The Value of Certainty

[Hyroen]

Legendary are those matches which have lost due to fail draws and indeed inversely, amazing is the feeling to get a perfect draw. But what makes the draw?

Randomness correct?  Entropy.

Our decks are shuffled and then given to us with a "Good Luck" note attached. Do we have to accept it? For now...

Its natural balance, Gravity, I believe should be the element of certainty, something that will tell you, "If you throw a lot of knives up, expect them to come down," with Entropy adding, "...but one might hit you ."

It is due to this belief in the certainty of Gravity that this OldTrees type question arises (Yes, I would love your input OldTrees):

What if we could change our luck a bit? What is the value of certainty?

I present to you this card to make game coders and theorists alike ponder:

Mercury Orb | Mercury Essence

NAME: Mercury Orb ELEMENT: Gravity COST: TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 3|4 TEXT: Mercury: This card is always among the last 6 in your deck.	NAME: Mercury Essence ELEMENT: Gravity COST: TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: 1|6 TEXT: Mercury: This card is always among the last 6 in your deck. Venom: Add 1 poison to each successful attack.

ART: www.sxc.hu IDEA: Hyroen NOTES: Mercury is a passive skill and cannot be lobotomized. Venom can be lobotomized. SERIES:

Discuss.

[Memorystick]

Six of these, and FG decks relying on eternity will never have to worry about bottom-decking eternity Plus, with no casting cost, I can bounce it all day long (in other words, a little OP- add to the cost, and make it bottom 10 cards or so)

Indeed, as it is, this card, along with precog, would make 18-card decks possible, and can make larger decks viable, since it's basically making your deck thicker without the problem of screwing with your hand.

[MyNameIsJoey]

id make it maybe bottom 10. it looks OP as it is

[OldTrees]

Thanks for the invite. It is a great question.

Beautiful art too.

3|4 stats deserve a cost of 3
3 (Attack) + 0 (0<HP<6)
1|6 Venom Upgraded stats deserves a cost of 3-4
1 (Attack) + 1 (5<HP8] +3 (Venom) -[1-2] (Upgrade)

Now the question of "Does Mercury modify the above up or down and how much?"
I personally think that Mercury does increase the cost because it adds a benefit.

But how much of an increase is trickier.
Also with decks that are designed to win in 24 cards or less, this card's casting cost becomes irrelevant.

Since the decks that would benefit most from this would never need to cast this card, I think balancing it as is might be impossible. However what about it have a skill that inserts it at the bottom of the deck?

Casting Cost: 1|0
Effect:  :Mercury:Return this card to the bottom of your deck and draw a card.
Attack: 0|0
HP: 5|7

On a side note:
I fully agree with you that Gravity should be the element of certainty and Entropy be the element of luck (sometimes biased sometimes fair)



In general I believe that certainty is only as valuable as the certain result just as random is only as valuable as the average result.

[chb369]

The card looks really great. The stats 3/4, and upgraded 1/6 w/ poison seem like OK stats, but I'm not sure how well the passive "last 6 cards in your deck ability" will work.

Also I would like to suggest some card costs:

Mercury Orb: 4 
Mercury Essence: 5 

This is just a suggestion though, and is my opinion of what is should cost if it was/will be a card in the game. 

[Hyroen]

Excellent suggestions all round, with special mention for OldTree's idea.

The poll has been updated to reflect the recent suggestion.

[Kuroaitou]

Okay, let's back up a bit: is this a topic supposed to be a card idea? Or a concept/topic regarding certainty in draws vs. card advantage?

I'll be moving this to the regular CIA forums soon - otherwise, the concept of a card ALWAYS being in the last 6 or in your starting hand is a hard theory to grasp around. How can one truly make it balanced without giving any deck a severe advantage by shortening their deck or being provided a near-perfect start each time they fight someone? Then again, I suppose there are some combos that bend that theory (many of the rush decks involving Nova and Immolation with Sparks and Lava Golems), so I guess this would be an interesting start regarding certainty vs. probability/erratic chance.

[Hyroen]

Kuro, I will soon be introducing the idea myself, no need to worry about it. I just wanted to explain it a bit, and see what this game changing concept would bring to the table.

The community spoke, and the card idea I present will reflect the desires of the community and will credit where credit is due.

[Kuroaitou]

Kuro, I will soon be introducing the idea myself, no need to worry about it. I just wanted to explain it a bit, and see what this game changing concept would bring to the table.

The community spoke, and the card idea I present will reflect the desires of the community and will credit where credit is due.

Ah I see - deepest apologies for the confusion then. ^^;

[Kamietsu]

I do agree some that this might be a somewhat almost seemingly cheating way of improving your starting hand. What if each subsequent of this card you add, bumps up the limit of the deck it's in? Such as, 1 Orb will be in bottom 5, 2 Orbs will be bottom 10, 3 orbs will be bottom 15, 4 is bottom 20, 5 is bottom 25, and 6 is bottom 30.

Basically, every five cards will have an Orb in it for 30 card decks. More than 30 card decks will only have them in the bottom 30. Just an idea.