Eternal Quick Ramping Guide For New Players

I wrote this guide two years ago or more. I posted it in the Eternal Facebook page whenever someone asked for info on how to get the maximum coin, cards and shiftstone for free as quickly as possible in the game. After a month or so of posting regularly, one of the admin's started deleting my posts, so I gave up trying to help.

Now I've seen Hexxen create a beginners guide here at eternalwarcry and I though, "that's a good idea" - so I've shared my original guide below. The pretty version can still be found online by clicking here.

THE ETERNAL CARD GAME QUICK RAMP GUIDE
Beware the old Warrior. He is still around for a reason...
~Wisdom of the Elder Gnomes, Tome 3
By Mathias Nagy (ElderGnome+2052)

Welcome, Fellow Card Gamer!
I've been playing Eternal for a little while now and I reckon I've done pretty well. In the few weeks since I started playing again, I've reached Master level in Gauntlet and Gold 2 in Ranked (at the time of writing this).
Being an old hand at Hearthstone has helped me play Eternal pretty well. It really is the better game, with a much better strategy element. RNG does not rule here! (OK there are the odd random effects, but they are rare). The luck of the draw is the only place RNG rears its ugly head in Eternal. That's the only place I want to see it, too.
Games in Eternal can be quick and brutal, but may also settle in for the long haul if things go well for both players. Still, one poor choice or missed opportunity and you're likely to be punished into oblivion!
Eternal is an addictive game and I love it. Here are my tips for getting the MOST out of Eternal, by spending as little time and money as possible.
Being a collectible card game, we all know that getting the premium cards is key for success (and variety), so that's what we'll be aiming for. I'll assume you're a new starter, so let's start at the beginning and get competitive quickly.

STAGE 1: Get all the coins/cards the game offers as quickly as possible
1. To play well as a new player, you need to understand the unit skills and card effects. There are quite a few skills, but don't stress, they become second nature after a while. Until then, use the Eternal Fandom Wikia to get an explanation of them all: eternalcardgame.wikia.com/wiki/Skills. Keep a browser page open here, as you'll refer to this page often while you're new.
2. If you need other information from the Wikia site quickly, google: "site:eternalcardgame.wikia.com Keyword". Just change Keyword to Destiny, or whatever term/effect/card you are searching for.
3. Get an account at www.eternalwarcry.com (EWC) and record all your cards under "My Collection". We used to be able to use the suggested deck-tracker program to import our collection in one go, but it's not working at the moment, so we have to enter our cards manually for now.
4. EWC is also the place to get the best netdecks for the cards you have. Sort the decks by Shiftstone needed, low to high, to see which decks you can construct right now.
5. This is very important - you don't have to have every card in a netdeck for it to be a winner. Just fill in the missing cards with other cards that you do have. You can update your deck once you get more of the right cards in future. But make sure have some idea of which missing cards are essential - sometimes there's no point in creating a deck without them...
6. Whenever you get a new card, search "new" in your (in-game) collection to keep your EWC collection up to date. Do this every time you get a new card or at the end of a gaming session, otherwise updating your EWC collection will takes ages when you finally get around to it.
7. Always click the Shiftstone icon to try and dust a card when you get a new one. If you receive at least 1 Shiftstone, you know you have 4 of that kind of card (the maximum playable in a deck), so you don't have to update your collection. If you didn't get any Shiftstone, then add the new card to EWC.
8. Do all the puzzles - they are tough, but all the solutions are on the internet, so google them.
9. Play the Gauntlet as often as possible. This is free and can get you some very nice freebies if you do well.
10. Click on "Profile", then click on "Achievements". Here you will find a HUGE list of tasks to aim for that will get you gold, packs and Shiftstone. Of course, aim for the easy Achievements first.
11. Create your own decks around cards that will get you an Achievement quickly. This is good practice for creating your own winning decks. Otherwise, just use EWC netdecks, doing a search with the cards you want to use in the "includes cards" field. Also make sure you set the "Type" field as Standard.
12. Send friend requests after you play someone so you can get the "play a friend" Achievement.
13. Concentrate your Shiftstone spending on cards you need for short-term goals like Achievements - sometimes just one of a card is better than none. Don't be too eager to spend your Shiftstone on "winning" decks at first, aim for the Achievements you need to build your collection and gold.
14. Of course, do the daily quest every day. Make sure you win at least one VS game a day for a free pack!
15. Do all the free Campaigns.
16. Don't spend your gold on anything else except the paid Campaigns until you've done them all. You get some really good cards for free this way. Also, some cards can only be obtained from the Campaigns. In other words, you can't buy them with Shiftstone. This strategy has been essential in creating two of my most effective decks.
17. Don't worry about playing Events until you do everything else mentioned here first.
18. If you can afford $10, buy 1100 Gems. Apart from the 9 free packs, this will allow you to play one Forge, one Draft, and get a nice Totem. Doing one Forge and one Draft early on gives you nice bonuses and will save your coins, so aim to buy (at least) $10 worth of Gems. Otherwise, get the cheapest $3 offering and still get the 9 free packs. If you can't afford any $$$ (or you don't want to spend any cash), just save your coins for Campaigns and play the Draft/Forge later.
19. Once you play all the paid Campaigns, play a Forge and a Draft if you haven't done so already.
20. Avoid playing Draft or Forge until you understand the game well, or you will waste the opportunity to have a lot of fun (and earn free packs)! Always pick the cards you need and don’t have, starting with units first.
21. Once you've done all this, start buying the Theme Decks. Begin with the decks that have card you really want, then the decks with the most cards you don't have. The goal is to get them all before moving on.
22. Once you have all the cards that the Theme Decks can offer you, you can start using your coin to play the Draft. Only play Events when they offer something really good.
23. Occasionally, if an Event is cheap, go ahead and play it anyway, even if you are missing out on a Theme Deck. Do NOT play an Event if you are still saving for a Campaign - the cards there are much better.
Congratulations, you are no longer an Eternal noob!

Stage 2: Where to now?
23. At this stage, take a look at this website: www.rngeternal.com/tier_list. It lists all the top tier decks in the game. Load them all into your deck collection and start spending Shiftstone on cards for the deck(s) that you are close to completing.
24. Remember Tip #5! You can play limited versions of Tier 1 decks and rock the rankings anyway.
25. Don't forget to have fun with the best of what Eternal offers, deck building. Use your own ideas to surprise you opponents while you rise up the ranks. Ultimately, playing well is better than shiny new cards.
26. Use EWC to netdeck - some decks other players come up with are very interesting and fun to play. Steal their ideas and add your own! It's all part of the fun of playing Eternal and will build your play skills.
27. Once you’ve absorbed every Freebie the game has to offer, play Draft as often as possible - you’ll quickly beef up your collection and score the occasional Legendary. When I choose cards, I only go for cards I don’t have 4 of. If there’s more than one offering of high value cards I need, I go for a unit first (unless the tech card is really good - I STILL don’t have any Harsh Rule cards!) All the Shiftstone and free packs you get from winning Draft battles will help you create those essential cards you’re still missing.
28. Focus on building ONE full Tier 1 deck at a time and play it as often as possible. You’ll eventually become an expert with it and hopefully get to Master in Ranked play.
At this stage, you don't need any more help from the likes of me - you have all you need to mater Eternal!
Thanks for reading and I hope this ebook has been helpful in getting you to be an Eternal Master Player at record speed. I finally cracked it on 22/7/2018!
Mathias Nagy (ElderGnome+2052)
PS: Keep up to date with me, my friends and the latest Eternal articles at my Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/groups/EternalWWFC
See you in the killing fields, punk!