Eternal

We had a few spoilers today, all revealed on the ECQ stream earlier.

We have a couple of new spoilers for the new Eternal expansion, Promises by Firelight. One from late last night and the other from just a few minutes ago. Both revealed by Scarlatch via Discord.

Yesterday Scarlatch posted a couple of Promises by Firelight spoilers in the Discord channel. Take a look!

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

Promises by Firelight, the newest campaign in the ongoing story of Eternal, introduces 21 new (and Expedition legal!) cards that can be unlocked by completing 21 single-player games using story-driven preconstructed decks.

Xulta burns. The dragons and their cult run rampant, driven by dark whispers.

But Xulta has survived nightmares before. As Sol fades and the night closes in, keep close to the bonfire and heed the Tale Keeper's stories. Tales of fearsome beasts, ancient relics, and great champions…

For the tales of Xulta’s past may help preserve its future.

Premium Promises
Promises by Firelight will also be available as a premium campaign, including four premium copies of each card (unlocked through playing the campaign), as well as a new, exclusive Aali, Champion of Kodosh premium avatar.

Promises by Firelight will be available soon for 25,000 gold or 1,000 gems.
The premium campaign will be available for 2,000 gems!

Will of the Ancestors
You can also purchase the Ancestor Bundle for $39.99 USD, which includes:

The Promises by Firelight premium campaign and avatar
1 box of The Flame of Xulta
1 Draft ticket
4 alternate art copies of Channel the Tempest
and the premium Death Incarnate cardback!
If you purchase the Ancestor Bundle directly from the Eternal Web Store, you also get 1 bonus Draft Ticket and 500 gems!

Heed the Ancestor’s call, and stand against the darkness in Promises by Firelight!

With the release of Promises by Firelight, we will also be removing The Trials of Grodov Xultan Bundle from the store. Don’t miss your chance to pick up the Xultan Premium Sigils!

There's a new Event starting today!

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

Devotion and meditation will show you their strength!

Bring a 75-card single-faction Throne deck to show your devotion with this special boss rule:

Every time you play a third Influence in a faction, Invoke that faction.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Whispers of the Ancestors event uses 75-card constructed decks in the Throne format.
The event costs 4,000 Gold or 300 Gems to enter.
Each run is 7 games, win or lose.
You may enter as many times as you like.
There is no leaderboard.
The Whispering Ancestors Event will run from Friday 12/6 at 10:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) to Wednesday 12/11 at 4:00 PM MST (23:00 UTC)
Note: This event does not grant QCP.

Wins	Prizes
7	6 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
6	5 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
5	5 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 premium Rare
4	5 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 Rare
3	4 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 Rare
2	4 packs, 1 Silver Chest
1	3 packs, 1 Silver Chest
0	3 packs of The Flame of Xulta

Show your devotion starting this Friday!

Details for the next World Championship Qualifier for Eternal.

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

The road to the 2020 Eternal® World Championship continues with the second Eternal Championship Qualifier: Promises by Firelight on December 13 – 15!

ECQ: Promises by Firelight is the first ECQ of the 2020 season to use the Throne format. What decks are positioned to take on the challenge? What surprises might we see with $3,000 on the line?

ECQ: Promises by Firelight consists of two stages: Qualifiers that are open to all players on Steam, iOS, Android, and Xbox, and the Finals that will feature the Top 64 players from the Qualifiers.

Participating in the ECQ requires a registered and validated account and email address. This can be done through the Options menu in-game. We strongly encourage players to register and validate their email addresses in advance of attempting to enter the tournament.

Drop us a line at [email protected] if you need help validating.

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ECQ: Promises by Firelight will use the Throne format.
All players on Steam, Xbox, and iOS or Android phones & tablets can participate in ECQ: Promises by Firelight.
The Qualifiers begin on Friday, December 13 at 10 am MST (17:00 UTC) and will close sharply on Saturday, December 14 at 4 pm MST (23:00 UTC).
No one may enter the tournament or start a new game after 4:00 pm MST (23:00 UTC).
Games in progress may be completed until 4:30 pm MST (23:30 UTC), at which time all scores will become final.
Players can complete their games at any time during the Qualifiers; there is no benefit or penalty for playing early, late, or throughout.
The Qualifiers consist of 28 games, win or lose.
The Top 64 players from the Qualifiers will progress forward to the Finals.
ECQ: Promises by Firelight costs 1,800 Gems or 35,000 Gold to enter.

