4th Trials - Phase 1 - Proving of Worthiness

[kev]

Phase 1 - Proving of Worthiness
Phase 1 has ended

See the tasks here (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29093.0.html).

Post your screenshots, links, shard commentaries, etc here.

Please use "modify" on your first post here rather than adding new posts as you progress through the tasks.  This will help avoid clutter.  Thanks.

[jmdt]

Task 1

Here is the deck:

MJSEM: MitoJade Speedy EM deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29167.0.html)

Code: [Select]

6rq 6rq 6rq 6rq 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ac 7ad 7ad 7ad 7ad 7ai 7ai 7ai 7ai 7ai 7ai 7ap 7ap 7ap 7ap 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7bu 7buMono all the way baby!!!

1st was Platinum.

The 3 full game spinner.

Confirmation score afterwards.

Win screenshot from platinum.

2nd came Bronze.

The 6 full game spinner.

Confirmation score afterwards.

Win screenshots from Bronze.

3rd I tackled Silver.

The 5 full game spinner.

Confirmation score afterwards.

Win screenshots from Silver.

Task 2

Shard of Elusivity (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398155#msg398155)
Since there is already a shard for , I chose its closest friend .

Task 3

1.) Mono life deck help! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26719.msg397999#msg397999)
2.) Mitosis the Frog (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,25793.msg398001#msg398001)
3.) a little help please? (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27127.msg398010#msg398010)
4.) Buff druids need speed (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27291.msg398206#msg398206)
5.)  (http://)

[1world24]

Reserved for my completed tasks
 
task 1
 
Shard Competiton.
 Shard Of Honor (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.new.html#new)
Made it air Because it works well with life
 
1.http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28015.12.html
2.http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29234.12.html
3.http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,26926.new.html#new
 

[willng3]

To be modified as each task is completed:
TASK I
Battle Prowess - The Arena
You Can Slay That Again! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29186.0.html)




TASK II
Card Design - Shards
Shard of Fortitude (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398388#msg398388)
Transferred a Life mechanic into Earth since it seems to fit.  Also increases synergy between the two simultaneously which is always nice.

I like the general idea of this card, but I feel as if its power is a bit extreme...especially in the upped version.  Shutting down all permanents without any form of upkeep from the player seems to be a bit overpowered.  Shutting down an entire field of permanents especially given the tremendous amounts of control Water already possesses is a huge ability already; allowing that effect to take place for multiple turns seems even more imbalanced.  In my opinion there's really two options to make it balanced here.  One would be to make it affect 1 stack of permanents in a similar fashion to its unupped version, with a reduced cost.  The other would be to shut down all permanents on the field for a reduced number of turns, like say 1 simply because that double-edged sword effect is negated completely if you knowingly take 0 Permanents beforehand, but I suspect this would reduce the card's use quite a bit.  I really do like the concept though.  It's nice to see an effect strengthened by numbers that doesn't have to do with quanta amount.

The anti-freeze effect is something I would expect from a Fire-based card; I like that idea.  However I'm not sure how I feel about the increase in HP.  It doesn't seem to fit the theme of fire very well and honestly multiple of these on the field at the same time seems pretty overpowered, especially given that it has no requirement in terms of upkeep.  Fire creatures are supposed to be pretty fragile and I just don't see how this card would adhere to that theme.  An idea that might work is to change the increase in stats to attack and to limit the increase to creature death.  This might still be overpowered in numbers, so perhaps making the effect not stack-able would make it more balanced.  ~Napalm has a similar card idea in the Armory that might be worth looking into.  It should at least give ideas on how to limit the stats increase effect.      
The second effect is a cool idea, although I could see how it might become overpowered with Sky Blitz and Dive, especially considering how this card is in the exact same element as the aforementioned.  The first effect is unnecessary, however.  Shard of Gratitude already offers +5HP (at the moment), so there's no reason to have another card which performs the exact same function, only more powerful available like this.  The second effect in itself is already pretty powerful; adding the first is like giving a dragon a force field.  Personally, I would remove the first ability completely and then leave the second effect as is while increasing the ability costs to be exactly equal.  The playing costs would then need to be different...I think 4/3 for unupped/upped would suffice.  Overall, the idea is good but Shards don't need to have incomparably powerful abilities to be acceptable; uniqueness in itself is worthy of being added to the game.

