I have been playing lots of Eternal lately, and with the NDA lifted, it is time to put out my thoughts on the cards! I am going to work my way through reviewing all of the cards, next up is the Fire faction. I am rating the cards 0.0 to 5.0, with 5.0 being the best. I will have both draft and ranked ratings. Enjoy!
Reviews
Time | Primal | Shadow | Fire | Justice | Elysian – Combrei | Feln – Stonescar | Rakano – Factionless
Assembly Line
Play three 1/1 Grenadin.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 4.0
Not super exciting in draft, but you’re never cutting it because 3/3 worth of stats for three power is a fine rate and there are some synergies you can end up with to make it better. In ranked, there are a few top tier decks using this card either in combination with Bandit Queen or Xenan Obelisk. It is very powerful in those decks.
Bladekin Apprentice
Quickdraw
When Bladekin Apprentice attacks, she gets +1 Attack.
Uncommon Unit — Oni
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 2.0
This is a fine aggressive card, one that is pairs very nicely with the various weapons people play with in draft. Even alone, it becomes unblockable fairly quickly if played early in the game. The drawback is that it doesn’t do very much as a top deck in the mid-game onwards. This doesn’t see much play in ranked, but the rate is such that it could.
Blazing Renegade
Charge, Quickdraw
Common Unit — Gunslinger
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is very mediocre filler for your draft decks and you should avoid it in ranked.
Brazen Daredevil
Reckless
When Brazen Daredevil attacks, she deals damage equal to her Attack to a random enemy.
Rare Unit — Gunslinger
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 2.0
This is a combo card with weapons as it won’t do enough on its own. One of the few random triggers in the game, this can go nuts if you get the Daredevil large enough. It doesn’t necessarily sound great in ranked, but it is easier to build around it there. The risk of ruin is pretty bad, but this could run away with a game if you suit it up turn three.
Burn Out (recently changed to cost 4 power)
Sacrifice a unit to deal 5 damage to an enemy.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 2.5
Ranked: 3.0
Normally I am not in the business of two for oneing myself, but there are enough value units to sacrifice that this is playable. You can use it in response to opposing removal to make it an even trade. Four power is quite a lot to keep up though, so it is a little clunky to use. Card advantage also doesn’t matter if this is finishing the opponent off. In ranked, I’d prefer to play with units with Entomb and Combust (1 FS Sacrifice a unit to kill an enemy unit) before I got to Burn Out, but a few copies may make the cut in a Fire/Shadow Entomb deck.
Calderan Channeler
Summon: Each of your units deals 1 damage to the enemy player.
Uncommon Unit — Mage
Draft: 2.5
Ranked: 2.0
The rate on this is pretty bad for the body you get, but the idea is for it to do a good amount of additional damage with the ability. If you have a few Assembly Lines or Grenadin Drones, I’d be more interested in draft. This also triggers Infiltrate, so it could be sneaky good in a Fire/Shadow deck with Infiltrate Shadow units. It could also be sort of additional Bandit Queens in your ranked tokens decks, or an option in Time/Fire token deck.
Censari Brigand
Charge
Deals double damage to players.
Rare Unit — Centaur
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
I don’t like that this matches up so poorly with all of the two power 2/2’s in draft that people are playing. That said, it is a great unit to suit up with weapons. If you can make it bigger than the opponent’s blockers, they will be in very rough shape. If you throw an Elder’s Feather (1 J 1/1 Flying Weapon) on it that might just be game. Given how strong the weapon strategy is in draft in general, this ends up being a high pick. This is possibly playable in ranked too, but it needs even more help due to the efficient units that can block it.
Centaur Outrider
Common Unit — Centaur
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is pretty bad filler in draft and not playable in ranked.
Centaur Raidleader
Charge
Summon: The top unit of your deck gets Charge.
Uncommon Unit — Centaur
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.0
This is a fine card in draft, but nothing too exciting. The rate is just good enough that it isn’t stone unplayable in ranked, but I would be surprised to see it.
Charchain Flail
Powersurge
Summon: +Attack equal to your power.
Rare Relic Weapon
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.5
This is a powerful effect. Worst case, you wait to play it so that it hits for enough damage to kill the opponent’s best unit. Best case, the opponent has no units and you get to go to the face a few times before killing whatever unit they do end up playing. This is played as a one or two of in ranked weapon decks for its flexibility. It also gets a lot stronger with Warcry or other methods of buffing the weapon.
Claw of the First Dragon
Entomb: Play four random 1-cost units.
