Eternal (CCG)

[Dread Rlyeh]

So this just hit steam early access the other day.  It's very (add a few more verys) reminiscent of Hearthstone, but includes interrupts (spells, ambush creatures).  It's F2P, and you can pickup cards and gold (to enter drafts vs AI or Players, etc) by playing the gauntlet mode.  That is repeat matches vs various AI decks where the rewards increase, start over after a loss.  There are daily quests as well.

After playing a fair amount yesterday, I can say it is extremely stable and polished.  No errors, crashes, anything.  Amazingly enough, I actually like the stylized cartoony artwork, considerably more so than HS.   It's PC only now, but will be expanded to phone/tablet.

Steam EA - http://store.steampowered.com/app/531640/
Site - https://www.eternalcardgame.com/
Some gameplay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekqbpQKJeOo

[Bardolph]

Just started playing a little Hearthstone while I was waiting for the free Overwatch weekend to start, will give this a look too.
Never been a big CCG fan but I've dabbled with Magic in a couple computer versions. No interest in the real thing but its mildy amusing on the computer and I occasionally feel like I must be missing something since its so bloody popular but usually I play a few games and I get over it.
So far I'm liking Hearthstone better than the various Magic versions I've tried.

[Dread Rlyeh]

I played a little bit of Magic (physical cards) back in college and tried MTGO.  I thought the GUI was horribly clunky back in the 2000s, though I think they may have recently given it a face-lift.  Seemed expensive and I was totally outclassed in drafts. 

I watched a few Hearthstone streams (added 'dumpster' to my lexicon, thanks Kripparrian lol), but it didn't grab me.  Eternal seems like it will be a nice time waster for me when I have an hour to kill here and there.  Tablet support will be perfect too if you are waiting somewhere.  From what I have seen on the PC, it saves your progress after each match in the Gauntlet, Forged mode, etc.  No time limit either that I have run across (at least playing PVE), so no worries if you are interrupted in the middle of a match either.   

[Bardolph]

Only tried a little last night, right after playing some Hearthstone. Ran through the tutorials and then went into my first "game" against the AI and got mana screwed right off the bat lol.

[Dread Rlyeh]

Only tried a little last night, right after playing some Hearthstone. Ran through the tutorials and then went into my first "game" against the AI and got mana screwed right off the bat lol.

I've been there :)  I know some people aren't a fan of the mana mechanic and think it is outdated.  The counter point is that without it, aggro decks are less prone to variance and thus tend to abound.

I played a few ranked games to complete a quest, and there are plenty of agro decks, mana or no, heh.  Played against mostly Fire decks and Fire also has great removal/damage with Torch, etc.  Ouch!  Rakano Outlaw (2 F 2/2 Gunslinger+Warcry) is pretty insane for a uncommon, I highly recommend crafting a few when you have the Shiftstone (100 each) for it.  It's some pretty amazing bang for the buck and great against the AI. 

Oh, and at least at the lower tiers, the AI does a poor job of anticipating when you hold interrupts, so add some Rapid Shot, Finest Hour, etc.  Very easy to kill their heavy hitters that way. 

I do enjoy the interrupt fast spell mechanics - I figured out today you can use Devour (2 Shadow) on units you use for blocking.  So you can block with a 1/1, devour it, draw two cards, and the block stands. 

edit:  Forgot to add - one thing that can help with the mana screw issue is the monument cards.  If you draw them at <5 power, you can play them (depleted) for a +1 power/influence of their type.  At >=5 power, they transform into various creatures, usually 5/5 types.  So, they are useful for both mana flood/drought. 

[Dread Rlyeh]

Having some time off around the holiday, I've gotten a chance to play a fare bit of Eternal.  I'm very impressed with its stability for early access. I've only encountered one bug where an entomb effect didn't trigger for some reason.  Balance tweaks and whatever other content they plan to add aside, this game could be released today.

I'm also liking the "fast spell" (instants) mechanic and the ability to play most effects, including buffs, on both the enemies and your own units.  It allows for some interesting plays:  Levitate allows you to give a unit flying for a turn and 95% of the time you will be buffing your own units.  However, if you have none, and are desperate for a card, you can play it on an enemy. 

Also, I had a situation where an enemy has Aegis (immunity to one spell) - I held Levitate and Permafrost (lockdown) and was able to play Levitate on them first to remove the Aegis.  Overall, I'm having fun and the price is right :)

One item of note:  I wasn't quite sure if the difficulty on Forge and Gauntlet (PVE) only scaled if you completed the run, as I'd read conflicting reports.  Thus, I tended to concede my final match unless there was a completion daily quest or something.  The difficulty still scales and I'm now seeing the AI play legendaries in Gauntlet.  I recommend beating the final opponent in Gauntlet for sure, probably in Forge too.  No point in messing around.