Note: These patch notes include changes from three articles and one Reddit post:
- https://www.direwolfdigital.com/news/eternal-live-balance-update-5-4-2022/
- https://www.direwolfdigital.com/news/eternal-update-to-destiny/
- https://www.direwolfdigital.com/news/shavka-reborn-eternal-chapters-may-2022/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/EternalCardGame/comments/uimb3c/the_unleashed_draft_preview_is_live_60_curated/
Eternal Live Balance Update 5-4-2022[]
Hello, I’m Patrick Sullivan, one of the designers on Eternal, and what follows is a set of live balance changes, which will take effect on Wednesday, May 4th. These changes strive to do two separate things: reduce some of the power level of Rakano, specifically in Expedition, and to preemptively address combos that would have emerged with the introduction of Unleashed.
Since each card listed below is receiving a reduction in power level, either through the card itself or as an externality to the Destiny rules change, each crafted copy will be eligible for its full sellback in Shiftstone, or in Gold in the case of Scalesworn Patrol.
- Oni Inciter – Now Contract 2
- Scalesworn Patrol – No longer has Inscribe
Rakano is currently the most played and most winning strategy in Expedition, so much so that each individual card that frequently shows up in the deck wins has a higher rate than any card that does not. Part of this is the depth of the card pool. As numerous recent events have shown, there are a number of ways to build Rakano, each with different strengths and weaknesses but all of which are legitimate competitive options. Under these circumstances, pulling back on certain cards comes with the risk of not being sufficiently disruptive. Since the deck plays reasonably well (setting aside its win rate), we also aren’t particularly interested in nerfing the core experience of the deck, whatever measures would be necessary to accomplish that.
We are close to releasing our latest expansion, Unleashed, which will both add and subtract a lot of cards to the Expedition format by virtue of rotation. With that in mind, the Rakano cards we wanted to target had a mixture of the following characteristics:
1) Ubiquitous in all current builds of Rakano, rather than something that appears only some of the time.
2) Likely to be problematic on power level post-rotation
3) Hard for us to make cards that line up in a satisfying way against it, because their power is largely nested in a Summon effect or is otherwise very frontloaded.
Oni Inciter easily checks all three boxes. It is a staple of all versions of Rakano. It is easily “best-in-slot” for Relic interaction, both because of its power level against people with attachments and also against people without. And a card this cheap and with this much immediacy (either blowing up an attachment or drawing a unit weapon that grants Strength, Charge, and Warcry) isn’t going to be pushed out of the metagame no matter how many Saloon Massacres or Obstructive Flickers we make. Oni Inciter also represents some downside risk more broadly, as it being a widely played card (in Rakano or otherwise) could produce a chilling effect on people playing with all manner of attachments.
Scalesworn Patrol is another example of “high floor, high ceiling” that could stand to lose a little bit. At its best, it either runs away with the game or generates a lot of value while demanding an immediate answer, and at its worst it’s a depleted Sigil. The Inscribe is not essential to the card’s play pattern or experience, while significantly adding to how frustrating it is to play against–you disproportionately encounter the card in spots where it is strong, since it gets Inscribed much of the time when it isn’t.
In both instances, we believe these cards will still be competitive options, but will be slightly less ubiquitous. With their increased opportunity cost, we hope that sometimes playing with fewer than four copies will be appropriate, and that it opens up more space for cards of similar functionality and/or power level to appear more often in competitive decks.
- Málaga Amphitheatre – Now “once per turn” and “gain 2 power”
- Shiftstone Processor – Now “once per turn, when one or more units go to your void, gain that much power.”
- Kanya, Ironthorn Envoy – Now plays Sigils depleted.
- Copperhall Bracers – Now plays Sigils depleted.
- Aymar, Dark Summoner – Now “your units cost 2 less and have Voidbound.”
Each of these cards were potential infinite engines alongside Autotread and a few new cards coming out in Unleashed. In each case, they are maintaining much of their rate in the “normal” case, while cutting off the ability to “go infinite” alongside cards that capitalize on the previous Power rebates, unbounded triggers, or other open-ended loops. As a quality of life change, we are also changing Malaga Amphitheater to rebate a flat 2 power, rather than the more laborious “remaining durability” callout, as it was so close to 2 anyway that there was little value in maintaining the text box once we decided to change the card in another way.