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The Finals begin promptly at 11 am MST (18:00 UTC) on Sunday, December 15.
Qualifying players must be online and ready to play when the Finals begin.
You will receive an in-game prompt to join your first game when the Finals begin.
The Finals are open to only the top 64 players from the Qualifiers.
Finals matches are best-of-3 games, single-elimination, played with the same constructed deck used in the Qualifiers.
There will be a short delay between the last active game in a round and the start of the next round.
All Finalists’ decklists will be published prior to the Finals beginning.

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Prizes will be delivered upon conclusion of the Finals. All packs are from The Flame of Xulta.
All players will receive four alternate-art copies of Shadowlands Guide, and a special ECQ: Promises by Firelight premium card back!
All players will receive prizes based upon their number of wins in Qualifiers:

Wins	Qualifiers Prizes
15+	40 Packs
11-14	34 Packs
6-10	30 Packs
2-5	26 Packs
0-1	22 Packs

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Additionally, players in the Finals will receive prizes based on Leaderboard standings, as follows:

Finish	Finals Prizes
1st	$1,000 & 32 Packs
2nd	$600 & 25 Packs
3rd-4th	$300 & 20 Packs
5th-8th	$200 & 16 Packs
9th-16th	12 Packs
17th-32nd	8 Packs
33rd-64th	4 Packs

