Ask the Idea Guru

[OldTrees]

Hm...I was thinking for those summoned by the upgraded card to be affected by all forms of CC by being a creature (with stats) in the permanent zone.

Note that Nymphs are just as expensive as Pharaoh and Anubis. In addition, Nymph abilities aren't all that powerful; an Anubis statue is surely better than a Turquoise statue.
As for Blue Nymph, I think that it only shows that 3 skills per turn from the 2nd turn onwards is a bit overpowered. However, summoning 2 doesn't really fit with summoning a legion...

Is a mechanic that summons 1 at the end of every turn for free balance-able, or does it need to be a timed permanent and/or a permanent with an ability cost? I've calculated that this permanent would cost 3/2 quanta (using your final cost as a basis for the effect's worth). Do you have a different conclusion for initial cost?

1) Being vulnerable to CC would be better on the unupped card. (Upgrades are better not worse)
2) Unstable Gas, Black Hole, Antimatter and Rage Potion are very nice.
3) The larger the legion desired, the higher the cost to summon.
4) A permanent that summons something worth 2-4 quanta + 1 card per turn is going to cost more than 3 quanta + 1 card.
5) I think we should think twice before making a permanent that generates a Black Hole casting statue per turn.

1) Cremation, Fractal, Mitosis, TU, and SoR all require targeting.
2) They also cost a hefty bit to use repeatably, which limits the impact of (initial) cost reduction. This is especially true for nymphs since you cannot remove an element from the equation since all nymphs have mono abilities.
3) This may not be true because of the delay. Assuming you activate all abilities once per turn, it takes 4 turns for my suggested version to match the capability of the your suggested version. In addition, the suggested version is much less reliable, since it can be destroyed before it stays out for 4 turns.
4) Assuming unit increase in ATK equals a unit increase in cost, an Air Nymph with 0 attack costs 2 quanta. In addition, you can only have 6 Air Nymphs in a deck.
5) I believe that the drastic decrease in or limit on damage potential upon the use of Stone Legion warrants the ability to field 6 Gravity Nymphs within 6 turns (6 turns assuming you don't need to wait for quanta to use its ability).

1)
Cremation + Stone Legion < Cremation + 0 cost Cremation Fodder.
Fractal + Stone Legion merely gives you an expensive 7th-12th copy of fractal fodder in the deck.
Mitosis + Stone Legion gives you a PC vulnerable version of Mitosis + Creature. (However it might require a large legion for a high cost to balance Stone Legion + Mitosis + SoR)
Twin Universe + Stone Legion would be balanced with Twin Universe + Creature assuming you balance Stone Legion
Shard of Readiness would be an additional cost to remove an element requirement. Additional costs deserve additional benefit
These suggestions reveal that they are additional benefits for additional costs. Being immune to CC is an additional benefit. It should have the additional cost of requiring the upgrade rather than have each of the listed synergies have to pay twice for the same benefit.

2)
The hefty cost is part of the reason why their skills are not valued at +8 quanta + 1 card or higher. I am not suggesting having Stone Legion cost more to get Nymph abilities than it costs Nymphs to get them. I am suggesting it cost the same as 0 attack versions of the Nymphs. OR I am suggesting it turn Nymphs into Pillars and you balance based on the next most valuable skill in the game.

3)
I do not have a version. Those were sample calculations.
Furthermore this line was about comparing similar version. (The Summon 2 instantly or the Summon 3 instantly)

4)
You do remember why I start calculations on the unupped creature. Otherwise you lose track of how many upgrades are on either side of the equation.
Furthermore: Did you know that people tend to be unwilling to upgrade Nymphs due to their extreme rarity? The rarity and the lack of a downgrade option in PvP Duel makes upgrading a Nymph useless in unupped events. However Air Nymph is an exception to this rule. The reason is that the upgrade adds enough power to compensate for the lost opportunity. This implies that Air Nymph is granted a more powerful upgrade than is standard for the balance between unupped and upped.

5)
Gravity Nymph barely notices the -1 attack. However the opponent will surely notice the never ending (1 CC per turn or 1CC + 1 PC) flow of Black Holes. There is such a thing as an effect that is too powerful for EtG even if given a balanced cost. EtG has a threshold for the magnitude of effects that are appropriate. There will never be a "pay 75 and you win" card nor will we ever see a vanilla 1|1 for 1 again.

1) Noted.
2) I disagree with what you suggest because of (4) and (5)
3) Then you should treat my (3) as a response to your (4). Assume "your suggested version" is the (balanced) "example" you suggested.
4) Even so, an unupgraded Air creature with the ability " : Unstable Gas" and 3 attack costs 8 quanta, so an unupgraded Air creature with the ability " : Unstable Gas" and 0 attack should cost 5 quanta. That's only twice the cost of the ability.
5) You completely missed the point. How do you expect to kill the opponent with 6 Amber Nymphs? Let's say you add 2 Stone Dragons for the finisher. That means that you only have a 53% chance to get out 2 Amber Nymphs instead of halving your damage potential by pulling only 1 Nymph and a useless Stone Dragon.

4) Each  : Unstable Gas ability is worth 5 + 1 card.
If an effect obtains a benefit it should have a comparable cost.
Gaining multiple " : Unstable Gas" abilities should have a cost of the same magnitude as the value obtained. This cost can come in multiple different currencies (it already is in 2 currencies).

4b) I am confused at why you mentioned "That's only twice the cost of the ability.". That relationship seems to be coincidental and trivial. You would not have made the comment if you thought that so I must have missed something you were implying.

