Notes | So I thought, what if instead of increasing the power of existing Life decks I was to create a completely new deck type that answers the typical Life problems without having the rest of its strengths? I therefore present you... Treefolks.
These cards need to be evaluated together because they have interacting mechanics and really need to be introduced both to ultimately change things. I will expand upon this concept so keep reading (or skip to the "Solution" paragraph).
Treefolk | Treant and Forest Guardian | Forest Protector both have the passive ability "Treefolk", which grants a vulnerability to fire-based effects. These include, for now, only Fire Bolt and Fire Storm (no Rage Potion, which is based on quanta, but not thematically fire-based): both these cards (and eventually future cards) will deal 2 extra damage to Treefolks. Remember: Fire Bolt deals damage as a single chunck, so you will still need a Fire Bolt from 20 or more quanta to kill a Treefolk or Treant in one hit. Both unupped and upped Forest Guardian, however, dies from a 10 quanta or more Fire Bolt.
The "Treefolk" passive is checked by the ability Earth's Wrath: if five or more creatures with "Treefolk" are on the field, you may destroy your opponent's shield. This is based on Ent's famous wall-breaking power, when angered. If you manage to gather at least five of them, nothing shall stop them. Note that this is a targeting ability, so it cannot destroy immaterial or protected shields.
Forest Guardian's ability fits the growth theme Life has, and is thematically appropriante for Treefolks / Treants / Ents: you need quite a bit to anger them, but when you do, you're in for trouble.
The main point of this introduction is, however, to give Life a true answer to CC. Both Treefolk and Forest Guardian have relatively high hp. They need a good Fire Bolt or at least a couple CC cards to die. They are not squishy, and they synergize exceptionally well with Mitosis: being resilient low-cost creatures that have either a mass effect (Treefolk's Earth's Wrath) or respectable attack and OTK potential (Forest Guardian) they are easily enhanced and can spawn at least a couple times, gaining even more card advantage. They have decent (although not overwhelming) synergy with Adrenaline, too: having high hp makes them less vulnerable, taking two cards to destroy a two cards combo, and Forest Protector is a perfect target for Adrenaline at a sweet 8 base atk.
Also, I always liked how other card games had "types" of creatures that interact with each other (namely MtG, but also Yu-Gi-Oh) and always felt this is something Elements can expand upon. For now we have spawning creatures like Firefly Queen and Pharaoh and mini-series like Spiders or Dragons, but that's it. |
Problem | Life has got a good deal of problems. However, its situation is as bad as it is because it is very easy to predict and counterpick. Strong shields and creature control are almost always very good ideas when you are up against Life: shields, because by packing PC it is diluting its powerful offense and if it doesn't pack PC, it's dead; CC because all of Life's strategies are creature-based and its strongest creatures are easily killed. This combination destroys most of Life-based decks.
So the main problem Life faces, when compared to strong elements, is its sheer predictability: you can build a deck with the certainty that some of your cards will be useful against a Life based deck, no matter what. This is the reason Life's Firestall is a killer in War environment (it's one of the few effective creatureless Life-based decks), and the reason elements like Death, Fire and Aether are so powerful. Ok, powercards like Phoenix BoneWall and Dimensional Shield help, but they have varied deck types with different checks and counters. Life is, as it is, rather monodimensional. |
Solution | So here comes the idea to introduce a new decktype into Life's arsenal. Of course this is difficult to do with a single card: even if you add 6 copies of it to your deck, no matter how game-changing the card is, you will need to use some other Life cards to complement the strategy. That either leaves you prone to the usual checks and counters or lowers the overall effectiveness of the deck. A possible solution is to add a single card that complements the main strategy (or strategies) of Life with a check to its usual counters or problem cards - for instance something like CC protection. However, this approach ultimately leads to a weakining of Life's decks (which are not that excellent to start with) in order to be more resilient to its usual (effective and more importantly incredibly common) counters. Of course, this helps those decks to achieve a new - potentially more useful - spot inside the metagame, where there aren't as many counters to them; but it also enforces the use of a specific card in most of Life's decks and requires drawing and using that card: something ultimately falls in favor of the standard counters unless the addition is a particularly hard counter, or otherwise useful in all situations. For example, if you added Quintessence to Life's arsenal (or something equivalent) you would have a tool to avoid CC. But you would rely on drawing and then using Quintessence, thus wasting card space, speed and potentially even versatility of your deck.
