4
: Gravitational lens
Permanent
: Reveal the outcome of a randomly-determined event. The random effect, once revealed, will be locked for the rest of the turn/ply (TBD).
Upgraded would either reduce playing cost to 3
OR ability cost to
. The card wants to synergise with rainbows anyways, but letting the cost become
will allow it a place in entropy/gravity or cardinal tetrads without splashing any light. Alternatively, the need to splash light may prevent it from becoming overwhelming in the aforementioned duos/tetrads.
This card idea came to me originally back when the AI could see the outcome of pandemonium 3.0 by default, but it came back recently after a few frustrating matches where the AI knew when its fallen elves would 'oopsie' my monster dead or turn its own weak creature into a kleptomaniacal dragon. The most frustrating thing for me is that it is using a strategy that I cannot copy. This card would allow a little more insight without completely destroying the randomness of random cards.
Gravity is the element of choice not just because of the astrophysical name, but because as the opposite of entropy, which is full of random, it is the perfect place for a card that is an opposite of randomness.
While the synergy with mutation/improve and chaos seed 2.0/pandemonium 3.0 are the obvious uses, this could also scan your
-cost cards to see what they will cost to pay (disclaimer: it's always the quanta I want to use for my non-:chroma monster), check your quantum PPM/chromatic butterflies to see if they'll give you the quanta you need to play the big card next turn or if you should just play the smaller card now, or what ability your spider cattle will get.
A few ideas for appearance of effect:
- when targeting mana generation/scramble, show +/- # next to the corresponding quanta counter
- some sort of translucent image of the outcome for mutation?
- show the text or perhaps a still from the spell animation that chaos seed mimics for chaos seeds?
- show +#/+# for chaos power
- show target symbols and arrows (if applicable) for ricochet
- And, of course, show EVERYTHING for pandemonioum 3.0!
Viable targets:
- quantum/material/spiritual/cardinal pillar/tower/pendulum
- any pendulum (mark of chroma)
- self (mark of chroma)
- chromastat (butterfly, alicorn, and blue mage that has stolen the ability)
- ricochet
- any
-cost card/ability (including equalise-induced
cost)
- fallen elf/druid
- mutation/improve (spell)
- Parallel universe (targeting a mutant)
- scattering wind and whim? (show what cards will come in)
- discord/whirlpool
- fate egg
- chaos seed/chaos power/chaos seed 2.0/pandemonium 3.0/pandemonium
- singularity (ability)
- georesonator
-Nymph's tears -> quantum PPM
-Gift of Oceanus (mark of chroma)
-Innovation? (show what cards come in, what card dies. That lost card is important if there's only one eternity in your deck and you need rewind a butterfly to stall out your opponent.)
-Shard of Freedom - will one lens reveal the combined effect of all shards in play, or only the shard scanned?
-tesseract (show what monster(s) will be summoned)
Possible viable targets:
-The top card of the owner's deck? While not random, it's a mystery to the player. If so, will also reveal the top of the opponent's deck if used in concert with precognition/owl.
- Might even be useable to spy on a single card in the opponent's hand.
-While shard golems aren't random, perhaps using a lens on one can send players a link to the shard golem chart to help new users figure out the complex shard of integrity mechanics.
If I missed anything, let me know. Sorry if this is a little long-winded.