Summon The Legend: Yabapmatt

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The Episode Challenge: Summon The Legend

For this week’s #TPGCHALLENGE, the Splinterlands community has been tasked with designing a summoner card inspired by @Yabapmatt, one of the game's co-founders. Known for being a "man of the people", I think I've come up with an innovative & new idea that'll be sure to shake things up & keep gameplay fresh.

The Lore

In the world of Splinterlands, Yabapmatt is known as the founding father of Praetoria, a land steeped in mystery, magic, and untold power. As a visionary leader, he saw the potential to harness the elemental forces and unite them under a single banner. With a deep understanding of the ancient magic and the secrets of runemancy, Yabapmatt sought to create a land where both battle mages and monstrous creatures could thrive together, bound by the principles of strength, unity, and strategy.

Yabapmatt is not just a ruler but a man of the people, committed to empowering others and sharing his knowledge of magic and warfare. His leadership in founding Splinterlands' Praetoria has inspired generations of mages, warriors, and collectors to engage in fierce combat, testing their skills in a land where magical summoners wield immense power. Throughout his reign, Yabapmatt has been seen as a protector of balance, ensuring that the forces of nature and magic remain in harmony.

His legendary status is not only rooted in his magical prowess but in his ability to create systems of governance within the realms of the Splinterlands. As a summoner, Yabapmatt is known for his tactical mind, often making game-time decisions that tip the balance of power. His influence can still be felt in the dual-element summoners and tactical abilities that are widely respected across the lands.

Yabapmatt’s journey as the founding father of Praetoria reflects a tale of innovation, community, and boundless potential, forever intertwining him with the lore of Splinterlands.

The Abilities

As part of my imagined Yabapmatt the Summoner Challenge, I've designed & introduced two new abilities that represent Yabapmatt's dedication to the community & greater good of Praetoria and his conviction in Splinterlands' success. Let's understand these two new abilities first.

Unite:

Effect: At the start of each battle round, Unite has a chance to cleanse one random debuff from a team member. Additionally, for every ally that is cleansed, the rest of the team receives a minor healing or shield boost (depending on the team’s elemental alignment).

Balancing the Power:

Powerful: Unite would allow the team to recover from key debuffs like Poison, Stun, or Silence without spreading the negative effects. The extra healing or shield boost helps keep the team resilient in the long run.

Balanced: The cleanse would not be guaranteed to trigger every round or cleanse every debuff at once, which introduces an element of chance and strategic uncertainty. The boost to healing or shielding would also be minor, so the ability wouldn’t be overwhelmingly powerful.

Empower:

Effect: When a friendly monster is eliminated, all remaining monsters on the team gain a stacking buff to their stats, such as increased health, attack, or speed. The more monsters that fall, the stronger the surviving units become. Additionally, if any ally has been stunned, silenced, or otherwise incapacitated, Empower grants them an immediate burst of recovery, cleansing debuffs and restoring a portion of their health.

Balancing the Power:

Powerful: Empower would make teams more resilient as the battle wears on, turning losses into advantages. The more allies that fall, the stronger the remaining ones become, making it harder to fully wipe out a team.

Balanced: The buffs grow progressively, so while it provides a comeback mechanic, it doesn’t overwhelm the opponent early in the game. Additionally, the ability’s effect is triggered only by a fallen ally, so the player has to lose units before benefiting from the power-up.

The Card

Elements

The Yabapmatt Summoner card should have the ability to summon Dragon plus one other element or act as a Neutral summoner, similar to Lux Vega, for the following reasons:

Dragon:

Dragons in Splinterlands are known for their versatility, power, and ability to combine forces with any other element. As the founding father of Praetoria and a legendary figure, Yabapmatt’s influence transcends boundaries, making him the perfect candidate for a Dragon dual-element summoner. This symbolizes his ability to unite the different splinters, much like how Dragons are a bridge between the elements. By summoning Dragon + one other element, players would have maximum flexibility, giving them a tactical edge to mix and match abilities from different elements, reflecting Yabapmatt’s strategic brilliance.

Neutral:

Alternatively, allowing Yabapmatt to act as a neutral summoner (summoning any one element that is not Dragon) reflects his "man of the people" persona. Just like his neutral predecessor, Lux Vega, who transcends elemental boundaries, Yabapmatt’s ability to summon any element would represent his inclusive nature and role as a leader who empowers all. This would give players the freedom to choose any element, making Yabapmatt’s summoner card one of the most versatile and universally usable in the game, which aligns with his role as a figure who brings the community together.

In either form, Yabapmatt’s summoner would mirror his legacy of innovation, unity, and tactical mastery—giving players a rare and powerful tool to use across multiple strategies. Whether it’s by merging the powers of Dragon and another element or offering complete flexibility as a neutral summoner, Yabapmatt’s card would embody his legendary status in the lore of Splinterlands.

