Suna

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Bell
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Suna

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[Art Not Yet Available]


Type: Creature
Race: Glacia
Quadrant: Dynasty
Element: Ice
Cost: 4
Power: 3000
Effect: When this creature enters the conflict, consume one of your opponent's tempo. After this, if you have more tempo than your opponent, consume one of your tempo as well.
Set: Advent of Chaos (CF-01) Common
Flavor Text: not yet available
Writer Text: "I'm sure you will remember what you were thinking about again in a minute."


The Element

Creatures of the Ice element such as Suna specialize in weakening and freezing their opponents, removing their capabilities or power in one way or another. Suna displays the method of doing this that is seen most often in her race, the freezing power that robs the opponent of their forward momentum, in this case removing one of their available Tempo. With a mid cost, it combines well with either forward moving strategies or conservative ones within the Ice element. These creatures often have decent power even when they have these abilities, since their freezing abilities need to be carefully controlled and timed, if they can in fact even be controlled at all. Suna is one of the many examples of this, where the player cannot quite control what happens, except through previous planning.

The Combat Ability

When arriving by cost reduction or after an early attack, Suna's power is quite stable, and it can match quite a few creatures that arrive in the conflict at around the same time. However, it is still vulnerable to just as many, and is very likely to only match their combat capability. Combined with the other abilities available to Ice, however, one may find that Suna's power is sufficient to add to the combat forces significantly. Careful planning is often required, especially since one generally needs to be careful not to lose Suna so that further cost reduction can be used. Three thousand power is enough to stand up to the majority of smaller creatures, though, and this is most useful because of the somewhat 'deceptive' issue that a defensive playing of Suna achieves by its effect.

The Effect

Suna's effect is a complex thing that relies heavily on the player's planning ability. While it is almost always useful to the player in the early stages of the game, it loses effectiveness quickly if used incorrectly or if the duel stretches out very long. The optimal use is usually to limit the opponent from making a play that would give them advantage, while adding Suna as an attacking creature to build up defenses. This aspect of the effect often works whether or not either the opponent, or the player, is attacking, but has greatest effectiveness in Ice oriented decks where Suna's presence offers a new source of Cost Reduction. Even if Suna sets the user back as well, this factor can help them achieve their goal more easily. These effects, as one would expect, are most powerful against Fire and sometimes Lightning, as they sometimes consume their own tempo to use their effects. Limiting them therefore makes their operation much more difficult.

The other method of using Suna's ability is somewhat more risky, but ensures that it will only seriously negatively affect the opponent. When combined with very low cost early attackers, one can strike at the opponent early enough to make sure that they have more tempo than you do when Suna enters the conflict. Even if this strategy backfires, multiple Suna plays can deprive the opponent of the momentum they need to actually remove the incoming swarm at the speed they need, especially if their own smaller creatures lack power. This is where the deceptive nature of Suna's actual power rating becomes apparent. By limiting the opponent's ability to play larger creatures capable of easily stopping Suna, the player can gain a slow but steady tactical advantage, especially if their opponent does not employ very much Cost Reduction in their own deck.

Ratings

Casual: 7/10
Suna's capability in the casual realm of play depends heavily on whether or not the opponent is attempting to use a lot of Cost Reduction in their deck. Without heavy cohesive strategies to disrupt, it is not quite as devastating, and interestingly, Suna is good at 'soaking up' enemy removal effects. When faced with power creatures instead, Suna's use is moreso limited to Ice or at least Dynasty decks.

Tournament/Ladder: 7/10
When aiming to be highly competitive in the use of Suna, players need to consider as many opposing situations as possible, and this is both a blessing and a curse. In contrast to casual play, where one is not likely to know what the opponent is using and therefore not able to decide in advance how Suna should be used, competitive play is where she shines, but the likelihood of the opponent disrupting your flow early on, themselves, rises, and duels stretch out longer, causing her power to wane.

Random: 7/10
Drawing Suna in a RND can be wonderful if it happens early, since there's a strong chance that the opponent has no cost reduction and in fact also has less low costed creatures. Even that one turn of setback can drastically change the duel outcome. On the other hand, once said duel has gone on for a long time, drawing Suna becomes quite useless compared to even other basic options.

Overall: 7/10
Generally not good in decks that use many elements, and further often restricted to its own Quadrant, Suna gives tactical options that truly shine when the user is very calculating, but it has little effect once the opponent gets a foothold, therefore focusing on preventing that situation from ever occurring in the first place is important. Freedom is not something the Ice easily gives.
In chats wrote:<Wedjat> Why is there no function for converting "antagonizing fools" into "delightful servants"?
<ri> you don't have access to defool.exe?
<Wedjat> It would be an illegal operation.
<Bell> SIGGED
<Wedjat> \o/
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