I agree this card is expensive. Hell, 6
Unupped? That sucks for any non Mono/Duo.....But that's all it sucks for. Let's be real here:
Most decks that use this are either some Rainbow FG farmer, or a Water Mono/Duo (Probably Water and Death for Poison).
Your mark is water. That's one water per turn.
If the deck...you know, wants to play cards eventually, they're probably gonna be about 1/3 Pillars or Pendulums.
Say they play just 4 water pillars. And two death pendulums. That's 5 Water quanta on the first turn, and two death. Then the next turn they play two Chrysoara or Physalia. They hit space.
The third turn they have 8 Water. (5 - 2 = 3 from the Chrys, and then +5 again). They can now play the Ice Shield and another Chrysoara or Physalia. Now they have three creatures adding cumulative counters. That's not what hurts. What hurts is the fact that they have a shield that, if you have more than two creatures out, will pretty much make it IMPOSSIBLE for you to out-damage them. Thus, you are FORCED to play PC or CC. The tough part here is the decision. If you play the PC, you have a chance (But it's delayed now because your creatures are likely still frozen) to out-damage them. A small chance, because they may have now had time to play more pillars and get some CC/PC of their own now. In other words, you'd have to have HEALING, STRONG MONSTERS, and DEFENCE/PC/CC to win, and it all has to be readily available in-hand.
Now, let's see things without the Ice Shield:
The match starts, same beginning. After the opening turns, the enemy has their two or three Chrysoara or Physalia, out and ready to damage. You say, "Shit, I need some CC." While you play your monsters in hopes of out-damaging them, you come across some CC and slow their poisoning effects. You don't have to worry about any PC (Unless they have Arsenic, assuming they're
/
), and only need to put up some minor defense to survive. You may not win with EM, and you may barely win. But the way I see it, Ice Shield empowers ANY
Duo or Mono (Maybe even Trio if Water is the main base element) to a point where winning is so much less likely to happen.
Now, on the other hand:
If you don't have PC, or Momentum, or something of the likes -- It's your fault, don't blame the extremely tough shield. Even if it's...extremely tough. Also, most of my, and other players', argument is based on this idea: You get your Ice Shield very early (Within the first...say 5 or 6 turns?).
However, I do think that the Ice shield should be nerfed in some way because of this fact:
6 or 7
is nothing. After the first turn, any deck that uses Ice Shield (That isn't a rainbow) is highly likely to be able to afford half of the shield. Hell, even a rainbow that played 4 or 5 upped Quanta towers has a decent chance of being able to pay for most of the shield.
A resolve? I'd say take away the damage reduction in the un-upgraded, and only having one damage reduction in the upgraded. Again, if this shield is played early enough ,that 2 blocking can be a killer, considering most creatures low-cost enough to play early have around 4-6 attack anyway. That's turning most monsters into a joke!
And that being said, my rant is over.
That is all.
