Ask the Idea Guru

[OldTrees]

The idea was that this card would 'soft-combo' with Trident, seeing as it's current duo useage is difficult to implement, by stopping pillars and pendulums from producing quanta for a while. I figured either the freeze would last longer the smaller the stack (ice layer is thicker and thus takes longer to remove) Or, as in my modified form, would freeze for every stack of permenants your opponent controls.
The soft-combo being that you use this to stop alot of different sources for a while, giving the Trident time to earthquake the pillars and pendulums, resulting in a quanta lockdown.
I don't like the freeze all permants for every stack of permants, since that would translate to a VERY long freeze, during which you just watch and rage as you are forced to discard several cards, and your opponent beats you down, so that's why I came to you.

The yellow segment is a great balancing mechanic. Obviously the same volume of water would create a thinner coat on something with a larger surface area (stack).
The green segment uses number of stacks as a variable. I do not know what elements that variable would fit in. It feels like Earth and Life but that does not imply it would not fit in Water.

[Zaealix]

Hrm...Number of stacks? Well...That's something I'm not sure of myself. permanent stacks are from different permenant types/non-stacking permenants. But as for something that would reasonably care? Kinda sounds like something that would fall under  , since that, to me is the element closest to math. Argueably, is closer and more based in math, but I consider that to just be based in probability, as opposed to  , which would care more about the specific numbers put in...
But I digress. I'm going to try to make this card and get it in the crucible soon.

[EmeraldTiger]

I need help to finish Chaotic Sands | Chaotic Sands (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34465.0.html)

[OldTrees]

I need help to finish Chaotic Sands | Chaotic Sands (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34465.0.html)

What does it need to be finished?
(I do not think it fits duality since the card would not make sense as Mono Time and feel slightly off as Mono Entropy. Perhaps Mono Entropy with Chaos Seed traps instead?)

[Pineapple]

How do you feel about the influx of "Whenever/If X, Y instead" mechanics in the Smithy?

In particular, what's your opinion on negation effects (negate trigger and do Y) vs. reaction effects (do not negate trigger but still do Y)?

[Zaealix]

Another idea I had was an  card that would 'lock' a random amount of quanta, not allowing your opponent to use anything of that cost. The quanta 'locked' would be random, and change every turn. Ex. Turn 1, 3 is locked, you cannot play any card that costs 3 quanta to play, or use abilites that cost 3 quanta.
The ability lock is to help compensate for the lack of cards with a low cost, and to make this thing more viable.
Good idea, or Bad idea?

[OldTrees]

How do you feel about the influx of "Whenever/If X, Y instead" mechanics in the Smithy?

In particular, what's your opinion on negation effects (negate trigger and do Y) vs. reaction effects (do not negate trigger but still do Y)?

Interest in these types of triggers rises and falls in cycles. In general the mechanic is a valuable one. Likewise both negation and reaction effects are useful mechanics. However it is important to remember it is a tool and tools can be used properly or improperly. Automatic triggers have specific timing that can occur. It is important for proper balancing to do some preliminary testing by examining all the different possible chains of events. If one is thinking of using a trigger like these, take some time to honestly weigh the pros and cons between using it and another timing mechanic to deliver the carrier effect[Y].

Note: It is not a bad idea to have some idea for how the linear game would know to do Y when X would happen. Graveyard is an example but rather specific since generic death triggers are such a big thing for Death.

Another idea I had was an  card that would 'lock' a random amount of quanta, not allowing your opponent to use anything of that cost. The quanta 'locked' would be random, and change every turn. Ex. Turn 1, 3 is locked, you cannot play any card that costs 3 quanta to play, or use abilites that cost 3 quanta.
The ability lock is to help compensate for the lack of cards with a low cost, and to make this thing more viable.
Good idea, or Bad idea?

I must admit I am not sure how much the game would benefit from Entropy gaining this type of denial. Be careful the disruption is not too strong or too weak.
Also I though Entropy and EtG in general had lots of low cost cards. Would you please expand on the underlined sentence.

[darkrobe]

Could you comment on balance for this card  Bulrush | Giant Bulrush (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34463.0.html). Im  interested in the consumption of  quanta.

Please note that the card does not require  to stay on the field. the mechanic just forces you to pay for more bulrushes if you have available quanta.

[OldTrees]

Could you comment on balance for this card  Bulrush | Giant Bulrush (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34463.0.html). Im  interested in the consumption of  quanta.

Please note that the card does not require  to stay on the field. the mechanic just forces you to pay for more bulrushes if you have available quanta.

In mono it costs [4] 2 + 1 card + 1 turn to give a +1|+1 to a target creature (with Airborne, Dive, Vampire, Deadly Toxin or Neurotoxin).
In duo it costs [4] 2 + 0 cards + 1 turn + Duo to give a +1|+1 to a target creature (with Airborne, Dive, Vampire, Deadly Toxin or Neurotoxin).

The cost is similar to Blessing. However one should note that the duo version has an unlimited supply (The mono version will almost never be used) and the duo version heals massive amounts of hp per turn with Feral Bond. I would guess that the cost is about right but I am not very confident in my ability to correctly estimate the effect of the 'absorb' on the balance.

Being forced to pay for more bullrushes does not have a major effect other than adding a mechanic that is potentially confusingly similar to but is not absorb.

[Zaealix]

Well, when I said that I didn't think that many elements had alot of 1-3-cost creatures...And as for the viability, that's because it's alsways changing the amount sealed. Now, seperate locks WOULD stack...But I guess I didn't think through what that ability would do, game-play wise.

[EmeraldTiger]

Has anyone done a mechanic where a player shuffles cards in hand, and then draws that many cards?
thinking of the mechanic I made

[OldTrees]

Well, when I said that I didn't think that many elements had alot of 1-3-cost creatures...And as for the viability, that's because it's alsways changing the amount sealed. Now, seperate locks WOULD stack...But I guess I didn't think through what that ability would do, game-play wise.

Costs of all elemental cards

0,2,3,3,3,4,5,6,6,7,8,10,13 0,1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6,7,8,9,14   1,1,2,2,2,3,4,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 0,1 ,1,1,1,3,3,4,5,5,7,8,8,12   1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,5,6,8,10 1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,8,12   0,1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,7,8,8,10 0,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,5,5,6,8,10

1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,4,4,4,8,8,10 0,1,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,4,4,6,8,8,12   0,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,5,5,5,8,9,10 0,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,5,5,5,6,9,11   0,1,2,3,3,3,3,5,6,7,7,8,10 0,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,4,5,5,8,12   2,2,2,4,4,3,3,3,5,5,5,5,7,9,10 1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,5,6,9,11

1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,5,5,5,7,9,10 1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,7,7,9,12   0,2 ,1,1,3,3,3,4,4,5,5,7,9,12,15 0,0,1 ,2,2,2,3,4,5,5,6,8,9,13,12   1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4,6,6,6,8,8,9,10 0,1,1,1,2,3,3,4,4,5,7,8,8,9,12   1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 1,1,1,1,2,3,3,3,4,5,5,6,7,8,11

Has anyone done a mechanic where a player shuffles cards in hand, and then draws that many cards?

Has anyone made a card that produces a Mulligan effect? Yes.
Crucible Archive: Mulligan | Mulligan: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,19893.0.html
Smithy [Active]: Stormwind | Hurricane: http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34387.0.html
Since mulligan is an obvious mechanic, it is the vehicle of the mulligan that would need to be sufficiently different to justify a new card suggestion.
Stormwind | Hurricane has a sufficiently different vehicle in two ways.
1) It locates a permanent not a player
2) It targets either side rather than being set to only your side