Eternal Card Game (IV—Conclusion)

What else is unique about Eternal?

Eternal is 5/4 Magic.
You start with 25 life instead of 20.
A deck is 75 cards rather than 60.
The hand limit is 9 cards rather than 7 (though the starting hand remains 7).
Even the units feel like you get 5/4 as much for the cost.

Some of these things add up: Having 25 life extends games, but more efficient attackers shortens them; together, games remain about the same speed but you get more exciting looking cards. Having more life, more cards, and discarding less often also reduces the number of non-games and allows for more comebacks.

There's still a maximum of 4 copies of each card in your deck, so variance is increased noticeably by the larger deck size. The improved mulligan mitigates this effect initially, but the number of branches a given game is likely to take is generally still wider.

Let's talk tribal. Eternal has significant support for a number of unique tribes: Wisps & Radiants, Grenadin, Valkyrie, Gunslingers, Dinosaurs, Strangers, Unseen, Yeti, and more. It's great to see so much tribal support right from the start; I like that there's cross-tribal synergy between Wisps and Radiants; and I appreciate that all the tribes are spread across two or more colors. (Also, the game has all ten color pairs already defined from the start, which is good and bad.)

Some decks are mighty prescriptive. I discovered Iceberg Scattershot and was excited to play it in a Fire-based infiltrate deck… until my opponent played all the cards you are required to play with it: Wump, Party Starter; Slushdumper; Thudrock, Arctic Artisan; and Scouting Party. Ugh. There are 37 cards of type Yeti or that reward Yetis, so you've got some options; I just wish so much of the deck wasn't already built for you, in terms of card choices.

Now's a good time to mention Eternal's theme: It's a Fantasy Western. For the most part, it comes off as generic Fantasy with a bunch of gunslingers and pistols. We also see some deserts and vaguely Southwestern concepts thrown in, but there's not a lot of restraint on the Fantasy side, so the Western portion can get pretty washed out. I think it was a smart move to step aside half a genre from Magic, and the effort isn't entirely wasted. They could turn up the Western and turn the Fantasy a fair bit, and the game would feel more distinct and unique.

As with any CCG, there are a few different play modes available. First, there's tutorial campaign which teaches you the basics of play. Once that's finished, you gain access to additional campaigns and all the other modes.

I just finished the first optional campaign, Jekk's Bounty, and it's a nice trio of sets with four specific enemies to beat in escalating difficulty. In addition to a unique avatar and mini-story, each enemy gets a distinct deck and a mod—a rule that affects how the game plays (like being able to play two power per turn, or all creatures having +1 strength). My favorite was Guard Duty, where you are tasked with 'protecting a caravan:' You start the game with a 2/4  Caravan that's reckless (so it attacks every turn), and if it ever dies, you lose. That's such a thematic and novel tweak to play! Campaigns earn you playsets of promo cards you can't otherwise open or craft.

There are five puzzles for, what, 12 of the game's mechanics. They all start you in medias res. Most challenge you to win the same turn, but some give you one-and-a-half or two. I recommend doing these when you're fully awake and not tired, because many are very tricky. These puzzles, oddly enough, are the only way the game teaches you some of the less intuitive details of their mechanics.

Gauntlet is like one leg of a campaign, but generic. Fight five AI opponents with the same deck, the last one getting a rule mode in its favor.

Forge is a mini-draft against AI.

Casual and Ranked are two levels of constructed play against humans. I hadn't tried Ranked until today. I assume that both have a match-making algorithm, but it's not great; At the very least, the app makes no distinction between playing one of the pre-constructed decks or one filled with mythic rares you bought.

Following the 5/4 model, drafts see you open 4 packs instead of 3. You're definitely not drafting packs directly with other players, because there's no real-time component there. When you're done, you build your deck and play that against other drafters.

Because you're never actually picking from the same pack as other humans, Forge and Draft are a let down for me, though you do still at least get to exercise strategic choice and deck-building skills, and the cards do go into your collection.

In order to see what Events are available, you must first qualify by playing 5 Ranked games. Right now, there is a League event and a multiplayer game with the rule mod "Whenever you play a spell (not a unit, weapon, or relic), play a random unit with the same cost."

You earn experience in each of the five factions for playing cards of those factions (I think; it may be for dealing damage, or spending power; because these things are never spelled out, it's very amorphous). Experience levels you up, and you get little perks at each level, including more emotes and avatars. You earn coins by doing pretty much anything, and coins are spent to do more things (with campaigns being the priciest). You earn booster packs fairly regularly for things like leveling up and winning your first multiplayer game of the day (It took me a week or more before I figured out that the tomes I was winning were sealed product; not intuitive; never explained). You earn shiftstone with which to craft new cards by 'dusting' duplicate cards, which the app does not do automatically. For some reason, crafting is more work on desktop than mobile. There are also achievements. And you can buy stuff (gems get you packs, theme decks, or decorate totems and avatars). Pretty standard free-to-play stuff, though I'll say it feels reasonably generous.

The UI is attractive and largely intuitive. Two things Magic Arena has over Eternal: You can double-click to play cards rather than always dragging them; Arena automatically ends the turn when you can't do anything else. The board also has  more interactive animations, and the art for premium cards is animated (albeit with a simple wave-motion filter mask). There are a ton more emotes in Eternal, which you can pick from and earn more; Some of them are pretty aggressive but you can mute rude opponents. There's an instant replay button, which is nice since spells shoot by pretty fast and it's not like you can read them without hovering over them anyhow.

Overall, I'm really impressed with Eternal. It grabs me in ways no other digital CCG has, and in ways that only Magic has until now. It's innovating in ways Magic is too set in its ways to do. If this game can market itself out of the canyon between Magic and Hearthstone, I believe it will be a great success with a long and productive life. If you decide to check it out, you can use this referral code to hook me up a little.

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV