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1

Variants and Fan Cards / Debasement

« on: July 01, 2013, 11:21:18 pm »

Debasement ($5)
Action-Attack

+$2
Each other player reveals a treasure from his hand costing from $2 to $5, and puts it on his deck (or reveals a hand with no such cards). Then each other player gains Coppers into his hand until he has 6 cards in hand.
***

Here I use "debasement" in terms of currency; ie, the lowering in quality of a coin.

Although it has an immediate effect on opponents' hands, oftentimes it won't negatively affect their next play. It usually targets Silvers, Bureaucrat-ing them and replacing them with two coppers. If the attack "misses" a $2-5 treasure, then it actually adds $1 to the opponent's hand. If the opponent has previously been the victim of a hand-reducing attack, Debasement might actually give them $3 on their next turn (but gum up their deck with a whopping 3 coppers). I guess this will be stronger against special treasures like Venture, Loan, Fools Gold, and Quarry, as the delay of their use can be more hurtful than the delay of a silver.

2

Game Reports / Cursing Ambassador

« on: April 15, 2012, 09:44:26 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/15/game-20120415-182948-5e65a158.html

I had fun with this one even though my opponent wasn't much of a threat, even after my inopportune 5/2 opening and his successful Treasure Map on turn 8.

I was drawing my entire hand with SP, so on turn 12 I bought a curse and a second Ambassador. Gave him all 10 curses by turn 17, and used SP to shuffle them in as quickly as possible.

When I started doing this, he insulted me:
20:24 Rodric: lame strat.. and not very sucessful at that

But he soon resigned.

3

Game Reports / Monstrous Black Market/Tactician

« on: April 12, 2012, 02:36:53 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/12/game-20120412-113023-5e10860d.html

With a side of using Hamlet to set up Menagerie and Watchtower:

— cornucopoo-ah's turn 22 —
cornucopoo-ah draws 5 cards and gets +1 action and +1 buy from the Tactician.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Wharf.
... ... drawing 2 cards and getting +1 buy.
... and plays the Wharf again.
... ... (cornucopoo-ah reshuffles.)
... ... drawing 2 cards and getting +1 buy.
... and plays the Wharf a third time.
... ... drawing 2 cards and getting +1 buy.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Market.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
... and plays the Market again.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
... and plays the Market a third time.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Market.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
... and plays the Market again.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
... and plays the Market a third time.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Hamlet.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 buy.
... and plays the Hamlet again.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 buy.
... and plays the Hamlet a third time.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 action.
... ... discarding 1 card and getting +1 buy.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Goons.
... ... getting +1 buy and +$2.
... ... Lighthouse provides the dobrinest immunity to the attack.
... and plays the Goons again.
... ... getting +1 buy and +$2.
... ... Lighthouse provides the dobrinest immunity to the attack.
... and plays the Goons a third time.
... ... getting +1 buy and +$2.
... ... Lighthouse provides the dobrinest immunity to the attack.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Menagerie.
... revealing an Estate, a Black Market, a Silver, a Venture, a King's Court, a Lighthouse, a Gold, and a Copper.
... drawing 3 cards and getting +1 action.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Lighthouse.
... getting +1 action and +$1.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Black Market.
... getting +$2.
... drawing a Mint, a Woodcutter, and a Remodel from the Black Market deck.
... playing a Gold, 2 Silvers, and 2 Coppers.
... playing a Venture.
... ... revealing and playing a Silver.
... cornucopoo-ah buys a Woodcutter.
... ... getting +1 ▼.
... ... revealing a Watchtower.
... ... putting the Woodcutter on the deck.
... returning a Mint and a Remodel to the bottom of the Black Market deck.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Watchtower.
... drawing 4 cards.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Market.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action, +1 buy, and +$1.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Woodcutter.
... getting +1 buy and +$2.
cornucopoo-ah plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Black Market.
... ... getting +$2.
... ... drawing a Navigator, a Trade Route, and a Coppersmith from the Black Market deck.
... ... cornucopoo-ah buys a Trade Route.
... ... ... getting +1 ▼.
... ... returning a Navigator and a Coppersmith to the bottom of the Black Market deck.
... and plays the Black Market again.
... ... getting +$2.
... ... drawing a Trader, a Talisman, and a Moneylender from the Black Market deck.
... ... cornucopoo-ah buys a Moneylender.
... ... ... getting +1 ▼.
... ... returning a Trader and a Talisman to the bottom of the Black Market deck.
... and plays the Black Market a third time.
... ... getting +$2.
... ... drawing a Bureaucrat, a Mint, and a Remodel from the Black Market deck.
... ... cornucopoo-ah buys a Bureaucrat.
... ... ... getting +1 ▼.
... ... returning a Mint and a Remodel to the bottom of the Black Market deck.
cornucopoo-ah plays a Tactician.
... discarding the hand (2 cards).
cornucopoo-ah buys a Fairgrounds.
... getting +1 ▼.
cornucopoo-ah buys a Fairgrounds.
... getting +1 ▼.
cornucopoo-ah buys a Fairgrounds.
... getting +1 ▼.
cornucopoo-ah buys an Ironworks.
... getting +1 ▼.
cornucopoo-ah buys a Copper.
... getting +1 ▼.
(cornucopoo-ah reshuffles.)
(cornucopoo-ah draws: a Mining Village, 2 Fairgrounds, an Island, and a Tactician.)