The addition of two thematically appropriate and cooperating cards changes the metagame on a deeper level. Life would have a deck that has little trouble with most shields, good midrange creatures and good stallbreaking potential, while having the possibility to stall itself thanks to Life's usual healing and possibly Earth's quanta denial. This deck's strengths and weaknesses are practically reversed from the standard Life deck, and halfway splashes are possible (but weaker than both at their respective areas). This of course doesn't fix Life Rush's inherent shield and CC weakness; however an opponent will think twice before sending a CC shield stall against a Life deck now, as Treefolks might come in and smash that deck to the ground.
This solution puts an emphasis on the metagame consideration of using Life as an element, rather than the actual strengths and weaknesses of a certain Life-based deck as it is now, hopefully avoiding the above traps and granting Life new unique intresting cards that round out its potential.
Pros: - The solution helps every Life deck rather than a specific decktype - The solution doesn't dilute any Life deck, keeping their strengths - The solution is rather flavorful (everybody loves Treants!) - The solution grants a greater degree of new decks than what a straight counter card does
Cons: - The solution requires to implement two cards - The solution leaves specific Life decks with the problems they always had
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33728 http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33727
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Notes | Inspired by Zebra Stripes, thought to confuse attackers by preventing predators from identifying a single animal, the "Striped" ability allows your striped creatures to protect one another by giving them an extra 25% chance to dodge.
that translates to the following build up:
Number of Striped creatures | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ... | 19 | 20 | Avoidance Rate of striped creatures | 0% | 25% | 44% | 58% | 68% | 76% | 82% | 86% | 90% | ... | 99% | 100% | The Striped Ability gives creatures a chance to dodge direct damage. so lightning, rain of fire, fireshield, devour,sniper, etc can be avoided. Things that do not result in immediate damage cannot be avoided. for example: plague, infect, spine carapace, Reverse time, congeal, etc. This is a active skill and can be lobotomized. As such it does not overlap with things like mitosis or bioluminescence.
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Problems | The main problem this tries to solve is the fact that life's creatures are incredibly susceptible to the Opponent's CC. Combined with the fact that many of life's most powerful spells and permanents rely on creatures (mitosis, feral bond, etc) this is a crippling problem for many mono life decks. its difficult to go into a match knowing that a single firestorm can wipe out your entire offense and defense in one shot.
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Solution | This card (based off of my Zebra |Elite Zebra (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33581.0.html) card) grants life the ability to protect its creatures by taking advantage of a perceived weakness. many of life's creatures do not have a skill associated with them, this makes them rather bland and unable to give the owner any benefit other that cheap attack). Now we can pull out a spell that will instantly make these cheap but weak creatures into a hard to kill mob.
Pros: turns a weakness of life (lack of creature skills) into a strength (can use this spell to make them avoid damage) Protects against Mass CC and Direct CC, thus benefiting creatures in general and creature dependent cards like feral bond. Synergizes well with life's ability to put out a lot of creatures quickly.
Cons: cannot be applied to skilled creatures (like ones with mitosis) so they will still be weak.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33665
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Notes | Beware the mushrooms. If you aren't careful where you tread you may disturb these horrid things. Deadly poisonous, inhaling the spores from these mushrooms will quickly make you wish you hadn't.
so the idea behind these is permanent defense. your opponent has to watch out. If they want to destroy (steal, butterfly effect, etc) one of your permanents they can do so, but they will be punished with poison as disturbing the mushrooms causes them to release deadly spores.
This card protects all your permanents from being stolen or destroyed by your opponent. The poison effect stacks. so with 6 blast spores you can have a whopping 12 poison (24 poison upped) occur as punishment by end game if your opponent decides he wants to mess with your permanents.
Blast spores protect themselves from being damaged, so you cannot simply destroy the stack without experiencing the effect of the poison.
