4th Trials - Phase 1 - Proving of Worthiness

[kev]

Phase 1 - Proving of Worthiness
Phase 1 has ended

See the tasks here (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29093.0.html).

Post your screenshots, links, shard commentaries, etc here.

Please use "modify" on your first post here rather than adding new posts as you progress through the tasks.  This will help avoid clutter.  Thanks.

[Essence]

Complete!

Russian Defense (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29351.msg400344#msg400344)





Hahaha -- I just noticed that I somehow managed to get exactly the same score in my first two screenshots.  If the Powers that Be want me to re-do one of them just to avoid the appearance of impropriety, just let me know.

Shard of Assertiveness | Shard of Assertiveness (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg397715#msg397715)

Well, first of all, obviously the unupped Shard doesn't fit with Zanz' new vision for shards (which should do something both unupped and upped.)  But ignoring that, let's address the fact that this Shard does basically nothing for non-Fire decks.  If you're not playing Fire and you're opponent's not playing Water, this shard does bupkiss.  That's not good game balance, and it's not good fun either.  You should decide which of the aspects -- the thawing or the ATK bonus -- is the one that best fits under 'passion'. 

Or, really, you might combine the two but create a mechanic that's more universal like "All creatures gain +1 | +0 every turn.  Thaw all frozen creatures and permanents.  All Fire creatures and all creatures that thaw this turn gain +2 | +0".  That might necessitate upping the casting cost a little bit, but it's at least as gamechanging as the proposed Shard of Sacrifice would be if it were turned down to 3 turns.  Not that Water needs the nerf, but whatever.

First off -- what does that effect have to do with Strength?  (Well, really, first off, see the previous shard's comment about useless unupgraded shards, but then, yeah, why 'strength' for a parental effect?)  The dude is just so buff that he rips himself in half and survives?  Also, when you say 'daughter creatures', are you aware of how Zanz has defined the term?  Your shard as written will destroy a creature, create two base (unmodified) creatures of the same name, and then halve both of their stats. 

On the one hand, this is great if you have, say, an Antimattered Firefly Queen.  You end up with two non-Antimattered FFQ's with Atk of 1 and HP of 3, but the important part is you end up with two Firefly creators.  On the other hand, this totally sucks if you have a Twice Blessed Adrenalined Elite Deja Vu.  You kill it and then you end up with two 1|1 Elite Deja Vus. 

I'm just not sure that that's what you intended.  It feels like you meant to say basically "PU the creature and then halve it's ATK and DEF".  If I'm wrong, feel free to ignore me.

Ahh, the Healstopper.  This would be a great addition to the game, but I have concerns for a few reasons.  First of all, do we really want the Healstopper to be a Shard and thus accessible to everyone, often on Turn 1?  Secondly, Shards are supposed to be able to stack, and this stack doesn't do anything that a single one wouldn't.  Is that intended, because it seems a little clumsy instead.  You could easily fix this by making the 2 damage | 3 damage a "per turn" thing -- as it is, it's almost a silly afterthought intended to make the Shard fit Zanz' basic vision.  By making the damage per-turn, you add to the stackiness in a nice way as well as making it meaningfully more valuable to the crowd.

I'm assuming that you specified "heal or gain HP" in order to point out that Stone Skin and Shard of Divinity don't even increase your Max HP, as well as not increasing your Current HP.  If that's not the case, you might want to skip the redundant phrase. 

All told, I'm all for some form of healstopper, but I'm not sure that this is the right format (or the right element) to have it in.

I like the concept of the Shard, and I think it's well balanced IF you're dealing with Ruby Dragons or buffed Golems.  Maybe.  Maybe not -- look at it this way.  If you've got a Ruby Dragon out (and nothing else), this card (the unupped version) becomes a 15-point nuke when the Dragon dies.  If the Dragon dies.  Is that worth the spot in your deck?  It's less damage under less control than an Unstable Gas.  Obviously the upped version would work quite strongly in conjunction with a Fire rush, removing the UG problem -- but then I have to ask if it's not TOO powerful. 

