Long distance shot is too strong-
0 cost card with damage/2 draw is insane for one card.

Another Ultimate Weapon need to be buffed since its status buff is not much good as X-cost card

Go away is too strong to be 1 cost card- since it can be stacked with other cards (like mixed poppo hyper or Accelerator).

Windy Enchantment has no any risk to add- free draws are always OP.

Maybe need to add one scry for Arnelle?

Star-blasting fuse ain't good as 2 cost rare damage skill (for star breaker, since she have tons of good attack cards for her card lists)

Indiscriminate Fire is very strong for a common card (compare e.g. to Whirlwind).
Deploy Bits: the Norma 4 "upgrade" arguably makes it weaker.

Originally posted by Sagil:

Indiscriminate Fire is very strong for a common card (compare e.g. to Whirlwind).
Deploy Bits: the Norma 4 "upgrade" arguably makes it weaker.

As it isn't really obvious, the Norma 4 upgrade gives it less bits, but removes the randomness: The card will only give you exactly as much block as you need (based on your current block and the intent of all enemies), and will always give whatever is left as Vigor. Personally, I find this to be a pretty strong bonus, enough to consider it a net improvement even with the fewer bits.

I should probably create an Optimized keyword to clarify what this effect actually is doing!
Edit: Optimized is now a keyword and will be included in Update 0.7.3.

Also needs some explanation what "direct" and "indirect" damage is. I'm guessing direct=attack, indirect=anything else?

Originally posted by Sagil:

Also needs some explanation what "direct" and "indirect" damage is. I'm guessing direct=attack, indirect=anything else?

About 99% of the time you would be correct: If an enemy shows that it intends to attack you, and then does so, that's almost always direct damage. There will always be exceptions though.
Under the hood, it depends on what the damage type is set as. For instance, if another mod has an enemy that specifically attacks you with thorns damage or something, that will get counted as indirect damage.
I elected to not add keywords due to the existence of these exceptions at first, though I see no harm in adding them. This will be included in 0.7.3.

more card balance feedback (excluded cards from planed balance change)

Melting Memories - both tomomo cards are too strong - they need damage cap or something.

Saki's Cookie - too strong effect to be common card, and can be played for multiple time with several means. adding purge and move to uncommon?

Immovable object - since Starb lacks way to deal damage without attack cards, its too risky for picking this card. maybe need buff for block/or 1 turn defense saving for better usage.

Mix phenomenon, Subspace tunnel - need to be Purge or exclusive from 'return-from-exhausted' search list, since they can go insane with cost-reduction effect or some relic effect-like letter opener.

Stiff crystal - since value of artifact is very high in default-acts of spire, 10 defense seems too high.

Go away - 'Stun' is too strong debuff to be 1 cost card. players would use it even if it has purge and 3~4 cost, it definitely needs rework or huge nerf.

Subspace Tunnel - cost need to be increased. currently, its better version of Exhume that could serve as Seek.

Rocket Cannon - Air strike can receive some damage buff- since it requires least 2 additional draws for getting it, and can only use for once. (maybe its not best counterpart, but case of Alpha... it deals 50 damage for every turn.)

Originally posted by CrownBird:

more card balance feedback (excluded cards from planed balance change)
*snip*

Thanks for all the balance suggestions!
A good few of the ones you suggested have been addressed now, as of the latest updates. You can still expect more balancing changes to be made though. =]

Really missing some better block cards or maybe dexterity gain. Damage potential is very high though so maybe you were planning this as compensation? Still, having the variety to pick some stronger block cards would be nice. Otherwise, a very fun mod!

Originally posted by Scintilla:

Really missing some better block cards or maybe dexterity gain. Damage potential is very high though so maybe you were planning this as compensation? Still, having the variety to pick some stronger block cards would be nice. Otherwise, a very fun mod!

I do have plans for adding or reworking some cards to be better blocking cards (and making better use of Steady). Thank for the feedback!

I've been trying out this in ascension 20, and I found it's overall actually underwhelming. About 10-20% of the cards are good to great, but some 2/3 of the cards rewarded are worse than strike. Which means there's one way to play. It can be pretty frustrating when half the runs start with skip, skip, skip, die to lagavulin/gremlin nob.

95% of the remaining runs are 'get indiscriminate fire', bottle it (or get like 4 copies), use that to delete every normal enemy, then die to a boss. Typical enemies that kill you are hexaghost, guardian, collector, automaton, spikers, giant head, and every boss in act 3 and 4.