5) Stone Legion using Amber Nymphs would ensure an early lockdown and then win with either Permanent based damage (Titan / Pulverizer / Hammer) or with decking the opponent out via having 32 cards.

[Schlonz]

Would you please have a look at my very first attempt for a new card idea:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37724.0.html (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37724.0.html)

All comments are very much appreciated.
Thanks.

[OldTrees]

Would you please have a look at my very first attempt for a new card idea:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37724.0.html (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37724.0.html)

All comments are very much appreciated.
Thanks.

Theme: Entropy is usually but not always random / chaotic.
Balance:
Whenever a cost is paid a benefit of on average equal value should be obtained.
Unupped you pay 3 + the rest of your  + 1 card to get 1 of 4 results
What is the average result?
The average of 25% of healing you 40hp + 25% of damaging you 40hp + 25% of healing the opponent 40hp + 25% of damaging the opponent 40hp is nothing
Conclusion: There needs to be a greater benefit on average than nothing so it would match the cost of 3 + the rest of your  + 1 card.

Average hp you heal is valued at: 3 + 1card for 20hp
or (X+1) * 5hp healed for X + 1 card.
Average damage dealt to opponent is valued at: 6 + 1turn + 1card for 20 damage
or (X+1) * 2.5hp damaged for X + 1 card.

The absorbing Entropy is probably not going to be needed.

The hp being secured on the upgraded means it will not be played until hp remaining is less than the maximum damage it could deal you. Hence the average damage it deals you for the purposes of balance calculations is low.

[Drake_XIV]

Can I get your thoughts on Draconian Emblem (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37700.0.html) and Recursion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37720.0.html) ?

[OldTrees]

Can I get your thoughts on Draconian Emblem (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37700.0.html) and Recursion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37720.0.html) ?

Draconic Emblem: Play a card to get a discount on all dragons you play this turn (and all cards played after Draconic Emblem are dragons this turn).

The average discount per turn should be roughly equivalent to the cost of Draconic Emblem.
Cost of Draconic Emblem 5 + 1 card ~= 2 + 1 card
However since Draconic Emblem requires 5 + 7 /dragon it does not quite behave as most  does. I would probably estimate it as costing roughly 4 + 1 card
Quanta saved per dragon would be ~3 + 0 cards

I would suggest having each dragon cost 8 of their element.
That way
2 Dragons would cost 5 + 16 + 3 cards compared to 20 + 2 cards
3 Dragons would cost 5 + 24 + 4 cards compared to 30 + 3 cards


Recursion:
A Time version of Fractal in the same manner as Crusader was a Light version of Animate Weapon. (The quality of the cards in this comparison were deliberately chosen)

Casting cost is around the right spot. It increases the cost of cards as a drawback that removes any obvious abuses. The quanta drain is irrelevant but thematic for this kind of card. Silence would probably not stack if Recursion was added.

I would recommend people watch this card.

[furballdn]

Oh great OldTrees, what are your ideas on Century (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37732.0.html)?

[OldTrees]

Oh great OldTrees, what are your ideas on Century (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37732.0.html)?

When would you want to draw that much for just 1 turn? [Excluding OTK decks which don't need to be made that much faster.]
Either you are casting your cards quickly which means you will want additional draws per turn, or you are not casting quickly and have only a fraction of your hand to fill with cards.

It would probably work better as a Draw 3 or as an Hourglass.

However you balanced it using Fractal as a basis. That was wise. Century moves you towards deckout, doesn't break the 6 card limit and gives semi random cards. Hence you decreased the cost. You will want to playtest it in an OTK deck to see how far you can decrease the cost because non OTK decks would not pay quite that much for that effect.

[Pineapple]

New mechanic: Stone Legion | Stone Legion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37566)

[OldTrees]

New mechanic: Stone Legion | Stone Legion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37566)

What happens to spells? Do they act like Unstable Gas (Permanent with an activation cost to release the spell)

Hourglass + Extra space - removal vulnerability + target-able.

It seems balanced. I am not sure if it adds anything new to the game or merely makes an Earth hourglass

[Pineapple]

New mechanic: Stone Legion | Stone Legion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37566)

What happens to spells? Do they act like Unstable Gas (Permanent with an activation cost to release the spell)

Hourglass + Extra space - removal vulnerability + target-able.

It seems balanced. I am not sure if it adds anything new to the game or merely makes an Earth hourglass

Yes, spells act like permanents with Sacrifice abilities. The "just an hourglass" idea is what I've been trying to avoid, but as you can see it's been quite difficult for me. As the Idea Guru, do you have any ideas to spice up this mechanic?

[OldTrees]

New mechanic: Stone Legion | Stone Legion (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37566)

What happens to spells? Do they act like Unstable Gas (Permanent with an activation cost to release the spell)

Hourglass + Extra space - removal vulnerability + target-able.

It seems balanced. I am not sure if it adds anything new to the game or merely makes an Earth hourglass

Yes, spells act like permanents with Sacrifice abilities. The "just an hourglass" idea is what I've been trying to avoid, but as you can see it's been quite difficult for me. As the Idea Guru, do you have any ideas to spice up this mechanic?

I think the original variant, with a modification of "Nymphs becoming pillars" (because their abilities are too valuable compared to other creatures) would be the best of the variants.

Since the non nymph skills were worth ~2 +1card that would be 3 non nymphs for ~7 +1card
Alternatively you could have it be a permanent with a Casting/Activation cost of 6 +1card / 2

[eaglgenes101]

Can you check the balance of the cards currently in the Mind series?
(http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,37400.0.html )