Manipulation of Aspects in Elements

[iDaire]

It seems to me that the reason you can't come up with a completely original card idea nowadays is because the amount of aspects you can manipulate in Elements is limited and are already being manipulated in some way, shape, or form. In order to come up with new card ideas, one would have to come up with a new aspect in general. The aspects currently in Elements are listed as followed:

Objects	Information	Examples
Creatures	Cards in the game that tend to do damage to the enemy player, have a set amount of stats, and probably a skill to go along with it.	Arctic Squid
Cards	The cards that are currently on the field. Any existing card that isn't in the players hand at the moment.	N/A
Players	The players themselves. A certain set of values are attached to players that can be manipulated as well, and will be stated in the next table.	N/A
Permanents	The permanents that are currently on the field or in the players hand.	Dimensional Shield
Hands	The cards that are currently in the players hand and as such, have no effect as of right now. Can be manipulated with cards such as Sanctuary.	N/A
Electrum	The amount of electrum a player has. This has never been manipulated before in battle, as this would breed unfairness in terms of PvP and the PvE doesn't need any improvement.	N/A
Fields	The fields of both players themselves and all cards that are contained on the field. As of right now, the only card that manipulates the whole field is flooding.	N/A
Stockpile	The cards that the player can draw. Because they aren't in the hand and aren't on the field, the player can't manipulate these cards nor can he or she play them.	N/A
Marks	The mark that each player has. Because manipulating the marks that a player has can't be done without breeding some type of elemental hatred which is bad for the meta of PvP, this isn't typically manipulated, but some cards in OEtG such as Metamorphosis allows for the manipulation of marks without elemental hatred.	*Metamorphosis
Barracks	I made this name myself. The barracks is the area of the game where all of your permanents and spell effects go. Whenever you play a pillar, it ends up in the barracks.	N/A
Quanta Pool	The existence of quanta pool. Take note, when quanta pools is referred to as an object, the way in which you manipulate quanta pools is different. Reducing the amount of quanta the opponent has is considered to be altering the stats of the quanta pools. Removing an opponent's access to a certain element altogether is considered altering the existence of quanta pool as an object.	N/A

Stats (Quantitative)	Information	Examples
Health	The amount of health that each player has.	N/A
Amount of Cards Left	The amount of cards the player has in their stockpile. Is manipulated by cards such as Golden Hourglass and Reverse Time.	N/A
Amount of Cards in Hand	The amount of cards that the player currently has in their hand. Is utilized by cards such as Fractal and is manipulated by cards such as Nightmare.	N/A
Amount of Cards in Barracks	The amount of permanents and spells you have in your barracks. While you may not even think about this, this is essential.	N/A
Amount of Pillars in Barracks	The amount of pillars in your barracks. This itself is a separate stat from the amount of cards in your barracks mainly because this is used to determine how much quanta you get at the end of your turn.	N/A
Amount of Cards on Field	The amount of cards you have on the field.	N/A
Order of Certain Creatures on Field	The order of a certain card on the field. The way I'm going to explain this is like this: say you summon creature b, then creature y, then creature x. The order of X is 3. However, if one of the earlier two creatures is killed, the order of X drops by 1. Do you see what I mean?	N/A
Slot Placement of Certain Creatures on Field	The slot that the creature is in. This is manipulated by cards such as Flooding.	N/A
Stats of Creatures on Field	The stats that a creature has on the field. This is different from creature to creature and determines how much damage the creature will deal to the opponent and how much damage the creature can take before falling.	N/A
Quantity of Certain Creatures on Field	How much of a particular creature is on the field right now. Is manipulated by cards such as Scarab.	N/A
Quantity of Quanta-generating Creatures on Field	How much quanta-generating creatures are on the field. This is very similar to the Amount of Pillars in Barracks, but except with quanta-generating creatures on the field.	N/A
Cost of Cards in Hand	The quanta cost of each card in your hand. Used in determining how much of a certain quanta is subtracted from you.	N/A
Cost of Certain Creatures on Field	The cost of certain creatures on the field. Is utilized by cards such as Mitosis.	N/A
Cost of Skills of Creatures	The cost of using a creature's skill on the field. Used in determining how much of a certain quanta is subtracted from you.	N/A
Cost of Skills of Permanents	The cost of using a permanent's ability in the barracks. Used in determining how much of a certain quanta is subtracted from you.	N/A
Amount of Quanta of Certain Elements	The amount of quanta you have in each respective pool. Note that this is different from altering the pool altogether, as explained in the previous table.	N/A
Amount of Turns passed from start of Game	The amount of turns that have passed since the game started. Not used by any card in the game right now.	N/A
Amount of Uses of Permanents	The amount of uses a permanent has before it disappears from the barracks. This is seen most often from Dimensional Shield, but is also present in cards like Shard of Patience, in which the amount of uses is one and that one disappears when you use it.	N/A
Hit Rate of Creatures on Field	The chances of a creature on the field hitting the opponent or their target.	N/A
Maximum Amount of Health Allotted	The maximum amount of health a player has. This is different from the amount of health that a player currently has. The maximum amount of health a player has is damaged by cards like Shard of Void and increased by cards like Stone Skin.	N/A

