Mercury | Quicksilver

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

NAME: Mercury ELEMENT: Earth COST: 6 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 5 | 5 TEXT: Mercury is able to adapt to the situation at hand.	NAME: Quicksilver ELEMENT: Earth COST: 6 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 6 | 6 TEXT: Quicksilver is able to adapt to the situation at hand.

ART: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/962501 IDEA: MildlyFrightenedBoy NOTES: Mercury and Quicksilver have the unique ability to adapt to the opponent's strategy. The ability is passive and cannot be lobotomized. - If the opponent plays a shield, Mercury gains ATK equal to the shield's damage reduction.  This bonus is not lost if the shield is destroyed. - If the opponent plays any shield with an effect other than flat damage reduction (Fire Shield, Permafrost Shield), Mercury gains Momentum. - If the opponent plays Wings or Vanadium Warden, Mercury gains Airborne. - If the owner plays Sky Blitz, Mercury gains Airborne. - When Mercury takes damage that leaves it at or below 0 HP, it remains alive. - If Mercury has a negative ATK, it gains Antimatter immediately before attacking. - If Shard of Patience is played, Mercury is changed to a creature and the space that it currently occupies becomes flooded. - Mercury cannot be frozen or delayed. - If Flooding is played, Mercury becomes a creature. - If Eclipse is played, Mercury becomes a creature. - If Flooding and Eclipse / SoP are both active, Mercury becomes a creature and gains the buff from Eclipse permanently. - Mercury can be targeted with Butterfly Effect regardless of ATK. - Mercury is counted as a creature when targeted with Shard of Readiness. - Mercury is counted as a -producing creature when Hope is active (it never produces , however). It models 's general high defense with shields / Stone Skin as a creature, but with a theme of adaptation rather than brute force. I set up a poll to see the general idea of the card. SERIES:

[Poker Alho]

i think this is ridiculously OP

you cant kill it, delay it, freeze it, antimatter it or stop it with shields

its better than an immortal yet it costs roughly the same
has no real counter but it can counter nearly everything

no, just no.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

i think this is ridiculously OP

you cant kill it, delay it, freeze it, antimatter it or stop it with shields

its better than an immortal yet it costs roughly the same
has no real counter but it can counter nearly everything

no, just no.

However, it is just a 6 | 6 creature.  It becomes immortal if your opponent plays the right shield, meaning that you can't buff it.  Should I increase the cost?

[Poker Alho]

i think this is ridiculously OP

you cant kill it, delay it, freeze it, antimatter it or stop it with shields

its better than an immortal yet it costs roughly the same
has no real counter but it can counter nearly everything

no, just no.

However, it is just a 6 | 6 creature.  It becomes immortal if your opponent plays the right shield, meaning that you can't buff it.  Should I increase the cost?

if you still believe the card can be balanced, yes the cost should be raised to at least 8 imo. you may not buff it, but once it comes to the field, what can really stop the card? maybe RT but thats not enough to not make it overpowered.

[OdinVanguard]

As a concept, the idea is quite cool. However, you need to tone the responses down A LOT. Right now this card seems way OP in my opinion. Its not 100% uncounterable, but its getting close...
Mercury tends to be extremely poisonous btw... maybe it should poison the owner every turn as one counter-balance... (in fact, it often acts as a neurotoxin... nudge nudge)

Most of your suggested reactions are nearly hard counters, so they either need to
1) Be removed
2) Be made as a "soft" counter
3) Be limited
4) Have a serious counter balance measure to make a player think twice about using this card.

One other suggestion would be to only allow it to adapt a set number of times in a given player's turn.

One of my favorite pieces of advice I saw from OldTrees was that a player should have to consider whether a card is worth including over other similar cards. If the choice is easy, its probably unbalanced or the player is missing something.

[AP579]

I think the thematic should be changed. I like the idea of adapting, but with mercury it doesn't make any sense for me.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

One of my favorite pieces of advice I saw from OldTrees was that a player should have to consider whether a card is worth including over other similar cards. If the choice is easy, its probably unbalanced or the player is missing something.

Comparing Mercury to Abomination, I think I need to nerf it.

Regarding your idea: what if you used a free ability to gain 1 | 2 charges, which would each allow Mercury to do one thing (gain Momentum become a creature, etc.) but poison the owner upon casting?

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

I think the thematic should be changed. I like the idea of adapting, but with mercury it doesn't make any sense for me.

Mercury is a liquid that flows very easily despite being a metal.
Here's a picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Pouring_liquid_mercury_bionerd.jpg/553px-Pouring_liquid_mercury_bionerd.jpg

It also has a relatively close boiling and melting point compared to other metals, so it can be easily observed in all states of matter.  Alchemists also considered mercury to be one of the most important elements, and it was required to create gold.

Also, "mercury" is the root word for "mercurial", which means 'easily shaped or changed'.

[Poker Alho]

I think the thematic should be changed. I like the idea of adapting, but with mercury it doesn't make any sense for me.

Mercury is a liquid that flows very easily despite being a metal.
Here's a picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Pouring_liquid_mercury_bionerd.jpg/553px-Pouring_liquid_mercury_bionerd.jpg

It also has a relatively close boiling and melting point compared to other metals, so it can be easily observed in all states of matter.  Alchemists also considered mercury to be one of the most important elements, and it was required to create gold.

Also, "mercury" is the root word for "mercurial", which means 'easily shaped or changed'.

that image is pretty cool

i think that all those adaptations you suggested can work if mercury can only change once, and if it could only change once the cost could return to 6

[jacker]

It's a nice concept, but probably it would be too difficult to code and is OP anyway, you should let it die with hp<0, and lower Atk/Hp

[OdinVanguard]

It's a nice concept, but probably it would be too difficult to code and is OP anyway, you should let it die with hp<0, and lower Atk/Hp

I'm not sure on all of them, but I wouldn't think coding some of the abilities would be too bad. The abilities do need to be toned down though, and limiting the number of morphs somehow is probably a must.
Instead of just plain not dying at hp=0, have it survive once and then die if hit again or on its next attack if not healed (i.e. treat it like a spark when the first killing blow is dealt).

[AP579]

I am aware that mercury is a metal that is liquid at room temperature. There are many other things that may also have that arguments like that (e.g. Iodine or Bromine), and I don't exactly see how its significance in alchemy is relevant, but I see your point with mercurial.