Blackout|Blackout

[AngeDeMort]

NAME: Blackout ELEMENT: Darkness COST: 4 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Trap: Next enemy spell played cloaks the opponent's own field from them for 2 turns	NAME: Blackout ELEMENT: Darkness COST: 4 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Trap: Next enemy spell played cloaks the opponent's own field from them for 3 turns

ART: Mattox (http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Mattox) IDEA: AngeDeMort NOTES: It's a trap so it is played cloaked and is triggered when your opponent casts any spell. Only one can be set off per spell used, and it is destroyed upon activation. The trap goes off after the spell has been cast so the spell still has it's intended effect. The cloaking would work like Cloak so all the opponent could see on their field is a cloak permanent that could be destroyed SERIES: IT'S A TRAP(S)! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,25224.msg344096#msg344096)

[tyranim]

i was actuall thinking about making a few "trap" cards, but i decided that i shouldnt because of the most likely responce from the community.
though i do like the card itself, i dont think traps should be limited to one element. it would be way too easy to be able to identify the trap simply from the amount of quanta taken from a single pool. thats why i suggest one of two things be altered:
first- change to "other"
second- make quanta consumption happen when the trap itself is triggered

i personally think the latter would be more balancable and the better choice

[AngeDeMort]

i was actuall thinking about making a few "trap" cards, but i decided that i shouldnt because of the most likely responce from the community.
though i do like the card itself, i dont think traps should be limited to one element. it would be way too easy to be able to identify the trap simply from the amount of quanta taken from a single pool. thats why i suggest one of two things be altered:
first- change to "other"
second- make quanta consumption happen when the trap itself is triggered

i personally think the latter would be more balancable and the better choice

Well at the moment the community seems to be open to the idea but not exactly in love with it (a few of my cards went unreplied to  ), but I think they would be a good addition to the arsenal of Elements so I put them out there. The traps being tied to one element is that they fit into that element's theme such as this putting the opponent "in the dark" about their own cards seems very darkness like (especially since darkness already has Cloak).

To address the quanta give away I think having a give away is very trap like since if you are looking for them and know what to look for you can usually spot traps before walking into them, also even if your opponent knew what trap was played it would limit what cards they could play greatly (even shut down certain decks) if they didn't want to trigger it.

Your second recommendation has peaked my interest, it would be possible to have the skills be some thing like "when next event happens spend x  and trigger this" and then if you don't have the quanta it doesn't trigger, I'll have to think this one over.

[OldTrees]

Protip:
Design the core effect before you decide what delivery mechanism to use. Trap is not a good starting point in the design process. If you had come up with a decent new mechanic that would be best served as a Trap then should you suggest a trap. (Occasionally this rule is broken by vets that have more experience with card design. Even our quality suffers when we do.)

[AngeDeMort]

Protip:
Design the core effect before you decide what delivery mechanism to use. Trap is not a good starting point in the design process. If you had come up with a decent new mechanic that would be best served as a Trap then should you suggest a trap. (Occasionally this rule is broken by vets that have more experience with card design. Even our quality suffers when we do.)

Are you referring to this card or the series in general?

[OldTrees]

Protip:
Design the core effect before you decide what delivery mechanism to use. Trap is not a good starting point in the design process. If you had come up with a decent new mechanic that would be best served as a Trap then should you suggest a trap. (Occasionally this rule is broken by vets that have more experience with card design. Even our quality suffers when we do.)

Are you referring to this card or the series in general?

The design strategy that was used for this series and several others.

[AngeDeMort]

My rebuttal on design:
While true that for most single cards it would be easier to have the effect in mind before deciding everything else so that it fits the mechanic, not all design processes must be exactly the same and start from the same spot.

When designing something around an idea that central idea is what you want to be the most concrete so that everything else can fit into it. Designing a card around an effect makes it the most concrete allowing you to play with how it is triggered and what kind of card would best hold it . Designing a card around the a delivery mechanic allows for free modification of the effect. Honestly it really comes down to what kind of card you want to make and what you want to have the most freedom in choosing.

Designing a series around a central effect limits what the cards can do and leads to a bunch of cards that do the exact same thing and are only useful in the fact that they allow mono's to have that effect. Look at scorpions for example if that series was continued to include all elements most would be very similar if not copies of each other since there is only so much you can do with the shared effect of "apply poison on attack". Designing a series around a delivery mechanic such as trap allows for varied unique effects that simply share how they are played onto the field and how they are activated.

My point of all this being is that there is no one single cookie cutter way to design a card, imo as long as the design process leads to a card that has a useful mechanic(whether new or a twist on an older one), adds something original to the game, and can be versatile in it's applications then the design process(not necessarily the card) has been a success. But all of this is pointless for this thread why are we not arguing this in Design Theory?
If you have a better suggestion for the effect of any of my trap cards feel free to post it either on the card thread or on the series thread if I haven't made the card yet

[OldTrees]

i was actuall thinking about making a few "trap" cards, but i decided that i shouldnt because of the most likely responce from the community.

I was prompted by this quote to comment on my support for the mechanic Trap. I thought the best way to do that was to point out the only suboptimal decision I saw you the author make. So that unit would suggest a good idea that works well as a Trap. (This is why I  posted it here.)

Your design process for this series
1) Delivery system
2) Brainstorm packages to deliver
3) Balance card idea

My suggested design process for a series
1) Package
2) Identify best delivery system or systems.
3) Store that package in a bucket labeled after that delivery system
4) Check buckets to see if any are full enough to make a series
4a) If Yes, proceed with making the delivery system series with only ideal packages.
4b) If no, repeat from step 1

The reason I suggest my process is because it has a double selection process. The package only goes in the best delivery systems and the delivery systems only take the best packages. When you eliminate one of these selection processes the quality suffers. My advice comes from having learned the hard way by doing these suboptimal choices I speak of.
As soon as I have a mechanic that would work well as a trap, you'll know.

[Kuroaitou]

CURATOR COMMENT
-The artwork in this case specifically requires you to credit Mattox (http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Mattox). In the link you provided for the ART section, please read the 'Availability' section more closely next time, and cite the artist in both the table (ART section) as well as the card image (bottom left corner of the artwork)

[AngeDeMort]

fixed, Ill be more careful about that in the future

[Rutarete]

Nice way of tying in the theme and effects. I like this one.

[TimerClock14]

I like this card. Very interesting idea.