So skywhale is a problem, it’s basically a powerfull endgame threat that also nullifies other end game threats that could contest it. So why don’t we just change that. I suggest that we change skywhales text to read as :
Flying
Charge 3
Gift- Swallow a creature whose attack and health are both less than skywhales health
This would allow skywhale to continue being a large endgame threat, while still allowing things like souleater, firebringer, or ruunin after a few deaths, while still maintaining the flavor of a giant whale eating smaller creatures
I agree with you, a lot of cards have been annihilated by whales. Personally I just let each player can play one whale at once. In other word if a player already have a friendly whale on the board he can’t summon an other one.
While that would work, personally i dont like psuedo legendaries in card games, it feels contrived in a thematic way when plopped onto any strong card.
If there were a thematic reason for the only 1 rule it would be better, but i feel like restricting what the whale eats woul work better thematicly because “oh look that souleater is too big to swallow”
Also it should probably be based on the whales attack than health for balance reasons now that i thought it out
I think all that needs to happen is the swallow mechanic needs fixing -
1 - it should require summoning the crystal or whale on an adjacent friendly land.
2 - swallowed creatures should be able to act the turn they get out.
3 - flowers should start with 4 health.
Charge on the whale should also be reduced to 2.
Basically frog tossers, whales and crystals have ruined the need to worry about land position, which is a crucial element of strategy in the game. The swallow stall has also ruined counterplay in the game since there is only one real counter to whales: win the game before the whales come out - by getting ahead on faeria and board or damaging face or setting up an OTK.
Even cards like Last Nightmare don’t really counter whales. Since the whale player still gains free tempo from the exchange. The whale player pays 6 faeria, teleports an opposing creature. The opponent pays 6 faeria kills the whale. The whale player won the trade because now the opposing creature is out of position and can’t act for a turn for a net loss of 0 faeria and 0 cards (since opponent used the same amount of resources to stop it). That’s equivalent to the new sky anemone - if it allowed you to draw a card and teleport the opposing creature as well. If you use frogify to kill whale, then the whale player pays 6 faeria and 1 card to remove a creature. Opponent pays 4 faeria and 1 card. The whale player gets a dead opposing creature and a frog for a net cost of 2 faeria. Essentially - if a player knows that the opponent has Last Nightmare or Frogify and enough faeria to cast it, the correct play may likely still be whale. Compare to other good cards - in almost all cases, there is a right and a wrong situation to play them.
Yeah I agree. I just had a game and I totally had the win when he just pulled out ONE skywhale and it was basically over cause he could just dodge my creatures with charge 3 and then go in for the kill.
Edit: I also realise that the sky whale has another trait. It can’t be swallowed cause it has swallowed something else. So you can safely give it all the Elderwood Embraces you have and go for the orb.
I think this could be a really good idea cause (as you said) it makes it still viable against creatures that maybe have 5/5 but have a powerful last words or ability like Ruunin or even Queens Assassin.
It also allows for some strategy where use removal to get a creature like Possessed Ursus (1/8) down low enough to be swallowed
