Luminiferous Aether | Luminiferous Aether

[Bloodshadow]

No matter how many Rays of Light or Ball Lightnings you generate with this, you still only have six copies of Fractal. Fractal isn't the issue here.

If you're worried that this might be OP with Hope... You increase its defense by about 0.5 per turn. It's not going to make much of a difference, especially after your field is filled. This card is vulnerable to permanent control too. All in all, I don't think this is overpowered at all.

You know why I'm annoyed? It's because the same issue has been raised so many times that I'm honestly sick of it. As Timer said, what you said is completely redundant. It's been discussed and resolved multiple times already.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

I understand that this isn't a new idea, but it doesn't matter how many people have suggested that it is overpowered if it was never addressed.
And, it is more overpowered than fractalling a regular RoL or Ball Lightning because it is one card that can generate as many of them as you want.  You need to have six cards that you pick from your deck and then play to deal at least one hundred damage with a only Fractals and Ball Lightnings (1 BL fractalled / 45 damage, 2nd BL fractalled / 90 damage, 3rd BL either fractalled or a 4th BL brings you to at least 100 damage -- 100 damage only being important against AI 1-3 and certain Arena decks), but with fractalling BL's that you get from this, you just have to get one from the 50:50 game, then use one fractal on it instead of waiting to pick two cards, so you end up only needing to pick four to deal 100 damage.  If you play with RoL/Fractal/Hope, having that extra RoL that you would take forever to pick from your deck could be the difference against winning and losing.  If they keep killing your RoL's you can just generate and fractal another one.  The difference is because you can only have six of each card in a 30+ card deck, and you aren't going to pick every single one to fractal right off the bat like you would want.  This card completely changes that dynamic by making it a 50:50 shot instead of planning your deck around the fact that you might not pick a card that you need, because with this you always will.

[Nepycros]

I understand that this isn't a new idea, but it doesn't matter how many people have suggested that it is overpowered if it was never addressed.
And, it is more overpowered than fractalling a regular RoL or Ball Lightning because it is one card that can generate as many of them as you want.

Wonderful idea. I'll just ask my opponent to not put out any creatures for 7... no, 8... yeah, make it 8 turns, so I have enough time to not only get an average of 4 RoLs out, but at that point HOPEFULLY have enough to put out Hope. If I can't, well, no harm done, I still have (hopefully) 4 creatures... that deal a total of 4 damage.

You need to have six cards that you pick from your deck and then play to deal at least one hundred damage with a only Fractals and Ball Lightnings (1 BL fractalled / 45 damage, 2nd BL fractalled / 90 damage, 3rd BL either fractalled or a 4th BL brings you to at least 100 damage -- 100 damage only being important against AI 1-3 and certain Arena decks), but with fractalling BL's that you get from this, you just have to get one from the 50:50 game, then use fractal on it.

I didn't know Sky Blitz was so out of style. Couldn't I have just played 3 BLs from my hand, Fractal'd, and played Sky Blitz for insta-kill? Does a 5-card combo make it suddenly so much harder to use than this card?

 

If you play with RoL/Fractal/Hope, having that extra RoL that you would take forever to pick from your deck could be the difference against winning and losing.  The difference is because you can only have six of each card in a 30+ card deck, and you aren't going to pick every single one to fractal right off the bat like you would want.  This card completely changes that dynamic by making it a 50:50 shot instead of planning your deck around the fact that you might not pick a card that you need, because with this you always will.

Absolutely brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, is it because that scenario happens about 1 in every 100 games? I highly doubt we need to consider the most extreme situations to apply this that MIGHT make it OP, when you could just use other insane and convoluded combos to achieve a similar goal.

Fractals: only 6 possible, only gives you as many creatures as open spots in your hand. I'd be more concerned about emptying my hand, then trying to generate a Spark every other turn so I can HOPEFULLY Fractal it.

[ZephyrPhantom]

I understand that this isn't a new idea, but it doesn't matter how many people have suggested that it is overpowered if it was never addressed.
And, it is more overpowered than fractalling a regular RoL or Ball Lightning because it is one card that can generate as many of them as you want.  You need to have six cards that you pick from your deck and then play to deal at least one hundred damage with a only Fractals and Ball Lightnings (1 BL fractalled / 45 damage, 2nd BL fractalled / 90 damage, 3rd BL either fractalled or a 4th BL brings you to at least 100 damage -- 100 damage only being important against AI 1-3 and certain Arena decks), but with fractalling BL's that you get from this, you just have to get one from the 50:50 game, then use one fractal on it instead of waiting to pick two cards, so you end up only needing to pick four to deal 100 damage.  If you play with RoL/Fractal/Hope, having that extra RoL that you would take forever to pick from your deck could be the difference against winning and losing.  If they keep killing your RoL's you can just generate and fractal another one.  The difference is because you can only have six of each card in a 30+ card deck, and you aren't going to pick every single one to fractal right off the bat like you would want.  This card completely changes that dynamic by making it a 50:50 shot instead of planning your deck around the fact that you might not pick a card that you need, because with this you always will.

