Eternal
Eternal is a free-to-play digital collectible card game built around a surprisingly involved combat and resource model. It lets you craft decks with very few restrictions, then take them into tactical matches against other players or AI, all presented with colorful boards and snappy animations.
 | Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital Playerbase: Low Type: CCG Release Date: November 19, 2016 Pros: +Free-to-play. +Strategic resource and combat depth. +Reactive play with counterspells and abilities. +Flexible deck construction. Cons: -Draw-dependent resource pacing. -Matches can run long. -Card packs can feel pricey. |
Eternal Overview
Eternal delivers head-to-head card duels that will feel familiar to fans of classic trading card games, particularly Magic: The Gathering. You draw your resources from the same deck as your threats, you can assign blockers during combat, and you have access to reactive plays (including counter-style interaction) that can be used outside your own turn. Units also refresh over the course of play, which changes how trades and board control work compared to many faster, “all-in” digital CCGs.
Deck building is one of Eternal’s biggest selling points. You can stick to one of the five core factions or mix and match freely, as long as your deck can reliably generate the Influence required to cast what you draw. From there you can focus on competitive PvP (including ranked play) or spend time in AI-focused and limited-style modes such as Forge and Draft, where you assemble a deck from randomized card choices and keep what you pick. With a growing card pool and multiple modes that feed your collection, Eternal is designed for players who enjoy learning lines, planning turns ahead, and squeezing value out of every decision.
Eternal Key Features:
- Complex Resource System – gain Power and the right Influence by drawing and playing Power cards from your deck.
- Classic Combat Rules – units recover between turns and can be declared as blockers, encouraging careful combat math and trades.
- Fast Spells – interact at instant speed with effects you can use during an opponent’s turn.
- Forge and Draft Modes – limited-style deckbuilding with meaningful rewards, plus you keep the cards you select.
- Not Pay to Win – progression is achievable through play, spending money is optional rather than mandatory.
Eternal Screenshots
Eternal Featured Video
Eternal Review
Eternal is set in the fantasy world of Myria, framed around five major powers that map neatly onto the game’s core deck “colors.” The presentation is clean and readable, and the boards and effects do a good job of keeping matches visually engaging. That said, it does not chase the high-polish, personality-forward approach seen in some of the biggest digital CCGs, and players looking for constant voice work and lavish card presentation may find it comparatively restrained.
Starting Out and Building a Foundation
New players are guided through tutorials and a single-player campaign that doubles as an onboarding track and an early collection boost. Early on you earn a basic Fire-themed starter deck, then you can tackle the remaining campaign paths in the order you prefer to unlock the other faction starters.
It is technically possible to jump into PvP quickly, but Eternal rewards patience. Finishing the campaign content first gives you a much sturdier base to work from, including multiple starter decks and extra goodies that matter when you begin refining lists. Because packs and key upgrades can feel slow to acquire at the start, those early rewards make the transition into ranked play much smoother.
Traditional TCG Flow, Digital Convenience
At its core, the win condition is straightforward: reduce the opposing player’s life total to zero by developing threats and choosing the right moments to attack. Where Eternal separates itself from many modern digital CCGs is the pace and the permission it gives both players to interact. Blocking is a major part of combat, “fast” interaction can interrupt plans mid-turn, and unit durability effectively resets over time, which pushes you toward calculated exchanges instead of constant chip damage.
This ruleset creates genuinely interesting decision points, but it also comes with a tradeoff. Games often take longer than the quick, momentum-driven matches that some players associate with the genre. If you enjoy weighing lines, setting up favorable trades, and playing around possible responses, that extra time feels justified. If you prefer rapid-fire games, Eternal can feel methodical.
Power, Influence, and the RNG Question
Eternal uses Power cards as its resource system. Like land-based TCGs, your resources are part of your deck, which means you can draw too many Power cards or not enough. You may only play one Power card per turn, and while deck construction can mitigate extremes, there is no escaping the reality that your draws sometimes dictate the tempo of a match.
