Intro to Eternal TCG
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Feb. 15, 2017, 4:55 a.m. by Boza
This is a new up-and-coming card game from Direwolf Digital, with pros like Luis Scott-Vargas behind the wheel.
It will look and feel familiar, yet refreshing to magic players; with a color wheel and lands that you put in your deck, yet with simple cards and mechanics that provide deep gameplay that benefits from this being a digital-only game.
For example, one of the main mechanics in the game is Echo - "whenever you draw this card, add a copy of it to your hand". First off, this can never be achieved in Magic as a mechanic. Secondly, the game has clever ways built in to interact with this mechanic.
Such an interaction is an Instant that has the text "Draw two cards, then put a card from your hand on top of your deck". Normally, this would be qualified in magic as a worse Brainstorm. But in Eternal, that means with this one spell, you can draw 2 cards at the end of the opponents; lets say one of them with Echo, get three cards total and put one of the echo cards back on top. When you draw it for the turn, it will trigger echo again, giving you a total 4 cards for 1.
Warcry is the most aggresively oriented mechanic. It is put on permanents and reads "Whenever this attacks, the top unit or weapon in your deck gets +1/+1". (Weapons are similar in function to equipment in MTG). This means that a card in your deck, whenever you draw it, be it next turn or in 5 turns, it will have that boost. And it stacks! If you attack and trigger Warcry 15 times over 3 turns and draw a creature on your 4th turn, it will have +15/+15. If I have not mentioned it, this really cannot be done in MTG, and is exclusive to a digital-only game.
The game mixes those mechanics with fun Mythics that compliment it. For example, Echo decks benefit from Crown of Possibilities - an enchantment that reads "whenever you draw a creature, it gains a random keyword". If you draw an Echo _creature, it could gain trample and it will apply to both copies. If you draw a non-_Echo creature with trample, it can gain Echo via this enchantment and you draw 2 copies of it! Warcry is supported by a Legendary Creature, Navani. It reads "Warcry. Navani's Warcry applies to all cards in your deck, rather than just the top one".
All wrapped up in a nice package that has all you can want in gameplay - a campaign to start you off and teach you the basics, 2 modes for games versus AI - a form of draft and a form of constructed, 2 modes for games versus people - actual draft and 1V1. Of course, there is one more thing - play versus anyone in your friends list in a 1V1 friendly match.
The game is free-to-play and ready for you to try it out!
If you have any questions or want to discuss the game mechanics or anything else, feel free to do so!
Well, not really what I had in mind... Servers are down or something?
February 16, 2017 7:44 a.m.
Currently downloading this with a friend. We're both excited!
February 16, 2017 8:20 a.m.
Good, good! Join the Dark Side! Evil Emperor Palpatine laugh
Anything you need to know, just ask me!
February 16, 2017 8:29 a.m.
It is available for Android, but not Iphone or consoles, if I am not mistaken.
February 16, 2017 10:48 a.m.
Downloading it right now. Looks like another hearth stone clone
February 16, 2017 7:29 p.m.
Finished my first forge and went 7-0 and got 4 packs as a reward. Any idea what shiftstone does, Boza?
February 17, 2017 1:46 a.m.
Oh wow, you went through quite a lot of the game in one day!
Shiftstone can be used to craft individual cards:
- a common is 50 shiftstone
- an uncommon is 200 (or 100, I do not remember exactly)
- rares are 800
- legendaries are 3200
You get 100 shiftstone with every pack you open as part of the pack. Every card can also be destroyed for shiftstone (useful when you have 4+ copies of it) for 1/10th of the value - commons are 5, uncommons are 20, etc.
How are you liking the game so far, BLEATH?
February 17, 2017 3:01 a.m. Edited.
Whenever a unit moves around - to your hand, graveyard, deck - it retains any keywords or static buffs it gets.
It provides a very cool angle and enables some decks. For example, the Primal and Shadow guild is known as Feln; Feln's keyword is infiltrate - whenever this creature deals damage to a player for the first time, get X.
If that unit dies and is reanimate in some way, the infiltrate will refresh, since it is technically a new unit.
Creatures maintain all their buffs and keywords when they change zones, unlike magic.
For example, the same Feln have a card that reads " Return target creature with cost 4 or less from the yard to the battlefield. It gains flying and haste. Sac it at the end of turn". After that creature dies, it retains flying and haste.
