Anubis Idea

[Ryan]

Hello all!

Well, I think I've briefly mentioned elsewhere that I've considered the Anubis card to be a little unbalanced for some time, and with a lot more playing, I think I've formed a much more concrete opinion on it.

(I'm sure that all those people who rely on Anubis in their decks will be jumping up and down already, but please do calm down and at least read on before you start shouting! )

I think the main problem with Anubis is that, while in theory it's not an overpowered card, since it takes several turns and quite a bit of mana to kick into effect, in practice, the ability to easily give any creature immortality once it's in play can be game-killing.

This is simply because while I'm sure that some thought has gone into balancing the Anubis itself, some creatures plainly haven't been designed with immortality in mind.  I'm particularly thinking of creatures with devour, queen or growth here.

The problem is that in almost any game, if an opponent gets a head-start on you and brings out an Anubis before you have a way to deal with it, it can make any generalist deck almost completely unworth playing, since you know that from then on, any creature your opponent plays will be immortal, and this will probably include Elite Otyughs and such, which completely prevent you from playing your own creatures.

In any other situation, an opponent getting a head-start is no problem, because it's always fun trying desperately to get out the cards you need to swing the game back in your favour before they can kill you.  But once an Anubis and an immortal Otyugh are in play, it's pretty much not worth carrying on, unless you're using a deck built specifically to deal with that situation; you have an Anubis of your own; or you're using one of those very specific-strategy decks that relies purely on weapons/direct damage to take out your opponent.

My feeling is that I don't think any game between two generalist decks - which after all are the type of deck the game should theoretically be best balanced for - should be able to get to a point within the first few turns where there's simply no chance of one of the players clawing back a lead, and this is what the Anubis can all-too-often accomplish (especially given that there is currently no way whatsoever by which to affect immortal creatures in any way).

I also don't think it a good thing that the only way to deal with an Anubis currently is to kill it (or otherwise render it useless) before it can immortalise itself, as this spoils the use of the card for the player who played it.

Basically, I think that it would be nice for the Anubis to be a powerful card that's fun to have in the game, rather than a card that - as now - either gets zapped as soon as it's played, or completely dominates the game from then on.

So, what's my suggestion?  Well, I was discussing this with my girlfriend (who uses an Anubis in her deck), and she came up with what I think is potentially a very clever way to balance the card: in short, the "immortalise" ability should work as it does currently, but with the additional effect that any existing ability of the target is lost when it is immortalised.

I think this is actually a more clever solution than it might sound at first...

Of course, it immediately removes the current situation whereby immortal Elite Otyughs completely dominate the table, and invulnerable Firefly Queens can produce infinite hordes of immortal spawn, and it also presents players with a choice regarding their creatures with growth: should they stop its growth at its current size, leaving them with a large but static immortal creature, or wait a few more turns first, letting it grow bigger, but leaving it vulnerable?

But the more cunning effect is this: if the Anubis targets itself, it becomes immortal, but crucially, loses the ability to make creatures immortal.

This would leave a very elegant chink in the Anubis' armour: as long as it is left vulnerable itself, it can produce immortal creatures, but the opponent can still desperately try to kill it first; but if it makes itself immortal, it leaves its owner with a rather nice 5/8 immortal creature, but no more means of producing unlimited immortal creatures.

I think it would potentially be a great improvement to the balancing of the card, and most importantly, would always give the opponent a chance to gain back control even if the Anubis is played early in the game.

Anyway, apologies for the rather long post - hope it's of some interest!

All the best to all -

Ryan

[Billly]

What about limiting the immortality time of the target card to, say, two turns?

By the time one would immortalize all its creatures, the first ones could already be targetable again.

[bobcamel]

And it could be useful to use it on the enemy - the enemy Otyughs would become 0/5 or 0/3 pieces of immovable space blocker on the enemy's side.

[bobcamel]

And it has a realism point - the Anubis most proabbly mummifies, what includes taking the brain out...

[bobcamel]

I actually made a thing before...

Immortal: Creature dontn die when its HP reaches 0
Immaterial: Cannot be targeted by anything, even beneficial

[bobcamel]

Your sarcasm needs nerfing. Heck, I even voteban.

[bobcamel]

What about limiting the immortality time of the target card to, say, two turns?

By the time one would immortalize all its creatures, the first ones could already be targetable again.

Well, Immortality is meant to have "permanence", as in "never dies". Also, this would allow for Immortalize, Wait, Buff with Spells, Re-Immortalize.

