[Official] Plague | Improved Plague

[Higurashi]

Nothing controversial here. Unupped Plague costs 4. Improved Plague costs 2. This has always seemed a bit off to me, especially since you gain quanta much easier when upped. A cost of 3 for Plague seems more rational to me. It's not quite strong enough to warrant 4 cost.

Only possible problem I can see is that it'll become easier to fuel off mark like so many fuel Arsenic+6 Poisons. Dim Shield Poison stall is alright, but not that good. Plague gives it staying power, but even with 3 cost, you'll want Pends. Is this even a problem? You tell me.

[Jappert]

It's a pretty strong spell in my opinion, especially in combination with other -cards like Bonewall, Graveyards, Vultures etc.
As of latest patch, death also got a way to generate quanta easier so I really don' t think a reduction in cost is needed.

If anything, I'd say make the upped cost 3.

[TheonlyrealBeef]

I think it fits the Graviton Mercenary category, both have 4 cost unupped, and 2 upped, and both are barely used, meaning it's more logical to buff the unupgraded version rather than nerfing the upgraded. (so yeah, -1 cost)

[Tom Bombadil]

I agree with Jappert: the introduction of soul catcher makes it easy for death decks to have big amount of quanta quite early in the game, so I think that it isn't plague to be buffed, but improved plague to be nerfed.

[Higurashi]

Think about that for a moment. Is Improved Plague overpowered? Is it overused? No to both. Is Plague underused? Yes. Does Soul Catcher help at all when Plague is the only half-decent way for Death to kill.. very slowly and rather ineffectively? No.

[Jappert]

Think about that for a moment. Is Improved Plague overpowered? Is it overused? No to both. Is Plague underused? Yes. Does Soul Catcher help at all when Plague is the only half-decent way for Death to kill.. very slowly and rather ineffectively? No.

Let's not make the mistake to relate the power (OP or UP) of a card directly to how much it's used.
I agree, plague is a slow way to kill enemy creatures, but a very nice counter to a creatures spam (like RoL's). It has it's uses. Combined whith what I said earlier in my post. I think it's fine as it is!

[Higurashi]

Let's not? Has anyone done that? No. I even mentioned both as factors. They -are- both factors as to the usefulness of a card, but as you can see I did not equate them with each other -or- mention only one of them. None of your arguments address mine, since I'm debating if Improved Plague needs to be nerfed when juxtaposed to Plague, not as a standalone card. That's neither here nor there though, because this thread is about buffing Plague.

[jumpoffduck]

Think about that for a moment. Is Improved Plague overpowered? Is it overused? No to both. Is Plague underused? Yes. Does Soul Catcher help at all when Plague is the only half-decent way for Death to kill.. very slowly and rather ineffectively? No.

Let's not make the mistake to relate the power (OP or UP) of a card directly to how much it's used.
I agree, plague is a slow way to kill enemy creatures, but a very nice counter to a creatures spam (like RoL's). It has it's uses. Combined whith what I said earlier in my post. I think it's fine as it is!

In many cases, plague is outclassed by thunderstorm or pandemonium. Take anti-Eternal phoenix (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,9503.0.html) for example. It's primarily a death deck, but it runs thunderstorms off the mark instead of going with plagues.

[EvaRia]

I think in elements, Direct Damage > Damage over Time as it stands. The main problem with plague right now is that the damage comes into place on your opponent's turn, giving it a turn advantage.

The damage itself is rather weak, and does not really justify a card or quanta cost.

I agree that it should be lowered to 3/2

[RootRanger]

While a cost of 3 would not make plague imbalanced, the current card is not unusable. It is a good use of death quantum in unupped deckout rainbows. In a slow deck, plague is the best mass CC card around because just one of them can kill almost anything given enough turns.

[ddevans96]

Lowering the unupped cost by one would help it a bit.

[LongDono]

Honestly I think the card needs a change of some sort. Will lowering the cost change that people favor direct damage vs damage over time as someone said already? No.
Yes it has it's uses, but against the AI very few if any decks use it, and PvP it is not that great either for this card.
I have played PvP decks with Plague but honestly the card is way underpowered. Maybe if the Plague spread to other creatures when a creature died then the cost would be worth it. It would still be damage over time, but it would be a big change, infact I would use it, against falsegods even.
Also a plague spreading rather than needing to use another card makes sense.