Balancing Booster Sets #3 - Magic Ruler

[Baneful]

Magic Ruler is a set with powerful spell cards, although some of them were a bit too powerful out the gate.  I nerfed some of them but still made them viable.  The monsters in this set were relatively weaker so I gave them a buff.  By lowering a lot of the levels, I made these cards playable without the cards exceeding the LV4-1800 and LV6-2500 limits. 

 

The following monsters will be changed from LV7 to LV6:

Ryu-Ran, Manga Ryu-Ran, Hyozanryu, Serpent Night Dragon, Slot Machine

 

The following monsters will be changed from LV5 to LV4:

Metal Fish, Peacock, Ancient One of the Deep Forest, Dark Witch, Giant Turtle Who Feeds on Flames, Octoberser

1. Black Pendant - Both the ATK boost and damage are 800 instead of 500.
2. Horn of Light - The DEF boost is 1600 instead of 800.
3. Hiro's Shadow Scout - The effect applies to you instead of your opponent.  (But you must discard 1 card as a cost)
4. Final Destiny - You only need to discard 2 cards instead of 5. (A balanced punishment nuke option)
5. Snatch Steal - Opponent gains 2500 life points instead of 1000.
6. Confiscation - You must pay 2000 life points instead of 1000.
7. Delinquent Duo - You must discard 1 card to activate this card (No 1000 LP cost)
8. Darkness Approaches - No discarding cost.
9. The Reliable Guardian - DEF boost is 1500 instead of 700.
10. The Forceful Sentry - Your opponent is allowed to look at your hand and shuffle 1 card from it to your deck.  Then, you draw 1 card.
11. Painful Choice - You only select 3 cards instead of 5.  Opponent can banish 1 of the 2 remaining cards before the remaining card is sent to the graveyard.
12. Snake Fang - DEF of targeted monster is decreased by 2000.
13. House of Adhesive Tape - The ATK limit of monsters it can destroy is 1000 instead of 500.
14. Eatgaboon - The ATK limit of monsters it can destroy is 1000 instead of 500.  Also, includes Special Summons.
15. Flash Assailant - Loses 200 ATK per card instead of 400.
16. Karate Man - Has 1300 base ATK instead of 1000 base ATK.
17. Dark Zebra - Has 1850 ATK instead of 1800 ATK. (But its restriction still applies)
18. Giant Germ - Once per turn: You can shuffle a "Giant Germ" from your hand into your deck to draw 1 card.
19. Nimble Momonga - Once per turn: You can shuffle a "Nimble Momonga" from your hand into your deck to draw 1 card.
20. Boar Soldier - No summoning restrictions.  ATK penalty is only 300 instead of 1000.
21. Ceremonial Bell - Only your opponent reveals his/her hand.  You do not.

[Dragulas]

I like the idea but this is not different than an errata (specially for the cards that are banned)

 

Shadow scout: you could get a potential +3, thats insane, even if the monster effect is slow

Final destiny: 2 cards i think is too little of a cost, but i like it. Then again your nuking the field so....

snatch steal: it wont matter how many LP you give to the opponent, the card will stay banned

Confiscation: paying 500 more for that card is pointless, lp are a expendable resource, i still get to see their hand and get rid of somethingit doesnt matter how much the cost will be, it will still be banned

delinquent duo: half of the decks today benefit for discarding, the other half wont even care if that means i still get rid of 2 cards from their hand, banned

Painful choice: this one is interesting, pick 3, 1 of your choice will go to hand, one will be banished and i asume the less dangareous card will go to grave, but is till powerfull enough to stay banned.

The forceful cenntry: i wont give a sh*t if my opponent sees my hand if i still get rid of one of theirs, i could simply set everything important and then use it, still stay banned

[Baneful]

I like the idea but this is not different than an errata (specially for the cards that are banned)

 

First off, thanks for commenting.  I really appreciate you providing your insights.

 

Shadow scout: you could get a potential +3, thats insane, even if the monster effect is slow

 

Agreed.  I'll fix it.

 

Final destiny: 2 cards i think is too little of a cost, but i like it. Then again your nuking the field so...

 

It doesn't even get cost effective until the opponent has 3+ cards on the field while you have none.

 

snatch steal: it wont matter how many LP you give to the opponent, the card will stay banned

Back in the day, stalling on Snatch to gain life points was a legit strategy.  My nerf would simply just make the card more punishing to the user.  But yeah, it's still not good for today's meta.

 

Confiscation: paying 500 more for that card is pointless, lp are a expendable resource, i still get to see their hand and get rid of somethingit doesnt matter how much the cost will be, it will still be banned

 

I'm designing the cards in context of the meta at the time (for vintage formats).  LP costs were more burdensome back then since it was a beatdown format with lots of direct attacks.  But raising it to 2000 would make it less of a staple.

 

delinquent duo: half of the decks today benefit for discarding, the other half wont even care if that means i still get rid of 2 cards from their hand, banned

 

Back then, there wasn't as much graveyard use.  And at the end of the day, my errata is just: you losing a card, them losing a card and both players voluntarily discarding 1 card.

 

Painful choice: this one is interesting, pick 3, 1 of your choice will go to hand, one will be banished and i asume the less dangareous card will go to grave, but is till powerfull enough to stay banned.

 

Yeah, but, hey.  At least it's a little broken instead of monstrously broken.

 

The forceful cenntry: i wont give a sh*t if my opponent sees my hand if i still get rid of one of theirs, i could simply set everything important and then use it, still stay banned

 

Agreed.  I'll change the errata.