Star Link (XYZ Support)

[Tesability Black]

Alright, the idea for this card hit me so very out of the blue, I'm not even sure what inspired it. Either way. here's a card for you all to think on.

 

 

Effect: XYZ monsters you control instead have a Level equal to their Rank as long as you also control a non-XYZ monster with an equal Level. (If an Xyz monster(s) with a Level would be used for a Xyz Summon, Xyz Material(s) attached to that card(s) are attached to the summoned monster as Xyz Material.) When you Xyz Summon a Xyz monster with 4 or more materials, inflict 200 points of damage to your own Life Points for every Xyz Material attached to every Xyz monster you control.

 

Explaination: Alright, here's how this card is supposed to work. Let's say you have a Rank Four XYZ on the field. If you happen to have a Level Four monster on the field at the same time, the XYZ monster becomes treated as if it has a Level instead of a Rank. At first, this card wasn't going to have any form of restrictions until I thought of how this could be used to XYZ summon other monsters with rediculous numbers of materials on them, which would be a few levels of bad news since it could also lead to XYZ spamming as well. Since I am currently unaware of any XYZ monsters that naturally have 4 or more materials on them when first summoned, that's why I have it so that it doesn't create a backlash until you do have that many on a single XYZ monster. Then the cost burns you for ALL the materials on ALL of that kind of monster. Think of it as a form of overload. Also, image is somewhat temporary, will replace it once I get a MUCH-better idea for the card art...)

 

Also, I remembered what inspired this. I, for some unknowable reason, had randomly flashed back to when I had used the card Star Blast in a Starter Deck Tournament (meaning the only cards you had to work with was a specific Starter Deck and a certain number of booster packs). This was just before Dark Strike Fighter first got landed on the banlist, so it was a while ago.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

[Progenitor]

[Spoiler OCG]

Effect: XYZ monsters you control instead have a Level equal to their Rank as long as you also control a monster with an equal Level. If an Xyz monster(s) with a Level would be used for a Xyz Summon, Xyz Material(s) attached to that card(s) are attached to the summoned monster as Xyz Material.  During your End Phase, if you control a XYZ monster with 4 or more material cards, this card deals 100 x the number of material cards on all XYZ monsters you control. inflict 100 points of damage to your own Life Points for every Xyz Material attached to every Xyz monster you control.

.

[/spoiler]

 

A very interesting card indeed.  It has some serious combo potential.  In regard to your concern about monsters that can have 4 or more materials when summoned, there are a few, but they are not very much used.  The only two real viable ones I think are Thunder Spark Dragon, and Number 86: Heroic Champion Rhongomiant.

 

However, I do have to take a stand against this.  Some monsters in the game should not have too many materials in my opinion.  That's just the way it is.  Imagine a 101 with 6 materials.  Imagine a Dracossack with 4.  How about Pleiades or Volcasaurus with 4?  Adding too many materials to one card can make a very good effect into a broken one on certain cards, and while this may not seem op to some, the cost is nowhere near steep enough.  So I get out 101 with 6 mats, just by comboing a few Xyz together (not hard at all in rank 4 spam decks like Tellarknights or Star Seraph), I steal your problem monster.  Then at the EP I only take 500 and still have 101 with 5 mats, so I can protect it 5 times, which means that next turn I am almost guaranteed another steal.  See what I mean?

 

I like the idea behind this don't get me wrong, but as of now cost is almost nonexistent, and that is not good.

[Tesability Black]

Yeah, I had the feeling I royally-bonked on the OCG, I really wasn't sure how to phrase some of it.

The ultimate question now is how much to increase the backlash damage to without it being so high as to render it completely unusable...?

[Progenitor]

Yeah, I had the feeling I royally-bonked on the OCG, I really wasn't sure how to phrase some of it.

The ultimate question now is how much to increase the backlash damage to without it being so high as to render it completely unusable...?

