Opal Stone | Opal Gem

[Ajit]

NAME: Opal Stone ELEMENT: Death COST: 5 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: N|2 TEXT: N = Skeletons you control : Drain Life Sacrifice target creature for +5 HP.	NAME: Opal Gem ELEMENT: Death COST: 4 TYPE: Creature ATK|HP: N|2 TEXT: N = Elite Skeletons you control : Drain Life Sacrifice target creature for +5 HP.

ART: Jacob Philpott (Ajit), original photo part of the public domain IDEA: Ajit, March_Wizard NOTES: - Obviously can only target your own creatures with ability - ABILITY CAN BE USED MULTIPLE TIMES PER TURN Changes: - removed Dragon sacrifice ability and replaced it with Drain Life SERIES: Gem Series (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,16740.0.html)

[Retribution]

The unupgraded version looks better than the upgraded version...

[Ajit]

Its arguable, but here's the numbers I'm looking at;

Opal Stone:

10 for the Dragon
4 for Opal Stone
1 for ability
=15 

Resulting Att Power:

4 from the Opal Stone
4 from the Skeletons
=8 Attack

Opal Gem:

10 for the Dragon
3 for Opal Gem
1 for ability
=14

Resulting Att Power

3 from the Opal Gem
6 from the Elite Skeltons
=9 attack

So the upped card gives you more attack for less quanta

[March_Wizard]

The upped one isn't much of an upgrade. It doesn't get more of a bonus than the normal version, and its special ability generated less of a bonus for itself (Although Elite Skeletons are more powerful) The special ability looks of limited use as well. You would only want to get rid of a Bone/Ivory Dragon is when it is about the die. You gain 8 damage with the unupped while losing 10. With the Upgrade, you gain 9 damage and lose 11. The only point where that is useful is if the dragon is about to die anyway. You would need a Bone yard to get the sacrifice to even equal the loss of the dragon.

I think a different special ability is in order for it. Perhaps something that increases the effectiveness of it's creature control abilities.

Maybe an ability that multiplies the poison counters on a creature by 2? Speeding up the accumulation of poison greatly.

Maybe an ability that deals the poison damage now instead of during the opponents turn? Since the best CC is about killing important creatures NOW instead of later.

If you still want another Death Effect activator, maybe a passive ability that triggers death effects whenever the opponent player is damaged?

If you still want to sacrifice, maybe sacrifice a skeleton to increase health? Basically drain attack power to increase health.

I love your set. I hope it goes far.

[Ajit]

Cool thanks so much for the input, I do realize it really isn't much of an upgrade, and those are some definite possible replacements, but just to remind;

if you have multiple Opal Stones/Gems out at once, killing 1 Dragon means a lot more attack.

if you have 3 Opal Gems out and sacrifice 1 dragon, you spawn 3 elite skeletons.

3+3+3+6= 15 attack.

sacrifice another

6+6+6+12 = 30 attack

another case:

say you fractalled your Opal Gems and have six of them on the field.  Sacrifice one dragon

3+3+3+3+3+3+6 = 24 attack

sacrifice another

6+6+6+6+6+6+12 = 48 attack

______

But again, that's pretty tough to pull off, so I might need to reevaluate this card.

[March_Wizard]

A gut-check says it would be too slow of a tactic. And I trust my gut, I passed a physics exam once on pure gut checks.

But it could be a result of a bias towards cards that are more immediately useful. I prefer rushing to stall control decks

[Ajit]

haha cool, you're right though, this might be too slow.  I'll think about this.

[AnonymousRevival]

I don't think it is worth it. It is difficult to summon bone dragons.

[willng3]

I don't think it is worth it. It is difficult to summon bone dragons.

There's a new card in development which will make that statement false.

[The_Mormegil]

This could be a nice idea. If you add Soul Catcher to this one, though, you'll probably end up with a VERY fast and deadly  duo.
Counting how Boneyard and Graveyard work, though, I think the Stone is actually better.

6x Soul Catchers
6x Retrovirus
4x Cremation
6x Opal Stone
4x Boneyard
4x Phoenix
Mark of Death

Works better mostly unupgraded, too!

[Ajit]

@willng3 thanks for pointing that out

@The Mormegil cool, I'm working on a way to make the upgraded version truly advantageous

[Ajit]

OK I've made a big change to Opal Stone.  I got rid of my silly ability of sacrificing Bone Dragons for Skeletons, and replaced it with "Sacrifice target creature for +5 HP."

The ability can be used multiple times per turn like Rustler's ability.

Thanks March_Wizard for the help! I've added you to the card creators.