Elements 1.32

[Annele]

I'm sorry Zanz, but I personally hate the shard changes. I think that there are other ways to balance shards, which doesn't resort to drastic measures such as this.
However, someone wise told me to test before I freak out, so I have tested and propose, if you insist on keeping shards this way, how to balance them.

• Shard of Divinity - I'd get rid of the elemental favouring, and have it add 24 max hp no matter what. 3 is worth slightly more than 3 , so the effect should be worth slightly more. [Add 24 HPs to your maximum health.]
  

• Shard of Gratitude - I think that as now it is slightly more restricted than it was with quanta, it'll be safe to heal 5hp each turn again, though perhaps by making the unupgraded cost 4 , and the upgraded cost 3 , to avoid spamming in SuperNova decks. [Heal yourself for up to 5hp a turn.]
  

• Shard of Readiness - As this already destroys a famous deck, I wont get any grief for suggesting a change to this. I personally don't see how being 'Ready' allows the use of an ability twice, so I think the target creature should just be able use their ability once (again) on that turn, removing summoning sickness and ability sickness. I am not sure what the cost should be, but I think decreasing it to 4 was a good start. [The target creature's skill cost is now 0. The creature is ready to use its skill again.]
  

• Shard of Sacrifice - This is a tricky one. Perhaps instead of the quanta sacrifice, there is a creature sacrifice, as the card already costs quanta? However, this is one I am less certain about, and am sure my fellow Elementals can think of a better way to balance its -broken- nature. Also, the way it is worded sounds as if SoSac's health sacrifice will be healed if you already have the Sacrifice state on you, so that needs to be reworded, I think. [Sacrifice 48 health and the target creature to swap damage and healing for 2 turns.]
  

• Shard of Void - I don't think there's much of a change to this one. People rarely used it without a mark (I was one of those rare exceptions ) so I believe with a cost, 3 max hp will be fine. [Reduce your opponent's max health by 3 HP each turn.]
  

• Shard of Patience - +5/+5? Really? Well, nobody can say that SoP came out worse off after the Shard changes. I honestly have no idea how to change this, except maybe by making the buff happen AFTER creatures like BL die. People in chat say it's balanced though, as it isn't rainbow costing, so I guess it can be left as is. (Maybe with a cost increase of 1) It is the only shard I don't think needs its Elemental favouring removed, because it is only discriminating against immortal creatures, burrowed creatures, and malignant cell, which isn't much. I DO think that SoP's ability (Patience) is a really silly name, though 'impatience' sounds weird. [Your creatures do not attack and gain +2/+2. Water creatures in a flooded area gain +5/+5]
  

• Shard of Serendipity - Not too much has to be done to this, I think, apart from removing the guaranteed Entropy card. (People already need slightly more Entropy production because of the cost.) Maybe a -1 to the cost as well, because 3 is slightly higher than 3 . [Add up to 3 random cards in your hand.]
  

• Shard of Focus - Well, at least now it wont be splashed into every single deck. I don't personally like it as a card at all, and there are other Elements that need PC more desperately, and doesn't need more access to BH, but it is balanced. (Or at least more balanced than it was before.) This is another card where the Elemental favouring isn't too obvious, so I don't think that should be changed. Basically, unless you want to change it completely, I'd keep the wording the same, and maybe alter costs. (4 seems okay atm.) Maybe lower the hp gain to 10, and the max before BH to 31 though. [Accretion: Destroy target permanent and gain +0/+10. Turn into a Black Hole if HP > 30.]
  

• Shard of Bravery - Slightly OP imo, and as I am basically getting rid of all Elemental favouring, I'd just get rid of it for SoBe. [Your opponent draws up to 2 cards. Draw an equal number of cards.]
  

• Shard of Integrity - The worst designed shard imo. Personally, I think Earth should get a normal Shard (there is a nice idea in the Other Crucible, but you probably want to think one up yourself) and SoI either scrapped or made into the shard. If it is made into the rainbow shard, I suggest that Shard Golem, when RT'd, turns into a SoI again in your deck, and its ability costs random quanta.
  