Also, how does this interact with things like Phoenix and Immolation?  Does Immo trigger the effect?  Does Phoenix attack, or does the Ash make the attack?  Does the attack happen right away, or does the creature sit around with 0 HP like a Spark until the end of the turn and then attack in it's normal sequence?  If the attack does happen right away, do normal end-of-turn actions like quanta generation, venom droppage, etc. happen?  If not and it does sit around with zero HP, can it be rekilled in the interim?  What happens if it is?

This is a clever idea, but it raises a LOT of mechanical questions that need to be addressed before I'll vote for it.

This is another one of those clever concepts that just isn't there balance-wise.  For a buff smaller than a Blessing at the same cost (granted, it's generic and any Element can use it), you get a cumulative chance to die that plunges below 50% by the 4th attack.  (For the record, that's .9*.85*.8*.75=.459, or a 54.1% cumulative chance of dying by the end of the 4th attack.)  If you're a Fire card using the upped version, your cumulative chance to die breaches the 50% mark on the 6th attack, when it plunges to %56.395.  That's a total of 24 points of damage (+4 ATK over 6 turns), which isn't bad.  But for non-Fire creatures, it's a mere 8 extra damage (2 points each turn over 4 turns). That's AWFUL.  You're literally better off adding an Ash Eater to your deck at that point.

Also, there's no particular reason to upgrade this card if you're not playing fire.  The upgraded version should be better in SOME way other than "fire likes this even moar now".  Lower the CC, maybe, or increase the HP buff if you're worried about too much damage.  Just do SOMETHING.

This card suffers from the same problem as the one above -- no reason whatsoever to upgrade it if you're not playing Fire.  That's just silly.

Also, given Zanz' new vision of Shards that stack, is this Shard safe? Do we want everyone to have access to a stackable universal stat boost?  On the one hand, a large part of me yells YES! because I can think of a lot of decks that would benefit -- but then a large part of me says NO! because the only decks that WOULDN'T benefit are the ones that are already on the fringes of the game -- stalls.  This card would be an even bigger rush-draw, because stackable and able to be powered by Supernova, they could handily turn rainbow rushes into something as quick as an Immorush only without the gambling aspect (that is, gambling that you'll draw 3 cards - Immo, Photon, and an attacker - all at the same time). 

I suppose on the other hand they could also be powered by the rainbow 'spares' from Immolation | Cremation, so maybe they don't actually tip the balance in favor of Nova rushes after all. 

This shard would actually be better as an Air card, giving Damselfly spam, FFQ spam, and in particular Wyrm spam a new and better reason to exist.  (It could also have a solid place as a Life shard, if SoG didn't make so much sense in that slot.)  As a Fire-centric card, it seems to be somewhat of a bit of overkill.  As a generic-quanta-casting card, it seems to be even more overkill.  All told, I'm just not sure I like it in this incarnation.
Helpful Post #1 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28968.msg397725#msg397725)
Helpful Post #2 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28650.msg397730#msg397730)
Helpful Post #3 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28772.msg397821#msg397821)
Helpful Post #4 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26509.msg400200#msg400200)
Helpful Post #5 (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29239.msg400203#msg400203)

[~Napalm]

~Battle Prowess ~The Arena

Code: [Select]

~Deck Link

~Platinum
~Gold
~Silver
~Bronze
 
~Card Design ~Shards

  ~ Shard of Passion | Shard of Passion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398548#msg398548)

~Shard Critique 1

  Shard | Shard of Strength (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394451#msg394451) by Flama

