This is my first time judging a contest like this. Hopefully my opinions on these aren't too disagreeable.
I will preface this by saying that there were a lot of good submissions. It was tough to narrow down cards for the finalists, and tougher still to pick a winner. Hopefully I did a good enough job!
But anyway, here are the submissions and some of my thoughts:
Manor by JoxeftManor - Victory - Blessing - Reaction - Cost:4
2%
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When you gain a card and you have the Rosary, you may reveal this from your hand to Exile it.
It seems like the only purpose for this card is to get the rosary and then promptly leave your deck. An interesting idea for an Alt-VP but it doesn’t do much other than that.
Edit: I just realized that the on-gain effect targets the card you gain, not the Manor itself. It makes it a little more interesting but I think my judgement still stands. You're still likely going to use it purely to take the rosary via exiling an estate, but it's a bit more versatile than I thought.
Convent by Erick648
Convent
$3 Action - Blessing
Draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
You may trash or Exile a card from your hand. The player with the Rosary may trash or Exile a card from their hand.
A pretty good deck thinner if you have the rosary. It also solves the problem of gaining victory cards to obtain the rosary. I also like how any player that has the rosary benefits from this card, which is not something I really explored when designing this mechanic.
Pastor // Manse by spineflu(Finalist)
Pastor • $2 • Action - Blessing
+1 Action
If you have the Rosary, you may discard any number of Victory cards and/or Curses, revealed; otherwise, you may discard a Victory card. +2 Cards per card discarded.
Manse • $5 • Victory - Blessing
2%
-
When you gain this, you may put an Action from your discard pile onto your deck, and if you have the Rosary, +1%
I like the flavor of having Pastor be a shepherd-like card. And I like how gaining a Manse can put your played Pastor onto your deck, as well as rewarding you for keeping the rosary. Both of these cards are good.
Paladin by emtzalex(Finalist)
| Paladin • $5 • Action - Blessing
+1 Card
+1 Action
If you have the Rosary, trash a card from your hand. Otherwise, +1 Card. |
I like the dilemma of needing to either have the rosary for trashing or not have the rosary for more draw. I also like how whether or not you trash or draw is decided by the opponents by taking the rosary. Interesting idea.
Hunted Skinwalker by Xen3k(Finalist)
Hunted Skinwalker - $5
Action - Night - Attack - Blessing
If it's your Night phase, each player without the Rosary chooses one: Gain a Curse to your hand; or discard a card. Otherwise, +2 Cards and +1 Action, then discard a card.
This one kind of grew on me. I like the idea of an attack that affects everyone, not just your opponents. I also like how you’ve taken the concept of the rosary giving you a bonus and making it so that your opponents can take it to avoid being attacked. An interesting perspective.
Eden by Jonasssss(Finalist)
Eden - $4
Action - Victory - Blessing
Gain a Card costing up to $4. The player with the Rosary gets +1 VP
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1 VP
Like Convent, I like how this benefits the player with the Rosary, no matter who it is. You can also use it to take the rosary immediately and benefit from the full effect, at the cost of gaining at worst an estate or at best another Eden.
The Priories by fika monster
3$ : Monk
Action- Blessing - Priory
Choose 1: +2 Cards; Exile a Victory card in hand; +1 Coffers
If you have the Rosary, choose an additional different option.
You may rotate the Priory.
4$
Victory - Reaction - Priory
+1VP
-
When you gain victory cards or 0$ cards, you may reveal this from your hand to put that card into your hand or unto your deck.
5$
Indulgence
Action - Blessing - Priory
+2 Buy’s
Non-Victory cards cost 2 less this turn.
If you don't Have the Rosary, Trash this.
6$
Lords Garden
Action - Duration - Blessing - Priory
+2 Villagers.
At the start of your next turn, you may spend any number of villagers for +1 Card per Villager spent.
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If this is in play and you have the Rosary, +2 villagers whenever someone gains a Victory card.
I feel like I made a mistake by not restricting split piles, but hey, I like making things unnecessarily difficult for myself. I’ll start with each card individually and go from there.
Monk is a choose one that turns into a choose two with the rosary. Notably it exiles victory cards. It’s pretty good, especially with the rosary.
Bishop’s Weed allows you to take the rosary when you buy it. It also allows you to move any gained victory or $0 cards to your hand or onto your deck. Useful as a defense against cursers, but outside of that, I can’t see myself wanting to pick this up outside of very specific situations.
Indulgence gives +2 buys and reduces the cost of non-victory cards. It trashes itself if you don’t have the Rosary. This is a little strange. On the one hand, two buys with price reduction sounds pretty good. However, it doesn’t affect victory cards, which is kind of hard to justify the $5 price, especially if you don’t have the rosary. Overall I think this is a little weak as it is.
Lord’s Gardener is a duration that gives you villagers. It allows you to spend them for cards at the start of your next turn. If another player gains a victory card while it’s in play, and you have the Rosary, you get more villagers for your next turn. It convert’s villagers into cards which is neat, and you can save your villagers for a big draw later on, but it makes for a pretty slow card, especially without other villager gainers to support it. Like Indulgence, this seems a little on the weak side for $6.
Overall, I commend that you tried to make a split pile like this. However, I think the later cards are either weak or situational.
Parish by Dubdubdubdub(Finalist)
Parish • $3 • Victory
2VP
If you have the Rosary, worth +1VP
-
The first time you gain this on your turn, +1 Buy.
I like this. It increases in value if you end the game with the rosary. You also don’t waste a buy getting it (as long as it’s your first buy), which is a plus. It might be a bit undercosted, as buying two will guarantee a 6VP gain (not including the rosary itself). But it’s probably balanced out by the fact that you’re gaining two green cards for this, and you’re more susceptible to losing by having the rosary taken from you.
Pious Village by beriPious Village
$4 / Action - Blessing
+2 Actions
If you have the Rosary, choose one: if there are…
- 2+ players: +$2
- 3+ players:+1 Card +$1
- 4+ players: +2 Cards
Otherwise, +1 Card.
I’m a little iffy about designing cards around player count, but I get the reasoning behind it. Other than that it’s a pretty interesting village. Of the three cards you’ve made with this sort of scaling I think this one does it the best by parsing it as a choose one.
Retailer by Galaxi
Retailer ($4 Action - Blessing)
+1 Buy
When you gain a card this turn, if you have the Rosary(or you take it), you may exchange the gained card for a card costing up to $2 more.
Sneaky design. It allows you to take the rosary without taking the junk card and instead gain a more useful card. I like it. It could allow you to pretty much buy provinces for $6, but that would require you to keep control of the rosary, which could be a problem if someone else picks up a Retailer.
Pilgrim by infangthief
Pilgrim
$2 Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
Exile this.
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When you discard this from Exile, if you have the Rosary, +1VP.
Discard-from-exile effects sound really cool! I do like that the effect is dependent on the rosary being in your possession. A simple but effective VP generator.
Runner Ups: Pastor // Manse by spineflu, Paladin by emtzalex, Eden by Jonasssss, Parish by DubdubdubdubWinner: Hunted Skinwalker by Xen3k
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