We have finally reached the final installment of the set review! Up for discussion are Rakano (Fire/Justice), Scouting Party, Monuments and factionless cards. I am rating the cards 0.0 to 5.0, with 5.0 being the best. I will have both draft and ranked ratings. My draft ratings for multi-faction cards assume you are already in those factions. You do need to be careful first picking multi-faction cards because you sometimes will need to abandon them. Enjoy!
Reviews
Time | Primal | Shadow | Fire | Justice | Elysian – Combrei | Feln – Stonescar | Rakano – Factionless
Battleblur Centaur
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
You should basically never cut this if you are a Rakano draft deck, but I wouldn’t prioritize it that highly. It is a fine body to put weapons on and it certainly enjoys being buffed by Warcry triggers, but alone it isn’t all that exciting. There are better things to do in ranked.
Champion of Glory
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.5
This is one of the best two drops in the game and a cornerstone of aggressive Rakano weapon decks. It also requires the least amount of influence to power up making it a very potent draft card. It is very hard to block a 3/3 Quickdraw and Endurance turns off all stun effects that might try to stop it. This Champion loves using weapons in either format.
Coup de Grace
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 2.5
I haven’t seen this cast in draft yet and while I assume it is at least playable, I am not 100% sure. It can be hard to find a board state where this is actually profitable and worth the card. I imagine when it is, it is a game winner. This could be part of some kind of combo deck in ranked, but it hasn’t seen play yet as far as I know.
Crownwatch Deserter
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.5
Bread and butter Rakano unit in draft. A very solid rate all the way around, but usually won’t make the cut in ranked.
Deepforged Plate
Draft: 4.5
Ranked: 4.5
This was recently changed to 5FFJJ +5/+5 instead of 4FFJJ +4/+4. The change makes this a little worse in that it is a little slower to come out, but in draft you don’t care that much as you will be making a massive threat either way. This is still very powerful in ranked play, particularly on Aegis units.
Fearless Nomad
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 3.0
This was changed to lose Overwhelm. This is a lot like Pit Fighter, but costs two less. I believe it is impossible to land this on turn one in draft due to the Seats only being available in ranked play, but worst case you can play this and a two drop on turn 3. It puts a lot of pressure on a stumbling opponent and can be a nice blocker later. Because you can possibly have this on turn one in ranked, it is certainly still playable there.
Ferocious Stranger
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 2.0
This plays a lot like an 8/4 in draft which is playable but isn’t that exciting for 6 power. It does get a lot better with weapons and if you have a lot of strangers in your deck. I imagine this would be in the stranger ranked deck if it existed.
Field Captain
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 1.0
I have actually rarely seen this played in draft. It looks fine, but it is actually kind of hard to get its strength that high. This seems way too slow for ranked.
Icaria, the Liberator
Draft: 5.0
Ranked: 4.5
This is one of the more absurd things you can do in draft and certainly a multi-faction card I am basically always slamming pick one, pack one. This has seen some play in ranked, but in my opinion it should see a lot more. It is problematic that it loses to Sandstorm Titan in a fair fight, but it doesn’t take much to change things there with Warcry or weapons. Worst case you get a Warcry 5 which can be huge. I think Icaria works best in a control deck as a finisher. Harsh Rule those Titans away and then play Icaria for profit.
Ijin, Imperial Armorer
Draft: 5.0
Ranked: 3.0
I haven’t seen this one in draft yet, but it seems near unbeatable if it survives even one turn. It is certainly a playable rate for ranked, but the ability feels a beat too slow for ranked.
Longhorn Sergeant
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
Similar to Battleblur Centaur, you will never cut this, but it isn’t that exciting. It can actually be hard to attack with this as it can be double blocked by two 2/2s which is a very bad trade. The armor benefit is nice, but only really great in combo with Relic Weapons. Too slow for ranked.
Morningstar
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.0
This was recently changed to 4 power +4/+3. An above rate weapon for draft decks that you are pretty excited to have most of the time. The changes really hurt this in ranked because I think it now loses its spot in Rakano weapon decks to Gilded Glaive which is more flexible and is actually better on turn four. The only real argument is the influence is easier with the Morningstar. It is possible you want Morningstar in addition to the Glaive.
Navani, Warsinger
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
Very powerful rate and ability, you will be excited to play this in draft. It is fine in ranked as well, but doesn’t match up that well against the bigger Time units.
