Ice Spectre / Aquatican / Steamlord

[Lanidrak]

So, this is a bit of a series focussing on a / dualism.

My reasoning is that water is sort of weak. I simply draw the allusion between the three states of water: Solid (Ice), Liquid (Water), Gaseous (Steam).

Ice Spectre
Cost: 2
Stats: 2/6
Ability: None

Note: If Ice Spectre is damaged by (so, Firebolt/Lance, Rain of Fire/Storm, Unstable Gas) it is changed into a Aquatican.

Aquatican
Cost: 5 (if rewound)
Stats: 5/4
Ability: 1 - Purify

Note: If Aquatican is frozen, he gets turned back into Ice Spectre, if Aquatican takes fire damage it is changed into a Steamlord.

Steamlord
Cost: 7 (if rewound)
Stats: 6/1
Ability: Aetherial (passive)
Ability II: 3 - Fog Wall: Creates 1 Fog Cluster.

Note: The Steamlord is aetherial. You cannot damage (target?) something which is made of a gaseous substance.

Fog Cluster
Cost: N/A
Type: Permanent (Like Sundial 1 Turn)
Ability: Opponent creatures have a 20% chance to miss. This stacks with other Fog Clusters.

So, what do you think? It is an early draft, so it can change depending on your criticisms!

Credits go to Arondight for pointing me in this direction with his Snow Man/Jack Frost card idea submission.

[Arondight]

It has been discussed before, but anything that can cast Purify multiple times is considered too powerful. Because it would totally decimate a deck archetype.. repeatedly.

Steam Lord on the other hand is pretty interesting. I would go as far as suggesting to make the effect cost  to increase synergy between  and  . Which makes Toadfish a tiny bit more viable for usage.

By the way, what about Fire Shield / Fire Buckler?

[Lanidrak]

Oh yeah, the Fire Shield effect will be fire damage also, so that will be some sure fire way to get all your Ice Spectre's to Steamlords quickly.

I was thinking about giving the Aquatican a new ability

Dilute: Cost: 2 - Remove 1 poison counters from yourself and put two poison counters on this creature.

That way you can remove poison from yourself at the risk of losing your Aquatican.

The other option was a more direct way of slowing poison.

Dilute: Cost: 2 - You only take half poison damage this turn.

I still need to come up with the upgraded set of these three creatures.

[binde22]

w8 so if i have 5 fog wall i cant be hit thats like a dimension shield that is lasts all game (i know it would take a bit too build up but still...) all you need to worry about is a weapon

OP

[Lanidrak]

No, Binde22.

Firstly, it would cost 10 to achieve this 100% fog wall. And, it only lasts one turn.

Secondly, I'm thinking that the Fog Cluster acts like a shield. In that Momentum ignores it.

Thirdly, I could change it so that 1) it costs 3 , or 2) only gives 10% chance to miss.

[midg3333]

No, Binde22.

Firstly, it would cost 10 to achieve this 100% fog wall. And, it only lasts one turn.

Secondly, I'm thinking that the Fog Cluster acts like a shield. In that Momentum ignores it.

Thirdly, I could change it so that 1) it costs 3 , or 2) only gives 10% chance to miss.

and the fact that you would need 5 steamlords each using their ability every turn to keep it up  . I think that it's a pretty cool idea, and if the steamlord ability used air then it would make for some interesting water-fire-air decks (like UG + ice spectres, air and water pillars splashing a fire mark)

[Lanidrak]

Yeah, it's pretty unlikely you will get 4 or more Steamlords in play in any game. And if you do, it's pretty much a done deal for your opponent.

And of course an Air/Fire/Water deck is what this was leading to

Glad you all like it.

[Arondight]

Still think the Steam Lord's effect should cost something like  . It's too coincidental to  Fog Shield, which would be great to use together.  Not to mention you want to combine the synergy between  and  , but  already has synergy with  , thus it makes perfect sense.

[Xinef]

I think fog clusters should not stack like 20%+20%=40%, but rather each should be calculated separately
eg. for 3 clusters probability to hit would be
80%*80%*80% = 51,2%
with 5 clusters it would be ~33% and add a fog shield and you are damn hard to hit, yet always possible.

I also think you should increase steamlords hp to 2, because with only 1 he would be killed by fire bucklers before he gets to use his ability even once.

[Lanidrak]

I think fog clusters should not stack like 20%+20%=40%, but rather each should be calculated separately
eg. for 3 clusters probability to hit would be
80%*80%*80% = 51,2%
with 5 clusters it would be ~33% and add a fog shield and you are damn hard to hit, yet always possible.