Basically it's been 'hope you get the godly combo or die'. A very large proportion of the cards are underwhelming, and there's not a lot that can benefit off eachother, so it's basically been a 'hope you get chemical X / Pen Nib or Dead Branch (or both!) affair'.

Like several other custom characters, this character has a real problem dealing with spikers; she has very few alternate sources of damage, and low max hp.

There's too many rares and too few commons in the pool overall here. Look at a regular character: they'd have around 20-30 commons, 25-40 uncommons, and 15 rares. You have this backwards. See if some uncommon and rare cards can become common, so that you have (since you have 80 cards) a balance like 25/40/15.

This character also falls into the trap of making the rare cards (much) better than the commons and uncommons. That's not actually true for the regular characters: a lot of the strong cards are common or uncommon. There's actually no cards that are strictly better* than any other with the exception of strike and defend being worse.

As an aside: The above is the reason why dead branch works. Dead branch ignores rare chance, so generates lots of rare cards for this character, 'working around' the problem that you cannot get many rare cards, while those are the only consistently good pool.

I also find myself not playing with the 'norma' mechanic because of several cards that actually get worse with norma.

I find snecko eye to be really weak for this character. There's not enough 2- and 3-cost cards especially in the common/uncommon pool.

Edit: Here's a detailed overview of what I think of most of these cards (didn't list those I think were okay):
Here's cards I think are weak, i.e. about comparable to strike/defend, thus I won't ever or very rarely would pick them:

- Assault.

Fixed damage is worse than regular damage. Enemies typically are not spheric guardian.
Fix: Needs a much bigger number. Say... 15 or so.

- Big Magnum

"Lose 5 hp" isn't minor. You want to play it early in the fight, but you cannot justify it. At norma 0, it reads 'deal 7 damage, lose 5 hp'. That's a really bad trade.
Fix: Could be okay if the hp lost was 1 per norma instead of a flat 5.

- Deploy Bits

Strictly weaker version of Iron Wave. The number on it is too low, and the randomness is too much.
Fix: Perhaps instead of rolling a d10/14, flip 13/18 coins? The law of large numbers means it's going to be 50/50 most of the time. I'd remove the '-3 bits' from the optimized buff as well. You're looking at 7 damage/block, which is really poor even for a common.

- Evil spy work preparation

The uncontrollability is a bigger drawback than you might think. This card is a curse in several fights (spikers, Heart, Time eater, ...). There's also no real reason for the generated cards to purge. They could just exhaust (retrieving them or getting branch procs doesn't seem too out of the ordinary: silent shivs also exhaust).

- Cloud of seagulls

Jonathan rush is a worse version of claw. Claw isn't a great card. This 'card' adds a mediocre card to your deck and then typically hits you in the face.
Fix... I don't know.. this is so terrible it would need a total rework. Maybe like so: Change "Attack" => " Power" and add "At the start of your turn" in front of "Shuffle...".
Even then it's still mediocre. Perhaps it could even just add a Jonathan to your hand at he start of your turn (which would not autoplay).

- Saki's Cookie

Being random, it's worse than just doing one of these effects. 3 Vigor is typically 3 damage. 3 Steady is always just 3 block, and both are delayed.
Fix: Pick one:
- You could add ' draw a card'.
- You could add multiple effects with norma
- You could about double to triple the numbers on it.

- Awakening of Talent

Problematic in that the effects contradict eachother. If you're killing the enemy, you don't need block. Maybe apply vulnerable instead?

- Backdoor Trade

Currently, 1 norma is about as strong as 1 str or 1 dex. A 1 cost exhaust would normally give more than that.

- Big Bang Bell

Enemies attack most of the time. There are a lot of enemies that attack all of the time, against which big bang bell does literally nothing. Examples: Cultist, Gremlins, Nob, Awakened One, Book of Stabbing, Slavers, Avocado,...

Most of the other enemies have code that tells them to attack if they haven't last turn for those that have randomized patterns, and those that have fixed patterns attack 2 out of 3 turns or 1 out of 2, in which case big bang bell does 10 damage.

Then there's the thieves, which this deletes one of, but only after taking all their attacks.

Fix: Needs a rework? (much) bigger number, or an alternate way to trigger. E.g. if more common traps were added as well as one or two cards that just triggers all your traps, I could see this work. You would have to manually trigger it against the enemies above, but it would do good damage to all of them.

- Bloodlust

This card at most is 10 health. most of the time it deals damage to you and costs you a draw. It's about as good as a curse.