- Talir, Who Sees Beyond – Now “The first two Time units you draw each turn have Destiny.”
- Divining Rod: Now says “battle skill”, Destiny excluded as its not a battle skill.
- Crown of Possibilities: Now says “battle skill”, Destiny excluded as its not a battle skill.
Divining Rod and Crown of Possibilities were already mentioned in the Destiny rules update, but are being mentioned here as well as they are functional power downgrades to the cards. Talir is receiving a text box change to adhere to our new philosophy around open-ended Destiny triggers, as well as addressing edge cases with certain Unleash cards.
Eternal: Update to Destiny[]
Hello, I’m Patrick Sullivan, one of the designers on Eternal, and what follows is a comprehensive change to the rules for Destiny, one of the skills in the game. This change was prompted by a mix of immediate need in light of a new keyword in the upcoming expansion, Unleashed, as well as being a general balance and quality-of-life improvement we’ve been considering for some time. This update will go live Wednesday, May 4th.
Previously, the rules for Destiny were “automatically played when drawn, then draw another card.” For the most part, these rules captured the normal case–you would draw a card with Destiny, it would get played for free, and then the game would proceed.
Of course, this was not the totality of the Destiny experience. Destiny has had a history of producing infinite combos, one player monopolizing the clock while the other player sits and waits, and games resolving based on a player’s ability to manage clicks quickly enough to avoid timing out in the middle of a combo. This has never been a desirable situation, but was infrequent enough that it wasn’t worth changing the rules.
With this new mechanic, any card with it that gained Destiny would immediately go infinite. This is plainly not acceptable, and as such we are changing the rules to prevent this along with other interactions. Besides fixing the immediate issue, this change should give us breathing space to make more Destiny designs, a mechanic we love in the “normal” case but which was a major development challenge in the previous world.
Destiny has gained “Destiny cannot be copied.” All Copy effects will omit granted Destiny when making the copy. For example, if a card with Echo and Destiny is drawn, the copy will not have Destiny and only the original copy will be played for free via Destiny, and only one additional card will be drawn for Destiny. If you somehow copy a card that natively has Destiny, such as Firebomb, the copy will retain Destiny.
In addition, we are updating both Crown of Possibilities and Divining Rod, the only two cards in the game to call out “skills” rather than “battle skills”. As Destiny is not a battle skill, it can no longer be given by Crown of Possibilities, nor will it interact with Divining Rod.
Both Divining Rod and Crown of Possibilities will be eligible for sellback for a full Shiftstone refund. Though these cards are changing more as a function of the rules than as power level hits to each of them, in practice they are weaker enough such that we want to adhere to our sellback policy.
Shavka Reborn – Eternal Chapters, May 2022[]
A new month brings another Chapter to Eternal!
This month’s Chapter follows the story of a Xultan refugee with unexpected power. Play new story-based Missions each week in May to earn exclusive promo cards!
Note: Due to some coinciding releases on May 4th and May 11th, Chapter Missions will be going live later than usual on these dates. Keep an eye on Eternal Twitter & Facebook for more information on release times. Thanks!
Witness the power of Shavka’s blessing with this month’s first promo: Sign of the Reborn!
Chapter promo cards cannot be crafted. They can only be obtained through Chapter Missions or by purchasing a Chapter Catch-Up Bundle.
Heroic Upgrade[]
You can purchase this Chapter’s Heroic Upgrade for 1000 Gems to get:
- The unique Shavka Reborn theme deck
- 4x premium copies of each of this Chapter’s promo cards (16 total premium cards)
- A unique premium Shavka Reborn avatar
Premium cards will be granted immediately after purchase for any Missions in a Chapter that a player has completed at the time of purchase. Upcoming premium cards in the Chapter will be granted after a player beats the associated Mission, or at the end of the month.
First Time Bonus[]
As a special bonus, if you’ve never completed a Chapter Mission, you will receive the Shavka Reborn theme deck for free after completing this month’s first Mission, and the Heroic Upgrade price will be reduced to 500 Gems!
The Unleashed Draft Preview is live! 60+ curated commons & uncommons from Unleashed are now appearing in Eternal Draft packs![]
Note: a correction post was later made with the correct number of cards. There are 42 new cards (36 collectible and 6 created) present in the Unleashed Draft Preview.