*note: this poison effect only occurs when your opponent messes with your permanents. these being your summon, they do not go off if you destroy one of your own permanents (for example: this does not synergize with unstable gas)
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Problems | This trys to solve life's susceptibility to Permanent Control. It has good stalling cards, (like spine carapace and feral bond) but no way to protect them, this means that most life decks focus on quick rush of damage. a strategy that makes life prone to any mass CC.
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Solution | This card gives Mono life a unique and original means of permanent protection (much different from PA). Throwing this card in a deck would allow you to focus on stalling with lifes healing skills, while building up damage with the tougher creatures in life's arsenal, like dragons and cockatrice. rather than focusing on the cheap rush aspect of life.
Pros: Protects all your permanents in a unique way. lets life develop more stall strategies.
Cons: cannot be used for offense. only a defensive card.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33813
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Notes | Here is the whole propose of yonder card. Life needs some help. It has some problems with CC. Enter the shaman. He gives every creature 3 more max HP. This includes your opponents too. That's right, no free lunch. Your creatures will be more resistant to most forms of traditional CC without some crazy non-understandable mechanic.
My first thought is this vitality buff does not effect any other Voodoo Shamans. I understand that this might be the most confusing part of the creature, but, you know, that way it's more balanced.
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Problem | Life dies to CC. This allows some protection without crazy mechanics. |
Solution | Pros: Allows for some good synergy with many other elements. Allows most of life's creatures to live through a few bouts of CC. Another creature, because life needs creatures, that is what makes life life. Creature that protects creatures, totally life.
Cons:The whole point of the the card is to give protection to other creatures and another target for the CC. He will die easily unless you protect him. Once he dies, the buff goes away and any buffed creatures lose 3 HP, for better or worse. Rain of Fire still kills all frogs and the shaman, a fractal + shaman + spark deck will explode with CC on the shaman. Lobotomize and other forms do its magic, and it does not work 'well' with mitosis. |
Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33750.0.html
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Notes | Thorns are removed when the creature is targeted instead of the intended effect.
This card can protect your creatures in 2 ways: 1) When you put thorns on your creature you will be taking 2 damage per turn and it would require an additional source of CC to remove the thorns. This encourages your opponent to let you keep your creature and lose the 2 hp per turn. 2) When you put it on your opponent's creature it will deal 2 damage per turn that avoids shields. To remove the thorns your opponent would have to waste a source of CC.
Multiple uses on the same creature will not stack. The second use targets the creature removing the first use. |
Problem | Life is too vulnerable to creature control. Life has 3 win conditions it can employ. It can use creatures, Druidic Staff or stall until the opponent is decked out. Life's creatures have no defenses against CC. Adrenaline and Mitosis even reward the opponent with card advantage when CC is used. Druidic Staff has a small 2|4 attack that is insufficient to defeat an 100hp opponent in less than 50|25 turns. Most decks will deckout before Druidic Staff deals 100 damage. If Druidic Staff is animated then it is a creature win condition. Deckout requires stalling. Stalling requires the defense to remove, disable, mitigate or negate the opposing offense. Thorn Carapace can remove creatures after a while. Jade Shield can disable spell damage and slightly mitigate creature damage. Neither of these slows the opposing offenses enough for a deckout win condition. That leaves Life's healing to be used for stalling. Heal can more than double Life's effective hp however most decks can deal 220 damage easily without decking out. Druidic Staff heals 5hp per turn however to keep up with most offenses multiple Druidic Staves are required rendering them vulnerable to CC. Empathic Bond can heal a lot per turn however it is vulnerable to CC through the creatures it requires. All three of Life's win conditions can be defeated with CC.
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Solution | This card reduces Life's vulnerability to CC by discouraging the opponent from using CC on Life's creatures. Pros Protects creatures from targeting CC including most AoEs. Can be used to deal damage to the opponent.
Cons The card description can cause confusion to inexperienced players. Moderate-High cost.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33662
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Notes | Aegis Shield: Reduce damage by 1. Effects that would remove your creatures from the field affect Aegis instead.
