It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

Just now, clanmccracken said:

It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

For the same reason you can only have 3 of each card in a deck. Its a deckbuilding constraint that adds a layer of strategy. You may want to play both of these awesome province cards, but they are both earth so you can only have one. It can also serve as balancing. If there is a very strong combo of effects using 2 province cards, you can effectively prevent it by making them both the same element.

That being said, we are only assuming you can only have 1 of each element in your deck. I do not believe we have seen anything official that states that.

Mechanicly: so you can't combine certain provinces. Each Water province is in a pool of it's own for balance reasons.

Province, not providence.

3 minutes ago, clanmccracken said:

It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

I think you might be right that there might be cards that interact with those, but I think it's mainly just a way to balance things. They can concentrate on having a theme for each ring in terms of provinces and know that someone can't have 5 Fire Provinces.

4 minutes ago, clanmccracken said:

It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

It hasn't been specifically stated that you have to have one province of each ring type yet. Speculation is towards that idea because of all the other instances of balance in the game and makes perfect sense thematically. With he new article today, I willing to bet you need 1 of each.

Will there be a native bonus? Nope.

Edit: If it has been directly stated, could someone post it?

3 minutes ago, clanmccracken said:

It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

Because "Stone Cold" Steve Horvath said so!

.......And that's the bottom line. #stonecoldstunner

It's an obstacle that is meant to add an extra layer of challenge to deckbuilding. I like it, as it ought to force players into making interesting choices when selecting their province cards, which in turn might push their gameplan down avenues they might not have explored otherwise. It's an elegant mechanic in that it's easy to grasp, but will offer many complex decision-making moments before the game even begins, assuming it is implemented well.

3 hours ago, clanmccracken said:

It's been stated that each providence will be marked with an elemental symbol, and a deck must contain a single providence of each element. My question is 'Why?' Has it been stated why you must have one of each? Do you think there will be cards that will get a bonus if they are attacking or defending a providence of a specific element? Mechanically speaking, why do you think they included that as a rule?

has it been stated you need one of each?

If it ist he case - as its been said above, balance.

4 hours ago, Jedi samurai said:

has it been stated you need one of each?

No. It's a (reasonable) assumption based on the fact that there are now five provinces (instead of four), and the previewed province cards we've seen have all had different elemental symbols on their lower margins.