Leaderboards for Chapter 36: The Time of Ancestors

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

Finish	Ranked	Draft	Expedition
1	Handagote88	October	spiffirific
2	Adam_Hen	isomorphic	isomorphic
3	Spieh	Grgapm	Upward
4	Sspifffyman	StarStorm	Lobster411
5	AlwaysFace	dwiggy	Vinsane
6	Thorgal	VaderMan	Kartoffel
7	Dysis	JoeBags	Notoriousaza
8	mgallop	RavenDragon	goswser
9	Elyvi	HatsOnLamps	crankypanda
10	Brilli	OnePunch	ArconteSoze
11	DarkestHour	DraftPunk	BaranHill
12	Piereese	mgallop	aReNGee
13	Grgapm	Calebovitsch	Brilli
14	KraZug	ABoss	Missingtoez
15	Alison	國立雲南大学	Collecter
16	Avyoine	eXtincti0n	Grgapm
17	crankypanda	spiffirific	Piereese
18	Liontozion	Tuhnu	camat0
19	Mullibok	eggynack	Doc28
20	Doc28	ASHLEY STONER68	DarkestHour
21	nico_aba	Sspifffyman	Ragnarok82ca
22	JoeyJoJoJr	ManaBarbs	TonyGeeeee
23	Peter17	Adam_Hen	Elyvi
24	Sinedd	SureMustBeNice	EvilDrOrange
25	thewilsoneye	DarkestHour	Juggler314
26	Lobster411	Rhoefr	ManaBarbs
27	txiki	LumiNate	MinorPentatonic
28	Asepth	EmynMul	asteg
29	ExtraForeignGuy	Applechips	Cosimo
30	Blessio	Rispervisper	Matanew
31	superccm	Gilead	DrakeStorm
32	iron_man	Kasendrith	Macizo
33	SooNo	CounterSpell	Secretweaver
34	Missingtoez	Dudeenriquez	Karnage
35	ABoss	JonezeeUK	ElementUser
36	LumiNate	GingersAteMySoul	Wyborn
37	ohneworte	nothership	finkel
38	whatismagic	AntMan	Nightmare
39	FUBAR	BaranHill	Gloszu
40	Collecter	LordPerth	BattleBeetle
41	finkel	Nrausch1	ThankU4Scooping
42	Magikarp	Jesture	DanPlace
43	Secretweaver	Takuhi	Barfling
44	Popotito	cheebamunky	iron_man
45	Shrek	KraZug	Kerhex
46	Matt117	Parsimonious	Putnamehere
47	CoffeeParasol	Hoyt-the-mage	Kidlet1490
48	KayrosSK35	Gunner116	Pantu
49	Keeegs	Debaser	SooNo
50	IPmannn	Tydreigon	leafarcanto
51	FoolsParsley	Collecter	Frafa
52	nicol800	jedthehomarid	Koorah
53	Pithius	misterspike	TimeTwisT
54	GamGam	Ilyon	Cabeza2000
55	t3544	ExtinctSlayer	Papakush
56	Upward	Twanbon	SkarCrow
57	Nrausch1	Darin	RedClip
58	Sakarnen	Missingtoez	hungryroy
59	Pupicitus	Tooms	Nrausch1
60	Expan	itsme2283	mgallop
61	jez2718	Cosimo	UnknownUnity
62	VirginMary	Twopunch	Novicane
63	isomorphic	Holzmann	Erik9099
64	soapyelo	Ragnarok82ca	repesch35
65	susuexp	jimmyjosh	Crylorenzo
66	MersH	r0nster	jez2718
67	darkrevenger	grkles	Keeegs
68	theovermaster	Celtic7Guardian	FoolsParsley
69	Tuhnu	Phelpzie	BobaFed
70	Crylorenzo	Kidlet1490	Bento
71	doctorjape	gibbon	GT100
72	Alvar	Erik9099	SquareApple
73	Jesture	darth_herman2	LightsOutAce
74	j198x	Thalian	WaveDyne
75	gozuuu	Lostwoods	Celica67
76	ZZero	aging_goblin	Grimfan
77	jannenou	kopmantis	Sakarnen
78	nola2172	Kwickemart	marvin_the_imp
79	BugError	GamGam	TheBoxer
80	NotoriousGHP	theNunn	gatosujo
81	Hrobin	DuccioPatanè	TempestDragonKing
82	theNunn	Aranq13	Sunyveil
83	podzilas33	patomaru	CounterSpell
84	UnknownUnity	ArmadilloVacuum	Morbad
85	GT100	Grimfan	Avyoine
86	TonyGeeeee	RoninX	CoffeeParasol
87	Tetra	inigomontoya	Strathorn
88	JockeD	CommanderSalamander	Raziel
89	Meini	Elyvi	cmsNCSU89
90	TemporaryWitness	BeardBroken	keshava_morrissey
91	gammagurke	Nordicus	Alison
92	lilwaaagh	Kravian	ManuS
93	TheBoxer	StarMonkey	Bubu_man
94	♥Bardeane♥	Gage902	nico_aba
95	LightsOutAce	Kensey	Alvar
96	goaychanhong	QueenB	Deedub
97	Strathorn	not_kasendrith	AggroWins
98	JuliusNovachrono	flossman32	kemykatze
99	Dandylion	camomilk	Gage902
100	Tydreigon	WaveDyne	ZoroCZ

They absolutely wrecked Torch. They're definitely gonna take some heat for this one.

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

It’s important to keep Eternal’s formats evolving, growing, and presenting new puzzles to solve. We’ve been planning a major Throne shake-up for the end of the year for a while now, but we pulled forward a few of those changes in order to help improve balance. After careful consideration of community feedback and discussion, it’s clear we didn’t go far enough towards opening up things enough for the format to feel new.

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Torch – Now slow (was fast)

Let’s get the big one out of the way first. That Torch is extremely powerful has never been in question, and it is a fun card to be very strong. With Eternal entering its fourth year, Torch has been such a ubiquitous fixture for a very long time, setting an impossibly high standard and generally crowding out other possible options. This isn’t always a problem, particularly with cards with as much play to them as Torch; but when it’s the same dynamic for so long, it contributes to a feeling of sameness. Fire has also been consistently overrepresented in Throne, as well as consistently overperforming, regardless of what faction or factions it’s paired with. We believe Torch’s unmatched rate to be a major contributing factor.

While Torch does good work as an efficient answer to key threats, it’s been consistently played more than twice as often as any other non-power card. By removing fast from Torch, we’re hoping to preserve this incredible efficiency, while pulling back a little on its flexibility. While we’re confident its power level is still very high, we’re hopeful that this change will open up a little space for other options and make the card less automatic in every Fire deck.

