Faeria

This is going to sound crazy but I believe we are experiencing peak Faeria in 2026. The CCG model is gone, thank god, and anyone can explore the game thoroughly in all its fascinating aspects for less than $10. You can always get a ladder, casual or draft game and once you have all the cards your deck-building options are incredibly vast. Getting those cards requires you to play the game a lot, but getting good enough to use those cards well also requires time, so it's an enjoyable and satisfying process! I may actually wipe my cache and reset someday just to go through the fun of building up my collection again :)

unfortunately the last update was on 2021, the game is still alive, the rank ladder is still alive but no update since then

somehow the game is not dead yet, and that's great because the game is great

THE best "card" game ever. Though it is much more than most tcg's. The art, the sophisticated and genuinely funny and witty lore, the music, and most importantly the gameplay. ALL on point/ top tier. It is older now, but still as relevant as ever imo. Play it now! :)

Highly recommended to anyone!

Played this waaay back on day 1 of its early access release years ago. Came across this again recently on sale and am very glad I picked it up. Still an absolutely fantastic game. Tight gameplay, deep mechanics, and tons of strategy with not only your cards, but land placement, choice, and unit movement. Sequencing your turns becomes incredibly satisfying when all things come together, and is unmatched in other games of the genre like Hearthstone, Gwent, Runeterra, or Elder Scrolls Legends, when that was around.

A very generous and fun solo experience that includes a great draft mode that's fully playable against AI, and a crafting mechanic that lets you craft any cards you want for your deck (with rarer cards becoming craftable as you get into higher levels). Art is warm, bright, and full of whimsy. Music is good and can even be fantastic at times; like when the game knows you're about to win, a chorus will kick off with these nice heavy drums that you can use to time your fatal swing for that oh-so satisfying - THUD - at the end. Some even remind me of Paul Romero tunes.

Overall the game is a pure blast, and quickly sinks its teeth into you (Like coming up with deck ideas when you're trying to sleep). Sure, it's not perfect; you can't re-order the cards in your hand, and some of the art can look out of place (Looking at you Hold the Line!), and the board under your cards can't be interacted with (I'd love to make splishy splashy sounds and bother the Yaks when it's not my turn!), but nothing this game does detracts from its charm or enjoyment. Absolutely recommend to anyone, a really fun CCG from start to finish, and I always feel like playing another round or two.

Yes, the game does not receive new content or updates anymore and yes the game requires an internet connection. But if you like anything you see you should still buy and play it!
For me it is one of the best PC tcg like games I've played. Everything is unlockable by playing. Many cards seem decent enough to be played, the card designs are great and the rules are easy to learn yet still deep enough to be satisfying.
As for the internet connection: the enemy AI is calculated on their server and I think this is a good thing. You just don't want a card game where an AI enemy takes a minute to calculate their turn that is then so bad that you question why you even play against it.
The singleplayer content is very fun so far. Puzzles where you need to win in a turn, epic battles where the enemy has some extras to make the game different etc.
Conclusion:
If you like tcgs/ccgs and want to play a game where you can actually acquire a collection without spending more than the game costs you should go for it and have fun! I can't speak for multiplayer yet but there are still people playing.

One of the best digital CCGs i've ever played when it was new.
Sadly a couple of years ago they released an expansion where they added 'wild' or 'chromatic' or whatever it's called cards (cards that do require special lands but not a specific colour). Those were unhealthy for the game but what's even worse is, that they started adding cards with 'discover' abilities (cards that let you chose and create other cards in your hand) and cramped up the amount of random effects on cards.
It's not the first TCG to have fallen to these kind of effects (Hearthstone is probably the worst offender), but nonetheless that ruined this great game.
It's still decent and absolutely fair, so check it out. It can also be amazing if you only duel with a friend and you both stick to the old cards.
TL;DR - still a good card game with amazing potential that got ruined (for me) by it's expansion.