Ask the Idea Guru

[furballdn]

Comment on Cymothoa?

Would an entropy card that increased your max/current (one of them) hp for scrambling yours/youropponent's (One of them) quanta be a good idea?

If cestus was implemented into the other element as it is now, would it be too powerful in a deck dedicated to flying them and buffing them?

[Zaealix]

@Drake-Your Laybrinth idea reminds me of an older idea I had called Gravity Field, that more or less did the same thing, but in spell form.
I believe I ran the idea past OldTrees in this thread somewhere...

[OldTrees]

Comment on Cymothoa?

Would an entropy card that increased your max/current (one of them) hp for scrambling yours/youropponent's (One of them) quanta be a good idea?

If cestus was implemented into the other element as it is now, would it be too powerful in a deck dedicated to flying them and buffing them?

I think I misunderstood. I thought Cymothoa dealt damage at the end of the turn rather than when the controller cast a card.
I would decrease it to 2|4 damage.
Neat reference by the way.

I don't think Entropy needs a 2nd Discord yet.

If flying cestuses were affected by the shield slot then it would need to cost elemental quanta rather than random quanta.

[furballdn]

Comment on Cymothoa?

Would an entropy card that increased your max/current (one of them) hp for scrambling yours/youropponent's (One of them) quanta be a good idea?

If cestus was implemented into the other element as it is now, would it be too powerful in a deck dedicated to flying them and buffing them?

I think I misunderstood. I thought Cymothoa dealt damage at the end of the turn rather than when the controller cast a card.
I would decrease it to 2|4 damage.
Neat reference by the way.

I don't think Entropy needs a 2nd Discord yet.

If flying cestuses were affected by the shield slot then it would need to cost elemental quanta rather than random quanta.

Really? I tried balancing it around dune scorp, but I personally feel Cymothoa is actually a bit UP. Besides the first (and second) turn, it is very rare for a player to play more than 1-2 cards. The chances of getting out Cymothoa in the first two turns is small (Even with towers). Because of this cost, Cymothoa would most likely enter the game at around turn 2-3. If we assume the opponent plays an average of 1.5 (is probably less unless hourglasses, dexterity, fractal, etc) cards per turn, Cymothoa does around 4.5|7.5 damage per turn.
Let us compare to blue crawler and toadfish
Blue crawler 3 3|3
Cymothoa 4 4.5|4
Toadfish 5 6|4

Abyss crawler 4 6|6
Cymothoa 4 7.5|4
Toadfish 5 3(+1 each turn)|5

In this way, isn't it balanced? (Going onto the opponent's side of the field would probably count as less than .25 in cost imo)





What if it scrambled your own quanta? Like, increase your hp by 1-5 each turn. Scramble that many number of quanta.

Hm. Probably. I can probably try and do some testing, but at a glance, it does feel OP. If it fits into an element, which element would it best fit into? and for strength? for honor? and for speed and aggressiveness?

[Zaealix]

Although in theory, being 'given to an opponent' sounds like a bad thing, let's notice that Cymotha is nothing but bad news for whoever has it.
It hurts you, and possibly doing so in a manner that circumvents most shields.
It has 0 attack power, meaning buffing is required to use it as any sort of attacker: The only case where this is feasible as a counter-strategy is with the rare SoP, as it is the only mass buff card.
And it takes up a creature slot- a mostly negligible effect, as it's rare even for the second and third rows to come into play in a standard Elements game.
So in short, being given to the opponent only is something to counterbalance the cost with...If you're losing something in the process.
Rather akin to how Antimatter is only worth using on the opponent, as opposed to (de)buffing your own creatures.

[furballdn]

Cymothoa goes to the opponent's side as extra synergy with flooding (As a parasite, it chokes and restricts its host). Going to the opponent is not supposed to help them.

[OldTrees]

Comment on Cymothoa?

Would an entropy card that increased your max/current (one of them) hp for scrambling yours/youropponent's (One of them) quanta be a good idea?

If cestus was implemented into the other element as it is now, would it be too powerful in a deck dedicated to flying them and buffing them?

I think I misunderstood. I thought Cymothoa dealt damage at the end of the turn rather than when the controller cast a card.
I would decrease it to 2|4 damage.
Neat reference by the way.

I don't think Entropy needs a 2nd Discord yet.

If flying cestuses were affected by the shield slot then it would need to cost elemental quanta rather than random quanta.

Really? I tried balancing it around dune scorp, but I personally feel Cymothoa is actually a bit UP. Besides the first (and second) turn, it is very rare for a player to play more than 1-2 cards. The chances of getting out Cymothoa in the first two turns is small (Even with towers). Because of this cost, Cymothoa would most likely enter the game at around turn 2-3. If we assume the opponent plays an average of 1.5 (is probably less unless hourglasses, dexterity, fractal, etc) cards per turn, Cymothoa does around 4.5|7.5 damage per turn.
Let us compare to blue crawler and toadfish
Blue crawler 3 3|3
Cymothoa 4 4.5|4
Toadfish 5 6|4

Abyss crawler 4 6|6
Cymothoa 4 7.5|4
Toadfish 5 3(+1 each turn)|5

In this way, isn't it balanced? (Going onto the opponent's side of the field would probably count as less than .25 in cost imo)





What if it scrambled your own quanta? Like, increase your hp by 1-5 each turn. Scramble that many number of quanta.

