Round 6: Unwinnable Staring Contest | Unwinnable Staring Contest

[CleanOnion]

NAME: ELEMENT: Time COST: 9 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Target an enemy creature and remove all copies from their hand and deck. Drain all quanta.	NAME: ELEMENT: Time COST: 8 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Target an enemy creature and remove all copies from their hand and deck. Drain all quanta.

ART: eurok IDEA: CleanOnion NOTES: Hello!     Oh, uh... hi? Who are you? I'm the one currently fighting you in Elements. We're trying to kill each other! Fun, huh?     Oh yeah. I guess. What do you want? See, I'm sick to death of all this fighting. I say we settle it with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. What say ye?     No thank you. That just takes it down to a 50/50 chance. I was hoping you'd say that. How about a STARING CONTEST?     But I can't see you through my screen. Not us, silly! One of my creatures versus one of yours. How about it?     What, my Blue Crawler staring down your Anubis? What are the stakes? If you win, I forfeit the game. Sound good?     And if you win? I have to forfeit? No, don't worry. I'm not that mean. You just have to give me all your Blue Crawlers.     That doesn't... yeah sure! Seems like a fair deal to me :) Sweet! Okay, let's do this. Your Blue Crawler versus my...     Your Anubis. Actually, I think I'll play Unwinnable Staring Contest. Yeah. Your Blue Crawler versus that.     But you said it had to be a crea-- Shush! Look, I'm winning.     That's because you just played a statue! That's not even close to fair! Ha! Your Crawler blinked! I win. Cards, please!     Screw you! How am I going to win now? I have no left, so you've got that going for you at least?     Should've gone to Sanctuary-savers... HELLO THERE ELEMENTALS! Bored of fighting? Want to play a game that's been passed down the ages instead, but are scared to try it? What am I talking about? The STARING CONTEST, of course! Now, with USC, you can try it too! In the comfort of your own home, in the comfort of your own browser, in the comfort of your own Elements game! But what is this "USC"? It's UNWINNABLE STARING CONTEST! An all-new card in the Time element, from the forges of Toc Steamsmith! It looks like a Creature... it looks like a Permanent... BUT IT'S A SPELL! A spell that makes you win staring contests! BUT HOW DOES IT WORK? For the benefit of our loyal customers, we've included a SIMPLE-TO-UNDERSTAND explanation! Spoiler for Explanation: Statues don't blink WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT THEM CR-RAZY! And it can be all yours for the low, low price of  96 ELECTRUM!* * Price per USC. Additional copies may cost more. 1500 electrum to upgrade. Additional costs may apply. Beware of small parts. Choking hazard (but only if you seduce it) OFFER ENDS SOON! DON'T DELAY! SERIES: CDW3R6

Spoiler for Round 5: Ancient Effigy | Glacial Effigy (lost to Aves):

NAME: Ancient Effigy ELEMENT: Water COST: 5 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 0 | 10 TEXT: Shared: : Stony Gaze Target three creatures. All Ancient Effigies you control delay them for 1 turn each.	NAME: Glacial Effigy ELEMENT: Water COST: 5 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 0 | 12 TEXT: Shared: : Icy Stare Target three creatures.  All Glacial Effigies you control freeze them for 1 turn each.