Stats (Qualitative)	Information	Examples
Element of User	The element of a player or their opponent. Utilized by cards such as Short Bow and Gavel.	N/A
Elements of Certain Creatures on Field	The element of each creature on the field. Utilized by cards such as Mitosis.	N/A

Status	Information	Examples
Neutral	The state in which a creature is in whenever you are selecting cards on your turn. During your turn, the creatures are not attacking and are not moving, unless you were to alter them. This is what I will now refer to as the neutral, and I will be coming back to it every so often.	N/A
isAttacking	The state in which a creature is now actively attempting to deal damage without the aid of the owner. During this state, the game itself is utilizing the creature's stat of ATK to see how much damage that they will deal to the owner. This status is manipulated by cards such as Turtle Shield and Permafrost Shield	N/A
isFrozen	The state a creature is in when they are frozen by an enemy card or by the owner themselves with the use of ice bolt.	Ice Bolt
isDelayed	The state a creature is in when they are delayed by an enemy card or by the owner themselves with the use of basilisk blood.	Turtle Shield
isFlying	The state a creature is in when they are flying. A flying creature is airborne no matter which phases that the game is in.	Phoenix
isBurrowed	The state a creature is in when they are burrowed. A burrowed creature is underground no matter which phases that the game is in.	Graboid
isDamaged	The state a creature or their owner is in when they have taken damage. In that instant, they are in a state called "isDamaged"	Gravity Pull
isPoisoned	The state a creature or their owner is in when they have succumbed to poison. A creature or player is poisoned no matter which phases that the game is in. Because of it, every turn, they also obtain the event "isDamaged."	Poison
isReversed	The state a creature is in when they have been reversed and sent to the top of your deck.	Rewind
isImmortal	The state a creature is in when they can't be targeted by any cards with the exception of Shard of Wisdom. Burrowed creatures are immortal for the duration that they are burrowed.	Phase Dragon
isMagical	The state a creature is in when their attacks are now lightning (automatically aimed at the target) and pass through any shield that only blocks physical damage.	Psion
isAdrenalined	The state a creature is in when they have the ability known as adrenaline.	Adrenaline
isAccelerating	The state a creature is in when they have the ability known as acceleration.	Acceleration/Overdrive
isPulling	The state a creature is in when they have the ability known as gravity pull.	Gravy Pull
isGenerating	The state in which a creature of a permanent is generating quanta.	Quantum Pillar
isBlocking	The state in which a shield is blocking damage from the owner.	Solar Shield
isSlicing	The state in which a weapon is damaging the opponent.	Discord
isAbsorbing	The state in which a creature is sapping quanta from the opponent.	Pest
isBuffingATK	The state in which a creature's ATK is being increased, whether it was by spell or the creature's own skill.	Rage Potion Fire Spirit
isBuffingHP	The state in which a creature's HP is being increased, whether it was by spell, permanent, or the creature's own skill.	Blessing Forest Spirit
isLosingATK	The state in which a creature's ATK is being decreased, whether it was by spell or skill of an opposite creature.	N/A
isGainingQuanta	The state in which a player is gaining quanta.	N/A
isLosingQuanta	The state in which a player is losing quanta.	N/A
Mutant	The state in which a creature has been transformed into a mutant and as such, has been drastically altered from its neutral. See, I came back to it.	Fallen Druid