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Auralian Merchant – Now 0/3 (was 0/4)

While the flexibility and customization afforded by Merchants and Smugglers adds a number of dimensions to the game, we’ve identified Auralian Merchant’s strength as a ramp card as one of the two biggest factors contributing to the overabundance of Fire/Time decks (with or without a third faction). We’ve already pulled back on Tocas, Waystone Harvester for this exact reason and both of these cards have been having a suppressing effect on aggressive decks, while appearing as ubiquitous fixtures in big Time decks. Our hope is that this change preserves Auralian Merchant’s dual-functionality as a Merchant and as a ramp card, while pulling back on its ability to hold off as many aggressive threats.

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Heart of the Vault – Now 7FFFTTT 7/7 (was 6FFFTTT 6/6)

Heart of Vault is definitely the other major contributing factor to the overabundance of various Fire/Time decks. While we’re not generally trying to go after big, high investment units, particularly those that provide definition to a strategy, Heart of the Vault isn’t exactly the highest investment and while it influences requirements were intended to limit how many places it could appear, influence-fixing has improved enough that the card has been showing up in a lot more places than desired. Additionally, it has been such an omnipresent pillar of Throne for so long, a lot of other potentially exciting options have gotten relatively little time in the spotlight.

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Desecrate – Now 3SS fast (was 2SS slow)

While there is certainly a place for hard kill spells that can hit most anything, Desecrate has proven itself a little too efficient for how reliable it is. Inexpensive removal spells tend to have blind spots (such as Permafrost, Torch, Defiance, Suffocate, Annihilate) that allow players to adjust their strategies to fight back against, when those cards are very popular. Expensive removal spells may have less holes, but also require more investment, frequently making inexpensive threats an effective way to fight back against them. Desecrate has been getting the best of both worlds, without counterplay present in either category. While increasing Desecrate’s cost is a meaningful change, our hope is that the added flexibility of being fast will give new options to players willing to risk the three damage.

Note: As Desecrate is only available from the Homecoming campaign, falling outside of our normal system for refunding crafted cards, we are giving a one-time grant of a 1,250 gold to users who purchased the campaign (similar to previous campaign changes). Users who upgraded the card will receive an additional 1,250 gold. Players will of course keep all their copies of Desecrate.

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We really appreciate the full range of feedback you all send us and all the discussion we’ve got to see from players across the internet. Whether it’s positive sentiment about what’s working particularly well or constructive feedback about what might be able to be improved, it’s all appreciated and considered in our continuing passion to make Eternal better and better. Our next balance changes are scheduled for Friday, January 6th. Thank you for taking the time and for caring so much!

Details for the Twitch drops this month and additions to the Community Store.

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

As we start December, Dropsgiving may have ended, but prepare yourself for Dropsmas coming later this month!

Here’s what you need to know now:

The alternate art Hero of the People has been retired from the drop pool.
Non-premium Rares and Legendaries can now drop!
Draft tickets and premium legendaries are still in the mix!
The Flame of Xulta packs are no longer in the pool, and standard packs from sets 1 – 6 will drop more often than they did during Dropsgiving.
Stay tuned for more details about the twelve days of Dropsmas!

Changes to the Community Store
We are also gearing up to make some changes to the Eternal Community Store. Starting next Wednesday (12/11), you can spend your Influence on:

Svetya, Orene of Kosul – Premium avatar and emote for 30,000 Influence.
Maelstrom Serpent – Totem for 35,000 Influence.
Enemies at the Gates – Card back for 40,000 Influence.
If you did not grab this card back when its League premiered, now is your chance!
Random Pack – One pack for 5,000 Influence. Updated to include packs of Defiance.
And we have two completely new offers coming to the Community Store:

1 Draft Ticket – 50,000 Influence. One purchase per account per month.
16 Packs of a Set – 72,000 Influence. You may purchase a pack bundle of sets 1 – 5 once per set per account.
Dropsmas is on its way, and new gifts are coming to the Community Store! This is also your last call to pick up the Steel Tempest card back, Copperhall Mintaur totem, or the Lieutenant Relia premium avatar before they leave!

We have a couple of updates for Eternal today with changes to Expedition and Draft.

• 40 cards added to Expedition
• Spotlighted cards in Draft Packs are going from 3x to 5x as likely to appear
• Draft pack order changed to EDP > FoX > FoX > EDP (Eternal Draft Pack & Flame of Xulta)

You can view the Draft Pack updates HERE.