My next turn looked pretty similar, and ended also with a use of Tactician.

4

Dominion General Discussion / Anime Dominon; huhwhat!?

« on: April 03, 2012, 07:05:45 pm »

http://lthemachine.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/more-official-animud-versions-of-dominion/

To be honest it's a bit refreshing to see alternative design solutions for Dominion cards. The original design works fine, but its use of Times New Roman is too grave of a sin for me to let stand. And that's not even mentioning how overloads of text are so poorly dealt with... The way Trade Route and Horse Traders almost touch the top and bottom of the box makes me cry with claustrophobia. And the overall approach in presentation is a bit overly conservative and undynamic.

That being said, as I look through the Touhou-themed deck, it really rustles my jimmies to see waifish, big-eyed, supernatural school girls, mikos, and maids standing in for Dominion cards:
http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1006986/touhou-shisouroku-touhou-koumakyou-hen

It also makes me wonder if the folks at Hobby Japan knew what they were doing when they decided to include Thief and Bureaucrat in its "base set", and Explorer in its expansion, but left out Throne Room and didn't include Chapel until its expansion:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/642213/list-of-the-cards-including-what-dominions-they-c
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/760430/touhou-youyoumu-expansion-cards-listing

I can't say much for the other 2 rethemes since there isn't much out there about them that's written in English.

5

Variants and Fan Cards / Three more victory cards: Canal, Cathedral, and Orchards

« on: November 05, 2011, 03:14:00 am »

Silk Road has prompted a few of you to note that, while even Victory cards are now counted by their own Victory card, there's no Victory card that counts treasures. While a Victory card that only counts all your treasures--without any qualifications--would surely only encourage a boring BM strategy, I've found two potential ways to make certain treasures count in interesting ways. I also have a third Victory card I'd like to share as well.

Canal $4
(Victory)

Worth 1 Victory Point for every 5 Coppers in your deck (rounded down).

When you buy this card, gain two coppers and set them aside. During your cleanup phase, place them into your hand after you draw your 5 new cards.
***

The gained coppers swell your next hand into 7 cards, providing extra $ to make that Province perhaps, or convenient fodder for discards. Of course, fattening up your deck can be detrimental to some strategies. But if you keep those extra Coppers, you can boost this baby up to 2, or even 3 VP easily. When the endgame comes down to a greening race, you might end up buying Estates with $4 (or even $5, when Duchies run out). If you never trash a Copper, your 7 starting Coppers plus 8 more from buying 4 Canals will total 15 Coppers, or exactly what you need to turn these into Duchies. In 4p there won't be enough Canals for everyone to buy 4, but there's exactly enough Coppers for everyone to have 15 c in their deck.