An example of an "effect that would remove your creatures from the field" is Rage Potion's effect on a creature with 5 HP. Instead of gaining 5 ATK, losing 5 HP, and dying, the creature targeted by Rage Potion would not gain ATK or lose HP, Aegis would be destroyed, and a death effect would be generated. If one of your creatures is targeted by Reverse Time, then Aegis will be removed from the field and put on the top of your deck. If your Schrödinger's Cat's ability "dead/alive" is activated, then Aegis's effect does not initiate because Schrödinger's cat would not be removed from the field.
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Problem | The problem that Aegis solves is Life's vulnerability to CC. Many life cards depend on creatures to work. For example, Mitosis needs a living parent creature, Empathic Bond needs living creatures, "photosynthesis" needs a living Rustler, etc. This aspect of Life cards is one that I wish Life could utilize better. However, the current meta-game is based around creatures, or rather, the nullification or countering of creatures. Hence, most of Life's strategies can be countered by the same thing that counters rushes and domins: CC. |
Solution | The solution is not to nerf CC with the inclusion of CC-protection. This would make rushes and domins more powerful than they already are, and decrease the "reactive" element of elements (cwutididthar?) that makes it fun. If you protect all your creatures from CC, then the opponent does not get a choice of which creature to use CC on; he has no choice at all and must keep the cards in his hand. It's like playing a denial deck, and where's the fun in that? To balance a mechanic with such a large impact on the meta-game, the card would have to be pretty expensive, and not fast enough in most decks. Aegis not only solves the problem of Life's vulnerability to CC, but also circumvents the problem of mass-quint causing a greater imbalance the meta-game. |
Notes | Convoy: Effects that would remove permanents on the same side as the target creature affect the target creature instead.
An example of "effects that would remove permanents" is Deflagration's effect. When you cast Convoy on one of your creatures, then it will die if Deflagration is cast on one of your permanents. However, the permanent targeted by Deflagration is not destroyed. The effect of the Steal card consists of the "destroy" effect that removes the permanent and the "steal" effect that generates a permanent on the other side. If you cast Convoy on an enemy creature and steal on an enemy permanent, then you will have payed 6 quanta and 2 cards for the same effect as Parallel Universe, Freeze, and Shockwave (10 quanta, 3 cards). Alternatively, the effect that removes permanents could be isolated to the "destroy" effect on the target permanent when steal is used, killing the creature for 6 quanta and 2 cards (as opposed to 3 quanta and 2 cards). |
Problem | Life has many thematic and flavorful permanents. However, no matter how effective the permanent is (i.e. 23 creatures and Empathic Bond), it can always be destroyed by one PC card. |
Solution | Convoy addresses this problem by giving life an in-element card that trades a bountiful resource--creatures--for protection of key permanents. It also opens up tons of Life duos with Fire, Darkness, and other elements that have permanent control. |
Notes | This will occur whenever a creature is played (playing normally, TU, Mitosis, etc...) Mutation and Fate Egg don't count as they are transformation effects.
Energy | Vitality's ability doesn't trigger other Energies or Vitalities, but it does stack. |
Problem | Life is often plagued with various problems involving CC. A well-timed Rain of Fire can wipe out a deck based solely on Mitosis, and life decks often fall short in card advantage due to PC and CC carried in decks.
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Solution | This card counters CC by giving Life players card advantage when a creature is played, as well as forcing the opponent to use CC on an ever-growing number of Frogs. When faced with AoE CC, a single creature can help retain the damage per turn and card advantage needed to beat the opponent.