Legendary Relic Weapon
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.0
This is very expensive, but the effect is quite strong. You often will get at least a Deadly spider and sometimes a 2 attack flier. Not to mention you probably killed a solid unit with it. I wouldn’t rule this out in ranked either as a one of either with Smuggler’s Stash (5 FS Draw two units and two weapons from the void) or in a Rakano weapon control deck.
Clever Stranger
When a Stranger is killed, its owner plays a 1/1 Grenadin.
Uncommon Unit — Stranger
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 2.0
1/1 bodies are just not that impactful in draft. I would stay away from this. Gets a little more interesting in ranked when your deck is all strangers as this does mitigate one of the major counters to the stranger deck – sweepers. If a stranger deck is viable, this is probably a part of it.
Cloud of Ash
Exhaust all enemy units.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 2.5
Ranked: 1.0
About a third of the time in draft, games get stalled out and both players are trying to draw something that will break the stalemate. This is a card that will do that for you. It also can be a curve topper in a very aggressive deck. I don’t think the effect is good enough in ranked, especially because it doesn’t stop a Sandstorm Titan from blocking.
Crowd Favorite
Summon: Choose a weapon with cost 3 or less from your deck and play it.
Uncommon Unit — Oni
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.0
I have never got this to work for me in draft, but a friend of mine swears by its power. The best thing to get is usually Sword of Icaria (3 FJ 3/2 Warcry Weapon). I question how good that is given how late in the game you will actually be attacking with the weapon. Still, assuming you can draft enough weapons, it will be a two for one which is always welcome. This feels too expensive for ranked play.
Detonate
Deal 3 damage to the enemy player.
Common Spell
Draft: 0.0
Ranked: 2.5
It is very hard to draft a deck where this card is playable. Keep in mind players have 25 starting health in Eternal. This alone makes burning out a player much more difficult. Playing cards that don’t advance your board is incredibly risky in draft. I recommend staying away. This has a theoretical home in a burn strategy in ranked, but I don’t believe the deck is very successful at the moment.
Dusthoof Brawler
Overwhelm
Common Unit — Centaur
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is very similar to the 5/2 for 4F, mediocre filler for your draft deck. Another stay away for ranked.
Flame Blast
Powersurge
Deal damage equal to your power.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.0
A flexible burn spell that can finish off players is very powerful in draft. You do need to be heavily committed to fire, but if you are, this is a very high pick. This isn’t seeing a ton of play in ranked, but it is plenty strong to be played if the effect is wanted.
Flash Fire
Deal damage equal to your Fire influence.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.5
A card that is similar to Flame Blast in most respects, but harder to make work in draft because you are rarely mono Fire. Still, it should take out a pesky flier or finish off the opponent. It gets a lot stronger in a mono fire build in ranked, but Flame Blast is usually better. It offers redundancy which is probably pretty important in a mono Fire burn deck. The only issue is that the deck doesn’t seem very strong at the moment.
Frontier Jito
Charge
Your units that cost 1 or less have Charge.
Rare Unit — Rebel Oni
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 3.0
You don’t want to be playing many, if any, one cost units in draft aside from Oni Ronin and this card doesn’t make him that much better. The real bonus of this card is with Assembly Line or Grenadin Drone as all of the tokens get Charge. It is probably too hard to make work in draft, but this card is a realistic playable in a ranked token deck.
Frontline Cyclops
Warcry, Reckless
Uncommon Unit — Giant
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 0.0
This is a fine playable for the top end of your draft decks. It will often require two units to be blocked or it will take a premium removal spell to remove. There is just a limit on how many expensive cards you want in your deck. There are better things to do in ranked for that much power.
Furnace Mage
Summon: Kill an enemy attachment.
Uncommon Unit — Mage
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.0
This a fine playable in draft that lets you knock off an opposing weapon or Permafrost. The body is very solid for the cost. This should probably see more play than it does in ranked as well given the amount of Permafrosts and other attachments.
General Izalio
Quickdraw
Your other units have +2 Attack.
Rare Unit — Gunslinger Soldier
Draft: 4.5
Ranked: 2.5
The General is very hard to block in draft and dramatically improves the rest of your units. He shines with token generating cards and just lots of units in general. You probably win most of the time you resolve this in draft. Thankfully, he passes the Torch test in ranked and makes a decent Bandit Queen impression for mono Fire tokens. He probably does need to cost one less to really be viable though.
Granite Acolyte
Summon: Play a +2 Attack Iron Sword on one of your units.
Common Unit — Oni
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 2.0
I have definitely been underrating this card in draft, but I have lost to it enough times that I am willing to change my tune. Throwing a sword on a Quickdraw unit is a very big game and worst case it is a 4/1 for 3 which can do a lot of damage in conjunction with removal. There are better things to do in ranked, but it is not unplayable.
