So, I tried Hearthstone out today, and after unlocking all the classes and winning a bunch of ranked games, I have to ask... Does this game have any kind of depth once you have access to enough cards for deckbuilding? Because, as a former MtG player, it just seems like a dumbed down version of that game. No instants, no stack, no real turn phases (well, they're there, but completely noninteractive), no enchantments and greatly simplified mana management; deckbuilding seems really homogenized because there aren't any neutral spells, so in practice at least half of any deck needs to be composed of creatures, and also no lands. The game basically comes down to combat, which doesn't seem deep enough to carry it.
Is there something I'm missing?
Well, game really needs a new cards, expanding existing mechanics and adding a new ones. And an expansion was already announced, that would focus on the first two things. Until now Blizzard focused only on bugfixing and balancing what was already in the game and not adding anything new. How good addition an expansion would be is yet remain to be seen, since most of the new cards are still unknown.
There is potential to create an interesting deck, but you wouldn't see them in ranked games, since these decks are not consistent enough and people in ranked prefer play something that are boring, but have a good % of winrates. Only at the legend ranks, where you no longer lose ranks, or on arena, where you play with random cards, you could see some nonstardard deck. Also Blizzard didn't liked the idea of heavy combo decks, that killed the enemies in one turn with an insane amount of damage, so most of them were nerfed. Miracle Rogue and Frost Mage are the only ones, that left, so they are probably is the border of comboing that Blizzard would tolerate in the game.
And yes, most decks are very minion heavy. But not because of lack of neutral spells, but because minions is the ones, who win you the games. Spells are only there to help them or to finish the enemy when conditions are met. But it isn't the case for all decks. In the current most popular deck, Miracle Rogue, only 25% of cards are minions. Frost Mage, Rush Hunters and Control Warrior also tend to no have many minions.