This idea seems to be pretty cool, but almost underpowered. The wording of "sacrifice target creature" leads me to believe that you cannot target an enemy creature with it, which is a pity because things like Fire Storm and Rage Elixir would benefit greatly from having an enemy creatures health. I could be wrong though. Offensively, it's only real strength is found in growth creatures, allowing for a split and continual growth of 2 creatures instead of 1. With Cremation, the cost of the card is almost inconsequential, but the real issue is having enough quanta to power the multiple growth creatures you create. Aside from that, it has a decent synergy with things like Empathetic Bond, which adds health for each creature on the field, Scarabs, which gain increased health for every Scarab on the field, and even helps against Bonewall, generating extra creatures to tear down the wall faster. Overall, I think the Shard would be fine as an unupgraded version, but for the upgraded, a bonus could be added to make the Shard more favorable to Fire, perhaps split it into 3 daughter creatures with half the original att/hp's of the creature. I really like the idea, I just think it needs that extra touch to make it powerful enough to be fun!

 
~Shard Critique 2

    Shard of Determination | Shard of Determination (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394811#msg394811) by Marvaddin

Aaaah, this would be like the Anti-Healing card that Zanzarino was talking about. I'm not entirely certain that giving it to a Fire Elemental is the best idea, but it's a great Shard idea nevertheless! When I think of this Shard, my thoughts go immediately to Phoenixes. Phoenixes are pretty darn hard to kill, one of the best ways to deal with them is to just keep killing them with things likes Eagle's Eye, Maxwell's Demon, Fire Buckler, etc., and healing back the damage that they keep incurring over time. With this bad boy, the resiliance of Phoenixes will be accentuated just that much better. You can kill them once, you can kill them twice, but you're still going to feel the pain of their every attack. The added damage bonus for decks with a Fire Mark is a nice touch as well. I'm assuming that this bonus only activates when the shard is played? If it was to activate at the end of every turn, I might suggest lowering the damage dealt to 1 and making them stackable. I have some minor misgivings about adding this to Fire's arsenal as it is a very powerful effect that can be very easily abused by other weapons in the Arsenal of Fire. Fractix for instance, very cheap and effective way of getting lots of damage on the field in a short period of time. The ease with which Fire puts out lots of damage could make the lack of healing for the enemy quite powerful, even if the Fire Elemental cannot heal themselves. Other than that, I like the idea a lot.

 
~Shard Critique 3

    Shard of Loyalty | Shard of Loyalty (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394896#msg394896) by Xenocidius

With this Shard, I have one thing to say. I DARE you to play a Fire Buckler. Fire Buckler, meet Phoenix. Phoenixes are quite loyal to me you see, all your efforts are in vain! I must say that I love this Shard in connection with Phoenixes. Not only will they just not die, they'll exact revenge every time you try! It's so lovely I can't even describe it! Along with that, it does a great job of being very elementally favored. There are several creatures that have growthing abilities, such as Steam Machine, Firemaster, or even Spectres that Fire can use in conjunction with this card as well, making it much more painful to kill them off late in the game. Even Cremation comes to mind. Fire Rushes that cremate things like Ball Lightnings and Minor Phoenixes can make use of this. Just be careful that you don't get antimattered! Killing off your own antimattered creatures would be a bit of a pain, to be sure! While this card isn't very powerful until it is upgraded and the creatures you're playing are Fire creatures, it's a very creative way of improving Fire's destructive force without becoming overpowered. Props to Xenocidius on the wonderful idea for Fire's aresenal!

 
~Shard Critique 4

    Shard of Assertiveness | Shard of Assertiveness (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg397715#msg397715) by Essence

You know what, I think you're right. The last time we got to have fun with Weapons was before Mitosis got nerfed to pieces. Let's have some fun with them again! This shard is like the perfect way to do it too.  I really like that the effect making weapons a very dangerous attacker worthy of fear. Combine this with Animate Weapon and you can have some real fun. Especially if the weapon in question is Vampire Dagger. Vampiric damage, with up to a 150% boost is an opportunity too good to pass up. Another combo that comes to mind is the Crusader from Light. Provided the damage bonus is added before things like Fiery, Hammer, etc. activate, Crusaders would benefit a lot from this shard as well. Not only that, but activating before Fiery does is pretty key if the shard is to not become too powerufl. This Shard is very well put together if you ask me, it gives Fire more destructive force in a very creative, not overly powerful way. I can honestly suggest no improvements, aside from making sure that Crusaders are better equipped. Props to Essence for this marvelous idea!

