Backwards Clockwork | Reversed Clockwork

[Drake_XIV]

NAME: Backwards Clockwork ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 12 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: -13 | 5 TEXT: Gains 0 | +2 each turn. : Gear Shift Inverts attack for one turn.  Takes 2 damage.	NAME: Reversed Clockwork ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 10 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: -13 | 5 TEXT: Gains 0 | +2 each turn. : Gear Shift Inverts attack for one turn. Takes 2 damage.

ART: {PENDING} IDEA: Drake_XIV, ZBlader NOTES: The idea of the Clockwork series is to create large creatures with self-afflicting abilities to balance out their stats and/or effects.  This is also paired with an ability with which it "maintains" itself. Backwards Clockwork is, as the name says, backwards.  As opposed to the others of the series, it is the only one with a negative attack and the ability to heal itself. Also, and changes to attack remain as it is reverted due to the effect. It is a bit of a gamble when against possible lobotomizing, but is that not the fun of Entropy, the thrill of chance? The health gain is passive. SERIES: Clockwork Series

[furballdn]

Seems UP. And here is why. You'll be paying an initial investment of 10 and -13 damage. After that, it costs you 2 per turn for 13 damage. Not only does it take a whole lot of time to set up, but after that, it consumes 2 per turn if you want to keep the damage up. A player would much rather summon a dragon instead of this. The only good thing I can see is lobotomizing it after you've made the attack positive, but then that means you'll be paying 10 , 2 , as well as and/or . Even overdrive fitted with this will be pretty weak.

TL;DR: takes way too long to set up, and is quite impractical. Just use Amethyst dragon instead.

[Drake_XIV]

Okay, what if the cost was dropped [~7 ?] and the attack was "raised" [~-16]?  How would that work out in your opinion?

[furballdn]

I actually forgot. This card synergizes extremely well with antimatter. You can even use this in a mono deck with entropy. *facepalm*

Antimattering would mean that you could ignore its ability completely. D'oh. Still, Combining this with antimatter, you'll be paying 10+6 for only 13 damage on a pretty CC proof creature. Not too good of a deal. Again, dragons would be more efficient at this rate. Now if it started with -16.... hmm... That could potentially work out. You'll be paying 16 or a nymph, and 14 for each reversed clockwork for 16 damage. That makes it quite balanced, as the damage to cost ratio is near one. I really don't see why it has the growing health and losing health when using its ability concept.

Just make it into something like, Reversed Clockwork 10 -16|5 ability invert the attack of this creature for one turn.

TL;DR: Even combined with antimatter, this card is pretty weak. I suggest making it start with -16atk, and get rid of its health growing and health losing.

[Drake_XIV]

Well, the idea of the Clockworks is to have a detrimental passive that's countered by its active ability.  I guess it could be argued that the negative attack is detrimental.

[furballdn]

Well, the idea of the Clockworks is to have a detrimental passive that's countered by its active ability.  I guess it could be argued that the negative attack is detrimental.

Passive health gain would lead to activating the ability, then immediately overdriving it, removing the fact that the attack will negatize again. The health gain and loss will generally cancel each other out (you'd be a fool or have no to not activate it, unless you use antimatter). Health gain just seems to overcomplicate this card for no reason really.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Well, the idea of the Clockworks is to have a detrimental passive that's countered by its active ability.  I guess it could be argued that the negative attack is detrimental.

Passive health gain would lead to activating the ability, then immediately overdriving it, removing the fact that the attack will negatize again. The health gain and loss will generally cancel each other out (you'd be a fool or have no to not activate it, unless you use antimatter). Health gain just seems to overcomplicate this card for no reason really.

What furballdn said. I'm somewhat suprised you didn't use my version that I suggested back in CardIdeaPlanning:

Antimatters itself after each attack. 2 - Reverse Flow - Casts Antimatter on itself.

The reason I preferred this version is that it's inherently more reliable with the ability than wasting your time with an Antimatter or Entropy Nymph to undo the effect - 2 upkeep is worth more than 8 temporary negation. Currently, your version seems to have an extra unnecessary effect tacked on and doesn't seem to be as effective as it's Dragon counterpart would be (remember that all ideas should be compared to ingame cards as a source of balance and avoiding redundancy.)

[OldTrees]

What is the suggestion this card is meant to convey?
"large creatures with self-afflicting abilities to balance out their stats and/or effects."

Does it do so?
No. Drawbacks should exist simultaneously with the benefit they pay for. Otherwise the card is situation dependent OP/UP (aka situational). The self afflicted ability (negative attack) and the stats (13 attack) will never exist simultaneously even if the card were to be balanced.

Negative attack should not be used as a drawback for a creature that is intended to deal lots of damage through attacking.

[Drake_XIV]

Well, the idea of the Clockworks is to have a detrimental passive that's countered by its active ability.  I guess it could be argued that the negative attack is detrimental.

Passive health gain would lead to activating the ability, then immediately overdriving it, removing the fact that the attack will negatize again. The health gain and loss will generally cancel each other out (you'd be a fool or have no to not activate it, unless you use antimatter). Health gain just seems to overcomplicate this card for no reason really.

What furballdn said. I'm somewhat suprised you didn't use my version that I suggested back in CardIdeaPlanning:

Antimatters itself after each attack. 2 - Reverse Flow - Casts Antimatter on itself.

The reason I preferred this version is that it's inherently more reliable with the ability than wasting your time with an Antimatter or Entropy Nymph to undo the effect - 2 upkeep is worth more than 8 temporary negation. Currently, your version seems to have an extra unnecessary effect tacked on and doesn't seem to be as effective as it's Dragon counterpart would be (remember that all ideas should be compared to ingame cards as a source of balance and avoiding redundancy.)

Sorry, I just wanted to see how what I saw would go through before inputting your suggestion right away.

[OdinVanguard]

What if you

lower the attack power a bit, cost a lot, and bump hp slightly have it automatically invert attack whenever it deals damage (using the current scorpion mechanics this would include negative damage as well so it would be guaranteed to flip positive against any shield but gravity's)have gear shift manually invert attack and prevent switching for the rest of the turn.

Also, having it produce 1  when gearshift is not used would be an interesting twist as well.
In effect it would cause the opponents health to tick up and down and use the swing to power your time quanta.
The +2/+0 would cause the damage to fluctuate up and down, but gear shift would allow you to "pump" the swing.
Lastly, since inversion is tied to damage, it would ramp up on its own when it doesn't deal damage e.g. act as a sort of soft counter to certain shields, somewhat like the elven archer card...
Don't mean to try to rewrite your card, but this seemed to be what you were going for.