And the Draft Pack full list with weights HERE.

If you're interested in some new lore for Eternal be sure to check out this story (link to full article).

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital ~ excerpt from article

“Now you’re finally asking the right kind of question,” Yorja replied, returning to her seat by the fire pit. Gnash followed, and used his machete to prod the ashes. As the fire began to grow, embers rose in the air, illuminating the deep lines on the Tale Keeper’s face.

“To understand the present threat, you must understand Xulta’s past,” she said. “After the Ancestors wounded Sol, their children flourished. Generations ago, we spread out across the land, ready to put war behind us. But our sun began to fade, and the shadows lengthened over Xulta…”

Staring into the flames, the Tale Keeper began her story:

We've got a new sealed league starting on Sunday!

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

A new Sealed League begins on Sunday, 12/1 for Chapter 37: Promises by Firelight.

Everyone who participates in the Sealed League will unlock the new premium Promises by Firelight card back!

Sealed League

When you join the Sealed League, you’ll get eight packs to build your starting deck:

• 8 x The Flame of Xulta

Each week of the Sealed League, you’ll get new packs to add to your pool, for a total of 14 packs to play with!

• Week 2: 1 pack of The Fall of Argenport, 1 pack of Omens of the Past
• Week 3: 1 pack of The Empty Throne, 1 pack of Defiance
• Week 4: 1 pack of The Flame of Xulta, 1 pack of Dark Frontier

Minimum rewards for playing include:

• 4 x The Flame of Xulta
• 1 x premium Uncommon card
• 1 x new premium card back upon entering the League

The cost to participate in Sealed League is 12,500 Gold or 1,100 Gems.

So all players who enter will end up with at least 18 packs from the League (14 from play, and 4 from rewards).

Chapter 37: Promises by Firelight League begins on December 1, 2019 and will run through December 31.

If you're looking for some discounts for your gaming needs Eternal has some sale prices for Black Friday.

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

The countdown is on! Black Friday is nearly upon us, and we’ve got week-long deals no merchant would pass up!

The bargains get started early in the DWD Store and in-game in Eternal®, from Wednesday 11/27 00:01 am MST (07:01 UTC) to Saturday 12/7 00:01 am MST (07:01 UTC).

Kick off the shopping season with a new alternate-art Red Canyon Smuggler!

Smuggler’s Bundle – $29.99
The Smuggler’s Bundle will be available from the Dire Wolf Store, or in-game*, and includes:

4 alt-art copies of Red Canyon Smuggler
1 box of The Flame of Xulta
1,200 Gems
1 Draft ticket
…plus, players who help support the devs by purchasing directly from the Dire Wolf Store receive:

500 extra Gems, and 1 additional Draft ticket!
We didn’t do the math on this, but it sure seems like a great deal! Grab yours before we realize just how badly we messed up!

* Due to platform restrictions, the Smuggler’s Bundle on Nintendo Switch does not include Gems.

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Box Discounts!
We’re clearing out older inventory to make room in the warehouse for all the new stuff coming in 2020! During the sale, boxes from the first four Eternal sets will be available in-game at their lowest prices ever!

The Empty Throne — We hear some of these are still good!
Omens of the Past — Does your Heart rest in the Vault, or are you ready to roll dem Bones?
The Dusk Road — For when you’re looking for a long Night (or a short game).
The Fall of Argenport — Always great, but even better with friends!
Select Boxes will be available in-game for 2,000 Gems each — a 31% discount!

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Games & Merch!
One-Day Flash Sales!
Black Friday: Buy two playmats, get one FREE!
Plus: One pack from each set of Eternal and a bonus Draft ticket!
Cyber Monday: Buy two t-shirts, get one FREE!
Plus: One pack from each set of Eternal and a bonus Draft ticket!
— and even better, the Flash Sales are eligible for Week-Long Savings!

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Week-Long Savings!
We get it: People are busy. That’s why we’re extending Black Friday with week-long deals that apply to all physical games and merch in the DWD Store (including Flash Sales!)

All physical games and merch is 15% off!
Get a FREE Eternal Draft ticket with each transaction!

