Jay kicks off a featured draft that will be reviewed card by card from start to finish!

Recently I’ve started posting the occasional draft screen on the Eternal Reddit forum, the sort of “what’s the pick” posts that players do for every game with that sort of format. It’s been very insightful, as the community shares thoughts and insights on what they’d pick- and, more importantly, why.

For someone who is still learning about drafting Eternal, I’ve enjoyed the exercise immensely. By the comments others have left, I’m not alone. In the interests of sharing experience, I decided I would do a “draft walkthrough,” where I’d post the entire thing end to end here.

Drafting can be a very intimidating format. I know, because I used to hold a Magic: the Gathering “drafting class” (using a specially-made cube) at the comic and game store I used to own. The hope is that this brief series of an illustrated draft will serve two purposes.

First, that others who are finding their way in Eternal’s draft format- or drafting in general- will find the process educational.

Second, that through the insight and guidance of veterans, I may find it edifying as well. You’ll see my thoughts and analysis on every pick, and I make no claim to being right on any or all of them. Got a better pick? Some advice on what I might have done better? I’d love to hear it!

Now with that preamble out of the way, let’s crack the first pack and see what we’ve got!

The rare is Workshop Forge. I have a warp-centered deck that has fun with these, but this is one of those rares that’s commonly passed until someone just takes it for shiftstone. It costs 5P, which means to do better than breaking even you’d need to cast three cards off of warp after playing it. Will you see three playable cards with that mechanic? Not a gamble I’m gonna take.

Now the uncommons. Icequake is a good effect, but at 7P it’s also very expensive. We all dream of the big blowout board-wipe that lets us cruise to victory, but at this cost this is an endgame card that deals with early-to-midgame threats. It’s not likely to solve the problems you’re running into as often as it needs to to be a high pick.

Grenade? It’s not a bad option, but it takes a certain kind of deck to make that kind of card disadvantage palatable. After all, you’re not just playing Grenade for 3P, but you’re also sacrificing another unit. When you have cards like Assembly Line that spawn Grenadin tokens, it’s almost painless. But if you don’t, you’re likely overpaying for a modest effect.

Finally, there’s the Aerialist Trainer. The Power cost alone makes you pretty committed to Primal with a splash of Justice, and the effect is rather conditional. This is the kind of card best picked after you see some of the tools start to shape up in what you’ve picked, rather than picking it first and hoping the tools fall into your lap afterwards.

So what about the rest? Let’s break those down by faction.

Fire: Outside of the Grenade and Forge, there’s nothing here for Fire whatsoever. While it’s too early to make a final determination and we’ll want to stay flexible in the first pack, it’s not looking good here.

Justice: Here the pack is loaded! Valkyrie Militant is slightly high in cost for what you get, and asks you to draft a lot of weapons to maximise the effect. Minotaur Oathkeeper is a strong option, and candidate for picking. It’s great in the early game, can swing in as a 2/2 as early as turn 2 (it buffs itself), and can even help later in the game if you’re lining up behind a large evasive closer (which Justice has recourse to).

Copperhall Herald is a fine later pick, one of those cards that scales with the progress of the game thanks to the ability to Ultimate it. And Tinker is always a safe pick, but not necessarily a first one. Finally, the Sanguine Sword has the same problem as Grenade, in that it sets you back in card advantage.

Time: As with Fire, this pack is not kind to Time. Although Time comes highly recommended in draft, a Belching Behemoth just to try and force the color is a losing proposition.

Primal: Another dead end outside of the uncommon options. If we’re dead-set on it (which we aren’t), Aerialist Trainer is probably the pick but… I don’t see it as worth it.

Shadow: Extract is excellent hear, but I’ve been hearing more and more that overall Shadow isn’t great. While cheap, Extract’s double-sigil cost means it’s not casually splashable with any reliability, so I’d have to want to go into Shadow to get the best use of it. The other card, Swear Vengeance, is very swingy.

Used early enough, you can essentially get a heavily discounted creature if you’re willing to use time as a resource. Drawn late, the game may well be over before you see a return on it, making it a dead draw. Unless I had a lot of card draw, I wouldn’t ever consider mainboarding this. As for Sanguine Sword, we covered that above.

The Pick: I took Minotaur Oathkeeper here. They’re the kind of one-drop you don’t mind drawing at any stage of the game, and if I can pick up one or two more they can really shine.

The rare is gone, leaving the rest of the pack up for grabs.

Fire: Another bust for Fire, as there are only three cards here and none are all that compelling. Burning Glaive is a weapon that offers big stats, but a pricetag to match. And a Praxis Banner this early doesn’t make a lot of sense. Banners are great, and I’ve been guilty of undervaluing them (and Strangers) in the past, but there’s no need to consider this one this early. And then Rockslide is a nice bit of burn in that you can split targets, but it’s not a must-grab effect.

