[Official] Reflective shield | Mirror Shield

[OldTrees]

Emerald shield is just as UP, compared to cards like Ice Shield, or Dusk Mantle.

I see, so you feel that the shields should all be power players like the intent behind weapons. I am curious, which shields do you find to be par for the course (Ice Shield, Dusk Mantle ...) and which fall below par in your opinion?

I am trying to learn from your considerable in game experience and translate it to balance theories.

On Topic: I think having Reflective Shield changed to be +1 cost from Mirror Shield would be balanced and satisfy most.

[xdude]

Emerald shield is just as UP, compared to cards like Ice Shield, or Dusk Mantle.

I see, so you feel that the shields should all be power players like the intent behind weapons. I am curious, which shields do you find to be par for the course (Ice Shield, Dusk Mantle ...) and which fall below par in your opinion?

I am trying to learn from your considerable in game experience and translate it to balance theories.

On Topic: I think having Reflective Shield changed to be +1 cost from Mirror Shield would be balanced and satisfy most.

The problem with balancing shields is that there are only a few of them, and many are different to eachother. But I find it wrong that both Ice Shield and Emerald Shield at the same cost, simply due to PC prevention. And yes, I find your solution great.

[Daytripper]

The Ice shield is certainly a good shield, but yes, expensive. But then, take the earth shield. 5 to 7  cost and no ability. Should it cost the same as the best shields with 1 or 2 abilities because it blocks 1 more damage? (I do not complain btw, earth has enough surplus quanta.)

We all know where this is going. Reflective shield or skull buckler are not particularely useful, certainly not unupped. (I think mirror shield is really good actually.) Something so cheap cannot really be UP though. This shield has 2 abilities, immaterial and reflection for 1  . Add one  and it blocks 1 damage. No shield can do that. 2/3  per ability.

 I would suggest a burf rather than a buff. 

[QuantumT]

How about this as a potential change? Increase it's cost to 2 or 3 , make it block 1, but remove the indestructible part. This seems like a decent solution it would retain its original function, make it semi useful as an actual shield, but not make it strictly better than emerald shield.

[zse]

How about this as a potential change? Increase it's cost to 2 or 3 , make it block 1, but remove the indestructible part. This seems like a decent solution it would retain its original function, make it semi useful as an actual shield, but not make it strictly better than emerald shield.

The whole point of using this card is to block gigantic Fire Bolt or Drain Life. Removing the Anti-Destruct/Steal ability would totally ruin that strategy by making it targetable for Deflagration/Steal. Really bad idea in my opinion.

  already has Solar Shield for cheap damage blocking shield. There's no need to add another one for same element.

I repeat my solution for this dilemma, (my old quote bit modified):

if it should be altered, I'd like to see it gaining more reflective abilities with spells or spell-like effects AND changing it to element.
In other words reflecting all these spells and spell-like-effects to opponent: Bolts, Drain Life, Gas, Poison, Catapult, Silence, Vampire Dagger, Stone Skin, Discord, Black Hole, Holy Ligft, Luciferin, Miracle, Precognition.

Meaning you can't be targeted by those spells - even if you're casting them by yourself (Luciferin, Miracle & Stone Skin).

[smuglapse]

This card is a debuff masquerading as a shield: " : The opponent's Jade Shield no longer reflects".

So, it's highly situational, like the old Purify was, and probably deserves a similar buff to add usability.

Though, do people actually use Purify more, now?

[MXXE]

This card is a debuff masquerading as a shield: " : The opponent's Jade Shield no longer reflects".
So, it's highly situational, like the old Purify was, and probably deserves a similar buff to add usability.
Though, do people actually use Purify more, now?

I was just gonna say the same thing. We have to compare the problem with this shield with other problems.
Actually I think with the "Buff this Card" and "Nerf this card" there should be a "Change this card" section. The problem is not that it is unbalanced but that it is situational.
*optional section of this post start*
If you look only at balance you see this: Against some decks (Fractal devourers+drain life, fire bolting, unstable gas) this card is an instant win. Instant win = 100 won games in 100 played succes. How often do you meet those decks? I say, maybe 5% of your games will be those instant wins, another 5% are firebolters but have their own mirror shield hidden somewhere. Assuming that playing a single shield in a deck is a hard thing to do I say 75 won games per 100 played there. Against every thing else (90%) the succes rate of the shield is 0. This makes: 5%*100g+5%*75g+90%*0g = 8.75 games won with this card. Now I want to compare it with the procastination: Since it costs 6 times as many quanta, I multiply the games won with 6 as well. Result: 52.5 games should be won by placing procastination. Seems balanced as procastination blocks half the damage and half the creature-abilites.
But how is procastinations percentage composed? Against decks with growth it is average (40% with 50g). Against decks that produce creatures (FFQ, Pharaoth, maybe even fallen druid) it is quite good (30% with 75g). Against pure damage dealers (a vanilla creatures + dragon deck) it is probably the worst (25% with 30g). Add momentum (5% with 5 games won). Equals 50.25 games won out of 100.
Not only is it balanced in comparison to other cards, it is also balanced through multiple different games because the difference between max. and min. games won is 45 here, not 100.
*optional section of this post end*

