Looking for recommendations of "traditional" battle card games where you don't have to buy new expansions every few months. (Being able to grind the cards with playtime doesn't count.)
I know that there are some decent open-source MTG rule-engines which makes MTG a viable option. (xmage, forge)
Then Slay the Spire comes to mind, possibly there are other good solitares as well?
I take it Legends of Runeterra doesn't work for you? It's pretty F2P friendly in my experience but then I only really play the Path of Champions mode these days. I guess you do have to grind for expansions though.
I think Elder Scrolls Legends is still running but they aren't releasing new cards so once you have them all, you're done. I could be wrong.
Gwent is in a similar position, might be the last year of card releases before they democratize the meta. Don't follow closely but I think that's the case.
If you like Slay the Spire, Monster Train is also very good.
So roguelite card games are on to recommend?
Vault of the Void is a good one. Roguelite crad game where you play with a 20-card deck against the ai. You pick a class and a subclass to determine the starter deck and a cooldown-based extra power.
Winning battles gives you new passives, new actives, new cards and new card modifiers. Of course you can upgrade your cards too and there's a nice system for potions too.
The battle system us a bit different too. The enemies do damage to you on a delay-based system where they contribute to a danger meter, that you can mitigate with cards. It's a bit wonky, since killing enemies doesn't always mitigate danger.
Good game alltogether.
Across the Obelisk was pretty cool too, it had a free weekend and I played a good deal, but didn't end up buying it.
It's a card battler where you pick 4 different classes to form a team, and venture through varied encounters. The non-combat encounter system is cool, as it used your decks and characters to influence choices.
The combat gameplay feels a bit like a mixture of a card battler (duh, you have a deck of cards for all characters) and a jrpg or even Darkest Dungeon. Different classes are good with different things, like healers can heal and shield in addition to dealing damage, rogues can poison, bleed etc.
The game is a bit grindy too, since you can improve your passives and hub areas with meta currency that accumulates between runs. It will make future runs easier and just plain more fun - since you get access to more options that just perform better. Some will hate the grind, some will like the slow growth it gives you