Heavy Load | Dead Weight

[krackocloud]

NAME: Heavy Load ELEMENT: Gravity COST: 2 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Target creature's attack is halved. If it also has a skill, its skill cost increases by 2 quanta.	NAME: Dead Weight ELEMENT: Gravity COST: 2 TYPE: Spell ATK|HP: TEXT: Target creature's attack is halved. If it also has a skill, its skill cost increases by 3 quanta.

ART: KrackoCloud IDEA: KrackoCloud NOTES: Only triggered abilities apply to the extra quanta cost. If SoR is applied, the element for using the skill is whatever it last was. Heavy Loaded SoR'd Pharoah would need 2 to make a Scarab. Heavy Loaded Butterflied SoR'd creature would keep its Destroy ability and the cost would likewise up by 2 . SERIES:

[furballdn]

First off, got to say, if you did that art by yourself, that is AMAZING.

Personally, I feel a +2 increase in cost is pretty soft control if you compare it with cards like lightning and basilisk blood.

[krackocloud]

First off, got to say, if you did that art by yourself, that is AMAZING.

Personally, I feel a +2 increase in cost is pretty soft control if you compare it with cards like lightning and basilisk blood.

Thanks :U

As for changing the cost, would an extra +1 be enough?

[furballdn]

Thing is, increasing a creature's skill cost only affects certain creatures, AND, it's less effective than killing the creature (lightning) or delaying it (basilisk blood). As it is now, this is similar to a lobotomize, but only a bit weaker since the ability can still be used. If it targets only one creature with that ability, it seems much weaker than other control cards.

Perhaps make it so it affects all the opponent creatures? Like these?


I made those cards with werdbooty for brawl, but feel free to use that idea and modify it.

[krackocloud]

So, it's either ineffective or it's lobotomize. That's a good point.

Affecting all creatures sounds good then.
Should I do an cost increase of 1, like yours? Or, considering the opponent probably has plenty of necessary quanta, more? But then stacking the effect might get a little out of hand.

Or maybe I could just completely change the card, maybe have it up the costs of playing the cards from the opponent's hand. Do you think that would run?

[furballdn]

Affecting all creatures sounds good then.
Should I do an cost increase of 1, like yours? Or, considering the opponent probably has plenty of necessary quanta, more? But then stacking the effect might get a little out of hand.
I am not a master at balancing, and my ideas above were a rough estimate of what I expected it to be. For a card like this, you don't want too light of an increase, nor do you want sudden mass lobotomization. I have balanced tariff and embargo if they were able to be stacked, eventually resulting in mass lobotomization of the opponent field, but it requires a few cards and lots of quanta

Or maybe I could just completely change the card, maybe have it up the costs of playing the cards from the opponent's hand. Do you think that would run?
I think the idea of weights increasing costs of cards in the opponent's hand has already been done before.

[krackocloud]

Just realized that if the card applies to all enemy creatures, I would probably have to change the name and picture :U Not really a big problem, but yeah.

What if Heavy Load created a status instead? Last for, say, 3-5 turns? Increase skill costs by 2. I don't think it's drastic or permanent enough to be lobotomize, and as a status, the effect wouldn't stack. But its status duration and and cheap price might make it run decently.

[furballdn]

What if Heavy Load created a status instead? Last for, say, 3-5 turns? Increase skill costs by 2. I don't think it's drastic or permanent enough to be lobotomize, and as a status, the effect wouldn't stack. But its status duration and and cheap price might make it run decently.

A 3-5 turn semi-lobotomization? That seems weak when you compare with other cards like:

Lightning: instant 5 damage (and nearly always causes death)
Lobotomization: either a lobo or flayer + 1
Freeze/congeal: stops the creature for 3|4 turns
BB: gives the creature 20hp and delays for 6 turns

massive delay = death > lobotomization > semi-lobotomization > semi-lobotomization lasting a few turns

[Elite arbiter]

Some other ideas to consider are making the skill cost gravity quanta if it has no specified element cost along with the increase (such as after a SoR use), making it grant a particular skill based on the dead weights to a creature if it has no active skill (not sure what), and/or making it delay the creature it is played on for 1-2 turns. Giving it both a delay type effect, 'and' a semi-lobo effect could work.

[krackocloud]

What about lowering attack with the semi-lobo?
Something like "Target creature loses 1 attack every turn while attack is greater than 0. If the creature also has a skill, its skill cost increases by 3 quanta."
This would be stackable, so after two Heavy Loads a creature would be losing 2 attack per turn and its skill cost would be 6 higher than normal.
Would be mostly good for targeting creatures with low/average attack but useful abilities, since one card can nearly render them useless. Leaving creatures out on the field like vegetables would also be good for avoiding death-triggered tactics.

Some other ideas to consider are making the skill cost gravity quanta if it has no specified element cost along with the increase (such as after a SoR use), making it grant a particular skill based on the dead weights to a creature if it has no active skill (not sure what), and/or making it delay the creature it is played on for 1-2 turns. Giving it both a delay type effect, 'and' a semi-lobo effect could work.

I just figured it'd up cost by what it used to be. Are there creature skills that start with no cost? (Ignoring SoR)
Delaying sounds good too, it's probably going to be either this or the idea at the top of this post (assuming it actually works).

Sorry for throwing around so many ideas - I'm still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

[furballdn]

What about lowering attack with the semi-lobo?
Something like "Target creature loses 1 attack every turn while attack is greater than 0. If the creature also has a skill, its skill cost increases by 3 quanta."
This would be stackable, so after two Heavy Loads a creature would be losing 2 attack per turn and its skill cost would be 6 higher than normal.
Would be mostly good for targeting creatures with low/average attack but useful abilities, since one card can nearly render them useless. Leaving creatures out on the field like vegetables would also be good for avoiding death-triggered tactics.
I've seen different kinds of lower attack cards, ranging from "lower half of attack each turn" to "lower attack by 5 instantly" and "lower attack by 2 each turn for 3 turns" combining losing attack with this seems to be interesting. Perhaps instead of having something like a constant loss, just have the creature lose a set percentage (25% or 50%) along with the skill cost increase to cripple it?

Some other ideas to consider are making the skill cost gravity quanta if it has no specified element cost along with the increase (such as after a SoR use), making it grant a particular skill based on the dead weights to a creature if it has no active skill (not sure what), and/or making it delay the creature it is played on for 1-2 turns. Giving it both a delay type effect, 'and' a semi-lobo effect could work.

I just figured it'd up cost by what it used to be. Are there creature skills that start with no cost? (Ignoring SoR) I cannot think of any at the moment
Delaying sounds good too, it's probably going to be either this or the idea at the top of this post (assuming it actually works).

Sorry for throwing around so many ideas - I'm still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

[krackocloud]

I actually was considering just having a set decrease, but then comes the question of how much? Halving sounds good, but then it wouldn't be too useful against creatures with no skills, because they are usually the ones with more attack. Or is it better that way?
I could also do an explicit amount like -4 attack, but something so set-in-stone feels like its own card or something.