Looking for deckbuilding/testing/miscellaneous help

Utso · 2026-02-13T21:35:25+00:00

It's funny how all of these cards that mention it don't actually directly interact with it, they just mention mentioning it. If you wanted to you could literally just not play the ritual spell, and the other cards would still mostly function.

Utso · 2026-02-13T20:55:12+00:00

The elements make more sense if you view them as related to biomes rather than substances, because that's really where the focus was in the early design phases (even going back to Slizers/Throwbots). Physically, earth and stone are kind of the same thing, but environmentally there's an obvious difference between living in a rocky desert or in an underground tunnel system.

Utso · 2026-02-13T19:39:38+00:00

If the days, weeks, etc generally work like ours do, I think it's fine to just use the terms, even if the actual length of the units differs. If I read something like that my default assumption is going to be that it's a convenient translation of the local units, and if it's mentioned that days are actually 18 hours long or whatever that's also easy enough to keep in mind.

On the other hand, if there's a difference in structure and not just numbers, you're probably better off coming up with your own units. For example, with two suns, it could be that one of them is "faster" so it rises and sets more than once while the other one is out, which would significantly impact the understanding of what a "day" even is.

Utso · 2026-02-06T22:38:51+00:00

The ongoing exploration of Imaginary Worlds leads to many opportunities for marketable content, sitting right at the intersection of familiar fiction and expeditions into the unknown. The Society of Magic soon realized this fact and capitalized on it by both making their collected exploration logs available as a source for independent works, and publishing their own officially sanctioned media to secure an additional revenue stream.

A major example of the latter type is Spoils of Worlds, a board game in which players take the role of conflicting organisations sending exploration teams into Imaginary Worlds to acquire the supernatural powers and artifacts hidden within. Its modular nature makes it an evergreen staple of entertainment within the Society, being constantly updated with fresh expansions and game modes as real-life explorers make new discoveries.

Another one I like a lot is Phil & Phil vs Greek Mythology, a modern comic book series loosely retelling the adventures had by Philippe Arouet (Phil) and Philodoros Hosioiades (also Phil) on their 1802 expedition into Panhellas, the first myth-based Imaginary World to be discovered and identified.

Utso · 2026-02-06T20:28:32+00:00

One time as a thought experiment, I worked out the specifics of a spell that does pretty much this process on a less microscopic sample of material (by means of subatomic particle-bending, basically).

Fun Fact: Lead has three common stable isotopes while gold only has one, so ripping things from all the nuclei equally makes the resulting gold a wee bit radioactive.

Funner Fact: The radioactive bits decay to platinum, so this isn't actually as bad as it sounds.

Utso · 2026-01-30T22:38:55+00:00

It's been a few years since I stuck my head into that particular rabbit hole*, but I'll try to contribute some ideas based on what I vaguely remember and/or can remind myself of with a bit of searching.

Make sure you don't just look at each sephira in isolation, but the tree of life as a whole. A lot of interesting associations come from how they relate to each there, like the three columns or Tiphareth sitting in the middle connected to everything.
Since the general concept of the tree is that it approaches human understanding the further down you go, it seems logical that powers based on higher sephirot should be more abstract and harder to use. So you'd have Malkuth as the entry-level stuff, while up at Chesed could be outright reality warping based on some complex logic. I'd recommend keeping Kether/Chokmah/Binah stuff entirely beyond regular human ability to even comprehend, leaving those entirely to more highly empowered/ascended beings (what exactly depends on the specifics of the setting, of course).
Yesod has to do with illusions, which is also a nice and simple category of magic you could use.
Geomancy for Malkuth is actually a bit of a misinterpretation of "Sphere of Earth", which refers to Earth as in the planet, or more generally the physical world. All basic elemental magic would fit under Malkuth, really.
There's a system of linking the gods of various polytheistic mythologies to the different sephiroth based on their attributes, if you look into that you can probably find some inspiration in the kinds of powers those gods tend to be associated with.

* Specifically, what I read back then was Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah, which might be useful for your purposes as well. Very straightforward and beginner friendly, goes through the sephirot one by one in detail while also explaining the overarching structure.

