Building comparison
head to head
Etherlords IIvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Etherlords II demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
Etherlords II
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Card-battle strategy testing deckbuilding math against draw luck.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Etherlords II leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Etherlords IIPortal
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Etherlords II
Turn-based card play, no dexterity
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Reads2 vs 0
Etherlords II leans clearly harder on reads.
Etherlords II
Mostly AI duels; rare human matches add light bluffing
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance5 vs 0
Etherlords II leans clearly harder on variance.
Etherlords II
Card draws decide what each duel offers
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Etherlords II
Deck construction and mana sequencing are deeply solvable
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.