Zone Cards Custom Mechanic

[Sleepy]

This is a first draft of the idea, comments/suggestions/etc. all welcomed and encouraged~

 

[spoiler=Zone Cards are a custom mechanic, which also dubs as a custom format]

 

-Zone Cards go in their own Zone Deck in front of your right-most Main Monster Zone (in front of your column 5).

 

-At the start of each of your turns, you can select a Zone Card from your Zone Deck (of about 15 cards max) and place it face-up anywhere on your field. The zone you choose to place the card in will keep your Zone Card there for the rest of the game. That Zone Card is no longer treated as a card on the field, and its effects are treated as that zone's inherent effects, which will be affecting whatever you play at that zone.

 

-Under this custom format, you cannot play parts of your field that don't hold Zone Cards in them. In other words, you are gradually unlocking your field for use, and if we include Field Spells and Extra Monster Zones, it should take you 12 turns to fully unlock it all.

 

-When you play (Set, Summon, or activate from out of the field) a card at a zone with a Zone Card in it, the Zone Card turns sideways until the start of your next turn. You cannot play new cards in a zone whose's Zone Card is sideways.

 

-When you place a new Zone Card, you can choose to place it face-up directly, or to place it face-down, and flip it up during either player's turn (but keep in mind the mechanic revolves around "tapping/turning sideways" so this is different, just for when a surprise element is needed such as when something would raise DEF of the card in the zone but you don't want to give it away).

 

 

Another concept to what is inside the spoiler that I wanted to try out is the being able to fit 2 Zone Cards in the same zone, for stacking effects, because your zone would be able to play 2 cards in the same turn (each played card there would only turn sideways a single of the two Zone Cards in it each time) and probably to an extra bonus such as making it able to be used for the Extra Deck or something, but this feature is a little more foggy. If applied, it'd increase the Zone Deck size limit.

 

 

 

 

This is essentially a pseudo mana system in which you have full control on its growth pattern, and it ultimately should enrich the field with more variables while being gradual enough to allow players to digest every new thing that's going on.

... In theory.

 

[spoiler=Simple Card Samples]

Sparkling Coral Reef 
[Monster Zone Card]

A monster in this zone gains 600 DEF.

 

Fuming Magician's Chimney

[spell & Trap Zone Card]
A Spell or Trap Card is unaffected by a targeting effect once while it is on this zone.

 

Happy Sliding Mountain

[Monster Zone Card]

If a card(s) adjacent to this zone or that are in this zone's column leave the field: You can return a card in this zone to your hand, and if you do, flip this Zone Card face-down until your next End Phase.

 

Crater with Legs

[Monster Zone Card]

At the start of your turn, if you are the original owner of this Zone Card, you can switch it with another Monster Zone Card on the field.

A monster in this zone loses 800 ATK.

 

Artsy-fact Gallery

[Zone Card]

If a set Spell or Trap Card in this zone is destroyed and sent to the GY: You can move this Zone Card to a Monster Zone, and if you do, draw 1 card.

 

 

 

 

[Dova]

All I can think of is the fact that I only need 2-3 zones to get out Lunalight Leo Dancer. This format would absolutely destroy spammy decks, but decks which only need a few cards to get running...would be excellent. I think that the intention, but the problem is that field advantage isn't directly correlated to deck strength.

 

I think I'm just salty that this would kill all Pendulum Decks and Artifacts :(

[Sleepy]

All I can think of is the fact that I only need 2-3 zones to get out Lunalight Leo Dancer. This format would absolutely destroy spammy decks, but decks which only need a few cards to get running...would be excellent. I think that the intention, but the problem is that field advantage isn't directly correlated to deck strength.

 

I think I'm just salty that this would kill all Pendulum Decks and Artifacts :(

 

 

Yes that's pretty accurate for the amount of zones you'd need to unlock to go Kaleido + Poly > Leo Dancer. That would take 3 turns or more and with my personal experience, even if 1/4 of the deck's cards are about searching Lunalights, they aren't super consistent, and the zones would "tap" after you played a card in each of them, so Leo Dancer would be unprotected, as you wouldn't be able to use the zones until your turn comes around again and they get revitalized.

 

I think decks would be capable of adapting. Even if they needed to go for survival cards of old like Waboku until they were ready. 

