Arena Cards

Based on the Map cards from Codex and the Casino cards from Pandante, I and several other forum members have created some “Arena cards” for Yomi. If you would like to submit an Arena card of your own, please keep the following guidelines in mind:

  1. Ideally, a card should be as simple as possible. If any excess words or sentences can be removed, do so. That said, if you try to make one yourself, you’ll soon find this is harder than it sounds…
  2. The rule change(s) made by a good Arena card change the game in a meaningful way. If people feel like they’re playing almost the same way with an Arena as without, then the Arena might not be very good.
  3. While it’s nice to make them reasonably balanced, Arena cards are not held to anywhere near the same standard of quality as the actual Yomi decks. In other words, unless an Arena completely breaks something, balance issues are not worth bothering with as much as “is this fun.”
  4. Avoid making Arena cards that do something that a character’s ability already does. It would feel bad to pick Rook and then flip over the “everyone is Rook” card.
  5. Try to look over the Arena cards that already have been made, and avoid making new Arenas that are similar to existing ones. This is not about plagiarism at all. It’s about making sure that each Arena feels unique.
  6. You don’t have to provide a name or flavor text for a card (and I’ll probably come up with a new name anyway, as many people in this thread will tell you), but it might help to give an idea of what your goal is.

With that out of the way, I present to you:

The Great List of Arena Cards (Current count: 19 Arenas)

Blood Guard Colosseum by @EricF
You must use the first card drawn each turn as your combat card. You may reveal an Ace or Joker drawn this way to ignore this requirement for the turn. (On turns without a draw phase, you can play any card).

“Give all you got in the fight times, never give up!”
–Drakk Ramhorn


Cinderblast Dragon Nest by @Shadow_Night_Black
At the start of each turn, take 5 damage if you are knocked down.

The floor is lava!


Clock Tower by @Shadow_Night_Black
Once per turn during the combat reveal, you may reveal an Ace in your hand to swap your combat card with the top card of your discard pile, then discard an Ace. (The player with higher remaining life decides whether to swap first.)

Geiger’s experiments with time have created pockets of temporal distortion throughout his workshop.


Comeback Central by @pengwndude
The first time you fall below 50 Life, search your deck or discard for a Joker and put it in your hand. The first time you fall below 10 life, search your deck or discard for 2 Aces and put them in your hand. (Shuffle your deck if you searched it.)

Never count out someone backed into a corner!


Final Destination by @Zqxx
You no longer lose when your life is at 0. Each player’s life starts at 0, and damage causes life to increase. (Healing decreases HP. You cannot go below 0 HP.)
If a player is at or above their character’s maximum life, they lose if they are damaged with an Ender or Can’t Combo move that deals more than 1 damage. (Hitting with an Ender or Can’t Combo move that raises the opponent’s life to max, or hitting with an Ender in a combo that raises their life to max, does not count.)
If the game ends by time out, the player with lower life wins.

“No EX cards, Zane only, Final Destination.”
–Some Smash Bros. player, probably


Flagstone Asylum by @Shadow_Night_Black
If you reveal the same combat option (Attack, Throw, Block or Dodge) as you did last turn, discard a card.

It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.


Fox’s Den School by @ThreeHeadedMonkey
If you combat-reveal a Dodge or special Block, you may return it to your hand unless you were thrown.

Those who train to become ninja must be light on their feet, able to dodge even the fastest attacks with ease.


Hot Springs Spa by @ThreeHeadedMonkey
During the Power Up phase, if you are able to search for Aces you may search for one more Ace than normal. (This includes both Aces from discarding sets and from chain combos, but you can only get one additional Ace per turn this way.)

You’ll feel better after a hot bath.


Inverse Arena by @Zqxx
Attacks beat Blocks and Dodges, Blocks and Dodges beat Throws, and Throws beat Attacks. (Jokers still beat Attacks and Throws and lose to Blocks and Dodges.)

You must unlearn everything you’ve learned.


Liar’s Lair by @Zqxx
During the draw phase, each player declares Attack, Throw, Block, or Dodge. If a player wins combat with the option they declared, they immediately draw a card. (The player with higher life declares first.)

Trust no one.


Lost Temple by @Zejety
Neither player can normal draw. Skip the clean up phase of each turn. (Don’t draw if your normal attack is blocked or wins combat, and don’t discard down to 12 cards at the end of each turn.)

The sight of these ruins feels strangely familiar.


Master’s Dojo by @Hobusu (Inspired by some posts by @Leontes)
Remove all Jokers from each player’s deck before starting this game.

Learning respect for others is as important as learning to fight honorably.


Murkwood Swamp by @Hobusu
At the end of each turn, each player takes 2 damage.

The swamps of Murkwood sap the life of those who dare enter them.


Oracle’s Dreamery by @Shadow_Night_Black
Play with your deck face-up this game. (You can see the top card of each player’s deck.)

“Hmmm… You look like you might have an interesting destiny… May I tell your fortune?”


Pandaland Buffet by @Hobusu
Draw an extra card each draw phase.

Happy martial artists spar more.


Slow Time Generator by @Shadow_Night_Black
While your life is at an even number, your special moves and super moves are 1.0 speed slower. While your life is at an odd number, your normal attacks and normal throws are 1.0 speed slower. (Special moves are Jacks, Queens, and Kings. Super moves are Aces.)

This prototype can only slow some actions, but it’s still annoying.


Tavern by @Hobusu
During the Combat Reveal, you may discard a card of the same suit as your normal attack to make your opponent vulnerable to mixup normals that turn. (If you hit them with a mixup normal this way, they discard their block card and do not draw a card.)

