A Decade Later: Why I Still Play Hearthstone (Kinda)

Hey there, Commodore Bo here – your casual ex-pro gamer.

I want to talk to you about games. This week’s topic? Hearthstone. That small, cutesy card game that was released 10 years ago… wait, has it really been 10 years? Damn, I just wrote that without even looking. Time flies.

Maybe this blog post will mark the beginning of a series – “Games I Still Enjoy After So Many Years”. Or something like that.

Magic, Hearthstone, and the Transition

Before Hearthstone first launched, my friends and I were still deep into Magic: The Gathering. We were obsessed. A big shoutout to all the cafes and bars that tolerated us playing cards for hours – we were definitely consuming a lot of beer, but hey, we were noisy and passionate card gamers.

Speaking of Magic, one thing I never got to experience was Commander format. By the time it became a thing, we were already transitioning to Hearthstone and slowly drifting away from buying cards. A shame, really. I was deep into the mechanics and keywords, but never got to enjoy one of the most fun formats.

On the other hand, Sealed was one format I thoroughly enjoyed—where you could really flex your deck-building skills and creativity. But those days are long gone. No more buying Magic cards for me (they were expensive as hell, by the way), and I don’t even have the space to store them anymore.

I mean, I still have two giant shoeboxes filled with cards. What do I do with those? I can’t bring myself to throw them away—I spent money on them, after all. Sell them? Yeah right, no one’s buying 3,000 commons that are worth a cent per kilogram.

Anyway…

The Rise and Fall of Hearthstone

The perfect successor to playing Magic outdoors was playing Hearthstone in the comfort of our homes, and it was developed by a company I adored at the time (let’s not talk about now).

Those were the days—Hearthstone tournaments, gathering at friends’ houses, lugging around laptops, and facing off against each other. It was a blast. But then came the downfall—those crazy random-effect cards that started to take over the entire game. Why bother carefully building a deck when someone could stomp you into the ground by generating pure nonsense out of thin air?

That’s when I stopped playing. The introduction of new formats and updates tried to fix things, but let’s be honest—the game became way too pay-to-win. Everyone was playing the same cookie-cutter meta decks copied from the internet, and the fun just disappeared.

For me, the biggest joy in card games is building my own deck—brainstorming ideas, figuring out which cards I need, creating something goofy with a ridiculous win condition, and just having fun. But nah, apparently there are people out there who only care about winning. META META META.

And let’s be real, even if there are others like me out there, they’re forced to play meta decks just to have a chance at winning a game.

Enter Battlegrounds Mode

So, why am I even talking about Hearthstone again? Well, for those of you who don’t know—let me introduce Hearthstone Battlegrounds, an auto-battler with simple but fun rules.

Buy a minion from the bartender – costs 3 gold.
Sell a minion – get 1 gold back.
Choose your tribe, build your board.
Profit.

For my fellow millennials, when you don’t have the energy to dive into a massive RPG or, god forbid, an FPS like Apex Legends, but you still want to watch some YouTube and play something that tickles your brain, this mode is perfect. Multitasking while relaxing—because what do you think I am? Stupid?

Fun fact: I’m writing this blog while playing Battlegrounds on my second monitor.

The Monetization Nightmare

I know what you’re thinking—”Commodore, didn’t you just say you quit Hearthstone because of RNG?”

Yes, I did. But shush for a second and let me explain.

Let me also be clear—I’m not here to analyze the industry and how it’s shooting itself in the foot. But since we’re on the topic…

The monetization in Hearthstone is insane. Every step of the way, the game tempts you to spend money. But Blizzard, as Pirate Software would say, you can eat my whole ass. With those prices, I’m not even going near the purchase button.

Especially when they’re selling me digital junk for Euros while I’m sitting here in Bulgaria. For those who don’t know, 1 Euro equals about 2 Bulgarian Lev. And Blizzard prices their stuff based on Western European standards. A €40 bundle? Nope. That’s 80 BGN, which can buy a week’s worth of groceries—meat, cheese, and even transport to the store.

You get the point. Anyway, back to my little happy story.

Why I Still Play Battlegrounds

Despite all the issues, I still enjoy Battlegrounds. But I treat it as an entirely different game—separate from the Hearthstone I once knew and loved.

And I think the Hearthstone team knows that, haha.

There aren’t many games out there that let you play casually, look fabulous, and only touch your mouse from time to time while doing other things—browsing Reddit, checking out the Steam sale, chatting with the boys, or even doing chores around the house.

And I appreciate that. You can still pull off goofy strategies and win. Sure, it’s hard, but it’s possible.

If you love card games, you should definitely give Battlegrounds a try. It’s still fun, still enjoyable—just don’t spend a penny on it. Let them figure out how to price their digital stuff properly because their current prices? Absolutely ridiculous.

That’s it for this week.

Stay safe out there.

Commodore Bo, out.