You being unable to make your exact combos at the same immediate speed doesn't mean your deck now sucks, because the whole game is being pulled down along with your favorite strategies. I think this is a bit parallel to the first days after Master Rule 4 was announced, where some people seemed to be under the feel that their opponents would hit them with the same speed as before, as if the nerf was one-sided.

 

I'll try to think up of Zone Cards that would in theory support Artifacts or Pendulums, and see if I can come up with something.

[Dova]

Yes that's pretty accurate for the amount of zones you'd need to unlock to go Kaleido + Poly > Leo Dancer. That would take 3 turns or more and with my personal experience, even if 1/4 of the deck's cards are about searching Lunalights, they aren't super consistent, and the zones would "tap" after you played a card in each of them, so Leo Dancer would be unprotected, as you wouldn't be able to use the zones until your turn comes around again and they get revitalized

Unprotected? He's a boss. Unless you mean that tapped zones force the monster in them into Defense Position?

 

I don't think decks could easily adapt; not without direct Zone support. MR4 didn't slow down the game because the Links themselves are fast, but unless Zones play other Zones, any Deck that can play with 3 or less Zones becomes the meta. Again, it depends on the support you make, but this is still my opinion.

[Dokutah]

Im kinda seconded Dova here. As it will too restrictive to deck that only achieve decent power after only extentsively putting things on board. Maybe added gimmick like your previous (or who ever he/she is) idea a bit while ago with action point. Say like:

 

certain Zone Card has Action Point which if an action is conducted on the Zone card it wont "tapped" until you do that amount of action

[Sleepy]

Unprotected? He's a boss. Unless you mean that tapped zones force the monster in them into Defense Position?

 

I don't think decks could easily adapt; not without direct Zone support. MR4 didn't slow down the game because the Links themselves are fast, but unless Zones play other Zones, any Deck that can play with 3 or less Zones becomes the meta. Again, it depends on the support you make, but this is still my opinion.

 

I don't think Leo Dancer is such an invincible boss that it would make for a problem. Between turns for searching, including Tenki which permanently would waste a zone, extra turns to get into the setup unless you got lucky enough to draw the 3 card combo early, potential outs like Megafleet or Kaijus, or the inability to set a Solemn or any other trap in the same zone in which you just played Poly this turn. Yes she's a super solid boss, but yes I repeat, unprotected.

 

Yes the meta would be different, that goes without saying. If it favors decks that can sustain getting more out of less moves, hey, that's a shift indeed. Though none of those potential quick-start-up decks would be any unbreakable boards due to the limited setup they'd also have early due to field constrains, and I think the game has enough tools to do something about most potential decks of that kind that could come up, but the adaptability potential I guess is something we'll have to agree to disagree I suppose.

 

I made a couple card samples at the OP to help Pendulums in general, they give you both scales and a monster zone in a single turn, but restricts them to scales and P-Summoned usage. I'm not too happy with this speed boost combo, as it seems to fail in both fronts (not moving ahead of the speed curve I had set with the other samples, and properly returning Pendulums the potential you'd probably want).

 

and another card that would help Artifacts by shifting from S/T Zone to a Monster Zone when something in it dies, so the same Artifact can use the same Zone Card both ways without having to accelerate, although I should probably do something capable of morphing the zones on the opposite direction too.

 

But well, those are direct Zone support as you said, so I guess it doesn't really do much to improve your opinion on this.

[Sleepy]

Im kinda seconded Dova here. As it will too restrictive to deck that only achieve decent power after only extentsively putting things on board. Maybe added gimmick like your previous (or who ever he/she is) idea a bit while ago with action point. Say like:

 

certain Zone Card has Action Point which if an action is conducted on the Zone card it wont "tapped" until you do that amount of action

 

Umm yes, I do have plans for combining several of my custom mechanics at Experimental Cards and some of my concepts at the Banlists & Theory section, for personal projects xD

Among those I did pitch the action points one, although think it'd be complicated to mix them in. I would work with Nai's suggestion over there for gradual increments, although that thread's concept had more or less the same goal. I wonder if using that would make this thread's idea redundant. Both essentially are akin to MTG's mana system, minus the chance to get mana screwed... hmmm.