 
~Shard Critique 5

    Shard of Leadership | Shard of Leadership (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398377#msg398377) by agentflare

Oh dang. I think I just found my happy place. *daydreams of Fractix* Minor Phoenixes that do 7 damage, yes please! I must say though, with Cremation also in Fire's arsenal, this Shard is too easily playable to be a permanent. Fractix can easily use Cremation to spam Minor Phoenixes, then drop this Shard and gain a massive attack bonus. The same can be said of Cremation Rushes, especially those that focus solely on Fire Creatures instead of off element creatures. I might suggest making the card more like Sky Blitz in nature, allowing the effect to last for limited turns. If the current effect only lasted 1 turn, I think it'd be fine. But more than 1 turn and an added stipulation of "Consume all but Fire Quanta" could be fitting, and lasting unlimited turns, some other drawback should be added. One that comes to mind would be the player taking damage per turn to allow their creatures this awesome bonus. All in all, I really love this shard as is, but it is perhaps too powerful in connection with some of Fire's more common combo's.

 
~Shard Critique 6

  Shard | Shard of Fury (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394429#msg394429) by TheForbiddenOracle

I really like where this shard is going, but I think it's quite a bit too powerful, even for Fire. In combination with Cremation, this shard seems to be too easy to play. The first thing that comes to mind is Fractix, where using Cremation to power this shard and effectively doubling the attack of every creature I play at the cost of quanta I wasn't using anyway, for up to 4 turn. Other things like rushes utilizing Cremation to get multiple creatures out early can also play this card easily for great effect. On top of this, enemy creatures are taking damage more than likely, which Fire can more than take advantage of. I might suggest extending the attack bonus to BOTH players, as well as perhaps making this shard more like a sundial in nature, where it only affects each player once. The only other thing that I might suggest would be a new name. Fury doesn't strike me as a virtuous characteristic. I might suggest Shard of Fortitude due to the fact that it is a Fire shard, and only Fire Creatures are strong enough to escape the effects of the shard unscathed. All in all I am intrigued by the idea, it just seems to be too powerful for how easily Fire Elementals can play it.

~Deckbuilding

~Constructive Criticism 1
~Constructive Criticism 2
~Constructive Criticism 3
~Constructive Criticism 4
~Constructive Critisism 5
~Constructive Critisism 6


Incomplete
Complete
Link

[agentflare]

Battle Prowess: Complete? [4/4]

Deck: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29164.html /facepalm my deck was invalid.

Take no/little note of these. I used an illegal deck for these.
Bronze:
Silver:
Gold:
Legit ones:
Bronze (done):
Silver(done):
Gold: (done): This was done with Oracle help (pet) is it legal?

Nearly forgot:
Score:


Shard Revolution: Complete [7/7]

My Shard:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398377#msg398377

Shard Reviews:
1.
Shard of Strength (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394451#msg394451)
I kinda like this card.

This card at first glance seems useless. I mean you're still dealing the same amount of damage right? But then I realized that it meant that you could effectively use 2 skills a turn instead of 1. This combos well with cards with growth such as Forest Spirit, Lava Golem, and Fire Spirit. You grow the cards faster. Also, it combos well with creatures with dangerous skills such as Maxwell's demon, Mind Flayer, and Fallen Elf.

Another interesting option for this card is to use it like CC. It makes large creatures more vulnerable to CC especially field sweeping CC.
Ex. Shard of Strengthed Abyss Crawler is now killable by Rain of Fire.
Also, it combos well with Fire Shield since creatures will take 2 times the damage. Along the way, it also helps nerf Otyugh. Got an Oty problem? Halve his health with Shard of Strength.

