False Elements 2: The Element of Surprise (russianspy1234)

[russianspy1234]

Ah the Element of Surprise, where would we be without it?  The way costs are paid is in turns.  When you first play the card, it is "suspended" for the number of turns in the cost field.  You opponent sees that you have played a card, however they do not see what the card is, nor do they see the number of turns that they will have to wait before they are pleasantly surprised.  A cost of 0 would cast the spell at the beginning of your opponent's next turn (yes their turn, after the draw) whereas a cost of 1 would play it on their following turn after that, etc.  You choose targets for targeting spells when you cast the spell (because you cannot target during opponent's turn) which means that if you use a removal spell, and the creature you targeted is gone before it resolves, it will do nothing.  One important thing to note is that there is only one Surprise cost "track" per player meaning that if you play, for example, two of the card I have submitted as my example in one turn, they will not both come into play 4 turns later, instead, one will come into play in 4 turns, and the next one 4 turns after that.

NAME: Dialook Nam ELEMENT: Surprise COST: 4 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 2 | 2 TEXT: When Dialook Nam is summoned, destroy opponent's shield.	NAME: Dialook Nam ELEMENT: Surprise COST: 3 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 2 | 2 TEXT: When Dialook Nam is summoned, destroy opponent's shield.

ART: Card Art: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-4230136-break-in-the-wall.php Background / Mark: russianspy1234 IDEA: russianspy1234 NOTES: Will destroy immaterial shields since it does not target, and frankly, the game needs an answer to immaterial shields. SERIES:

[Rutarete]

damn, this is a good card! (MtG reminiscent, but that's beside the point).

[ARTHANASIOS]

Russianspy1234 caught our community by the element of surprise! 8)

[dawn to dusk]

Would the cost of the dragon be the standard 10 quanta? Stupid question, I know, but 10 turn delay must have OP stats (20/20 dragon FTW)

[OldTrees]

For small numbers of turns delayed, the added delay acts like a linear cost. Does this still hold for medium turns of delay? Do high turns of delay spike to uselessness or do medium turns of delay increase towards uselessness?

PS: A Dragon probably should not cost 10 surprise.

[russianspy1234]

Indeed it can't be linear, because at a high enough value, you will pretty much never see it, nor will you be able to play other Surprise cards.  A dragon would likely cost 7-8 and be around a 9|10

[UnholyAir]

Koolaid man, Really?

[dawn to dusk]

A couple questions:
1. Are you able to target your own surprising creatures?
2. If so, will adrenaline have any effect on the surprise?
3. Will abilities and actual cards played have different cooldown paths?

Suggestions:
1. I'd remove the fact that you need to wait 8 turns to play 2 koolaid men or make the costs a lot smaller.

Other than that, it's a great concept and good competition. ^_^

[russianspy1234]

Koolaid man, Really?

was wondering how long it would take for someone to figure that one out lol

A couple questions:
1. Are you able to target your own surprising creatures?
2. If so, will adrenaline have any effect on the surprise?
3. Will abilities and actual cards played have different cooldown paths?

Suggestions:
1. I'd remove the fact that you need to wait 8 turns to play 2 koolaid men or make the costs a lot smaller.

Other than that, it's a great concept and good competition. ^_^

1. Creatures are not on the field until the surprise cost runs out so cannot target them, however, they would be cards that interact with the tract itself, e.g. while a "pillar" type card would be too powerful, I was thinking for a 3-4 permanent that decreases the track by 1 each turn.
2. n/a
3. Meaning? They all count opponent's turns, however they would have different costs like all elements do.

1. Sadly, it's all Fractal's fault.  Ideally yes, they would all have their own as that would make more sense, however while this card wouldn't be much of a problem, imagine fractaling a Surprise Dragon?  Sure you have to wait 7 turns (in my example above) but then you suddenly have 9 dragons. IMO that's too strong.  Although thinking about it now, I could possibly make it so cards of the same name share the same track, but different ones don't... Or is that too specific?

[dawn to dusk]

That would be better but there might be a couple bugs if that happened. What I mean with the abilities is that abilities costing surprise quanta would be delayed but will they have the same tract as cards being played from the hand? There are exames of creatures with abilities matching there mark like shrödinger's cat and fire spirit

Maybe a mark of surprise would reduce all the turns of surprise by 1 for each creature.

[russianspy1234]

That would be better but there might be a couple bugs if that happened. What I mean with the abilities is that abilities costing surprise quanta would be delayed but will they have the same tract as cards being played from the hand? There are exames of creatures with abilities matching there mark like shrödinger's cat and fire spirit

Maybe a mark of surprise would reduce all the turns of surprise by 1 for each creature.

they would be the same, however i do acknowledge the issue and as such, would just cut off that design space (or just make it rare) ie cards would either cost or have an ability that costs but not both.

reducing the cost by one for each would be too strong. the regular element equivalent would be, for example, a Time Pillar that generates equal to the number of Time cards in your hand. too strong to be a pillar, but possible as a non-free  permanent. actually that gives me an idea for a series of cards...

[Chapuz]

I don't know why I haven't commented in this thread before. It is a VERY interesting mechanic.
However, having too many different type of cards can make you play a whole quantaless deck and that can be OP.