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Ice Barrier Field Spell - "The Sacred Ice Barrier"


magemeek22

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[b][i]The Ice Barrier is undoubtedly one of the most underrated archetypes in existence today. Although there are a series of powerful Synchro monsters that can deplete one's opponent's entire field, and there are the strong "Generals" to maintain field control, there are limited ways of tying together the strategies to establish overall field dominance. Luck is too heavy of a contributing factor in Ice Barrier decks, and thus, the basic motive of Ice Barrier decks - to lock down the opponent - is shut down.[/i][/b]

[i][b]However, in order to counteract the lack of cohesiveness in Ice Barrier decks and strategies, I devised the one card that they were missing - a field spell. With the field spell that follows, entitled "The Sacred Ice Barrier," one can completely shut down every card effect of their opponent. As opposed to helping Ice Barrier monsters get out on to the field, the field spell allows for them to [/b][u]stay[/u][b] on the field. However, the sheer power of the card is counteracted by the one major setback - it requires a minimum of 5 turns of preparation to be activated. This will be explained further.[/b][/i]

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[b][u]The Preparation Cards: The "Emblems of the Ice Barrier"[/u][/b]
[i]In order to activate the Ice Barrier field spell, there is a prerequisite; all five "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" cards must be removed from play:[/i]

[u]Card 1: "Golden Emblem of the Ice Barrier"[/u]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/tcWJ6.jpg[/img]

[u]Card 2: "Silver Emblem of the Ice Barrier"[/u]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/59Dyz.jpg[/img]

[u]Card 3: "Ruby Emblem of the Ice Barrier"[/u]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/IJCNC.jpg[/img]

[u]Card 4: "Amethyst Emblem of the Ice Barrier"[/u]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/gdc1a.jpg[/img]

[u]Card 5: "Sapphire Emblem of the Ice Barrier"[/u]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Y1IHK.jpg[/img]

[b][i]What is the Purpose of these Cards?[/i][/b]
[i]All five Emblems of the Ice Barrier have the same effect. The Golden, Silver, Ruby, Amethyst, and Sapphire Emblems are identical:[/i]
[quote]When this card is activated, you can add one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" or "The Sacred Ice Barrier" card to your hand. At any time, you can banish this face-up card to negate one card effect. You can only activate one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" card per turn. This card cannot be activated while "The Sacred Ice Barrier" is active.[/quote]

[i]So what's the point?[/i]
In short, the Ice Barrier Emblems serve a similar purpose. They all can negate one card effect each, and thus, by getting all 5 cards on to the field and negating a total of 5 card effects, one can amass a store of "Emblems" that have been banished all while being able to negate a total of five card effects. Additionally, the cards allow for you to add one Emblem card to your hand per turn, making it easy to get all five on to the field. However, to get all five cards out, one must be willing to wait the 5 turn minimum.

Although the individual Emblems are powerful, they are tied together by the greater card, the field spell entitled "The Sacred Ice Barrier." This card, shown in the section below, can basically shut down many of the opponent's plans and maneuvers by protecting your Ice Barrier monsters from those plots.

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[b][u]The Ultimate Card: "The Sacred Ice Barrier"[/u][/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/mvOQH.jpg[/img]
[quote]This card can only be activated if 5 different "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" cards have been removed from play. Face-up Ice Barrier monsters are unaffected by your opponent's card effects, and face-up Level 4 or lower Ice Barrier monsters cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card would be destroyed, you can send one banished "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" card to the Graveyard instead.[/quote]

[b][i]What is the Purpose of this Card?[/i][/b]
In short, this card is the embodiment of the true purpose of the Ice Barrier - it locks the opponent down. That was the initial purpose of these cards, and unfortunately, the success of this intended lock-down was minimal. That is why this card will prove incredibly useful. It protects your "Ice Barrier" monsters from all of the opponent's card effects, thus forcing the opponent to rely on battle and sheer attack strength. Even attack strength is weakened by this card, since your Level 4 and lower "Ice Barrier" monsters cannot be destroyed by battle either.

[i][b]Is this Card too Powerful?[/b][/i]
Although its effects are undeniably strong, this card is, in my opinion, balanced. But why is that? Since it requires a minimum of 5 turns to get out on to the field. Since most decks are adept at getting strong monsters out fast, the five turn requirement is a huge hassle to deal with. Surviving these five turns leads to great success and can turn the tides on your favor. However, not being able to do so precludes all chances of getting the field spell out. You must control and destroy all five Emblems, and without them, this card is essentially useless.

Additionally, there are ways to combat this card. Playing another field spell, using card effects (although a minimum of 5 card effects would be required), and other means can retaliate. It is unarguably difficult to remove from the field, but it is possible.

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Rule of thumb by the time you have to ask is it broken that means its too broken.

I'll be blunt there is no balance to this at all.

First understand the statement your opponent cannot remove this card from the field is broken. So the first sentence of every card has already determined its brokeness. Second the first 5 cards negate ANYTHING and boost hand advantage while doing it. That is completely unbalanced there is no downside to that. They are reusable multiplying negaters, that is a horrid concept. The field spell is purely wrong as in everything is wrong with it. Who cares about the 5 turns if you have multiplying effect negaters on the field there is no way you can't make it. Then only problem is that once it is on the field the other 5 Emblems become useless. Wait that's not even the case because this cards only weakness was that since it doesn't negate the activation of a card someone could just put another field card over it and laugh, but then they realize that they have 5 floating effect negaters still on the field that can't be removed (BROKEN BEYOND BELIEF) and then they just have to rage quit.

