Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: TMDaines on May 06, 2019, 01:05:23 pm

Title: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: TMDaines on May 06, 2019, 01:05:23 pm
One of the things I have learned to love to appreciate in card games like Magic: The Gathering and now Dominion is cards that have perfect flavour, where their name and text just fits perfectly.

My favourite so far, having only explored a few expansions, would be Royal Seal. You wouldn't necessarily think the card screamed flavor from just looking at it, but the satisfying feeling of sealing the top of your deck with the newly bought perfect card is very satisfying.

What are your favourite cards from a flavour perspective? There's a few other obvious ones like Wishing Well, but perhaps there are others that aren't so obvious straight away.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: hhelibebcnofnena on May 06, 2019, 01:20:38 pm
This is mostly flavor with reference to other cards, so I don't know that it counts. But I do really like that an Experiment is a single play of a Laboratory.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: AJD on May 06, 2019, 04:11:45 pm
My favorites include:

Torturer: Not only damages your deck or your hand, but also inflicts psychological damage on you by making you responsible for choosing your own punishment.
Apprentice: It's the Sorcerer's Apprentice! Smash up a broom (uh, card), and get a bunch of brooms (uh, cards) on hand to do your work for you.
Golem: Mindless but powerful construct that will do whatever tasks are set before it.
City: It starts as a simple village, but grows into an economic powerhouse.
Mountebank: Passes off goods that seem valuable (free treasure!) but are actually harmful. But if you've seen his tricks before, you don't have to fall for them this time around.
Jester: WhO kNoWs wHaT's gOnNa hApPeN
Stables: Put down some money to rent a horse and you can move rapidly through your kingdom.
Rats: They reproduce and eat all your stuff, man.
Giant: Powerful but slow-moving.
Royal Carriage: It's a throne room that can travel anywhere!
Enchantress: Yes, she turns you into a pig.
Druid: Skillfully able to call on the powers of nature.
Faithful Hound: You may try to send him away, but he'll always come back to you.
Fool: He gets lost in the woods but random good things keep happening to him! He has no idea what he's doing! It's great.
Mountain Village: The terrain is too rocky; you can't move forward past it.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Shvegait on May 06, 2019, 06:53:12 pm
Mint, Sage, Spices
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Awaclus on May 06, 2019, 07:09:28 pm
My favorite is Deluded because you would have to be deluded to buy something other than an Action card.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ehunt on May 06, 2019, 07:22:52 pm
I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: A Drowned Kernel on May 06, 2019, 08:12:08 pm
They all taste like paper to me
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: hhelibebcnofnena on May 06, 2019, 08:12:55 pm
I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.

Or that villages allow you to do more stuff.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Cave-o-sapien on May 06, 2019, 09:48:58 pm
Ambassador - in some literal sense he gave you good things, but in reality he's screwing you over. Seems like a perfect analog to international relations.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ehunt on May 07, 2019, 09:27:24 am
I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.

Or that villages allow you to do more stuff.

yes! that's probably the best example, and i didn't see it because it's so engrained.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: hhelibebcnofnena on May 07, 2019, 10:02:07 am
I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.

Or that villages allow you to do more stuff.

yes! that's probably the best example, and i didn't see it because it's so engrained.

And cities (City, Lost City, City Quarter) are villages that are also, or can also be, draw. That has a tiny bit of basis in real-life, but only because of the ingrained village definition.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ipofanes on May 07, 2019, 10:04:24 am
I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.

Or that villages allow you to do more stuff.

Or that verbs trash cards in order to gain more expensive cards.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ipofanes on May 07, 2019, 10:05:47 am
Story Teller: Goes on as long as coins are thrown.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Commodore Chuckles on May 07, 2019, 08:02:18 pm
Catapult: Pretty much the perfect name for a card that trashes and does something based on the thing trashed.
Werewolf: Honest Smithy by day, demonic monster by night.
Necromancer: Summons Zombies, which can kill people who can then be made into more Zombies.
Young Witch: Not as effective as a more experienced Witch, can be warded off with a Bane.
Transmute: Looking past the fact that it sucks, the way it cycles types around (and gains Gold) is cool.
Leprechaun: Gives you Gold, but is highly temperamental. Grants you a Wish if you rub him just the right way, but usually just Hexes you for bothering him.

My favorite is Deluded because you would have to be deluded to buy something other than an Action card.
You mean like Province?
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: hhelibebcnofnena on May 07, 2019, 09:34:22 pm
Quote
My favorite is Deluded because you would have to be deluded to buy something other than an Action card.
You mean like Province?

Definitely like Province. I'd even buy a Scout over a Province. They just clog up your deck and ruin that engine you've worked so hard to build; only the presence of Tournament can convince me otherwise. And don't even get me started on Colony. Nothing interacts with it at all. It's a completely dead card.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: AJD on May 07, 2019, 11:04:40 pm
Definitely like Province. I'd even buy a Scout over a Province. They just clog up your deck and ruin that engine you've worked so hard to build; only the presence of Tournament can convince me otherwise.