Check out the new Gobble, Gobble event for Eternal!

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

Celebrate this time of year with a casual deck-building challenge!

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Gobble, Gobble event requires a 75-card deck made with the Throne deck-building rules.
• Only Common or Uncommon rarity cards are permitted.
• Rare, Legendary, and Promo rarity cards are not permitted.
• The event costs 400 gems or 5000 gold to enter.
• Each run is seven games, win or lose.
• You may change your deck between games in a run.
• You may enter as many times as you’d like.
• There is no leaderboard.

The Gobble, Gobble event will run from 10 AM MST (17:00 UTC) on 11/27 to 4 PM MST (23:00 UTC) on 12/3.
Note: This event does not grant QCP.

Run Rewards
Wins - Prizes
7 - 7 packs, 1 Diamond Chest, 1 premium Rare
6 - 7 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
5 - 6 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
4 - 6 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 Rare
3 - 5 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 Rare
2 - 5 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 premium Uncommon
1 - 4 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 premium Uncommon
0 - 4 packs of The Flame of Xulta

Eternal is a free to play card game from Dire Wolf Digital. You can get more details and download the game from their official website.

Here are the patch notes for the balance changes launching tomorrow.

Quote From Dire Wolf Digital

Throne

In looking to improve the balance of strategies in Throne, we had two primary targets in mind: Fire/Time decks, with or without Justice as a third faction. When bringing an oppressive deck more into line with the rest of the tier 1 Throne strategies, we generally look to preserve the primary strengths and definition of the decks, while expanding counterplay and vulnerability to well-prepared opponents.

Tocas, Waystone Harvester – Now 2/4. (Was 3/4.)
Tocas, Waystone Harvester – After careful consideration, we ultimately settled on Tocas as a primary place to take points out of Praxis for two reasons. We believe changing it to be particularly effective, as it was played at such a higher rate than other options for acceleration. Additionally, the splash damage from Tocas’s ability being so omnipresent was suppressing some of the cards and strategies we’d like to see show up more. We discussed this idea of removing this ability; however, whenever possible, we strive to preserve the core functionality of cards and instead balance them with a more appropriate rate.

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Xulta Arcanum – Now 4 durability. (Was 5)
Xulta Arcanum – While we like the existence of the decks made possible by Xulta Arcanum, we wanted to preserve the card as a fun and powerful endgame plan, taking just a small bite out of its durability. It is already a difficult site to attack, but with this increased vulnerability, it’s hopefully at least a little more assailable.

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Edict of Shavka – Now 2F. (Was 1F)
Edict of Shavka – Moving Edict of Shavka to 2-cost is aimed as additional rebalancing of both of the aforementioned strategies; but it’s also just a bit of course correction for Fire, which had started to climb upwards a little more than we’d like. While Edict of Shavka provides some much needed relief against certain difficult threats, it was so easy and ubiquitous that it was pushing lots of cards out of the metagame.

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Expedition

A brand new format like Expedition can go through a lot of phases, while players figure out how it works and what strategies are viable. While several strategies took turns in the top spot initially, players were able to find answers to each and keep the format evolving. Xenan Cultists, however, has proven itself too resilient, maintaining a dominant presence after its strong performance at this month’s ECQ. In looking to better tune the format, our goal was to preserve the elements of the deck that give it its own personality, while increasing potential vulnerabilities and counterplay.

Slumbering Stone – Now “Entomb: Draw a 2/2 Gargoyle with Flying.” (Was “Entomb: Play a 2/2 Gargoyle with Flying.”)
Slumbering Stone – While there’s a lot of cool possibilities with Slumbering Stone, it contributed more than any other card to bogging the game down and making attacking the Cultist decks too hard. We discussed other possible changes, but settled on changing the Entomb to draw in order to preserve some key combos with the card and open up a few new ones. It increases Xenan’s vulnerability to fliers, and reduces implied onboard complexity of pairing the card with sacrifice effects. One of the most important areas we wanted to limit was chaining of Vara reanimation triggers, which are still possible, but slowed down a little to prevent a consistent cascade of units.

