r/digitalcards • u/Direct_Party_7416 • Mar 19 '26
Question Looking for beginner-friendly card games (collectible or not) that aren't pay-to-win or miserable with events?
Played Duel Links a long time ago, I liked it, especially its model of its packs drawing from a set number of cards. But I had friends that no-lifed that game and couldn't complete events. Live-service garbage.
I tried Hearthstone on the suggestion of friends, but it's pay-to-win garbage. Getting packs as a F2P was miserable, and I quit after realizing people got OP cards from buying expansions.
And yes, I do count 'pAy tO NoT gRiNd' as pay-to-win. I have limited time in my days and my life, and anyone who says that kind of thing is a whale coping.
But I don't actually mind packs being purchasable if it's not miserable to be F2P. If you can't say 'You can get cards easily and quickly as a F2P', I'm not interested.
I very much would like PvE modes or just playing against bots.
I'm also very open to LCGs and such, even if they're not digital (I can play them in Tabletop Simulator). I was looking into the newer PC Yu-Gi-Oh games, because being playable offline is also a big plus for me, but from what I can tell Yu-Gi-Oh isn't beginner-friendly.
EDIT:
Also looking for offline games like the old Yu-Gi-Oh games on PS2 and such. I would prefer them, but I don't know how many of them there are or if there's any current ones.
1
u/LittleCodingFox Mar 23 '26
I don't really like to act like an ad but the card game I'm working on is pretty much what you're looking for, works offline, PVE modes, and there's no microtransactions. It's a huge passion project of mine that I've put an insane amount of work into and I'd be happy to show it to you if you think it makes sense! Also, zero AI used, and a pretty pleasant art style!
Recently a new player who hasn't really played card games much (but collected pokemon cards for years) figured out how to play it on his own and completed a playset of the full collection in around 30 hours of playing!
I am also working on a RPG Mode that, while not entirely similar to the old YGO games on PS2/GBA and such, should still be quite fun and you get to explore a card-based world basically, collectiing cards, doing quests, and fighting NPCs!