Personally, in my completely unbiased opinion, I believe this Shard has the best name in the competition.  That aside, I'm not a fan of the first ability...and I'm a bit concerned with the second as well.  The first ability is far too powerful.  Imagine a Fractal...anything deck with this on the field; there would be very little way of stopping that kind of power.  I'd also be scared to see what would happen if this card were paired with Sky Blitz.  At most I would have that ability affect one creature or a very selective group of creatures like...creatures with Acceleration or Overdrive for instance.  The second effect is fine by itself but it probably needs some form of limitation.  Given that zanz has already made Nightfall and Eclipse incapable of being stacked, I would think this card needs the same treatment.  The concepts are fine in themselves, but considering this card can affect all elements I believe it needs to be separated and refined a bit more.

Ack an instant death card.  Instant death needs to require some form of extreme condition before the creature can be killed.  Take Shockwave for example.  The card must be frozen before it's destroyed.  That being said, I'm not sure if HP gain qualifies for this condition.  Sure it's terrible for you if the opponent's creature's attack is over 20, but otherwise it's really not that big of a consequence.  Also, someone can intentionally use the unupped version if they intend on using it to destroy opponent creatures.  That way the consequence of destroying creatures is negated completely.  In my opinion, this card would be best suited to function similarly to Immolation and Cremation where it can only target your own creatures, a sacrifice mechanism if you will.  If not, it needs a different requirement before being able to destroy the opponent's creatures.  But overall I think the mechanism is original and worthy of being added with more limitations applied.

So by playing a single Nova you're able to drain a large amount of quanta from the opponent on the very first turn?  Yikes that's a bit powerful.  Compare this to Devourer or Pest for instance.  That's 1 quanta drained from one creature, and that's all done with 2 of a particular quanta, not any of them.  The fact that this card is a creature which uses any type of quanta is what's going to cause a serious problem.  In order for this card to be anywhere near balanced it would need to either have its cost raised by an incredible amount or it would need to have the power of its effect significantly reduced to accommodate its relatively low cost.  Honestly, I don't think it's right for a creature which costs nothing but quanta to have this type of ability.  Some elements find it difficult to incorporate Devourer and Pest into their builds, but with this card it would be far too easy to do this and run 1 type of quanta to make it happen.  I suppose that raising the cost would change that bit, but it's still a bit chancy.
TASK III
Deckbuilding
1)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28996.msg397841#msg397841 - ~235 words + Deck image
2)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28996.msg397841#msg397841 - 160 words + Deck image
3)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,27402.msg398339#msg398339 - 196 words + Deck image
4)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29074.msg399112#msg399112 - 238 words + Deck image
5)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28580.msg399154#msg399154 - 223 words + Deck image
6)  http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28868.msg399182#msg399182 - 299 words + Deck image

[ak65ala]

Task 1:
Complete!
Deck: Monks vs. Arena (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29343.msg400212#msg400212)













Task 2:
Complete!
Shard:  Shard of Chastity (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398439#msg398439)
Critiques:
jmdt - Shard of Elusivity (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398155#msg398155)
I like the idea that you are going for, the ability for air to be able to protect its creatures.  I just think the shard lacks some, uniqueness and that tilt towards any one element.

First of all, it gives temporary immortality to all airborne creatures.  Airborne.  Not air.  This in of itself leads to both its flexibility and I feel its first downfall.  A great many creatures are airborne, and it is simple to create a deck not anything at all to do with air, and make this viable.  Vampires, Dragons, Flying Weapons (however, still using an air card), Scarabs, Phoenix, Spirits, etc.  In creating a shard bent towards one element, I feel it fails.

Secondly, it does not have a solid place to be used.  Look at cloak.  It lasts 3 turns, makes your moves invisible, protects your creatures from single target abilities, and costs 4/3 darkness.   This shard only lasts 2 turns, only works for airborne creatures, your moves are still in plain sight, protects your creatures from any spell, and costs 8/6 quanta.  If I wanted mass creature protection, looking at these two cards I would go with cloak.  The only way I could use this shard would be in a rainbow flying deck, which shows that is does not lean towards air enough.