That is a very tough question, since the multiplier is very touchy.  I would say a minimum of 200x, but no higher than 300x.  That way the minimum damage you could possible take is 800 or 1200.  I'm not really sure which is more justified, but it definitely needs to be either of the two.  Another thing that just popped into my head is this:

 

You can make an Xyz with 4 mats, use its detach effect once, and not take the effect damage.  Because of this I think that maybe the burn should come on summon:

 

 

Effect: XYZ monsters you control instead have a Level equal to their Rank as long as you also control a monster with an equal Level. If an Xyz monster(s) with a Level would be used for a Xyz Summon, Xyz Material(s) attached to that card(s) are attached to the summoned monster as Xyz Material.  During your End Phase, if you control a XYZ monster with 4 or more material cards, this card deals 100 x the number of material cards on all XYZ monsters you control. When you Xyz Summon a Xyz monster with 4 or more materials, inflict 100 XXX points of damage to your own Life Points for every Xyz Material attached to every Xyz monster you control.

[Tesability Black]

If it's on summon, 200 x times the number of XYZ materials on all controlled XYZ monsters would be enough. Once I get access to a computer with a proper art program, I will be updating this.

 

I just thought of one itty-bitty tweak...

 

XYZ monsters you control instead have a Level equal to their Rank as long as you also control a non-XYZ monster with an equal Level. If an Xyz monster(s) with a Level would be used for a Xyz Summon, Xyz Material(s) attached to that card(s) are attached to the summoned monster as Xyz Material.  During your End Phase, if you control a XYZ monster with 4 or more material cards, this card deals 100 x the number of material cards on all XYZ monsters you control. When you Xyz Summon a Xyz monster with 4 or more materials, inflict 100 XXX points of damage to your own Life Points for every Xyz Material attached to every Xyz monster you control.

[Yemachu]

A rather unique effect I must say. There is 1 card that immediatly comes to mind that can really benefit from it "Ghostrick Dorklord" (yeah, weird name and does not fit its art-work). That card wins you the Duel once it has 10 Xyz Materials on it; if you can spam enough Level 4 or lower monsters, you might be able to win the duel in just 1 turn. You might have missed that card, but this card makes it a little bit too easy to fulfill that requirement. Limiting this effect to once per turn would not work out that well, because it is a continuous effect. Though I must add that this is not actually an issue: your card does not specify that the Xyz Materials on the Xyz Monsters you use as Xyz Materials for the Xyz Summon of an Xyz Monster become Xyz Materials on that Xyz Monster (used the word Xyz 7 times in sentence<_< , new personal record). More understandable version of last sentence: your card does not include "Xyz Materials on monsters used for an Xyz Summon also become Xyz Materials on that Xyz Monster.". I have a suggestion to fix this, but more on that later.
 
Then there is the effect that burns the opponent if your Xyz Monsters have an excess of Xyz Materials. This can be hard to tweak, especially since you use a different number once you have reached the minimum amount. I don't think this effect will often be an issue; but others might disagree on that. My suggestion is to have the effect deal moderate damage (about 800 points) based on the number of Xyz Monsters with more than 4 Xyz Materials, or only count Xyz Materials on monsters where this is the case.
 
But back on the issue with "Ghostrick Dorklord", I would word the effect a little bit different; though it does change the effect quite a bit. Here it is: "Once per turn, when you Xyz Summon, you can treat the Rank of Xyz Monsters as their Level for that Xyz Summon. (Any Xyz Materials on monsters used for an Xyz Summon also become Xyz Materials on that Xyz Monster.) Once per turn, during your End Phase: inflict 800 damage to your opponent for each Xyz Monster you control with 4 or more Xyz Materials attached to it." The card grammer might be of, but it is to give you a basic idea of what I mean. Also, your Xyz Monsters remain unaffected by "Gravity Bind" and other Level related cards; although that might be a downside to this solution. Also the burn effect is generic and can, of course, be changed to your liking.

 

Quite a wall of text huh? I hope you have some usage for what I typed down.

[Tesability Black]

The burn effect on your opponent in the original effect was a huge mistake on my part, I had pretty much just woke up when I typed it up. It was suppposed to be a SELF-burn instead.

 

Also, in regards to that Ghosttrick, let's assume that you use XYZ monsters that need 2 materials each. If one was to try to reach that in one turn with a brand-new XYZ on the field, it'd wind up totalling 3900 LP worth of damage for that one monster itself if using the 100xXYZ materals on all XYZ monsters upon summon. That's also assuming you don't have other XYZ monsters with materials on it, as well.

