Pot of Insanity [Written]

[drowsyCoffee]

This card, all in all, is part of a random series of cards i've been thinking about for a while, brewing with these ideas for quite some time while i worked on other random projects i had and in general not really doing that much with this site. The general ide of this series of cards is, allowing them to do things that are considered inherently broken within yugioh (Like going +1 or handlooping your opponent), and just seeing how far players would be willing to go in order to play these cards, and trying to make them somewhat balanced even though they allow you to do such strong things

 

This first one, by virtue of being a Pot card, is a Draw card, specifically, a Spell, and allows the user to plus out of it.  The general idea in the design of this card is to place restrictions on it that make so you cant really win on the turn you use it, by limiting your actions during it, and balancing that out with the advantage it gives, trying to see just how far is your average player willing to go for some extra cards in hand

 

 

Pot of Insanity

Normal Spell

Draw 3 cards. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card. You can only Summon and/or Set up to 2 cards the turn you activate this card.

You can only activate 1 "Pot of Insanity" per turn

 

 

This, all in all, is a very simple spell in theory. You go +2, and then you just, pass i guess? The card heavily restricts any kind of play that could win you the game. You cant conduct your battle phase, so there isnt that much room for OTKing your opponent that turn, and you cant really set up a massive interaction board to prevent them from winning the game, as the most you could do under the 2 Sets or Summons restriction would be like, TCBOO/IO set plus a Solemn Judgement to protect it. Combo decks in particular, would be hard pressed to pump out an interaction within only 2 summons, and since it isnt a "For the rest of the turn" but rather an "On the turn" restriction, it isnt something you can cheat easily

 

However, that isnt to say that this card doesnt have any uses, it absolutely does. First, it doesnt really restrict you activating spells in any way shape or form. A deck like,True Draco, for example, that activates a bunch of Continuous Spells and maybe sets a Trap and Tribute Summons a dude probably wouldnt really mind the restriction. Another way to use it would be as a Going Second power card, to help you draw fodder for cards like Forbidden Droplet, or to help you dig for cards like Lightning storm. It isnt really that bad going first too, as it doesnt limit handtraps in any way shape or form, and thus, a War Crime list with +15 handtraps could make heavy use out of it, or maybe be used in a deck trying to dig for a specific floodgate, like Lancea or IO

In general, even though there are a lot of ways a conventional deck could be restricted this card, the ability to dig for specific cards it has, on top of how powerful it can be to draw +2 handtraps out of it probably would make it good enough to squeeze its way into some control lists, specially those that due to certain reasons dont really care about their restrictions. Spellbook could maybe make use of it, to give an example. Striker in theory should too, given the lack of restrictions on spells, but in reality, the restrictions on summons prevent you from doing any of your link plays the turn you activate it

The only thing im particularly worried about this card is its power on a top deck war. Being able to top deck this card while at 0 cards on hand and suddenly win out of it feels a tad unhealthy, so im tempted to add a "You must have x amount of cards in hand in order to activate this card" restriction a la "Into the Void"

 

Now, onto some general rulings with this card. Note, some of those might be incorrect, but at least, i'll list the intended interaction to make it easier to correct my misunderstanding

First, for some rather obvious reason, this card is a HOPT. Being able to go +4 while only being under the restriction once sounds kinda silly, and i dont really want to even think about how i would have to balance this card if you could activate multiples per turn. However, in exchange, this card is an "Activate" HOPT instead of a "Use" one, meaning that if it gets negated you can active any other copy you might have. Given that this card is a handtrap magnet, it feels somewhat necessary to give at least that much, just for QoL as this card being negated would feel miserable, but i can be convinced otherwise

 

Second, though im not certain if the wording ("the turn you activate this card.") works that way (And i couldnt really remember any example of cards that did, to copy their wording), this card restriction is meant to be applied even if this card is negated. Since Negations mess with Activations, im not sure if the wording is correct, but still, i feel like this card is powerful enough to warrant having such downsides on it. Yet another reason to make this card an Ash Blossom magnet, which is somewhat fitting for any card of the "Pot" series

 

Third, this card is meant to limit number of both Monsters Summoned/Set and Spell/Traps set. Furthermore, it is meant to count both at the same time towards the limit (Meaning, either summoning 2, setting 2 or summoning 1 and setting 1 should be the max you could do) but i couldnt quite narrow down a specific wording for it, and thus im not sure if it works that way

 

That is about it. All in all, weird card, and im not sure yet if the downsides warrant it being a Draw 3 instead of a Draw 2. Still, i hope you find this idea interesting

[Ezrael]

Considering the fact that cards like Pot of Desires see regular play in top competition for banishing 10 cards face down, I feel like this would see at least some play, even if just at the casual level. It almost feels like a perfect card for decks that revolve around hand activations. Draw 3, set a couple of traps, then let your opponent do the work for you on their turn. It does help that I could 100% see Konami throwing this card out there in a random set in the future.

[drowsyCoffee]

True, now that you mention it, imagine f*cking PsyDrivers on this. While i'll admit its not the best of decks, having and archetype that barely cares about the restrictions on it get to go +2 every so often sounds kinda funny. Worst thing is, they probably would still lose to someone refusing to play the deck and both of em going to deckout. Hilarious

 

Cant really remember any other deck that has that same level of "imma play on every moment except my turn". I was about to suggest Dangers?! for the play from hand abilities, but tbh i dont even wanna learn how those cards would interact with this kind of restriction

[Loleo]

This is CardCar D (the same but also doesn't allow any additional summons and only draws 2)  on steroids every one of your other cards has been underpowered, but this would make some bad decks meta.  making it played first thing MP1 and ending your turn drawing 3 would still be amazing.

[Dokutah]

the only thing safe about this card is not many deck have able to setup on opponent turn instead their own turn...but its indeed a growing pool to be watch out. stuff like Floowandereeze, I.P Masq. and the likes

[drowsyCoffee]

All in all, fair enough, decks lik PsyDrivers or Flund with the one card that gave em 3 NS on opponent turn probably could be potential threats created by this card, specially Flund with it being somewhat close to playability. Thankfully, the more generic cards to combo in your opponents turn like Masq, Halq or Quandax all require more summons than this card allows. I think. Maybe you can get through the restriction by using tokens as materials, since it only prevents "cards" from being summoned? Idk

[Dokutah]

Just now, Shadow Black-Wood said:

All in all, fair enough, decks lik PsyDrivers or Flund with the one card that gave em 3 NS on opponent turn probably could be potential threats created by this card, specially Flund with it being somewhat close to playability. Thankfully, the more generic cards to combo in your opponents turn like Masq, Halq or Quandax all require more summons than this card allows. I think. Maybe you can get through the restriction by using tokens as materials, since it only prevents "cards" from being summoned? Idk

to be fair it does only prevent the number of summon you can conduct rather than the number of monster you can summon in one instance of such effect

[drowsyCoffee]

Good point