Shard of HelplessnessShard of Patience is perfect, as are Nymph Tears. However, Shard of Patience has been criticized by some wrong people for being overpowered, therefore receives heavy penalties in upgrades and market cost which damage water's overall decent cards. So, we need a more balanced card, which compliments water's strengths and addresses Water's weaknesses.
So, as sailors are helpless to combat the vicious waves and the man buried to his neck in sand is helpless before the unstoppable tides, so shall our enemies be helpless before the Shard of Helplessness.
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NAME: | Shard of Helplessness
| ELEMENT: | Water
| COST: | 2 
| TYPE: | Permanent
| TEXT: | Each turn, one of your opponent's non pillar/pendulum permanents becomes useless for one turn.
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| NAME: | Shard of Helplessness
| ELEMENT: | Water
| COST: | 2
| TYPE: | Permanent
| TEXT: | 0 : Target non pillar/pendulum permanent becomes useless for one turn.
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NOTES: |
Does not stack, but if you have several of the unupgraded version they could all randomly choose the same permanent, which would still only disable it for 1 turn total. More than one of the upgraded version could all select different targets.
With the unupgraded version, the effect would trigger when the shard does, so your creatures would attack first, but it would last until the Shard next triggers.
The unstoppable tide crashes over the opponent's field and they are unable to reach a permanent in order to keep it active for a turn.
Shields will spend a turn counter as normal, but will be ineffective.
Activated abilities on other permanents will be unusable.
Weapons will not deal damage.
Passive abilities such as flooding or sanctuary will not be active for a turn (unless there is more than one of them active).
If a shield or weapon is replaced while it is controlled in this way, the new shield or weapon WILL be effective on the turn it is played.
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BalanceCost-wise, the unupgraded version is a little cheaper than other forms of PC, because it is random in which permanent it disables, so is less consistent. It is also vulnerable to PC itself, leaving you vulnerable to counter-plays.
The upgraded is more versatile than cards such as Explosion, because you can chose to change the target each turn, and it also means that simply replacing the affected shield or weapon is only effective for a turn. However, being vulnerable to PC itself, it has a similar costing.
With both versions there is also the added disadvantage that your opponent will be 100% aware of your permanent control threat, meaning they might make more agressive plays with their quanta instead, or plan ahead exactly when they want their permanents to enter play.
This would be a strong addition to a huge range of water decks which tend to fear permanents. It would also be very useful to Life decks, and several other decks which can be vulnerable to PC. In general it would be a good addiction to the Elements meta, encouraging more splashing with water which makes a lot of decks more viable, but also increasing counter-play with PC battles in general.
Losing Shard of Patience would be a big blow for water in some ways, making us more vulnerable to some CC and stalling strategies, but with strong overall creatures which suffer greatly at the hands of Dimensional Shield, Wings and Gravity Shield. This card would make water a less niche element, and more of an overall powerhouse.
DeckHover over cards for details, click for permalink
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