Eternals' Ark Featured Location
Sit down. I’ve Got a Story to Tell
Long ago, in the distant land of Lemuria—yes, that Lemuria. There lived a humble, immortal, powerful, strong, and wise man called Utnapishtim. His profession? He was a philosopher and an eternal by trade. Me– I mean Utnapishtim foresaw that the land would be destroyed by what would later be called the Great Cataclysm or Great Flood. It was considered by many an awful event, and everyone involved straight up didn’t have a good time.
To save all that he could from the Great Flood, Utnapishtim built, with his strong arms, an Ark. It was such a good vessel that it could resist the elements while still carrying a ton of people. Some other guy built another Ark. How original is that? I think his name was Noah or something like that. But Noah’s Ark was lame with mostly animals, and everyone knows that all animals were really small back then, so Noah’s Ark didn’t have to carry a lot of weight compared to Utnapishtim’s.
A great civilization also took the brunt of the devastation. The world’s most powerful nation at the time, Atlantis, was swept away like a castle made of sand. Even with all their riches and power, no one considered making an ark. I tried to warn them, but they were too stubborn and arrogant. It seems they handled the affair fine enough; their city is now at the bottom of the ocean, but they learned to adapt.
What caused the Great Flood? Many people tried to answer that. Some say Poseidon was angry with the people. Others tell the same story but change his name to Neptune. Others say it was a battle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec gods. Some blame the Eternals for it, saying their war against the Deviants made it happen. All I can tell is that none of it was my fault.
Do you want to see the ark for yourself? No worries; I charge 50 bucks for the tour. Hey, don’t be like that—a man’s gotta make a living. Do you know how little philosophers are paid nowadays?
Eternal's Ark - The Location
This fateful Wednesday, the 26th, Eternal’s Ark will be released into the game, and with it, a full day of it being the hot location. How do we best prepare, like our guy, Utnapishtim? Let's analyze the location:
This is something else. Eternal’s Ark is impactful but easy to understand; it does nothing until the end of turn 5, and then it floods the other two locations, making it impossible to play cards on those locations. By now, probably everyone knows about Storm; it's quite similar. You get a heads-up that later in the game, you won’t be able to play cards there anymore, so you better play your power on those soon-to-be-flooded locations before it's too late.
So, how do we best strategize? I see quite a few ways. The most obvious card is probably War Machine. He completely negates the bad aspect of Eternal’s Ark; remember to play him on turn 5 instead of 4. You can play some restrictive cards with him on your deck, like Ebony Maw and Infinaut. Maybe it's finally his time to shine?
Combo decks could work greatly with Eternal’s Ark, provided your opponent doesn’t mess with your combos. You could take Wong on a cruise on the Ark, so you wouldn’t need to worry about the flooding locations. You can follow him up with any powerful On-Reveals like White Tiger, Namora, Doctor Doom, and Odin.
Cards that scale high could also work greatly in those restrictive locations. Nebula, Thena, Sunspot, and Havoc could all be tucked away in a flooding location, and you won’t need to worry about a turn-6 Shadow King undoing your power.
Some sneaky location-changing cards could be way more interesting while the Ark is everywhere. A well-timed Snowguard Hawk would stop the Ark from flooding the locations. Quake could catch your opponent off guard and wreck his turn 6 plans. Legion is always a fun card, but he doesn’t work well with Eternal’s Ark. His best use would be to defuse the Ark by turning it into the location that you played.
Jean Grey is another interesting and overlooked card to play with the Eternal’s Forge. She forces you and your opponent to play at her location. If you play her on the Ark, making considerable power on the other locations will be difficult. Except if you build a deck with that restriction in mind. Probably, movers would work great with her on that day.
There is something else that you could do—something extremely evil. If Eternal’s Ark goes through, you will know where your opponent will play on turn 6. If you managed to grab priority, you could play our mighty purple cloud of death, Alioth. Or perhaps our local teenager, with the power of a nuke, is enough to do the job. Negasonic Teenage Warhead has low power but is powerful enough to take down a Hulk of any variety.
Eternal's Ark Decks
Here is my list of awesome decks that I believe will get extraordinary during Eternal’s Ark Hot Location Day:
Tsunami
This flavorful deck should work great even in locked locations. We spread a ton of power with Ms. Marvel, Namora, and Doctor Doom. We also have some sneaky play lines with Klaw and Grandmaster. If we play accordingly, Eternal’s Ark shouldn’t get in our way too much.
Wong Time, Wong Place
Very similar style to the deck above. But for this one, we are going full Wong. If you draw him and your opponent doesn’t shut him down, you can win by playing your On-Reveals. Remember to keep only one card per location if you’re going with Namora’s route.
Pix Machine
A Pixie deck! This list combines Pixie’s powerful energy scrambler with War Machine’s unstoppable effect. If we don’t get Pixie, we can always play War Machine on top of Hope Summers, allowing us to play The Infinaut anywhere on turn 5. If you play him in a location that is locked, there is no way for your opponent to Shang, the big guy.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4
I Cant Stop This Feeling…
This deck tries to weaponize Jean Gray’s effect the most. We always know where our opponent will play, so the Guardians, Negasonic, and Alioth will have major value. Also, we can avoid Jean's restriction by playing cards that can move to her location for some last-turn shenanigans.
Ravonna Rules
Can we get much higher? Of course, we can. This deck scales quite hard with your early drops. Your cards will usually scale with overflowing power even if you can’t play in some locations. Be careful with Havoc; you don’t want to play him very early unless you can offset his energy-draining power with Hope Summers.
Afterthoughts
I’m not a fan of restrictive locations such as this one. At least the Eternal’s Ark gives us plenty of time to play accordingly. I don’t think this will be a favorite like World Forge was, but it should be as impactful. Fortunately, after its inauguration, it will be a rare location like Weirdworld and District X. You should see it as often as those two. I hope that with this article, I was able to help you get ready for this location, but I’m always curious if you guys have some ideas of your own to circumvent locations like this one. Let me know in the comments if you have any secret strategies.
As always, I’ll see you on the next one!