Rakano Artisan
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.5
This was recently changed to a 2/1. If you have at least a few weapons, especially Relic Weapons, this is a fine card for draft. This is a staple card in the Relic Weapon ranked deck and the changes don’t really change that.
Rakano Banner
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 4.5
These are a four of in any Rakano ranked deck that plays enough units and you clearly would never cut them from an Rakano draft deck either. The Banners can be a liability in tri+faction decks that don’t run enough units, but in any straight Rakano build you will play all four. The question is how high to draft them, and usually I would take 3.0 rated cards over it unless I was trying for an ambitious splash.
Renegade Valkyrie
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.0
One of the better things to equip with weapons in draft, but not all that exciting alone. You should never cut these though. I could see it working in ranked, but it is a little slow and matches up very badly with Sandstorm Titan (Someone should count how many times I have said that in these reviews!).
Righteous Fury
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.0
A very swingy card in draft, but you need lots of large units or a bunch of weapons to want to play it. Luckily Rakano decks normally have both of these. This can be a nice combo in ranked as well, but it isn’t widely played currently.
Rise to the Challenge
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
If you have a few Relic Weapons or bomb units I would definitely be more excited to play this, but it is fine no matter what in draft. This sees play in ranked as well as a way to find Icaria or powerful
Relic Weapons.
Seat of Glory
Draft: 3.0 (currently not in the draft pool)
Ranked: 5.0
Similar to the Banners, but the Seats require that you play a certain number of Sigils in order to not be depleted. Luckily a number of effects search up Sigils which can help these come into play as normal. Rakano decks tend to run four of these in ranked and Seats play nicer in tri+faction decks assuming you have enough Sigils.
Starsteel Daisho
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.5
It is pretty easy to net a two for one with this in draft, but it does struggle to deal with large units. If the opponent happens to have one small or no units, you can go to town with this. It has seen play in ranked in the Relic Weapon deck as well as a powerful thing to do after you Harsh Rule or have built up a lot of armor.
Sword of Icaria
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
A very powerful Relic Weapon that will normally trade for a decent unit and net you a Warcry trigger, but it has upside to do a lot more if the opponent has no units or if you can buff it with Warcry or armor increasing effects. Often sees play in aggressive Warcry ranked decks.
Scouting Party
Draft: N/A (not in the draft environment)
Ranked: 4.5
The first promo card definitely arrived with a big splash. This card has completely warped the current meta game, but it could be because it is just such a sweet card that everyone wants to play it. The card immediately spawned a new archetype with Witching Hour and Champion of Cunning, though Champion/Witching decks were a thing before it arrived. The Party definitely put the deck over the top and is easily the most popular deck in high ranked play right now. For my money, the offending card here is Champion of Cunning, see my Feln review for more on this. I could also see increasing Witching Hour’s cost or influence requirements a tad as well. Scouting Party is also seeing play in Primal decks in general outside of that popular deck. There are plenty of answers to the card if you want to beat it – Plague, Backlash, Lightning Storm, Spell Swipe(my favorite) and more. As for how strong the card is…it is great and requires the opponent to have a healthy board presence, or a particular answer card, to not get steam rolled in card advantage. I want to try it in a Time build with Xenan Obelisk, but it pairs so well with the Feln cards that it is hard to not just play that deck instead if you want to have a Party.
Alchemical Blast
Draft: 2.5
Ranked: 0.0
This is a weak playable in draft due to its inefficiency. If your deck is weak against fliers, I would consider it more. Not a thing in ranked.
Faction Stranger Cycle – For example Combrei Stranger
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.0
These are a huge part of the draft format. There are five, one for each supported faction from the first set, and they mean that just about everyone should have the appropriate number of two drops for their draft deck. They also enable splashing or powering up any heavy faction requirements in your main factions. You probably want to aim for at least 5-6 two drops in your draft deck, and usually half of those will be these strangers. One reason you want a good number of two drops is to combat Lethai Ranger. You can’t afford to be hit by that card due to not having a blocker. More importantly, you will win a lot more if you are doing things starting on turn two. There is also the upside that you can draft a Stranger deck but it is a little risky due to how played all of these two drop strangers are. In ranked, the Feln stranger is a cornerstone of the Witching Hour/Scouting Party deck as it helps turn on Witching Hour and Champion of Cunning. Other than that they are not played all that much in ranked.