The strategies you're talking about get slowed down because this card needs a one-turn windup - a BL deck would need to run a Mark of Light, which could be much more useful as a Mark of Air with Sky Blitz. An RoL deck is slowed down as well because you're going to have to replace cards or make the deck larger to incorporate Luminiferous Aether in your strategy. That slowdown can cost you against speed decks like a Grabbix or vNG. It's usability is halved unupgraded as well - you can't really do much with Hope and Photons.

Not to mention when solo it's inferior to Scorpion and Physalia:

That's because it actually either gives 1 photon(+1 damage a turn, same as poison) or one spark(3 damage once)

[TimerClock14]

I understand that this isn't a new idea, but it doesn't matter how many people have suggested that it is overpowered if it was never addressed.
And, it is more overpowered than fractalling a regular RoL or Ball Lightning because it is one card that can generate as many of them as you want.  You need to have six cards that you pick from your deck and then play to deal at least one hundred damage with a only Fractals and Ball Lightnings (1 BL fractalled / 45 damage, 2nd BL fractalled / 90 damage, 3rd BL either fractalled or a 4th BL brings you to at least 100 damage -- 100 damage only being important against AI 1-3 and certain Arena decks), but with fractalling BL's that you get from this, you just have to get one from the 50:50 game, then use one fractal on it instead of waiting to pick two cards, so you end up only needing to pick four to deal 100 damage.  If you play with RoL/Fractal/Hope, having that extra RoL that you would take forever to pick from your deck could be the difference against winning and losing.  If they keep killing your RoL's you can just generate and fractal another one.  The difference is because you can only have six of each card in a 30+ card deck, and you aren't going to pick every single one to fractal right off the bat like you would want.  This card completely changes that dynamic by making it a 50:50 shot instead of planning your deck around the fact that you might not pick a card that you need, because with this you always will.

Huh? Aren't you still with the same problem by having to wait for this card, and then another turn after playing this card to get a 50% chance of summoning a BL? Putting a set of 6 BL in your deck is far faster, because you don't have to rely on chance to get the card you want.

[Higurashi]

Conjuring problematic situations is an important part of theory-crafting. The worst problems people have been able to conjure rely on 1) Getting what you need from the two possible creatures this card creates at the exact right time, 2) This perm not getting destroyed, and 3) You not getting rushed before it has any effect at all.

Out of these three conditions, the third is the least likely to occur. Why? That one turn you need to wait before you can actually summon the creature.
If it gets destroyed, which it most often will if your opponent expects you to play any perms at all, you have to draw another, which can often take several turns.
If you don't get Rays when you need them but keep getting Blights, your Hope won't be be played for many, many turns.

This is not a very practical card, and the theoretic problems people conjure don't consider actual practicality, similarly to how someone inexperienced with actual gameplay might complain about the potential overpoweredness of Mutation.
In the current metagame, this has almost no place, as speed dominates. Similarly, Mutation has little place because it's unreliable and usually costs you card advantage. Doesn't really matter if you sometimes get a kickass mutant/get the creature you need with this perm, because that Lava rush will still have done more damage than you/rushed you to death, even during those lucky moments. And that's not even considering the dozens of things that can screw both cards and combos up completely.

I wouldn't use this in a RoL/Hope deck at all because of the slowness, PC vulnerability and waste of a card space. It's a redundant card in that setup because Fractal gives you everything you need and more, and you will want six copies of Rays either way.

I wouldn't use it in a Blight OTK deck either, for the same reasons and two additional ones: it would cost me I need to hit with the combo ASAP, since it's a pretty vulnerable strategy. Since I need speed even more than in RoL/Hope, the cost of this perm pretty much ruins it. Secondly, I would need to squeeze in to be able to use it. Making a vulnerable combo deck more unstable? No thanks.

Where would I use it? I would use it with Druids for sure (sweet! finally an endless supply of Mutation targets that isn't really expensive!), I would use it with Bone Wall and possibly Unstable Gas, and I would make all sorts of semi-good rainbow decks with it. Can this perm be powerful? Yes, if used right, which is difficult. Can it be overpowered even in the luckiest of scenarios? Not even close.

[RRQJ]

with bone wall+unstable gas? wouldn't that be a little unwieldy?  the gases aren't exactly cheap, especially for a rainbow.

but yeah, the card's probably best for mutation decks.  it's too slow and costly for those fractal decks people keep bringing up.

[Higurashi]

After having stated this isn't a practical card, it's safe to assume it's unwieldy in general. Yes, it's part of the point. No one expects such decks, and they can be made pretty damn fast with upped cards (Damselflies in this case). I only said "possibly" however, as it's more of a fun concept than anything else, and 100% customisable since it's a kooky rainbow deck with many tricks I can think of.

[freemod1espilon]

Maybe make the summoned creatures immaterial or have a lowered attack

[Ikerpeta]

Crazy card, but useless in my opinion. Like u said, fractaling rays of light would be better, Aether has fractal, maybe this kind of card but with other elements involved might woek in my opinion

[storyteller]

I am going with fun little card that can be used a lot of ways. Personally, I think its a bit weak myself.

[Chapuz]

I didn't read the last 10 pages, but wouldn't be more practical just "summon a spark"? (BL in upgraded version)