Eh... maybe this can be a curse, or some disadvantage of playing another card? I don't see a real way of making this work. I suppose it'd be okay if it dealt 2(1) damage to you instead of 4, with fixed 7 uses, and/or 'at the END of your turn' instead so you can block it more easily.

- Cast off

Problematic. Unlike ironclad, this character has a harder time generating block. Body Slam itself is already situational, and this is a much worse version of it.

- Final Surgery

There is only one reliable source of vulnerable, your starting card. It needs more sources to be worth using (to be better than strike).

- Heat 300%.

Basically unuseable. All the enemies with big block generation have artifact that removes this effect. There's only a couple such enemies in the game (spire shield and spheric guardian).

- Reproduction of Records

Too expensive for what it does (basically worse than draw 2, can't copy powers with this). It could be okay at 0 cost, or 1 cost and '2 copies', or 'exhaust pile' instead of discard pile.

- Self Destruct

With no way of increasing her frail max health, self destruct seems out of place. Typically this deals around 25 damage, and makes you take 15.
Fix: I don't think there's a good way to make this work, other than reworking it completely. If the numbers are upped too much it can become another Indiscriminate Fire. Take a look at blasphemy... perhaps 'gain 10 strength, at end of turn lose 1/2 your hp, norma 3: gain 25% as temp hp'?

- Sweet Battle

Runs afoul of tempo and card advantage. It looks free, but costs you four draws. The reward is most definitely not worth it. The total effect should be comparable to a 3-cost card, and since it's delayed probably about twice that. So can I expect 60-80 damage out of this? No way, the most is 15.

- Unlucky Charm

Consumes your artifacts for you, and lowers your defense. The reward is typically not worth it. Most fights are too short, and killing yourself is a real possibility from the lowered dex. Reminder: Silent gets 3 dex straight up as Footwork.
Fix: Lower Strength instead of Dex. (That way it works on all the enemies).

- Big Rocket

Terrible card. Reminder, a Searing Blow gains 4/5/... from upgrades, and is almost never the right card to pick already. This gets... 2?

Fix: Replace 'increase this card's damage by 6' by 'upgrade this card'. Increase the numbers to 12/+4 per upgrade. Perhaps add 'Exhaust'.

- Accellerator

Not actually theoretically that weak, but it's got some problems with the way it works (buggyness).
There actually aren't that many generated cards. Accellerator's base form is okay, the problem is the norma "Upgrade". That's more of a downgrade, since it consumes all your energy and now you can't play the generated cards.
I wonder how good it would be if the copy was free, but there were no exceptions?

- Holy Night

Has the same problem Accellerator does. Okay if you don't use norma. You typically don't want to spend energy for an extra card so it's got a norma downgrade. Perhaps make it 2 cost by base and give 2 cards at 3 norma?

- Gamble.

There's 50 fights in this game. A 50/50 of dying is typically a last resort. It's essentially a curse until you get to the turn where you would guaranteed die if not playing it.
Fix: I don't see a way to fix this card without reworking. Maybe instead it could be 'randomly reshuffle all debuffs and buffs'?

- Rocket Cannon

Just like Sweet Battle, the cost of the extra draws (and having to pay for the cards) is most decidedly not worth it. The shuffled in cards are mediocre attack commons. Worse, they're not even upgraded if Rocket Cannon is (at least, that's what the card text says. Even if they are, it's still a pretty bad card though).

Remember that you are adding a strike to your deck to get the effect. Big Rocket Cannon and Air Stike (the payoff) should be above the normal values for an attack. (about 12 regular damage or 8 AoE damage at one energy. 1 energy ~ 2 draws so +8/+5 per additional energy).

Fix: Big Rocket Cannon and Air Strike either have increased numbers (say... 18 for Big Cannon and 50 for Air strike), or are 0-cost.

- Every card with vigor.

If Indiscriminate Fire is to be reworked as suggested, then all 'vigor' cards would be weak. But simply adding some more to it should fix things. E.g. I'm On fire giving 19/26 instead of 10/14.

- Star Blasting Fuse

Compare it with 'The Bomb'. The bomb does 40 damage, hits all enemies, and is more reliable than this card (tends to be quicker to activate). Or compare alpha/beta/omega, about the same speed but a much higher payoff.
Suggestion: One of 3 options:
1) Add 'gain 2 energy and draw a card', or
2) make Invisible Bomb stack. (So 30 hp per stack), or
3) increase the number on it to 50~60.

These cards I consider really/far too strong.