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Worthy Cause – Now costs 2TS. (Was 1TS.)
Worthy Cause – Worthy Cause has proven itself a little too efficient at taking out nearly any threat. Our hope is that this change preserves its versatility and combo-potential, while pulling back on the incredible tempo it can afford.

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Incarnus, Makkar’s Listener – Now 3/2. (Was 3/3.)
Incarnus, Makkar’s Listener – While Slumbering Stone and Worthy Cause were our primary targets, on account of their ultra low cost and slightly burdensome tracking and complexity, the power level of Cultists was such that we wanted to do a little more to balance things out. While the play of Incarnus has proven itself quite fun, it has been showing up at a high enough rate and in enough different places that we felt this would better align it with the other Listeners, while also increasing the range of counterplay available to what can be a dangerous, unblockable threat.

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Two Buffs and a Nerf

Varret, Hero-in-Training – Changes to its transformations.
Varret, the Mighty – Now 6/7 Overwhelm. (Was 6/6 Overwhelm.)
Varret, the Stealthy – Now 4/5 Lifesteal. (Was 3/5 Lifesteal.)
Varret, the Wise – Now 3/4 Aegis. (Was 4/4 Aegis.)
Varret, Hero-in-Training – While we’ve been happy to see Varret achieve such widespread adoption in Expedition, we’ve been tracking the balance between his possible Mastery paths and determined that a little rebalancing was necessary to ensure more variety among the options selected. Many of the strongest enablers give extra incentive to choose the “Wise” path, picking up Aegis to protect your investment. In addition to pulling back the Aegis option’s strength, we’re adding an extra point of strength to the “Stealthy” Lifesteal option and an extra point of health to the “Mighty” Overwhelm option.

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Buffs

Inspired Prank – Now costs 3PP. (Was 4PP)
Elvish Swindler – Now 3/4. (Was 2/3.)
Between Fire, Time, and Justice in Throne and Time and Shadow in Expedition, we wanted to find a couple spots to show some love to interesting Primal cards. Inspired Prank and Elvish Swindler are both fun options that reward synergy that hopefully inspire some new explorations in deckbuilding.

I'll use this to post news links as appropriate.

First bit of news - Downtime Monday! Server will be taken down in order to implement an in-game ranking system for the Expedition game mode. 

Second bit of news - Cosmetics! Direwolf is putting out their first-ever premium playmat, to make the game board look different. It is part of a bundle, which also comes with four unique avatars (the four horsemen) and some other goodies as well! (Or you can just buy the playmat if you want just that.)

This site puts out the only consistent "Tier List" for various deck archetypes in Eternal. They do this once per week, based on a feedback form that players can use to submit their game data.

Note: This meta tier list is based only on frequency of encountering specific deck archetypes; it is not necessarily based on how well the deck performs. However, presumably, the most popular decks are performing pretty well.

This is the link for the current list. Best place to find the new meta report each week is on the Eternal Subreddit.

Tier List for October Week 3

Most of the info in this post comes from eternalcardgame.fandom.com.

Here is a link to all of the Keywords and a brief description of what they do. There are a lot, which is why I'm not copy pasting them in here.

Below, I will copy/paste the battle skills that units can have. The information below is also available at this link. These are also keywords, but they specifically give abilities to units that are in play.

Aegis: Protected from one enemy spell or effect (but not from battle damage).

Berserk: When this attacks, you may give it Reckless to attack a second time this turn. Can only be used once.

Charge: Can attack the turn it is played.

Deadly: Kills any unit it damages.

Double Damage: Deals double damage.

Endurance: Ready's on each player's turn, and can't be stunned or exhausted by spells or effects.

Exalted: When this unit dies, play a weapon with its / and other battle skills on one of your units.

Flying: Can only be blocked by other units with flying.

Killer: May be exhausted one time to attack any enemy unit.

Lifesteal: When this deals damage, you gain that much .

Overwhelm: When this hits an enemy unit, leftover damage is dealt to the enemy player.

Quickdraw: When this kills a blocking unit, the blocker doesn't deal damage back.

Reckless: This must attack.

Revenge: The first time this is killed, give it Destiny and put it into the top ten cards or your deck.

Unblockable: Cannot be blocked.

Warcry: When this attacks, the top unit or weapon of your deck gets +1/+1.