To modify this card, I would either lower the cost to something like 5/4, increase the duration based on air creatures, make it unable to be destroyed itself… or something else I have not thought upon.
1world24 - Shard of Honor (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398288#msg398288)
Question: Does the creature with command also get the 1/1 for being its creature type? So does it get +2/+2 and all other creatures of the same type get +1/+1? Or is it exclusive to “Other creatures get +1/+1? I will assume it is the later (other creatures get +1/+1, not itself)

At first glance, this card is too good.  Let us look at other buff cards.  Blessing gives 1 creature +3/+3 for 3 light.  This card is on par with blessing when you have 3 creatures out (easy enough to do) and even better after that.  Momentum gives +1/+1 and goes through shields for 2 gravity.  No shield and this card is better.  2-3 creatures and any shield, and this card is still better.  Chaos Seed gives +1-5/+1-5.  This gives a for sure +2/1, and with 2 more creatures (like with blessing) this card is on par if not better.  For 3 quanta, this would unbalance most other buff cards.  Yes, this card is really, too good.

Let’s think about spark.  Spark + fractal + this card.  Now you have a lot of free, high hitting creatures.  Add quintessence to that mix to keep your commander alive and that’s it.  An un-upped fractal phoenix deck with no drawbacks. 

This shard also does not lean towards any specific element.  It is good with air, but also with aether, life, fire, etc.  This could even make air worse off, being it might be better for other elements.

I would take out the HP that this gives with command. I would give air a lean, Air get that HP perhaps.  Dragonfly swarms?  I would increase the cost to 4 or 5.  Then it might be more balanced.
willng3 - Shard of Fortitude (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg398388#msg398388)
I like the idea of earth being able to increase its max HP.  It fits for earth and makes earth unique (let’s see if Light does get divinity).  This shard would give that ability to all other elements, but would still be used 90% in earth-marked decks. 

Now, here is where things go south.  As with divinity, I would assume your current HP would also be increased by the same amount as your max.  So now we have a Empathic Bond for any element, that is better than Empathic Bond.  Heals stop at 100, this one does not.  We also see that we have a Gratitude when using the earth mark, but this one is max HP.  Again, always heals, even at 100.  Now the argument that it stops at 500 is invalid.  That is 7 turns away with 6 shards out, and earth mark and 5 creatures.  Most games you will be lucky to hit 200 max HP.

Just on the flip side, say this does not raise your current HP.  Then you would need to pair with healing to make it effective (which earth has none) leading to a stall healing deck (which uses few creatures).  Would be almost useless if that was the case.

Take away the creature portion, and it would not overshadow Empathic Bond.  Take away the increasing of max HP and it would be just a conditional Gratitude.  Those are my two concerns, but I cannot think of a good way to nudge this shard without making it totally different.  Perhaps the heal from the earth mark does not increase max HP.  Still feels too close to Gcalindu221 - Shard of self-respect (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg399520#msg399520)
I really like this idea for a shard or for any card in general.  Healing, though not overpowered by any means, can hit a critical mass and make your opponent invulnerable.  Limiting the use of healing on demand could be a solid specific counter card.  If your opponent has no healing in his deck, your card is then worthless.  I like how it disallows the play of a specific type of card, like a directed silence.  Such a mechanic could perforate into other sister cards nicely.

Now the places I feel it lacks.  There are only a handful of card in which would be directly hit, namely Heal, Miracle, and the other direct healing spells.  If the ability vampire was considered a healing card, it could help against mass vampires.  Beyond those, the other problematic healing cards are persistent healing.  Shard of Gratitude, vampire, sanctuary.  This card would disallow the placement of these cards, but could not do anything after placement.  This might be its weakness, and its balance point.  Play before the healing cards come out to lock them out.

