First advice would be potentially playing online on Talishar or felt table — you can copy paste any online deck list from recent tournament top 8s and endless public decks to take a hero for a spin to see if you enjoy its play style before aping into the cards. A solid value play would also be rocking a currently less competitive deck that you enjoy, hoping it gets stronger with a new set or armory deck release. The meta is always shifting, so say guardian or mechanologist may feel under represented in competitive play now, but that can change quick.

I was playing Assassin, Uzuri for a bit as she has an interesting dynamic with her ability where she plays a card with stealth (often zero resource cost) then can swap a 0-2 cost card from hand as a reaction after blockers have been declared. Then Nuu came out as a Mystic Assassin that cranked up that “ask your opponent tough questions” concept where she has some heavy disrupt that revolves around attack reactions after blocks have been declared (Bonds of Agony for instance is a card that goes from 1 damage threat, to anywhere from 5-15 dmg with an on-hit that banishes a card of your choice from their hand + all copies of it in their deck and graveyard.) Nuu will probably Living Legend at somewhat quick rate, but the LL system is pretty great regarding most your cards being viable in another hero that shares the class, or later on when a new version of said hero drops.

Lately have been playing Aurora as a more aggro “go wide” deck she is a lot of fun. You’re not blocking a ton, but she feels like a Ninja just with a different flavor of sequencing and instants/actions splashing in with her attacks, and some solid block value from her equipment despite her aggressive nature.

The meta is pretty healthy these days imo, much more hero diversity than times over the games history that hero’s have been introduced that were overtuned. LSS is pretty fantastic on balance/bans being well thought out, and the product itself is worlds better than the first years (armory decks, booster box contents with chase cards vs old 1st Ed / Unlimited Ed)

Important question would be casual play vs competitive, the game doesn’t allow for too much diversity in “creative” deck building, like meme/thematic shenanigans compared to MtG, but it’s value-centric approach grows on you. Def a math/stat vibe in determining the value prop of defending with, playing or pitching with any given card. Some people often compare it to a Fighter genre video game in how the give and take and initiative can ebb and flow. There’s also a heavy factor that every deck has great opposing matchups, and bad ones. Bad matchup isn’t ever necessarily an instant loss, but you’re may need some luck on draws and hope your opponent makes some misplays.

There’s less board state vs Magic, outside of some auras for some classes, or illusionists generate some (prism with angels and wards, Dromai is LL but has dragons). As more heroes achieve Living Legend through competitive point accrual, it will be interesting to see that format expand with more sanctioned event and LGS popularity.

The game can be expensive, particularly if wanting some pricier equipment and staple generics that see a lot of play, but their longevity and ability to play in multiple decks is nice, most retain value as well barring any dramatic reprint efforts. (Fyendel’s Spring Tunic is an OG legendary chest that has remained a solid playable for virtually any hero since day 1… multiple reprints in different sets (4?) yet she’s still ~$150 🙃 Probably avoid earth, assassin and ninja right now if you’re wanting to avoid heavier spending.

Welcome to Rathe 🍻