ART: Oltin Dogaru IDEA: CleanOnion NOTES: I forgot that Ave's restriction wasn't for me. Oh well! Today is a day to go with the ebb and flow of things. If you feel like you're being watched, stay still and don't move. Imagine for me, if you will, a scene. You're stood in a field covered in snow. Everything as far as you can see is white. White snow, white clouds. Around you are six sculptures. Giant faces made of ice, each as tall as you are. Their cold, frozen eyes are centred on you. All of them. You have to admit, even though you know they're just statues, the effect is chilling. You feel a little perturbed. Eventually, the discomfort overcomes you and you take a step to the side to get out their gazes. You could swear they all turned to keep looking at you. You're pretty terrified now. Maybe it's best not to move. All imagined? Good. Ancient Effigy | Glacial Effigy is a differently-working version of Arctic Squid | Arctic Octopus, with the caveat that the unupped version delays rather than freezes. For the purposes of comparing the two cards, I'll be comparing the upgraded version, Glacial Effigy. Glacial Effigy selects three target creatures and freezes them for N turns, where N is the number of Glacial Effigies you own. All your Glacial Effigies share the same ability - you'll only ever be able to target three creatures, whether you control one or six Glacial Effigies. (The same is true for Ancient Effigies, except they delay instead of freezing.) Arctic Squid, on the other hand, will allow you to target one creature per Squid - at the cost of 2 per creature targeted and, initially, 3 per Squid played. Including the cost of playing cards, freezing 3 creatures for 3 turns will cost you:  - using 3 Arctic Squid: 3 x 3 + 3 x 2 = 15  - using 3 Glacial Effigies: 3 x 5 + 1 x 1 = 16 (You only need to use the ability once) Excluding the cost of playing cards, freezing 3 creatures for 3 turns will cost you:  - using 3 Arctic Squids: 3 x 2 = 6  - using 3 Glacial Effigies: 1 x 1 = 1 So - Glacial Effigies can only ever target a maximum of 3 creatures, but they vary how many turns they freeze for. Arctic Squid will only ever freeze for 3 turns, but they vary how many creatures they target. Of course, Arctic Octopus will freeze for 4 turns, so it trumps everything. Except in the following scenario... Ancient Effigy | Glacial Effigy synergises with dawn to dusk's Clockwork | Clockwork (Round 2). Clockwork gains a charge when an enemy creature fails to attack. Guess what? Ancient Effigy | Glacial effigy specialises in just that. How convenient. Say your opponent has 3 creatures. You have 1 Clockwork in your permanent rack, and in your hand are 1 Arctic Octopus and 1 Glacial Effigy. What do you do? If you play your Arctic Octopus, you'll be able to freeze one of those creatures per turn, at the cost of . Your Clockwork's charge will increase by 1 per turn. However, if you play Glacial Effigy, you'll be able to freeze all three of those creatures every turn, at half the cost. Plus, your Clockwork's charge will increase by 3 every turn! If you opponent plays another creature, Arctic Octopus will be able to keep them all frozen at the same time. Glacial Effigy can't do that. What's more, if you kill off one of their creatures using Clockwork... you still have to freeze 3 creatures. In this case, you'll have to freeze Glacial Effigy. Arctic Octopus doesn't have that problem. Fortunately, Glacial Effigy has 0 attack, so it's not that big of an issue. Feedback is appreciated! SERIES: CDW3R5

Spoiler for Round 4: Savior | Savior:

NAME: Savior ELEMENT: Light COST: Unplayable TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 0 | 25 TEXT: Immaterial, Gravity Pull. Enters play from your hand when enemy creature attack is greater than your HP.	NAME: Savior ELEMENT: Light COST: 20 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 0 | 30 TEXT: Immaterial, Gravity Pull. Enters play from your hand when enemy creature attack is greater than your HP.

ART: Krzysiekxd IDEA: CleanOnion NOTES: Today will be illuminating -- even enlightening. A friend will offer to take a bullet for you today. You may lose them if you accept. *Saviour We're basically looking at an Emergency Armagio for . The mechanic here is something I came up with for a card design weekly challenge a while back. I wasn't close to winning, but I really like that mechanic and I've always wanted to use it seriously. When I saw who I was up against for Round 4, I knew I'd lose, so I thought "why not?" So let's explain what's going on here. Unupped Savior cannot be played. No matter how much quanta you have of any element, you can't play it. It only leaves your hand when the total attack of your opponent's creatures exceeds your HP (ie when your health bar is all yellow, excluding damage from weapons/poison). Upped Savior can be played, at a cost of 20 . That's completely optional, because it is still automatically activated in the same way that the unupped version is. Other than this, there are no changes between unupped and upped. Savior enters play with Gravity Pull. It's basically a distraction to give you another couple of turns in the game to kill your opponent or set up a shield or something. It's very much a "last hope" kind of thing. It's also immaterial, so you can't buff it to make it last longer or give it any sort of attacking power. So yeah. Savior is a scapegoat, happy to tank some damage because he loves you. Spoiler for Design requirements: - Cannot use , , , We got a card here  - Must interact with other creatures, either by targeting, or by reacting to number or type of creatures on the field, or in any other way you can think of. We're interacting with the opponent's creatures by calculating their total attack and comparing it to the player's HP.  - The Upgraded Version of the card must cost MORE than the Unupgraded Version. Upped costs 20, unupped does not have a cost. It's debatable.  - Card names must not include the letters: G, C, H. Yep. Done. SERIES: CDW3R4

