Shield | Tower Shield

[Sir Valimont]

Now, to give Other some CC and some PC spell so all elements have everything. These Other cards are seriously taking away from the uniqueness of elements, especially Healing elements (Light, Life). I'm starting to think Other is not beneficial at all for the game.

^^ This.

I think the best "solution" (although I hate that term) is to make the upped version still only block 1 damage but cost less. 2 blocked damage for elements like Fire, Gravity, Aether, Darkness ... well it makes all the other damage-blocking shields partially obsolete. As I said in a previous post I would not create an "other" card that poisons you any more than this.

The reason that "other" weapons work well is that they have no special ability, whereas every single elemental weapon is primarily used because of its special ability. And there is no element that lacks any damage differential from its weapon (healing yourself is essentially the same thing as damaging the opponent). If 4 or 5 elements' weapons did ZERO damage to the opponent, then something like Longsword would be bad for game balance too. That's what I'm looking at with this shield.

I hate to sound like I am against every new card. Basically I think Elements is a fantastic game precisely because of the excellent balance between elements. It's the game's best quality. Some of the new cards are wonderful for this ... Catapult, Schrodinger's Cat, Cloak, Crusader ... these are all wonderful new additions. Sometimes we forget to stop and compliment Zanzarino on the wonderful aspects of the game! But nonetheless I do think that this shield is unnecessary.

[skyreal]

tower shield at 8, 12, ... better cancel the development

[zse]

Now, to give Other some CC and some PC spell so all elements have everything. These Other cards are seriously taking away from the uniqueness of elements, especially Healing elements (Light, Life). I'm starting to think Other is not beneficial at all for the game.

^^ This.

I think the best "solution" (although I hate that term) is to make the upped version still only block 1 damage but cost less. 2 blocked damage for elements like Fire, Gravity, Aether, Darkness ... well it makes all the other damage-blocking shields partially obsolete. As I said in a previous post I would not create an "other" card that poisons you any more than this.

The reason that "other" weapons work well is that they have no special ability, whereas every single elemental weapon is primarily used because of its special ability. And there is no element that lacks any damage differential from its weapon (healing yourself is essentially the same thing as damaging the opponent). If 4 or 5 elements' weapons did ZERO damage to the opponent, then something like Longsword would be bad for game balance too. That's what I'm looking at with this shield.

I hate to sound like I am against every new card. Basically I think Elements is a fantastic game precisely because of the excellent balance between elements. It's the game's best quality. Some of the new cards are wonderful for this ... Catapult, Schrodinger's Cat, Cloak, Crusader ... these are all wonderful new additions. Sometimes we forget to stop and compliment Zanzarino on the wonderful aspects of the game! But nonetheless I do think that this shield is unnecessary.

Wise words again. I've changed my mind on this card - putting this card into the game would be a bad thing.

If someone wants to have off-element shield in a deck, then get the quanta to play the real thing. With Pendulums and changing Mark, that shouldn't be that big problem. And if one's in desperate need for having "other" element shield, then use the one that is already in game:

[PlayerOa]

Now, to give Other some CC and some PC spell so all elements have everything. These Other cards are seriously taking away from the uniqueness of elements, especially Healing elements (Light, Life). I'm starting to think Other is not beneficial at all for the game.

^^ This.

I think the best "solution" (although I hate that term) is to make the upped version still only block 1 damage but cost less. 2 blocked damage for elements like Fire, Gravity, Aether, Darkness ... well it makes all the other damage-blocking shields partially obsolete. As I said in a previous post I would not create an "other" card that poisons you any more than this.

The reason that "other" weapons work well is that they have no special ability, whereas every single elemental weapon is primarily used because of its special ability. And there is no element that lacks any damage differential from its weapon (healing yourself is essentially the same thing as damaging the opponent). If 4 or 5 elements' weapons did ZERO damage to the opponent, then something like Longsword would be bad for game balance too. That's what I'm looking at with this shield.

I hate to sound like I am against every new card. Basically I think Elements is a fantastic game precisely because of the excellent balance between elements. It's the game's best quality. Some of the new cards are wonderful for this ... Catapult, Schrodinger's Cat, Cloak, Crusader ... these are all wonderful new additions. Sometimes we forget to stop and compliment Zanzarino on the wonderful aspects of the game! But nonetheless I do think that this shield is unnecessary.

You said it.
Upped with less cost is... More balanced.
Other cards is not meant to be much better when upped except shards (and Relics )

[Ekki]

8/12 is WAY too much... Remember that "other" weapons cost 0-1-2  and damage the same (generally, sometimes more) as the elemental weapons, which cost way more in specific quanta. Still, "other" weapons aren't used in rainbow decks.

What I say is, make it defend 1 for... 4|3  (random numbers, but must be lower than 8 )
Most of the shields are used because of their effects, not by their defence. Look at diamond shield, the poor guy needed a buff after all...

Also, it's true it can overbalance some stuff between the elements, and thus make them too similar, but you will always have the "common" mono-rush (with longsword/gavel/whatever) and the specific of an element decks (mono aether lock, cremation rush, overheal staves, etc), so this will only make more simple the decks that already were simple...

