ManiaR Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Mania deals 3 damage to that player unless he or she discards a card at random. Look before yourself and see no lies—it is both your truth or your demise.
Stigmata5RR Sorcery
Target opponent flips five coins. For each flip that player loses, Stigmata deals 3 damage to that player and he or she discards a card at random. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just merely the thought of such power.
These types of cards just aren't fun or good. With the unreasonable high of 1RRDeal 9 damage to target opponent they discard 3 cards at random to the equally bad 1RRDiscard this card from your hand. There are a few problems with this card the least of which is that red doesn't get discard let alone random discard. Your high is too high. 9 damage can very easily end the game. Even the over the top burn spell Hidetsugu's Second Rite costs 4. Add on that you have not just discard but random discard and even if it didn't kill the opponent the game should be over. 3 mana spells shouldn't effectively end the game. Your reasonable expectation of at least 1 win flip is comparable to Blightning. With this has your baseline, not your lowest but your expected outcome. You have a very strong card. Blightning was playable in its time but not dominating and at 1 good flip, your card is as good as Blightning because random discard is much stronger than non-random discard. The problem is that at 2 flips it immediately hits broken territory again. The gap is too wide on this card. 1 good flip should be an ok card. You wouldn't necessarily play it just for this effect but the effect is good enough that you are willing to run it because it can get better. At two wins it should be well above curve but not broken. 2 out of 3 is where the card really shines and is the reason you run it despite 1 win being lackluster. 3 wins just aren't expected in the same way that 3 losses aren't expected. Still, even if you don't expect an outcome doesn't mean it can read "win the game" without any setup.
When you make cards like this, where you get a 'random' effect. You either want to minimize the difference between the highs and lows or make it so you can tactically compensate for the difference. Let's look at a similar card Fiery Gambit. It also has a low of 2R Discard this card from your hand. However, it scales in effect such that you aren't just piling on win more for each successful flip. And it gives you the option to keep gambling after each win. So if you flip one coin and lose it was at its worst. If you win the first flip you now get to choose to gamble or not, this makes it more dynamic but it still wasn't a good card but at least it was more fun. It is really hard to make this kind of card viable because random just isn't a good design vein to mine. You are better off going for fun over good but your current card does neither. There is no sense of raising stakes as I win and the card quickly becomes oppressive rather than simply strong.
I would say lower it to 2 damage and have the discards happen when you lose the flip. 3 wins, six damage; 3 losses, 3 discards. Mixes in between. I'd also like to see one of those mana symbols painted black.
I would say lower it to 2 damage and have the discards happen when you lose the flip. 3 wins, six damage; 3 losses, 3 discards. Mixes in between. I'd also like to see one of those mana symbols painted black.
I was actually thinking the same thing. I just decided to post this full scale to gauge reaction. I also wanted to do a mini version, something like:
StigmatizeR Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Stimatize deals 3/1 damage to that player and/unless he or she discards a card at random.
There's a 1 in 4 chance they will lose at least one.
I was actually thinking the same thing. I just decided to post this full scale to gauge reaction. I also wanted to do a mini version, something like:
StimatizeR Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Stimatize deals 3/1 damage to that player and/unless he or she discards a card at random.
There's a 1 in 4 chance they will lose at least one.
Its a 3/4 chance to lose at least one coin flip, 1/4 they lose two. If I'm reading your backslashes right, you are proposing:
Stigmatize deals 3 damage to that player unless he or she discards a card at random.
OR
Stigmatize deals 1 damage to that player and he or she discards a card at random.
The latter is a better Hymn to Tourach, arguably the most powerful black card printed, at half the cost in the wrong color. Cheap random discard should never be mandatory at low cost since you can potentially hit a needed land in your opponents opener and immediately put them out ability to play the game.
The former is almost on balance, with Skullscorch as example, but it should be 2 damage instead of 3. The potential to hit 6 off one R is too strong, even with the randomness.
I was actually thinking the same thing. I just decided to post this full scale to gauge reaction. I also wanted to do a mini version, something like:
StimatizeR Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Stimatize deals 3/1 damage to that player and/unless he or she discards a card at random.
There's a 1 in 4 chance they will lose at least one.
