New Card: Stairway to Heaven (Seven Seas #5)

Years ago, many of my "sigcards" from the Yahoo Mailing List for Guardians CCG were incorporated into the fan-made expansion set Seven Seas. I have started to import my homebrew cards to this blog in case Phil, the Bar Fly's website ever goes away.

One of my complaints about the original set, one of my pet peeves, is that Angels get their wings clipped compared to the Demons and Devils. And the expansions didn't really help the imbalance much.

As a result, I've come up with a few ideas to make an Angel deck somewhat workable. (In real life, I've only used Angels to support Knights, who actually can stand on their own against certain decks.)

Stairway to Heaven Spell, Up 12
Play during Draw & Organise Phase, return up to 10 Vitality of Angels from your discard pile to your Storage Hand. Costs 1 Power stone to use.
(Artwork: Warren, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Thierry)

Honestly, the card isn't that good because 10 points isn't all that much. You'll be lucky to get two Angels back because of their size. Had I thought about it, the text should've had "Or One Angel of any Vitality" added to it.

Thoughts? Would that be better? Should it have been 12 or 14 points, especially since you're spending a stone?

Side note: Reading through the other Seven Seas cards, I saw that there's one called "Balder's Gate", which is essentially the same card, but for Knights. I wonder if they copied my idea, or if we were both inspired by something else. I don't remember.

New Card: Run Away! (Seven Seas #4)

Years ago, many of my "sigcards" from the Yahoo Mailing List for Guardians CCG were incorporated into the fan-made expansion set Seven Seas. I have started to import my homebrew cards to this blog in case Phil, the Bar Fly's website ever goes away.

This card might've started as a joke, but the text seems serious enough to me now.

Run Away! Spell, Up 6
Play on one of your own creatures in a primary match-up before any ranged attacks or any other Spells are cast (but after any Bribery attempts). Your creature flees to your Creature Pen.
(Artwork: Den, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

The effect is bribing your own Creature if you think it will likely lose. You have to allow for Bribery first -- although if someone bribes your Creature, then you don't need to cast it. You could try to Bribe your opponent first, also. Failing that, it's a way to save your creature, but it must be done before ranged attacks start.

I would rule that it would NOT save a Creature from Destruction. In my games, "Destroys" takes immediate effect right after Bribery. While this is like Bribery, it is a Spell, so the Destruction happens first.

The only retroactive Spell card in the game is "Dispel Magic". No other Spell interrupts earlier Spells or effects.

New Card: Pony Express (Seven Seas #3)

Years ago, many of my "sigcards" from the Yahoo Mailing List for Guardians CCG were incorporated into the fan-made expansion set Seven Seas. I have started to import my homebrew cards to this blog in case Phil, the Bar Fly's website ever goes away.

I made a comment on the previous card about increasing movement. I look at the next card, and it's a Spell that increases movement!

The limitation of Pony Express is that it requires the Shield to have a Horse, and the Horses must be discarded -- so it would be silly, and wasteful, to have more than one.

Pony Express Spell, Up 2,
Play before turning a Shield. Non-flying shield may move one extra space as long as the Shield has at least one Horse. Discard all Horses after moving. All other movement restrictions apply.
(Artwork: Whelan, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

The only possible "abuse" I see of this, and people are free to argue, is if the Horse has an Amulet of Flying. This could make it conceivable that there could be a First-Turn Guardian Kill. It would take an amazing stroke of luck to pull off though. You would have to have this Spell, a Horse, an Amulet of Flying, a Shield, and large flying creatures with some way to kill the opponent's Guardian. This assumes that you don't have to fight any creatures defending the Stronghold first.

Were this to happen against me, I'd likely be equal parts impressed and ticked off. But I would also say, shuffle 'em up, and let's go again.

New Card: Battering Ram (Seven Seas #2)

Years ago, many of my "sigcards" from the Yahoo Mailing List for Guardians CCG were incorporated into the fan-made expansion set Seven Seas. I have started to import my homebrew cards to this blog in case Phil, the Bar Fly's website ever goes away.

The second card, another Hand Magic Item, was Battering Ram. Note: usually, there wasn't any particular reason for the Up number on the card.