Hm. Probably. I can probably try and do some testing, but at a glance, it does feel OP. If it fits into an element, which element would it best fit into? and for strength? for honor? and for speed and aggressiveness?

4.5|7.5 unblockable damage per turn (that requires single target CC, pandemonium, catapult, immolation or chimera to remove.)
See Charger. 5 for 4|7 unblockable attack.
If going to the opponent's side is worth .25 then 3|6 unblockable attack is closer to Charger's standard than 4.5|7.5 unblockable attack


Why would you scramble your own quanta? Scrambling  does almost nothing. The gaining life sounds like SoG/Druidic Staff/SoD/Stoneskin depending on what life you meant you gained.
PS: Healing is not speed/aggro.

[furballdn]

OldTrees OldTrees! I has some evidence of testing! Testing to see how much cards opponent plays in the first 7 turns. (blanks are because I got lazy or forgot)

1: 3   3   4   4   4   2   1
2: 0   1   1   2   1   1   2
3: 2   1   1   1   2   1   1
4: 1   2   1   2   1   1   1
5: 2   2   1   1   1   1   1
6: 1   1   1   0   2   1   1
7: 1   0      1   2      0

Averages are 1.43, 1.43, 1.5, 1.57, 1, and 1. So the total average is 1.32. So averagely a cymothoa is a 3.96, roughly 4 momentum'd attacker.

BUT

It is absolutely impossible to get out cymothoa in the first turn unupped. It's possible to get it out second turn, but impossible to get it out first turn (unless you get 2 novas, 2 photons, 2 immolations, and a cymothoa), so the first turn should be discarded.

New averages are 1.17, 1.17, 1, 1, 1.5, 1, and 1. New total average is 1.12. Averagely, a cymothoa does 3.36 momentum'd damage in the first 7 turns of the game, making it slightly better than blue crawler, but not as good as toadfish.

I also meant as the go to opponent's side as less than .25 to indicate that it was practically negligible. .25 is also less than .25 .

[OldTrees]

OldTrees OldTrees! I has some evidence of testing! Testing to see how much cards opponent plays in the first 7 turns. (blanks are because I got lazy or forgot)

1: 3   3   4   4   4   2   1
2: 0   1   1   2   1   1   2
3: 2   1   1   1   2   1   1
4: 1   2   1   2   1   1   1
5: 2   2   1   1   1   1   1
6: 1   1   1   0   2   1   1
7: 1   0      1   2      0

Averages are 1.43, 1.43, 1.5, 1.57, 1, and 1. So the total average is 1.32. So averagely a cymothoa is a 3.96, roughly 4 momentum'd attacker.

BUT

It is absolutely impossible to get out cymothoa in the first turn unupped. It's possible to get it out second turn, but impossible to get it out first turn (unless you get 2 novas, 2 photons, 2 immolations, and a cymothoa), so the first turn should be discarded.

New averages are 1.17, 1.17, 1, 1, 1.5, 1, and 1. New total average is 1.12. Averagely, a cymothoa does 3.36 momentum'd damage in the first 7 turns of the game, making it slightly better than blue crawler, but not as good as toadfish.

I also meant as the go to opponent's side as less than .25 to indicate that it was practically negligible. .25 is also less than .25 .

+84 rep  for evidence of playtesting. Playtesting is an important part of balancing. Emerald Tiger and ZBlader have a system for testing nonofficial cards using deck vs deck playtesting.

Based on this data I revise my estimate and agree that the 3.36|5.60 unblockable damage is fair for the 4 cost.

Since I did overestimate this card, I would recommend more expensive playtesting (deck vs deck playtesting) to double check to see if it is still UP.

PS: When you said .25 I thought you meant .25 . I have never seen any effect worth less than 1 .

[furballdn]

My play testing is not complete and only reveals that in a rush deck, Cymothoa is roughly balanced. I have yet to see how it does in a stall or control deck (squid lock down+Cymothoa leach). And also, that was only using unupped cards. If I were to test upped, the card average would most likely be higher since it is possible to get out Cymothoa first turn (Unlikely, but not sure exactly how unlikely to draw 4 towers in opening hand) and then the multiplier is 5. If we assume that it can only be gotten out second turn like unupped Cymothoa, it is probably balanced in terms of rushing.

Well I thought the give to opponent part was negligible. It doesn't have much synergies, can give your opponent an immotarget as well as bond, and even mutation fodder in exchange for clogging up one of their field slots.

[OldTrees]

Well I thought the give to opponent part was negligible. It doesn't have much synergies, can give your opponent an immotarget as well as bond, and even mutation fodder in exchange for clogging up one of their field slots.

1 is negligible in small quantities.

[furballdn]

Comments on Chronoblast?