Diverge | Diverge

[UndeadSpider1990]

NAME: Diverge ELEMENT: Aether COST: 9 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Double all spell damage dealt this turn. (Not cumulative.)	NAME: Diverge ELEMENT: Aether COST: 8 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Double all spell damage dealt this turn. (Not cumulative.)

ART: freestockphotos.com, edited IDEA: UndeadSpider1990 NOTES: Affects Psion, Shard of Wisdom, Drain Life, Nightmare, and Holy Light if used on Death/Darkness creature. Does not affect Poison, Holy Light when used on non-Death/Darkness creature, damages taken as a result of discarding Ghost of the Past, or damages taken as a result of Voodoo Doll taking damage (spells that damage Voodoo Doll may still deal double their usual damage). SERIES:

[CuCN]

Why would this affect Psion but not UG?

[UndeadSpider1990]

Why would this affect Psion but not UG?

A nerf, that's all.

I think it would be too OP to allow it to affect UG, though I'm open to a counter-case if you disagree!

[Calambar]

Does current OP psiontal need a buff? I don't think so. For me it would be better if it doubled spell effects, not spell damage, of course with some exceptions if you like. This should not affect spell damage dealt by creatures. Yet this is only my humble opinion ^^

[dragtom]

double spell damage dealt by spells.

yes, this means it only doesn't work for UG, psion and (quint+)SoW.
But at least it is a very clear rule.

note that this will also double drain life's healing (with the current wording).

[iancudorinmarian]

double spell damage dealt by spells.

yes, this means it only doesn't work for UG, psion and (quint+)SoW.
But at least it is a very clear rule.

note that this will also double drain life's healing (with the current wording).

I know it would be OP, but I'll say this just to clarify a thing: UG damage is considered spell damage (due to mirror/jade shield reflecting it).

[dragtom]

I know it would be OP, but I'll say this just to clarify a thing: UG damage is considered spell damage (due to mirror/jade shield reflecting it).

double spell damage dealt by spells.

while UG deals spell damage, it is not a spell. Just like psion.

[timetock]

wow
damages
psiontal OP
lightnings OP
everything OP
wow

I do detest psiontal though, and this card makes it worse? Basically an version sky blitz. But with spell damage, so you can't even block it with shields.
Also, Firebolt. Can potentially OHKO someone with a couple of pillars/pends/stalling (easily done with dimshield)

[UndeadSpider1990]

wow
damages
psiontal OP
lightnings OP
everything OP
wow

I do detest psiontal though, and this card makes it worse? Basically an version sky blitz. But with spell damage, so you can't even block it with shields.
Also, Firebolt. Can potentially OHKO someone with a couple of pillars/pends/stalling (easily done with dimshield)

Thank you for raising a lot of good points. To an extent I am also worried that the proposed card is OP with certain combos, especially firebolt, but I tried to balance that with its high cost.

— Lightning: Diverge is very weak with Lightning unless you have several of them in your hand. 1 Lightning + 1 Diverge = 2 Lightnings, but a lot more expensive.
— Psiontal takes a lot of high cost cards and has to balance that with having enough handspace free to Fractal Psions. Going for a finishing blow using Diverge, it would play a dead card for a long time, and also costs as much as playing 2 new Psions.

— A Firebolt/Lightning deck could get very scary with this. I think if anything about this card is OP it is this combo (not mono-aether). I'd really like more opinions on it from everybody

[Elbirn]

Does not affect Unstable Gas, Rage Potion, Poison, Nightmare

But...But those are all spell damages. I get that you think they'd be OP, but you can't ignore game mechanics and OP combos in order to make a card work.

Unstable Gas: 8-9 + 5-6 +1 fire + 2 cards + 1 turn of waiting = 40 damage + 2 damage to all creatures on field. Forcing an awkward trio? Check. Very expensive quanta, card, and time wise? Check. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I'm pretty sure a standard UG deck, UP as it is, would be faster than this.

Rage Potion: 8-9 + 3 + 2 cards for a +10|-10 or a +12|-12? If you're using Rage Potion as a CC, without Diverge it was already going to kill it probably; if not, it would have been far more worth it to just use 2 Rage Potions instead. As a buff, Rage Potion gets a buff in the world of OTK's and not much else.

Poison: Okay this one's actually fine, doesn't deal spell damage per se, adds poison counters. Sauce: Mirror/Jade shield's do not reflect poison.

Nightmare: Now this is just silly, it's HP draining effects are miniscule, if someone feels like taking the time to gather 8-9 and then 1-2 and play 2 cards for a total of 32 HP (Assuming the opponent has an empty hand, probably much less), then go for it. There are much more cost effective ways to go about damaging the opponent and/or healing oneself.

[CuCN]

Nightmare isn't reflected by those two shields.

[UndeadSpider1990]

I think it would be too OP to allow it to affect UG, though I'm open to a counter-case if you disagree!

Unstable Gas: 8-9 + 5-6 +1 fire + 2 cards + 1 turn of waiting = 40 damage + 2 damage to all creatures on field. Forcing an awkward trio? Check. Very expensive quanta, card, and time wise? Check. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I'm pretty sure a standard UG deck, UP as it is, would be faster than this.

Actually I have no wish to prove you wrong: you made a good case and convinced me. I also tend to agree Rage Potion should be doubled, but please note that my proposed card would not double the +ATK from Rage Potion (it only doubles damage).

Nightmare isn't reflected by those two shields.

I'm not so much concerned with this as the word "drain". In Magic the Gathering, "lose 2 life" and "take 2 damage" are distinct — so an affect that doubles damage would affect only the second example. I think this logic should be applied to EtG in the same way, which leads me to wonder what exactly "drain" means: is it actually damage or something else?

In any case, it's wrong that I've omitted Nightmare while Drain Life is still included.

I'm making the following changes: Nightmare, Rage Potion and Unstable Gas are removed from the exclusion list. I remain happy to discuss opinions.