Being as such, this card might be slightly underpowered, being as it is directed towards one game mechanic and becomes only good against direct healing all game long.  The shard also does not have a tilt towards any one element, which would have been nice to see.  I would propose a change like “your opponent cannot gain HP for 2/3 turns”.  Or even “no one can gain HP for 2/3 turns.” That would turn off all healing, even from persistent effects.  Or you could even go “no one can gain HP [from non-darkness cards] for 2 turns” giving it that tilt when upgraded to truly help one element. 
nilsieboy - Shard of Freedom (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg399541#msg399541)
This shard is something I would like to see in the game.  It will help cure all creatures of their afflictions (poison, gravity pull, etc.) but also can be used as an offensive card, stripping the good status effects from your opponent’s creatures.  I like the lean put towards gravity, making it the ‘gravity’ shard.

As criticism, I feel the lean is too minimal.  4 HP, 5 if gravity would give it only a few more HP if in a gravity-marked deck.  Cutting the healing to only occur in a gravity-marked deck would be more what I would think a proper lean would be.  There is also the concern of immortal creatures.  I like the idea of keeping them immune to this card, being as we should not make cards to trump ‘trump’ cards, causing a vicious cycle of ‘improved immortality’ then ‘can take off improved immortality’.  Your goal might have included being able to deal with immortal creatures, so my take of this might conflict with your intentions.

I propose only two small tweaks. First, if it would only heal when using the gravity mark, it would keep the lean huge for gravity.  It is still a good card in other decks and its effect can be used for a lot of different purposes (don’t like your chimera having gravity pull? Shard of Freedom!)  Second, I would have it heal all creatures 5 HP.  This would expand its uses without making it overpowered.  Only a handful of situations do creatures lose HP but not die, and this would be an answer in such situations, as well as removing status effects.
PhantomoftheOpera - Shard of Chastity (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28846.msg400195#msg400195)
When I saw this shard, I had to comment on it.  I love it.  It solves the same problem/causes the same play as the shard I have created.  Problem: There is no soft counter to abilities.  My shard tacked it by attacking the quanta of the player.  This shard tackles it by locking out the ability + the creature for a while.  It allows for some great play response, which is fantastic to have in a card game. 

Abilities on permanents would most likely be used anyway, than locked out.  The shard lasts 3 turns, the lockout is 3 turns, so best to use them once more then suffer the lock-out period.  New permanents during this shard’s life could be played after the shard dies or, if they are important enough, played and used during the shard, granting the same lockout period.  Creatures needed for their damage output would be “optionally silenced”.  The player has to weigh if the creature’s attack for 3 turns is worth more than their ability once.  Very well balanced.

The only thing I would change is what it gains when it is upgraded.  I think making it permanent for 3 water a turn is not worth the upgrade.  I think keeping it 3 turns, but making the target be congealed would me a good upgrade, or making it cost less would be worthy.  Most PvP games last only a dozen turns or so, and against a false god playing 3-4 of these would be enough.  The non-freezing of water creatures is plenty a lean, the persistent effect just seems inefficient to what you are going towards.
Task 3:
Complete!

• SCorp Deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,29074.msg397998#msg397998)
• First Upgrade - Which card? Life/Death deck (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28015.msg400516#msg400516)
• Trying to get my elf/mitosis deck able to beat comps (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28011.msg400520#msg400520)
• ...Different kind of Entropy-Life-Air (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28078.msg400523#msg400523)
• Puffer fish on steroids (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28457.msg400527#msg400527)
• i need help making a t500 deck with 5 life dragons! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28066.msg400533#msg400533)

Last spot reserved (before someone posts some silly comment and makes me even further down in this post)

Edit (7/26): Geez, that one took my whole evening.  Only... pfft, 30 hours to go!
Edit2 (7/27): I am so glad we have the weekend to work on this.  I don't know how all you guys busted this all out so fast!
Edit3 (7/28): Hmmm... almost half way there.  Good luck other challengers!  When do you think our master will show up?
Edit4 (7/31): Trash... the first task took all my weekend. That's what I get for using a computer that barely runs this game... 5 min for a 15 turn game.... soo slow.  I need my good computer back.
Edit5 (8/1, 9pm): Task 2 done now.  Now I just have to post all of my typed up comments into the right threads for deck help, add the images and we should be a go for Round 1!
Edit6 (8/1, 11:30pm): 2.5 hours to go, and I am complete!  (I hope everything is correct >.<) Well, no time to fret, I am out of time personally and till the deadline.  I hope our other life brothers complete everything as well.  I want to see a good ole' fight till the bitter end!