I don't understand the maths here.

I THINK:

What you mean is, 1 Fog Cluster = 80% miss chance. But, having only one Fog Cluster, you are most vulnerable to steal/deflagrate/pulverize etc?

If you have 2 Fog Clusters = (80% * 80%) = (0.80 * 0.80) = 0.64 = 64% chance to miss? Balanced by the fact that it will be two deflagrates?

I think that is most misleading. I see my opponent has 2 fog clusters in play, I want to hit him some more so I remove 1 of his fog clusters, but the miss rate increases?

Okay, so it was chance to hit // not chance to miss. My bad. Seems to work. But how would a 'Chance to Hit' effect stack with a 'Chance to Miss' effect such as Fog Shield?

So I have 5 Fog Clusters in play, equating to a 33% chance to hit me.
I also have a Fog Shield in play, meaning they have a 40% chance to miss me.

That's a total 67% + 40% = 107% chance to miss?

Or will the attacking creatures simply face two hit-checks? The Fog Shield first, then the Fog Cluster?

It just really confuses me, and I think it will confuse your average player more... I'd just carry Momentums if this was implemented :p

I'll think of a better way for it to work. Simple and effective yet not imbalanced.

I also think you should increase steamlords hp to 2, because with only 1 he would be killed by fire bucklers before he gets to use his ability even once.

Oh, true. I was under the logical impression that Immortal/Aetherial creatures were unaffected by damage. Stupid fire buckler. Will change it according.

[Xinef]

Okay, so it was chance to hit // not chance to miss. My bad. Seems to work. But how would a 'Chance to Hit' effect stack with a 'Chance to Miss' effect such as Fog Shield?

So I have 5 Fog Clusters in play, equating to a 33% chance to hit me.
I also have a Fog Shield in play, meaning they have a 40% chance to miss me.

That's a total 67% + 40% = 107% chance to miss?

Or will the attacking creatures simply face two hit-checks? The Fog Shield first, then the Fog Cluster?

It just really confuses me, and I think it will confuse your average player more... I'd just carry Momentums if this was implemented :p

No, I mean that every permanent would have a separate chance to miss, so fog shields/dusk mantles would also be multiplied instead of added. I wrote about chance to hit simply because that is easier to calculate.
4 Fog Clusters, 1 Fog Shield
Chance to hit = 80%*80%*80%*80%*60% ~= 24,5% to hit
Chance to miss = 20% + (80%*20%) + (80%*80%*20%) + (80%*80%*80%*20%) + (80%*80%*80%*80%*40%) ~= 75,5%

The numbers are both good, but calculating the chance to hit is simpler

And it would not confuse a player because it only needs to be implemented, and players do not need to know how it is calculated. All they need to know is that having more makes it harder to hit them, but it will always be possible to hit.

[Lanidrak]

And it would not confuse a player because it only needs to be implemented, and players do not need to know how it is calculated. All they need to know is that having more makes it harder to hit them, but it will always be possible to hit.

I agree and disagree. ScaredGirl or someone mentioned something a while ago, along the lines of, if we keep implementing 'random' or % based features in the game of elements, soon we can reduce it to flipping a coin to decide who wins or loses. Now, that statement was meant more as a flame against purely 'random' things.

But, I can assure you, a lot of people will want to know the exact numbers, the chance to miss, etc. For example, what would be the card text of a Fog Cluster? "Causes attacking creatures to miss"? "Causes some attacking creatures to miss?"

My suggestion is that it is changed slightly,

Fog Cluster
Permanent (Until start of your next turn - like a half-sundial)
Ability: Causes 15% of opponent attacks to miss.
Notes: Stacks.

That way, with the maximum of 6 in play, you have a 90% chance of avoiding all damage. Then, the 10% of attacks that get through will then be subjected to your shield, ie. 40% chance to miss. So it will be two sort of to-hit checks.

But this is how it works with Sundial anyway. No creatures attack, and therefore no creatures are affected by your shield. A weapon still attacks, but if you have Titanium Shield, then the weapon damage is reduced by 3.

So, Fog Clusters will stop as many attacks as possible. Then, the remaining attacks that get through will be affected by your shield, ie. Fire Buckler.

The balancing of the card is such that if you eventually get 6 Steam Lords in a game, it will be very late in the game that a 90% chance to miss on incoming attacks is a valuable thing to have. But in most situations you will only really get 2 to 3 Steam Lords in play.