[bobcamel]

Your sarcasm needs nerfing. Heck, I even voteban.

I vote this guy to be our next mod.

I am 15 years old and what is this?

[chriskang]

Posters above have a good point.
Your idea, Ryan, is nothing else than 1 immortality + 1 lobotomize in the same skill. This is seriously powerful (much more than the current immortality IMHO) and the cost has to be increased a lot to keep it balanced.
What about just preventing Anubis to cast immortality on himself?

[cipher_nemo]

Back on topic...

This card does not need a nerf or removal.

It's fine the way it is. It is expensive to bring out since it requires precious time quanta that you're busy using for drawing cards with dropping and using hourglasses (and dropping non-upgraded Sun Dials). On top of all of this it's an expensive card to play in terms of raw quanta.

There are plenty of ways to get rid of an Annubis and/or its ability on drop:

• Reverse Time card.
• Eternity card's ability to put a creature back on top of its owner's deck.
• Fallen Elf card's mutation ability.
• Fallen Druid card's improved mutation ability.
• Mutation ability from a mutated creature.
• Improved Mutation ability from a mutated creature.
• Mutation card.
• Improved Mutation card.
• Psionic wave ability from a Mind Flayer card.
• Psionic wave ability from an Ulitharid card.
• Otyugh card's Devour ability (9 or higher HP, or combined with damage first).
• Elite Otyugh card's Devour ability (9 or higher HP, or combined with damage first).
• Scarab card (9 or more Scarabs out, or combined with damage first).
• Scarab upgraded card (9 or more Scarabs out, or combined with damage first).
• Devour ability from a mutated creature (9 or higher HP, or combined damage first).
• Chaos Seed card (with one of the desired effects as a result).
• Fire Bolt card (with enough quanta).
• Fire Lance card (with enough quanta).
• Ice Bolt card (with enough quanta).
• Ice Lance card (with enough quanta).
• Drain Life card (with enough quanta).
• Siphon Life card (with enough quanta).
• Freeze card (make it useless until you can get rid of it later).
• Congeal card (make it useless until you can get rid of it later).
• Ice Shield card (chance to freeze on first turn attack).
• Permafrost Shield card (chance to freeze on first turn attack).
• (2) Lightning cards.
• (2) Thunderbolt cards.
• (3) Rain of Fire cards.
• (3) Fire Storm cards.

If you don't have any card, ability, or affect from the list above in your deck then you probably shouldn't be using that deck for PvP. If you do, but didn't have it ready in time for when your opponent drops an Annubis, then you lost out due to a bad shuffle or inferior deck design. By itself, the Annubis does not make or break a PvP duel.

And other ways to kill it over time (or at end of next turn if enough infection or combined with damage). It may still make other creatures immortal or be bounced by its owner with an Eternity or Reverse Time card:

• Plague card.
• Improved Plague card.
• Virus card's infect effect when sacrificed.
• Retrovirus card plague effect when sacrificed.
• Parasite card's infection ability.
• Bloodsucker card's infection ability.
• Infect ability from a mutated creature.
• Toadfish card's inflate ability.
• Inflate ability from a mutated creature.

Ways that won't work (which might be confused for ways that do):

• Gravity Pull card (gravity pull is removed when the Annubis becomes immortal).
• Gravity Force card (gravity pull is removed when the Annubis becomes immortal).
• Fire Shield (doesn't affect immortal creatures, only affects on first turn attack which isn't enough)
• Fire Buckler (doesn't affect immortal creatures, only affects on first turn attack which isn't enough)

Please comment if I left something out. I think I covered all of the cards, abilities, and effects.

So in conclusion, please stop complaining that Annubis is overpowered. It's not.

[cipher_nemo]

Actually, my point wasn't that the Anubis is overpowered.  My premise is that it's such an irreversibly game-dominating card if it gets into play before you have a method of killing it, that it provides none of the fun of fighting back that any other powerful card (Firefly Queen etc.) does, essentially leaving any generalist deck with a no hope of getting back on top of the situation.

That happens with pretty much any CCG out there from MTG to Elements. It's called a sealed win. If someone gets their Annubis out, has a turn to make that Annubis immortal, has a way to bring out or make other powerful creatures, and if you can't overrun that player before they grow, then yes, you've lost. If you can't defeat them before that type of deck gains momentum, then you've already lost the game. All part of a CCG.

[coinich]

I like this idea; the immortality/lobotomize combo sounds great!