Minor Ion Stone | Major Ion Stone

[OdinVanguard]

NAME: Minor Ion Stone ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 1 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Wild Magic Rite - Cast the currently selected spell, then select a new spell. Target is chosen randomly if needed.	NAME: Major Ion Stone ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Wild Magic Ritual Cast a random spell for each free hand slot. All targets are selected randomly as needed.

ART: Original Art links: Gem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ruby_gem.JPG Background: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1327495  Modified and merged by OdinVanguard using GIMP IDEA: OdinVanguard NOTES: "Today everything just seems to fall apart" "They all laughed... mad, the called you... give them the evil ion!" Thanks to dragtom for balancing and mechanics feedback on unupgraded version! A twist on pandemonium like mechanics. Unlike pandemonium, this card picks spells and casts them on random targets. Which spells? -> ANY spells --What about shards? -> those too (but only the ones that are spells) Much like pandemonium, this card can be used as a wonderful "Hail Marry" utility... in fact... it could end up casting pandemonium itself for that matter... of course, you and the opponent could end up as targets, as well as any / all of your permanents (including these)... This card will obey the targetting rules of any spells it picks... Additional clarifications -Can this target itself? -> Yes, it could randomly self-destruct due to a stray deflegration -What about the upgraded version? -> If the effect will still resolve fully even if the stone deflags itself. -Can this target players with creature only targeting spells or vice-versa? -> NO! -Can this target your field with a mass target effect (e.g. RoF your own field?) -> Not unless a spell that functions that way is added (none do so as of yet), but if so then yes -Could this animate your opponent's weapon with flying weapon? -> NO! flying weapon does not pick targets in regular EtG. -Can this put butterfly effect on creatures with 3+ ATK? -> NO! it must still obey the targetting rules of the spell it picks. -What about mirror shield? -> The spells get redirected as if they were cast normally. -Can this target immaterial permanents / creatures? -> NO! (see above about obeying targetting rules) SERIES:

Spoiler for old version:

NAME: Minor Ion Stone ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 1 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Wild Magic Rite Cast a random unupgraded spell. The target is selected randomly if needed.	NAME: Major Ion Stone ELEMENT: Entropy COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: : Wild Magic Ritual Cast a random spell for each free hand slot. All targets are selected randomly as needed.

ART: Original Art links: Gem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ruby_gem.JPG Background: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1327495  Modified and merged by OdinVanguard using GIMP IDEA: OdinVanguard NOTES: "Today everything just seems to fall apart" "They all laughed... mad, the called you... give them the evil ion!" A twist on pandemonium like mechanics. Unlike pandemonium, this card picks spells and casts them on random targets. Which spells? -> ANY spells --What about shards? -> those too (but only the ones that are spells) Much like pandemonium, this card can be used as a wonderful "Hail Marry" utility... in fact... it could end up casting pandemonium itself for that matter... of course, you and the opponent could end up as targets, as well as any / all of your permanents (including these)... This card will obey the targetting rules of any spells it picks... Additional clarifications -Can this target itself? -> Yes, it could randomly self-destruct due to a stray deflegration -What about the upgraded version? -> If the effect will still resolve fully even if the stone deflags itself. -Can this target players with creature only targeting spells or vice-versa? -> NO! -Can this target your field with a mass target effect (e.g. RoF your own field?) -> Not unless a spell that functions that way is added (none do so as of yet), but if so then yes -Could this animate your opponent's weapon with flying weapon? -> NO! flying weapon does not pick targets in regular EtG. -Can this put butterfly effect on creatures with 3+ ATK? -> NO! it must still obey the targetting rules of the spell it picks. -What about mirror shield? -> The spells get redirected as if they were cast normally. -Can this target immaterial permanents / creatures? -> NO! (see above about obeying targetting rules) SERIES:

[dragtom]

here are all spells:

Hover over cards for details, click for permalink

Deck import code : [Select]

4t9 4vi 4vj 4vk 4vn 4vo 50a 52o 52p 52s 53e 55q 55t 55v 562 58t 592 593 594 595 5c2 5c7 5c9 5f4 5f6 5f8 5f9 5fb 5fu 5i7 5i8 5ia 5ig 5ij 5lc 5lf 5li 5lj 5m6 5oh 5oi 5on 5op 5rk 5rr 5se 5up 5us 5uu 5v1 61q 61r 621 622 624 62m

Spoiler for spell-by-spell review:

this table does not include the cost of using the stone.

green: cannot backfire
red: can backfire
-1: always negative
0: no effect/ equal chance of positive and negative
1: always positive
anything in between are rough estimates.

assumed the opponent does have a random set of creatures,
and no niche cases like SoSac or voodoo doll.

