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This grew out of Are questions on auto battlers on-topic?

I originally through questions about Hearthstone are obviously on topic because Hearthstone is clearly a card game. However, the answer in that question says board games must:

  • Be playable on or around a table

  • Be playable by hand, by human players implementing all of the rules

Hearthstone does not qualify because it is purely digital. I find this surprising because Magic: Arena is also a digital card game, with elements that cannot be replicated on paper (such as Momir, which has things like "summon a random creature").

I would like to clarify if Hearthstone and other purely digital CCGs like Eternal, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, etc, are on topic.

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  • Brawl (the scaled down commander variant meant to be played 1 on 1) as a format existed before Arena was created, and is covered by the comprehensive rules 903.12. The only thing to introduce purely digital elements and effects, not counting anything purely cosmetic, to the game was the one month old historic jumpstart. Until that digital only set came out, everything significant in MTGA was possible in paper magic.
    – Andrew
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 14:14
  • @Andrew I'm aware, but with Brawl MTGA crossed the line to be impossible in paper Magic.
    – user22925
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 14:37
  • What specific to brawl crosses that line? Without that new jumpstart set, nothing exists in Brawl on MTGA that doesn't also exist in brawl in paper as far as I know. Cards like Garth One-Eye exist in paper. The only examples of "Random Creature" I can think of are "Pool of Vigorous Growth" a card from the jumpstart and not a brawl specific effect. (also Tome of the Infinite which is a random card from 10 very nice 1 cost instants and sorceries)
    – Andrew
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 14:50
  • @Andrew Ok I remembered the name of the format wrong. It should be this one: mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Momir
    – user22925
    Commented Sep 20, 2021 at 15:16

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Questions about purely digital CCGs are off topic.

The on-topic help section quoted in part in the question also has a rule that states

Questions about computer implementations of board games are fine.

Questions about Magic: The Gathering Arena are allowed by that rule because Magic: The Gathering Arena is a computer implementation of Magic: The Gathering, which qualifies as a board game by our definition. It has some minor differences that are specific to the computer version, but it exists primarily as Magic: The Gathering, the video game.

In contrast, purely digital CCGs do not have a physical implementation that qualifies as a board game by our rules, so the computer implementation rule does not apply to them. If you have questions about those games, I suggest asking on Arqade, the site about video games. They already have questions about Hearthstone and Gwent, and possibly others.

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