Serotonin | Tryptophan

[jazzfan27]

"totally worthless against immortals" - no offense, but this line just makes me think you're stupid. I don't see why you're using it as an argument point when it has no relevance - because every other spell besides SoW also doesn't effect immortals.

I'll try to explain my point better.  Say you've got 30 card slots in your deck.  Each slot has value.  You want to maximize the value of each slot.  One thing you want to avoid is having cards in your deck that are useless.  This is one of the drawbacks to a CC card such as this.  It's prone to being a dead draw.  Or a poor draw in this case.  When I'm playing in the arena I see immortals about I'd guess every 5th deck.  Maybe every 6th.  That's a lot of dead draws.  Not every creature control card is a dead draw against an immortal deck.  Drain life isn't.  Firebolt isn't.  Lightning isn't.  Those spells are useful whether or not you are facing immortals.  Whether or not you are facing a creatureless deck.  They don't suffer the same amount of dead draws.  Furthermore, those spells can often kill an opponent creature outright.  Knocking out not only the damage, but, the creature ability.  Those are quite useful spells, and you see them in decks a lot as such.

Most of the good creature control cards have one of the following qualities.
- Mass effect - like Plague, Pandemonium, or Rain of Fire.
- Utility on own creatures - Like Gravity Pull, Acceleration, Alfatoxin, etc.
- Can be used on Opponent or Opponent creatures - Like Drain life, Firebolt, Lightning.
- Repeat use - Creature/weapon abilities.  (didn't include this category at first because I was only thinking of spells, not creatures/permanents)

This card falls into none of these catagories.  Reverse Time is the only card I would consider good control that doesn't fall into any of those catagories, although would could use it on your own creatures to rescue them in a pinch.  But, Reverse time is a heck of a lot stronger than this, and cheaper to boot.

This would more closely compare with Basilisk Blood and Freeze.  And I think the only reason folks use freeze is because it's so easy to splash into a rainbow deck.  You hardly ever see Basilisk Blood in a deck.  But, this card compares terribly with Basilisk Blood.  And pretty badly with Freeze.

And if you just want a stall, wouldnt' you rather have a Heal or empathic bond 95% of the time?

I'm just not seeing it.  I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

[n00b]

Changed the name to Pella's suggestion, and I'll give it an image soon-ish (most likely an edited Adrenaline pic).
Thank you for all the feedback

[Drake_XIV]

Mm... Turkey

[Elbirn]

I like this idea, but I see Jazzfan's point. Why reduce the creature to 1/3 attack for 4|3 quanta, when you could just kill it with pretty much any other spell card for that cost or cheaper?

So, where this card see's use then:

1. In monolife, where it would be silly/impossible to bring in other elements spell cards
2. Against creatures with high HP (gravity, earth, ability activated gargoyle, so on) that couldn't be killed anyway

So it certainly has use, just not a wide spread one. But I think that's okay. Idk. Have you considered a cost decrease at least?

[n00b]

I like this idea, but I see Jazzfan's point. Why reduce the creature to 1/3 attack for 4|3 quanta, when you could just kill it with pretty much any other spell card for that cost or cheaper?

So, where this card see's use then:

1. In monolife, where it would be silly/impossible to bring in other elements spell cards
2. Against creatures with high HP (gravity, earth, ability activated gargoyle, so on) that couldn't be killed anyway

So it certainly has use, just not a wide spread one. But I think that's okay. Idk. Have you considered a cost decrease at least?

I have, but for some reason 3|2 seemed too cheap to me, so I'll run a poll on it. (and yes, as I said before, I haven't made cards often enough to really be able to tell how much they should cost, so I kept it the same as Adren/Epi)

[lemital]

i think this card is clearly not powerfull enough;

but it will be nice if after an attack, the creature will be delayed for three turns, it will change nothing to damage reduction done but it will have also a use against creatures with powerfull abilities

like this, spells such as congeal and basilisk blood seam more usefull to slow down powerfull creatures

i think that either the ability should be more powerfull or the casting cost lowered, still i like this card,giving life a cc

[Drake_XIV]

That being said, this probably should be balanced against Freeze..

Serotonin effectively cuts down damage to 1 attack over 3 turns
Freeze cuts down damage to 0 attacks over 3 turns

However, Serotonin, with assistance of a shield, can nullify damage altogether...

[n00b]

That being said, this probably should be balanced against Freeze..

Serotonin effectively cuts down damage to 1 attack over 3 turns
Freeze cuts down damage to 0 attacks over 3 turns

However, Serotonin, with assistance of a shield, can nullify damage altogether...

Also, another changingness that could happen could be making its status effect permanent, like Adren is, unless Adren is used to negate it, which could justify bringing the cost back up to the 4|3 or so

[Drake_XIV]

Actually, not really.  Over the course of 9 turns, this is the equivalent of using 2 Freeze [2 + 1 card cost].  In this gap, you still cut damage to one-third of the potential.  However, unless in a dedicated stall, you can't rely on the full use of Serotonin and, unlike Freeze, it can only be used on one target while you could do up to two targets with Freeze [-1 ].  That being said, I'd probably price it at 2~3 | 1~2.

[jazzfan27]

Actually, not really.  Over the course of 9 turns, this is the equivalent of using 2 Freeze [2 + 1 card cost].  In this gap, you still cut damage to one-third of the potential.  However, unless in a dedicated stall, you can't rely on the full use of Serotonin and, unlike Freeze, it can only be used on one target while you could do up to two targets with Freeze [-1 ].  That being said, I'd probably price it at 2~3 | 1~2.

Equivalent from a damage, but, not activated ability standpoint.

[n00b]

Actually, not really.  Over the course of 9 turns, this is the equivalent of using 2 Freeze [2 + 1 card cost].  In this gap, you still cut damage to one-third of the potential.  However, unless in a dedicated stall, you can't rely on the full use of Serotonin and, unlike Freeze, it can only be used on one target while you could do up to two targets with Freeze [-1 ].  That being said, I'd probably price it at 2~3 | 1~2.

Though the point of this is solely to reduce damage, so for a cost of 3|2 or 4|3, would it make sense to have the card reduce damage by two thirds, especially if it would be made permanent (save for Adren)?

[lemital]

Actually, not really.  Over the course of 9 turns, this is the equivalent of using 2 Freeze [2 + 1 card cost].  In this gap, you still cut damage to one-third of the potential.  However, unless in a dedicated stall, you can't rely on the full use of Serotonin and, unlike Freeze, it can only be used on one target while you could do up to two targets with Freeze [-1 ].  That being said, I'd probably price it at 2~3 | 1~2.

Equivalent from a damage, but, not activated ability standpoint.

indeed, that's why the card should delayed the creature to be balanced