Mini-Set: Havox

[Galkin]

The "Havox" mini-set I made consists of 3 cards: 1 Ritual Boss, 1 Ritual Spell and 1 Support. It revolves around the use of "Havox Counters" in order to activate "Havox Harbringer"s Win Condition as well as applying the same's protection effect, making the boss a barrier as well as a guillotine. Enjoy.

 

[spoiler='Havox Harbringer']

 

Cannot be Special Summoned except by Ritual Summon. Once per turn, if this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: Place 1 "Havox Counter" on 1 face-up card on the field (except "Havox Harbringer"); destroy 1 card on the field. While there are "Havox Counters" on the field, this card cannot be targeted by card effects. During your opponent's End Phase, if there are 4 or more "Havox Counters" on the field: You win the Duel.

 

Notes:

- "You win the Duel" is a win condition, not effect. It cannot be negated nor be stopped from activating. It will also be the first thing to happen on that End Phase. If a card effect would remove a card with "Havox Counters" from the field on that End Phase, the player wins the duel first.

- Its win condition is also a continuous check made by "Havox Harbringer". If there is no face-up "Havox Harbringer", even if there are 4 or more "Havox Counters" on the field, the win condition is not applied.

 

[/spoiler]

[spoiler='Havox Call']

 

This card is used to Ritual Summon "Havox Harbringer". You must also Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total levels equal 12. If "Havox Harbringer" is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can banish this card in your Graveyard; place 1 "Havox Counter" on 1 face-up card your opponent controls and, if you do, during your next End Phase, add 1 "Havox Harbringer" from your Graveyard to your hand.

 

Note:

- You need to tribute exactly 12 levels.[/spoiler]

[spoiler='Havox Dragoon']

 

If this card would be Tributed for a Ritual Summon: You can double this card's level. When this card is Normal Summoned, apply any of the following effect(s) depending on the number  of "Havox Counters" on the field: ● 0: Place up to 2 "Havox Counters" on 1 face-up card your opponent controls. You cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards during this turn, if you place 2 "Havox Counters" with this effect. ● 1+: Add 1 Ritual Spell Card in your Graveyard or Banished Pile to your hand. ● 2+: Increase this card's level by up to 2.
 

Notes:

- It's effect to double its level upon Tribute: doubles its current level. If "Havox Dragoon" increased its level by 2, then upon being Tributed for a Ritual Summon, its level can be treated as either 5 or 10.

- Due to the form, its 1+ and 2+ effects both be applied at once, but its "0" effect can only be used if there are no "Havox Counters" on the field.

- The levels it can be without further manipulation aside from its own are: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10.

[/spoiler]

[wightpower]

This is way to coincidental. I'm actually working on a Ritual monster with some support cards right now. But I digress.

 

I am always in favor of more Ritual Monsters, so this topic brings me great joy. As for the almighty death god you've brought us today, I'm glad you've made a Ritual Monster that's actually useful, but I'm always on the fence about effects that let you win the duel on their own. I actually think I'd prefer you to beef up this guy's ATK and DEF so long as you take away its instant-win condition; or at least make it take more than 4 counters to win. I feel like the controller will get to 4 pretty easily, but maybe I'm just overestimating the effect. Havox Call is also one of the most useful Ritual Spells I've ever seen for its specific monster, but I'm glad you limited the effect to exactly 12 levels. That tips the balance a little. I don't know, I'm torn. On one hand, I'm glad to see a badass ritual, but on the other hand, I have this gut feeling that it's way too powerful. Now that I'm getting a good look at Havox Dragoon, the ability to bring this beast to the field with enough counters already out to win seems really easy. I know you've given this some costs and limitations to the effect, but as it's written now, they seem more like minor inconveniences for a short time, rather than a great risk to the owner.

 

My only suggestions would be to remove it's instant-win condition and make the counters do something else, like gaining ATK or destroying more cards. I think if you changed that, this card would feel a hell of a lot more manly to play. I'd be happier with a giant doomsday dragon beating my opponent's monsters with impunity rather than letting me win via effect like a sneak. Very unmanly.

 

But again, I love seeing rituals, and I'm still glad to see this card. I hope you get more reviewers to give their own two cents on this one. 

[Galkin]

The thing is that I wanted this card to stand out as a Ritual with a Win Condition, not just a monster. I also wanted to make this Win Condition different in the sense that it is one that requires interaction between players; Harbringer needs to battle; other Havox cards need a face-up card from your opponent.

 

Your opponent has control of these counters, not you (for the most part). They can stop Harbringer's effect by not placing a monster. They can stop all other Havox cards by keeping their cards face-down. It almost forces opponents to kill their own cards in the "havox" that is trying to avoid the Win Condition and also diverts attention away from Harbringer as they try to kill your cards that have Havox Counters (even then, they can also do it by stopping battle).

 

In reality, pulling off that Win Condition is very difficult. Once there are 3 counters on the field, your opponent will stop placing monsters, period. Seeing as it is impossible to put further counters without destroying Harbringer for "Havox Call" and then delaying yourself to recover. Physcologically, your opponent just locked themselves from monsters out of fear of the final 4th counter and having no answer to it. In reality, 85% of the time, you only put that 4th counter because your opponent let you, not because you decided to.

 

Out of all the things I can do, I cannot remove that Win Condition. The whole point was that pressuring Win Condition. What I can do is add a further restriction that says that "Once per turn, if this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard..." as to prevent you from getting sneaky and summoning monsters on their side of the field, but I felt that was already too limiting considering you needed 12 exact levels to summon it and it takes a minimum of 3 turns to pull off the Win Condition.

[IsaAbdullah]

Where did you get the art for these cards? :o I love the art! I apologize that this is off-topic.