Aetheric Guard | Aetheric Shield

[moomoose]

NAME: Aetheric Guard ELEMENT: Aether COST: 2 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Shield: reduce damage by 1. : Ethereal Any damage from spells is reflected. Become Immaterial.	NAME: Aetheric Shield ELEMENT: Aether COST: 3 TYPE: Permanent ATK|HP: TEXT: Shield: reduce damage by 2. : Ethereal Any damage from spells is reflected. Become Immaterial.

ART: public domain/moomoose http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=1160565 http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1146258 IDEA: moomoose NOTES: Aether lacks a spell reflection shield of it's own, which may be worth addressing.  Once Ethereal is activated, the shield functions just like mirror shield/jade shield for the duration of the card's existence.  The cost overall is lower than that of jade shield, but it does not come into play as immaterial/reflective, leaving it vulnerable for that initial turn to permanent control. The defense to physical damage is less than that of phase shield, but Aetheric Shield lacks a duration, and has synergy with SoW if you wish to use the shard defensively to make the opponent's creature attack its owner. I am open to tinkering with the cost, to play and ability use. SERIES:

[darkrobe]

Comparing to Jade shield:

5 for 1 DR/immaterial/reflective (unupped)
7  for 2 DR/immaterial/reflective (upped)

A-Guard

4 + 1 turn delay for 1DR/immaterial/reflective (unupped)  <- might be balanced
5  + 1 turn delay for 2DR/immaterial/ reflective (upped)  <- a little too cheap.

I might increase the cost on aetheric shield if you want to keep this format. otherwise id suggest some kind of upkeep if you wanted it to be a cheap shield.

[moomoose]

also keep in mind mirror shield:

1 for 0 DR/immaterial/reflective (basic)
2 for 1 DR/immaterial/reflective (upgraded)

I think this shield falls between the two

[BluePriest]

Its so obvious that this card was made in response to the new aether shard....

[moomoose]

yep, as was addressed in the notes.  zanz mentioned his desire for the shard to be used defensively as well, but unless in a deck which has a reflective shield (currently only and have such a mechanism), it could only be used offensively.  this shield was designed to fulfill the void of aether's more 'standard' shield as well as function within aether's spell niche and add another spell reflect shield to an element which it is befitting.

[darkrobe]

for some reason I feel like thematically, this aether shield would be closer to a jade shield than the mirror shield. Mirror shield is pretty much exclusively a spell defense shield. It has little DR. the jump of 0 DR to 1DR is not really as great as the jump from 1 DR to 2 DR.

Maybe the balanced is reversed from what i said. (maybe the upped is balanced, and the unupped is over cost). but I still feel that a jump from 1 to 2 DR should bring about a cost increase of 2 not 1. whether that be 4 |6 or 3 |5 .

[glennfoo]

i post here so that i can keep updated. this shield seems interesting and suits aether. but i honestly agrees with darkrobe in earlier post. i think the upgraded ones are a little to cheap. considering you can reduce all damage dealt by 2. without fighting a pc deck, you do not even need to use the 2 aether to make it immaterial. i could suggest adding more cost to use the shield and less cost to use the ability.

[OdinVanguard]

I think the activation cost should probably be reduced to  instead of  . Just seems a little too high right now.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

I like the flexibility of the card - if you aren't against a deck with PC or direct damage spells, you can save some .

[moomoose]

i stand by 1) aether gaining a spell reflect shield and 2) a shield that has an activated secondary function that can be paid for if needed rather than an innate one and 3) the art is damn cool.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

Sad to see this archived.