Eternal feels like a disappointing step backwards for digital CCGs

The mana system is actually a more lenient version of what is used in MtG and very similar to the system in Hex.

The ability to construct a proper power base however is a highly nuanced skill set that a lot of novice players have trouble understanding and is difficult for even some veteran players to implement correctly without extensive playtesting for a deck.

By that same token, however, the meta has at different times been dominated by various multi-color decks with high cost and high influence requirement cards. For example, Shimmerpack and Big Combrei both need to consistently hit 8 power on time while maintaining a sizeable board presence in order to win. Yet if you examine most of these top tier deck lists, there's only about 26 actual power cards within the deck, with the consistency coming from 6-8 sources of power fetch. This kind of deck building ensures consistent power ramping, while at the same time minimizing the probability of flood. Traditional 3 Color Armory runs Icaria as a curve topper. At 7 cost and requiring 3 Fire AND 3 Justice influence, you'd think she'd be unplayable in a 3 color deck, yet one of the biggest complaints about Armory is how stupidly consistent the deck runs and the difficulty of answering Icaria on time.

And if anything that's the actual problem with the power system in Eternal. People don't like being told they suck at deck building, that 3 months into the game they still aren't properly understanding something as seemingly basic as power management. The Number 1 difference that I see separating players who casually hit Masters on a regular basis and those who always seem to be languishing in Silver or Gold is that a lot of these players stuck in the lower ranks are trying to play triple influence 5+ power drops on decks with 25 power cards and 2 Seek Power and no Favors, and somehow believe their mana issues are their own fault.

/r/EternalCardGame Thread