Cipher Card Re/Unbalancing

[RetroPikachu]

Hallo everyone!

I'm sure we've all seen a card and went "wow that card A) is way more powerful than it should be or B) could've been a lot better.  And I've got some ideas on how to fix that."  Well, if you had that oddly specific thought run through your head, this is the thread for you!  There aren't any ground rules, just state the changes to the card/character you're making and how those changes help/hurt that card.  No real limits here, you can balance within reason or throw it out the window.  Just remember to have fun.

I'll start us off with some idea in my head and get the brain juices flowing.

Eliwood MC Buff

Target: Make Eliwood a High Tier MC

So first of all, let's take a closer look at Eliwood 5/4.  He has a turn 4 promotion.  That's not too much of a problem by itself; MCs like Chrom, Grima, and Corrin are some of the dominating MCs right now and they all share a turn 4 promotion (5 in the case of Corrin).  However, Eliwood A) lacks a turn 2 promotion to dampen that weakness, something that Chrom and Corrin have, and B) doesn't offer too much in return for that long wait.  His main skill, Rallying Flames, allows him to summon his Support Unit straight onto the field for 2 bonds.  This sounds amazing, but when compared to other, similar options, it's... mediocre.  Alfonse can summon from the orbs for half the cost of Eliwood, and doesn't suffer from turn 4 promotion.  Selkie 3/2 can summon the top card of the deck as a unit for 1 bond for a single turn.  Even if it's only for a single turn, it compliments her buffing skill, which increases her attack by 10 for each unit that's deployed per turn, and Selkie can promotes twice as fast as Eliwood.  It being at the start of the turn allows Selkie to plan out her attacks much better than Eliwood.  The only advantages Eliwood has over the two is his better Support Value, which isn't as important for MCs, and his bonus damage to Dragons.  While Durandal's bonus damage is occasionally nice, especially with Female Corrin running all over the place, it's not enough to outbalance the high promotion cost and definitely not enough to consider using him over his main competition in this area.

So now that we've seen why Eliwood isn't all that great, how are we going to fix him?  So before we focus on our main promotion, let's address his 4/3 version.  The first change we're making is turning his Cost 4/3 into a Cost 3/2.  Knight of Lycia, Eliwood will now allow Eliwood to promote by turn 2, helping to counteract his long wait for the promotion.  However, if we just adjusted his cost, that would seem kinda lazy, so let's slightly nerf his 3/2 to be more in line with other Cost 3s.  Knight of Lycia, Eliwood, will have 60 attack instead of 70, the standard for cost 3 melee units, and loses his "Blazing Blade Durandal" skill since other Lords with a cost 3 lack theirs as well.  Still, this is an overall buff giving Eliwood a promotion a turn earlier.  This also improves his splashability since his backline pull effect can come out a turn earlier, but that's not our focus.

Now that Eliwood has received some extra durability, let's get back to his 5/4.  No, we're not reducing the cost of the Blazing Heir, since we want to keep that weakness in Eliwood.  The main focus on Eliwood 5/4 we want to fix is Rallying Flames.  First, its high cost.  Lets reduce Rallying Flames' cost down to 1 bond instead of 2, but let's also have its cost increased by 1 each time Eliwood activates it that turn (i.e. Eliwood uses RF 1 times, it's 1 bond.  Next time he uses it, it'll be 2 bonds.  So on and so forth.  This'll be important in a bit).  With these few changes, Eliwood becomes pretty comparable to both Selkie and Alfonse, the two main competitors for Summoning MCs.  While I could just leave it at that, let's make Eliwood a true high tier.  Rallying Flames is no longer limited to Eliwood's support.  In other words, as long as it's Eliwood's turn, he can activate Rallying Flames and summon a new unit.  Sure, he can't do it too much due to the growing cost we put on it earlier, but now Eliwood can go from 2 units on the field to 4 for a mere 3 bonds.  And that's pretty good.

Ultimately, I believe these changes would make Eliwood an MC who would be unstoppable in the right hands.  These changes fix his durability and improve his rallying to challenge the likes of Selkie and Alfonse.  Sure, MCs like Corrin can still counter the deployment, but Eliwood's ability to rapid fire summons could potentially overwhelm any foe he comes across, including Corrin.  Thank you for reading.

 

So what did you think?  Think it won't be enough, or that's too much?  Did I get some ideas for you?  Well, whatever it is, hope you have fun with this thread.

Edited November 16, 2017 by RetroPikachu

[Flamy]

Target: Make Nino not fucking stupid as hell, and probably Grima, too. (DISCLAIMER: I am not a very good game designer.)

If you didn't already know, I hate Pious Mage, Nino. I hate a lot of other things, including this game, but I especially hate her. She's a Field Cost 4(3) unit, meaning at best, you get her out at Turn 3, assuming your opponent lacks the resources to kill a 30-Attack unit, which they probably will, if you have enough copies of her. Her strength lies in "I'll protect my family!", a skill that lets you, for the low cost of stacking a card from your hand, gets you a card with the same name as your Main Character, resulting in a +0... USUALLY. On top of THAT, if any of your units are successfully supported by Nino, your turn or not, you can flip a Bond, once per turn, to activate "Daughter of Magic", and draw a card. This stacks with Mage Emblem, which can especially result in some fun filtration of cards, as you whittle through your deck, and inevitably have all your copies of the Main Character in hand. I reiterate, Nino has THE two abilities that are highly sought-for: Giving you copies of the Main Character, and drawing cards, both things that unfortunately also get stall decks really fucking wet.
Let's change that. Nino's "I'll protect my family!" becomes, "(ACT) [Once per turn] [Tap this card, discard 1 card, and flip 1 Bond] Add a [Tome] unit from your Retreat to the top of the deck.", and we'll change "Daughter of Magic" to, "(AUTO) [Once per turn] [Flip 1 Bond] During your turn, when an allied unit is successfully supported by "Nino", you may pay the cost, and if you do: Draw a card."

Now for the star of the show: Baleful Dragon, Grima. I haven't been around for a while, but from what I gather, you guys are actually just going nuts over the new Fem Corrin, so I have no idea if this change is even necessary. But who cares, I'm me. You know why this card is straight-up stupid? Because it generates an infinite wall that also makes herself strong as hell, on top of her being 1~2 Range.
First off, "Grimleal". It now becomes "(ACT) [Once per turn] [Flip up to 3 Bonds (minimum 1)] Send the top 3 cards of your deck to the Retreat. Then, for every Bond flipped by this effect, add a "Risen" from your Retreat to your hand that was not sent to the Retreat by this effect. 
While we're at it, we'll add a "(CONT) If this card has a 'Robin (Female)' underneath it, its name is also 'Robin (Female)."