There is something in all competitive hobbies that I like to call the "glass ceiling". It's not the societal barriers to the highest accolades or positions that exist outside the gaming world, but it is a very real psychological barrier that says "I'll never reach their level, there is something others see that I just don't get". This was my approach to Magic for years (actual game time probably only a few months -- I travel), others understood the game at a level that no amount of reading, watching videos, or theory crafting could help me with.
Enter Hearthstone; Blizzard's answer to CCGs, following the "free to play" model, Hearthstone has set out to create an engaging card game that their website totes as "Deceptively simple. Insanely fun.". I think it does this and a lot more.
I have said, much to the scepticism or complete surprise of a few players, that Hearthstone has made me a MUCH better MTG player. I want to walk you through why.
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If you talk to some of the best players in magic as I've been lucky to do, you get a real sense of the depth of their understanding of the game. There are unique deck archetypes, card dynamics, and a general synergy that new players try to understand, but at the core, they still don't "get it".
To back up a bit, let me walk you through a common approach I have to problems (in games and in life). I internally examine if the problem is important enough to me to get where I want to go. I look at the major vectors involved in the problem and how it's constructed. Finally, I boil the problem down to the core elements I need, break the pieces apart, and rebuild from the ground up. Magic the gathering, on the surface, seems like a deceptively easy problem to solve. There are game items (cards), rules of play, and there are always a series of objectives that you have to accomplish to achieve your desired goal; winning the game. Here lies the deception, and as a new player, you don't see it until you've been around the block to truly appreciate the depth of the card pool (I still can't see the bottom), and respect the raw value that you can only gain from worthwhile experience.
Let me run some numbers past you; The first iteration of MTG: Alpha, had a card pool of 295 cards, Beta had 302, currently there are over 13,000 unique cards in existence and 1,278 of those are legal in Standard. While so many of those cards are functional reprints of cards you veterans of the game have seen many times before, it's a new and daunting experience for us new kids on the block to see and appreciate each one.
Hearthstone has 465 playable cards. Based on MTG (there is no denying that), it has come to the forefront as a game that has greatly benefit from the balance issues, and many pitfalls that MTG has overcome over 20 years. In many ways Hearthstone has been given the evolutionary roadmap that MTG (As the only big kid on the block) has laid out over years of growth and experience.
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I will never get the opportunity to play as some of you guys/gals did in the early stages of magic, when there was a reasonable limit to the number of cards and options you had at your disposal. I will likely never get the chance to see a COMPLETELY new archetype shape the future of card games. But Hearthstone, to me, is the closest I will ever get to that opportunity and really is analogous to a polished version of the Alpha and Beta days. It has given me the chance to witness raw card value, lines of play that are worth setting up, an appreciation for long and short game strategies. Importantly it does so with a sense of tangible achievement as I go along, in a casual and non-intimidating manner, in a manner that respects my time and finances.
This simplification of the "problem", in an accessible and well fleshed out presentation, comprised of short, feel good experiences, is arguably the best opportunity for players who don't have a veteran players to guide them through card games and lack personal experience. This brings me back to my original seemingly baffling sentiment; Hearthstone has given me an exponentially richer opportunity to not only improve my understanding of MTG but gaming as a whole. While experienced players may be quick to dismiss it as simple magic, or just not for them, I think it provides the critical fundamentals for new and established players to grow.
Give it a try! Add me to Battle.net: Ricostravels#1196, let me know what you think :)
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@Ricostravels
