Willing Recruits | Willing Recruits [EtG User Cards 2]

[pikachufan2164]

NAME: Willing Recruits ELEMENT: Life COST: 10 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Generate 3 Horned Frogs. Your creatures' attacks deal spell damage this turn.	NAME: Willing Recruits ELEMENT: Life COST: 14 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Generate 3 Giant Frogs. Your creatures' attacks deal spell damage this turn.

ART: davincci (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1217753) IDEA: pikachufan2164 NOTES: User Card Competition 2 entry for willng3. Also known as "How Will Embraced the Aether." During earlier eras of the forum, Will was already well-known for his fast decks and fondness for Frogs. Higs picked Will to be a part of Team Aether in War III -- a willing recruit, if you will. After experiencing the ups and downs of War with Team Aether, Will set on his journey to become the Master of Life. Now, one of his signature decks is Silence Frogtal, which addresses some of the problems that a normal Frogtal would have trouble with (Silence breaks Dimensional Shield, Wings, and Shard of Sacrifice chains, prevents mass creature control from being played after the Fractal, and allows multiple turn kills to go past Miracle). Willing Recruits serves as more than just another Frogtal support card. It also provides creature decks without permanent control a way to break stalemates with its spell damage, and is a card-efficient way of including a win condition in stalls. Will loves his Frogs for their rushing power, and this card generates three of them. Also, note the bad pun in the card name. The ability to have creatures deal spell damage for a turn is a way for Life to get past full-blocking shields (something that Will has acknowledged as one of Life's greatest weaknesses). The mechanic itself is borrowed from Aether's Psion and Shard of Wisdom, and represents Will's stint as a member of Team Aether, as well as his second-favourite element. Although it does have a high casting cost, Willing Recruits has amazing card efficiency (having the effect of four cards -- three Frogs, and a spell-damage buff spell). This efficiency is a characteristic trait of Aether cards like Phase Dragon, which combines a creature with the Quintessence spell, all in one card. Mechanics The Frogs generated are treated as if they have just been cast, so no ability activations (unless enhanced by a Shard of Readiness) The spell damage buff only applies to creatures that were in play before Willing Recruits was cast (similar to how Sky Blitz works) SERIES:

[Cheesy111]

An expensive card for Life that gives great card advantage at the cost of high quanta?  This is awesome!

[pikachufan2164]

An expensive card for Life that gives great card advantage at the cost of high quanta?  This is awesome!

Also, breaks stalls (note that aggressive decks will generally be swimming in quanta if they get blocked by shields anyway).

[OldTrees]

It generates 3 unupped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
Upgraded it generates 3 upped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
The upgrade should consist of a cost increase not a decrease.

[ARTHANASIOS]

Hilarious card! May the Frogs be with you!

[pikachufan2164]

It generates 3 unupped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
Upgraded it generates 3 upped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
The upgrade should consist of a cost increase not a decrease.

Both unupped and upped Frogs cost 2 quanta each.

I'm probably undercosting the card efficiency aspect, though :\

[ARTHANASIOS]

It generates 3 unupped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
Upgraded it generates 3 upped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
The upgrade should consist of a cost increase not a decrease.

Both unupped and upped Frogs cost 2 quanta each.

I'm probably undercosting the card efficiency aspect, though :\

I think a cost of 9 in both upped/unupped version is fine, however I would put the spell damage to affect the recently summoned Frogs, but I would make Willing Recruits to absorb all your quanta.

[Pineapple]

It generates 3 unupped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
Upgraded it generates 3 upped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
The upgrade should consist of a cost increase not a decrease.

Both unupped and upped Frogs cost 2 quanta each.

I'm probably undercosting the card efficiency aspect, though :\

That makes sense if it was +1 upgrade for 167% ATK, because then upgrading Recruits to summon 167% ATK's worths of creatures makes sense.

However, if you interpret Horned->Giant as +1 upgrade for +2 ATK, then upgraded Recruits seems horrendously outbalanced compared to the unupgraded form, and the cost of upgraded Recruits shouldn't go under the cost of unupgraded Recruits.

The upgrade interpretation is wholly your choice, though.

[OldTrees]

It generates 3 unupped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
Upgraded it generates 3 upped cards and gives 1 turn global wisdom.
The upgrade should consist of a cost increase not a decrease.

Both unupped and upped Frogs cost 2 quanta each.

I'm probably undercosting the card efficiency aspect, though :\

No. You are misunderstanding upgrade balancing. Upgraded cards are a consistent amount better than unupped cards. This is called the upgrade cost. (This is relatively constant unlike how a percentage of the unupped value would act.)

Argument 1)
Let's consider Blessing
Unupped: 3 + 1 card
Upped: 2 + 1 card + 1 upgrade

Back to Frogs
Unupped: 2 + 1 card
Upped: 2 + 1 card + 1 upgrade

Argument 2)
If unupped and upped frogs have equal value then switch their places. If upped frogs have higher value then changing to upgraded frogs when upgrading should be factored into the balance of the upped cost. Upping 3 frogs when you up 1 card should come with a higher quanta cost.

[pikachufan2164]

Point taken.

Essentially, there needs to be an increased quanta cost to cover the 2 additional upgrades. *coughSoSe* 14 sounds about right, given the following:

Mummy is 5|3 for 4 + 1 card
Giant Frog is 5|3 for 2 + 1 card + 1 upgrade
3 Giant Frogs is 6 + 3 cards + 3 upgrades
=> 10 + 3 cards + 1 upgrade
1 turn global Wisdom is probably valued at around 1-2 , as is 1 card's worth of additional efficiency.
=> 14 + 1 card + 1 upgrade

Thoughts? (The cost probably hovers around 14-15 nonetheless)

[OldTrees]

Yes. End result 10 |14

[willng3]

I too approve of this card idea.

May the Frogs be with you indeed, good sir.