Pros Easy to rebound from enemy CC due to card advantage. Stacks - multiple copies are increasingly useful. Relatively fair price given the possible advantage when used correctly. Cons Reliant on early draw - early/continuos PC can nullify the card advantage if there aren't enough copies in play. Ineffective against DR shields.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33599.0.html
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Notes | When you cast this permanent it spawns itself on your opponent's field rather than yours. Similar to Malignant Cell, this is designed to clog up your opponent's field; however, it clogs up the opponent's permanent field, making them unable to play permanents. |
Problem | Life is an element with virtually no control, and for a good reason; it's hard to find thematic control. Permanent control has often been expressed as something that Life needs, but attempts at permanent control often turn out as not thematically fitting. |
Solution | This provides Life with a unique, thematic form of soft PC. Rather than 'destroying' anything, which goes against the theme of Life, it uses the established plant theme and a well-known existing plant to clog up the opponent's field, preventing them from playing anything. |
Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33930.0.html
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Notes | Mechanically speaking, basically a more inclusive form of the Crusader's Endow, except with creature abilities rather than weapon abilities. Gained abilities would cost the same, except with quanta (and, obviously, is replaced by that ability so no switching abilities with the same Stem Cell). For example, if your Stem Cell borrowed the ability of an opposing Mind Flayer, it would gain the new ability : Lobotomize. Borrowing the ability of a Lycanthrope would gain it the ability Lycanthropy. It can also borrow abilities that weren't inherent to the creature targeted -- for example, if you're facing a BE'd Micro Abom you could borrow its ability and give your Stem Cell Destroy.
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Problem | As many have pointed out already, Life's main weaknesses stem from (pun intended) its lack of flexibility. When running Mono-Life there aren't a lot of options with which strategies to use -- and many of these are easily countered. |
Solution | Adding PC, CC, permanent protection, creature protection, or even a new deck type could solve this problem. However, I thought having a creature that by itself could multiply the possibilities of Life's strategies would strengthen it more directly.
Pros: Stem Cell is a card that can literally borrow and adapt an opponent's strategies, opening possibilities to a whole range of diverse creature abilities -- and give Life some CC (Devour, Lobotomize) or potentially PC (Butterfly Effect). Completely different strategies can be run with a Mono-Life rather than just revolving around its creatures. It could even make certain other Life cards even more relevant: a Stem Cell-focused deck would take time to set up, and in-element healing from Feral Bonds and SoGs can stall for enough time to control the opponent's field.
This also matches Life's theme of adaptation -- always evolving and changing with respect to its environment.
Cons: As an adaptation-focused mechanic, Stem Cell is possibly only as powerful as the opponents. Against slower decks Stem Cell can be powerful, but against a fast or brainless rush (which Life's other deck types can often overpower), Stem Cell loses.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33998.0.html
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Notes | link is unactive ability (can lobo) and waver is passive, this card still have airborne passive.
all damage dealt to it will redirect to it owner. fire shield, poison, lightning (5 damage even if fairy have 2 hp) or even rage potion. (but still die from instant kill ability like devour or paradox)
but please be carefule. this little fairy is anxious enough to betray you and go to your opponent side.
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Problem | For me. the most problem for life is not that it can't do CC or PC. not only life but every element can't just perfect and can do everything great.
my problem is it so straigth. i can't deny that is this element strong point. but it can't do anything much. only mass attack and heal.
maybe it's only my problem?
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Solution | so i made a card that have many trick in itself, suit with life theme and can play with many element or even with mono life.
Pros: a creature that hard to die! can combo with many card.
Cons: Hard to control.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33944.0.html
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Notes | Land Protector is... an ability that can lobo.
this card will protect all your permanet by sacrifice some part of itself... but can't protect a permanent that have a duration (sundial, cloak, aether shield or whatever).
can protect stack permanent, but still get much damage (bonewall/pillar). i.e. he will take 9 damage from an earthquake.
still protect quantum out entropy shield, but still get much and much damage....
and don't try to mass it. if you have 2 forest monster and your permanent has been destroyed. both forest monster will get 3 damage.
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Problem | For me. the most problem for life is not that it can't do CC or PC. not only life but every element can't just perfect and can do everything great.
my problem is it so straigth. i can't deny that is this element strong point. but it can't do anything much. only mass attack and heal.
maybe it's only my problem?
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Solution | so i made a card that have many trick in itself, suit with life theme and can play with many element or even with mono life.
Pros: a creature that can protect your permanent! help your precious permanent from your opponent hand upped version with less quantum but still enough status to use!
