ETS World Championships Preview

ETS World Championships Preview

Inked Gaming has been partnered with the Eternal Tournament Series for the good part of the year and we are extremely pleased with how we have been represented by this amazing community tournament series.  Eternal has a player base that is extremely passionate about their game, and for good reason. We have watched the community grow as Direwolf Digital has continued to release new content, card sets, a competitive play structure, and an official full release of the game on Steam! As a tribute to the hard work that ALL the World’s competitors have put in over the year, we would like to give a short bio, preview of the potential deck that each player could play and say some kind words about each of our competitors. We have been able to get to know most of the 16 players throughout the year and all of them are awesome players and community figures.

Paradox:

The team captain of Seek Power Gaming and overall champion of the people.  Paradox always has something positive to contribute to the community whether that be through a Twitter post, reddit comment, professional commentary on his podcast, or just through a Discord message complimenting you on your deck choice or play.  This invitational champion tends to play aggressive and proactive decks, many of the times playing the “off meta” deck to try to gain an advantage before the tournament even starts. Expect Paradox to show up with something that has a high risk/high reward and he’ll most likely be rewarded due to his tight play.

Lv13david:

David is one of our “Wildcard” qualifiers to the tournament, bringing the Feln control deck that has been popping up recently in high level play.  A member of the Eternal team, “Eternal Titans” David has shown throughout the year that his play isn’t constrained to a certain deck or archetype.  Basically, whatever Eternal Titans has found to be the best deck for the weekend, expect David to show up with that build or something similar.  A very strong player that tends to get overshadowed by the bigger personalities and streamers of ET, but is more than capable of making a very good run at the ETS Worlds title.  Expect him to play something consistent and powerful – we would guess him running back Feln control.

Mouche:

Mouche – when you are matched up with Mouche, whether on ladder or in tournament play, your heart rate elevates ever so slightly.  This player has ascended to Eternal greatness, and for good reason. His play throughout the year has been so consistent that he didn’t even really need to show up for most of the weekly’s, top 8’ing seemingly almost each one that he entered.  This player is regarded as the best Eternal tournament player of this year, maybe of all time. Will this actual Eternal Titan take down the biggest ETS prize ever? He certainly thinks so. His expected deck is most likely a variant on Combrei Aggro or Haunted Highway.  Something proactive and powerful.

Tobbo:

Another player that has a well-rounded resume, not bringing the same couple decks to every tournament.  Players like Tobbo (and most of ET actually) have an inherent advantage against many other Eternal Tournament grinders due to being able to bring whatever deck Is just best suited for the weekend – a common theme among most qualified players.  Tobbo has tended to bring TJP midrange more often than other players so we would expect Tobbo to follow suite with the other ET players and bring something proactive and powerful.

Almost:

This player ALMOST didn’t qualify for this event, needing to win the Season 4 Invitational, coming in SECOND PLACE.  Then, they had to place first or second in their second premier event in two weeks, they navigated one of the best competitive field’s ever, taking down this tournament.  Almost joined the Eternal Tournament Series late in the year, but that didn’t stop them from qualifying for Worlds on the back of the card, Haunting Scream. Even their Feln midrange builds still play that card in the market! Expect Almost to continue the trend of playing scream decks and destroying the competition with them.

ThePlatypusKing:

THE KING only needed two good seasons to receive an at large invite to this tournament, squeaking in at the last minute due to TonyGeeeee beating Almost in the last invitational of the year. The only full-time streamer to qualify for worlds, The King has shown that you can be a top-level competitive player while still streaming. This is not even mentioning that they missed an ENTIRE ETS season while hospitalized with a broken leg.  If Platy and Team Rankstar can bring a well-positioned deck to the tournament, there’s no reason that this guy can’t take down the whole thing.  If you’ve tuned into their stream, you can tell that there’s a reason we all call him The King. His play and his personality make him Eternal Card Game royalty. “You’re nothing to me but customers!”

Camat0:

Last year’s ETS World Champion, Camat0 has shown time and again why he is one of the most feared players in the world. His tendency to break metagames is quite possibly the strongest aspect of his game, being one of the mastermind’s behind Eternal Titan’s consistent success of being one step ahead of the metagame for basically ever. A player that plays so much ladder with different builds and decks that you can see them top 3 one minute, drop to 200th, then be back in the top 3 a few hours later.  An obvious favorite going into this tournament. Expect Camat0 to either break the format with something completely new or show up with one of his favorites: Xenan, FJS, or Combrei Aggro.

Erik9099:

As a fan of high-level ladder players, Erik has been on our radar for a long time now.  You would consistently see Erik in the top 10 with decks such as Hooru control and Kennadins during this last expansion.  After joining the ETS, Erik’s deck choices have branched out a bit and basically puts up awesome results with anything he tries.  A top player of The Great Parliament, Erik looks to continue his second half of the year dominance with a win at worlds. Expect Erik to show up with one of the more skill testing decks in the format, FJS Cookbook or Feln midrange.

