The REAL Problem with Shards

[Cheesy111]

I think it would be more balanced and more thematic if the shards were all permanents that had some element themed effect.  As it is, shards like Shard of Bravery, Shard of Serendipity and Shard of Sacrifice basically act as spells with little to no counters. 

Personally, I do not really care as much about the artwork as I do about the game balance

Suggestions for Shard Effects (all of these are permanents)
  Create 1 spark each turn this shard is on the field
  (effect seems balanced to me.  probably needs a cost increase though)
  Drain 2HP from your opponent each turn.  Acts as Spell Damage.  (Shard of void does not really have any good combos, so its effect should probably be altered)
  Add 1 poison counter to your opponent each turn this is on the field.
  Destroys a random opponents pillar/pendulum each turn.
  Adds a random card to your hand each turn during the draw step
  Deal 3+X damage to your opponent each turn where X is the amount of fire quanta you control divided by 10.  this acts as spell damage
  Destroys a random opposing permanent every other turn
  (effect seems balanced and thematic to me)
  Add 4 to your maximum health each turn.
  Draw an additional card every other turn
  Freeze a random opposing creature every other turn

What do you think of these suggestions?  What do you think of the general idea to make all shards permanents even if you do not like these effects.

I think that you put little to no effort into making your suggestions worthwhile and instead simply took a somewhat thematic effect for each element.  I think that cards do not need specific counters and that such thinking is harmful to game balance (e.g. Purify and Shard of Sacrifice).  I think that making all shards permanents does not add to any thematic effect.  I think that permanents are not necessarily more balanced than spells. 

[laxnut90]

I think it would be more balanced and more thematic if the shards were all permanents that had some element themed effect.  As it is, shards like Shard of Bravery, Shard of Serendipity and Shard of Sacrifice basically act as spells with little to no counters. 

Personally, I do not really care as much about the artwork as I do about the game balance

Suggestions for Shard Effects (all of these are permanents)
  Create 1 spark each turn this shard is on the field
  (effect seems balanced to me.  probably needs a cost increase though)
  Drain 2HP from your opponent each turn.  Acts as Spell Damage.  (Shard of void does not really have any good combos, so its effect should probably be altered)
  Add 1 poison counter to your opponent each turn this is on the field.
  Destroys a random opponents pillar/pendulum each turn.
  Adds a random card to your hand each turn during the draw step
  Deal 3+X damage to your opponent each turn where X is the amount of fire quanta you control divided by 10.  this acts as spell damage
  Destroys a random opposing permanent every other turn
  (effect seems balanced and thematic to me)
  Add 4 to your maximum health each turn.
  Draw an additional card every other turn
  Freeze a random opposing creature every other turn

What do you think of these suggestions?  What do you think of the general idea to make all shards permanents even if you do not like these effects.

I think that you put little to no effort into making your suggestions worthwhile and instead simply took a somewhat thematic effect for each element.  I think that cards do not need specific counters and that such thinking is harmful to game balance (e.g. Purify and Shard of Sacrifice).  I think that making all shards permanents does not add to any thematic effect.  I think that permanents are not necessarily more balanced than spells.

You are absolutely correct.  I did not put much thought into these abilities.  I was trying to use the suggestions more as a way of explaining the idea of making all the shards permanents.

[SnoWeb]

I think that cards do not need specific counters and that such thinking is harmful to game balance (e.g. Purify and Shard of Sacrifice).

I agree strongly with this. They are the result of bad card design (or not as good as the rest). I have a couple more example: SoW on immaterial crature can only be countered by reflective shields, SoSa or Poison by Purify and Discord by Sanctuary. As the topic is on the shards I won't talk about discord and poison here.

What do shards do? Based on those you have seen in real life you would expect them to lie around most of the time. However in elements some of them seem to have really fleeting properties, appearing in one second, doing some magic trick and then immediately disappearing (the spell shards). Others can apparently walk around and kill people, if you enrage them, at least (Shard of Focus). There is no clue given why some do this and some do that, after all the art is exactly the same for all!

I think that making all shards permanents does not add to any thematic effect.

  It makes them homogeneous in what they are. It makes the whole thing more realistic/believable. At least they are all physical object. A shard is a piece of glass. A creature shard (or spell in a lesser way) is somehow ridiculous. It is IMO as ridiculous a having an elf being a spell, a necklace being a creature or an incantation being a permanent.

I think that permanents are not necessarily more balanced than spells.

I never said that. I said that some of the shards were badly designed for various reason (among which the one you pointed out). I said that having all shards being permanent made more sense. And I think that while you transform a spell into a permanent you might as well change the effect so that it can be countered by more that a single card. At least permanent are susceptible to PC (contrary to spells).

[ColorlessGreen]

It makes them homogeneous in what they are. It makes the whole thing more realistic/believable. At least they are all physical object. A shard is a piece of glass. A creature shard (or spell in a lesser way) is somehow ridiculous. It is IMO as ridiculous a having an elf being a spell, a necklace being a creature or an incantation being a permanent.

From a thematic standpoint, I'd always assumed the spell-shards were physical objects where you threw the shard and then X happened and expelled its magic and then the shard was just a little piece of worthless crystal on the ground (think the original unupped shards). I also assumed SoI was a spell that made a golem rise up out of the ground with little pieces of crystal sticking out of it.

Can't explain SoFo.

edit: To continue my theme assumptions, the permanent-shards were little crystals that didn't expel their magic immediately when you tossed them, and instead kept putting their energy out. Also, lol at all the people who don't see "magic jewels" as a common trope in fantasy settings.

edit2: For that matter, magic crystals are a common trope in RL settings, at least if you're ever around hippies.

[eaglgenes101]

Can't explain SoFo.

I think of it as a huge f-cking thing of a rock that has weird gravity powers.