Shadow Era is better than MTG & Hearthstone, I had played both. To me, Hearthstone is more restrictive in various aspects & simplified, and IMO more luck-based. Hero’s ability also feels less significant (played it 1-2 years ago, unaware of any changes afterwards). Compared to MTG, I should say Shadow Era is on par in terms of flexibility & diversity but the thing about MTG is that it’s costly and there are already too many cards, not a good game to recommend to a newbie.

What’s unique about Shadow Era that makes this game awesome, IMO, is the Sacrifice mechanic. You have to sacrifice cards (optional, to convert into resources) which you think are less useful against your current opponent type, which means conversely, you anticipate him using certain cards. This feature alone test your decision-making skills to new heights, coupled with class-based, faction-based, weapon/armour deck building. The exact same deck, when used by a world champion & an average player can vary greatly in skill level. You will understand why you put certain cards in your deck, which nobody else will (unless they are top tier). You can freely spectate other player’s matches live, and also BUY ANY CARD you want using in-game earned currency(gold), which I think is very helpful for newcomers.

Community-wise, I think it’s great, people are helpful and there’s respect between good players. I also know there are alot of great international players who cannot read English, but yet they can play very well and they have their own dedicated websites to translate the card descriptions into their language. China players go by KA tag, Korean players go by ROK tag, and many more. If language barrier isn’t a problem, I think it speaks alot for that game. Btw World Championship 2015 is on 12th-13th Dec (Finals).

My IGN is Archm4ge. I know of 2 other Singaporeans who play Shadow Era, Azeon & ice vodka, both women and they get ranked often.
http://www.shadowera.com/content.php?146-Rankings