The Benefits of Upgrading Cards

[thispersonisagenius]

I was taking a look at some decks I wanted to try out, seeing if i could play them unupped (because I'm a n00b), and I realized that lots of deck concepts require cards to be upped. Which cards do you guys think get the most benefit from being upgraded?
I just posted a bunch of somewhat appropriate cards. If none of the cards above are what you would vote for, post it in the comments and I'll add it to the poll.

Note: It is difficult to judge exactly what people think is a useful upgrade, so I have listed just some of my opinions.

[jumpingbeans]

Photon/RoL is definitely my favorite unupped/upper difference on the list, but Fallen Elf/Fallen Druid gets my vote. Mutants are so much fun. Chaos Power isn't that bad upped compared to unupped, and Nova/SN are both useful in different situations.

[eaglgenes101]

HG. 1 less ability cost is a boon for decks that are helped its drawpower.

[artimies7]

Flying Weapon | Animated Weapon. I personally don't use it currently, but if I had more weapons, it would be a staple in any of my decks.

[OldTrees]

Cards have relatively equal upgrades. (Saving you on the order of 1.5 quanta relative to an equivalent unupped version)

Pillars only get a +1quanta upgrade but that translates to being able to play cards a turn earlier.


Then there are a bunch of cards that are UP unupped (Guardian Angel) that upgrade to balanced.
Some other cards upgrade from balanced to OP.

[dragonsdemesne]

Actually, of the ones on your list, there's surprisingly few I'd put on a list like this.  Of the ones you've got up there, I'd go with nova, chaos seed, and pillars/pends.  A few others off the top of my head:

  = lobotomizer
  = wyrm, flying weapon, dragonfly
  = gargoyle, dusk shield
  = bone wall, arsenic, poison, flesh spider
  = graboid, pulverizer, titanium shield
  = antimatter, pandemonium, chaos seed
= rain of fire, fire shield, fire bolt, lava golem, immolation
= sapphire charger, gravity shield
= horned frog
= miracle, holy flash, guardian angel
= electrum hourglass, procrastination, sundial
= arctic squid, blue crawler, trident, steam machine, toadfish
  = shard of sacrifice, shard of serendipity

My reasoning is as follows:
1) cards that get a quanta cost reduction of more than 1 (ex: miracle, rain of fire, antimatter, procrastination, etc)
2) cards that become 'other' or zero cost cards instead of elemental cards (holy flash, sundial, flying weapon, dragonfly, etc)
3) cards that gain a significant attack/defense increase for no extra cost increase (gargoyle, lava golem, horned frog, sapphire charger, flesh spider, etc)
4) cards that become significantly more useful at no extra cost (arctic squid freezes an extra turn, shard of sacrifice costs 8 less hp, shard of serendipity gives upped cards, etc)
5) cards that even with a cost increase become significantly stronger enough to more than warrant said cost (blue crawler, titanium shield, poison)
6) oddball upgrades (chaos seed, toadfish)

I'm at work so I can't actually see a card list right now, but the reasons stand, even if my lists are incomplete.

[McSod]

All the cards listed there are hugely circumstantial, an' deck by deck obviously. Super nova will probably be the most popular, but it requires that you have a source of entropy quanta otherwise. Great if you've already got the mark and will build a deck around that, but otherwise, can be a deterrent.

The one I find most useful out of the listed cards is Animate Weapon, as it does the exact opposite of what the Snova example does. Unupped, you need air. Upped, it can be added to ~anything~ with the weapons to back it. More utilization, s'far as I can see.

[Ilias22]

I think nova because it is tearned  into a  perfect card...

[justaburd]

The poll asks for what gives the greatest benefit. For that, I said animate weapon because it allows flying without air quanta. Utility-wise, I.e. what I's be more likely to put in a deck, I'd give it to SN.

[choongmyoung]

Supernova is one of the most useful card in the entire game.