my question of "does gravity need another denial card" remains, as the gravity shard in production pumps out permanent destruction, and then a black hole when its done, as well as the existing pulvy and black hole in its own right, does this card need to exist as well? and even with a quanta drain, is a single turn mass permanent destruction really desirable for the game as a whole?
Alright, to analyze:
Overview
Black Hole is a denial card that affects enemy quantum.
Pulverizer is a duo-element card that works best gradually over time as PC. It can also be animated, and has reasonably High HP that works as AntiCC and Acceleration fodder for a few decks.
Shard of Focus is imbalanced and a poorly implemented combination of Pulverizer and Black Hole at this time, IMHO, which results in both design and redundancy issues.
Cascade is an expensive "trump" card that drains quantum and is likely to put your opponent into a permanent lockdown.
What cards are practical together?
Anything + SoF is technically practical, except for certain cards like LS.
Black Hole + Pulverizer is potentially practical against a rainbow, but ~-3-6 quantum from a mono duo is much less of an impact.
Black Hole + Cascade is potentially practical, but again requires Discord or vs. Rainbow and 12
.
Pulverizer + Cascade is usually impractical - both are somewhat expensive and needed as PC. Pulverizer is overall cheaper and more durable, while Cascade is better on a lategame lockdown.
What can Cascade do that the other cards can't?
Mass PC, something the game lacks.
Potential to permanently negate quantum production of multiple pillars. (Pulverizer can only do 1 at a time and BH cannot stop too many pillars from being stacked at once.)
What advantages do the other cards have over Cascade?
Pulverizer deals damage as a weapon, can be animated to become a creature.
Black Hole provides healing.
Shard of Focus is superior to all three (Built-in BH, Repeatable PC for free vs. 2
for pulvy, can be Fractaled to outpace Cascade), but keep in mind it's still imbalanced.
What justifies Cascade's position among the already-existing Gravity Denial cards?
Cascade is a late-game card, meant to be the "finisher" on a pseudo-OTK deck that excessively locks down the opponent beyond recovery or distancing the gap well enough to result in victory. It also introduces Mass PC, which has yet to be seen in Elements.
Pulverizer is more a mid-game card, coming out to counter the permanents played an enemy and slowly lockdown the opponent as he is stalled into endgame. It can also favor a more early role by being played early and animated for early lockdown.
Black Hole is an early-game card - the sooner it is played, the more turns it generally affects denial. It's use can still be maintained in midgame through Discord (forces a duo), but by endgame it serves as nothing more than a heal HP card to increase your score/electrum gain or a denial card to punish a crumbling opponent. (Chances are if your opponent is not sufficiently able to fight against a single BH at this point, they've lost. On the other hand, it's possible for your opponent to combat Cascade late-game with Shields, Sundials, SoSa, Mass CC, etc..., which you can prepare for by use of Momentum. Most BH decks focus on getting BH out by early-to-midgame at latest while Cascade decks would theorectically stall for lategame where it is most effective.)
my question of "does gravity need another denial card" remains, as the gravity shard in production pumps out permanent destruction, and then a black hole when its done, as well as the existing pulvy and black hole in its own right, does this card need to exist as well? and even with a quanta drain, is a single turn mass permanent destruction really desirable for the game as a whole?
Light has a ludicrous number of cards that heal you, and even so, there are still several light card ideas floating around that involve healing. Why can't gravity have another denial card?
The statement was not "Gravity cannot get another denial card". The question was "Does it need another denial card?". This implies moomoose is currently inclined to think Gravity has sufficient denial cards for the current card pool size.
Now:
1) Gravity + Random -> ??
This seems like calling entropy "order".
2) Gravity + Cascade -> ??
3) Cascade + Random PC per attacker -> ??
1) Random destruction of permanents is meant to show lack of control rather than entropy or complete chaos. Having the player choose what permanents to be destroyed would be tedious to code and tedious for PvP games as well.
Gravity + Random -> Extremely fast velocity.
2) As I stated before, Cascade can be "a consecutive sequence of physical processes". This indicates the impact cause by each creature.
Gravity + Cascade -> Impact of each creature hitting/running over an object.
3) Cascade + Random PC per attacker = Impact of multiple creatures + Extremely fast acceleration of these creatures. -> Collateral damage against opponent and enemy field as creatures impact and potentially ricochet, release shockwaves, or pass through multiple permanents on their way to attacking the elemental himself.
