Hello, Scrolldiers!

The votes have been cast, and the results of the latest Scrollsguide design competition are here. There was an incredible amount of nifty designs to pick from – below are our favorites, and the winners of each category.



Please note that the scrolls have been slightly altered to fit how rules are worded in the game. Without further ado, the finalists:

Decay

Finalists: Ilmire Sanctuary by RadiantUnicorn, Famine by Dodecahedrus, and Shambler Sickness by TheJakyll.

Winner: Shambler Sickness by TheJakyll.

Shambler Sickness represents many things we like. It’s a nice, simple design that’s based on concepts already in the game. It adds fun new aspects to gameplay. It’s easy to understand for beginners – and it fills a void where previously nothing was available.

Like Binding Root, it prevents a unit from moving at the cost of 1. On top of this, it forces movement before attack. This can be a downside (in not being able to position your units yourself), but it can also be an upside (strategic positioning of other units letting you escape a row with only a destroyed idol to attack). Additionally, it can be cast on your own unit to simulate an extra move for a single turn. It’s deceptively simple, but has a lot of hidden depth. We feel the scroll is balanced at cost 1 – we’ll try it as an uncommon.

Order

Finalists: Resonant Greaves by Darn, King Piece by gaver10, and Martyr by ranotoro.

Honorable mention: Martyr by Elendil.

Winner: King Piece by gaver10.

There were plenty of enchantments aiming to make one creature very powerful submitted to the competition. We feel King Piece was the most interesting, due to the design combining high reward with high risk. The ultimatum posed by this scroll is truly something: Victory or loss is to be decided solely by this enchantment.

We’d like to change the name of this scroll to something more fitting with Scrolls lore. We’re also not entirely keen on the buff this card gives – it’s likely we’ll adjust how it works to make it easier to read and understand before we put it live. The loss condition is interesting, and we feel it’s more than worth trying. If the balance does not work, it’s not hard to imagine ways to tweak it (like losing a single idol instead of all of them).

Note: The honorable mention, “Martyr”, bears striking similarities to the Order finalist with the same name. We’ve decided to award both designers with a designer head for their efforts.

Growth

Finalists: Eager to Battle by uwlryoung, Essence Transfer by Paradoxical, and Inherited Strength by Abstract.

Winner: Eager to Battle by uwlryoung.

This scroll represents every aspect of Growth at once. The name, rules text and flavor all harmonize to create an iconic scroll. It’s a scroll that lends itself to Joes-type decks, rewarding cheap units on either side.

We feel Eager to Battle is worth trying on the test server as is. It’s easy to imagine tweaks if needed – changing the duration, making it apply to only one side, or adjusting its cost.

Energy

Finalists: Lightning Chest by EyeTheta, Curious Lever by jay4, and Static Field by clamlol.

Winner: Lightning Chest by EyeTheta.

Lightning Chest hits on something unique. There were several Energy scrolls submitted with mechanics to preserve resources, but this was by far our favorite. It’s a Lingering spell, with all the interesting planning and counterplay that comes with that. It lets you reach unheard of amounts of Energy in a single turn. With the way it’s worded, it also makes playing scrolls like Replicaton and Tempest Reaver a pleasure – since the Energy isn’t actually removed from your current pool.

We’re happy to try Lightning Chest as it is on the test server.

Please note that these designs are all subject to change before being added to the game. In particular, it’s likely we’ll change names and flavor texts.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the competition, and massive congratulations to all the finalists. The winners of each category will have their scroll implemented in the game, and all finalists will be awarded a unique avatar head some time in the future.

See you on the battlefield!

Måns – @MansOlson