[Post-Contest Tune-up] 20 days... (Purple Mirror)

[Trebuchet MS]

[spoiler Lore]Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand, and if you do, your opponent chooses 1 of these effects.
*Skip your next Draw Phase.
*Skip your next Main Phase 1 and Main Phase 2.
*Skip your next Battle Phase.[/spoiler]

 

Well, the contest in question is theoretically still ongoing, but the main judge has been inactive for several months and the contest could be declared comatose. Anyways...

 

So what's the deal with it, besides being one of the demons in Devil Survivor 2 that you can customize to be invincible to everything except Almighty attacks?

 

The urban legend centering around this involves young women getting cursed if they somehow fail to forget the phrase "purple mirror" by their 20th birthday. What kind of misfortune it entails is unknown.

 

How to work this flavour into the card itself? Why not take this 20 year time limit and drastically shorten it to less than a turn? If the opponent doesn't forget (deal with) Murasaki Kagami the moment they see it (when it's Normal Summoned or flipped up) by the End Phase (when its effect triggers), they are cursed with a sadistic choice that forces them to give up one of their precious Phase types and mess up their subsequent plays. Murasaki Kagami is granted 2000 DEF not just as a reference to its urban legend, but also as a limited guarantee that its effect goes off (and force the opponent to waste removal) should the opponent happen to attack into it.

 

Don't misread the card - like the other "opponent chooses an effect" cards (e.g. Changing Destiny), the effect is applied from the opponent's point of view, so the curse affects the opponent. Now, I know the threat of skipping Draw Phases is potent enough to get a card banned, as Time Seal and Yata have demonstrated, but this card gives your opponent control of what part of their next turn they're giving up, so there's no guarantee your opponent is trapped in a no-draw loop.

 

Besides, you people love player interaction. What better form of player interaction than an effect that forces the opponent into a sadistic choice?

 

[cardffreakxx]

i Absolutely LOVE the Idea and the artwork along with it. it Fits the picture and the effect is very balanced.   Great Job!

[CuriousHeartless]

Well, not much to add on to the card, maybe it could be a Zombie to represent being a ghost, but Fiend works too.

 

Truth be told, the first thing I noticed was the artwork. I immediatley recognized it as from Devil Survivor 2, and I think it goes really good with the background. Love the way you worked the mythology into the card. Overall, I probably wouldn't use this in real life, but that's just because I prefer Warriors or Water decks. But I would totally use it if I made a Dark deck.

 

Not sure why your opponent would ever choose to skip their draw phase though, unless they've used something like Reckless Greed and are already skipping it. I guess if they're confident they can get everything they need done with the cards they already have, they might. But I might be a bit worried about an opponent willing to choose that option.

 

And decks that don't use attacks too much would probably just always skip their battle phases. Not sure of a good time your opponent would ever choose to skip their Main Phases, but I'm sure they exist.

 

Powerful because it makes your opponent skip phases, but pulled back to balance because your opponent chooses what to lose. Although, I'm fairly certain that's obvious and I'm just rambling now. Either way, nice card. Good design, good balance, good abilities, and well-fitting stats.

[krakonfour]

Love this card, it forces our opponent into choices we don't otherwise see in Yugioh (most of the time, the opponent creates choices for himself through the cards he controls).

 

If only everyone built cards this way, with a history, theme and effects balanced.

[Excalibur the Divine]

Very nice.

Also it follows the spirit theme of returning to hand and eats up the normal summon.