Events	Information	Examples
Summoned: Card	A card was moved from the hand to either the barracks or the field.	N/A
Summoned: Creature	A creature was moved from the hand to the field.	Sparks
Summoned: Permanent	A permanent was moved from the hand to the barracks.	Pillars
Returned: Card	A card was moved from the field or the barracks back to the hand or the stockpile.	Reverse Time
Destroyed: Card	A card was removed from the fields or the barracks but was not returned back to the hand or the stockpile.	Deflagration
Destroyed: Permanent	A permanent was removed from the barracks but was not returned back to a hand or the stockpile.	Butterfly Effect
Destroyed: Creature	A creature was removed from the field but was not returned back to the hand or the stockpile. This triggers death effects.	Fire Rain
Created: Creature	A creature was summoned on the field that wasn't present in the hands of the owner but at the expense of a card.	Parallel Universe
Created: Permanent	A permanent was summoned on the field that wasn't present in the hands of the owner but at the expense of a card.	Bone Wall
Generated: Creature	A creature was summoned that wasn't present in the hands of the owner nor did it require the use of a card.	Firefly Queen
Generated: Permanent	A permanent was summoned that wasn't present in the hands of the owner nor did it require the use of a card.	N/A
Schrodinger's Event	The cat triggers death effects without dying.	Schrodinger's Cat
Skill Activated	A creature's skill was activated.	N/A
Skill Lobotomized	A creature's skill was removed.	N/A
Skill Gained	A creature has gained a skill it didn't have before.	N/A
Health Altered	One of the players has either gained or lost health.	Heal Poison
Creature Stats Altered	A creature just lost/gained ATK or HP.	Blessing Fire Rain
Cards Drawn	One of the players has just drawn a card.	Silence
Permanent Usage Dropped	One or more permanents on the field just lost the amount of uses it has.	Dimensional Shield
Very Specific Events	Mutation/Poison/Alfa-Poison/Neuro-Poison/Delayed/Drained/Accelerated/etc. (Basically any alterations to a creature that aren't stated above).	N/A

Thanks to OldTrees, I've been able to state some more of the aspects in Elements. If you have any aspects, please contribute!

[AD TienzuStorm]

I think arranging these in order from most to least might be a good idea, as of obviously the ones with the least would appreciate a new card the most.

For already done aspects, Flooding is the one and only card in game that deals with field placement (if we count Cygnia cards, I believe the only other one is Meteorite | Asteroid). Creature element is also done through elemental love and hate (Nightfall vs. Holy Light). Sacrifice status could probably be expanded on. As could max HP adjustment. Specifically reducing it. SoV is lonely.

For new aspects, I don't think they're so necessary. Expanding on the current aspects can be taken in so many ways, especially with the abundance of aspects that are barely toggled with (Flooding, SoV, SoSac, SoFr, Purify, Sanctuary, Adrenaline, etc.)

[OldTrees]

Interesting, I never thought about whether the card pool could have a theoretical upper limit. That makes sense.


However I don't think your list is anywhere near complete for one simple reason: Events
One of my first cards was based around the idea of "Do X when Y", specifically "Temporarily gain +1|+0 when opponent is damaged". Every "when Y" is something that can be manipulated and "Do X" can be introducing new "when Y"s.

