Ask the Idea Guru

[OldTrees]

Giving the opponent nightmares is too powerful an effect for a player to be able to inflict once per turn.

But if it was just upon entering play?

Still OP. A sudden burst of nightmare would bring around 4 (guessing) cards into their hand. Assuming they discard one the first turn, you basically just gave them 3 poison counters. Add more nightmares or fractal and it's an OP combo.

Then what if they were given the ability to play them by having a  cost? Enough if a cost that there would still be a bit of temporary poison-like damage, say, 5 or 6?
It would still be a darkness card.

A creature that cost  and cast nightmare on itself when played would be used with Mitosis for permanent draw lock for a maximum of 3 per turn (higher and SoR would be used).

This is still at best borderline OP. It would not be able to deal damage while in the hand.

[furballdn]

Concept of dealing damage while in the hand is good, but abusable with nightmare. My advice would be "take 1 damage when this card enters your hand" as a passive. Without the constant damage, it can be balanced much more easily.

[OldTrees]

Concept of dealing damage while in the hand is good, but abusable with nightmare. My advice would be "take 1 damage when this card enters your hand" as a passive. Without the constant damage, it can be balanced much more easily.

Nightmare friendly creatures:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,23363.0.html

[furballdn]

Are these thematically and mechanically executed well? Any advice for the things I'm missing?

[EmeraldTiger]

Even a 1 time use nightmare skill would be OP?

[OldTrees]

Are these thematically and mechanically executed well? Any advice for the things I'm missing?

Naegling will be played without shields. It will be similar to Momentum with a lower Atk but unchanged damage. Examine Animate Weapon + Atk buff combos for problems.
Dainslef will damage both players. This will be used in rush decks. (Since they are not the deck in danger of hp loss) Is this mindless non interactive approach fitting of Darkness? I would put it closer to Fire or Death.
Gram is a reverse Arsenic? Stalls and Rushes use Arsenic. Where would this be used?
Durendal does not fit your advantage + drawback theme.
Hrunting is random. That is its only effect. The effect cannot be exploited or biased. For the most part the effect will be ignored and treated as if it dealt average damage.
Laevateinn will be fueled by pillars.
Damocles will be used by Crusaders.
Kusanagi costs 1 pillar.
Excalibur looks fine.
Joyeuse will be Shard of Bravery's alternate. However if delayed until midgame it would be useful to the stall instead.

Most of these lack advantages. You might just have higher attack but the ideal design is either having a mixed blessing like Joyeuse, a useful disadvantage (A disadvantage that can be used for advantage) or a closely related advantage.

Even a 1 time use nightmare skill would be OP?

How exploitable would it be with Mitosis + SoR?
If a permanent drawlock can be established, it must be for a comparable cost.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Glass Knight | Stained Glass Knight
People initially felt the 'anti-Nova' casting penalty [spoilered version] was initially too much and said it was not needed to balance the card.
Now that I've removed that penalty, I've started experiencing the opposite opinion (quantum drain helps to balance it out in speedbow).

Do you feel the drain penalty is necessary, or does the 'Fragile' (dies when targeted) ability balance it enough?

[OldTrees]

Glass Knight | Stained Glass Knight
People initially felt the 'anti-Nova' casting penalty [spoilered version] was initially too much and said it was not needed to balance the card.
Now that I've removed that penalty, I've started experiencing the opposite opinion (quantum drain helps to balance it out in speedbow).

Do you feel the drain penalty is necessary, or does the 'Fragile' (dies when targeted) ability balance it enough?

A 6|1 would be worth around 4-6 + 1 card.
It is not a far jump from 1hp to "fragile".
So the initial cost of draining 3 novas (3 cards ~= 6 ) was overkill and the current cost is too little.

However antinova is a bit direct. Subtlety might be received better.

[Zaealix]

In looking at Glass Knight, I can't help but notice a fairly strong 'anti-rainbow' sentiment in the disscussions...Kinda makes me wonder if we should consider the idea of 'mark enhancement' akin to what the Shards do for card suggestions, as a potential method to say 'this card is not meant for rainbow use'. That said, that'd probably be better off used in elements that see minor rainbow involvement, as opposed to 'essential' rainbow elements like  or  .

[OldTrees]

In looking at Glass Knight, I can't help but notice a fairly strong 'anti-rainbow' sentiment in the disscussions...Kinda makes me wonder if we should consider the idea of 'mark enhancement' akin to what the Shards do for card suggestions, as a potential method to say 'this card is not meant for rainbow use'. That said, that'd probably be better off used in elements that see minor rainbow involvement, as opposed to 'essential' rainbow elements like  or  .

Mark enhancement promotes MarkBows. It is not a signal for "this card is not meant for rainbow use".

It is usually bad design to signal "not meant for use X". However having a muted effect correlate with lower cost is common design. This allows both uses to be promoted.

[ZephyrPhantom]

However antinova is a bit direct. Subtlety might be received better.

Do you have any suggestions for more subtle effects than 'Drain/convert X quanta'?
How large should the card pool be before we start considering adding Unique/Legendary cards to the card pool?

[OldTrees]

However antinova is a bit direct. Subtlety might be received better.

Do you have any suggestions for more subtle effects than 'Drain/convert X quanta'?
How large should the card pool be before we start considering adding Unique/Legendary cards to the card pool?

At lower costs,  and  are closer. What if it were cheaper and weaker?
The issue is not related to the size of the card pool. It is related to the limit on copies per deck.