Mind Trap|Spell Bomb

[OdinVanguard]

NAME: Mind Trap ELEMENT: Aether COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent (Trap - Spell Trigger) ATK|HP: TEXT: Play facedown. Adds 2 copies of the next hostile spell cast to your hand. The cost will be halved and change to	NAME: Spell Bomb ELEMENT: Aether COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Play facedown. Counter the next hostile spell card cast. Its caster takes damage based on its cost and may be silenced.

ART: -Fire like background on upped version is a colorized version of AnaRook's fire artwork -Card artwork taken from a screenshot of the elements game itself -Brain artwork taken from an old stock photo (I'm trying to find the link for the original still… it shows up in many places as splash / clip art for various web sites). -Merging, decolorization, etc. by OdinVanguard IDEA: OdinVanguard NOTES: "Trap" cards are designed to act like automated counters that can trigger on the opponent's turn. Since this is automatic, it should still work fine under the current "play by mail" style engine used by elements. Facedown means that this card appears facedown to the opponent (e.g. they see only the "back of the card" image as if it were in your hand). Facedown permanents may still be targeted like a standard permanent. Trap: means that this permanent is a special type that will only trigger in response to a particular event or action taken by the opponent, in this case it triggers when the opponent attempts to manipulate your quanta. If there are multiple traps in play that respond to the same event, only 1 trap gets triggered per event unless otherwise noted. "Spell Trigger": defined on card, but is useful to key in players to what is triggering the event. In this case, it is triggered when the opponent casts their next spell card (i.e. casting creatures or permanents won't set it off) Once a trap triggers, it leaves play unless otherwise stated. For the unupped version, if the owner doesn't have any space left, the extra cards are simply lost. The halved cost will be rounded up. A special glow effect could be added to indicate it may be cast with quanta instead of its regular cost. This portion of the effect is to help maintain its utility in non-rainbow decks. For the upped version, The damage will scale as 5*Sqrt(cost+1) for unused spells and 5*Sqrt(cost+3) for upped spells. Rounded down after multiplying. E.g. if the opponent casts Miracle (cost = 15) they will take 5*Sqrt(15+1) = 5*4 = 20 damage… if they cast the upped version, they take 5*Sqrt(12+3) = 5*(3.87) = 19 damage some other examples: deflagrate: 5*sqrt(3+1) = 5*2 = 10 damage steal: 5*sqrt(4+1) = 11 damage thunderbolt (upped lightening bolt): 5*sqrt(1+3) = 10 damage etc. I'm still deciding on the silence chance, but something around 15% to 25% seems good. Suggestions are welcome here. SERIES:

[OdinVanguard]

Bumping for feedback

[Dhanzig]

I think they're both great but they're so different it feels like 2 cards from the same theme (traps)  Spell Bomb (except for the silence) feels like an  card a bit and getting 2 copies of a hostile spell at 1/2 cost seems more powerful than the upped version.  Although 2x  bolts would pretty much only ever do 6 dmg   2x miracle for 3 + 2x (6 or 8  ) is pretty seriously potent!!

[OdinVanguard]

I think they're both great but they're so different it feels like 2 cards from the same theme (traps)  Spell Bomb (except for the silence) feels like an  card a bit and getting 2 copies of a hostile spell at 1/2 cost seems more powerful than the upped version.  Although 2x  bolts would pretty much only ever do 6 dmg   2x miracle for 3 + 2x (6 or 8  ) is pretty seriously potent!!

Yes, I see your point on the unupped version...
Would it be best to reduce to a single copy given, or increase to full cost (or more)... or both

[Dhanzig]

I think the two cards should be more alike ... but I like them both so I don't know what to change.  Forget Miracle ... The thought of a deflag caught in the unupped trap tickles me ... "No, you won't blow up my perm ... BUT for a mere each Ill now take out 2 of yours! MWAHAHAHAHA!!"

[dragonsdemesne]

In theory, I love the idea of facedown cards, but in practice, unless there are several facedown cards with identical costs, everyone will always know what the card is anyway.  Imagine if every element got one facedown card... well, it wouldn't take much to figure out where that 3  went to if this card were played :p  Fortunately, by making the unupped and upped cards quite a bit different, you've mitigated this problem to a certain degree, and I applaud you for that.

If you look at the CCG Netrunner (the original) with its hidden card mechanic for the runner and hidden cards for the corporation, or MTG's morph mechanic, you'll see that you need a fairly large series of similar cards before it really works.

[Anarook]

unupped is both stronger than the upped, and too powerful itself.

[OdinVanguard]

I've added a poll to see what people think for making the unupped version a bit more balanced.