Granite Monument
Depleted
Transmute 5: 4/1
Magmahound with Charge
Uncommon Power
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 3.0
Not the best body, but kind of what an aggressive Fire deck wants in a unit-land. The flexibility these cards offer is quite strong.
Greed’s Reward
Deal 2 damage to the enemy player for each card in their hand.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 0.0
Ranked: 2.0
This won’t hit for very much damage in draft that often, and even if it did, you’d much rather have a Frontline Cyclops as a repeatable source of damage. This could be a theoretical side deck card against control decks but there is no way you can run it main deck in ranked.
Grenadin Drone
Summon: Play a 1/1 Grenadin
Uncommon Unit — Grenadin
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 3.5
A fine early play in draft, but a cornerstone of Fire token decks in ranked. This goes very nicely with Shadowlands Guide in a Fire/Shadow aggressive deck.
Guerrilla Fighter
Warcry
Summon: Exhaust an enemy unit.
Common Unit — Rebel
Draft: 2.5
Ranked: 1.0
The body is pretty weak in draft, but if you are an aggressive deck it is a playable four drop. Not strong enough for ranked play, but not totally unplayable.
Heavy Axe
Common Weapon
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 0.0
Not a card I am happy to play in any format, but removal is sparse enough in draft that I won’t totally rule it out there. Goes well on a flier or Quickdraw unit.
Hellfire Rifle
Summon: Deal 3 damage to the enemy player.
Common Weapon
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 0.0
Reminds me of Spirit Drain in that it is highly inefficient removal for draft that you hope not to play, but you can if you have to. At least Warcry could possibly make it better! Far too expensive for ranked play.
Hellhound Yearling
Summon: Deal 1 damage to the enemy player.
Common Unit — Beast
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 1.0
One power 1/1’s are usually a trap in strategy card names, and this is no different. I would have to be very desperate for units to want this. There are enough 2/1’s for one in ranked that I hope you never need to run this.
Infernus
Overwhelm, Charge
Free on your first turn. At the end of your turn, sacrifice Infernus.
Rare Unit — Elemental
Draft: 0.0
Ranked: 2.5
This is similar to Detonate in that you are trading a card for damage and nothing else. As discussed with Detonate, this isn’t really a viable strategy in draft. This is definitely going to see play in any deck that is also running Detonate, but also as discussed, that deck doesn’t seem very good right now.
Kaleb’s Favor
Deal 2 damage to the enemy player. Draw a Fire Sigil from your deck.
Common Spell
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 2.5
Pretty bad filler for draft, and likely a staple in that mono Fire burn deck we keep talking about.
Kaleb, Uncrowned Prince
Charge
Summon: Play a random weapon on each of your Fire units.
Legendary Unit — Scion
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
Kaleb would be a lot stronger in draft if he put random weapons on ALL units, not just fire. As is, I don’t think you quite get enough for your 8 power, but if you have no other top end, it is probably fine. Just make sure you have plenty of fire units in your deck. I have never seen this played in ranked, and have had no particular urge to try myself, but it is theoretically playable.
Lavablood Goliath
Overwhelm
Summon: Deal Lavablood Goliath’s Attack in damage.
Legendary Unit — Giant
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.5
I love everything about this except the power cost. 9 is asking a ton, and you really need to warp your deck to make this playable. If you have a draft deck geared for the late game, this is playable but you won’t get there often enough for it to be great overall. The Goliath faces similar problems in ranked in that it just won’t come down often enough to matter, but it is a viable reanimator target.
Light the Fuse
Put five Firebombs into the enemy deck.
Legendary Spell
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 1.0
The firebombs deal five damage to the enemy when drawn. This is a fun card, but not really viable for competitive play. It is slightly more of a thing in draft where the decks are smaller, and oddly I would want it in a control deck that will make the game go long enough where the opponent might draw a few Firebombs. Unfortunately most fire cards are geared for aggression, and at that point this is more like Infernus than anything else which is not a good thing. I can’t see this being a thing in ranked outside of some bizarre combo deck.
Magma Javelin
Common Relic Weapon
Draft: 3.0
Ranked: 1.0
A fine removal card in draft, if a little expensive, that also has upside if the opponent has no units. There are much better options for relic weapons in ranked.
Obliterate
Overwhelm
Deal 6 damage.
Rare Spell
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 2.5
This is very close to Deathstrike for Fire with upside to kill the opponent in the end game. All told, I am picking it very highly in draft. Seems too inefficient for ranked play, but is playable.
Oni Quartermaster
When you play a weapon, draw a card.
