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Andreas Propst
Austria
enzenkirchen
upper austria
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Drawing cards is one of the most important aspects of card games like Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon etc. It ensures that players do not run out of “threats” and “answers”, as I like to call it. Threats are cards that enable you to win the game by attacking the opponent directly or by weakening him or her indirectly. Answers are cards that enable you to deal with the threats the opponent plays or has in play.
Due to Elemental Clash’s game mechanic of having to put one card from the top of your draw-pile (the Spellbook) onto your discard pile (the Archive) for each and every point of damage you receive, with players losing if they are unable to draw a card from their Spellbook, card draw becomes a twofold meaning: On the one hand, it is vital for getting your hands on said threats and answers, on the other hand, drawing a card means you have one card less in your Spellbook. Each card you draw virtually equals 1 point of damage to you, thus making card draw in Elemental Clash a rather ambivalent, but through this a quite appealing aspect of the game.
As a deckbuilder, you have to carefully consider, how much card draw (like the classic Wave of Wisom or the cheap Arcane Teachings for example) you want to pack into a deck without harming yourself too much, or drawing too much card-draw you do not want to play due to lack of cards in your Spellbook.
What is more, these circumstances offer tremendous potential and opportunites for the game designer: There can be cards which force you to draw cards (Wave of Wisdom for example), and yet other cards that let you choose whether to draw a card or not (like Soul Surge). This tiny difference in wording may be crucial depending on the circumstances. With cards that say “you may draw X card(s)”, you might want to draw early on in the game, but pass in late game when you are already low on cards in your Spellbook. Also, this system gives cards like Coerced Knowledge a double meaning. Coerced Knowledge has target Player draw three cards. Use it on yourself to refill your hand with 3 new threats and/or answers, or use it aggressively to virtually deal 3 damage to your opponent! Cards like Thoughtstopper even allow you to decide whether or not to draw a card during your Draw-Step, saving you the 1 or 2 cards in your Spellbook that may decide between success or failure!
So we have seen that card-draw in Elemental Clash is a very ambivalent thing. On the one hand it is useful to find new answers and threats and on the other hand it may, when used excessively and carelessly, harm yourself and lead you not to victory, but to defeat.
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