Power is not just “mana,” it also determines what you are allowed to cast through Influence, the game’s color requirement. Power cards come as sigils tied to five factions: Fire (Red), Time (Yellow), Justice (Green), Primal (Blue), and Shadow (Purple). A card might cost a certain amount of total Power while also demanding specific Influence, for example needing multiple Fire sigils available before it becomes playable. This makes multicolor decks both interesting and risky, since you must balance overall Power with the right spread of sigils to avoid dead cards.
Deck freedom is generous, including the option to combine multiple factions (even pushing toward all five, plus neutral cards). The 150-card deck cap gives plenty of room to tune ratios, although bigger decks also increase variance, so the best builds tend to be those that respect consistency.
Modes and What They Are Good For
Ranked PvP is the obvious long-term destination for competitive players, but Eternal supports several alternative paths that are more than side activities. Gauntlet functions like a staged AI run where you bring one of your constructed decks and attempt a sequence of matches, with rewards scaling based on performance. The “two losses and you are out” structure keeps it tense, and the AI is competent enough to punish sloppy lines.
Forge and Draft are the limited-style modes, built around picking from randomized card selections to assemble a playable deck. Forge uses a smaller pool (25 non-Power cards) and pits you against AI with only two losses allowed, while Draft expands the deck size (48 non-Power cards) and shifts the challenge to PvP with three losses available. The standout feature is that the cards you pick are added to your collection, which makes these modes a practical way to grow your library while also playing a different style of Eternal.
The downside is cost. Entry requires a meaningful amount of gold or premium gems, so you have to decide when to invest. Still, if you enjoy limited formats, these modes tend to feel like the best “value” for time spent because they combine gameplay, rewards, and collection growth.
Store and Monetization
Eternal’s shop keeps things relatively straightforward. Card packs can be purchased with either earned gold or premium gems, and Totems are the other notable item category. There is not a heavy focus on cosmetic extras like elaborate card backs or avatar bundles, and the game avoids the most aggressive pay-for-power pitfalls common to some F2P models.
That said, pack pricing can still feel steep if you are trying to assemble specific competitive lists quickly. Progress is achievable without spending, but players who want immediate access to a wide range of staples may find the early grind slow. On the plus side, building a deck piece by piece makes each upgrade feel meaningful, especially once you understand the meta and your preferred playstyle.
Final Verdict – Good
Eternal is at its best when you treat it like a “serious” card game: plan around interaction, manage risk in the Power system, and accept that careful play often matters more than flashy combos. Its production values are more modest than the biggest names in the space, but the underlying ruleset offers depth that many dedicated CCG fans will appreciate.
It is less ideal for players who want short, breezy matches with minimal downtime, or who strongly dislike draw-driven resource variance. For everyone else, the free-to-play entry point makes it easy to sample, and if the combat and deckbuilding click with you, there is a lot of long-term strategy to explore.
Eternal Online Links
Eternal Official Site
Eternal Steam Page
Eternal Facebook Page
Eteral Reddit
Eternal Google Play [Not Yet Available]
Eternal iTunes Store [Not Yet Available]
Eternal System Requirements
Minimum Requirements for PC:
Operating System: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
CPU: Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 (256 MB) or ATI Radeon X1600 Pro (256 MB)
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB
Recommended Requirements for PC:
Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or better
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB) or ATI Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB) or better
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 3 GB
Minimum Requirements for Mobile Platforms:
Operating System: Android 4.1 or later / iOS 8.0 or later
Eternal Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon…
Eternal Additional Information
Developer: Dire Wolf Digital
Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital
Platforms: Android, iOS, PC
Closed Beta Date: April 18, 2016
Open Beta Date: November 19, 2016
Steam Release Date: November 15, 2018
Development History / Background:
Eternal is a digital CCG developed and published by Dire Wolf Digital, a gaming company based in Denver, Colorado. It was publicly showcased around PAX South 2016, then moved into closed beta testing in April 2016. The game entered open beta on November 19, 2016 and later launched on Steam for PC. Eternal is also intended to arrive on Android and iOS devices in the future.