Universal Abilities

The decision to give Yabapmatt’s summoner card +1 HP, +1 Speed, and +1 Armor as universal buffs is rooted in the idea that, while these buffs are not inherently flashy, they are incredibly meaningful and offer well-rounded strategic value in any battle. Here’s the logic behind this choice:

Universal Utility:

+1 HP, +1 Speed, and +1 Armor work together to provide broad, versatile benefits to all monsters on the battlefield, regardless of their role or element. This reflects Yabapmatt’s nature as a "man of the people" and his founding role in Praetoria. Just like his leadership impacts everyone, these buffs offer equal value to all units, making them more resilient, faster, and harder to take down, which is crucial in a game as tactical as Splinterlands.

Subtle Yet Strategic:

While these buffs don’t seem extreme on the surface, they are game-changers in practice. The extra HP extends survivability, Speed allows monsters to attack first (often deciding the outcome of a round), and Armor adds another layer of defense, protecting from physical damage. These stat boosts may seem simple, but they elevate a team’s overall strength, offering more depth in how monsters withstand enemy attacks and control the tempo of battle.

Balanced and Fair:

By granting small, yet significant buffs across the board, Yabapmatt’s card strikes a balance between power and fairness. Players won’t feel that a single overpowered ability is breaking the game, but they will consistently benefit from enhanced performance in nearly every aspect of combat. The +1 Speed alone can change attack order, while +1 Armor is crucial for withstanding sneak or opportunity attacks, and the +1 HP boosts team-wide durability.

Consistency with His Role:

These buffs align Yabapmatt with Lux Vega in terms of versatility and reliability. As a dual-element summoner or neutral summoner, he should be universally useful in any situation, and these buffs ensure that. Players can rely on Yabapmatt to make any monster in their lineup perform better, reflecting his role as a steady, reliable leader whose influence enhances the entire team, regardless of the circumstances.

In summary, Yabapmatt’s +1 HP, +1 Speed, and +1 Armor buffs may appear modest, but they offer consistent, tactical value in every battle, making him a highly strategic summoner with well-rounded benefits.

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Tactics

Tactical Option 1:

The pairing of Empower (team-wide) and Shield Ward (to one monster) offers a powerful yet strategic balance, making Yabapmatt’s summoner card a high-skill, high-reward option.

Empower (Team-Wide):

This ability enhances the entire team’s strength as monsters fall, ensuring that the surviving monsters become more powerful with each ally lost. Empower turns the tide of battle, giving the remaining team members increased stats and boosting their overall performance. This effect encourages players to make the most out of tough situations, leveraging their losses to gain a strong comeback. It also emphasizes Yabapmatt’s "man of the people" nature, lifting the entire team rather than focusing on a single unit.

Shield Ward (To One Monster):

On the other hand, Shield Ward is applied to a single monster at the start of battle, granting them the Shield ability. This ability reduces incoming melee and ranged damage by 50%, making it a perfect defense for a critical unit, particularly a front-line tank or vulnerable backline unit. By protecting a key monster with Shield Ward, players can better withstand the opponent’s damage, allowing the team to survive long enough for Empower to kick in.

Why These Abilities Work Well Together:

Tactical Flexibility: Empower boosts the entire team’s strength as they endure losses, while Shield Ward offers protection for a key unit, allowing players to control which monster survives the longest. This creates a balance between offense and defense, making the summoner versatile in both damage dealing and mitigation.
Strategic Synergy: Shield Ward helps ensure a critical unit survives long enough to take full advantage of Empower's stacking benefits. While the rest of the team might suffer damage, the shielded unit can continue contributing without succumbing to melee or ranged attacks prematurely.

The combination of these abilities makes Yabapmatt’s summoner card both tactically deep and strategically engaging, giving players the chance to protect vital monsters while maximizing team-wide power boosts over time.

Tactical Option 2:

Pairing Unite and Immunity creates a potent defensive and team-sustaining combination, making Yabapmatt’s summoner card both highly protective and tactically impactful. Here’s why these two abilities work well together:

Unite (Team-Wide Damage Sharing):

The Unite ability spreads incoming damage across the entire team, preventing any one monster from being overwhelmed. This ability ensures that damage is more evenly distributed, making the team more resilient against focused attacks. By reducing the individual burden on each monster, Unity prolongs the survivability of the entire lineup, ensuring that no single unit is quickly wiped out by concentrated firepower.

Immunity (Applied to One Monster):

Immunity prevents the affected monster from suffering any negative status effects like poison, stun, or debuffs. This means that even in battles with harsh conditions (such as Noxious Fumes or Earthquake rulesets), the Immunity-protected monster will remain unaffected by harmful conditions that might weaken or disable the rest of the team.

Why They Pair Well Together:

Enhanced Survivability: Unite allows damage to be shared across the team, preventing any one monster from absorbing too much damage. Pairing this with Immunity ensures that the monster benefiting from Immunity will not be further weakened by debilitating status effects. This monster can serve as a key survivor while the rest of the team shares the damage, allowing for long-lasting strategic plays.
Tactical Flexibility: By giving Immunity to one monster and having Unite applied across the team, players can create a situation where the Immunity-protected monster can be the cornerstone of their defense. This monster will remain unaffected by poisons or other debilitating effects while benefiting from the shared damage mitigation of Unite, making it harder for opponents to break through.
Synergy in Resilience: The combination of Unite distributing the damage and Immunity preventing debuffs ensures the Immunity-protected monster remains fully functional throughout the match. Meanwhile, the rest of the team stays strong, as the Unite ability prevents them from being overrun. This synergy promotes a balance of team resilience and focused defense.