I don't need to point out the synergies with Goons and other buy cards, in addition to the interactions with Copper attacks. But I find it a little neat that this card might make it worth it for you to take a copper from a Jester. Only problem I have with this card's current wording is that it makes it so incredibly vulnerable to Militia and similar attacks. I'd like for the coppers to be set aside until the start of your next turn, but that would be a pseudo-duration thingie, and require at least for you to set aside Canal as well when you gain it, in order to give the instructions about the coppers, which is too complicated.
******


Cathedral $5
(Victory-Treasure)

Worth 1 VP for every 6 coins in the total cost of all cards in your Cathedral Mat (rounded down).
--
When you buy this, place up to four treasures in play into the Cathedral Mat.
--
Worth $1

When you play this, place one treasure in play into the Cathedral Mat to play it a second time.
***

I know all that's a lot to fit on a single card, but I think the concept is simple enough... You can "trash" treasures when you buy this; and when you play this, "trash" another treasure you've played to play it again. It's a non-cycling silver Loan when you use it to clear a Copper. But to bump-up Cathedral's VP value, you're gonna have to Cathedral Mat some Silvers and/or Golds. Silvers would be the more usual target as they're fairly neutral cards in the mid- to late-game. You'd need to clear away two silvers to bump Cathedral's VP value up by 1. Or you can CM a whole Gold for the same effect, getting a nice +$4 for compensation.

I'm wondering whether the "when-buy" benefit is unnecessary... In addition to using up valuable space, it will encourage later buys when Silvers have much less relevance and you can more easily spare a Gold or two. Yet I really want it to be practical for early Copper-clearing, like a Chapel for flavor, and because the work of building up your Cathedral Mat might be too daunting for the "1+ X again" benefit to be nice enough. What I'm aiming for overall is a $5 Victory Card that's looked at like any solid $5 card, unlike Duke, which you can often ignore. Anyways, about the wording: Perhaps I can use a different formula for the VP? And as it is worded now, it can be a little confusing about interactions with Horn of Plenty and Bank, so if I could write an entry in a rulebook, I'd clarify with the following: Any card placed into the Cathedral Mat is still in play on the turn you played it.
******


Orchards $4
(Victory-Reaction)

2 VP

When this card is revealed from your deck, you may put it into your hand. If you do, it no longer counts as a card revealed from your deck.

When your hand is revealed with this card in it, you may discard this and draw one card from the top of your deck.
***

The first reaction is like a ripe apple--you pick out a single card that is mostly useless, but sometimes nice to have (with discards and the like). And both reactions generally make sure that Orchards--which doesn't add much to the productivity of your kingdom--still keeps the hell out of the way of the cards you actually need for business. So this card is like a soothing, delightful orchard sequestered within your castle courtyard, away from it all. I wonder if the wording of the first reaction is too confusing. "No longer counts as a card revealed" means that if revealed as one of the top two cards of your deck, and you take Orchards into your hand you reveal a third card. If it is Fortune Told, Orchard comes into your hand and Fortune Teller continues digging for a Victory or Curse.

Miscellaneous benefits: while it wouldn't avoid a Bureaucrat (yeah, I was disappointed too), it's not a liability for Wishing Well, and can't be left behind by an enemy's Spy. It avoids Jester's curse-giving, and makes Shanty Town suck less. For better or worse, it deflects Saboteur unto another card. It never mucks up Scrying Pool, and it's the only card you can pick up duplicates of with Hunting Party.

6

Variants and Fan Cards / Courier

« on: October 27, 2011, 06:33:36 pm »

EDIT MAR 26 11:58 PM: My even-newer-than-what-was-previously-the-newest Courier (version 3.5, like the one true edition of D&D) is now here in Blue. Ignore the rest of this OP, for it's not that relevant anymore. See my latest post for comments.