Time: The Archive Curator is a very strong option. 4P is a bit steep for a 1-attack body, but the Curator is more of a stalling/defensive option. With a big backend, flying, and a silencing effect, this plays to the faction’s love of buying time to set up big plays for itself. Praxis Banner was covered above.

Justice: With our first pick we’re going to want to take a keen look at Justice. A first pick should never marry you to a faction no matter how good it is, but it does look to be pretty open here. As noted above, Tinker is always a decent pick in the faction, but we also have Rabblerouser and Valkyrie Denouncer.

I’m not a huge fan of Rabblerouser. The stats boost on cast is nice, as you can set up the right circumstances for it. But the wheel on revenge is unpredictable, so you’re at risk of being caught without a way to use it effectively. Plus it’s a 4P “bear” (2/2), so the body it leaves behind is underwhelming for the cost.

The Denouncer, on the other hand, is a card I like quite a bit. A 3/3 flier for 5P is fine, plus it’s never unwelcome on the revenge flip.

Primal: The biggest fattie of the pack is found here, the Lumbering Gruan. It’s not a bad card, but it does punish you for not pushing forward with it. If I’m already in Primal and need some muscle, it’s something I’d look at, but not this early. Rockslide is the other option, and I covered that above.

Shadow: The Minotaur Lighthoof is a solid card. It’s double-sigil means you have to be decently into Shadow to run it, but 4P for a 4/4 is good and the added ability it carries is great for pushing through some extra damage or enabling an infiltrate creature to trigger its power.

I’m less keen on the Lethrai Memory-Keeper given its fragility, as there are plenty of pinging damage-dealers out there that make it a liability. It will also trade with nearly anything on the swing, so I’m most likely to run it when I have ways to give it quickdraw.

Cabal Bludgeoner fails the “vanilla test” (stats to cost), but it might be one to pick up if you come across a lot of weapons. Generally with synergy strategies, it’s preferable to pick up the payoff cards after you’ve found a few of the building blocks (in this case, weapons), so you’re not left holding an inferior card you can’t maximize. Finally, there’s the Valkyrie Denouncer.

The Pick: The finalists here are Valkyrie Denouncer and Archive Curator. Do I want to go into Shadow, or go into Time? With only one pick gone (and the rare, no less), it’s hard to predict what the virtual guy to my right is in, but I’m going to go with the Denouncer. I’ve used Konan’s pick list as a resource for the last dozen drafts I’ve done. I may be a bit superstitious (the first time I checked some picks against it, I had my first-ever 7-x draft), but it puts the Denouncer ahead. That’s enough to nudge me off the fence.

Fire: With five different Fire cards here, it’s a pretty safe bet that Fire is going to be open. Is there enough here to consider pivoting to it? Meh. Stonepowder Heretic and Cannonbearer are both underwhelming, high-Power cards that don’t really scream windmill slam (same for the Burning Glaive again). Stoneshaker is the kind of card you’d consider more in constructed play, where you could run a playset and expect to get one early. Sure I might luck into a few more, but it’s not worth the trouble.

The card I do like here is Journeyman Armorer. It’s 3 attack for 3 Power spread over two bodies, and is quite playable. As it stands, though, I’m not in either color so it’s a pass.

Time: The Trail Runner is a filler card I would consider it its attack and defense were flipped, but a defensive ratio with charge seems a curiosity. The Armorer is out, but the other multifaction card here- the Shadowlands Bonepicker- is a solid option. Yes, it does drift me into Time, but it’s stats are solid and it’s a good Power dump for later in the game when I may have more Power than I know what to do with.

Justice: No Justice cards? Uh-oh, that’s concerning. This is only the third pack, but clearly someone took something so I may have competition upstream.

Primal: Neither Skywalk Instructor nor Trailblaze warrant a look here. The Instructor isn’t terrible, and the ability to grant evasion is nice, but there are better on-color options. Trailblaze is a nice cantrip, but very far down the list.

Shadow: We saw the Bludgeoner last pack, and nothing’s changed to make it any more attractive. That leaves…

The Pick: Shadowlands Bonepicker. With someone else in Justice, I may have to relegate that to the back-burner, so keeping some options option isn’t a bad idea. The Denouncer has me in Shadow already, so I’ve got three prospective directions depending on how subsequent picks shape up.

PACK FOUR

Whoops! Not in the habit of this yet, I forgot to snap a screen of picks 4-5, but was at least pretty thorough about desribing what was in there.

Fire: Strangers.dec has a gift here in the form of the playable Swift Stranger, but nothing else.

Time: Bloodcall Invoker is a component of the ever-popular “Xenan lifegain” strategy, which like Strangers.dec I’ve never quite managed to draft as successfully as some of my opponents have managed to. There’s also a Xenan Banner, which is more compelling than the Invoker. The more I play, the more I realize I need to prioritize Power fixing higher, and if there’s nothing in this pack that might be what I take.