By pairing these two abilities, Yabapmatt’s summoner ensures that both damage mitigation and status protection are fully integrated, making the team harder to defeat and adding a layer of strategic depth that requires players to think carefully about how they allocate their resources in battle. This combination underscores Yabapmatt’s role as a master tactician, who not only empowers the team but also provides crucial defensive protection.

Mana Cost

The mana cost of 9 for Yabapmatt’s summoner card is a reflection of his exceptional power and versatility, making him one of the priciest and most strategic summoners in the game. Here's the reasoning behind this:

Great Versatility:

As a summoner who can either summon Dragon + one other element or act as a neutral summoner, Yabapmatt offers unparalleled flexibility. This ability to summon across multiple splinters gives players an advantage in building diverse teams and adapting to various strategies. However, with such freedom comes a higher cost, and the 9 mana ensures that players need to think carefully about how they structure their deck and allocate their resources.

Powerful Buffs:

Considering the potential tactical abilities (such as Unite or Empower) and game-changing buffs that could be applied to monsters under Yabapmatt’s leadership, his card needs to be priced accordingly. His role as a dual-element Dragon or neutral summoner means players can mix splinters in ways that other summoners cannot, making his team harder to counter. The high mana cost acts as a balancing factor, ensuring this immense potential doesn’t come without significant strategic trade-offs.

Strategic Play:

While Yabapmatt’s versatility is a clear strength, the 9 mana cost requires players to engage in maximum strategy. Summoners with lower mana costs can be used more frequently, but Yabapmatt demands precision in terms of choosing when and how to deploy him. Players must consider not only their total mana pool but also how to synergize their remaining monsters, making each decision more impactful.

Elite Status:

At 9 mana, Yabapmatt becomes the second-priciest summoner in the game, only surpassed by Lux Vega, which cements his status as an elite figure in Splinterlands. This mirrors his position as the founding father of Praetoria—his leadership and magical prowess come at a premium, and only the most skilled and strategic players will be able to wield him effectively.

Thus, the 9 mana cost is a crucial balancing point that emphasizes Yabapmatt’s tremendous power, versatility, and strategic depth while ensuring that his use in battle requires thoughtful, tactical decisions.

The Foils

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Introducing a Unique & Exclusive Foil: The Prismatic Masterwork Foil

If the Yabapmatt Summoner card is released as part of the exclusive 100-card auction, it’s only fitting that this event introduces a highly sought-after, ultra-valuable foil type—a foil so rare and prestigious that it becomes the ultimate collector’s treasure. Drawing inspiration from Magic: The Gathering’s renowned foil variants like Masterpiece Series or Mythic Edition, we could create a one-of-a-kind foil tier reserved for this exclusive auction, marking it as a once-in-a-lifetime acquisition for the lucky few.

Why an Exclusive Foil Type Matters:

Ultimate Rarity - Prismatic Masterwork Foil: By introducing a new, rare foil type that is only available through the auction, we cement the Yabapmatt Summoner card as a cornerstone of prestige in the Splinterlands universe. This adds a layer of excitement for top collectors who want something more than a regular or gold foil card.
Value Beyond the Auction: This exclusive foil type would become a status symbol, signifying ownership of one of the rarest cards in the game’s history. Much like Magic: The Gathering’s Mythic Editions or Invocations, which are sought after for their rarity and aesthetic beauty, this foil would hold significant value in secondary markets, increasing its long-term worth.

Complementary Regular and Gold Foil Releases:

To ensure that players at all levels can engage with the Yabapmatt card, we would also love to see the release of both regular foil and gold foil versions of the card outside the auction. This structure would allow the card to be accessible to a broader player base while still maintaining the elite rarity of the special auction foil:

Regular Foil: Available through normal pack openings or events, this version allows the players of the game to enjoy the card without needing to participate in the auction.
Gold Foil: Continuing the tradition of gold foil rarity, this version would be highly valuable in gameplay and collection, but still obtainable outside the exclusive auction, offering players and collectors a chance to own a prestigious version of the card.

Creating Excitement and Value:

By establishing a three-tiered foil system—regular foil, gold foil, and the Prismatic Masterwork Foil — we generate excitement across different player and collector tiers. Players who participate in the auction will know they own something truly exclusive, while those who obtain regular or gold foil versions still get to enjoy an iconic card. This encourages participation at every level of the community, from top collectors to everyday players.

Introducing a Prismatic Masterwork Foil type reserved exclusively for the 100-card auction elevates the prestige and excitement surrounding the Yabapmatt Summoner card. Paired with the more accessible regular and gold foil versions, this multi-tiered release structure offers something for everyone, all while ensuring that the auction holds legendary significance in Splinterlands' history.

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