Cons: a bit fragile and don't good to mass.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33980.0.html
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Notes | Yes, momentum is traditionally a gravity only ability, but I really feel a heard of rhinos would be able to break through most shields somewhat. The rhinos produced by both cards are simple 1|1s with no effect. They represent that creature control would simply scatter the group instead of outright killing them./ |
Problem | Life has two problems, one big one small. The big one is a lack of permanent control, which does not particularly fit life very well, and most of life's creatures are small enough, and rely on adrenaline, so they have major issues even with weak shields. The second problem is that its main benefit, healing, is too reliant on keeping creatures on the field. |
Solution | , I gave the creature momentum to bypass shields, the most important part of PC. As to the second problem, killing this creature generates more creatures, which allows you to rack up some more healing with empathic bond, though you do lose the bypassing shields ability.
Pros: Fairly efficient creature for dealing consistent damage. Combos well with empathic bond, as well as adrenaline and the green nymph.
Cons: The generated rhinos on death will likely not do anything besides clog your field if you dont have a bond out.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34037.0.html
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Notes | The skill is called Justified (I guess? O_o) and is passive. The damage dealt is based on the creature's current attack stat and does not interact with poison, shields, statuses, sundial, and whatever else I forgot.
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Problem | Life has two main components: a fast rush and and burst healing. Its 1) predictable 2) swarmy rushes are weak to 3) shields and 4) CC. Its healing is…well…a bit 5?) lacking… 6??) not sustained… 7?!) or something… 8/9/10/11/12) I really don't know.
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Solution | ^This card fixes Life’s problems in several ways.
Props 1). The unupped version’s base stats can sort of counter the effects of DR shields. 2). The high HP makes it hard to kill. 3). The ability allows for Life to deal damage that can penetrate shields, or it can 4). indirectly protect your creatures from CC. 5). The ability allows for more healing. And that is well, more healing. 6). Synergy within Life and with other elements! Like Aether. That’s usually good. 7). It is not overly situational as a card.
Uncategorized 1). A bad cost/attack ratio. Although that’s intended and means you should use other cards with it for efficiency. And that might give Life decks a bit more diversity. 2). Bad wording/a bit complicated? Iunno, “attack the opponent” seems a bit vague. 3). If it does solve most of Life’s problems, and gets in the game, chances are you’ll be seeing it very often.
Slops There are none.
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Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,34195.0.html
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Notes | This weapon deals spell damage, meaning it isn't blocked like normal damage. It can be reflected by damage reflection shields and would deal damage to the owner of the orb. The bonus damage is also spell damage.
has trouble with permanents. Too often are their swarms of creatures stopped by an opponent's shield. With this Orb, they can now swarm the opponent and still be able to do damage.
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Problem | One of the major problems with is the lack of any kind of PC. Unless you're splashing it in from another element, you will flat out lose to a Dimensional Shield Deck. Wings will cause a similar problem. Any attempt to counter this weakness will usually make the deck too weak to be competitive. Druidic/Jade Staff is an okay card, but its damage is equal to Dagger and healing for 5 hp a turn is only decent, but nothing amazing compared to other Elements' weapons. |
Solution | So, now I present Life Orb. By doing Spell Damage, any shield that would normally block all the damage of your creatures, would still get hit by Life Orb. If you have several creatures out, it increases the damage. Want to run a stallish deck with Life creatures, Mitosis, and Feral Bonds? Now you can hit for lots of damage.
The card must only be creatures, otherwise, it could be abused with cards like: Aflatoxin, Boneyard, Fractal. (Although Fractal would still work with creatures.
Life Orb also gives a 'change of pace' weapon. Druidic Staff just isn't very good in a rush and Jade Staff gets overshadowed by Long Sword. Now will have an on-element card that can also cover some of its weaknesses. If you're playing a rush, you can spam your creatures real quick, then plop the orb down and watch it hit for 6-8 damage through their Dim Shield. They'll have to be careful about not putting their Dim Shields down too late, since may cause a break in their shield chain, causing a big hit of damage from all your creatures.
Obviously, the card can be tweaked as needed, but the basic concept is there. |
Read more: | http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,33762.0.html
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