Your Hand: Safe Zone or Battlefield?

[wavedash]

One's hand has always been regarded as a safe zone. That Lava Destroyer can't get kill by a Firestorm. That Elite Queen won't get Lobotomized. Those Towers won't get wiped out be a Quicksand. But with the new cards Dune Scorpion and Nightmare, your hand can now be manipulated by your opponent. While I like the introduction of this new mechanic, many other people prefer the hand being safe from the opponent.

What do you think about manipulating the opponent's hand? Should these cards be discontinued? Should there be more like these?

[coinich]

I really don't see why the hand should be a safe zone.  I would prefer more draw options, especially outside of to help mitigate this new risk, but I certainly think its a direction we should be taking.

[teffy]

I personally like the rule, that cards you have drawn can´t be taken away and I find the new game mechanic with neurotoxin frustrating.

Nightmare and Fractal as cards are ok, they give cards and don´t take them away.
Every card should get a chance to be played.

[guolin]

Perhaps this could lead to a TCG-style Graveyard? I am neither for or against a Graveyard, but if it means the only hard counter against stuff like Neurotoxin and Nightmare (it fills your hand up to 8, btw), then so be it.

[Kuroaitou]

Sooner or later, the cards in ones HAND (not just the ones on the field) were going to be targeted sooner or later. Perhaps we'll even seen more mechanics that affect your deck (cards that haven't even been drawn! ), but that's another story altogether...

Either way, regardless of whether the card affects your hand or not, as long as it appears balanced and is a refreshing/new idea, I'm all up for it.

Considering the new changes, I'm hoping that other elements do get the ability to obtain 'better' drawing mechanics/systems, but until then, as long as Time has the best advantage of personal hand manipulation (Rewind, Hourglass, Sundial, etc.), then I'm personally satisfied.

[Malduk]

Playing the decks is almost completely straight forward and most decks require next to no strategy (in other words, difference in playing the deck between a veteran thats here for a year, and "noob" that is playing the game for a month is slim). Ways to take away cards from your opponents hand would remove that small factor of actually thinking before playing, as suddenly, it will always be more beneficial to just drop whatever you can. I dont see Dune scorpion as a positive card.

However, Nightmare is an acceptable way to mess with your opponents hand as it doesnt take away anything, it just fills you with crap. It can be annoying, but it wont destroy your strategy just because your opponent managed to drop his cards before you.

IMHO of course.

[wavedash]

Perhaps this could lead to a TCG-style Graveyard? I am neither for or against a Graveyard, but if it means the only hard counter against stuff like Neurotoxin and Nightmare (it fills your hand up to 8, btw), then so be it.

I'm not sure what this "Graveyard" exactly is. Is it like a discard pile?

Playing the decks is almost completely straight forward and most decks require next to no strategy (in other words, difference in playing the deck between a veteran thats here for a year, and "noob" that is playing the game for a month is slim). Ways to take away cards from your opponents hand would remove that small factor of actually thinking before playing, as suddenly, it will always be more beneficial to just drop whatever you can. I dont see Dune scorpion as a positive card.

However, Nightmare is an acceptable way to mess with your opponents hand as it doesnt take away anything, it just fills you with crap. It can be annoying, but it wont destroy your strategy just because your opponent managed to drop his cards before you.

It seems like you don't mind new mechanics as long as they make the game deeper and more strategic.

[Retribution]

Well, I'm all against this. I like how elements was unique to other TCGs with a safe hand and no graveyard, but it's just seeming to transform more and more into the metagaming society...

[Kael Hate]

I'm not worried that the hand is a safe zone or not, but denial is a negative play experience and I want to play the cards I put in my deck.
Of the new cards only Dune Scorpion bugs me, because the card it takes is lost forever and without draw effects and multiples of cards a loss of any one card can be game. Its like playing rainbow against False Gods and losing that Eternity, but now you can't even keep it safe in your hand.

[OldTrees]

I believe that the deck should be safer than the hand. (which in turn should be safer than the field)
However we already have ways to deny people access to their decks so adding hand denial (Dune Scorpion/Nightmare) is not uncalled for.

Since only a small set of the metagame will be able to target the hand you will have to weigh your options between high risk & benefit [the field] and low risk & benefit [the hand].

Also due to the serial nature of the discarding, decks without draw power are hurt less (fewer cards discarded per game) than deck with draw power (but these can pull off multiple cards in 1 turn combos). Also decks with redundancy (mostly mono, duo and trio) suffer less than decks without (mostly rainbows which were more powerful to start with)

[jmizzle7]

I believe that the deck should be safer than the hand. (which in turn should be safer than the field)
However we already have ways to deny people access to their decks so adding hand denial (Dune Scorpion/Nightmare) is not uncalled for.

Since only a small set of the metagame will be able to target the hand you will have to weigh your options between high risk & benefit [the field] and low risk & benefit [the hand].

Also due to the serial nature of the discarding, decks without draw power are hurt less (fewer cards discarded per game) than deck with draw power (but these can pull off multiple cards in 1 turn combos). Also decks with redundancy (mostly mono, duo and trio) suffer less than decks without (mostly rainbows which were more powerful to start with)

^ That. QFT, and +karma for you.

[twinsbuster]

I don't understand why people mention Nightmare
it is not a hand denial card, it never causes discard effect but gives you multiple copies
if you are talking about skipping draw,  we have Eternity a long time ago since this game exist. Keep rewinding a creature can skip players draw, so it's not a new mechanic anyway.