Talk:Lightning/@comment-25856498-20161123101153

Lightning (and Mirrored Lightning) seems to be the only card that is capable of having absolutely no effect, whether it be functional or visual effect.

Let me show this:

All troop cards and building cards spawn their respective troops and buildings when played. Even if they are preemptively Rocketed or spelled so that they would have no functional effect, they will spill Elixir upon their destruction (and the deploy timer will be seen by the opponent).

Now to narrow down the spell cards:

Arrows, Fireball, Rocket, Goblin Barrel and The Log all shoot a projectile or projectiles which can be clearly seen by the opponent, and could tell them what the player is using even if the spell misses completely. Fireball and Rocket explode upon impact which can still be aesthetic even if it hits nothing.

Rage, Freeze, Poison, Tornado and Graveyard all show a colored circle with a red border to the opponent. Even if they have no effect (say the Freeze does not affect any troops), the visual effect is clearly there.

Zap creates visual effect even if it misses, and this can be seen by the opponent.

The Mirror will create a visual effect regardless of what it mirrors, with the possible exception of Lightning (if that misses).

As for Lightning, if it misses, the bolts simply don't appear. To the player, they see -6 Elixir (or -7, if using Mirrored Lightning). But this is not seen by the opponent.