Magic the Gathering - My Made-up Cards

Hello everyone, this week I was given the task to create three new cards for the popular card game, Magic: The Gathering. Within that task, I was to balance the cards so that they can be playable in the actual game; costs = benefits. The rules for both costs and benefits are as follows:

Costs:
 Baseline = +1
 Each colourless mana = +1
 Each coloured mana = +2
 Total mana cost of 5 or more = +1 (+2 for Green)
Benefits:
 Each 1 Power or 1 Toughness = +1
 Being Red or Blue creature = +1

First up is the Isolated Boy.

His costs include:

1. The card baseline. (1)

2. Three colourless mana. (3*1=3)

3. One coloured mana. (1*2=2)

4. The cost so far is >= 5, but the card is not green, so there's only an added cost of one. (1)

5. Together, that equals 7.

His benefits include:

1. Power of 3.

2. Toughness of 4.

3. Not a Red or Blue creature. (0)

4. Together, that equals 7.

Isolated Boy's cost (7) equals its benefits (7), and is therefore balanced.

Next up is the Toddler's Drawing.

His costs include:

1. The card baseline. (1)

2. One colourless mana. (1*1=1)

3. One coloured mana. (1*2=2)

4. The cost so far is not >= 5, so there's no added cost. (0)

5. Together, that equals 4.

His benefits include:

1. Power of 2.

2. Toughness of 2.

3. Not a Red or Blue creature. (0)

4. Together, that equals 4.

Toddler's Drawing's cost (4) equals its benefits (4), and is therefore balanced.

Finally, we have Linkolian. No he is not Link from Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda", he just looks strikingly similar to him. Sheer coincidence, honest! =P

His costs include:

1. The card baseline. (1)

2. Fifteen colourless mana. (15*1=15)

3. One coloured mana. (1*2=2)

4. The cost so far is >= 5, and the card is green, so there's an added cost of two. (2)

5. Together, that equals 20.

His benefits include:

1. Power of 10.

2. Toughness of 10.

3. It is not a Red or Blue creature. (0)

4. Together, that equals 20.

Linkolian's cost (20) equals its benefits (20), and is therefore balanced.

So that's that. Whadda ya guys think? Fancy? =]

Pokemon Resources Short Critique

                Pokémon is a well-balanced game that uses many variables in a very intricately laid out fashion.  They work together to give a realistic feel for the Pokémon world; allowing each Pokémon to be unique, even if they’re of the same species. Looking back to a previous iteration of the series, Pokémon Fire Red version, there was a frustrating spike near the end of the game. After attaining the final badge which allows the player to challenge the Elite Four, their Pokémon are significantly stronger than the final gym leader. This usually causes the player to farm their Pokémon’s experience points in order to level them up. Since the amount of experience points required to level up increases relatively to a cubic exponential degree, it will (for example) take a while for the player to level up his Level 50 Charizard to Level 60. That’s the most important part I would change. Thankfully, I feel that Game Freak addressed that issue in future games, like in the recent Black and White versions.

                There is one other aspect I would like to change, albeit a small issue, and it hasn’t been addressed even to this day: Poké Ball prices. I feel that the decreasing triangle relationship works for the regular Poké Balls, however all of the special Poké Balls are priced the same at 1000 currency. For the regular Poké Balls, they cost 200, 600, and 1200 for Poké, Great, and Ultra respectively. (There is only one Master Ball per game which the player receives as a gift near the end of the game.) The special Poké Balls benefit the player only under certain circumstances. So why bother purchasing a special ball, when one can buy an Ultra Ball for just 200 extra? Ultra balls have a x2 catch rate for all scenarios, while special Poké balls have a x1 or x3 catch rate depending on if the player used it in the particular scenario that it’s supposed to be used for. As a long-time Pokémon gamer, I feel that such specific scenarios occur very infrequently. There are also many different special Poké Balls, and it would be costly to purchase one of each ball for scenarios that the player may not even encounter. To boot, other than the Master Ball, there’s never a guaranteed catch; so if the player uses her only ‘Fast Ball’ and doesn’t catch the Pokémon, the player will have to resort to her larger supply of trusty Ultra Balls. I believe prices of such special Poké Balls should be cheaper, maybe around the price of a Great Ball – then would I invest in them. I also believe that among the many different special Poké Balls, the prices should vary depending on the possible frequency of the special Poké Ball’s use. Other than that, I think Pokémon is awesome!