EDIT NOV 12 4:59 PM: All text from the first edit which is now irrelevent will be now struck-through. See my absolute newest post for the reasoning behind Courier 3.0

EDIT OCT 31 12:50 AM: All old and irrelevant text now hidden by spoiler bars. See my newest post for more info, but please read the edits to this post as well!

Courier $6 (Even Newer!)
(Action)

+1 Card
+1 Action

You may reveal 1 Action or Treasure from your hand. If you do, gain any card costing no more $ than it does, and place both cards at the bottom of your deck.
***

I'm putting together the beginnings of an expansion which focuses upon future draws and shuffle/discard/deck interactions. This is the weirdest card I have so far a much more transparent card now, yay! and it's a bit difficult to analyze, so I turn to you But I'd still like your input.

Courier $6 [Newest!]
(Action)

+1 Card
+1 Action

You may reveal 1 Action or Treasure from your hand. If you do, gain any card costing less than it and place both cards at the bottom of your deck.
***

Courier $4 (New!)
(Action)
+1 action
At the start of your buy phase, gain a card costing less than the action you have in play which costs the most coins. Place the gained card at the bottom of your deck.
***


Old Courier $4
(Action)
+1 action
At the end of your action phase, gain a card costing less than the action you have in play which costs the most coins. After you gain that card, if your deck or your discard pile has two or fewer cards, you may put the gained card on top of your deck.
***

I've gone through the various scenarios involved in a (New) Courier opening, and found that if it hasn't been drawn or revealed dead in turn 3, it will give you an extra $3 card that you are guaranteed to see in turn 5, along with 2-4 cards from the reshuffle. Of course, improbable interactions with Loan or opponents' attacks might possibly make the gained $3 card available turn 4, or even delay it to turn 6, but worrying about that's like worrying about the opponent(s) poorly timing Noble Brigand or Fortune Teller, or the occasional 5-2 split in a Mountebank game.

However, if you open Chancellor-Courier, and turn 3 draw both Chancellor and Courier, you could see your extra $3 card with 4 cards of the reshuffle on turn 4. A neat little improbable trick that shouldn't break the game, because even if you get gold, you're at the beginning of a fresh draw and will still have to wait.

Since $5 actions are usually the most powerful ones you play, this amounts to an ironworks-ish effect, and $3-4 cards are usually not ones you want to accumulate too many of. At the same time, this card will increase in strength when you start playing $5, $6, or $7 actions. And when you approach the dreaded reshuffle of a heavily-greened deck in the late game, if you have been playing this card, it will reinforce your first hand so that you can hopefully maintain your momentum. And if you've built such a powerful engine that you're drawing your whole hand each turn... Well, you're probably already doing well for yourself, so it hopefully isn't too broken.

Random notes:

A) This card makes it important to note when your deck has 0 cards... Technically you only reshuffle when there's 0 cards left and you need to draw more, but people IRL might take a shortcut and reshuffle when they reach exactly 0... Might be a problem...

B) I worded this card to be clear about interactions with potion costs. You can't gain any potion-costing cards if your most coins-costing card the card you put back didn't cost a potion as well. But if you played put back a Golem (and no actions costing $5 or more), you can gain an Alchemist. And if you played put back even a Scrying Pool, you can gain a Vineyards(!)...

C) Chancellor FTW!

7

Game Reports / Didn't know folks could get this upset over a game...

« on: July 25, 2011, 09:16:38 pm »

So, I just played a game where I started 5/2 and the other played didn't... I got a market and then we faced off with familiars and lighthouses... My lighthouses were more fortunately timed than his so the gap quickly widened with a king's court and throne rooms... And then my oponent started IMing...

19:47 Him: god youre so fuckin lucky
19:47 Him: fuckin bullshit
19:50 Me: today me tomorrow you
19:51 Him: you get familiar when i dont have lighthouse, I get familiar when you have lighthouse
19:51 Him: you nail the early market
19:51 Him: i mean this is just fucking stupid
19:52 Him: i hope your entire family dies in a fire
19:52 He has returned to the lobby.