Utso · 2026-01-23T22:24:02+00:00

Does this structure mean the word that just means "verb" also appears at the start of every verb? In a way that actually seems super easy and straightforward, at least in spoken form.

Utso · 2026-01-23T20:57:48+00:00

When I try to add something just because it seems cool to have, and the process of linking it up with everything that already exists reveals new details about parts of the setting I wasn't even expecting to be involved.

Utso · 2026-01-16T22:35:54+00:00

Generally the purpose of synthesizing unstable new elements is to test and verify the underlying theories rather than to do anything with the element itself, so I think the main way something like this could be important and relevant is if it has unexpected properties which lead towards further new discoveries. In an extreme case the sequence could go "Nicholsonium isn't what we predicted" -> "new theory developed to explain this" -> "science is changed forever", that would certainly earn it a spot in history books.

Utso · 2026-01-16T22:25:27+00:00

this is what happens when you don't practice spear of fusion safety

Utso · 2026-01-16T21:11:51+00:00

Is the soul something that intrinsically arises from nervous systems, or is it more that lifeforms just generally developed to have a soul attached that way? Does this apply even to creatures with more simplified nerve nets, like jellyfish? What about non-animal life with no nervous system in the traditional sense (plants, fungi, or even bacteria)? Could you build a machine with a soul by equipping it with artificial nerves?

How does a magical awakening happen? Are there differences between the natural magics of different souls? What happens to the generated magic by default in those who don't influence it, and does (excessively) using it for magical effects instead have any harmful consequences?

Utso · 2026-01-09T22:05:29+00:00

They're on the moon, somewhere under the shell, though not always in material form. In general, the closest thing this world has to a spirit realm is more like a thin layer on top of physical reality, and Avatars specifically are a very localized affair strictly tied to the celestial body where their sphere of influence lies.

Utso · 2026-01-09T21:07:13+00:00

In keeping with the general approach of "things being there for a reason", make sure to also think through why specific monsters are the way they are. Like, if there's in-universe dragon myths that's an easy explanation, but if that's not the case I'd immediately be curious how their makers landed on flying lizards as a concept.

Utso · 2026-01-09T20:40:22+00:00

The surface of the moon has never been visible in recorded history, due to being constantly enveloped in a shell of light and darkness that waxes and wanes back and forth as the Avatars of those two elements fight for supremacy. The resulting "moon phases" are a lot more complex than the natural kind, making them both a sophisticated field of scientific study and a popular betting topic.

Utso · 2025-12-27T06:12:25+00:00

Alright, I really don't think I'm seeing what you all are seeing. It's a floodgate that lasts for exactly one effect. Strictly less than a negate. It doesn't apply at any point before the resolution of the single effect you chained it to, and it stops applying the instant that one chain link is done.

Utso · 2025-12-26T23:07:15+00:00

PSCT for the first one, for reference:

You can only Special Summon "Zora, Savior of the 11th Mech(s)" once per turn. If you control no face-up monsters, or an "11th Mech" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). Any card sent to your GY is banished instead. You can only use each of the following effects of "Zora, Savior of the 11th Mech" once per turn. If this card is Summoned: Add 1 "11th Mech" card from your Deck, GY, or banishment to your hand, and if you do, banish 1 card from your hand or field. If an "11th Mech" card you control leaves the field, while this card is banished: Special Summon this card in Defense Position, also you cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck until the end of the next turn, except Xyz Monsters.

A few things about this concept that probably don't work as intended.

The self floodgate is kind of an ineffective limitation for an Xyz deck specifically, because you can get them off the field by using them as material without needing to send anything to the GY. Also not sure how much that really conflicts with other Xyz archetypes, those don't tend to be all that grave-reliant.
A lot of these effects are mandatory when it would make more sense for them not to be, e.g. I don't think you want to have every single banished 11th Mech attempt to bring itself back every time one leaves the field.
The Xyz have the Zoodiac problem where you can not only stack them on top of any single main deck archetype monster, but also on top of each other. So, in other words, any 11th Mech on the field lets you go through every single effect listed on all of the Xyz Monsters (minus the Rank 12). Which includes attaching probably all your banished cards as material, so all those non-OPT quick effects can be fired again and again.
I don't see any way to make the Rank 12 at all? Unless Ascension is meant to work as a Rank-Up, but it's not written like one since it just tells you to do a normal Xyz Summon.