Kang:

Kang, a very consistent player on the ETS, has a history of showing up with the same deck and doing well with it. Earlier in the year, Kang was a proponent of Praxis Midrange and the power of the consistency that deck brings. Lately, Kang has moved to a more traditional AP mid list and has had huge success with it.  A dark horse in the World Championships – no one will be metagaming for Kang alone, which makes his choice that much better. If his deck list lines up well against the field, expect him to go far.

SecondBlue:

At this point, SecondBlue might be Inked Gaming’s choice for the winner of this whole tournament. SecondBlue was always known as a great player, putting up HUGE results at the start of the year, and being able to relax a bit towards the end of the year (SecondBlue even casted the season 4 invitational!). The thing we really took notice of was during the ETS season 3 team series, when Seek Power Gaming was in the feature match via voice chat.  SecondBlue’s ability to navigate games and play to outs on a turn by turn basis is potentially matched by no one else in the whole tournament. Expect SecondBlue to show up with a scream deck (Haunted Highway) and play the deck at as close to its potential as possible.

Soo_No:

One of the “grinders” in the Worlds top 16. Soo_No has had success on multiple tournament series throughout the year while maintaining a high constructed as well as limited rank throughout.  One of his strengths is to show up with off the cuff decks and still dominate with them. His results with Caiphus decks, Elysian midrange, Skycrag Aggro, Xenan Midrange and other non-tier 1 decks make him someone hard to metagame for. Soo_No has consistently been one of the mastermind’s behind metagame defining decks all throughout the year and if he saved his best for last, we might be referring to him as the world champ next year.

Tinman:

Tinman “The Artifact Player” still managed to qualify for Worlds even with his branching out into the Artifact world. He was one of the players that didn’t really need to play the last season of the ETS in order to stay qualified due to his insane start to the season. His famous words, “oh am I still qualified?” after the season 4 invitational means that he’s not 100% invested, but with a player this caliber you still really need to watch out for them.  Most of Tinman’s success has come with Stonescar Gunslingers and “unitless control,” both of which are on the down tick in the metagame. We would expect him to show up with a deck like Combrei aggro (which he qualified for an Eternal Test tournament top 64 with about a month or so ago) or another proactive deck.

TonyGeeeee:

Tony, don’t worry.  We’re not going to leave this section blank for the humor.  Tony is arguably the most decorated player of the year with TWO invitational WINS and deserves a full breakdown on his accomplishments. Tony’s first invitational win came during the era where AP mid was at its height.  Tavrod was King and Tony’s build and play came out on top. Then, a few seasons later, Tony told everyone Feln was the place to be. No one believed him, and he went on an won the season 4 invitational with it. His win has since fully shifted the metagame, making it one of the top decks in the game. Despite Daisho not being a well-positioned card, Tony has continued to make his mark in the ETS and in the community at large. In addition to competing, Tony has always been a positive role model for the community and one of its most passionate players.  He hosts a podcast with his teammate, Paradox, as well as streams on Twitch from time to time- where his streams are always a great time. Expect Tony to run back some sort of Feln variant.

Childroland:

Childroland, named after the famous Dark Tower Series character, is one of the bigger community contributors in this top 16. He streams at a high level, is one of the ETS’s best casters, could be arguably the best draft player in all of Eternal, and he still gets the job done playing boring, old constructed. Roland was another one of the players that didn’t really need to do much playing towards the end of the season, so he joined SecondBlue and RNG in casting the season 4 invitational. If you look back on Roland’s deck choices throughout the year, he hasn’t feared bringing something wonky and non-tier 1.  Our favorite deck he brought was his ETS win with FTS (Fire Time Shadow) Midrange – a deck that isn’t really played at all but was a perfect choice for that given weekend. Another player that doesn’t have a history of a “pet deck” but will most likely bring a powerful midrange/control deck with a pretty high skill cap.

BruisedByGod:

BruisedByGod. What a name. The first time that this author played against this guy on ladder BBG was sitting around top 5 in the world and my heart started pumping. “There’s no way I can beat this player!” The name, the persona, the deckbuilding, the tournament results – all come together to make this player one of the most feared players in Eternal. BruisedByGod has a history of bringing midrange decks with very small room for error (Xenan, Hooru) but high reward if played correctly. BBG, along with Soo_no, are two of SPG’s most active and passionate members of the Eternal community's deck building scene. Going into this tournament, you would expect BBG to be one of, if not the most prepared player. Expect an easy top 8, if not better.

Magikarp:

Being the author of this piece, I won’t say much about my chances or anything. I will say that it has been an awesome year competing against these 15 other players. I wanted to write thing to give a shout out to each player and say some kind words before I turn 2 teacher them in the upcoming ETS Worlds.  Good luck everyone, much love to you all!

Sincerely,

Mitch Gross

"Magikarp"

Inked Gaming