However, it doesn't specifically provide incentive to use solely with Fire. Although it combos well with quite a few fire cards (such as Fire Shield, Lava Golem, Fire Spirit), it doesn't help Fire more than any other element. I recommend adding something along the lines of: "If target card is a fire card you control, its daughter creatures gain +1/+1".

2.
Shard of Determination (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394811#msg394811)
I really like this card. It provides a very good counter against gamechangers such as miracle and the upcoming Shard of Sacrifice, and also nerfs SoGs and sanctuary.

Let's examine it:

It combos well with all reusable CC because it causes all creatures to never regain health and so will eventually die to the CC. However, it renders all stalls that take advantage of this CC useless since healing is required to take advantage of reusable CC. Its main place is in the meta-game where it counters stalls pretty hard, but does not add much to a deck. It makes up for that by countering the opponents strategy.

The Fire bonus is confusing and should be better worded. Is it -2 hp per turn or -2 hp as a one time hit? I'm guessing that it's the former, but the wording should be changed to "Cause 2 damage per turn to your opponent if your mark is  . This bonus is very nice incentive to use it in a quality some other shards in this competition have been lacking.
3.
Shard of Loyalty (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394896#msg394896)

This card is an interesting concept. A creature deals extra damage to the opponent before it dies. It is very nice and combos nicely with Fire since most Fire creatures have low hp but high attack, and the upped version has improved synergy with fire by providing that protection to all creatures (as long as they are fire, of course).
The mechanics he proposes however, are different to what the wording implies. The wording seems to say: Once a creature dies, it'll stay alive for one more turn, attack and then die. The mechanics he proposes under the card is: A creature dies and the opponent takes damage equal to the attack. The difference? Damage evasion shields, such as Dimensional Shield or Fog Shield. Under the first condition, a creature may miss his "final stand" but under the second condition, the damage cannot miss. However, the wording is nice as it is, simple and understandable.

This card provides a very nice incentive to use it in a mono-fire deck, so no problems there. All in all, it's a well done submission.
4.
Shard of Courage (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg395150#msg395150)
I think this is a more interesting submission.
This card is a probablistic version of Acceleration. After some number crunching, the expected amount of attacks a non-fire creature makes before it dies is around 5 attacks, and the expected amount for fire creatures is around 7 attacks, which makes it viable to be used as a buff. Also, it can be used as CC (which I suspect would be its main use).
As a buff then, it's expected to cause 10 damage before the creature dies (28 if it's a fire card), and don't forget, it causes the creature to die. It may be viable in a rush deck though(and that's pretty nice since Fire has the fastest rush decks).
As CC, it will kill a creature , regardless of hp, in an expected 5 turns and maximum 20 (very low chance though). Key words? Regardless of hp. That's quite overpowered. My colossal dragon has the same chance of dying as your puny little photon.

Let's compare that with other similar buff/hp tradeoff cards:
Rage Potion:
Bigger Attack Boost, and comparable CC potential. The difference is that RP is direct CC and can only be utilised on creatures with <5 hp without being a buff.

Acceleration:
Acceleration gives a higher attack boost and a more predictable life span. Acceleration can leave high hp creatures alive in the end, while shard of courage will probably kill them first.

So IMO, that's why this card is more likely to be used as CC. As such, the "boost" is actually more of a "nerf" because of its mainly CC use.
The attack buff should be raised or the probability of death lowered.

5.
Shard of Assertiveness (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg397715#msg397715)

This card is fairly interesting.
+20% or 25%(but this 25% is usually used on Fahrenheit) damage for weapons. Unfortunately, I believe that this card is very underpowered. Why?
Let's do some math.
The highest damage weapon is Titan, but it only deals 8 damage when upped.
1.2*8=9.6.
1 Shard of Assertiveness increased damage by 2. Not altogether too impressive. The main benefit of SoA is that it stacks, but even still, who'd take a situational card that helps deal at most 2 more damage even if it's free? (and usually only 1 damage for unupped cards). The only reason people take BLs in immo decks is that it's free and you can immolate it.
The other problem is similar to why people didn't take luciferin in RoL/Hope decks. It interferes with auto-mulligan, giving you a better chance for a worse draw.
That's why I recommend raising the boosts to +30%/+40%, and raise the cost to 3|2.

