Shard of Gratitude OP?

[OneEyedKing]

Every deck in the Top50 plays multiples.

Every time I play against said decks, they drop 3-4 of them into play and it it literally impossible to kill them with anything but Faerie Queen.

Is Shard OP, or are there some tips for me? Because I'm getting frustrated beyond belief at how good lifegain is.

[Daxx]

SoGs are powerful, that's certainly true, but there are ways around them.

Steal, Explosion, and Pulverizer are the obvious counters. Steal especially so, as it allows you to heal instead.

Shards also don't work against Firebolt decks, as those kill in a single turn.

[TheMonolith]

I have 6 SoG's in my deck. 

IMO, they are overpowered.  They should probably heal 3 HP/Turn instead of 5.

But there are ways to counter it.  Even in a T50 deck.  Actually, the AI is pretty stupid when it comes to some things, and playing SoG's is one of them.

[Tea is good]

ROFL! I always thought SoGs weren't powerful enough to put in my Rainbow deck. They can never seem to heal me more than say a feral bond, or a miracle. I mean, most rainbows rely on spamming fireflies, or eating stuff with your oty to make skeletons and mutants. They are cheap, but i've never had a problem with overpowering 5 damage per turn, or 30 for that matter.

[icybraker]

Not overpowered.

Reason 1: They are RARE.
Reason 2: They're permanents. There are 3 commonly found card counters to permanents in this game.
Reason 3: You can easily overpower it. Even with all 6 Shards out, which is unlikely, you only heal 30 damage per turn. Any good deck can yield more than 30 damage.
Reason 4: The healing is at the END of the turn. Thus, firebolt and Unstable Gas decks, which pop in for 1-turn damage rampages, render these shards useless.

[teffy]

To Reason 1: There were too many Shards in the T50 Decks

They made the Druid Staff useless ( without Adrenaline)
But they are not really OP.

[icybraker]

Point taken, teffy

All my other reasons are valid, though.

[Amilir]

Not overpowered.

Reason 1: They are RARE.
Reason 2: They're permanents. There are 3 commonly found card counters to permanents in this game.
Reason 3: You can easily overpower it. Even with all 6 Shards out, which is unlikely, you only heal 30 damage per turn. Any good deck can yield more than 30 damage.
Reason 4: The healing is at the END of the turn. Thus, firebolt and Unstable Gas decks, which pop in for 1-turn damage rampages, render these shards useless.

1: Not even going to bother.

2: That's ONLY three counters.  Permanents are much harder to destroy than creatures.

3: You don't use them on their own!  They stack with shields.  Even a dusk mantle will double the healing, which is MUCH harder to get through.

4: That applies to all forms of healing, and all forms of defense except max HP gain and reflection.

I'm not sure it's overpowered, though I think it may be, but your arguments are terrible.  Also, try 6 shards, 3 good shields, and some form of damage.  Most variants on that deck will take out a FG here and there.  Not as many as a rainbow, but that's how useful it is.

[icybraker]

1: As many people have stated, it is relatively easy to obtain. However, the key point here is that you can't buy it from the Bazaar; you have to work to get it. And even if that said "work" only takes a few minutes of grinding, it's still work nevertheless.

2: Permanents are called permanents for a reason, no? And it is precisely the reason that they are harder to destroy than creatures that people incorporate Steals, Pulvy, and Explosion into their decks. They are VERY COMMON - no one can deny that. Every FG deck has a Pulvy. Speed fire often has Explosions. And any darkness deck benefits from steals. Only specialized decks, like pure speed decks, lack some sort of permanent denial.

3. Saying a Dusk Mantle "doubles the healing" simply does not make sense. It halves the offensive - so long as it does not get destroyed, Momentumed past, or is simply unlucky. Additionally, even if it DID double the healing to 60, common decks like Growth or Rainbow can still overpower it. The point is that it is useful to help you stay alive, but is not an "ultimate" card that will ALWAYS stay ahead of you.

4. The Heal spell and Holy Light are both instantaneous. They don't heal at the end of the turn. Reflection isn't a heal, either. Know your facts before you argue.

All in all, the SoGs are very useful permanents and may be powerful, but surely not OVERpowerful.

"Most variants on that deck will take out a FG here and there."
"Here and there" being the operative terms. Anyone want to try this deck? You will be utterly destroyed. And you can make this argument for ANY good cards in the game. An Oty deck will occasionally take down FGs like Paradox; a Speed Fire deck will, given enough luck, destroy Dark Matter.

"but your arguments are terrible."
I hate ad hominim responses.

[Amilir]

1: I don't see work as a good reason either, and I disagree with the entire upgrade system, but that's another argument.

2: Because they are harder to destroy they are easy to destroy?  Being a permanent is hardly a weakness, but you were saying it is.

3: I'm sorry, I accidentally dropped the word "effectively" on revision.  There are also counters to everything, a card doesn't need to be "ultimate" to be overpowered.  A dragon for five quanta would be overpowered, despite being even easier to counter.

4: Heal and holy light also do nothing against a fire bolt deck.  Both effects occur between your opponents turns, and the difference is irrelevant in this case.   I was referring to reflection as a "form of defense".  Read my post.

I have tried those decks.  I modified my tournament deck and got ~20-30%

"surely not OVER powerful"  It's a stackable defense, cheap, and not quanta-type limited.  It's not that there aren't better cards, but those are all harder to use.  Make it more expensive or quanta specific and I'd be happy.

[icybraker]

1. Why is work not a good reason? The simple fact that you have to do something more than go to the bazaar and click a button to obtain a card allows it to be slightly more powerful than any card you can purchase at the Bazaar, no?

2. Read my argument. BECAUSE they are harder to destroy, people need to find ways to destroy them. Thus, those 3 permanent removal cards are very popular; thus, permanents are no longer safe in this game.

3. My point still stands. SoG is definitely not impossible or even very difficult to get through.

4. This is assuming said fire bolt deck has no offensive elements except fire bolts. Many fire bolt decks have supporting creatures like Dragons, Golems and Spirits.

20-30 % doesn't make for very efficient farming, now does it (especially not with an upgraded deck).

The very beauty of the Shards are that they are not supposed to be quanta-specific. This allows them to be used in any deck. Remove that aspect of the Shards, and you might as well remove the Shards themselves. Yes, it's cheap - no one can deny that. Yes, its ability is useful - again, no one can deny this. But I will repeat that it is not powerful, thanks to permanent control or simple over-damaging.

Cards like Feral Bond, Bonewall, Miracle, Stone Skin, Druidic Staves (especially adrenalined flying ones), Minor Vampires... these all provide equal or better healing to the SoG. So what if they're quanta-type limited. So what if they cost more. To any mono or duo specialized deck or even a Rainbow, this doesn't really matter.

[TheMonolith]

3: I'm sorry, I accidentally dropped the word "effectively" on revision.  There are also counters to everything, a card doesn't need to be "ultimate" to be overpowered.  A dragon for five quanta would be overpowered, despite being even easier to counter.

I just wanted to point out that there is no counter for a burrowed devourer. But that's for another thread.

Here's my point:  I run what is basically a mono death/aether deck.  Without shards, I had no means of healing, and would very rarely get EM.  Now that I have all these shards, I get EM about 1/2 the time.  THAT is how powerful they are. 

Actually, the thing I fear the most is the Pulverizer weapon.  That will tear through my deck in an instant.  You wanna nerf something, look there.