[Official] Shard of Sacrifice | Shard of Sacrifice

[Cheesy111]

SoPa buff combined with Puri buff over-nerfed SoSa.  I have used SoSac decks something like three times this season.  In over 85 matches of 2-3 games each.  Purify or SoPa is an instakill, a hard-counter to SoSa.  Playing SoSa brings you into an incredibly vulnerable hp range, where if the opponent has SoPa or Purify you are dead.  SoFoBow is an incredibly common deck that packs SoPa and sometimes Purify.  Any other deck can pack SoPa at a minimal cost.   Why the heck would you want to nerf a dead card?


Oh, and to reply to some of the main points of the original topic:
-SoSac is one of the least splashable of all the shards. 
-Purify is situational, yes.  But it is also so very easily splashable in anything with water or a bow.  From SoFoBow to nova-catatitans to speed poison to SoP Squids, Purify absolutely destroys SoSac and Poison and is going to be used in any deck where it can fit. 
-Please don't mention Arena in your nerf topic.  Please.  Think of the baby dolphins, crying over talk of PvE in a game where balance is based on PvP.  Crying baby dolphins.
-SoSa stacking is not a problem.  Hand emptying is not a problem.  It gives you greater quanta leeway in return for greater risk of a sudden counter, and it also takes away the possibility of staggering SoSa (example: T1SoSa, heal, T2 SoSa continues, heal, T3 take damage, T4 SoSa, repeat).  The only possible instances where hand control is an issue would be Electrum Hourglass/Golden Nymph drawing, Fractal or Nightmare.  Using SoSa with any of the first three goes against all laws of nature and usefulness, and buffs Nightmare as a healing tool while nerfing it as a damaging tool (could otherwise nightmare during the 'stagger' turn). I, however, highly doubt that you cared about SoSa stacking because of how it nerfed Nightmare damage.

EDIT: Also, please give us a Do Not Nerf option. 

[ZephyrPhantom]

EDIT: Also, please give us a Do Not Nerf option.

Done, though that has disabled changing your vote as always. ^^;

[Jumpitydude]

Maybe you could make it so it takes half of your death quanta. I was about to complain about how it didn't cost any quanta, but there is a glaring problem with that suggestion.

[dspn23]

i sugest the sacrifice of a death creature (non skeleton maybe...)
BUT at the same time a buff from 48|40 to 30|20 damage taken
or something like that...

[ARTHANASIOS]

In my humble opinion, this card is wrong as a whole; better  shard ideas could be created. However, since the SoSac is the way it is with the mechanics it has, I would suggest reducing the turns SoSac is active to 1 instead of 2.

[memimemi]

I have to agree with Cheesy111 here.  Purify, since the buff, is far less situational than it once was - I run it in almost every deck that creates  quanta, more for countering the ever-popular Dune Scorpions than for SoSa. 

SoSa, as it is right now, is pretty weak.  There are just too many ways to beat it: Antimatter, SoP, Purify, Vanadium Warden, Arctic Squid, Sundial, Cremation. . . .

Sure, the 0-cost makes it splashable.  As long as you don't mind not playing any other Element's cards for a turn or two, that is.  And you don't mind being at a vulnerable hp level against anything other than a rush.  And you don't mind having to watch your opponent's  quanta level, in case of Purify.  And you don't mind not running SoG, Sanctuary, Heal, or even Black Hole.

If anything is needed, it's not a nerf to SoSa; rather, a buff to Heal and Miracle, allowing you to target your opponent, would be fatal enough to anyone running SoSa, while adding power to weak cards (imho, damage > healing, always).

Just tossing in my 2  .

[supertoxicwaste]

isn't the AI limited to playing only 6 a game now?

[dragonsdemesne]

isn't the AI limited to playing only 6 a game now?

So I've heard.  I haven't tested if it's true, though, but just in case I haven't put more than 3 (x2 dex) SoSas in any deck since.

[Annele]

this shard got no efficient counter
may it should be a permanent with charges, and every turn it loses one charge.
so it would be destroyable

I like morph's idea. It would still be a powerful card but counters would be a little more accessible. The buff to purify helps a little, but its not really an efficient solution since it forces decks to carry them, essentially, just to counter a single card.
Alternatively, SoSac could be made as a stack, like boneshield. That way PC would act as a means to reduce duration, while purify could be made to remove the stack and buff entirely.
Steal would become an amusing semi-counter then as well (1 round of reverse damage for you, 1 less for opponent)

Just curious, if one stole a SoSac permanent, would it do damage and remove some of your quanta?

[Xamuel]

I don't think the existence of purify by itself shows SoSa is balanced.  I can't think of any other example in the meta where any single card is included in such a significant number of decks purely to counter one other card, as the purify-SoSa thing.  Purify doesn't fit well in the type of decks I like to play, and being essentially forced to include it makes the game less fun for me.  I think even if Purify were modded to say "If your opponent uses SoSa you instantly win the game", that STILL would not make SoSa balanced.

I cast my vote for the following brilliant idea from yaladilae:

I am just having a thought

What if instead of 48hp | 40hp cost of SoSac, it is changed to 48%max hp | 40%max hp cost??

This way it will better prevent decks spamming it alongside with SoD but does not nerf in anyway decks that does not increase max hp.

Why? Because I feel SoSac is somewhat balance on 100hp decks, but when its on 200hp arena decks, or some extreme 300 or 400hp decks, it just gets too much...

[ahippie]

Other: Add a 5|3 Rainbow quanta cost to the card on top of the HP cost.

[dragonsdemesne]

I voted this one: SoSac should require any creature to be sacrificed in order to trigger.

With that change, I think shard of sacrifice would be balanced.  It would still be a strong card, but you couldn't just put it in anything you wanted anymore, which is the main problem with it.  I don't think the creature needs to be a death creature for balance, but maybe if it was it would confer some minor benefit, like losing a few less hp, maybe 4 or even 8, making it like the original SoSa values. 

Making it last longer for a death creature would just create new problems :p  You could also base the hp loss on the hp of the sacrificed creature, but that might cause balance issues with things like basilisk blood/auburn nymph giving a creature bazillions of hp and then saccing it for huge gains.