Battering Ram Hand Magic Item, Up 9,
Play as a command card. When your Shield is attacking, Battering Ram has a 2-pt AOE for each space moved. Does not affect flying creatures.
(Artwork: Sweet, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

Basically, it was either a 2-pt or a 4-pt AOE, unless there's a card that allows three-space movement. (If I created a homebrew card that allows three space movement, it wouldn't be allowed to fly, and it wouldn't be allowed to attack a Guardian on the same turn. I might even give the Shield a negative modifier for battle.)

Addendum: Okay, so I typed and scheduled this post and then looked for the next card -- which actually allows extra movement, with restrictions. It's possible that it could be abused, but not too likely, I think.

New Card: Elixir of Energy (Seven Seas #1)

Years ago, there was a Yahoo Mailing List for the Guardians CCG. I was a regular contributor, and I had a tendency to sign off each of my emails with a homebrew card, some serious, some silly (and unplayable), but usually related to whatever the discussion was about.

Back around 2002, some of the Guardians players online decided that they wanted to create the proposed Seven Seas expansion, which never got past the naming stage. (There was a name for an expansion, and that's it.)

As this progressed, many of the cards I suggested on the list were made into cards, and they were better at it than I am.

For those who want to see them all right now, the rules and cards can be found at Phil, the Bar Fly's website.

On the off chance that his site ever disappears, I'm going to import some of my cards over here, now that there are people actually visiting this site.

Elixir of Energy Hand Magic Item, Up 12,
Play after any primary matchup is resolved. Turn any face-up channeler face down again. This card may not be removed from the discard pile. (Artwork: Giancola, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

I originally made a comment about Champs, the Wonder Dog, which is why this card couldn't be removed from the discard pile. It might have made more sense to say, "after playing, remove this card from the game".

New Card: Naiad

I saw this posted as a Writing Prompt, and I got a thousand-word story out of it. I also thought that it would look nice on a card. But what kind? A creature or a Spell?

I went with creature, and made it a variant of the Water Nymph. It's not a Selkie, as it's wearing clothes, not a seal skin. It's not a Siren, because you wouldn't find one walking the beach. Even Mermaid didn't seem to fit. Then I remembered Naiads, which are similar to Dryads, only with water, not wood. That would do. (I stumbled across another name ... but I didn't bookmark the link or write it down, so ... it's gone.)

The stats are similar to Water Nymphs, and there aren't any crazy new abilities. Just an old-style card with nice artwork.

I could not find the creator for this image. I'm seem it copied to many boards, but have no idea who made it or when. If anyone knows, I'll happily update this card and give proper credit.
Update: I saw a repost that says the original artist is Foo Midori, @foomidori on Twitter.

Naiad, External, Vitality 6, OCB 1, M, Nymph, Gold, green bar. +2 Vitality in Rivers & Lakes.

I see now that I wrote "+2" instead of "+2 Vitality", which is game-standard language. I'll fix that at some point.

I have nothing else to add. Any comments?

New Card: Shield Maiden

I saw a Shield Maiden posted, and knew that I had a new Knight card. It was just a matter of deciding what protection she gives.
First thing though, I saw this image by Daniel Comerci, which was posted three years ago (either 2017 or late 2016). Had I search, I would have found many suitable images, but I saw this one first, and I liked it. I did have a problem with its width -- I literally could not zoom out any farther to get the rest of her shield or the top of her spear without black bars appearing on the sides.

Shield Maiden, Mortal, Vitality 4/6, OCB 0, M, Knight, red bar. +3 Vitality to the next Knight you play. If your next primary attacker is a Knight, it gets +5 instead.

I couldn't decide if she should be a 3/5 or a 4/6. Five and sixes are good for Knight shields. I thought 3/6 was too much of a stacking penalty, considering that she doesn't have the traditional Knight off-color bonus (which is roughly half their Vitality).

Her ability applies only to other Knights (which could even be another Shield Maiden) but you don't have to play the Knight as the next card, so there's a little unpredictability. Also, the +5 only applies if it's a primary match-up, not as a secondary attacker.

And, of course, even though I didn't write it on the card, the bonus only applies for this combat. You don't get the +5 in your next battle.