I myself am guilty of quitting immediately after someone gets 5/2 Mountebank, or when it gets to a tedious or clearly unwinnable slog (often without even typing out "sorry, G2G"), but... really? Do people really get that worked up over a game? I honestly wonder if he genuinely felt contempt for me for getting so lucky, or some people just spew shit like this all the time when they're anonymous. (I don't play any online games other than Dominion.)

8

Variants and Fan Cards / How many niches for village-types are left? Can you think of any new ones?

« on: July 17, 2011, 03:31:08 am »

Since at least one village-type card has been included in each released expansion--even the small ones--I'm curious as to what the last few expansions have left to add. I'm also curious if anyone feels like they can make up a village that rivals the official ones! I'll start with mine:

Villas/Manor ($4)

+2 Actions
Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal a Victory Card. Put that card into your hand and discard the other cards. If there are no Victory Cards in your deck, you may put this on top of your deck.


At the beginning, this integrates gained cards faster and makes your next draw a bit better. In a board with dual-typed Victory Cards, it pairs awesomely with any of them. In a board with heavy trashing, it becomes a pseudo-Walled Village+chancellor until the endgame, which hopefully isn't too powerful because you still need a source of draws. In the endgame, it consistently makes subsequent draws much better. Flavor-wise, I guess noblemen's villas are placed away from cities so they don't deal with many exciting things, but the larger the land (Victory Card), the nicer it can be built. A manor is a self-sustaining economy which depends upon whatever yield the serfs manage to coax from the ground.
---

Here's another.

Monastery ($4)

+2 Actions
Reveal the top card of your deck. You may discard it, trash it, or place it back on top.


I think we've yet to see a non-terminal trasher that costs $4 (there's Lookout and Upgrade, but they're $3 and $5). You get no draws with this one for obvious power issues, even if it's a $4. I think it also plays nicely into the flavor of a Monastery, as monks busy themselves with spiritual things and preserving ancient knowledge, but they don't have any influence outside their own walls.

9

Dominion Isotropic / No one here's mentioned Walled Village!

« on: July 15, 2011, 01:41:23 am »

I was surprised to see it integrated into several games I played on Isotropic today. Is it a promo, or a part of an unreleased expansion?

10

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan expansion: Infamy

« on: July 15, 2011, 12:34:43 am »

This winter I had the idea for a fan expansion which incorporated alternative curses as a potion-like treasure:

Taboo $3
(Treasure)
-1VP
***

I know "taboo" might be a bit too abstract to visualize as a treasure, but it could be a ruler's willingness to accumulate a bad reputation in order to advance his kingdom. The theme of this whole expansion plays along those lines as well: these are all "tricky" cards whose advantages must be carefully weighed with their disadvantages. Anyways, without further ado, here's the rest of the cards I made when I had the momentum going:


Blackmail $2, 1 Taboo
(Action)
Trash this and another blackmail. If you do, gain 2 gold and a blackmail on top of your deck, in any order, and +5 VP.
-1VP

I meant this as a sort of modified Treasure Map, with more dire consequences if you fail to trash it with another. But even if you manage to get rid of the two in your deck, you get stuck with one more. It's a vicious circle unless you have a Watchtower or Chapel. Yet the Taboo cost gums up Forge and Upgrade, and makes it tepid fodder for Savager. There is, however, the rare chance that someone might buy four, gain two, and use all three sets of two. But that's at the lost opportunity to buy 4 $5 cards. The 5 victory tokens seems like a fair reward for such a risky endeavor, but what do you guys think?
***


Cultist $3, 1 Taboo (New version)
(Action [Attack])
+$2
+1 buy
At the end of your turn, all other players with more than 4 cards in their hands discard 1 card for every Cultist or Taboo you played this turn. This cannot happen more than once per turn.
-1VP

Old Cultist $3, 1 Taboo
(Action)
+$2
+1 buy
When this is in play, reveal your hand on your buy phase. +1 coin for every card with Taboo in its cost, either in play or in your hand, including this one.
-1VP

