Phazer Archetype (WIP, WRITTEN)

[Tinkerer]

Hello, fine peoples!

 

I'd actually came up with this idea almost two years ago, but I'd never put pen to paper and got down to making 'em.  Upon returning to it, I realized something.
 

Phazer

An archetype of LIGHT Zombie Spirit monsters that all have this effect (alongside their Spirit conditions): "When this card battles and would inflict damage to your opponent, you can make that battle damage 100; discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand". They also act as Spirit support as their other effect costs/utilize Spirits.

An idea that I cannot elaborate on right now but may come back to later.

 

Can't believe the way I talk online has changed so little in two years..

 

...this is actually pretty difficult to balance.  On the one end, they kill the opponent's hand, making them inherently dangerous, on the other hand, they're Spirits and they trigger off battle, meaning they are inconsistent and not likely to go off.

 

In order to ground myself, I wanted to start with a couple basic monsters and a Field Spell.

 

[spoiler=Monsters]
Phazer 1

LIGHT ****

Zombie/Spirit/Effect

Cannot be Special Summoned.  If this card battles an opponent's monster and would inflict damage to your opponent's LP, during damage calculation, you can make that damage 100, and if you do, you can discard 1 random card in your opponent's hand.  Once per battle, at the start of damage calculation, if a Spirit monster you control battles: you can discard 1 Spirit monster; your monster gains ATK/DEF equal to half the ATK/DEF of the discarded monster.  Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up this turn: return this card to the hand.

1800/750

 

Simple beater with the potential to hit really high numbers and beat over bosses given the right circumstances.  With Spirits returning to the hand, I find that there ends up being a large amount of 'em clogging your hand with no outlet, this provides that outlet while also enabling some less serious things like making "Inaba White Rabbit" swing directly for 2000+ damage.  Attack boost is permanent if you can keep the monster on the field.

 

Phazer 2

LIGHT *

Zombie/Spirit/Effect

Cannot be Special Summoned.  If this card battles an opponent's monster and would inflict damage to your opponent's LP, during damage calculation, you can make that damage 100, and if you do, you can discard 1 random card in your opponent's hand.  You can reveal this card in your hand, then target 1 Spirit monster you control; that target gains 300 ATK/DEF and can declare up to 2 attacks on monsters during the next Battle Phase.  If you inflict exactly 100 damage to your opponent while this card is in the Graveyard: you can add this card to your hand.  You can only use each of the above effects of "Phazer 2" once per turn.  Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up this turn: return this card to the hand.

500/50

 

The more interesting of the duo.  Grants multi attacks + a stat boost, plus, coupled with the other monster, it can bring itself back continually and allows you to beat over monsters with anything less than 2600 stats.  The recovery effect also works on effect damage which is where the field comes in.

 

Phazer 3

LIGHT ******

Zombie/Spirit/Effect

Cannot be Special Summoned.  If you control no monsters, you can Normal Summon this card without tributing.  If this card battles an opponent's monster and would inflict damage to your opponent's LP, during damage calculation, you can make that damage 100, and if you do, you can discard 1 random card in your opponent's hand.  (Quick Effect) you can target 1 Spirit monster you control: discard 1 monster; until the End Phase, that target is unaffected by your opponent's activated effects.  Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up this turn: return this card to the hand.

2300/1050

 

Another beater which can protect multiple Spirit monsters as long as you have enough fodder in your hand.  Was considering giving it piercing, but I think I'll leave that to another monster.  Like Phazer 1, its effects are permanent if you can figure out a way to keep the Spirit on the field for longer than a turn.

 

Phazer 4

LIGHT **

Zombie/Spirit/Effect

Cannot be Special Summoned.  If this card battles an opponent's monster and would inflict damage to your opponent's LP, during damage calculation, you can make that damage 100, and if you do, you can discard 1 random card in your opponent's hand.  (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; until the End Phase, if a Spirit monster you control inflicts battle damage, you can destroy 1 card on the field.  If a card(s) you control is returned to your hand: you can add this card from your Graveyard to your hand, then both players discard 1 card.  You can only use each of the above effects of "Phazer 4" once per turn.  Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up this turn: return this card to the hand.