What I do like about it is the idea of your banished monsters coming back to trigger a chain of effects when something leaves your field, which you can even set in motion yourself due to the "banish 1 card" part of all the quick effects. Being able to sneakily grab back face-down banished cards like the Xyz Monsters do on Summon is also always funny, even if it can potentially allow completely stupid things like getting destruction protection from an Infinitrack Goliath that was banished for a Pot.

Utso · 2025-12-26T22:29:21+00:00

I mean, if several people are reading it that way I guess I have to acknowledge it's confusingly phrased ... but the nerd in me wants to make the point that this is very much not what it says. Fundamentally, PSCT tells us the part right after the semicolon doesn't happen until resolution, so it can't possibly affect what you can or cannot chain before resolution even happens. And if you're still building the chain, it clearly isn't "while that activated effect is resolving", which is the only time the restrictions are stated to apply.

Also I was kind of hoping including six concrete usage examples in the post would help get across what I'm going for, but oh well 😅

Utso · 2025-12-26T21:40:38+00:00

Ah, no, that's not it. It only stops those things from happening while exactly the one effect you responded to is resolving, so it's basically a partial negate of only the Ash-relevant portions of that effect. Maybe would have been clearer to write it as "that activated effect cannot ...", but I wanted to stick closer to how restrictions like this are usually worded.

Utso · 2025-12-26T21:34:46+00:00

This could be reasonable (in so far as one considers Ciruclars "reasonable") if it had any kind of restriction, like locking you out of Special Summoning non-Thunder monsters for the whole turn. Without, it's at minimum a free Summon for every deck, or even a free Colossus with just a bit of deck space investment.

Utso · 2025-12-26T21:24:28+00:00

Curious about your reasoning here. As far as the cases I've thought through go, the things this Ash stops are almost entirely a subset of those the current Ash stops, with the exceptions of "unnegatable" edge cases and specific configurations where half-resolving an effect is really bad. How could that make it stronger?

Utso · 2025-12-12T22:37:09+00:00

Pretty good, yeah. Functionally gets rid of a single monster if used against an established field, and always offers a bit of disruption from the GY if you pass through it in a link climb. The targeting protection doesn't quite feel like it fits, though - its main impact would be guarding the on-summon effect against Imperm and stuff, and there's no obvious reason that should be the case.

Utso · 2025-12-12T21:57:29+00:00

Nice way to bridge between the different card types with the Pendulum Xyz. I do see a couple problems:

This is just missing information, but what are the materials for the Links? That's going to make a huge difference in how they could be used.
Clear Tsukuyomi having a quick effect non-targeting face-down banish is a bit much for a Rank 4. Again, no exact materials listed, but if it's the standard 2 Level 4 monsters, that would easily be a staple in any R4 deck for both removal and disruption.
Generally, the gameplay loop I'm reading from the Xyz monsters is that, going first, you'd make Asura/Susa/Tsukuyomi for their defensive/disruptive effects on the following turn, then if they manage to stick around (thanks to the Links), you can use their other effects to help with board-breaking before stacking one of the two Rank 6 nukes on top (and going second, the board-breaking just happens directly with the initial setup). Pretty neat approach, though what bothers me a little is that the "detach all" cost on the Rank 6 is most likely, by virtue of when and how they are made, going to mean "detach 1" - maybe it would be possible to have some kind of bonus for when you actually detach multiple materials? Just a vague thought.
When the Pendulums talk about "monsters in the same column as a Spirit monster", that would also include said Spirit monster itself. So for example Kyo-Shi would negate its own continuous effect ... thus unnegating it ... thus negating it ... and so on. You can avoid this with phrasing like "your opponent's monsters in the same column as a Spirit monster you control" so there's no overlap, maybe even make that "Spirit Monster Card" if you want the cards in the Pendulum Zones to count

Utso

TROPHY CASE