So Dodge cars are a key part of this game considering that it's supposed to be fantasy dodgeball, every color has its own.

Typically, Dodge cards cost one breath, and making more expensive ones work has been tricky. In general making different variants has also been kind of tricky.

Currently red's evade is the baseline, it's got a Dodge trigger so if reveals from the stamina line it goes to your hand, and you can pay one to avoid a balloon. It also draws a card to replace itself.

Each color has its own variant on evade, green has repulse which trades the card draw for a bounce.

Purple has teleport which loses the card draw. And blue has vanish which trades the card draw for a fog effect.

Now let's talk just within red, how can we have meaningful variations on evade that feel like side grades?

The only parameters we have to work with are increasing the cost, altering or removing the stamina effect, or altering or removing the follow-up effect

Evade sidegrades

We can't make a cheaper evade without it costing nothing, but could we make options that are on par by trading some values?

One would be trading the Dodge effect for a react effect, for a card that dodges, this means you don't get the double dip off the dodges like you would with evade

We don't have the design space to make weaker cheaper dodges unless they're absolutely free. But maybe that is what we can do.

Free dodges likely won't be stamina triggers as a counterbalance

Another thing is to have dodges that do additional thing along with dodging. The trick however is what should that thing be and how can we narratively justify it in a coloring around physical ability without magic or tools.

If we first analyze things mechanically, things that would be worth doing would include:

The tricky thing with Dodge cards is that they are mainly played on enemy player turns to avoid taking hits, so there isn't a lot of space for meaningful mechanics, and you can only do card draw in so many ways.

Another thing to consider are basic actions that just have Dodge stamina effects. In a color that's big on manipulating the breath zone, this should be reds bread and butter.

The idea is that these are cards with normal functions on your turn that are a Dodge when revealed in the stamina line.

This of course presents another question and that is what does red want to do with actions outside of dodging. And that question is quite a dilemma. It's easier to imagine stuff for the other three colors since they employ magic and tools. Red is framed as relying on pure physical ability and strategy.

If we look at things mechanically, we know that red wants to restore breath but how do you reconcile a card that just gives you more resources? I guess looking at magic, you got a class of cards known as "rituals" where you pay mana to just get more mana.

If you had a card that cost one breath and lets you restore three breath, you are essentially paying a card for two breath. Even if it cost zero you are still paying that card.