Spoiler for Round 3: Static Sky | Crackling Sky:

NAME: Static Sky ELEMENT: Earth COST: 2 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: All creatures on the top or middle row have a 60% chance to be paralyzed (delayed for 1 turn).	NAME: Crackling Sky ELEMENT: Earth COST: 2 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: All creatures on the top or middle row have a 75% chance to be paralyzed (delayed for 1 turn).

ART: Nathan Lounds IDEA: CleanOnion NOTES: Today is a day to remain firmly grounded. The clouds thrum with electricity... best to prostrate and keep low to the ground. Give me a cloud prompt and I come up with an Earth card - didn't expect that, JCJ, did you? Alright, so, let's explain what exactly is going on here. Inside this spoiler is a fairly disturbing image - feel free to open it, it's not gory or anything. It depicts two people with their hair stood on end. Spoiler for Hidden: [Source] This image shows brothers Sean and Michael McQuilken in 1975. It was taken while they were climbing Moro Rock in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and their hair is standing on end owing to the sheer about of static electricity around them. They were at a high altitude and this static electricity was because a lightning bolt was imminent. Sean, the younger brother, was struck by lightning shortly thereafter. Fortunately, he didn't die, but sustained serious burns. This image is famous for showing how your altitude, especially being on a mountain, can affect the chances of you being struck by lightning. This is why this is an Earth card. It is also the main effect of the card: Creatures in the top and middle row of the board have a XX% chance to be struck by lightning and paralyzed - ie, creatures with a high altitude. If you want to avoid being hit by lightning, get to low ground - or move to the bottom row of the board. So why are the creatures paralyzed, not dealt damage like the victims of Lightning and Thunderstorm are? For starters, we already have several cards that deal mass damage. Rain Of Fire and the aforementioned Thunderstorm are prime candidates - and the latter is very, very similar to what Static Sky would be if it dealt damage. Just more accurate. In some video games, notably the Pokémon series, electricity is notable for causing paralysis, and this is from where I've drawn inspiration for the effect. Being paralyzed (and believe me, I am itching to spell it "paralysed") delays you for 1 turn. Like an inaccurate Turtle Shield for Earth. It also synergises nicely with Iridium Warden. However, and here's the downside of this card - it doesn't discriminate who it affects. All creatures on the board, except those in the bottom rows of course, have a chance to be paralysed - including your own. So don't play it too hastily! Spoiler for Design requirements: - Cannot use , , , or It's !  - If a spell, must have a positive and potentially negative effect. It's a spell - look, the logo is even a little lightning bolt! It affects both sides of the field!  - Name must be more than one word, and one of the words must have 3 or fewer letters. Static Sky | Crackling Sky are both two words, and Sky is 3 letters long.  - The card's cost must be an even number. 2 is even. I think. Thanks for reading! SERIES: CDW3R3

Spoiler for Round 2: Praying Mantis | Preying Mantis:

NAME: Praying Mantis ELEMENT: Death COST: 2 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 1 | 2 TEXT: : Pray Mantis stops attacking. The undealt damage is dealt to next enemy creature played.	NAME: Preying Mantis ELEMENT: Death COST: 3 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 2 | 3 TEXT: : Pray Mantis stops attacking. The undealt damage is dealt to next enemy creature played.

