Entropy Construct | Gammatron Construct

[Scaredgirl]

NAME: Entropy Construct ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 9 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 5 | 20 TEXT: : Gamma Ray Target creature transforms into a Monster. Lasts 1 turn. Passive: Construct	NAME: Gammatron Construct ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 9 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 6 | 20 TEXT: : Gamma Ray Target creature transforms into a Monster. Lasts 1 turn. Passive: Construct

ART: Scaredgirl (Royalty-free images + Photoshop) IDEA: Scaredgirl NOTES: This is the first card in my 13-card series called Constructs. Warning: the whole concept is still very much under development, so some numbers might not make much sense and the whole card could have some serious balance issues. Constructs Nobody knows who originally built Constructs or why their were built. There are theories that Constructs were built by some ancient civilization to protect their cities from outside invaders. Recently an expedition led by Earth Elementals discovered a secret armory deep beneath Earth's surface. This armory had millions of hibernating Constructs, which surprisingly after thousands of years, were still functioning. But being offline for so long, seems to have done some serious damage to the systems of the Constructs, although some argue that they were poorly designed in the first place, which is why that advanced ancient civilization was wiped out by attackers. Some even say that it was the Constructs that turned against their creators and ultimately led to their doom. Be as it may, Constructs are a powerful force on the battlefield, as long as they don't malfunction and attack their owner! Each card in the series will share a passive ability Construct. Each turn, Constructs have a 50% chance of something bad happening: 50% Nothing bad happens. 10% Construct overheats and does not attack during next turn. 10% Construct malfunctions and cannot use its ability during next turn. 10% Construct gets confused and will attack its owner during next turn. 10% Construct runs out of battery and must be recharged (card goes back to your hand). 10% Construct malfunctions and takes 10 damage. Ability: Gamma Ray Basic idea to this ability was taken from The Hulk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_(comics)), although there are some differences. Gamma Ray can be used to temporarily transform a creature into a Monster. Monsters are basically stronger versions of the host creature, but without any abilities. After 1 turn, the creature transforms back to original like nothing happened. When a creature becomes Monster, it gains +6|+6 but loses all abilities. When the creature transforms back to original, all abilities it had are reinstated and it suffers -6|-6. Gamma Ray can be used both in offense and in defense. You can use it to buff your own creatures, or you can use it to temporarily get rid of some annoying ability that one of your opponents creatures have, although it if do the latter, the trade-off is of course buffing the stats of that creature. Special: If you use Gamma Ray on a creature that is already a Monster, that creature is killed. In practice this means that two Entropy Constructs can take out one creature during one round, provided neither of them malfunctions. While in Monster form, the whole visuals of the creature will change into something like this: Related Card: Repair Droids Repair Droids are the 13th card belonging to this set. They do not have the Construct passive ability and their only purpose is to repair overheating and malfunctioning Constructs. Repair Droids can be used to decrease the effect of malfunctions, but Constructs can be used without them as well. Repair Droids will get their own dedicated topic later. SERIES: Constructs

[moomoose]

oh no, please dont take scientific ques from the incredible hulk! stan lee is awesome but was just pulling it all out of his *hat*.  gamma ray = complete and utter destruction

[Scaredgirl]

oh no, please dont take scientific ques from the incredible hulk! stan lee is awesome but was just pulling it all out of his *hat*

It's not supposed to be actual science. Most people know Hulk is not real.

This series will have a kind of a retro/robot/60's science fiction feel, so I will probably be using some cliches of a "killer robot" or superheroes taken from comics, movies, etc.

[moomoose]

okies, have fun i'll suspend disbelief

[Jappert]

Are you aiming to make them properly balanced in game aswell?

Somehow I don't think 9 for a 5 attack creature is very strong. The ability is nice but pretty expensive also. It's HP is a nice bonus but doesn't make up for the high cost, does it? (Gamma Ray + Sparks would own though!)

Awesome art, awesome construct background story and awesome idea however. As far as card ideas go, this is a Champions League contender

[Scaredgirl]

Are you aiming to make them properly balanced in game aswell?

