When Zanz started transforming the shards into an elemental series, he kept them other but gave them bonuses for being paired with their specific element so they wouldn't just be Other cards. Now that they've been moved to their respective elements, some of these bonuses feel quite weird, having to build a deck with a specific mark in order to get the most out of one or more cards. Additionally if Shards were to be introduced into some PvP events, War in particular, it can make it incredibly difficult for some elements to have the full effect of their shard.
The shards don't need to lose their extra flavour in some cases, such as SoP's Flooding bonus or SoW's Immaterial bonus, just the penalties forcing them to be used with specific combos or a specific pendulum/pillar split.
Doing this should also help in the balancing of the cards, by allowing them to be a little more consistent. Here is how I might change them:
Shard of Serendipity
1
| 1
Add up to 3 random unupgraded | upgraded cards to your hand. The first will be a
card.
Ok, this one still has the elemental bonus, however that's to prevent it from being highly splashable in any Rainbow. If it was too splashable, just about every rainbow would have one and the card would be pointless.Shard of Sacrifice
I've got no idea what to do with this one in general. Any suggestions?Shard of Focus
No change.
Gaining a black hole isn't real biased towards gravity any more than costing 6 to begin with. As far as I can tell this card is now fine.Shard of Integrity
4
| 3
No change.
Similar to SoF, using for the Golem's abilities isn't really a problem.Shard of Gratitude
4
| 3
Heal yourself for 5 HP at the end of every turn.
This is a good example of what I'm suggesting. Quanta balancing can already be quite tricky, but being forced into a specific mark can throw everything out the window. Now has the same cost as Sanctuary, but gives extra healing instead of quanta/silence protection.Shard of Bravery
2
| 1
Your opponent draws 2 cards. Draw an equal amount of cards.
Might need a small buff now, but the alternative is to have it draw 3 cards and maybe need a small nerf (cost increase of 1?). Help here would be appreciated.Shard of Patience
No change.
The flooding clause here is more of an attempted buff to Flooding than an elemental bonus for Water. The +2/+2 is fine as it is.Shard of Divinity
3
| 2
Add 24 to your maximum health and heal yourself for 16.
Attempted to find a middle ground between its uses with and without the Light mark. Now only heals the user for 16 while adding 24 to maximum health so it doesn't overshadow Heal as an up-front healing card but retains its synergy with Miracle and other heals.Shard of Freedom
3
| 2
Airborne creatures gain a 25% chance to deal +50% damage, ignore shields, and evade targeting.
A small nerf, but at the same time allows for other elements to gain the evasion bonus. Makes SoFr a lot more attractive for Air duos.Shard of Readiness
2
| 1
The target creature's skill cost is now zero and can be used again this turn.
Suddenly SoR becomes much more useful on non-time creatures, but not as ridiculous on Time creatures. Also allows Zanz to remove the "and no more than twice" anti-Instosis rule, too.Shard of Void
2
| 1
Reduce your opponent's max health by 3 per turn.
SoV has never been that strong, espcially without the darkness mark.Shard of Wisdom
3
| 2
The target creature gains +4/+0 and now deals spell damage if immortal.
No change needed. Doesn't provide aether specific bonuses aside from the immortal part, which is really the point of the card.