Skittish: A New Passive Ability

[laelin]

The thought came to me when thinking about maximizing the SoP and flooding mechanic. Basically if you could make a water creature with the burrow ability. Thus "skittish" was born (in my mind at least). It was attached to a creature called a blue crab (here's a picture http://postimg.org/image/bo2lbspm7/). The idea was simple, take something that would not burrow on it's own but if it felt threatened then it would automatically burrow thus possibly saving it's life but also halving it's damage. Whether or not this particular card would be overpowered, I would like to know the communities thoughts on the skittish ability in general? Are their any other uses for it possibly?

To clarify. it would be like phoenix ability where if you cause yourself to burrow then you can unburrow next turn but if your opponent causes you too then you can't until after their next turn. Like other burrow abilities, it cost nothing to unburrow.

[iDaire]

So, when the creature is attacked, it burrows?
Doesn't sound new to me. I'm pretty sure if I went through the pages on this forum, I'd find someone who already thought of this.
Sounds like a good passive skill to have but doesn't really matter unless it can be given to any creature via another creature or spell card.

[OldTrees]

Card text: "Skittish: When targeted, _creature name_ burrows instead."

This makes the creature impossible to effect with a targeted effect(like how Quint and Burrow already do). Obviously this would prevent buffs including Quint and also preventing Fractal.

If it gains unburrow, then Skittish would remove the creature's active ability(if any) when triggered. So the opponent could expend 1 triggering source to effectively lobotomize the creature.

If it does not gain unburrow, then the opponent can expend 1 triggering source to permanently halve its attack.

Now if skittish were gained (via a spell card or other means) then it could be used, like quint, to protect creatures or to prevent buffs.

So the ability has potential and is relatively simple.

[laelin]

ok I don't know where the confusion came from but to be clear.
1. skittish is passive, as in you can't activate it via the creature.
2. skittish only works if damage is taken; lobo still works and any other effect that doesn't directly cause damage.
3. the damage taken will be applied before the said creature burrows.
4. while burrowed the creature will gain unburrow instead of skittish until they actively unburrow; which they can't do for at least one turn but will cost zero quanta.
5. when they unburrow, the creature will then regain the skittish passive.

does this make my idea more clear now?

edit: I re-read my original post and I realize I was too brief and not specific enough. Do you guys (and gals; I'm not sexist I just call everyone guy) think I should edit my original post?

[Devourer]

Laelin, most damage dealing spells are only cast if the creature will be killed, otherwise its a wasted spell. So for example, Thunderstorm would probably not be used to kill your Crab, but Lightning or Shockwave would be used. If the ability only activates after damage is taken, the ability is almost completely useless.

I really like OldTrees' idea however, since I think Elements needs more Quint-esque effects that are not Quint.

[laelin]

ok well the blue crab was the un upped version where as the king crab was a 6/6 creature (similar to stats of other water creatures). but that's besides the point of this particular creature. the point was to use it with dry spell. Deal one damage and burrow it while flooding and SoP were both active and it was at least your 6th creature on the board where it would potentially gain 10 attack and 5 life every turn. Used with arctic octopi it would be the sword to the defensive wall of the octopus.

But I digress, this isn't about the blue crab but possible other creatures who might use this ability and other uses for this. Basically don't feel boggled down to having it on a creature killed so easily. Remember even if you can't kill the creature you force it to halve it's damage next turn while dealing some damage to it. It may not be ideal but sometimes you have to take what you can and this card is in a way a compromise between players.

[Devourer]

If the card is only usable in a few specific decks, its not a good card. SoP Burrow works very well in earth duos with things that you can control, like Antlion or Shrieker. If burrowing only works involuntarily, its much less useful, even though its a mono. Besides, flooding and SoP don't go as well together as you think. I challenge you to build a good deck that focuses on flooding SoPa. I have tried and failed before.
My point still stands, even if Skittish is used on an Armagio or some other creature with high health. If the creature is not killed, its a wasted card. Using a spell that does not kill the creature on either Crab saves you 2|3 damage at the cost of 1 card and however much quanta you spent on it. Its not worth the spell, and so the ability is useless.