- Indiscriminate Fire.

It's the only way this character (outside Prismatic Shard shenanigans) can apply Vigor multiple times. The number on it is real high. The drawback doesn't matter if the enemy is deleted.

Suggested fix: Change "X damage 8 times" to "8 times X damage" (subtle difference: only one instance of damage, only benefits from strength once). Reduce the upgraded version from 12 to 11 damage per energy.

This fix makes it so 'vigor = delayed damage", and you can balance the vigor cards by increasing the numbers on them. It makes the other attack options much better, rather than this being her best attack card by miles.

- Binding Chains

Woefully undercosted. A reminder: Silent gets Piercing Wail, which is one of its best cards. This a is 2 (upgraded, 3!) times repeating piercing wail, that ALSO works against multiple enemies? Would be fairer as a 2 cost with exhaust or even 3-cost as it is now.
I've gotten unlucky not getting this so far, but this is basically the one way how you can beat those boss fights that Indiscriminate Fire can't handle by itself.

There are also some cards/effects that I consider buggy.
First, everything that gives temporary stats here (temporary dex or str) does that as a buff. That's not how regular spire characters work, and probably not intended. Instead, you should apply a buff and a debuff. A +x <stat> buff, and a -x <stat> at end of turn debuff. This so you can use artifact to make it permanent.

- Windy Enchantment.

So draw 2, exhaust is really strong (pot'o'greed) already for zero... this draws... 5? I strongly suggest removing 'On Draw' effect from it. It's rediculously strong.

- Encore

Should really be a 3-cost power.

- Shield Counter

The number on it is way too high. Fix: Perhaps halving it to 7/10 block or increasing it to 2 cost is okay.

These rares could be common/uncommon:

Accellerator => Uncommon
Ultimate Weapon => Uncommon
Final Battle => Common/Uncommon
Gamble! => Common
Holy Night => Common
Out of Ammo => Uncommon
Plushie Master => Common
Rocket Cannon => Common
Shield Counter => Common
Sink or Swim => Uncommon
Wanted => Uncommon
We are Waruda => Common


The rest, I think, are actually okay as-is. Go Away seems really good, but Apparitions do exist, so does Wraith form. I think it's okay at rare. How else is this character going to block the heart's 67? It's not go away is good, it's the alternatives are bad. And you can stack Go Away using Encore, Leap, and Mastermind, but each of these is also rare. It's fine if combinations of 2 cards can do something really strong, or 3 cards break the game. Such infinites exist for the regular characters too, and is part of all deckbuilders.

What's problematic is when a single card breaks things by itself, or is worse than the starter cards.

Originally posted by Aphid:

I've been trying out this in ascension 20, and I found it's overall actually underwhelming. About 10-20% of the cards are good to great, but some 2/3 of the cards rewarded are worse than strike. Which means there's one way to play. It can be pretty frustrating when half the runs start with skip, skip, skip, die to lagavulin/gremlin nob.

*snip*

This is a phenomenal amount of feedback, thank you so much! A few of these issues have been addressed already in the update that I am still working on. While the update is not yet ready, a few of the issues addressed so far are:

Vigor / Steady -> Added more multi-hit cards, and added multi-block cards to take proper advantage of Vigor and Steady.

Rarity Distribution -> Added many more Common cards, as well as a few Uncommon and Rare cards. Currently, thanks to the new cards, there is a 2:4:3 radio of Common:Uncommon:Rare cards, which is a lot better than the 1:4:2 ratio the live version currently has. It is my intention to move some cards from Rare to Common/Uncommon, and also move some cards from Uncommon to Common to ultimately have a distribution that more closely resembles the base game characters.

Assault -> This was reworked and is no longer fixed damage. It also has a new Norma effect to be twice as strong against enemies that have Block.

Deploy Bits -> Norma effect no longer removes 3 bits.

Evil Spy Work -> Exhausts for Dead Branch synergy and does not trigger Thorns (this might be revised before release, as the ignoring Thorns makes it more viable, but isn't a great way to balance it).

Final Surgery -> There are now more cards that apply Vulnerable, and now applies the extra hit effect if the enemy has Vulnerable and/or the reworked Heat 300%.

Heat 300% -> Completely reworked. Now makes all attacks on the enemy Pierce for next 2(3) turns. If the enemy has no Block, this power instead makes them take 30%(50%) more damage from all sources.

