The Elder Scrolls: Legends is getting a lot of Hearthstone comparisons. Rightly so, because if you're going to do a proper CCG in 2016 you're going to play a lot like Hearthstone . And, yes, some Magic The Gathering is in there too. But Elder Scrolls: Legends manages to blend elements of both, along with its own twists and polish, to deliver a CCG on par with the heavyweights. If Hearthstone is peanut butter and MTG is chocolate then Elder Scrolls: Legends is the Reese’s for the genre.
And, like a Reese’s, there's something addictive about this satisfying blend of familiar flavors. Elder Scrolls: Legends just entered open beta, and I managed to spend about six hours with the game during a preview period. I'd encourage anyone who is even remotely curious to try it. I only started with CCGs in 2015 after a WoC rep gave me a tutorial at PAX South. Since then, I've amassed a respectable modern deck collection and dabbled with MTGs digital counterpart Duels. It didn't take long to make the jump to Hearthstone. But after a binge-y two months I lost interest. I couldn't really tell you why.
Elder Scrolls: Legends has reignited my online CCG passion, and way more intensely than hearthstone ever did. It has a distinct advantage: the lore. While Hearthstone(and Duels , really) had to build all this lore from scratch Elder Scrolls: Legends delivers lots of stuff I know. Odds are you know it too. The Elder Scrolls franchise has been the gold standard for RPGs for a decade. So it's easy to follow the tropes assigned to Nords and Argonians and Khajiit. The locations are familiar. Cyrodill? Yeah, I may have spent 267436964322 hours there.
But while all this fuzzy nostalgia makes the tutorials and story quests easy to digest, it's the new two-lane mechanic that becomes the shiny, new thing you'll get obsessed with. One lane is a normal battlefield like any other CCG, but the other is called the Shadow Lane and conceals creatures played on it for one turn. Occasionally, there are special lane effects too. I particularly enjoyed the Arena story mission which created a lane that automatically assigned a random item to any creature you dropped in it.
Combat in the lanes unfolds like standard hearthstone play. You gain mana to spend each turn and play whatever cards you can afford. You can either attack other creatures or attack your opponent directly. The goal is to get your opponent’s life to zero. Of course, there are a myriad of buffs and counters and effects and abilities that add the tactical layer to this game. Plenty of deck building and strategy to behold.
But in my first hands on I didn't exactly get into the high level tournament play. I ran through the story missions (which weren't guaranteed wins btw) and did about a half-dozen PvP matches at QuakeCon 2016. Still, it was enough to sell me on the idea that Elder Scrolls: Legends might be more Fallout Shelter success story than Elder Scrolls Online clusterfuck. The way mechanics are built around lanes creates the feel of two games at once. It didn't overwhelm. When it went well I felt twice as dominant. When it didn't I felt like there might still be hope.
Take the Guard mechanic. Just like Hearthstone's Taunt, a creature with Guard draws attacks to itself instead of other targets (including you). But unlike Hearthstone an OP Guard creature only solves half the problem. And even if your defenses fail and you start getting bashed by your opponent you might still be saved by a Rune.
Runes, like the dual lanes, contribute to the game-changing momentum swings that make Elder Scrolls: Legends a different kind of CCG. Whenever you lose 5 life you activate a rune, which draws a card from your deck. If you draw one of the many cards with the Prophecy ability, you play it immediately and at no mana cost. It’s immensely satisfying to deliver a devastating counter punch to an opponent who’s steamrolling you. And the hope keeps you hanging on until the very last life, instead of quitting early when a game gets away from you.
So you should stop making fun of Elder Scrolls: Legends . It’s not a joke, not a lost cause, not a copy/paste Hearthstone clone. It’s got familiar characters and a lore you’re comfortable with, enough new mechanics to challenge CCG vets and give newcomers a chance to get in on the ground floor of a new game. It’s a level battlefield. Actually, it’s two of them.
Elder Scrolls: Legends is in open beta right now, and worth checking out. No release date has been set, and there are still no updates on when the beta might come to iOS or Android.