People fight dirty here, so don’t hold back!


Valerie’s Studio by @Barrelfish
Starters and Enders are treated as Linkers. (Card abilities that would change the combo type of a card have priority over this.)

“I see the world a bit differently.”
–Valerie Rose


Vortoss Ruins by @Zqxx
If both players combat-reveal the same type of move, the slower move wins.

Time flows differently here.



Original Post (This is only here for historical reasons)

Considering how fun the Map Cards in Codex and the Casino cards in Pandante are, I thought it would be fun to think about what that would look like for Yomi. The guiding principle behind them seems to be that each card should change the rules in a simple way, but that change should have a significant impact on how you play that round. They’re also not necessarily intended to be balanced – much like the EX characters, trying to argue one of these needs changed because it’s unbalanced is Missing the Point, unless leaving it unchanged would break the game. With that in mind, here’s some ideas I had (most of which probably aren’t simple enough):

  • Snowy Mountains: At the end of each turn, take 2 damage if you didn’t successfully block an attack or Joker.
  • Tavern: During the Combat Reveal, you may discard a card of the same suit as your normal attack to make your opponent vulnerable to mixup normals this turn.
  • Master’s Dojo: Remove all Jokers from each player’s deck this game.
  • Fox’s Den School: You may follow up a successful dodge with a full combo, but face cards and aces cost 1 more combo point each this turn if you do.
  • Pandalands: Draw an extra card each Draw Phase.

I’m sure there’s lots of room for more ideas! I’ve only started playing Yomi recently, so I don’t know the game well enough to see where small changes would make a big impact. That said, please share any ideas you have, whether it’s new cards or improvements to these ones.

5 Likes

Hard Times Mill:
No normal draw and you cannot power up.

1 Like

Ah, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to come up with a Hard Times Mill. It’s kind of iconic at this point, isn’t it? :wink:

I doubt my version is even the best. HTM is usually one short, simple change that slows down the game and is anti fun for everyone.

I also considered:
Each player starts the game with a 4 card hand
And,
You no longer draw cards from blocking

Blood Guard Training Ground:

You must use the first card drawn each turn as your combat card. You may reveal an Ace or Joker drawn this way to ignore this requirement for the turn. (On turns without a draw phase, you can play any card).

3 Likes

Stepping on HTM’s toes with this one, apologies in advance:

Geiger’s time chamber:
No normal draws or hand-size limit.

3 Likes

I don’t know what to call this one:
Attacks deal chip damage equal to thier normal attack value. Aces chip damage is halved.

@EricF: I love it! Very nice flavor, and it’ll probably make for fast games (since less time is spent on deciding which card to play). Bonus points for being possible in online play, though you’d need to turn off hand sorting.

@Zejety: So, a 1st Edition card, huh? I like it! If I’d come up with it, I’d have named it either Lost Temple to reference the Codex map card or Clock Tower (because I’m trying to name mine based on Fantasy Strike stages when possible).

@Shax: That sounds interesting… I’d suggest Fury Road, because it encourages less blocking (similar to the Codex map of the same name).

How about this for another possible Hard Times Mill:

If a card would return to your hand, discard it instead. (This includes Block cards.)

1 Like

That doesn’t apply to everyone though. I know what you said about balance but I believe that HTM cares about making everyone suffer.

I thought of blocks precisely 7 seconds after posting.

Everyone has blocks. Those normally return to hand, but here they don’t.

Edit: Yeah, it’s obvious in hindsight, isn’t it? That’s why it would need that reminder text I just added.

Edit 2: @Shax, you were right that it doesn’t punish everyone equally after all. Troq doesn’t return his Blocks to his hand except when using Beast Unleashed. Back to the drawing board.

dreadlands
Everyone draws an extra card but takes 2 damage
Gwen draws 3 and takes 4

I actually came up with that last night, but I decided that I’d rather have just +Draw (see Pandalands above).

flagstone
You can declare one type of attack that your opponent can’t play that turn

I like the idea, but I think that falls under “breaks the game,” at least to some extent. I’m not sure how you handle the order of declaring it (ideally it would be double-blind, but then you need a method for hiding it until both players have picked), but if you play as a grappler and declare Attack, they have to either declare Throw or do a Gold Burst to prevent your Super Throw from being guaranteed. Or be a grappler themselves and do their own Super Throw, but still.

Edit: Menelker can make it even worse against non-grapplers, since Deathstrike Dragon outspeeds all non-grappler throws except Dreadlands Portal (which ties with it) and he can use Bonecracker and/or Into Oblivion to make sure you don’t have a Joker. In summary, if you have a Super Throw your opponent is forced to declare that you can’t Throw as long as you have that threat, and just in general it makes gameplay about trying to make your combat option impossible to beat.

Trick Room

Higher speed values are now faster than lower speed values.

4 Likes

YES

Though as much as I like the Pokemon reference, is there a name we could use that’s more in line with the Fantasy Strike universe?

It could work as is.

Lore wise, we could easily write it off as either being a Fox Den or Blood Guard training area.

I was thinking Vortoss Ruins, really. If these were physical cards, it could have flavor text about how time flows differently in them.

Edit: It couldn’t work as a Fox’s Den related thing because Ninpo Flash is arguably the worst attack in the game with this map active (tied with other “reversals” for slowest, only does 1 damage if blue bursted).

“UnderDawg”

If your opponent has the life lead, and you win the combat-reveal with a combo-able card, you get 1 extra combo point.

1 Like