The world a really scary place right now and we are all trying to get by in any way that we can. If you are anything like me and a gamer, one of the ways to destress and get away from the world a little bit is gaming. Gaming has always been apart of my life with my first experience being when I was 5 years old when I started grinding away on my sister in-law’s Super Nintendo. It has been what I’ve went to for competitive stimulation, cognitive expansion, and cathartic recovery.
Gaming has literally been everything to me, and in these trying times, gaming is still there for me as it seems like there are more and more games hitting the market everyday. I’ve decided to share some of the games that i’ve been using to occupy my time with the hopes that you find something that can make these hard times perhaps just a little bit easier.
So I give you: 5 Free to Play CCGs to play while in quarantine. This will not include Mythgard since I think it’s pretty clear that I endorse that game and I want to give people the chance to try something new.
1) Vanguard ZERO
CARDFIGHT!! Vanguard was always a really popular game at most local gaming stores that I’ve been through and never failed to fire tournaments. I was hyper focused on MTG at the time so I didn’t really pay it any mind, but a form of the game has recently been released on mobile in English so I decided to give it a spin.
It was very nostalgic for me with it’s anime visuals and big huge numbers on the cards as I grew up watching things like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon.
The game explains its rules very clearly and even rewards you with in-game currency for taking the time to do the tutorials on how to play.
It’s been a great game to relax with and kind of takes me back to being a little kid sitting in front of the TV on Saturday mornings. It’s available on Android and IOS so I highly recommend you check it out.
2) Minion Masters
This one isn’t on mobile but it is insanely fun. It combines aspects of tower defense, deck building, and MOBA to make a game with a little bit of something for everyone. The gameplay is fast paced, the concepts are easy to pick up on and there are easy ways to earn rewards to accelerate your growth in the game.
With 1v1 as well as 2v2 options that have separate ranking systems available so there is a ton of fun to be had. The game is available on Steam for Mac and PC along with XboxOne and I recommend giving it a whirl.
3) Shadowverse
This game has been my go-to “chill and play” card game for a while. It functions a lot like Hearthstone but is also extremely generous with its in-game rewards. Within sitting down for one day you can end up with a tier deck and grind away at the ladder along with being able to link mobile and desktop accounts to get more rewards.
There are two different constructed formats to play as well as a limited format providing a ton of game play for a literal zero amount of money spent. The cherry on top is once you get a hang of the game and realize what cards are worth having and where to most effectively place your resources, you can actually delete all your data for the game and start all over essentially re-rolling your account so you make the most of what you get every time with all the information you get along way.
This means you should almost always have exactly what you want and get what you want out of the game whichever way you want to. Shadowverse is available on IOS, Android, and Steam for both PC and Mac so this game should pretty much be available to anyone and I highly recommend giving it a whirl.
PS. The sound track is amazing and I will spend an hour just with it open to listen to the much before actually playing.
4) Eternal Card Game
This next game has a special place in my heart since it was the first game that I really started streaming with before I had to get rid of my setup. It has an engaging lore and the game play is spectacular.
Eternal has an insane generous economy, dare I say the MOST generous, with devs of the game going on record to saying that the game is literally made to be free to play. This means that by design, you don’t have to put any money into the game at all and you can still be highly competitive.
There are two constructed formats, a draft format (you keep the cards), a PVE draft format (YOU STILL KEEP THE CARDS), Events that change every week to every month, single player campaign story, and a PVE that you can grind resources with. That is a lot of features and there are many more. Eternal is available on IOS, Android, Steam for PC and Mac, and Nintendo Switch so there are a plethora of ways to play the game and it’s completely worth it.
5) TEPPEN
The last game on our list is one that has given me not only the most nostalgia but the most fun in 10 minutes I’ve ever had in a game. Teppen is a game that combines Capcom icons, fast-paced gameplay, and real-time strategy into a game that will remind you of your childhood while also giving your brain and reflexes a workout.
Teppen has a generous economy consisting of daily login rewards and quests that allow you to earn more cards to improve your decks. Along with making it easy to build a card collection, the gameplay of Teppen is just simply satisfying.
it feels very close to a tower defense game, only with cards, while allowing you to get a lot of games in with any amount of allotted time. A long game of Teppen is close to maybe 15 minutes which is not that long at all for a card game. This means that grinding to gain levels and ranks is easy to fit into any given schedule and really lets you make the most out of the time that you have.
Teppen is only available on Android and IOS but really makes the most of being a mobile card game. I definitely put my stamp of approval on it and recommend you try it out.
CONCLUSION
It was very hard to get this list down to just 5 games but I hope I provided you something that you can use to get through the day. Make you take care of yourselves and be mindful of those around you. I also want to thank all of those that might be reading this that are still going to work everyday to make the rest of us have what we need to make it through. You are all rockstars and you are greatly appreciated. Until next time, happy gaming and I’ll see you in the ques!