So if I were to create a quick classification:
Objects(Creatures, Cards, Players, Permanents, Hands, ...): Things that be.
Stats(Health, Turns, Quantity, Order, ...): Traits objects can have.
Status(Frozen, Attacking, Absolute Position, Relative Position, ...): Situation context pertaining to an object.
Events(Attacked, Moved, Played, Used, Flanked, ...): Things that happen.

[iDaire]

Done. Thanks a lot OldTrees.

[Hyroen]

Excellent work iDaire. In the aims towards creating a design "code" of sorts for every card possible, I'm sure this could be a potentially useful tool.

[OldTrees]

I believe you have several redundancies/omissions in your listing. (Although sometimes redundancies can be ideal for clarity/reference)

1) Objects: Cards
You have this limited to just Cards inField(a very common status, but a status). This is most evident in Object: Hands which you are using to describe Cards inHand rather than the Hand itself (compare to Object: Fields).

2) Object: Spell
Spells are transient objects (specifically a subset of Cards) that are rarely referenced by card ideas. Even when referenced they are usually referenced indirectly by referencing the related event (cast/play a spell) instead of the object in question.

3) Stats: Health, Stats: Stats of Creatures & Stats: Maximum Health
Player Health and Creature Health seem like the same stat. I don't see the reason for the distinction (players merely lack an Attack stat. Or is the Player's attack 0 but adjusted by the equipped weapon ? ).

4) Stats: Amount/Quantity of Object X inObjectY
While these are referenced separately, they are a family of stats.

5) Stats: Cost of Object X inObjectY
While usually the object is selected based upon its status before asking about its cost, this does not make cost more than 1 stat. Although I do think Cost of a skill would be a separate stat (since I would consider having a particular skill to be a qualitative stat).

6) Stats: Turns since Event
Currently you only have turns since start of the game. However see Dimensional Shield

7) Stats: Hit Rate of Creature
Is this a Stat or a randomized effect triggered by the Attacking event?

8] Stats: Element of Object
Probably an ideal example of redundancy serving clarity

9) Status: isFrozen
This is the first example of a class of status effects that, for lack of a better name at this time, I would call added status effects. Added not in the sense of applied to a creature in a game, but rather added as in not part of the basic card pool. These statuses all have the card pool traits of: Cards that reference this status effect require both a minimum number of Cards with this status effect and the status to have a minimum percentage of usage. The structure of the different added status effects can vary those minimums, however the existence of those minimums contributes to a maximum number of added status effects (both as a function of the size of the card pool and as a limit independent of the card pool size).

10) Status: isDamaged, isBlocking, isGaining, (isBuffing StatX?)
Instantaneous Statuses are probably better classified as Events.

11) Status: isSlicing
Isn't this isAttacking?

12) Event: Created vs Generated
I am sure you don't need to specify losing a card

13) Events
Sidenote: Events can be broken down further for timing specifications like "starts to attack" "attacks" "finishes an attack". This variation is not worth stating in the table.

[russianspy1234]

Constraint breeds creativity.  Yes, the amount of aspects you can manipulate in Elements is lower than in most games, and yes that makes it harder to come up with a fresh idea, but at the same time, with that constraint, you can come up with more interesting things as well.  I find the limited space on cards to be a far harsher constraint that the lack of aspects, but it's both challenging and rewarding to try to squeeze a complicated idea into just a few lines.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

If we have Frozen status, why not also have Burn status, too? It might be similar to Poisoned but cancel each other with Frozen status.

[Submachine]

If we have Frozen status, why not also have Burn status, too? It might be similar to Poisoned but cancel each other with Frozen status.

A Burn status could be rarer than poison, but it could have the advantage of not being able to be purified.

[foxrain4]

surprised to know all my creativity in creating new cards is actually limited by what you stated,
nice database.

[russianspy1234]

If we have Frozen status, why not also have Burn status, too? It might be similar to Poisoned but cancel each other with Frozen status.

A Burn status could be rarer than poison, but it could have the advantage of not being able to be purified.

I would be purified by the water part of purify rather than the magic.