Some thoughts on Transcend:
Quintessence on a stick is something that we already see in Elements in a few instances: Turquoise Nymph, and Anubis. However, there are a few key differences that carve a unique niche for Transcend.
First, Turquoise Nymph and Anubis are both creatures, while Transcend is a permanent. While the creatures have decent attack and HP values as well as the Immortality ability to justify their hefty costs (8
and 8
, respectively), Transcend doesn't offer a "body," per se for its 9|8
cost.
What really makes Transcend different is the ability cost. FREE Quintessences on a stick -- that's absolutely amazing when compared to the other two options (
for Anubis, although it's off-element, and
for Turquoise Nymph). However, there's not much use for it, as most FG-rainbows only require 2 or 3 applications of Quintessence -- one on Otyugh, and another on Firefly Queen or Fallen Druid for standard control rainbows, and one or two on Lava Destroyers for CCYB variants. In PVP, Quints are generally not used too often, as we can see from the decks used in War #2.
It may be better to reduce casting cost to 5|4
and have an
ability cost to give Transcend an advantage over Quintessence itself when needing multiple uses of Immortality, without making it ludicrous.