Cards like Dark Return that read: "Draw a creature from your yard to your hand. It gets +1/+1." They will retain that bonus forever. If you return an Echo creature this way, you will get a copy of it, since the card says "draw".
That is why Warcry works for cards in your deck.
Etc, etc.
February 17, 2017 3:10 a.m.
I see, I see. On the subject of warcry, that deck seems really strong. About half my ranked games are against RG warcry. What are your thoughts on it?
The increased life regen just puts aggro decks way out of reach IMO.
February 17, 2017 5:48 a.m.
It is one of the best aggro decks and you see it on the ladder a lot because it is so cheap to build. It requires some rares and virtually no legendaries. It is easy to build and effective, usually the stuff people build as their first ranked deck.
I sincerely recommend to draft once you have the gold for it. It is 5000 gold for 4 packs, but you get to keep all of the cards you draft. It provides the best payoff in the game - 0 wins gets you 2 silver chests, so that means you lose about 500 gold. One win gets you another silver chest, where you almost brreak even. 2 wins get one the 3 chests upgraded to gold, which means you get 1000 gold, breaking you even, plus another pack from the gold chest.
Going 7 wins is 3 diamond chests, each of which has 1 pack, 2k gold and random foil.
Additionally, each chest has a 10% to, instead of opening, upgrade itself to the next level. The more chests you open, the better the rewards.
February 17, 2017 6:53 a.m.
Dredge4life says... #17
Impending Doom is my new favourite iteration of Abyssal Persecutor.
February 21, 2017 10:13 p.m.
Impending Doom is a 5 mana 5/5 flier with "At the end of your turn, you lose 1 life". I would not say it is really abyssal, which makes it so that you cannot win the game.
In the context of Eternal, it is a very effective flier with a very cheap cost.
My favorite is Umbren Reaper - 5 mana 5/1 flier with the text "When this dies, you gain 5 life and your opponent loses 5 life". I call it the uber Siege Rhino.
February 22, 2017 2:23 a.m.
Umbren reaper is pretty sick. You guys playing stonescar burn?
February 22, 2017 2:32 a.m.
I have about a dozen decks built already, ranging from mono R burn to 5 color control. I am now building Big Combrei, but that requires ALL the legendaries and I am only halfway there - still about 8 legendaries more.
February 22, 2017 2:36 a.m.
Dredge4life says... #21
Impending Doom only costs four, same as Persecutor, and has an effect that is supposed to be a major downside. I'd say the two are pretty similar, although it may be closer to Master of the Feast.
February 22, 2017 6:41 a.m.
I have nearly completed my combrei midrange deck!
How is everybody finding the game? Three months in, i am still having a lot of fun, which is quite surprising for a game like this.
March 7, 2017 8:02 a.m.
Combrei midrange has been completed!
4 Titans, 4 siraf, 4 ascendants, 3 ironthorn, 1 vodakhan. It is insanely fun to play. I giggle like a school girl whenever I assemble the vodakhan combo (ascendant + marshall + vodakhan) - it draws pretty much your entire deck and grows the cards immensilly.
But even without it, the deck has very powerful options and is very customizable in the 1-4 mana slot.
March 15, 2017 3:53 a.m.
My experience so far after a little less than 100 hours:
Tutorial is long and boring. Major downside. Once the game opens up and gives you full access, things get better. Aggro is currently far too good. I'm playing Feln Control and losing to armory is a constant. So far, I'm liking the game over standard.
March 15, 2017 9:21 a.m.
Well I'm now in job corps, so I no longer have access to my computer!
March 15, 2017 9:52 a.m.
Just reached Master with Icaria Blue. Feels pretty good.
April 15, 2017 10:39 a.m.
Congratulations! I hope you will get a cool foil Mythic!
Goddamn, I am still stuck in Diamond 2 and cannot break through. I feel like Combrei Midrange is the perfect deck for the meta, but I have not been able to progress for a few days.
April 17, 2017 1:52 p.m.
It is! Combrei is so disgustingly strong. It's one of the reasons I felt Icaria Blue was a good choice for me. The matchup is not easy, but I feel it's in Icaria's favor. Lots of wrath effects, efficient removal, and effective relic weapons makes the deck easy to handle in most cases. If you ever get Staff of Stories live, you've won.
jparker-sartori21 says... #2
Sounds great. It is currently downloading on steam.
February 15, 2017 4 p.m.