I've played numerous online CCG's, and a long, LONG time player of MtG paper version. And this game is one of my favorites.

It is nearly an MtG clone, but with some nice fixes. In comparison, it doesn't have the stacked shuffle system that MtG Arena has. I've played thousands of matches, and never seen shuffles stacked occasionally for, usually against in the way that Arena does. Makes it unplayable. This game also allows further customization over other games, as you have a max energy and influence. Play a red "land" get one energy, and one red influence. Both recover at the start of your next turn. Keep dropping lands and the max energy and influence go up, but what differentiates this from MtG is that you don't spend influence, only energy, once you reach an influence threshold, you can cast as many of those cards as you want, provided you have the energy to do so. Only get one red "land", have three green "land" and the rest red cards in your starting hand, not a problem as long the cards have a one red influence requirement. This makes it harder to get mana hosed for lack of enough of one color, makes starting hands more forgiving. Also most game modes allow for a free mulligan, with an added caveat that the next hand is guaranteed to have 2-4 "lands", some game modes allow for one additional mulligan at the loss of a card with the same 2-4 land guarantee. It's a little frustrating to get those 4 lands, which happens more often then not, I think I'd prefer another straight shuffle instead, but it doesn't hurt the game very much either.

Minimum deck size is 75, minimum land amount is one third lands, so you cannot go with a cheap deck and reduce lands further then one third. That is an annoyance as each color has a cycle of land pulling cards as well as some neutral land pulling, so a forced one third can be a pain. This also doesn't hurt the game much.

This game does give away tons of cards, it can be as free as you can stand it, every card in the game can be purchased with earnable in game currency. So if you want to go free, it's a grind, but not anymore then any other "free" game. If you choose to purchase, your first purchase, what ever it is, will get you three free packs of the current set, and three free packs at the beginning of each new set until further notice. So if you stick around, a $3 purchase can get you three packs now, and more later. Any game you spend more then an hour or two on is worth a $3 purchase, and you get a lot of value for it. If you want to purchase something, the campaigns are a good way to go, a lot of playsets of mythics and rares in there, as long as you can make it through the puzzles. Some of them you use their decks, some you use yours. Some of them are a pain, so I wouldn't rush in to those on your first day. FInishing the story mode/tutorial will give you five decks, these aren't the best, but they aren't bad, and occasionally you can snag a ranked win with one. Theme decks aren't a terrible option, they cost the same as 2.5 packs, and usually give you more then you can get out of 2.5 packs. Guantlet is a pve mode that allows you to pit your deck up against a series of AI decks, each time you beat a Guantlet you rank up and it gets tougher. Once you hit Master it's hard enough that beating it gets rare, but the payoff isn't bad until you get to Master, so it's worth it. Forge is like a mix of a draft and Gauntlet. You get 25 cards that you get to keep, it tells you how many of each card choice you have in your collection (it differentiates between animated and regular, so if the choice is animated you won't know how many you have, except for the animated ones.) This will be two color, so you first two color choices lock you in to those colors, every card choice goes in the deck, then you play a series of AI decks that are assembled, but reduced in strength compared to their Gauntlet versions. This pays better then the Gauntlet, and even on Master, it is still winnable. It costs the same as a theme deck, with decent chance at a far better payoff for your buck.

Throne is ranked pvp, every card legal. Expedition is ranked pvp with a limited card pool. Events are ranked pvp with month long sealed leagues and other occasional events. Events are pay to get in. Casual is pvp with every card legal. Your first pvp win each day gives you a pack. Your first three wins in Throne, Expedition, and Casual have three chests, one after each win. Casual three chests are about 150 coin, Throne and Expedition are about 300 coin. Each of these chests have the chance to upgrade to the next chest, even more rarely to upgrade more then once. Red chest is around 50 coin. Silver chest is around 200 coin and a card. Gold chest is around 500 coin and a pack. Diamond chest is around 1800 coin and a pack. Early on you'll likely want to grind these chests out as that will pay for your Forge entry. There are also daily quests, most of which are based off of pvp matches, so you can work on both daily quest and chest grinds simultaneously.

This game plays smoother then Arena, allows more customization then Hearthstone, pays out better then Mythgard. As a fairly new player I didn't run in to a lot of issues being competitive in Expedition or Ranked, never had an issue waiting for matches, never waited more then a minute or so at least. The art is pretty cartoony, the theme is fantasy/sci-fi mashup with a western overlay, so if you can get past that minor issue, this is an incredibly solid CCG that I recommend over all other digital card games with the exception of the now completely erased Duel of Champions. The only problems this game has are common to all, too much or too little energy (Hearthstone and its clone Shadowverse fixed this at the cost of customization, which is a large sacrifice) Mythgard fixed as well, but that game is in early development and has it's own issues. So you, if you read down this far, pull the trigger, you clearly had enough interest to make it through this novelette, that's more then enough to give this one a try, if this game doesn't do it for you, this may not be your genre of game.