Bond of Defiance | Bond of Amplification

[odideph]

NAME: Bond of Defiance ELEMENT: Fire COST: 0 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Inflicts 3 damage to the player who has the lowest current HP.	NAME: Bond of Amplification ELEMENT: Fire COST: 2 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Inflicts 4 damage to the enemy player. If his current HP is higher than yours, you take 2 damage instead.

ART: odideph IDEA: odideph NOTES: You're stronger and you know it?  Prove it by playing this risky card. This is a fire permanent that seeks to strengthen rushes to end the game as fast as possible. The  version of a Bond, as i see it. The damage is dealt every time your turn ends. Does not build into clusters. If N Bonds are in play, the effect will happen N times. If both players have exactly the same current hit points, both take damage. Example for Bond of Amplification: 1) I have 90 HP, my opponent has 80 HP, there are no creatures alive and no poison stacks. I play a Bond, it will deal 4 damage to the other player. 2) The turn after he plays nothing, and i play another Bond. This time he will take 8 damage. 3) Eventually he plays Miracle, getting 99HP, i still have 90 HP. I play nothing. The Bonds will thus deal 4 damage to myself. It has synergy with itself and with the quick damage dealing of the fire element in general, but could be used in other elements aswell (unupped) because of the free quanta cost. Fire and other PC elements are safer with this card because they could destroy it if things go wrong (especially for the unupped one). The upped version is safer and will backfire less dramatically if the enemy is able to turn the tides. Because it has a cost, it is also more restricted to monofire use, and is less likely to come into play very early. Counters: Many things, which will most likely cause horrible backfires: -All heals (Miracle!), and heals-over-time by a lower margin. -Max-HP-increasing cards (SoD, Stone SKin...) -Hard countered by Shard of Sacrifice: the Bond will either heal the enemy or damage yourself. -Reflective shields (it's spell damage) -Destructive PC (Pulverizer, SoFo, Butterly Effect --- not Steal, not Mindgate) -Players who just manage to deal more damage than you eventually but early enough (Mitosis/Fractal/Adrenaline/Acceleration...) -Vampire creatures -And of course, bad starts, where playing this will just kill you faster. SERIES:

[furballdn]

Most card games already have a way where the person who gets the head start usually gets the advantage. Bond of Defiance would just make that more prominent, especially matched up with 's aggressiveness and speed. Not sure about the balance of the upped version. It's pricey, yes, but the mechanics seem overly complicated, so I hadn't really seen the balance behind that.

That said, how does this fit thematically and with fire?

[odideph]

This permanent tries to put the emphasis on  's capability to deal the most damage the fastest, early in the game (that was for the mechanisms)

The thematic fitting is the same as Immolation, i'd say: Immo makes you take a "risk" by having you kill your own creature, that you could possibly have needed later on (for example, to help take down a bone wall or something...). The reward for that risk is a stronger Fire creature, which usually doesn't have much HP either. So, both cards make you take risks in exchange for potentially great damage output, as i see it.

From a more aesthetic point of view, i was thinking of Shard of Bravery when making this one, and Empathic Bond sort of. So i thought, "If there was a  Bond, what would it look like?" and this is the result. It has a double-edged effect like SoB, and directly affects health based on the current state of the game like Empathic Bond.


The upped version's balance, well, i'm not sure either. It requires getting at least a 5 HP lead before even being played, else it will be weaker than the unupped version. And you still have to pay 8 (that's 4 minor phoenixes) to use it. But if you successfully do, you could deal very high spell damage to the enemy, ending the fight possibly twice as fast.

[furballdn]

You mentioned immolation. Immobows are known to be one of the fastest deck types out there. If you can get out a golem first turn along with some support, you almost definitely have the hp advantage, even if you went second. If that's the case, bond of defiance is a free card that deals 5 damage per turn.

I'm assuming no stacking?

[odideph]

Against such a rush for example, the enemy could play a Shard of Divinity and let the Bond owner kill himself over time (until the Golem grows big enough, that is). But yeah what you described is one of the uses of this card.

If by stacking you mean like pillars, who make a cluster (and you can PA them all with just one PA), no it doesn't.
If you mean "Do 2 Bonds deal the damage 2 times?", the answer would be yes.
Now that made me think further about the balance, and i'm going to lower the damage right now because i've just wondered what happens if you pack lightning bolts and this, aether mark, and get a Bolt and 2+ Bonds of Defiance first turn... Thanks for pointing that out.

[furballdn]

Making only healing a counter to this would be a bad idea in my opinion. Remember, in a fast immorush, this is basically a free card that deals (however many damage you choose) per turn.

[OldTrees]

Interesting. Nice simple effects. The difference between the upgraded and unupped allows for slightly different types of decks. I suspect both to be too efficient. A rush using Bonds should be slowed down enough to lose to a rush that does not use bonds.

[furballdn]

It has been nerfed down to 3 damage. I am still not sure. I would like to see some playtest stats with fast rushes incorporating a few of these into their decks.

[odideph]

@ all previous posters: Yeah it was definitely too strong, i've lowered the damage to 3 (from 5) on unupped, and increased the cost to 10 (from 8 ) on upped.
That way unupped doesn't deal any more than a < 10 quanta Firebolt, and upped costs more than a Cremation gives. That should do.

While 3 damage per turn may look like much, the main dilemma is still that it can end up damaging you in various circumstances (and a minor phoenix does more damage).

I'll just proceed to list every counter i can think of right now (in main post).

EDIT: done.

[artimies7]

Card and table don't match currently.

Though it's a nice Fire card. Perhaps a cooldown to prevent spamming?

[odideph]

Card and table don't match currently.

Though it's a nice Fire card. Perhaps a cooldown to prevent spamming?

Thanks, fixed.

I'm not sure what you mean by cooldown, it's a permanent that automatically deals damage at the end of your turn.

[Dm]

Card and table don't match currently.

Though it's a nice Fire card. Perhaps a cooldown to prevent spamming?

Thanks, fixed.

I'm not sure what you mean by cooldown, it's a permanent that automatically deals damage at the end of your turn.

Something like "When damage is dealt, this permanent is in stasis for a turn." Or w/e.