• Shard of Wisdom - I still think that it should be able to buff non-immortal creatures, but still buff immortal creatures more. [The target creature (can be immortal) now deals spell damage. If it is immortal, it gains +3/+0 as well.]
  

• Shard of Freedom - This is really sad. SoFr decks were some of the most fun decks. I see the reasoning for it though, and the only change I'd make is to get rid of the favouring, as it is most likely going to be used in Air decks anyways. [Airbourne creatures gain a 25% to deal +50% damage, ignore shields and evade targeting.]
  

Now I don't expect for you to do exactly what I want on my command (if you did, you'd change the shards back ) but could you please consider my ideas Zanz? (Also, Graviton Mercenary needs a buff. )

[Absol]

Shard change. Not sure if want. Some of them costs more than the other.
Guess we can't have on-average power shards. Like a weapon, some are cheap while the others not so much.

[Dm]

Slight SoFo nerf. ME LIKES.

[Helston]

*Is freaking out over shard changes*

If I get a chance over the next few days, I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store with deck testing.

[Chapuz]

I prefere the original Diseccation style, with the unupped one targetting your own creatures. It gives more strategical usage yo the unupped meta.

[Laxadarap]

Slight SoFo nerf. ME LIKES.

Huge Sofo nerf imo. 

ME LIKES.

Honestly though, the main reason sofo was super OP (other than massive card advantage, which I still disagree with) is that an early sofo is almost impossible to deal with.  Gl getting this out 0th turn and keeping your momentum (no pun intended).

[choongmyoung]

AAAAAAAAh and please don't forget the Reflective Shield + Purify bug, one of the most important.

[willng3]

He just posted on that topic a few minutes ago saying it would be fixed.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Shard change to monoelement is meh for me. I personally liked the theme of cards that indirectly favored a certain element, and I agree with Annele that there are other ways to balance shards, such as forcing them to use one type of any quanta as opposed to any quanta you want. I don't think every shard needed the balance change, either (a few choice ones like SoFo and SoR maybe, but a blanket nerf comes across as a bit awkward and forced to me.)

Just my 2 .

[furballdn]

As of this post, here is what I find:

Still not a fan of dessication, but seeing as how t-storm was buffed, it is better. The problem with quanta gain and acceleration is that it is only really useful early in the game. Later on, it's not as effective.

Changing SoP to water but still have it increase HP will probably make fractal sparks broken.
SoD to light I'm ambivalent about. Light has even more healing, but it also stops decks like mono fires from free healing.
SoG feels like it's really treading on bond. Already shifting life mark made it too focused in life, an element with plenty of healing, but this change makes it even more so.
SoR loses its more creative uses with cards like steam machine and other mono ability cards. Not sure if that was a good idea if it was just aimed at instant mitosis.
Nerfed SoSa to 1 . That's fine. The problem is, it still has an elemental punish instead of elemental reward.
SoV to . SoV doesn't really synergize with any darkness cards very well, and it was already a pretty niche card that mainly fit into zen or other stall/stallbreakers.
SoSe to 3 might be a pretty big nerf. In a mono or duo entropy deck, random cards won't be much of use. In an SNbow, 3 is probably too much to spare for 3 random cards.
SoFo moved into mono gravity. It requires 4 , but it still feels like it might be too powerful. 4 + 1 card + 3 turns = 1 black hole + 3 deflags
SoBe in fire. Well it certainly nerfed it, stopping nova/immo.
SoI nerf is pretty minimal. Most shard golem rush decks can easily get 1 with nova, and even an mark can summon it quickly. I do not think that this nerfed its speed.
SoW in makes it even more situational and almost forces it to be used either in mono aether, or a complex impractical combo for it to funciton well.
SoFre to I'm ambivalent about.

Can has more PC pls?

[MystiK_]

Guess Dials SoSac is no longer viable

[ddevans96]

Why wouldn't it be?