Uncommon Unit — Oni
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.0
A little too fragile for ranked, but you can end up with enough weapons to go off with this in draft.
Oni Ronin
Warcry
Common Unit — Oni
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
He doesn’t look like much, but Oni Ronin is a crucial part of any aggressive Fire deck. It is so powerful on turn one in either format that it makes up for how mediocre it might be later in the game. If you can get two uncontested attacks right away in draft it can snowball very hard for you. In draft, this card makes me want to include all of my cards that are capable of dealing 1 damage early in the game like Temper or Vara’s Favor.
Oni Striker
Charge
Common Unit — Oni
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.5
What a difference a power makes! Costing two really hurts this card and makes it weak filler in draft and probably only playable in that burn deck in ranked.
Ornate Katana
Summon: Draw a card.
Common Weapon
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
Excellent weapon in draft that goes great on Quickdraw or flying units. Worst case it cycles and probably does a bit of extra damage. There is less time for this in ranked play.
Outlands Sniper
Summon: Deal 2 damage.
Uncommon Unit — Gunslinger
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
A fine card in draft that will let you gun down a flier or other pesky small unit. Not enough impact for ranked most of the time, but kind of a beating against aggressive decks.
Piercing Shot
Deal 2 damage to an enemy unit and 2 damage to the enemy player.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.0
Another fine card to take out evasive units, and can be played in aggressive Fire ranked decks.
Pyre Adept
Common Unit — Mage
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.0
Filler two drop that gets better if you have lots of cheap removal in draft. Nothing too exciting for ranked.
Pyroknight
Overwhelm
Ultimate: Pay 5 to give Pyroknight +4/+4.
Rare Unit — Warrior
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
Excellent one drop that does one drop things on turn one, and stays relevant in the late game. As discussed in the Shadow review, combos very nicely with Shadowlands Guide as you can activate the Ultimate ability again each time it returns to play.
Rakano Flagbearer
Warcry 2
Uncommon Unit — Oni
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.0
You will very often be sacrificing this for Warcry 2, which probably isn’t worth the effort. If you can find a way to grant this evasion or clear a path with removal, it can be devastating if you can attack a few times. At two power we could talk about this in ranked.
Rakano Outlaw
Warcry, Quickdraw
Uncommon Unit — Gunslinger
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
A very efficient two drop that is hard to block early and synergizes with itself perfectly with the Warcry ability. A great body to throw weapons onto, this fits right in any aggressive Fire deck in draft or ranked.
Rally
Your units get +2 Attack this turn.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 2.0
This is dangerously close to trading a card for damage only, but the difference is that you can do a very large amount of damage and it can help your units trade up. Still, it is situational enough, and requires lots of units to make work, that I wouldn’t pick it highly and would only play it if my deck was good at going wide. This is a viable finisher in a tokens deck in ranked as well.
Rampage
Give a unit +3/+1 and Overwhelm this turn.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.0
A mediocre trick that won’t always be able to trade for an opponent’s card, though has the upside of finishing an opponent off with the Overwhelm ability. Still, this is situational and not even that great when the situations arise. Don’t pick it highly and only play it if you have not enough other units, removal, or other weapons.
Rebel Illuminator
Entomb: Draw a Torch.
Uncommon Unit — Rebel Mage
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
A solid value play in draft that will often net a two for one advantage. You can get into situations where it becomes unblockable because the opponent can’t afford to let you have a Torch. A little too inefficient for ranked, but I like the idea of looping this with Dark Return.
Rebel Sharpshooter
Rebel Sharpshooter has Quickdraw while she has 4 Attack or more.
Common Unit — Rebel
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 1.5
Bread and butter unit for Fire decks in draft. There are lots of ways to pump this up and make it nearly impossible to block. Worst case, a 3/3 for 3 is a fine rate. There are better options in ranked, but this is playable.
Recogulator
Entomb: Play two 1/1 Grenadin.
Common Unit — Grenadin
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 1.0
A filler four drop in draft that can have some synergies with cards that sacrifice things as a cost. Theoretically part of a ranked Entomb deck, but I think there are better options.
Ruin
Kill an enemy attachment.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 2.0
This is an underplayed card, but there are enough attachments out there that this is sometimes worth running. You can engineer a two for one by blowing up a key weapon and blocking a now smaller unit. It is also a great answer to cards like Xenan Obelisk and Staff of Stories in ranked.
Ruthless Stranger
Strangers have +1 Attack.
Common Unit — Stranger
Draft: 2.0
Ranked: 2.0
Not that different from a 2 power 2/2 in draft, which you want a certain number of to be able to interact in the early game. This is playing third string to Oni Ronin and Pyroknight in ranked aggressive Fire decks.