Here is what you seem to not understand. PEOPLE SWARM THROUGH/VIA CARD EFFECTS! Your defense of not being able to stop a swarm is incorrect. Effect Veiler being tier 0 and Chalice being a close second prove that statement. You stop about 98% of the avenues people would use to either get a monster to swarm or get the materials to swarm. It is completely insane, overpowered, and broken.

I would advise reading tutorials before you continue to make more Ice Barrier support.

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Thank you very much, Beginning446 for the constructive criticism. I rarely get that sort of advice, so I'm going to take it very seriously.

First of all, I plan on changing the effect of ALL the Emblems to something along the lines of this:
[quote]When this card is activated, you can add one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" or "The Sacred Ice Barrier" card to your hand. At any time, you can remove this card from play to negate one card effect. You can only activate one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" card per turn.[/quote]
[indent=1]I think that this would work much better, since its no longer indestructible or a "floating negater." It can be used to negate, which was its initial purpose, but its no longer completely spammable, and can be retaliated against.[/indent]

Second, I would rework the "Sacred Ice Barrier" card so it isn't as horrible as you say it is, but its still EXTREMELY powerful in terms of locking the opponent down:
[quote]This card can only be activated if 5 different "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" cards have been removed from play. All Ice Barrier cards you control cannot be destroyed by battle and are unaffected by your opponent's card effects. This card can only be removed from the field by the activation of another field spell. When this card is sent to the graveyard, Special Summon one "Defender of the Ice Barrier" and one "Dai-Sojo of the Ice Barrier" from your deck, hand, or Graveyard.[/quote]
[indent=1]With these changes, the card actually has a weakness/fatal flaw: the activation of another field spell. Additionally, now the opponent will be able to swarm their field to their heart's content, but will not be able to destroy Ice Barrier monsters by any means (unless this card is destroyed). I still feel, however, that this field spell is much more difficult to get out on to the field than any other field spell (mostly due to timing), so I added the final effect, which allows for the summoning of a Defender and Dai-Sojo, allowing for a modest defense even after this card is destroyed.[/indent]

So, Beginning446, what do you think? And what do others think? Will these changes balance out the card? If not, what else can i do? And if you think it does, I'll make the changes right away!

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Um...yeah so I'm a little conflicted but I'll try it.

Changing the emblems effects the way you did definitely balanced them out...its just now they are just MST lures I would say. Its an odd line between useless, useful, and broken. While they are useful most negation cards are things you can't see coming and therefore they have the element of surprise. The emblems don't have that. They sit on the field and say "yes play something so I can stop it" which means someone would just play MST on them and proceed to deliver unholy hurt.

As for the field card...I don't really mind the whole 5 banished spell rule (there are ways around that lol) or that you gave Ice Barriers blanket immunity to everything (which is a pretty broken concept....immortal brio's and gungirs) its that you gave it a frivolous weakness. At its most broken state another field card could take it out because nothing you have negates the activation of a card. But since most decks don't really run field spells like that you've just made it immortal and with cards like Defender and Dai Sojo you're really just promoting stalling. Which doesn't seem to be the most honorable way to play the game.

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@Beginning446

Well the thing with the Emblems now, with their new and improved form, is that they are meant to be MST lures, and MST would not "deliver unholy hurt." The major purpose of the cards is to simply remove them from play so that they fulfill the requirement for Sacred Barrier. For example, if the opponent does happen to play MST, negating it with Emblem would remove Emblem from play, which is, in essence, part of the greater plan.

Although I feel that I've balanced out the Emblems, I do feel that what you're saying with the field spell holds completely true. I want it to be powerful, which is why I gave it the "5 banished spell" rule to justify its strength. However, I'm still having trouble balancing it. Maybe if I said this: "Face-up Ice Barrier monsters are unaffected by your opponent's card effects. Level 4 and lower Ice Barrier monsters cannot be destroyed by battle." This solves the issue of invincible strong monsters. And I think I have an idea for balancing out the portion of the card that dictates that it can only be removed from the field by the activation of another field spell. Instead of that, I think I could change it so that, "Each time this card would be destroyed, you can send one banished "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" to the Graveyard instead." This way, it can be destroyed by card effects, although it still is very difficult to do so.

With those changes, I think that Emblem would also need a minor edit as well. It would be much safer to add that "This card cannot be activated while "The Sacred Ice Barrier" is active." This way, no indestructibility complex forms.

So now, the new cards are:

[b][i]Emblems of the Ice Barrier:[/i][/b]
[quote]When this card is activated, you can add one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" or "The Sacred Ice Barrier" card to your hand. At any time, you can remove this card from play to negate one card effect. You can only activate one "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" card per turn. This card cannot be activated while "The Sacred Ice Barrier" is active.[/quote]

[b][i]The Sacred Ice Barrier:[/i][/b]
[quote]This card can only be activated if 5 different "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" cards have been removed from play. Face-up Ice Barrier monsters are unaffected by your opponent's card effects, and face-up Level 4 or lower Ice Barrier monsters cannot be destroyed by battle. If this card would be destroyed, you can send one banished "Emblem of the Ice Barrier" to the Graveyard instead.[/quote]

So what do you think now? Balanced at long last?

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