400/1650

 

Another means of removal besides the field spell + another fodder monster.  I'm a bit iffy about this one since it is really easy to trigger, but I'm unsure if there's any blatantly powerful interactions that can take advantage of this.  It has a cute interaction with Dark World (Grapha returns monster to hand, this triggers to add itself then discard the monster which triggers whatever you discard), but I don't think it would be so unbearable even then.  The fact that it can just discard itself by its own effect might be a concern though.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Field Spell]

Phazer's Deconstruction Zone

Field Spell

Neither player may send cards from their hand to the Graveyard to activate monster effects, except the effects of Spirit monsters.  If a card(s) would be discarded from your opponent's hand by the effect of a "Phazer" card: you can send 1 card your opponent controls to the Graveyard instead.  Once per turn, if a Spirit monster returns to your hand, you can Special Summon 1 "Phazer Token" (LIGHT/Zombie/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 50), but it is destroyed during the next End Phase.  If a "Phazer Token" is destroyed by battle: you can inflict 100 damage to your opponent, and if you do, you can discard 1 random card from your opponent's hand.

 

Decided to run with the discarding theme and gave the deck an anti-handtrap floodgate.  The field spell also deals with the general inability of the deck to handle active threats (threats on board) without resorting to simply beating over them.  The token is supposed to act as insurance, forcing your opponent to deal with it in a roundabout way or simply commit everything possible to the board so they don't lose their hand.

 

 

 

 

I had a few more things sketched out, but I'd like to know if this is heading in the right direction.  Because of the nature of the prompt, I find it kinda hard to tell if the direction I'm building in is OP or UP and whether I should expand further or hold back a bit.

 

As always, any CnC would be much appreciated.  On another note, if anyone has suggestions for a naming scheme for these (the numbers are meant to be a placeholder for now), I'm more than willing to hear 'em!  

 

Cheers!

[Tinkerer]

Bumpity~

[Dova]

There's like 3 cards here. Come on people. Besides, Spirits are great.

 

I really like how these cards shaping up. Making them a little more unique than your average spirits, and yeah, of course you have to worry about balance with effects like that. Well, most cards these days are in some way oriented about the GY, so it's not that much of a biggie. Phazer 1 is almost a completely better version of Shinobird Crow; in fact, seems to be based on it. Was that your intention? Phazer 2's reveal...isn't really much of a cost, considering revealing a card technically has it shuffle itself back into your hand, unless you specify it is to remain revealed for longer. I think it should probably discard as a cost, considering it can add itself back again. Other than that, neat card to help the battle-oriented portion of the archetype.

 

The field is a little more iffy for the first effect. 90% of handtraps don't discard; they send themselves from the hand to the GY. I was hoping for something that would limit your own discarding, assuming Phazer 1 wasn't a one time thing. If it was, I would still suggest some differentiating from that and Crow. Sending the GY is a great alternative, and I do love the replacement for your Spirit monsters. Gives your opponent pause to think.

 

There's not much to comment on at the moment, but as a Spirit lover, I'd love to see how you expand with these guys. No ideas for how to expand, though. Sorry :(

[Tinkerer]

Thanks!  I changed up a tiny bit of the cards.  Phazer 1's effect can only activate once per battle and boosts by half the ATK/DEF rather than the full like Crow.  I didn't even know about Crow's existence, which is a bit of a rare surprise nowadays, so that's fun.

Phazer 2 has the tiniest blurb making both its reveal effect and grave recovery effect HOPTs; it was pretty easy to miss, but it prevents the infinite boosting.  Maybe I'll turn it into a discard effect, but it'll depending on how many discard effects I plan to incorporate into the archetype as a whole.

The field now does what it was meant to do in stopping hand traps.  It's possible that it is too overbearing though and I might dial it back, but again, I need to flesh these out a tiny bit more before then.

 

Thanks again!

[Tinkerer]

Bump.  A couple more monsters added!