I think (despite me making up most of these numbers) that some people will agree that the card is perfectly balanced, but goes to much in the direction of being a hard counter to few decks.
This is why we should follow the exaple of purify and give it some out-of-what-it-now-does usability, somethink like "heals you for 2HP whenever the opponent plays a spell (plus reflection)" for   

[RootRanger]

There is no way this shield will make you win 8.75% more games. Your statistics are flawed. Even if 10% of your opponents had firestall or UG, this card would not be worth it. Using this card in a deck will severely hurt your chances against the other 90% (probably more) decks. It's not even guaranteed to win against firestall or UG because it could be in the back of your deck.

Every card has a cost. Logically, you can deduce that the cost of a draw > the cost of 2 quantum. With a golden hourglass, drawing one card costs 2 quantum. You also have the cost of the hourglass originally, which means the average draw will always cost more than 2 quantum. Basically, cards of one quantum cost have at least 3/8 the actual cost of cards of six quantum cost. This is why decks with low QIs are not very good; even free cards have a cost (one draw).

The cost of the reflective shield is not enough to be worth using.

[killybob]

see this guy makes good points.

unfortunately my poll has not resolved anything as it's still at 50/50.

[godofdeath500]

People,  has three shields. Solar buckler, Mirror Shield, and Hope. If you ask me, I think that you should remove Mirror and add reflect to Hope. Or is that too OP?

See, guys? The reason this topic is 50/50 is because this shield is fine as it is. Buffing it would make it too OP, because there is Emerald/Jade Shield, and that already blocks 1/2 damage, respectively. Reflective Shield is a cheap alternative to Emerald.

[RootRanger]

People,  has three shields. Solar buckler, Mirror Shield, and Hope. If you ask me, I think that you should remove Mirror and add reflect to Hope. Or is that too OP?

So you should make a card OP and delete a card entirely because light has more shields than another element.
Well, fire has 3 CC spells and light has none. Should we combine two of fire's spells into one and remove one of them?

See, guys? The reason this topic is 50/50 is because this shield is fine as it is.

Few cards have 50% of the voters wanting to buff it.

Buffing it would make it too OP,

Many cards have been buffed and not become OP. If this is buffed properly, it will not be OP.

because there is Emerald/Jade Shield, and that already blocks 1/2 damage, respectively. Reflective Shield is a cheap alternative to Emerald.

I don't see why you are bringing in the Jade Shield. None or few of the advocates for buffing the Reflective Shield want the Mirror Shield buffed as well. It is not a good idea to compare upgraded cards to unupped cards when balancing.

Reflective Shield
- Blocks Spells
- Immaterial
- Cost of 1 quantum plus 1 draw

Emerald Shield
- Blocks 1 damage
- Blocks Spells
- Immaterial
- Cost of 5 quantum plus 1 draw

First off, being immaterial magnifies importance and strength instead of adding to it. The stronger something is, the more important its immortality is. Next, blocking 1 damage should be more than 1.33 times as much as blocking spells. You see physical damage far more often than damage from spells. While the shield is very useful against damage from spells, the physical damage is far more common and outweighs that factor. Now, you have cost. I explained eariler that the cost of a draw > the cost of 2 quantum.

Thus, the cost of the emerald shield < 2.33 * the cost of the reflective shield. Which means that the value of the emerald shield < 2.33 * the value of the reflective shield. This is not the case, and below is my argument for that.

Value of the emerald shield = Immortality * (Blocking 1 Damage + Blocking Spells)
Value of the reflective shield = Immortality * (Blocking Spells)

The value of the immortality cancels, and you use the theory that the value blocking 1 damage should be more than 1.33 times as much as the value of blocking spells. Now you have the following.

Value of the emerald shield > 2.33 * The value of the reflective shield. So if the value of blocking 1 damage is more than 1.33 times as much as the value of blocking spells, either the emerald shield is OP or the reflective shield is UP.

[Uppercut]

Leave it be. Cards that are meta dependent allow the meta to shift around healthily and prevent the game from getting stale. Narrow isn't always bad.