 

You could do it, but if try when you have less LP than that or without any form of healing, you've gonna KO yourself

[Yemachu]

Alright, I didn't catch that the damage was inflicted to you; instead of your opponent. that balances it quite a bit, especially with the on-Summon burn. Though I don't know how much damage "xxx" is. Also if you somehow manage to get 2 rank 1, 2 or 3 "Ghostrick" monsters on your side of the field; you already have 8 materials for "Ghostrick Dorklord" her Xyz Summon. Example:

 

Xyz Summon any 2 of the following Xyz monsters: "Ghostrick Dullahan", "Ghostrick Socuteboss" or "Ghostrick Alucard". Then use "Ghostrick Dorklord" her effect to Xyz Summon her using 1 of the listed monsters, and add a "Ghostrick" card from your hand to that monster. Rinse and repeat. Now you should have 2 "Ghostrick Dorklord" on the field with 4 Xyz Materials each; Xyz Summoning the third copy using these monsters instantly gives it 10 Xyz Materials, winning you the duel. That would cost you only 1000 LP... not that it matters once you have won the duel.

[Progenitor]

Alright, I didn't catch that the damage was inflicted to you; instead of your opponent. that balances it quite a bit, especially with the on-Summon burn. Though I don't know how much damage "xxx" is. Also if you somehow manage to get 2 rank 1, 2 or 3 "Ghostrick" monsters on your side of the field; you already have 8 materials for "Ghostrick Dorklord" her Xyz Summon. Example:

 

Xyz Summon any 2 of the following Xyz monsters: "Ghostrick Dullahan", "Ghostrick Socuteboss" or "Ghostrick Alucard". Then use "Ghostrick Dorklord" her effect to Xyz Summon her using 1 of the listed monsters, and add a "Ghostrick" card from your hand to that monster. Rinse and repeat. Now you should have 2 "Ghostrick Dorklord" on the field with 4 Xyz Materials each; Xyz Summoning the third copy using these monsters instantly gives it 10 Xyz Materials, winning you the duel. That would cost you only 1000 LP... not that it matters once you have won the duel.

 

As you stated, you would win the duel at the cost of 2000 life points (cuz he is bumping the burn up to 200x), but this is probably  the only situation that this becomes an extreme, and the combo requres you basically make 2 Ghostrick Xyz in the same turn and have 2 Ghostrick cards in your hand.  Seems broken on pen and paper, but in reality it is much more difficult to pull of, as it becomes a 7 card combo vs other OTKs that just rely on 3 or 4.  Additionally at any time your opponent has the potential to interrupt this play by simply dropping torrential, compulse, bottomless, fiendishing one of the Dorklords, etc.

[Yemachu]

As you stated, you would win the duel at the cost of 2000 life points (cuz he is bumping the burn up to 200x), but this is probably  the only situation that this becomes an extreme, and the combo requres you basically make 2 Ghostrick Xyz in the same turn and have 2 Ghostrick cards in your hand.  Seems broken on pen and paper, but in reality it is much more difficult to pull of, as it becomes a 7 card combo vs other OTKs that just rely on 3 or 4.  Additionally at any time your opponent has the potential to interrupt this play by simply dropping torrential, compulse, bottomless, fiendishing one of the Dorklords, etc.

Can't argue with that point (well, you actually can; but I don't see a reason why); the combo is indeed quite situational. Might be fun to run in a casual deck though. With that out of the way, I think the creator of this card can leave it the way its current concept is. Might be a bit confusing: Xyz Monsters with levels (what does "Rank-Up Magic Astral Force"? for example), but otherwise I don't see much trouble with this card. 

[Tesability Black]

Cards that require a Rank will not work if you also have a monster that's at the same Level. If you don't, they work as normal. For example, if you have a Rank 4 XYZ and a Level 4 monster out at the same time, Rank Up Magic Astral Force and other similar cards will not work. It would be possibly-broken if I had the card have the XYZ be treated as having BOTH a Level and a Rank.