I'll admit right here that this card is inspired by the Cultist class in Munchkin Cthulhu. But it fits thematically and mechanically. This card encourages you to keep Taboo-costing cards as far into the endgame as possible, which, of course, risks taking a big hit on your VP total. This card definitely needs a lot of playtesting, because I can't tell just how much money this card can yield in the wild. I stuck to the "while this is in play" wording a la Goons, because King's Courting this would be monstrously broken. I've thought about including Taboo cards themselves as $-boosters, but a Cultist (~$5 card) plus a Taboo in your hand would yield $4 and 1 buy, which is too powerful for something that can happen so early. I still want a card that encourages you to keep even your Taboos late without trashing them too fast, though. Alternatively, the Cultist could be an attack, and each cultist played, including the first one, forces everyone else to discard one card if they have 4 or more in their hands. A three-Cultist string could be pretty vicious, leaving everyone else with just 2 cards, but a single cultist play would immunize everyone else in 3+ from subsequent Cultists.
***


Port Tax $6, 1 Taboo (New Version)
(Action [Duration])
+$4
Until your next turn, +1 Buy for all players including yourself. All other players gain a curse for every buy made beyond their first one.

Privateer (Old Port Tax) $6, 1 Taboo
(Action [Duration])
+$4
Until your next turn, no one can use more than one buy per turn.

Privateer is essentially the cost of a Province, but it can give you a lot of control over the game, plus a practically guaranteed Province each turn you use it. It can help you maintain an early lead, and cockblocks Goons. Horn of Plenty and other gaining cards, of course, would get around this. Although this can't be blocked by any reaction, its usage by multiple players won't stack, just overlap.
***


Seigniorage/Fiat $3, 1 Taboo
(Action [Attack])
+$2
All other players with 4 or more cards in their hand discards down to 3 cards, and gains a copper in hand.
-1VP

Is "seigniorage" too obscure a term? Ha, I know this card's inclusion in a set named "Infamy" makes me seem like an anti-Fed Hayek-lover, but I'm Keynesian all the way. Normally this is a weak Militia + half a Mountebank, but with enough +actions and multiples of these, you can swell opponents' decks with coppers and leave them with horrible hands... But maybe it's too strong and everyone only discards down to 4 cards before gaining copper?
***


Burial Mound/Mausoleum $2, 1 Taboo
(Victory)
When you buy this card, trash all treasures in play, except for Taboos. Worth 2 VP for every 4 treasure cards in your Burial Mound Mat.

When this card is part of the kingdom set, everyone keeps their own trashed treasure cards in their Burial Mound Mat. I guess this is a tricky card to play with, since it helps early buyers by clearing away coppers, but will eat up your silvers and golds later on, if you don't use +$ cards. And even if you trash all your Coppers, you need to sacrifice one more treasure to push it over to the 4VP mark, which makes it a boosted Duchy. Buying this without crippling yourself would be tricky. Perhaps when decks become large and redundant towards the end, people won't care about losing their golds and silvers, and will happily feed into the value of the Burial Mound. This would definitely synergize with a Goons' extra coppers, and make a Counting House-focused deck monstrous. We might run into problems with cards like Mint and Salvager, however.
***


Census/Charter $3, 1 Taboo
(Treasure)

Reveal the top card of your deck. If it is an action card, gain an estate. If it is any treasure card other than a Taboo, +$3. If it is a victory card, trash it, and gain V equal to half its cost in $, rounded down, but at a minimum of 1V. If it is a curse or Taboo, trash Census and gain any card worth up to $6. Discard the card if it hasn't been trashed. If there are no cards left to draw, gain an estate.
-1VP

For the flavor of Charter, I had in mind the the censuses kings would take in order to properly tax their citizens, like the incredibly detailed account of everyone's property in the Domesday Book. To the active vassals, kings would grant land. But if it pleased a ruler he could seize any property for himself, sometimes in spite and in detriment to the productivity of the land. And of course, if you had coin, the king would take it.