Catapult
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Contents
Overview
Catapult is a permanent belonging to the Gravity element, focused on literally flinging damage at the opponent. This card will sacrifice an ally creature on one’s field and deal damage based on its HP to the enemy.
General Use
Quick Facts:
- Damage from the Catapult is based on the following formula: (100 x [creature HP]) / (100 + [creature HP])
- Launched creatures that are poisoned will transfer the same amount of poison counters to the opponent.
- Frozen creatures will freeze the opponent’s weapon and deal 50% extra damage if launched.
- Bypasses all shield effects; damage cannot be reflected.
For 3 
quanta, players can play the Catapult (or its upped version, Trebuchet). By itself, Catapult has no effect, but when coupled with a high HP creature, its ability to penetrate enemy defenses is unquestioned. For only 2 (or 1 upgraded) additional quanta, players may use its ability on a target ally creature, killing the creature in the process, but dealing damage proportional to the creature’s HP.
In a game where various defensive cards can either reduce or completely block all incoming armies with shields and other tricky cards (such as Sundial), Catapult can still bring on the pain given that the creature flung at the opponent is heavy enough. Unlike spells such as Lightning that can be reflected by certain shields, Catapult will ignore such effects (as it's an ability, not a spell per se). In addition, creatures affected by certain status effects can also be applied directly to the opponent when launched by the Catapult, providing several unique combinations. Infected creatures, for example, will also poison the opponent based on the number of poison counters on them. Likewise, frozen creatures will deal more damage to the opponent and also freeze their weapon.
It is also important that Catapult’s mechanic will also trigger death effects, which means that cards that benefit from killed creatures will generally go well with Catapult indirectly. The following equation and table (hidden within the spoiler) below provides a range of creature hit points translated into Catapult and Trebuchet damage:
Synergies
When it comes to overall damage output, Freeze | Congeal is a secret spell that can give out the extra push for demolishing the opponent. As frozen creatures will deal a whopping 50% more damage to the enemy while also freezing their weapon (should they have one), Freeze is a lucrative spell to include in any deck due to its cheap (1 
) and simple damage boost. A Frozen Titan does 50 damage when thrown, which is the most efficient use. Should the frozen creature be unable to finish the enemy, having their weapon frozen can be a sneaky maneuver, especially against some of the nastier weapons that can ruin Catapult’s strategy ( Pulverizer demolishing permanents and Eternity removing key creatures with buffed HP).
Another spell can also provide extra damage for the wagon to toss; Basilisk Blood | Basilisk Blood grants any creature with 20 HP while delaying them for 6 turns. Upon being applied to creatures with low single-digit HP, this spell can be just as effective for dramatically increasing the amount of damage when launched. While the unupped spell costs one more 
quanta to cast, either spell can generally suffice for any deck with Catapults, and repeatedly using the spell on the same creature will often prepare a OTK situation (one turn kill).
Armagio | Elite Armagio is one of the top Gravity creatures (excluding a flown Titan) to toss with a Trebuchet, due to its relatively cheap HP-cost ratio. For 5 quanta, players can launch a creature with 25 (or 30!) HP at the opponent, excluding all status effects and HP buffs. Combined with the above spells, players can deal extreme amounts of damage in a short period of time (assuming Armagio or the Catapult isn’t removed off the field).
Other Cards With Synergy
Other users may use different creatures to buff and freeze before launching; Voodoo Doll and Schrodinger’s Cat are cheaper creatures that can be fueled by Supernova or by having a mark of Entropy respectively, and can be placed down in one turn for a final blow. Phoenixes are relatively weak creatures to throw as well, but due to their revival mechanic, can be an alternate way to deal damage against shields that may block all creatures anyway, as well as triggering death mechanics. Sundials also play a central role in many stall decks that plan on setting up the OTK, both for speeding up one’s deck to find the key cards to preventing overall damage and (possibly) wasting the opponent’s PC against it.
Bone Wall, Condor, and Soul Catcher can be viable with decks that rely on self-replicating creatures (Phoenix, or any creature with Mitosis). Above all, an animated Titan will have a tremendous 50 HP for the player to fool around with; should the enemy find a way to somehow negate the unstoppable 8 damage from Titan, Catapult can easily smash such damage recovery with the Titan’s HP.
Conclusion
The Catapult is like a back-up battery; should the main power (creature offense, poison, spells, etc.) be cut off, it can come online immediately to temporarily (or permanently) empower the player and bypass the enemy’s defenses for a strong attack. With most decks, players should account for cards that can help the permanent last on the field against high permanent control or quick enemy offenses, as its potent skill cannot be used whimsically on any creature.
Popular Deck
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