spellname	use?	use? (creatureless)	notes
Relic	0	0
Chaos seed	0	1
Nova	1	1
Mutation	0	-0.8
Antimatter	0	1
Butterfly effect	0	-0.25
Shard of Serendipity	1	1
Poison	1	1
Plague	1	1
Aflatoxin	0	0.1
Shard of Sacrifice	-0.2	-0.2	Decent chance that you die with 48 damage. All your quanta is drained.
Momentum	0	-1
Gravity Pull	0	0
Black Hole	1	1
Acceleration	0	-0.25
Plate Armor	0	-1
Enchant Artifact	0	0
Earthquake	0	0
Stone Skin	0.2	0.2	useless if you have no quanta
Basilisk Blood	0	1
Heal	1	1
Adrenaline	0	-1
Mitosis	0	-1
Fire Bolt	0	0.8
Deflagration	0	0
Rain of Fire	1	1
Immolation	-0.1	0	Quite likely that the creature is more important than the quanta
Rage Potion	0	0
Shard of Bravery	0	0
Freeze	0	1
Ice Bolt	0	0.8
Purify	0	-0.8
Nymph's tears	0	0
Dry Spell	0.1	1
Holy Light	0	-0.8
Blessing	0	-1
Miracle	0.9	0.9
Lucifin	1	1
Shard of Divinity	1	1
Thunderstorm	1	1
Flying Weapon	0.75	0.5
Shockwave	0	-0.8
Sky blitz	0.8	-0.2
Reverse Time	0	1
Precognition	1	1
Shard of Readiness	0	-1
Steal	0	0
Drain Life	0.2	0	draining yourself doesn't do anything if it doesn't kill you
Liquid Shadow	0	-0.8
Nightmare	0	-0.5
Lightning	0	0.8
Parallel Universe	1	1
Quintessence	0	-0.9
Fractal	0	-0.8
Silence	1	1
Shard of Wisdom	0	-1

what happens if a spell with no valid target is picked? (I.E: immolation)
does nova count towards the limit?
Does the major stone cast upped spells?
Fractal, sky blitz and SoSac do drain the quanta as indicated?
SoSac can kill you?
what happens if you cast draw spells with the first cast of the major stone?

[OdinVanguard]

...snip (for brevity sake)...

what happens if a spell with no valid target is picked? (I.E: immolation)
-easiest solution is to have the effect only pick spells that have a valid target
does nova count towards the limit? -yes
Does the major stone cast upped spells?
-so you noticed the wording change ... yes, it can pick either upgraded or unupgraded, but the unupgraded version only picks unupgraded spells
Fractal, sky blitz and SoSac do drain the quanta as indicated?
-Yes, since that is part of those spell's effects
SoSac can kill you? -Of course... caveat emptor
what happens if you cast draw spells with the first cast of the major stone?
-Easiest implementation there is that the number of spells cast is determined at the time of use, so draw effects from spells picked would not impact the number of spells picked thereafter

Interesting analysis, I think it is safe to exclude voodoo dolls owned by opponent as a fringe case, but voodoo dolls owned by the user is worth considering since that seems like an obvious combo, and would be very feasible given their relatively low cost.
In that case, this could be popped into a voodoo bow or the like, wherein a lot of those red values should go green.

Even baring the voodoo combo, when I sum that first column, I get a total of +15.45, so I think it is safe to assume that this is a worthwhile effect (a zero would mean no net benefit, negative would be detrimental to user and positive would be good on average). Is this a correct?

[dragtom]

yes but not really. The analysis was only made to check if the effect was even positive.
this costs quanta, and it is a 15.45/56, which is roughly 0.28.
1 means it is always beneficial, 0.1 only occasionally or only a bit more than a negative effect.
However, this does not reflect how beneficial something is.
Imagine there are these spells:
'OP': 3:light: there is a 10% you instantly win the game;
'UP': 10:light: you heal 1 hp.
OP would only give 0.1, UP would give 1.

My feeling still sais the minor Ion stone is underpowered.
Playtesting would do wonders for this (cygnia still a thing?).
Also, I haven't looked at upped at all. That has another level of complexity that makes theorycrafting a nightmare.
edit:
also, what about SoWflect?

[OdinVanguard]

Basically, I am going with always following the spells targetting rules as a default, so SoW would be able to target immaterial creatures when cast via this.

Voodoo doll combo is an interesting one because all those effects that would normally disable or kill a creature you own will now end up hindering your opponent if they hit a doll.

I suppose I can make both versions work like the upped version then.. so the only difference would be that unupgraded would not have access to upgraded spells.

[dragtom]

I meant using this in a sowflect deck,
since buffing the enemies' creatures means you get to reflect more damage,
killing them means you don't have to bother with them,
and damage spells that go to your face go to the opponent instead.

I like the difference between the unupped and upped a lot. It'd be a shame to have to give that up.

[OdinVanguard]

Okay, then how about this for the unupgraded version:
"Lists a random spell each turn.
: Wild Magic Rite - Cast the spell. If needed, pick a side to select a random target in."

A little more convoluted on the wording than I like, but getting everything to fit is tricky.

So basically, you get to see what spell the ability will cast and you will get to select the side on which the target will be selected.
This is probably a lot more potent now. But the opponent will get a chance to see the spell that will be coming at them next and have one turn to react to it.
It would still select only unupgraded spells, but I can't fit that all in there...

The cost can be up to 2 (thats as much as will fit)

[dragtom]

your version allows every spell to be properly used, which is quite potent.
Knowing what is coming isn't all that great in elements (precognition).
How about the following version:

: cast the currently selected spell randomly targetting. A new spell is picked.

This way, one cannot get rid of a spell by not using it.
If a spell finds no valid target, it should just do nothing.
the random selecting of targets is what makes this card a wild ride, like (unupped) mutation.
removing the possibility of a drawback kills that.

Also, it should be noted that by seeing what spell you will cast, the drawbacks of SoSac, fractal, sky blitz and miracle are gone.

[OdinVanguard]

Seems reasonable. Will update shortly. Updated!