Eternal Analysis 017—Shift

Shift is Eternal's suspend mechanic, simplified in some ways and… weird in others. Introduced in the sixth full set, Dark Frontier, along with Onslaught, and Twist.

Eternal Analysis 016—Spark

Spark is Eternal's bloodthirst/spectacle mechanic, opened up to do anything when your opponent has taken damage. What it does most often is suck.

Eternal Analysis 015—Endurance & Stun

Endurance is Eternal's vigilance, and stun is its super-tap, but their implementation and relationship are worth talking about.

Eternal Analysis 014—Ambush and fast spells

Eternal avoided making Magic's mistake of taxonomically dividing sorceries and instants: They're all spells, but some are fast and some aren't. Then they dropped the ball.

Eternal Analysis 013—Infiltrate

The first deck I built centered on Infiltrate, Eternal's saboteur mechanic.

Eternal Analysis 012—Renown

Eternal just previewed a new keyword from the impending 5th set: Renown. It has nothing to do with Magic's renown, because it's too busy being Magic's heroic.

Eternal Analysis 011—The Must-Play Kill Spells

I'm a huge sucker for cycles and so is Dire Wolf (and so is Wizards). Most often, cycles exist to demonstrate the nature of the set by viewing it through the lens of each color/faction (and to demonstrate the nature of each color/faction through the lens of the set). Sometimes, though, they exist purely to support a number of archetypes. This is particularly the case with 2+color cycles like dual lands and the 10 Eternal cards we're looking at today.

Eternal Analysis 010—Sites

Eternal just previewed another exciting keyword from the upcoming set: Amplify. It's a novel new mechanic that… just kidding. It's multikicker. It's literally multikicker. (I mean, it looks fun. Multickicker's a good mechanic. It's just old news.)

The big reveal is actually Sites. They're a lot like planeswalkers, but with a touch of sagas and some uniquely Eternal stuff. Let's take a look.

Eternal Analysis 009—Pledge

Eternal recently previewed a new keyword from the impending 5th set: Pledge. On your first turn, a card with Pledge can be played as a Sigil. Great, it's a smoothing mechanic and high-variance games like CCGs need smoothing mechanics.

Eternal Analysis 008—Nightfall

Nightfall is a different kind of Eternal keyword: It's not a skill, modifying how a card works, but an event (or a keyword action in Magic terms). When night falls, it lasts through the next round, and when your turn begins at night, you take 1 damage and draw a card.

Eternal Analysis 007—Echo

Echo is another excellent Eternal keyword. When you draw a card with echo, you draw an extra copy.

Eternal Analysis 006—Inspire

Inspire is one of my very favorite mechanics. When you draw a unit while you control an inspire ability, that unit becomes permanently enhanced.

Eternal Analysis 005—Tribute

Tribute is one of Eternal's poorer keywords, which is a shame because it's so close to being morbid.

Eternal Analysis 004—Merchants

Eternal doesn't have sideboarding per se, but in June, the fourth set introduced the Market meant to act as a sort of live sideboard, via a cycle of five merchants.

Eternal Analysis 003—Warcry

Warcry is my pick for the most fun and distinctive mechanic in Eternal. Whenever a creature with warcry attacks, the top unit of your deck gets +1/+1. That's so simple, and so compelling!

Eternal Analysis 002—Power Cards

Sigils are power cards that work exactly like basic lands. There are also three cycles of dual power cards in all ten faction pairs, three cycles of mono-colored power cards, and a few unaffiliated power cards.

Eternal Analysis 001—Warp

Back in July, I gave a comparative introduction to Eternal Card Game, and a very high-level analysis. I've been playing the game compulsively since then, even to the exclusion of Magic Online and Arena, which feel frankly prehistoric to me now. I have a ton of deeper thoughts about Eternal, so I'm going to start sharing them with you.

Let's start with one of my least favorite mechanics: Warp.

Weekend Design Challenge 071318—Eternal

Click through to see the requirements for your design test, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I will aim to review the most recent submission from each designer.

Eternal Card Game (IV—Conclusion)

What else is unique about Eternal?

Eternal Card Game (III—Mechanics)

What mechanics make Eternal tick?