Yes, of course.

Somehow I don't think 9 for a 5 attack creature is very strong. The ability is nice but pretty expensive also. It's HP is a nice bonus but doesn't make up for the high cost, does it? (Gamma Ray + Sparks would own though!)

I made it 9 because original plan was to make Gamma Ray so that it kills the target if the target is already a Monster. This would have fit the theme because too much Gamma Ray is very bad for you. However it would also mean that two Gammatron Constructs could take out one creature per round, one first transforming it to a Monster, and the other to kill it. While Constructs do break down etc. I still haven't decided if it's too powerful or not. It's so close to an instant kill that it definitely has the potential to be too powerful.

[Jocko]

The art is amazing. But the cost might be elevated, if you take the negative effects of constructs into account. Although maybe a lower cost would make it too powerful, i dunno.
Also, pretty epic combo with rage pot.
What happens if you stack rays?

[UTAlan]

When a creature becomes Monster, it gains +6|+6 but loses all abilities. When the creature transforms back to original, all abilities it had are reinstated and it suffers -6|-6. Note: This can never kill the creature, only bring it down to the minimum which is 0|1.

Does this mean if I use this on a Ball Lightning, it gains 1HP after the effect has worn off?

[Scaredgirl]

What happens if you stack rays?

I added the "kills a creature that is already a Monster" effect I talked about earlier. This should make the high cost more logical.

When a creature becomes Monster, it gains +6|+6 but loses all abilities. When the creature transforms back to original, all abilities it had are reinstated and it suffers -6|-6. Note: This can never kill the creature, only bring it down to the minimum which is 0|1.

Does this mean if I use this on a Ball Lightning, it gains 1HP after the effect has worn off?

That is a good question. I removed the special rule to simplify things and get rid of the problem. Now if the Monster goes below 6 HP, transforming back to original creature will kill the creature.

[The_Mormegil]

I think 7 is more likely to be balanced, but it's mostly a hunch...

[Naesala]

Pretty awesome art, and love the effect. Would make an interesting duo aether entropy with monster sparks.

[OldTrees]

You always have creative ideas. I'm glad to see another.

Thoughts:
Theme
Construct (used as Golem/Robot), while better than Golem or Robot does not sound as elementally generic as Dragons, Nymphs or Shards. This is not to imply that it is not generic enough. It is merely an area that is easily changed provided someone knows a better term.
Construct has an alternate meaning of "something constructed by the mind (a theoretical entity)". This meaning could include artificially crafted spirits or personifications of ideas.

Mechanic
Construct (the passive ability) represents the unreliability of these constructs. Having it be one ability is concise and simple but comes with the drawback of balancing the randomness so it fits both unpredictable and predictable elements.
All of the possible side effects are well thought out and would be valuable additions to the game code making many other ideas easier to implement.
The damaging malfunction possibility would probably be adjusted if the original hp was adjusted.

Mechanical Theme (aka how the mechanics fit together)
The basic structure of these constructs is resilient malfunctioning creatures with an intriguing ability worth repeated use. Resilient enables multiple usages of the ability however too resilient would force the ability to weaker since reuse would be assured. Malfunctioning is a drawback that reduces the synergy between resilience and the ability permitting higher resilience and a more interesting ability while still balanced.

Cost
Based on the mechanical theme what range of casting cost would best fit this series? The lower the cost the more fragile the creature, less interesting the ability or more devastating the malfunctioning. Likewise as the cost is increased the resilience and ability value can increase and the malfunctioning decrease. It should be fairly obvious to most that Constructs and Nymphs are mechanically similar in that they are both meant as vehicles for reusable interesting abilities. I suggest that it would be more beneficial to the game if the casting costs of the two groups were notably different. This would result in a more diverse group of cards usually resulting in a more diverse set of viable decks. From these two details I feel it is obvious that a mid-high [5-7] casting cost would fit this series better to differentiate it from the high [8-9] casting cost nymphs.

I will comment on Gamma Ray later.