Self Destruct -> Reworked, but may be reworked again before release. Currently temporarily doubles(triples) your Block, then makes you take 30 fixed damage (so having 15(10) Block will fully stop the self damage), and deals 30 (not fixed) damage to ALL enemies. Notably, can also be played even while entangled. I'm not a huge fan of this iteration, though it is undoubtedly a lot better.

Things planned, but not yet addressed:

Big Magnum -> This is currently not worth using in (m)any circumstances. I'll try out your suggestion and see how it feels =]

Cookie -> This needs a more reasonable rework, as it is now worse than intended and also suffers from Way Too Much Text syndrome.

Backdoor Trade -> This was originally a 1 cost due to the Norma 5 effect (Draw 2 cards and don't exhaust) to avoid making an infinite card loop with a small deck. I'll consider making it not Exhaust to see if this makes it more viable.

Big Bang Bell -> This greatly under-performs in most cases and needs a rework or buff very badly. One is planned but not yet designed.

Sweet Battle -> Also suffers from Way Too Much Text syndrome. Needs a rework in addition to Cookie, but one isn't designed yet.

Bloodlust -> I like your suggestion of making the damage happen at the end of the turn to make it able to be Blocked, Ill try that out.

Unlucky Charm -> Under-performing and ruins Artifact if you have it. Needs a rework, but nothing is designed yet.

Notes:

Temp Str/Dex - These were actually designed with the express purpose of not being able to be made permanent via Artifact. This is perhaps not intuitive, and could be worth addressing. Changing this is simple enough from a code perspective, though it may make balance a little more difficult.

Cloud of Seagulls -> Aside from generating Jonathan Rush, the damage effect is mainly useless by design and is just for fun. Ideally, I wanted the ability to generate the Jonathan Rush to be worth choosing and playing the card. If Jonathan Rush is under-performing as you said, then this card is absolutely worthless.

Awakening of Talent -> While gaining Block and gaining energy on kill seems useless, individually they are reasonable effects. Block is useful to have if the enemy does not die, or if there is more than 1 enemy still. The new update also has additional ways to apply Vulnerable, but I may consider reworking this card in the future.

Cast Off -> There are now better ways to generate large amounts of Steady and Block, which should make this card less situational. A rework may still be performed though.

Reproduction of Records -> I am considering a few different balance changes to this one. Current ideas are: Choose 2 cards (rather than random) and/or The selected cards cost 0 until played (I will have to ensure this card cant pick itself if I do that though to avoid an infinite card loop of just picking itself).

x16 Big Rocket -> Without access to easy upgrades mid-combat, this is really hard to take advantage of. I may try out one of your suggestions?

Holy Night -> I may rework the "use an additional energy if you have it to..." clause so it is actually a choice (like Wish). That way you can grab the additional effect if you actually want it, but so that it doesn't mess up your plans if you don't.

Accelerator -> Same as Holy Night

Gamble -> This is basically this mod's joke card. It is completely unreasonable and I most likely wont be changing it, lol. I appreciate your earnest feedback on this though. =]

Rocket Cannon -> These cards under-perform in single combat, but the Splash Damage to ALL enemies on Air Strike results in powerful multiplies to damage with multiple enemies. Compared to something like Alpha->Beta->Omega, this is substantially worse, though I was afraid it would be too strong (and thus overpowered) at a higher damage or lower cost. The upgraded Rocket Cannon should be added upgrades version of Big Rocket Cannon and Air Strike, and I believe I simply failed to mention that on the card. A potential addition might be to add a Draw 1 card effect to them to make up for them using a draw? I'll take a look at it.

Star Blasting Fuse -> I had this stacking before, but it was exceedingly powerful with small deck sizes. As it currently stands, I will consider adding some additional effect to it if it is under-performing.

Indiscriminate Fire -> This is currently too strong. With the update, there are currently more multi-hit cards to use Vigor multiple times though, which should lower reliance on this. A nerf is planned, but not yet designed.

Windy Enchantment -> Is currently a free pick basically. I may consider removing the On Draw effect, making it only work when Retained, but I was worried this would be too weak.

Encore -> When I was testing this, it was really difficult to play at a 3 Cost unless you had at least 1 energy relic. As a direct result, I went with 2 Cost, though if it is too strong this can be changed back to 3.

Shield Counter -> Given that it Exhausts, I figured the very high Block amount wouldn't be too bad. If it ended up overpowered I suppose I was wrong, lol.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I really appreciate the thought you put into this!

About the seagulls: The thing you might want to think about, is how much something costs is not just energy, but also the card itself is a cost, taking up a spot in your limited hand size. Generating a Jonathan rush is all good, but I don't want to have to pay a draw to do it.

