the cards themselves may not have as many random effects, but the RNG inherent in the shuffle is amplified a great deal, both by the size of the deck and by that game's mana system.
Yes, i'm aware that there are many ways to fix your mana, but that's really just a band-aid on a system that is fundamentally flawed. And even with all the fixes in the world you will still get games that are decided more by mana flood or mana screw than by skill.
In Hearthstone, the RNG effects are bounded. Even when something is random, you know what to expect within given parameters, and you can plan for the worst. In MTG, the limits of a bad shuffle are much, much broader, and you are utterly powerless to play around a bad mana situation. It literally makes it impossible to play the game.
In short, I would much rather be ganked by a Knife Juggler than told by my own deck that I won't be allowed to play.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
This thread is old, but it's an interesting discussion and I really like both games so I'll weigh in.
First cost:
Hearthstone is more f2p friendly than mtg arena. Mtg arena may look friendly if you don't look too closely, and you can open more packs, but it has a couple of serious issues. First of all, you can't disenchant cards which means that a useless rare card you pull is going to be useless forever. instead of dusting there is duplicate protection on rare/mythic cards. Which sounds great in theory, but barely matters for your average player, because the second issue is you need four copies of every card instead of 2/1. The most recent set has 53 rares (closer in rarity to epics in hearthstone) and 15 mythics. You get 1 rare or mythic card per pack, which means that you need to be well over 100 packs into a single set before duplicate protection is likely to make a huge difference. Then there is the bizarre vault system, which works a bit like crafting, it automatically takes your extra common/uncommon cards and when you have gotten enough it opens and gives you a few wildcards (used to craft any card of that rarity). The issue with the vault is, the rate it gives you is abysmal, and as a casual player you may not ever open enough duplicates to even see that the vault exists. It requires 900 commons/300 uncommons to open, and grants 1 mythic, 2 rare, and 3 uncommon wildcards. That many duplicates in hearthstone will get you a lot more with dust, in a game where you don't need more than 1 copy of a legendary.
In terms of the actual games:
I find that mtga is a more interesting game for deckbuilding. The game is much more complex so it is harder to get into, but there are a lot of cards that do interesting and weird things, and thus a lot of ways to build your own flavor of decks or decks utilizing unusual combos. The color system also allows for more deckbuilding flexibility, since any two cards can be played together.
Where hearthstone has the edge is in actual gameplay. First, the elephant in the room, mana screw/flood happen in mtg. What this means, for those who have never played mtg, is that your mana is actual cards in your deck and sometimes you draw too little of it and can't play your cards, while some other times you draw too much of it and don't have any cards to play. If you play very much mtg, these are things that will happen to you with some regularity. This leads to a lot more non-games than hearthstone has, where you win/lose because one player is unable to play cards.
The hearthstone gameplay experience is also much smoother. The gameplay is more intuitive, the interface is cleaner, and games don't tend to take as long. I also find that hearthstone more consistently gives me interesting and meaningful decisions to make every turn, with fewer highly polarized decks that make certain cards useless, more agency over what your creatures do, and every card you draw actually doing something.
LOL. There is RNG in any card game, but HS is way worse in every aspect. Mana screwed:flood sucks, but not as bad as RNG summons and other high rolls. The RNG in HS negates a lot of skill.
For me, Flood/Screw is far worse. Simply put, when an opponent highrolls with his luck, I may loose a game. If I get screwed in magic? I very likely will loose the game.
So, it isn't worse in terms of influence on the game itself. Though in exchange, HS has a lot of randomness. Thing is, the randomness of HS is actually a selling point, since these mechanics would be extremly hard or close to impossible in an actual paper game. So, HS actually embraces randomness.
In Magic? There are a few instances of randomness, but most of them are restricted to coin tosses or selecting a random card (more often than not, it is not a permanent laying on the board, but either hand, lib or graveyard). Granted, there is Momir's Madness, but that is not a part of the 'evergreen' formats, instaed more like a time-limited event.
Another thing I would like to add: I hate how MTG:A handles new Set releases. See, you can get the Set and play Sealed with a new Set in Arena even faster than in real life. The new Set will be released in 5 days in Arena. The problem is, that Sealed needs Gems, which are either aquired by spending money or playing a specific gamemode (normal Draft or gem-only modes).
So, I normally only have Gold on Hand, having spend my gems in a Draft Frenzy. So, I looked into when I will be able to use my Gold to Draft - it will be on the 10th. So, around 2 weeks after it releases its Set. I can understand a week difference, since Drafts are only avaible post Release. Still, having to wait two weeks seems a bit too much for me personally. Last Set my Hype died down while waiting for the Draft - even going as far as when I eventually did Draft, I even didn't finish my second Draft. Of course, there is no recompenses for that - if you don't finish your run, it is you fault and you will only get the reward equal to the amount of wins.
I usually just peruse the Community - General Discussion threads, but there is some good info. regarding the game here...
https://forums.mtgarena.com/forums
"There is no spoon"
for ppl looking into getting into a digital cardgame as newcommers I would definitely recommend mtg simply because its way easier getting cards and viable decks in the beginning, maybe I'am wrong but certaintly felt that way for me.
I certainly enjoy playing both though
Also, there are differences in how useful cards that you open are actually are. MTG has way more plain useless cards that you'll never play in your decks. Some are useless by design because there are pack fillers and have their use only in limited. Some are useless because they are meant as sideboard-only cards while MTG arena is centered around Bo1. Some are useless because they are printed to be used in non-standard paper magic formats.
MTG arena does beginning player part so well, with all those starter decks and free stuff given at the beginning that it looks that it is more F2P-frielndy while it is really not. At least not for player who can profit from events\drafts.
That should read "can't", shouldn't it? Because profiting from drafts will help big time with filling your collection.