The Fire bonus currently is a good incentive to use it solely in  , however, the percentages help higher damage weapons more (like OE and Titan) since 5% is negligable and rarely make any difference.
6.
Shard of Passion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398548#msg398548)

I think this card has a lot of potential, but the wording needs to be changed and mechanics refined.

What I think this card does is that it "resets" a creature back to when it was just summoned, thus undoing things like non-lethal damage, buffs, growth skills and poison, and for Fire creatures, all positive effects remain, and all negative statuses are removed. So if you just rage potioned a 11/7 Lava Golem that's frozen, and then reborn it, it'd be 16/2 and not frozen.

This mechanic is very nice and isn't abusable since it's castable only once per shard. And it's not even a dead card if the opponent has no CC, since it has a small healing per turn effect, although this doesn't fit very well thematically since Fire is about more destruction than healing.

The alternative use of SoP is CC. Eldinis got a huge Forest Spirit he forgot to quint? SoP and it's back to 2/3. Huge creatures that are off element can now be reduced back to how they started without being rewinded, which is why this card thematically belongs in  or  more, but hey, Napalm is known for her attachment to the phoenix side of fire. To change it more thematically fire-y, i'd say that it should give bonus attack to the impassioned creature and scrap the healing per turn, or change the healing per turn into target creature gains the skill  revive.
 
Deck Help: Complete [6/6]
Deck 1: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28827.msg397622#msg397622
Deck 2: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28650.msg398256#msg398256
Deck 3: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28337.msg398756#msg398756
Deck 4: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,25455.msg399349#msg399349
Deck 5: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29254.msg399356#msg399356
Deck 6: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26509.msg399650#msg399650

[TheForbiddenOracle]

Task 1:

The Arena [4/4]:

Arena deck [1/1]:
 http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29180.msg398247#msg398247Rings:
Bronze 1/1:
Silver 1/1:
Platinum 1/1:

Task 2 Shards [7/7]:
Shard (of Faithfulness): http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg399259#msg399259

