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Suggestions on making some custom cards fair and stable

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:00 pm
by Yuzi Yuki

Re: Suggestions on making some custom cards fair and stable

Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:14 pm
by greg503
Start by getting acquainted with PSCT

Re: Suggestions on making some custom cards fair and stable

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 1:52 pm
by Yuzi Yuki
What? What’s PSCT??

Re: Suggestions on making some custom cards fair and stable

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:17 pm
by Lil Oldman
Problem Solving Card Text. It is a standarized format for cards.

Re: Suggestions on making some custom cards fair and stable

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:06 pm
by parhelia_0000
Yeah, this is one instance where I'll agree with Lil Oldman and greg503. Nobody wants to read card texts that are just blatant nonsense with punctuation and grammar mistakes. I've seen it happen too many times, and even when I write PSCT I always make sure I don't repeat the mistakes that those people make when it comes to card text.

Let's take my Arkraider archetype for example. Don't do this:
"when this card is summoned add 1 Arkraider from your deck to hand this card is impervious to anything"

And don't do this:
"Equip all monsters your opponent controls to this card.

This card is unaffected by all other card effects and cannot be destroyed by battle."

There are more examples but those are the most common - grammar/spelling/punctuation mistakes as well as unnecessary spacing in between effects, and cheap effects that make the card impervious to everything without hefty summoning conditions or restrictions.

Here's a good example of decent, if not perfect, PSCT:
https://www.duelingbook.com/card?id=1473505
Arkraider Prime Amelia (OCG: アークライダー・レディー・クロフト/아크레이더 레이디 크로프트)
If you control another "Arkraider" monster, except "Arkraider Prime Amelia," you can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only Special Summon "Arkraider Prime Amelia" once per turn this way. If this card is Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Arkraider" monster from your Deck, except "Arkraider Prime Amelia," but its effects are negated, its ATK becomes 0, also send it to the GY during the End Phase of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Arkraider Prime Amelia" once per turn.

So let's break down the PSCT part by part here.
"If you control another "Arkraider" monster, except "Arkraider Prime Amelia," you can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only Special Summon "Arkraider Prime Amelia" once per turn this way."
This gives the monster an inherent summon ability. The comma is an inherent effect that is not activated. In addition, the card makes it clear that you can only use the inherent summon once per turn this way, making sure that you do not abuse the card in infinite loops.

"If this card is Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 "Arkraider" monster from your Deck, except "Arkraider Prime Amelia," but its effects are negated, its ATK becomes 0, also send it to the GY during the End Phase of this turn. You can only use this effect of "Arkraider Prime Amelia" once per turn."
This is an on-summon effect. Because it uses the "If" clause instead of "when," it does not miss timing. One thing to note about "when" timings - if the clause stated in the text is not the last thing that happened in the previous action or chain, then the timing is considered missed, and therefore you cannot resolve that effect. The "If" clause is a condition-based clause, meaning regardless of whether or not the clause was the last thing that happened in the previous action or chain, the conditions are still met, so therefore the effect can still resolve.

And the beauty of the balance of this card is that the monster summoned by this card's effect has its effect negated, ATK zero'd out, and sent to GY during the End Phase of the turn. So it's basically a "use it for Extra Deck summons or lose it" effect. In addition, because it's a hard once-per-turn effect you can't abuse the on-summon effect for infinite loops.

This is just one of many examples of proper PSCT done right. I hope that this gives you an idea as to how cards should be balanced.