I was noodling over with some folks about Asynchronous Yomi (that is, something that would be playable via the forums/chat). The current difficulty with that is the number of times that decision-control changes hands in an average Yomi game (I calculated it out as something like 7+ times per turn, times ~10 turns at a minimum per game, and I think that’s an underestimate). I wanted to figure out a way to cut down on the number of times a decision had to be made (or at least, the number of times that the decision-control changed hands), and stumbled on what I’m calling Input Delay Yomi.
The key idea is: each turn, you play 1 card, and 2 (this number could vary) turns later, that is the card that activates. So, turn flow is just: activate the current card, play another card to the end of the conveyor, end the turn. And each turn can be taken simultaneously by each player, because the conveyor is all done facedown.
So, then the challenge is, how to translate as much of the existing Yomi cards/abilities/language into this new format (and then, how broken/degenerate is it as a game). Here are my current thoughts:
If no combo is active, the cards activated by each player are treated as combat reveals in TradYomi. Whichever player wins begins their combo. If a combo is being played, the player resolving the combo adds each card in turn to the combo, with the following priority:
- The current card pumps the previous combo card
- The current card extends the combo
- If neither of the above is valid, then the active combo is resolved (and damage is dealt), and the currently activated cards become new combat reveals.
Here are thoughts I’ve had on other rules and how they translate:
- Draw: triggers on combat reveal
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Draw phase,Reaction,Combat Reveal(abilities that are played from hand): These activate whenever the card their on activates (either as a combat reveal or as part of a combo), and trigger their abilities at the next possible legal opportunity. - Multi-Ace supers: must discard the requisite aces when the first ace is revealed as a combat card
- Blocks return to hand after activation (even if they weren’t a combat reveal), attacks/throws/dodges are all discarded after activation (even if they weren’t a combat reveal).
- A consequence of this, I think, is that if your opponent has a combo active, you’re incentivized to play blocks (so as to not go card negative), which gives your opponent the opportunity to cut their combo short and throw you. Let the mindgames begin!
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During Combatonly trigger if the card they are on activates as a combat reveal.
In general, the goal is to have it so that there’s no point at which both players need to be making an active, public decision at the same time, to avoid the need to go back and forth several times before the next step in the game resolves. That still leaves some open questions (burning vigor, for instance… How/when does that trigger?)
I suspect this is all super broken, but I think it could be fun to see how it plays out. I’d also love to hear any thoughts you folks have on a) rules that need clarifying or b) rules that could be improved.