Shogun of the Wastes
Double Damage
Summon: Your units deal Double Damage this turn.
Rare Unit — Oni
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.0
You can think of this as a 6/3 in draft with a powerful summon effect, but it gets a lot better if you have ways to pump him up. Luckily there are plenty of those between all of the weapons and Warcry going on. I wonder if there could be a ranked deck that builds around the Shogun. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was a thing in the future, but no one is really trying it now.
Shogun’s Scepter
Warcry
Summon: Play a 2/1 Oni Ronin with Warcry.
Rare Weapon
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 4.0
A super powerful weapon all told, you will want to pick this highly in draft. It is a staple in the aggressive weapon decks in ranked.
Song of War
Your units gain Warcry.
Uncommon Spell
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 1.0
This is a cute spell, and to be honest I do want to play this after an Assembly Line, but the effect is probably not worth the card.
Soulfire Drake
Flying, Charge
Entomb: Each unit in your deck randomly gets Flying or Charge.
Legendary Unit — Dragon
Draft: 4.5
Ranked: 3.5
If your opponent doesn’t have fliers, they might just die to this. If they kill it, all of your future units get a lot better. Does not match up well against Sandstorm Titan in ranked, which is not a good place to be currently.
Sparring Partner
Sparring Partner has +3 Attack while he is wielding a weapon.
Rare Unit — Oni
Draft: 1.5
Ranked: 1.0
You need lots of weapons for this to be playable, but if you get there it is a beating for not much power. Another issue is that this isn’t as effective later in the game. If I had a 4-6 solid weapons, I would consider running it in draft. This is theoretically playable in ranked too, but it is competing with units that are a lot better when you don’t have weapons.
Steelbound Dragon
Flying, Overhwlem
Rare Unit — Dragon
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 1.0
A great finisher in draft, but too expensive for ranked.
Steelfang Chakram
Entomb: Draw Steelfang Chakram from the void.
Rare Weapon
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 2.0
This can be hard to beat in draft, especially on a Quickdraw or flying unit. On normal ground units, it will force a lot of trades which isn’t necessarily that exciting, or it will make a small unit a blocker threatening to trade up. This will probably prolong the game, which Fire decks are usually not super suited to winning. There probably isn’t enough time for this in ranked, but it is possible.
Stonescar Maul
Overwhelm
Uncommon Relic Weapon
Draft: 4.0
Ranked: 3.0
A very strong card, especially if you can kill a 2 attack unit and then protect it to get off another attack on a bigger unit. Worst case, you trade for your opponent’s best unit. There is also big upside in just killing your opponent if they are low with the Overwhelm ability or the opportunity to attack the opponent’s face multiple turns in a row if they have no units. A great thing to power up with Warcry and other similar effects. I have seen this played to decent effect in ranked as well.
Temper
Deal 1 damage. The top unit or weapon of your deck gets +1/+1.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 3.5
Ranked: 3.0
A strong removal spell as there are enough high value targets like Oni Ronin or Initiate of the Sands. Sometimes there are even better things to hit. Worst case, you can finish off something bigger in conjunction with combat damage. Giving your next unit or weapon +1/+1 is a relevant bonus. I wouldn’t necessarily fire this off at an opponent’s face unless they were carrying a relic weapon with one armor or if they had one health themselves.
Ticking Grenadin
Entomb: Deal 3 damage to the enemy player.
Common Unit — Grenadin
Draft: 1.0
Ranked: 3.0
This is a magical combination of a 1/1 for one and a face only damage card – two things that I find very unplayable in draft! Combined, we still get a largely unplayable unit, that you could play if you had nothing else. It gets better in ranked in an aggressive Entomb strategy.
Torch
Deal 3 damage.
Common Fast Spell
Draft: 5.0
Ranked: 5.0
This is a metagame warping card in ranked and hyper efficient removal in draft. Take these very highly and make sure the units you play in ranked don’t die to if they cost three or more power unless they have relevant Summon or Entomb abilities.
Warhelm
Warcry, Charge
Uncommon Weapon
Draft: 1.5
Ranked: 3.0
I don’t think this does enough in draft, but it is nice on an evasive unit. It is a part of the aggressive weapon deck in ranked.
Worldpyre Phoenix
Flying
Entomb: Draw Worldpyre Phoenix from the void with +2/+2 and cost increased by 2.
Rare Unit — Phoenix
Draft: 5.0
Ranked: 3.0
An excellent finisher in draft that is very hard to stop. Underplayed in ranked, but I think it is certainly playable.
Justice coming up next!
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-Ben @bchap55