However, I agree. After playing it for some time now (but only casually since I lack time), I've come to the conclusion that Hearthstone is easier to get the top tier decks than MtgA. There are cheaper decks and budget versions of top tier decks but the power of cards in mtga generally matches the rarity (not necessarily the other way around). Almost all powerful cards that define a deck are rare or mythic. And since you need to get 4 of them, it is harder to collect them in particular because there is no dusting of useless cards.
I am p2p (about 100 bucks an expansion) and I cannot play all decks I would like to. I do not complain since I have several good decks so I can play different playstyles, but in HS 100 bucks an expansion enabled me to actually play whatever deck I wanted. However, I am also playing less than in the previous years and I think that playing MtgA a lot offers more value for the player than playing a lot of HS does. In particular if you are good at drafting and constructed events. The daily rewards are more generous.
All in all, I think that Hearthstone is the easier and cheaper/less time intensive game for beginners. Dusting bad cards is an advantage since you can use the dust for all cards whereas the wildcard system of MtgA is more restrictive (I have 100 useless uncommon and common wildcards but only 2 rare and mythic). But it is kind of hard to compare since in magic you get a rare or mythic card in every pack.
Guys please stop spreading bs about mtga being more expensive.You are deluding your self and others when claiming that hs being more generous. Even without the rewards from modes that put hs to utter shame, in mtga you can build a tier 1 smorc deck on the second or third day of playing.Can you claim the same about hs!?If you want to play more expensive decks, you have to pay or grind, like any card game.
This is getting ridiculous, hs fanboys claiming shit out of their ass just to sement their opinion.If you want back up the game you love for some reason then at least attack magic where it is actually inferior to hs.Like the shity land system without great fixers, the shity interface and presentation in comparison to gorgeous hs, and the terrible launcher that demands reinstalling every 4 days lol...
HS and MTGA are absolutely different games, it's like comparing football and american football for example. Personally I prefer HS because it's a fun and active game, while MTGA is quite boring and its mechanics are mostly outdated for me (I used to play MTG in early 2000's so I know what I'm talking about). Only good thing about MTGA is less RNG.
Mtga .. Hearthstones has a way to recycle cards you don't want/need and still pales in comparison to mtga's time investment value.
I bought gems in mtga since the return is way better.
Winning!? Nah dawg *Meme-ing!*!! (but also winning)
The biggest difference for me is the way the Mana/land thing works. There is absolutely nothing more frustrating than Land starving in mtg.
I know you can have terrible draws in HS aswell, but you do atleast get a mana/land every round. And in magic, you can still have bad draws AND 0 lands, or a board filled with land.
I like the carddesign and spells and features in mtg better. Seems its more versatile.
I have to note, that its been a while since i played MTG, and im not playing that much HS, best on ladder is rank 7.
Just my two cents :)
No one sane would argue that MTGa does offers a far better start. Especially if you don't mind playing mono red because a huge part of it is given in starter decks. But continuing to build your collection as an or mostly F2P is harder in MTGa than in hearthstone. More cards needed to build a deck, more useless cards in packs, no way to convert useless cards into something, 5th cards give almost nothing. More expansions per year. No way to return part of the cost of cards leaving standard. Unlike basic cards you get from Hearthstone that will stay with you forever, cards from starter decks from MTGa will become useless in standard after two rotations (barring few possible reprints)
- A mythic wildcard every few packs v/s a legendary every 30-40 packs..
-Gold to buy packs everyday guaranteed+ pack reward missions v/s about 160g daily average in hearthstones( 100g requiring 3 wins*10).
I really want some specific legendaries( some from old expansions) in hearthstones but it's not as easy as trading a wildcard.
Winning!? Nah dawg *Meme-ing!*!! (but also winning)
The 'few' is actually 24, if you are speaking about the wildcard wheel. Considering that you need 4 of mythics in MtG instead of 1 of legendaries in Hearthstone, I'd say Hearthstone is more generous.
Game play: I prefer MTGA over HS. I've been playing MTG and HS for a long time, but MTG is more complex and has more different deck styles. The power level between cards is higher on MTG than in HS. But the impact 1 card has seems less relevant. The use of lands adds an extra dimension in the already complex game. Also I really like to use spells in your opponents turn (Flash and Instants). Gamewise I would play MTG over HS.
Graphics and Artwork: This is an easy one. The art of MTG is outstanding. I could look at pictures all day. HS is nothing in comparison to that. The graphics seems also better on MTGA. The way a mythic card comes into play seems way cooler than a legendary from HS. One thing HS does better than MTGA is the gameboard. The silly things you can click on are a fun thing to do by itself. Still, I'll use MTGA over HS due to the beautifull artworks.
Time investment and costs: Yes, MTGA gives you some starting decks you can work on, as well as some dual decks if you play along a little further. But after a few matches you come to see you have to invest a lot just to play a decent deck. To play F2P on MTGA, you have to invest a lot of time. You may get more packs in a day, but the result is also less. Remember that you can have the same card 4x in a deck. If you want a good deck, you need staples and to do that, you need to open a lot of packs. On HS you start with the basic set and you open packs while grinding for gold. Doing you daily quests on HS requires between 15 min to an hour, while doing your quests on MTGA requires multiples hours. Also, MTGA doesn't give you the option to dust cards. Overall, HS cost less and is less time consuming than MTGA.
For me: I play HS more than MTGA. I don't have and don't want to invest that much time in a game. If I play MTG, I'll play with the real cards.
That is a very good point.. I didn't consider needing playsets in my figures..
That being said I play Hs more cause it's on my tablet.. PCs a pain ..
..Well except for a certain DisguisedToast and his touchscreen setup.
Winning!? Nah dawg *Meme-ing!*!! (but also winning)