These are other skills a unit can have, but they are not exactly "battle skills," since they are relevant even when the unit is not in play. (Again, copy pasted from the link above.)

Ambush: Can be played (directly from your hand) to block an enemy attack, or at the end of their turn.

Bond: When played, you may exhaust another unit of the same type to reduce this card’s cost by the exhausted unit’s .

Destiny: Automatically play when drawn, then draw another card.

Echo: Get an additional copy when drawn.

Pledge: On your first turn, a card with Pledge can be played as a Sigil.

Voidbound: This card can't leave the void.

Warp: You can play this from the top of your deck.

For this thread, I'm just posting links to resources to help anyone who wants to know more about Eternal.

Many general guides, FAQ, and New Player Guide are included at the subreddit wiki here.

An excellent guide to draft, written by one of the best draft players in the game, is at this link here. The guide is great for learning how draft works. However, the specific archetypes and card choices mentioned in this guide are from the previous rotation, so they are not relevant anymore.

Another great aspect of Eternal is the variety of available game modes, some of which are single player (which I'll call "AI" modes), some of which are against other players (PvP).

AI game modes:

Campaign - These are purchased with in-game currency (mostly 25,000 gold), and they grant full sets of specific cards when you complete the campaign (extremely similar to Hearthstone Adventures). Complete the campaign encounters, get the cards. Pretty simple.

Forge - This is a lot like Arena in Hearthstone, but you play against a random selection of pre-made decks that are piloted by the AI. You begin with being offered 3 cards. You choose one of the three cards, which becomes the first color of a 2-color deck. You are then offered 3 new cards; if you choose a different color than the first card, that will determine your two colors for the rest of the Forge. So, you select one card from a set of three options until you have a deck of 25 cards. You then play your games. There is a cost of in-game currency (2500 gold) to play this mode, BUT you keep every card you pick permanently in your collection. And if you win 7 games before you lose twice, you will also earn 3x-4x packs of cards, on top of the cards you already earned by making your deck.

Gauntlet - This is the free AI mode. You create a 75-card deck and play against a random selection of pre-made AI decks. The last encounter will be a special boss fight with special rules, but you never know which boss you will face in a given run (so you can't really build your deck for it). Free to start this mode, but you do earn gold for doing well in it. And the first few times you get 7 wins, you get a free pack.

PvP Game Modes:

Casual/Practice - You earn about 50 gold for winning a game in this mode. No other rewards. You can use this mode to complete daily quests, or to test out deck ideas. No other real rewards though.

Ranked - This is the ladder for Eternal. It includes every card ever printed in the game (which is a lot). Kind of like Wild mode in Hearthstone. Bring your best deck, try to beat everyone else. You start out as Copper-III, and can rank up to Copper-II, then Copper-I, then you become Silver (which also has 3 tiers), then Gold, then Diamond, then Masters (Masters is equivalent to Legend). Ranking up through each tier requires earning 100 points. Exactly how many points you earn in each tier is slightly randomized, but for Copper through Gold, you basically will rank up to the next tier if you win 5 games in a row. Also, in Copper through Gold, you lose fewer points for losing than you gain for winning. So the climb is possible even with a slightly less than 50% winrate. This last part is not true for Diamond, where you (usually) get 15 points for winning and lose 15 points for losing.

Expedition - This is a new game mode, and will be more like Standard mode in Hearthstone. There is a limited pool of cards that are allowed to played in this mode. The current set will always be fully allowed (all the cards), but the remaining cards allowed will rotate in and out. Exactly how rotations will happen in this mode is not yet clear. But currently it is designed to have a lower power level than Ranked mode.

Draft - This is a mode where you gradually choose 48 cards, one card at a time, from "packs" that are presented to you. Exact details of this mode would take too long to explain here. It is a complex mode, also similar to Arena in Hearthstone, but significantly different. Like Forge mode, every card you pick while building your draft deck is yours to keep permanently. This game mode costs 5000 gold per entry. If you want to "go infinite" in draft, you actually have to win all 7 games before you lose 3, which is not easy to do. Most people who specialize in draft have to pay money to keep up.

Special Events - There are special events every few weeks which give nice rewards, as well as a monthly league.

So, lots of game modes, all of which are fun and interesting.