Shard Criticism:
Shard of Passion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394429#msg394429)
The Element of Fire is without a doubt a powerful element. In terms of raw damage potential both creaturewise and spellwise, it is almost unarguably the best. However this card emphasizes the one thing Fire lacks. Defense. But at the same time I feel as though it is not needed in the Element because it does not fit there. Granted, the Freeze speed up idea is something that Fire should have but does not bring the "fire" into Fire or "Passion" because it seems more like a card suited to Earth. It should be "All Fire creatures gain +1/+0, +1/-1, or even +1/+1 (though this should have a cost increase if the latter is chosen)." The point is, Fire does not give itself defense, but rather would do anything to gain Physical Strength/Spiritual Power in order to burn down the opposition before they can react so that the defense becomes necessary. Shard of Strength (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394451#msg394451)
This card is fascinating, but at the same time I feel that the only thing it will do for Fire is create more Immolation/Cremation fodder, which, I might add, is not so bad of an idea. However, I feel this card is too situational to do any good in a Fire deck (though it might be good for a Death deck) unless you are using it to add Immolation/Cremation fodder or you want more creatures with that ability (though those are really the sole purposes probably, or you want to get rid of it because of a certain Creature Control effect/the creature is about to die next round). Now that I think about it, it would make an excellent combination with Phoenixes (even if it isn't repeatable and can only make a certain number of copies unlike Fractal). But now I am curious, as to whether the "Target creature" could be the opponent's creature because that would change my entire opinion of it.Shard of Determination (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394593#msg394593)
Very intersting card here. It certainly symbolizes what Fire is truly about; raw damage and stop everything in the way of that. I think it is a little overpowered though (perhaps 1 damage unupped and  upped?) because if you have it upgraded and have 6 on the field that is 18 damage on the will take at most 6 turns to kill them (if they did not play and Shard of Divinities or Stone Skins or destroy several of them beforehand of course). This will transform Fire "Stall" into something much, much more deadly. Fahrenheit and Fire Bolts will no longer be the only cards able to knock out the opponents health in no time anymore with a creatureless deck. But like I stated before; I think it is overpowered so it might be necessary to either decrease the damage or even increase the cost (6? Seems like a good number for this card) or maybe even do both.Shard of Loyalty (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg394896#msg394896)
I truthfully like this card. When it is unupped it can be played in every element, though of course it needs creatures for the card to have any value. Upgraded it suits Fire perfectly since they have the hardest hitters in the game. And even if the opponent is one of those extremely rushy decks that have no controls to further enhance its rushing capabilities Cremation rushes could use this. At the same time, to me it doesn't seem overpowered in the least because either you are making the combo off of 3 cards or you are making a gamble that your opponent has brung some creature control with them. Fire Stalls will now face a much more terrifying problem if this shard comes into the game (but then again Fire Stalls will be hit hard by the Shard of Gratitude nerf as well), since the majority of the time Fire Rushes can only come close but never win against the incredible control and damage of Fire Stalls.Shard of Courage (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg395150#msg395150)
First of all, this is one of the finest names that is most suited for the effect yet . Next (about the card), it interests me a lot. I really can't say if it's underpowered or overpowered (underpowered because after all the buffs it's recieved from the card will be put to waste and overpowered because if the random number generator is loving you when you play it, you can turn a simple Ash Eater into a horrific creature of mass destruction. Upgraded however, I think rather than lasting longer a Fire creature should gain more attack (I was thinking probably +5/+3). However (for the upped version), I think it needs to be written more clearly (the way you displayed it on the card made it seem as though the creature could be saved from death a few times). With all that aside I love the concept even if the randomness from it seems a little like Entropy.Shard of Assertiveness (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg397715#msg397715)
Of all the Trial entries entered into the competition, this is one of the only ones that have peaked my interest. Upgraded though, instead of decreasing the cost down to free I thought you would have increased the damage potential, since I think it would fit the card well (from 20% to 25% from not Fire mark, and 25% to 30% with the Fire mark). At first I thought the damage would be much, MUCH too low for this card to be worth it in any deck. But then I remembered the weapon that had limitless damaging bounderies, Fahrenheit (and I also remembered you had entered into Fire Trials too so you must've thought of this ). The attack of Fahrenheit could range anywhere from 0 damage (Dimensional Shield and Wings) to 612 damage (hopefully this is right, had to go through quite a bit of math to get this answer). Also I was curious as to whether or not Animate Weapons would count as well (if so this card would be SO win ).
Deck Help [6/6]:
Constructive Criticism #1: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28772.msg397859#msg397859
Constructive Criticism #2: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26926.msg399319#msg399319
Constructive Criticism #3: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29254.msg399370#msg399370
Constructive Criticism #4 http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28415.msg399836#msg399836
Constructive Criticism #5 http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29095.msg400165#msg400165
Constructive Criticism #6 http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26509.msg400507#msg400507

[kev]

agentflare, your shard idea links #3, 4, and 6 need some help.

[agentflare]

Fixed.

[~Napalm]

Well, sorry guys, but due to the circumstances, I was only able to complete Task II. I spent about 4 hours total on Task I, but never got anywhere with it unfortunately. Should have spent that time on Task III instead, I might have been able to finish it before I head out of town for the week again. This time of the year is just far too busy for me to get very far in Trials. If not for the Grandmaster Title being at stake, I'd resign as Master of Fire and try again later when the timing was more favorable. Good luck to the other contenders, I hope you do better than I did :\ Let's hope I can be around more for the other Phases.