Blizzard’s Hearthstone turned deck-building into something you can pick up in a coffee break: play creatures within a growing mana budget, swing for damage, and outlast your opponent. We wanted that curve-and-combat feeling without the client install or the Battle.net account, so we built Rune Duel, an original card game with the same bones. It runs right here on this page. Free, no download, no signup. Draw your opening hand and you are playing in seconds.
Play Rune Duel now
Tap a card in your hand to summon it or cast it, then tap a ready creature to mark it attacking before you end your turn.
How to play
You and the rival each start at 25 health with one mana, and your mana cap grows by one every turn up to eight. Tap any card in your hand that you can afford: creatures take a slot on your board and need a turn to shake off summoning sickness before they can attack, while runes (our name for spells) hit immediately, whether that means a bolt of damage, a burst of healing, or drawing fresh cards. Tap a ready creature to flag it as an attacker, then end your turn to swing. When the rival attacks back, tap their creature and then one of yours to block it, or leave it open and take the hit to your face.
Every day has one shared deck order, seeded from the date, so everyone playing today draws from the same shuffle. Your wins, win streak, and best health total at victory are saved on your device. Nothing leaves your browser.
How it compares to Hearthstone
Rune Duel keeps the mechanic we kept coming back to in Hearthstone: watching your mana curve open up turn by turn, weighing a big creature against a cheap one, and deciding whether a removal rune is worth burning on a threat or saving for the opponent’s face. Our AI rival plays with visible intent. It curves out efficient creatures, saves its damage runes to finish off your creatures or your health total depending on which is more valuable, and holds a blocker back when its own health gets dangerously low, so matches read as a real opponent rather than a random number generator.
We deliberately left a lot out. There are no classes, no hero powers, no card rarities, no collection to build, and no online multiplayer against other humans. Our card pool is a single shared set of 17 original creatures and runes we designed ourselves, not the thousands of cards Hearthstone has released across a decade of expansions. A match here runs maybe five to eight minutes, start to finish, against one AI opponent with one fixed strategy.
When should you get the real thing? The moment you want a deeper deck-building game with a real opponent pool, ranked ladders, and the strategic depth that comes from thousands of possible cards. Blizzard’s Hearthstone is the full collectible card game, with new expansions, Battlegrounds, and Solo Adventures on top. Rune Duel is the five-minute fix when you just want to play a hand of cards against something smarter than a coin flip.
Get the full game
Hearthstone is free to play on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, with a constantly rotating Standard format, ranked ladder, and single-player content that goes well beyond what any single web page can hold. If Rune Duel’s mana-and-creatures loop hooked you, the official app is where the collection opens up. Our roundup of the best CCG and TCG card games on PC covers where Hearthstone lands against its rivals if you want the bigger picture first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play Hearthstone in a browser?
Blizzard does not publish an official browser version of Hearthstone; the client runs through Battle.net on desktop or as a native app on mobile. Rune Duel, the game on this page, is our own original card game built around the same mana-curve, play-creatures, reduce-health loop, and it runs in any modern browser on phone or desktop with no install.
Is this the real Hearthstone?
No. Rune Duel is an original game we designed, inspired by the mana-and-creatures family of digital card games that Hearthstone popularized. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Blizzard Entertainment in any way. Every card name, stat, art element, and sound in our version is our own work, and the download links above point to the official game.
Can I play against the computer?
Yes, that is the entire setup. You face one AI rival that plays with a readable strategy: it curves creatures out efficiently, times its damage runes against your health or your board depending on which matters more, and holds a defender back when its own health runs low. There is no lobby, no matchmaking wait, and no other humans involved.
Is it free?
Completely. There are no ads, no in-app purchases, no accounts, and no data collection. Your wins, win streak, and best health total on a win are stored in your browser’s local storage and never sent anywhere.
Does it work offline?
Once the page has finished loading, the game makes no further network requests, so a dropped connection will not interrupt a match. Hearthstone itself needs a live connection to Battle.net for matches and rewards, so for offline play, Rune Duel is the more dependable option.