Justice: Sanguine Sword and Copperhall Shieldman. The Shieldman is a card I find really interesting, because the statting is huge. In a heavy-warcry deck (or a Shard of the Spire one), he can be a hard-to-remove body, but as-is you could field a hundred of them and never damage your opponent. One should always take extra caution with cards you’d describe as, “this would be good if…”

Primal: Lumbering Gruan and Ridgeline Watcher. Pretty safe to say at this point that Primal is out of the running, though I may open a bomb in the next three packs that would compel reconsideration. There just hasn’t been anything in this draft so far that makes it appealing.

Shadow: Oh look, another Bludgeoner. There’s also Threaten, but if you’re looking for a good Shadow combat trick you’d do far better with Rapid Shot.

The Pick: Xenan Banner. This is a good pack to opt for Power fixing, because there’s nothing else I can’t live without.

PACK 5

There wasn’t much good in this pack except a Longshot Marksman and Highbranch Sentry. I was going to take the Marksman, since cards that scale with the length of the game are quite useful. However, at that moment one of our pet rats, Galahad, decided to dash across my iPad screen, picking a card in the process. At least it was the Highbranch Sentry, so I can’t be too upset.

Needless to say, no picture for this one either.

Fire: Hidden Shiv is fairly useless, barely worth a card in my opinion. Audacious Bandit, however, is a card I quite like. Again, though, not worth diverting from course to acquire.

Time: Belching Behemoth? No thanks. A 6/6 body is helpful, and lifegain certainly has its part to play in a focused Xenan deck, but eight Power is too much. That card is a dead draw most of the time, a lead weight taking up valuable space in your hand hoping the game goes long enough for it to see play.

Justice: The Rabblerouser makes another appearance here, and this is where I might begin to consider picking it. There’s also a Bring Down, but that puts us in Primal.

Primal: Cloudsnake Breeder is nice if we’re in Primal already, and it’s a little surprising to see it this far down in the draft.

Shadow: Nothing.

The Pick: Rabblerouser. It’s a role-playing card, and I’m happy to acquire it this deep in the pack when pickings start to slim down.

Now in the bottom-half of the pack, we’ll start just taking what’s available and hoping for the occasional overlooked gem.

Fire: Nothing.

Time: Still quite available. I’ve heard Avirax Familiar described as a “trap,” as three-drops should be a bit more substantial in the body and the ramping effect is modest. Excavation Assistant gives you a nice early blocker and some card filtering, but the 0 attack doesn’t appeal.

Voyaging Lumen is a decent pickup for Xenan lifegain, but I’m not going in that direction. Finally, a Xenan Stranger is very attractive here, for its fixing qualities.

Justice: Just the Aerialist’s Khopesh. If the flying this granted was indefinite, a six-Power weapon might be more appealing. As it is, that’s a lot of resources for a relatively mediocre effect.

Primal: Nothing.

Shadow: This pack essentially comes down to either the Xenan Stranger or the Extract. I passed on an Extract early on when I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to commit to Shadow, but I’m quite happy to take it now.

The Pick: Extract

Fire: Another Swift Stranger. Someone’s going to be happy with that before this pack is done.

Time: Amaran Archaeologist. I don’t love this card, but it’s solid. Mana fixing will come in handy if I end up in three colors.

Justice: Highbranch Sentry. The Sentry isn’t bad, but the problem I’m concerned about is that with me out of Primal, the opportunities for her to user her ability will be somewhat limited. A vanilla 3/3 for 3P is fine, though, so she’s also a candidate.

Primal: Boltcrafter Shaman and another Skywalk Instructor. No thanks.

Shadow: Nothing.

The Pick: Amaran Archaeologist. It’s not as good a value as the Sentry, but I like having the option to fix my Power in the midgame.

Starting to scrape the leavings here.

Fire and Time: Closed.

Justice: Sparring Partner and Stalwart Silverwing. I like both of these here. The Sparring Partner is a bit of a tempo hit, as all mentor cards can be. That said, with the Sentry I’ve already picked and any down the road, it’s worth a look. On the other hand, the Stalwart Silverwing gets me two cracks at an aerial unit thanks to revenge. Shield Bash isn’t really worth picking up, as none of its effects are all that great unless you happen to be able to take advantage of more than one (for instance, running an Icebreaker and relic weapons).

Primal: Trailblaze and Shield Bash. Yawn.

Shadow: Closed.

The Pick: Stalwart Silverwing. I need something in the sky.

Fire/Time: Sandglass Sentinel. Seven Power for a conditionally powerful card? No thanks.

Justice: Closed.

Primal: Yeti Snowchucker can be a helpful infiltrate enabler, but not worth considering here.

Shadow: Tock Tick. Not great, but not terrible.

The Pick: Tock Tick, by default.

Pick 11 (No picture, but pure jank)

Only one option here, the Aerialist’s Khopesh.

At least it’s in one of my factions…

So there we have it. I’m in Shadow, Justice, and Time… but it’s a somewhat even split. Can I get the right Power fixing? Have a bomb fall in my lap? We’ll find out in the next pack!