[BluePriest]

This is how I am looking at it...
 =immaterial
Name | Cost | effect
  Shield | 5 | 2 dmg
  Dim Shield | 5 | All for 3 turns
  Fog | 1 | 40% all attacks
  Wings | 3 | All except airborne/ranged for 5 turns
  Dusk | 4 | 50% all attacks miss
  Skull Shield | 1 | 1 dmg, .5/hp chance turning creature into skelly
  Diamond | 6 | 3 dmg
  Dissipation | 3 | Block with Quanta
  Buckler | 4 | Creatures take 1 dmg
  Gravity | 3 | >5hp miss
  Jade | 7  | 2 dmg, spells reflected
  Thorn | 7 | 1 dmg, 75% chance to poison
  Solar | 2 | 1 dmg, gain 
  Mirror | 2 | 1 dmg, reflect spells
  Hope | 6 | 1+ over 5000!!!! 
  Procrast | 4 | Pauses for 1 turn
  Perma | 7 | 2 dmg, Freeze

Really, the only 2 I could see this shield replacing are gravity and fire. Every other shield has its own niche it fits into, and I wouldnt consider this card superior by any means to other ones.

[Hyroen]

Simple solution: Environmentally balanced unupgraded Shield and a reduced cost for Tower Shield, or what may be a better name for the upgrade: Buckler.

Clearly the issue is that Tower Shield is stepping into the defensive territories of too many elements and granting a lot of defense to elements that at one time didn't have it in their niche.

1 point of damage blocking I would argue is reasonable for every element. And doesn't shut down many decks, at least not as many as 2 points of damage blocking.

[zse]

Now, to give Other some CC and some PC spell so all elements have everything. These Other cards are seriously taking away from the uniqueness of elements, especially Healing elements (Light, Life). I'm starting to think Other is not beneficial at all for the game.

Healing elements:
= 7/12 elements having cards that let you gain health points. Not really as unique feature as many may think. [/offtopic]

[Kamietsu]

Completely OP! This will break the game!

[Wonder]

I was pretty surprised when I first saw it in the Trainer.
It's a nice addition to the "other" section

[TheIdioticIdiot]

This is how I am looking at it...
 =immaterial
Name | Cost | effect
  Shield | 5 | 2 dmg
  Dim Shield | 5 | All for 3 turns
  Fog | 1 | 40% all attacks
  Wings | 3 | All except airborne/ranged for 5 turns
  Dusk | 4 | 50% all attacks miss
  Skull Shield | 1 | 1 dmg, .5/hp chance turning creature into skelly
  Diamond | 6 | 3 dmg
  Dissipation | 3 | Block with Quanta
  Buckler | 4 | Creatures take 1 dmg
  Gravity | 3 | >5hp miss
  Jade | 7  | 2 dmg, spells reflected
  Thorn | 7 | 1 dmg, 75% chance to poison
  Solar | 2 | 1 dmg, gain 
  Mirror | 2 | 1 dmg, reflect spells
  Hope | 6 | 1+ over 5000!!!! 
  Procrast | 4 | Pauses for 1 turn
  Perma | 7 | 2 dmg, Freeze

Really, the only 2 I could see this shield replacing are gravity and fire. Every other shield has its own niche it fits into, and I wouldnt consider this card superior by any means to other ones.

correction: upped hope shield costs 8

[Essence]

Respectfully, I submit that Valimont and his supporters are full of crap.

/me points at the shields that actually get used in game.

Look across the decks in the various Deck Archives.  Look very closely, and tell me how many damage-reducing shields do you see that aren't clearly being used for their alternate functions?  Permafrost is used because it's like Dusk or Turtle only it also blocks damage; Hope is used because under the right circumstances it can block a sh!tload of damage...and what?  Mirror Shield happens to block a point of damage, but no one uses it for that purpose; they use it because it's Mirrored.  And cheap. 

But by and large, outside of Permafrost -- which is used quite simply because doesn't have a lot else to offer most rainbows (and it's the best shield in the game, of course) -- what you see used are all of the shields that cause misses, not the shields that prevent damage.  Fog shield gets used in more rainbows than Permafrost.  Dimension Shield is possibly the most-used shield in the game. 

Let me condense all of that into 10 words or less: no one gives a crap about a couple of points of damage reduction. 

Fire rush won't use it; it doesn't defend at all.  Fire stall won't use it; it's better off with Fire Buckler and healing.  Mono-entropy might use it simply because it wants its quanta back...but when's the last time you saw a really competitive mono-entropy deck?

The fact is, these new shields add an option that will go largely unused -- like the rest of the Other cards -- except in a few circumstances that will be more cool than lame.  They don't affect the "definition" of the elements at all, just like SoG and SoD don't -- we all still think of and as the 'healing' elements (even though it's been proved otherwise), and we'll all still think of as the 'defenseless' element even if it has access to Tower Shield. 

Count to 10, take a breath, step back, and look at it from tomorrow's shoes.  What will actually change when Tower Shield enters the game?