ART: Aleksandra P. IDEA: CleanOnion NOTES: Today, the old must give way to the new. Be silent and concealed, and take any opportunity you see. When you look at a picture of a Mantis, you don't think "That's a mantis", you think "That's a praying mantis". Or at least, that's what I thought. You might have thought something completely different. Don't tell me - I don't care. So it made sense to me to take the cliche "praying mantis" path for my card idea, despite the range of other interesting features that the Mantodea order have. Mantises are generally ambush predators - they lie in wait for their target and then lash out at the last minute. That's what this card does. Activate Pray, and Mantis stops attacking the enemy's HP or the Gravity Pull target. Instead, its damage is stockpiled. When the enemy plays another creature, Mantis attacks with all the force it can muster! Multiple Mantises will attack the same target when it's played. They attack in the order in which they appear on the board, but a Mantis can't attack a dead creature. As such, a deck stuffed with Mantises has a very strong CC character - however, it necessitates a - synergy. Why ? Because the Mantis will rip you apart and cause death. Why ? Because the ability name is "Pray"! SERIES: CDW3R2

[rob77dp]

Is there a reason (if so, please share it) for the varied spelling (in this case, really it is word choice) of Pray to Prey in the upgraded card? I was expecting ability variation or something but I must be missing the purpose or explanation if already posted somewhere here...

[CleanOnion]

Is there a reason (if so, please share it) for the varied spelling (in this case, really it is word choice) of Pray to Prey in the upgraded card? I was expecting ability variation or something but I must be missing the purpose or explanation if already posted somewhere here...

Just for flavour, and for differentiating the two

[Espithel]

(R2)
I don't find the justification for the card's ability costing strong enough, especially as the upped is a prEying mantis. It feels extremely out of character for light.

[russianspy1234]

I was hoping the Pray vs Prey thing was gonna lead to two completely different cards...

[CleanOnion]

ROUND 3
Static Sky | Crackling Sky

Then, if you want to be super helpful, bump the thread so it's easier for me to find!

[russianspy1234]

Which element should this be?  Table is different than image.

[CleanOnion]

Which element should this be?  Table is different than image.

Woops! Earth, sorry!

[Espithel]

(R3)
Even with the flavour justification, I find this card extremely difficult to swallow in earth. The name heavily, heavily implies an air card and has nothing that makes sense in earth, so that would be the first thing to adjust.

I also severely question its power, perhaps being too weak; it is just a crappier, more temporary form of procrastination, after all.

[Aves]

Those restrictions are really tough! (Seriously, with that image.) I agree with Espithel that the name could use a change to make it feel more earthy-- perhaps something related to high altitude terrain, or along those lines.

For balancing, I suggest using BB as a basis.

[CleanOnion]

(R3)
Even with the flavour justification, I find this card extremely difficult to swallow in earth. The name heavily, heavily implies an air card and has nothing that makes sense in earth, so that would be the first thing to adjust.

I also severely question its power, perhaps being too weak; it is just a crappier, more temporary form of procrastination, after all.

Everything about this heavily implies an air card - but air is restricted to me. Air would of course have been my first choice.

Personally, I'm rather fond of the chosen element for the card. Air image, air name - oh, it's the opposite of air. I think it's a nice twist on what would otherwise be a cliché. Earth has plenty of delaying card - Iridium Warden as I mentioned, Basilisk Blood as Aves mentioned. Admittedly no mass effect cards come to mind, but why not start the trend?

Crappier Turtle Shield? Very much so! I'd lower the cost if I could.

Don't like it? Go vote for Linkcat

Those restrictions are really tough! (Seriously, with that image.) I agree with Espithel that the name could use a change to make it feel more earthy-- perhaps something related to high altitude terrain, or along those lines.

For balancing, I suggest using BB as a basis.

Although that would be nice, I struggled to come up with many ideas for the prompt - especially ones with a word that's less than three characters. As it is, I like the juxtaposition between earth and air.

Forgive me, but I don't see how I could balance this against Basilisk Blood - they seem like totally different cards to me, with the exception of the delaying aspect. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to elaborate?

[Aves]

Balancing, not in how they interact with each other, but in terms of comparing cost (2 , 1 card) vs effectiveness. Is 6 turns of delay and +20 hp on a single target equivalent in value to a 60% chance 1 turn delay en masse? Are the effects similar in impact/is choosing between them worth it? Is there an obvious superior choice?