You could say a card draw is about as good as an energy: a little less, usually, as you get 5 cards and 3 (or 4 with boss swap) energy to begin with. So adding a card to your 'draw pile' doesn't do much: you will draw that card instead of another card. Instead, effects that put cards 'in the hand' are much stronger. They give you an 'implicit' card draw for free. Compare 'Discovery' with 'Metamorphosis'.

This is why I suggest putting it in the hand. There's even an existing power just like it: Silent's 'Infinite blades'.

If you want to leave it as a skill instead of a power, take a look at the shiv-generating card "Blade Dance". It used to generate 2(3) and this was underwhelming. Now you get 3(4) shivs, in the hand, right now. Since jonathan scales, 2(3) copies of it, in the hand, seems okay. If it's too strong you could also delay it (e.g. for the next 2(3) turns add one to the hand at the start of turn).

Economy wise, a 0-cost card that draws 2 thus puts you ahead by 1 card. A 0-cost that gives 1 energy is an even trade. An effect that replaces a card in your deck or discard pile with something else, unless that something else is more powerful than a card I drafted, is going to not be that good.

Any 0-cost that replaces itself (one draw) plus an effect is also a 'cantrip'. You want to be careful with cantrips, especially common cards probably don't ought to be cantrips. Most of the ones for this character exhaust, which is a good thing, it's not too easy to go infinite.

You should also consider the 'speed' of an effect. If I can get 12 damage for 1 energy and 1 card 'right now', what I should get say '3 turns from now' is going to have to be more than 12.

I thought encore should be 3/2 cost because e.g. "Echo Form" is a 3-cost (it's even got ethereal). Instead of the 1st card being doubled, this is the last card being doubled, and 'next turn'.Overall I'd say those effects are a wash. You tend to have more 'control' over the last card played, but the 1 turn delay hurts it a bit.
It's also the case that some cards include paying energy as their effect sometimes, which can be a bit of a nasty surprise. I think it's the X-costs that do this? Not sure if they should; they can normally be duplicated with Echo Form and will retain the value of X.

Typically one thing that happens when you play this game at the hardest difficulty is that 'bigger decks' tend to become better in general. You want to play a power or two every turn for the 8-10 or so turns it takes to kill A20 heart to scale enough damage, but also mitigate (block,weaken,etc.) for a lot while doing that. So your average deck size can be around 40 cards and this is totally reasonable. "Exhaust" therefore isn't all that much of a penalty. For a 'Normal' deck then, In most fights in act 2 and 3, you don't even go through the deck once. Against the bosses, maybe twice. Of course this may change if a character implements a lot of mechanics that work well with smaller deck sizes (cards that want to be played multiple times). Earlier on in the game you do cycle your deck more (act 1) which is why say ironclad's 'rampage' is really an act 1 specific card.

It's okay to have cards that are only good early on by the way, as long as they do that job better than a card that can also be used late. If I can take a good early game attack like a rampage or a carnage or a ball lightning, and it means I need to add less attacks to the deck to kill gremlin nob, then that also means I need less block skills for act 2, and less powers for act 3, and thus can be pickier. Even though it does 'apparently' nothing late game doesn't mean it's useless, it helped me get there 'faster', with less 'baggage' in the deck.

Ex: Compare 'carnage' to 'sword boomerang'. I would need to take 3 boomerangs to do as much increased damage as one carnage, but I can use the boomerangs better in the later game, because they use strength more effectively.

It's probably true by the way that shield counter isn't too much of a problem 'right now'. What you'll find though is that if other block cards improve (they're pretty lackluster right now) it can become really good. In a lot of cases you're taking 2, 3, or even 15 hits in one turn in Spire. So if you block less than the full damage, you should still get damage value out of shield counter (it would work on the first few hits). You might want to keep it that way for it's uniqueness; it'd become a 'build my deck around this effect' card.

Originally posted by Aphid:

About the seagulls: The thing you might want to think about, is how much something costs is not just energy, but also the card itself is a cost, taking up a spot in your limited hand size. Generating a Jonathan rush is all good, but I don't want to have to pay a draw to do it.

*snip*

I appreciate this insight quite a lot, especially how neatly you've broken it all down! If you hadn't guessed, I'm not exactly experienced with making things balanced.

I most certainly didn't have high Ascension levels in mind when I initially was working on the mod, so I also appreciate this feedback coming from Asc20 playthroughs as well =]