A 13th element - Time

[helicopter-cube]

This isn't really a card suggestion, and it's kind of a half-baked idea in general, but I thought I'd share it while it's still in the oven.

Elements, whether on accident or purpose, has no "turn mixing": Players do not make decisions on other players' turns. This means that it would be possible to have a set amount of time a la Chess clocks.

But unlike Chess, EtG cards could reference and change that clock time, turning it into another fundamental resource like Quanta or Life.

For example, a "Time Dragon" that deals big damage for small Quanta, but costs 5 minutes of clock time. (That's probably not very balanced, but hopefully it communicates the broad concept well enough.)

The thread title is because adding this mechanic would require the Time element to be renamed or to change radically for it to make any flavor sense. That said, it would probably be best to spread changes across the elements, and I think it might help to make some of them more distinct. Just off the top of my head:

• Spending clock time to get damage out faster would make Fire feel a lot like Red in Magic, but actually moreso.
• Light could have cards that restore clock time
• Dark (but not Death) could have a new "Temporotoxin" whose poison counters consume your clock time instead of your life. (Represented like  in the same way that Neurotoxin is  .)
• Water's Purity counters could be used to fix Temporotoxin counters.
• Or maybe Purity counters can be "Temporotoxic", and add clocktime instead of subtracting it.
• Maybe instead of things costing X clock time, they'd usually add X Temporotoxin counters, so if a deck can't capitalize on its early advantage, it's more vulnerable to a clockout.
• Interestingly, converting normal poison to Temporotoxin could be a cheeky, situational way to dodge the damage.
• Maybe some new mana spells could cost clocktime or something. (Though Singularity already does the job of balancing Nova in a more interesting way.)
• With three fundamental resources instead of two, it would be a new way to divide the twelve elements, though I'm not sure if it makes sense to have four "Quanta" elements, four "Damage" elements, and four "Clocktime" elements.

Thoughts?

[serprex]

Time as a resource would definitely be an interesting mechanic that'd be neat to see play into more games. There's that film In Time where money's replaced with time

But doesn't fit as well for etg which is has to balance both PvE & PvP, along with openEtG's mechanics being pretty well stabilized

[Niharia]

This concept reminds me of way back when the original was still alive, where as an April Fool's joke Zanzanario removed turns. Both players played cards at the same time, and the end-of-turn events happened after a set duration (a few seconds or so? Can't remember exactly). The gimmick allowed for a few fun plays that are impossible in turn-based mode, like having a lone scarab eat the opponent's spark.

I agree with Serprex that trying to work chronological time as a manipulatable aspect doesn't seem to hold with the spirit of oEtG. Game timers make me nervous in general, and would have soooo many cards to abuse such a mechanic that balance would be near-impossible. That being said, having a real-time option like the April Fool's special to add more variety to the game would be fun, so long as it remains limited.

Perhaps in the custom mode, there could be a "battlefield effects" option where you could turn on time-restricted play, or add other shenanigans like "at the end of every turn, cast [spell] on a random target". These battlefield effects might appear in specific quests that warn the player about the incoming gimmick, but never into standard play.

[Turlututu]

Some ideas:
• Accelerating a card would make it attack and use its skill twice per turn.
• Slowing down a card would make it attack and use its skill every other turn.
• Sending a card to the future would make everything it does or that is done to it actually happen on the next turn.
• Sending a card to the past would make everything it does or that is done to it retroactively apply on the previous turn.
• Some cards that last N turns could have a skill that adds or removes turns left.
• Some cards could skip or repeat turns, or return to a previous turn.

[Elemensch]

Some ideas:
• Accelerating a card would make it attack and use its skill twice per turn.
• Slowing down a card would make it attack and use its skill every other turn.
• Sending a card to the future would make everything it does or that is done to it actually happen on the next turn.
• Sending a card to the past would make everything it does or that is done to it retroactively apply on the previous turn.
• Some cards that last N turns could have a skill that adds or removes turns left.
• Some cards could skip or repeat turns, or return to a previous turn.

We do have a lot of that in the game already.

Time's current shield (procrastination) does pause attackers, sending their actions into the future (if they survive the present).

Pendulums have alternating-turn behavior.

Adrenaline is "Acceleration" in most cases.