When comparing Shadow Era vs Eternal, the Slant community recommends Eternal for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform PC/Android games?” Eternal is ranked 12th while Shadow Era is ranked 40th. The most important reason people chose Eternal is:
Draft allows you to keep the cards you pick and earn some extra rewards. Unique mechanics allow signalling and signal-reading in draft while still allowing you to draft on your own time (no waiting for pod or passing).
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Good deck balance
Many TCGs often have unbalanced decks where one specific deck can trump most others, with devs being slow to correct this. Shadow Era does not have this issue as the devs spend a great amount of time making sure all the deck combinations have good balance and even have a player run team for testing before new releases.
Pro Unique Sacrifice Mana system
Shadow era tests its players by having them decide which cards to sacrifice in order to gain resources (mana) one time at the start of each turn. No easy buildup of resources (mana) here. You want to make plays, you have to plan it out strategically.
Pro Over 600 cards (approx 250 legal per hero)
The card pool has grown to a very decent size, spread across Neutral, two factions (Human/Shadow) and seven classes (Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Wulven and Elemental). Each of the 32 heroes belongs to a faction/class combination, where they can use Neutral cards and cards from the faction or class. This gives each hero access to approximately 250 cards, which allows for great variety of decks.
Pro Free-to-play done well
The game is free to play but all cards in the game can be earned with free play, there is no need to purchase cards if one does not want to. Though it can speed up being able to build a better desk.
Pro Amazing artwork
The card artwork is of a very high standard and all cards are available in a full-art foil version too.
Pro One account usable across Android/iOS/PC/Mac
Whatever platform you register on, you can grow and access your collection and decks on any of the platforms, so you can use whichever you prefer at the time.
Pro Truly free to play if you want
The in-game currency rewards for playing are very generous and card prices in that currency are low.
Pro No rotation of sets (all cards still legal)
In all modes, all your cards are legal. No cards are rotated out of Standard play and the developer has said they have no intention to bring in rotation ever.
Pro Very limited RNG
Aside from a handful of cards from the original set that had "at random" on them, the developers have gone out of their way to bring more control into the hands of players. Effects will specify they damage "the ally with the lowest health", for example, and on a tie there is a Standard Resolution Order (the ally closer to the hero takes priority), so always know which one will be affected. Sometimes on other games you might think the RNG is skewed/faked, but that can't happen in Shadow Era. This means the main element of randomness and luck is the shuffle of the deck, which is how a card game should be.
Pro New free Single-player Campaign mode being updated regularly
There are already 120 missions to play through with dialogue, telling the story from the very beginning, for 10 Human heroes and 2 Shadow heroes (at the time of writing). Over time, more dialogue is being added to other missions for the remaining 6 Human heroes and 14 Shadow heroes, and then more maps with more missions will be added in future. The campaign mode is completely free and gives generous rewards for playing.
Pro Vibrant Tournament scene with prizes
A variety of player and developer organized tournaments, with prizes rewarded by devs, in both competitive and casual formats provides opportunities for players of all skill levels. It all culminates in the annual World Championship, a brilliant display of skill and deck building.
Pro Devs listen and interact with community
Main developer, Gondorian, is often commenting on questions in the Official forums as well as interacting with our player community on the Telegram messenger app.
Pro Exceptional limited (draft) format
Draft allows you to keep the cards you pick and earn some extra rewards. Unique mechanics allow signalling and signal-reading in draft while still allowing you to draft on your own time (no waiting for pod or passing).
Pro Sweet spot between MtG and Hearthstone
This game is not as complex and deep as MtG, but still it requires a lot more of strategic thinking and deck-building skills than HS. At the same time, a game of Eternal can usually be finished within 10 minutes.
Pro Very friendly to free to play players
Rewards for playing vs AI help new/inexperienced players not get obliterated in constructed, and keeping cards you draft helps you build the collection you want without simply opening packs.
Pro Frequent balance changes and diverse metagame
Devs are not afraid to frequently buff or reasonably nerf cards to balance the metagame.
Pro Huge variety of deck types
You can win with weapons, spells, units, and strategies of all kinds. Brewers and casual players can explore a near-infinite variety of fun decks without tanking their win rate.
Pro Respects your time
The game's reward structure understands that players want to be competitive without spending tons of money. Rewards can even randomly upgrade to higher tiers.
Pro Generous on rewards
The game is very generous on rewards and plays very fast once you're used to it. It's not a money sink like many of the CCGs you encounter nowadays.
Pro The dev team is motivated to make this a great game
Many professional MtG players on the dev team have ensured an eye for overall balance and metagame health throughout beta testing.
Pro Rewards thoughtful gamers
Many lines of decision making and careful deck management require you to always be on point.
Pro Very fast dev response to bugs and issues
Devs are active in discord channel and official forums.
Pro Beautiful and user friendly UI
The PC UI is incredibly smooth, and although the mobile/tablet UI is a little sluggish, it is still better than some other games.
Pro Community is mostly kind
Eternal's subreddit and discord server tend to be mature and respectful. People you friend in game are more likely to talk about how cool your deck is than to give you salt.
Pro Regular updates and content
Updates and promos once a month every month since open beta.
Pro Pack system is generous
Instead of trading cards with other players, there is a recycling/crafting system for handling duplicate cards and obtaining cards you want. Every pack gives you "shiftstone" on top of whatever cards you open, making it easier to craft expensive cards than in other games.
Pro Explores unexplored design space
Complex and interesting card design that makes the most of its medium.
Pro Card art is attractive and inclusive
Art is simpler than Magic's, but leans toward realism over cartoons. Women are represented in a respectful and diverse way.
Cons
Con Poor design
The graphics often seem like they are a less priority over other aspects of the game, the UI often falls into this problem too, which can make for a frustrating experience in that it can be difficult to know how to do certain tasks due to a poor layout and graphics.
Con It is a MTG clone minus any skill requirements
It has almost no way to out maneuver your opponent. Your draws decide the game. The screw/flood seen in MTG is made worse with the horrible design choice to use 75 card decks.
Con Mana screw happens
There are elements in the design to help prevent it, but you will still randomly lose games to drawing little or too much mana.
Con Power Creep
This game was very enjoyable from its release right through its first 3 expansions. Afterwards the balance was thrown off by developers releasing powerful and more powerful cards with each set or adventure.
Con Hearthstone clone
Con Visually lacks in flair and drama that might be appealing to players of other games
Voice-overs for many cards were recently added in a patch, but only one game board and no interactions between particular entities (calling out relationships or rivals) can make the game feel "stale" or "bland" compared to the level of polish of, say, Hearthstone.
Con Card art may be unappealing to some
While some of the art is appealing, the design of the card eliminates completely the attractiveness that the art could have.
Con Playing constructed is expensive
It takes a huge time or money commitment to have the most powerful cards for constructed. Many of the best decks require 10+ of the highest rarity card.
Con Requires waiting for a full board
Most of the time you have to wait to fill your board with the correct units before attacking. This makes the game quite slow and clumsy.
Con Toxic community
Con Not a mobile-friendly game
Best played on a PC or a tablet. Playing on a phone can be difficult as it's a direct port from PC so text and images can be tiny. Not a problem if you're familiar with the game, but new players it will be frustrating.