Argammond's Visions #2: Balor

Balor is the Guardian for the Champion's Odyssey set (you can find Balor here.

Feared throughout the Mid Realms, Balor literally is the "Lord of the Pit" as cards fall like fiery rain into the discard pile or vanish from the game through removal. As creatures, items, and other goodies are sacrificed to Balor, his power grows stronger. Other Vierkuns shudder when facing the monstrous resources Balor is able to focus into energy for channeling.

Obviously, cards that work well with Balor are cards that cause discarding or removal from the game, such as the Crypts of Damnation, Mordred the Summoner, or Stanley the Wonder Goat. With the ability to build up Power Stones, creatures that receive channeling are also good choices, as well as cards that require Power Stones for other uses like healing, or the Egyptian Standard Bearer 25 (that cancels an opposing AOE for 1 Stone). Sacrificial Altar has the potential for Balor to gain double the Power Stones (with good dice rolling). Use Small Mox to create more Stone disparity, or use Limited Big Time Rebate and a few accessories that also generate Power Stones to turn Balor into a Power Stone machine. With Rocks of Skull Cracking it is not unusual for Balor to decimate entire multiple flying shields.

Balor does have a few drawbacks. First, the ability usually only works 50% of the time (4-6 on a D6). Also, Balor has a low number of starting Power Stones, as well as a low Vitality and an average CMP. Cards that shut down channeling can negate Balor's Power Stone advantage in combat.

Still, it can be daunting to sit across from a player with Balor as Guardian, usually accompanied by a huge stack of cards to facilitate sacrifices to the "Lord of the Pit".

Developer Notes:
This was probably the most difficult card I created, as there was no Guardian template from Phil, so I created it completely from scratch. In doing so I learned a few things about Photoshop that I didn't know how to do before. The artwork is selected from a larger painting, which I first tried to use as Terrain, and then as a Stronghold. After some time I focused in on Balor and it seemed like a good fit both in appearance and in theme as "Lord of the Pit", so I extracted it from the larger artwork. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.