What about... well, I guess they can't all be the best $5 card.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: DDL on May 11, 2019, 10:16:53 pm
Old Witch: her magic isn't as powerful anymore but she is more experienced and knows how to do more things.
Bureaucrat: delaying your deck with useless cards. Just what bureaucracy does!
Pirate Ship: send your ship on a raid, see what it brings back.
Grand Market: this place has the best products, but they won't even let you enter if you are a poor fellow who carries coppers.
Watchtower: watches and fires arrows at anything that tries to invade your kingdom.
Menagarie: the more different animals you have, the more people will come.
Cultist: joining a cult will ruin all your finances, and make you act as a mob to ruin other places.
Advisor: he has all the advices you need, but he will take the best ones for his own gain.
Bridge Troll: not as beautiful as the Bridge or fast like the Highway, but this bridge has a troll that will attack your enemies if they try to pass it.
Page: how a farmer got recruited, realized that war sucked, became a fugitive, then hid in a monastery but eventually became its master.
Fountain: throw a copper and something good will happen. Throw 10, and something great will!
Tragic Hero: he will fight for you, but make him fight too much and he will die tragically to give you a final gold.
Recruiter: someone needs to make your Pearl Divers and Vagrants join the army to become real men.
Fleet: you don't know if it will accomplish anything, but you send it. But one day, they will come back having colonized a few extra duchies.



I love internal game flavor that doesn't translate outside Dominion but has become engrained in our collective consciousness as reasonable nonetheless; e.g., the experience of being haunted is similar to putting things from your hand on top of your deck, or, locations where royalty are found allow you to repeat something you've already done.

Discard attacks are usually related to violence.
Cursing attacks are related to magic.
Trashing attacks are related to theft. Same for Spoils.
Trashing is related to religion, since you are donating your stuff.
Cards related to movement usually draw.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Marcory on May 12, 2019, 12:20:15 pm
Nobles. Nothing evokes a guy who's willing to be either a common villager or a humble smith, whichever you need most, while also being at least as valuable as a large hole in the ground (such as a Tunnel), than a card called Nobles--oh, wait, wrong thread.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Commodore Chuckles on May 12, 2019, 01:45:33 pm
Pirate Ship: send your ship on a raid, see what it brings back.

Ah, yes, I forgot about this one. Definitely one of my favorite cards thematically: steal Treasure and build up a secret stash that you can use later.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: anordinaryman on May 13, 2019, 07:04:29 pm
I really enjoy that animals breed like crazy: Rats, Magpie.
Bats might seem like an an exception, but they aren't animals -- they're actually Vampires in disguise!

Goat is an exception, but it does really fit with goats eating everything.

Bureaucrat slows everything down (makes you have to redraw your estate).
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Awaclus on May 14, 2019, 05:14:18 am
Bureaucrat slows everything down (makes you have to redraw your estate).

Not to mention your Silver.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ipofanes on May 14, 2019, 06:55:17 am
Bureaucrat slows everything down (makes you have to redraw your estate).

Not to mention your Silver.

(secretly scoring a square on the Awaclus Bingo mat)
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: ipofanes on May 14, 2019, 07:29:26 am
I really enjoy that animals breed like crazy: Rats, Magpie.
Bats might seem like an an exception, but they aren't animals -- they're actually Vampires in disguise!

Goat is an exception, but it does really fit with goats eating everything.

Trusty Steed, Faithful Hound, Familiar, seems like exceptions outnumber the rule.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: Jack Rudd on May 14, 2019, 05:52:51 pm
I really enjoy that animals breed like crazy: Rats, Magpie.
Bats might seem like an an exception, but they aren't animals -- they're actually Vampires in disguise!

Goat is an exception, but it does really fit with goats eating everything.

Trusty Steed, Faithful Hound, Familiar, seems like exceptions outnumber the rule.
Yes, but those three are all in the "animal companion" category, and we tend to be pretty good at controlling the breeding of animal companions. Magpies and Rats, however, are wild animals and will breed as and when they see fit.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: anordinaryman on May 14, 2019, 11:01:14 pm
I really enjoy that animals breed like crazy: Rats, Magpie.
Bats might seem like an an exception, but they aren't animals -- they're actually Vampires in disguise!

Goat is an exception, but it does really fit with goats eating everything.

Trusty Steed, Faithful Hound, Familiar, seems like exceptions outnumber the rule.
Yes, but those three are all in the "animal companion" category, and we tend to be pretty good at controlling the breeding of animal companions. Magpies and Rats, however, are wild animals and will breed as and when they see fit.

Well, I had first written a response saying ipofanes, you're right! But now I have to agree with Jack Rudd. Good points all around.

What about something like Rabbits? They are wild but can be domesticated. I mean I guess the whole phrase "breading like rabbits" means they would have to duplicate themselves.
Title: Re: Cards with the Best Flavour
Post by: TMDaines on May 20, 2019, 06:36:48 am
Played with Island today and that is kind of neat too. I like the idea of keeping things tucked safely out of the way, whilst you go about doing the rest of your business.