1. The card looks and sounds (fountain) like a permanent, yet it is a spell?
it seems to me that outside of maybe boneyard, all the permanents included in the game so far have been things you can bring with you. an hourglass, a sword, a shield, a shard. so i figured that the fountain/spring could be something you just pass by on you elemental journey. that way you get the effect once, and then move on.
2. Ridiculously overpowered when opponent has only a few cards. I mean.. 7 creatures with one card?! Not to mention these creatures produce .
before i start, i do have to note that you're pointing out the 'best case scenario' stand point, and not also the 'worst case scenario'. notice that only your opponent has the ultimate control over how well this card does in a match. in most cases the expected return from this card will be 3-5 creatures. that being said, i actually wanted it to produce less. the problem was with the stupid clause you would have to add:
Put a number of Ray of Lights into
play equal to 5 minus the number
of cards in your opponents hand.
a negative number results in no
creatures.at least i think this clause is necessary. either way, it loses some simplicity when you move away from you opponents max hand size.
i actually don't think the unupped version is OP as it doesn't act as an accelerator. it destroys bonewall, but it also can be pretty good at fueling your opponents bonewall, and it's stopped by basically every other shield.
as for the upped version, it does lose some of the accelerating power because you have to wait for your opponent to start dropping cards to get a larger effect, and it's early in the game that acceleration is most valuable. i hate just upping the cost to make a card balanced, but it does seem to be the simplest approach and it would make you work harder to gain the quantum back via RoLs. i don't know. If more people are saying OP, i guess i'll increase the cost of the upped version.