Favorite card game is, was, and will (maybe) always be Android: Netrunner. I've never played a game that was so fun, tense, and creative. And for mega bonus points the marriage of theme and mechanics in that game is just
Favorite card game based on hours played would be Race for the Galaxy. It's an engine-building hand-managemenet game with simultaneous action selection. Spiritually it's a successor to Puerto Rico. The designer of RftG consulted for the designer of PR and then took some leftover ideas and made his own game with them. I also have a big soft spot for Paperback. Paperback is like Dominion + Scrabble. You craft a deck and there's a discard pile, but your "money" is the score of your word and the shop is new more powerful letters (or groups of letters) you can use to make longer or more interesting words, thin out your deck, attack players, and of course score victory points. The victory point cards at least count as a wild letter, so while it counts as 0 money in most words at least it isn't a dead draw like in most dominion card sets.
My favorite card games: -Russian bank is a great game that solves a lot of the problems that a lot of card games have. Its a genius move that you have to pay attention when it’s not your turn so you stay even when turns take a long time. There is enough room for technical plays and you are highly rewarded for memorizing the cards you or your opponent played and the cards you folded. -The wizard card game is a lot of fun with friends. The prediction mechanic works really well with the inherent unpredictability of card games and you end with a game that doesn’t punish you for having a weak hand but for failing to predict outcomes. The social element of estimating your opponents hands by their predictions is also a very interesting part of the game. (Bonus for being able to be played with a standard 52 card deck) A basic set of cards is a great invention, you can do so much with just 52 pieces of paper.
My choice is Mage Wars, the original one with the big arena. The main reason is because you don't have a deck where luck of the draw is involved. Each player has a spell book ( a literal book) where all the cards are set and each turn you pick 2 cards to play based on mana cost and other costs, depending on how you play you can pick more than 2, but basic starting point is 2 cards each player. The replayability comes from the mages that you can pick, they are so fun and different. Deck building before the game involves so much more strategy because you can just pick the card you want to play, you don't have to put 3 cards of the same just to increase its odds of appearance.
I remember playing some weird card games with friends at camp and those were pretty cool. I never really got into the big card games like magic, but I played it a bit with some of my friends and family. I got this big box of magic cards as a christmas gift so we were just splitting those starter cards, but it was still fun. I don't think I've played enough card games to actually pick a favorite though.
btw, iirc Banner units still keep their priority status on deck shuffles, though this does not apply to the hand drawn when the reshuffle took place. (This was discovered somewhat late, also.)
Been really obsessed with the roguelike mode of Legends of Runeterra Physical game I would have to pick Red Dragon Inn. Really fun with a group of friends
i didn't know they had a roguelike mode for legends of runeterra, but one of my friends in high school had red dragon inn, that game was extremely fun to play
Had a magic phase and still think the game is pretty cool but just never had anyone to play with. Also a huge fan of the binding of Isaac four souls and can’t wait for the expansion to be released
I know this is an old video, but if you wanted some new content, I would watch every single video if you played some hearthstone battlegrounds. Even if they were just vods