Daze
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is functionally the same as Chill – here is what I said about that card:
Stun is a strange mechanic rules-wise. Here are the rules from the FAQ on the beta forums: “Stun lasts around two turns. There is a visual indicator showing how long it will last, beginning with 2 runes, going to 1 rune, then becoming un-stunned. At the beginning of the stunned unit’s owner’s turn, a rune wears off. If a unit becomes un-stunned for any reason, it skips being exhausted and becomes ready immediately.” So if you cast this on an enemy unit, on the opponent’s combat step, the unit won’t be able to attack. It will then miss its following attack, and won’t be able to block either. So it can last quite a while overall. If you have enough stun effects, you could chain them together to disable a unit for a very long time. In the end, if you don’t deal significant damage or win during that time, you are down a card which can be disastrous in draft. I would stay away from this particular stun card, but there are others that are worth playing.
Diplomatic Seal
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 3.5
This is a fine card to play in draft, but I wouldn’t take it super highly. It struggles to help you splash because if you don’t have it in the first two turns, it won’t fix you. It is mainly good for ensuring consistency for your two main factions. In ranked it is a solid fixer to play in your aggressive decks that don’t have heavy influence requirements. It is unplayable in decks like Witching Hour/Scouting Party that need heavy amounts of influence and need every power to contribute throughout the game.
Monument Cycle
Amber Monument, Amethyst Monument, Cobalt Monument, Emerald Monument, Granite Monument
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.0
These are great cards in draft and I would rank them in this order: Cobalt, Amber, Emerald, Amethyst, and Granite). Cobalt is far and away the best monument because of how a 3/3 flier can just win a game sometimes or stabilize you against a number of 2 strength fliers. However you want to target all of these very highly if you are playing the appropriate faction. I am going to write a draft strategy article soon, but as a sneak preview you want to be playing a significant number of power cards in your decks. Usually 18 or 19 barring cards that search out more power. The Monuments allow you to run high power counts and have less of a risk of being flooded in the late game. You will notice there are a number of “power sinks” planted throughout the set, often in the form of cards with Ultimate abilities. These cards are especially useful for decks that want the consistency of playing more power cards, but have the risk of flooding out. Flood insurance is a real thing, and I strongly recommend that you invest! These are fine to play in ranked as well, but the Depleted drawback is much more punishing there, so it can be hard to find room for them.
Seek Power
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.5
A powerful fixer in either format, but not one I love playing in two faction decks. If you are splashing anything, I would draft this very highly. It is never unplayable though, so don’t be afraid to just run it in a two faction deck. In ranked it is nearly essential to play four copies in any three+ faction deck. It does face competition from Secret Pages in Time decks, but all of the other factions are desperate for this effect. It is played in the most popular build of Witching Hour/Scouting Party to help power up Witching Hour and to keep the influence flowing, but I prefer just relying on Vara’s Favor and playing more of a controlling game.
Spiked Helm
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 0.0
This effect is not really worth a card. I suppose if you had 3-4 Brightmace Paladins and no other weapons, I would consider it.
Veteran Mercenary
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.0
If you have enough off faction two drop strangers this gets to be pretty good. A 3/3 for three is very solid, and if you can make it any bigger it is a great unit. Given how incentivized you are to have enough two drops, this scenario is pretty likely. This could even be a thing in ranked given how you can build around it.
Worn Shield
Draft: 0.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is an excellent side deck card in draft – luckily at this time you can’t side in cards so it will always safely remain there. Stay far away in ranked.
This completes the Eternal set review! I hope their future sets aren’t quite as large…over 400 cards for this one. Keep in mind that these are my impressions of these cards after a few months of steady play and that the ratings are purely about power level. Clearly not every card is designed to be powerful, and the formats would not be very fun if they were. There were a handful of 0.0 cards in both formats, and I think these cards are actually important to have for a few reasons. For one, you need to have very bad cards so that the other cards can stand out in comparison. This rewards players who spend time reading set reviews or who have the experience to know a 0.0 when they see it. Also, a card’s power level can change dramatically as new cards are released. That is part of what makes card games exciting. As each set comes out, these ratings can fluctuate wildly. In a digital card game this is even more possible due to being able to make adjustments to cards on the fly. Direwolf Digital has already made a number of measured changes to cards, and I expect there will be a few more before the game fully releases. Any such changes can change the values of the cards I just reviewed dramatically in some cases. I still think the reviews are valuable to get an idea of where the power levels are at and can be extrapolated with future changes/releases.
Now that the review is complete, you can expect at least one article each week here on Numot Gaming from me on various topics related to Eternal. If you have any special requests, please hit me up on Twitter!
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Thanks for reading.
-Ben @bchap55