[OldTrees]

ok I don't know where the confusion came from but to be clear.
1. skittish is passive, as in you can't activate it via the creature.
2. skittish only works if damage is taken; lobo still works and any other effect that doesn't directly cause damage.
3. the damage taken will be applied before the said creature burrows.
4. while burrowed the creature will gain unburrow instead of skittish until they actively unburrow; which they can't do for at least one turn but will cost zero quanta.
5. when they unburrow, the creature will then regain the skittish passive.

does this make my idea more clear now?

edit: I re-read my original post and I realize I was too brief and not specific enough. Do you guys (and gals; I'm not sexist I just call everyone guy) think I should edit my original post?

1 was clear.
2 was not clear but was one of the possibilities.
3 is unexpected. I would have expected the defensive ability to be intended to interrupt the danger.
4 does not make sense since active abilities(unburrow) do not need to replace passive abilities(skittish).

Can anyone remind me "If your opponent mutates your creature on their turn, can you use its new activated ability on your turn?".

5 is not necessary since skittish does not need to disappear.

So you are talking about "Skittish: _creature name_ burrows when damaged and gains unburrow."

Well, it makes the creature resist any damage CC that takes 2 hits if it has the hp for it. Also it is vulnerable to targeting effects including buffs. So I think you want it on a 7hp creature that is a big enough threat to warrant CC. This version of skittish would not be useful to place on an opponent's creature though.

Can anyone remind me whether Drying spell affects burrowed/immaterial creatures?.

[kirbylover314]

Dry spell does not affect immortal/burrowed creatures

[OldTrees]

Dry spell does not affect immortal/burrowed creatures

Thanks. I forget why I asked.

I asked chat about the mutation question. It confirmed my suspicion that the game readies(allows you to use) any activated ability present at the start of your turn. So having the unburrow be delayed would be against precedent. That is not necessarily a bad thing but should only be done if there is a good reason. So it is a question to raise in the eventual card idea thread.

[Devourer]

In my experience, it would make more sense that unburrow would be delayed until the turn after it burrowed. I cite Phoenix as the reason why. Mutated creatures can use abilities right away because the creature was already active on the board, albeit in a different form; the same deal goes for Mitosis. Phoenix is a special case, and I think that it is more similar to Skittish than Mutation. If you kill Phoenix, you can use Rebirth the next turn. If the enemy kills Phoenix, you have to wait until your next turn. In addition, if unburrow was present at the start of the turn, you would lose no attack power each turn provided you unburrow promptly, and it would be functionally identical to Immortality with the caveat that it is vulnerable to mass CC. I think that Skittish should have a drawback, in the same way that the Phoenix skill has a drawback, both by making you wait a turn to regain lost attack.

[laelin]

To reply to Devourer I will quote MY ORIGIONAL POST.

To clarify. it would be like phoenix ability where if you cause yourself to burrow then you can unburrow next turn but if your opponent causes you too then you can't until after their next turn. Like other burrow abilities, it cost nothing to unburrow.

Now that that is out of the way, I was thinking about this topic on the way to work this morning and it caused me to start thinking about Burrow in general. I have come up with several ideas surrounding the mechanic. Not necessarily change the mechanic, because I think it is fine how it works now, but rather find new ways to incorporate it into the game. Before I post them, however, I thought I would ask the community the proper etiquette for such things. Should I post them here, make a new post with this idea attached, should I reference this post in a new topic if one should exist; if one does exist can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance, (smiley face)
Laelin.

Edit: Incase Devourer wasn't responding to me, per say, and perhaps somebody else; if it's all being lost in translation on me, via my very sophomoric knowledge of the elements community, then I apologize for being quote, unquote "a dick."