New Card: Bodyguard Bob (Seven Seas #15)

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 is an oddity. I do not remember it. I don't remember writing it, nor do I recall seeing it on the Seven Seas page (even though it was there). The name doesn't sound like something I came up with, and I don't remember anything of the sort. There's nothing in my files. I even searched on the ability to cancel a ranged attack in case the name of the creature was changed for some reason.

It's possible that I did suggest it somewhere without it appearing on the mailing list. I don't know.

Bodyguard Bob Mortal, Vitality 7, OCB 0, large, Gold, Beer, Babes, Knight, CMP 0, red bar.
Ranged attack: Cancel a ranged attack. Discard Bodyguard Bob when used as a ranged attack.
(Artwork: Brom, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

A couple things that seem off about this: I don't know how I'd feel about making a Vitality 7 card a ranged attack. And it would have to be a massive attack for me not only to waste 7 points on a ranged attack, but to discard the card afterward.

Also, I'm not a fan of the artwork selected for this card. It's great, and I like Brom. But it's a minotaur, which could be a creature in its own right, or an entire class of them. If such were created, it would make this one more confusing, unless it was retrofitted.

I'm asking your opinion. Feel free to respond in the comments.

New card: Sand Witch (Seven Seas #14)

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.

First off, I hope to find a larger size image of this card. It's not on Phil's site. Oddly, it's not on the CD-ROM that I received years ago from JC Prunet. (Yes, I dug that out of a closet.) So I only have the small image. Maybe I can create my own, if I find this image. It won't look as good.

The Sand Witch is obviously a very bad pun, which makes it perfect for Guardians.

Update:Thank you to Yves-Arnaud Jouret for supplying a larger version of this image!

Sand Witch Mortal, Vitality 6, OCB 0, Medium, Gold, Wizard, CMP 3, green bar.
Can only channel to creatures on Dry Heaps terrain.
(Artwork: Whelan, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

Since it was a joke, I didn't think about the playability of the card, specifically whether or not it should be able to channel to creatures that otherwise cannot accept channeling. Would that make it overpowered? Does the way it is written now make it underpowered?

I'm asking your opinion. Feel free to respond in the comments.

New Card: Priest (Seven Seas #13)

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 longstanding complaints is that Angels are underpowered (and underrepresented) compared to Demons and Devils. Another is that Undead are overpowered since the release of Necropolis Park. Perhaps that could've been addressed in future releases, and perhaps not.

The Priest character was designed against to be useful about "My Regular Opponent"'s Undead deck.

Priest Mortal, Vitality 8, OCB 0, Medium, Gold, Wizard, CMP 0, green bar.
Command: 8 pt. AOE that only affects Undead. Priest counts as Cleric
(Artwork: Maitz, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

Cleric is a subset of Wizard, and whatever affects one should affect the other.

Yes, I made it an 8-pt AOE, and it only stacks as an 8. But it's useless against non-Undead, so that's a limitation. Plus, it's a bit of an expensive Command card to play. I didn't bother with a Stacking penalty because it would render the card mostly useless unless the player has a Petrified Heart, which negates the penalty anyway.

I wasn't exactly thrilled by the selection of artwork. Not that it's bad, but it's not what I would've picked for this card.

New Card: Gn'unchkins Gnome (Seven Seas #12)

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.

Occasionally, my .sigcards had a theme that I spread across several posts in the Yahoo mailing list. One of those themes was The Wizard of Oz, and a couple of these cards found their way into Seven Seas. There's nothing in particular about them that screams "gnome" other than the Munchkins were small. I like this bonus as it plays well later in the game, unless a lot of special cards get dropped, or if you're forced to play face down terrain cards.

Gn'unchkins Gnome Mortal, Vitality 3, OCB 1, Small, Gold, Bug/Knight, CMP 0, green bar.
+2 Vitality on any face-up basic terrain type in the disputed land area.
(Artwork: Parkinson, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Thierry)

I kept the "Gn'" prefix, as seems to be customary.

New Card: Warrior Ants (Seven Seas #11)

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.

Another Bug card, this one was designed to be a Knight as well. The Vitality bonus was probably because it seemed to be a good effect.

Warrior Ants Mortal, Vitality 4, OCB 2, Small, Gold, Bug/Knight, CMP 0, red bar.
+2 Vitality vs. medium-sized Creatures.
(Artwork: Whelan, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

Ants are a natural creature to be exploited for the game. I wouldn't want to build a deck around them. I definitely wouldn't want to build an expansion around them, either, but having a few in each new expansion could've been good.

By the way, since I haven't mentioned it in a while, comments are welcome on this blog.

New Card: Itsy Bitsy Spider (Seven Seas #10)

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 may have started as a joke. But since so many actual Guardians cards are jokes, too, this one actually fits in pretty well. They have a stacking "bonus" because of their text box penalty. But if they die, your Shield may have to discard a creature to keep under the limit.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Mortal, Vitality 3/1, OCB 0, Small, Bug, CMP 0, red bar.
-3 Vitality in Rivers and Lakes, unless its primary matchup opponent has a fire-based attack
(Artwork: Ploog, Text: C.J. Burke, Design: Cath)

Unpacking the card text: down came the rain and washed the spider out, out came the sun and dried up all the rain. The bug is effectively Vitality 0 in Rivers & Lakes, unless it comes up against a fire-based creature. Unfortunately, it will still, most likely, lose to that creature given it's low Vitality. It might be useful for secondary attacks, but not in Rivers & Lakes.

Side note: I like the artwork on this one. It really fits in with existing cards.

New Card: Milk Lady Brown / Closing the Barn Door (Seven Seas #9)

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 nearly caused a rift between me and Phil. He created the card to be a female companion to Farmer Brown. I had created a Spell with the same ability. Now it was possible that we just came up with similar ideas, but I pointed out that the text of this card was exactly the text from my card suggestion on the mailing list. Anyway, he split the credit. Honestly, I think it's too expensive for a command card, and I think a Spell would have been better. The argument for the creature card is that it's reusable.

Milk Lady Brown Mortal, Vitality 5/9, OCB 0, Medium, Misc. Human, CMP 0, red bar.
C: None of your Barnyard Animals may be bribed or sent back to the Creature Pen during combat. (This overrides any Spell that says they can be).
(Artwork: Rust, Text: from the Spell "Closing the Barn Door" of C.J. Burke, Design: Cath) Sorry, but we don't have her phone number (Philbarfly) one joke with JC ...pretty girl !!! argghhh (Thierry)

BONUS: My Original Spell:

Closing the Barn Door, Spell, Up 1
Play during the Movement Phase before turning any Shields. For the rest of the turn, none of your Barnyard Animals may be bribed or sent back to the Creature Pen (this overrides any Spell that says they can be).

A Barnyard Animal deck could be fun ... once. But they seem hard to win with, and easy to counter. They are more of a nuisance. I wouldn't mind a little help for them.