Onerous Swarm | Wretched Swarm

[Arondight]

That balances it out a bit in a situational way, at least.

Mirror Shield or Jade Shield = backfire?

[SunnyGreens]

Yeah, Mirror or Jade is going to be bad for you with this out.

[BluePriest]

I like it, very unique idea, and I like having more cards that give jade shield a use.

[Avenger]

Huh? No, jade shield reflects only targeted spells. This is a passive creature ability.
It will bypass shields defence and won't burn on fireshield, iceshield etc.
Fractal spammed them will kill you in 2 rounds (64 damage per round can kill you easily).

[BluePriest]

Huh? No, jade shield reflects only targeted spells. This is a passive creature ability.
It will bypass shields defence and won't burn on fireshield, iceshield etc.
Fractal spammed them will kill you in 2 rounds (64 damage per round can kill you easily).

I think the OPs intention was to have it blocked by jade shields. So far there arent any passive creature abilities that target HP, so im pretty sure the shield would stop this.

[SunnyGreens]

Yes, I see this as a kind of passive direct damage spell, so my intention is that Mirror and Jade would deflect it.

Fractal could be a problem though. So if Fractal is the biggest concern, I see three ways to tweak it suggested (feel free to add more):

1. Make it 1/1 so that Fire/Frost Shields have an effect.
2. Cap the amount of damage per swarm.
3. Increase the cost per swarm, slowing down a Fractal rush.

Of the three I would prefer number 3, which would leave the question of just how high the quanta cost needs to be so that Fractal is still a viable option, but not a broken one (I know, I know, Fractal and "not broken" are hard to put together). Would reducing the cost of Onerous Swarm to 2 and increasing that of the Wretched Swarm to 4 be sufficient you think? Perhaps 5 ?

[Belthazar666]

I'd just cap the damage at 3 per creature.  That's still three times what the unupped does.  So it would be 1 for one, 2 for 2, 3 for 3, then each one after 3 also does 3. Usable, but no more OP than the other cards out there that can be fractaled.  Arguably a Giant Frog does more, but it's also affected by shields. Let's face it, mirror shield and Jade shield aren't commonly placed in decks, as such you'd very rarely be taking the damage yourself.

[SunnyGreens]

CARD UPDATE:

Change 1: Reduced Onerous Swarm's quanta cost from 3 to 2 .
Reason: So people might actually consider using it.

Change 2: Capped Wretched Swarm's damage output to 6.
Reason: Reduce the effect of a Fractal bomb without completely removing it as a strategy.

Change 3: Increased Wretched Swarm's quanta cost from 3 to 4 .
Reason: Basically the same as reason 2.

Let me know what you think...

[Avenger]

Well, if reflection/jade turns the damage back, this is fine. If you survive the initial rush, and got a shield in hand, it will be a really nasty surprise to the swarm's owner.
Reducing N to 6 in itself won't do much. 48 (8x6) damage instead of 64, in the optimal rush. It can still almost kill you in 2 rounds, just like 64.

[SunnyGreens]

I made several mock games trying to see what the fastest possible play could be. Based on that I increased the quanta cost and capped the damage to slow it down. Yes, if you can afford to put down all 8 at once you can do a lot of damage but you wont be able to do it in the first few turns of the game. I placed the cap at 6 so that it wouldn't penalize non-fractal users and to reduce some of the damage of a mid-game fractal bomb.

If you don't think the changes are effective, do you have any suggestions for what might be?

[Avenger]

Those N = things are pretty dangerous. (See scarab fractals). This thing bypasses shields (well except reflections), and deals a heavy punch.
Fractals can be impacted by raising summon cost.
But you already did that, so, i guess further balancing needs lots of testing and charting.

[SunnyGreens]

True, it's kind of annoying trying to balance cards without being able to really test it. You can throw a bunch of numbers at it, but it just doesn't compare.