Its a 3/4 chance to lose at least one coin flip, 1/4 they lose two. If I'm reading your backslashes right, you are proposing:
Stigmatize deals 3 damage to that player unless he or she discards a card at random.
OR
Stigmatize deals 1 damage to that player and he or she discards a card at random.
The latter is a better Hymn to Tourach, arguably the most powerful black card printed, at half the cost in the wrong color. Cheap random discard should never be mandatory at low cost since you can potentially hit a needed land in your opponents opener and immediately put them out ability to play the game.
The former is almost on balance, with Skullscorch as example, but it should be 2 damage instead of 3. The potential to hit 6 off one R is too strong, even with the randomness.
Just want to say that my insights about cost, power, and balance seems to different greatly from yours.
Not that I disagree with some of the notions you've made.
//
I've updated the designs. The latter probably wants to be something like that instead, with power and cost up on hill there in the highlands. The middle-entry becomes defunct for this effect, what it wants to do, and balancing the aspect of cost/power/accessibility.
Additionally note that with the implementation of Deus Ex Machina keywords, decks will have greater capabilities to make use of spells like Stigmatize, by including only a single copy of them in their deck; with the elevated access that these keywords provide.
Mania R
Sorcery
Each opponent flips a coin. If their coin lands on heads the player discards a card at random. If their coin lands on tails they take 3 damage.
This gives you a browbeat effect but not being able to choose which side. Both effects are strong for the Mana cost, but being unreliable makes it much more dangerous to play.
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Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Mania deals 3 damage to that player unless he or she discards a card at random.
Look before yourself and see no lies—it is both your truth or your demise.
Stigmata 5RR
Sorcery
Target opponent flips five coins. For each flip that player loses, Stigmata deals 3 damage to that player and he or she discards a card at random.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just merely the thought of such power.
When you make cards like this, where you get a 'random' effect. You either want to minimize the difference between the highs and lows or make it so you can tactically compensate for the difference. Let's look at a similar card Fiery Gambit. It also has a low of 2R Discard this card from your hand. However, it scales in effect such that you aren't just piling on win more for each successful flip. And it gives you the option to keep gambling after each win. So if you flip one coin and lose it was at its worst. If you win the first flip you now get to choose to gamble or not, this makes it more dynamic but it still wasn't a good card but at least it was more fun. It is really hard to make this kind of card viable because random just isn't a good design vein to mine. You are better off going for fun over good but your current card does neither. There is no sense of raising stakes as I win and the card quickly becomes oppressive rather than simply strong.
I was actually thinking the same thing. I just decided to post this full scale to gauge reaction. I also wanted to do a mini version, something like:
Stigmatize R
Sorcery
Target opponent flips two coins. For each flip that player loses, Stimatize deals 3/1 damage to that player and/unless he or she discards a card at random.
There's a 1 in 4 chance they will lose at least one.
Its a 3/4 chance to lose at least one coin flip, 1/4 they lose two. If I'm reading your backslashes right, you are proposing:
Stigmatize deals 3 damage to that player unless he or she discards a card at random.
OR
Stigmatize deals 1 damage to that player and he or she discards a card at random.
The latter is a better Hymn to Tourach, arguably the most powerful black card printed, at half the cost in the wrong color. Cheap random discard should never be mandatory at low cost since you can potentially hit a needed land in your opponents opener and immediately put them out ability to play the game.
The former is almost on balance, with Skullscorch as example, but it should be 2 damage instead of 3. The potential to hit 6 off one R is too strong, even with the randomness.
Just want to say that my insights about cost, power, and balance seems to different greatly from yours.
Not that I disagree with some of the notions you've made.
//
I've updated the designs. The latter probably wants to be something like that instead, with power and cost up on hill there in the highlands. The middle-entry becomes defunct for this effect, what it wants to do, and balancing the aspect of cost/power/accessibility.
Additionally note that with the implementation of Deus Ex Machina keywords, decks will have greater capabilities to make use of spells like Stigmatize, by including only a single copy of them in their deck; with the elevated access that these keywords provide.
Mania R
Sorcery
Each opponent flips a coin. If their coin lands on heads the player discards a card at random. If their coin lands on tails they take 3 damage.
This gives you a browbeat effect but not being able to choose which side. Both effects are strong for the Mana cost, but being unreliable makes it much more dangerous to play.