Results time.I haven't playtested anything, so judgement is based on my opinion. Things I considered:
- How much I like the concept of the card.
- Are there any general problems I can see.
- When would/wouldn't I want to gain this.
- When would/wouldn't I want to play this.
- How it fits into common deck types, engine, money, etc.
- Can I think of any official cards it has interesting interactions with, this could be synergies or anti-synergies. Can I think of any official card the entry might have a problem with.
- How would the submitted Spirit play differently in Exorcist games.
Summoning + Elementals/Demons by Segurahttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885353#msg885353I like the idea for gaining the Spirits here where, you have a choice to gain them instead of another card. I also like the idea that a different selection will be in play each time with Summoning.
The big question I have is whether or not this would require a rule clarification. What happens in a game featuring both Summoning and Exorcist? Interpreting the current rules would suggest that the two selected Elementals/Demons can be gained by using either Summoning or Exorcist. The other three can still be gained by Exorcist but not Summoning. That would be correct from the Exorcist-Spirit perspective, but I am not sure if is what is best for these cards and this mechanism.
This is a great concept but I am not sure that shoehorning the Elementals/Demons in as Spirits is quite right. I think they may better as their own new type of non-supply card.
Reaper + Soul by Augie279http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885354#msg885354Interesting idea to split engine components across the Spirit and the card that gains it. The timings of building this is interesting as you will be getting your draw cards later than you would normally buy them. In most cases your first play of the draw card (Soul) will be two shuffles after you gained your first village (Reaper).
I like it that Soul discards first before drawing to 6 to avoid the later Souls being redundant on the next turn if more than one has been played.
I do have a worry about how often Soul will be gained in games with Exorcist but not Reaper. If you are able to gain the targets to trash (for gaining Soul) quickly enough and align them with Exorcist reliably enough you have probably already built an engine and therefore don't need Soul. There might be some exceptions where you are able to get very thin very quickly, or have some powerful sifting and there is a lack of other draw options.
Where these cards might really shine is in games with Ruins. If you are attacked with a Looter it is a great counter to build up your engine. I do wonder if you would actually want to buy Ruins yourself.
Shaman + Bear by 4esthttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885411#msg885411Two variants on existing cards but both bring something new to the game. I like some of the options Bear offers. If you want to turn cards into Victory cards at the end of the game, 6 cost cards can become Duchies and 3s can be turned into Estates. It could be interesting if there are key 4 cost cards you want a lot of. Bears can turn themselves into those cards. This will be slower to set up initially, but can it help catch up later on in the race for those cards.
Distillery + Whisky by Spinefluhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885412#msg885412Not having to go out of your way to gain Whiskys is a nice touch. If you are playing Distillery for draw the opportunity to gain them comes along anyway. The obvious use here is removing Victory cards as you go to stop them clogging up your deck, hence, I presume the reason for getting you action back if you use it on a non-victory card. Using Distillery for draw is going to strategically impact the endgame as it will allow you to start buying Victory cards earlier.
When not using Distillery on Victory cards the next use is as a way of cleaning up your deck when there are junking attacks, but I am also wondering about the viability of using extra buys or gains on Whiskey fodder to effectively make the Distillery/Whisky interaction non-terminal. Think of it as whether or not you would give up a gain or buy in return for getting another action. There are going to be kingdoms where you would make that swap.
Lastly, I presume the reason for setting cards aside as a pseudo exile is so that you do not have a way of getting potentially useful cards back.
*Note, when judging this card I assumed the cards have been set aside permanently. This isn't clear though and could be open to different interpretations. I did check the wiki for a list of cards that set others aside and each does explicitly tell the player what to do with it.
http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Set_aside#:~:text=To%20set%20aside%20a%20card,in%20play%22%20for%20any%20purpose.
Shrine Pool + Lady Luck by NoMoreFunhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885413#msg885413Lady Luck does have a lot of potential as a Spirit. It does cost 7, which in most games with Exorcist means you will need to trash a Province to gain it. As long as you are not reliably drawing your deck and your deck is capable of gaining more than a Province per turn I can see this being worthwhile.
My worry is whether or not Shrine Pool is too good to cost 3. If it aligns with one Silver it is a Lab. When it aligns with 2 or 3 it is even better.
Haunted Mansion + Brownie by Gubumphttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885416#msg885416Agree with the comments regarding Haunted Mansion and Will-o-Wisp making an engine. I am not a fan of monolithic strategies and I consider one supply card combined with a non-supply card that it can gain monolithic.
I don't think it is difficult to fix the card. Either making it non-terminal or removing the +buy would stop it being a complete engine. There are some nice ideas here. My favourite is encouraging a player to gain multiple spirits and rewarding them for doing so. I also like the idea of making the Spirit card's cost more meaningful and it has done it in an original and interesting way.
Runestone + Essence by Fausthttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885429#msg885429Mining Village has already proven the concept that there are times you want to trash a card worth more than $2 for $2 after playing it and this applies that idea to Spirits. The question is when is it worthwhile doing so. The obvious one is your last shuffle. You won't play them again so you may as well cash them in for some Victory cards. The more interesting question is what are the other scenarios? A potential one that springs to mind is gaining Imps with Devil's Workshop. Imps are great providing you have enough different actions to support them being non-terminal. Once you reach the number of Imps your engine can support, should you trash one (or potentially more) with Essence for $2 each and gain replacements with Devil's Workshop? There are going to be other situations where it will be worth trashing your Spirits. Identifying them will make this a card that rewards skill.
I am assuming Runestone does not prohibit a $0 overpay so you can gain Will-O-Wisps. If so, this could be very strong with cost reduction where you can make Runestones free.
Transfigure + Sprite by anordinarymanhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885445#msg885445The comments about the trash gain being a problem are correct. Gains from the trash, like from the supply do need to be bounded in some way.
I do like the trashing clauses on Sprite as this stops you running out of Boons (although still possible in a 4 player game with this and Druid), which is a potential problem with this design.
Transfigure is a lot more powerful when the kingdom enables a player to know, or even better, choose what card is on top of their deck before they play it. Otherwise it has the potential to be swingy. If you hit something you really didn't want to you can gain it back but it has still cost you an action.
With the Boons Sprite is an excellent trash for benefit target. Where gaining them can be reliable, either because Transfigure has the right support, or Exorcist is in the kingdom, it will enable trash for benefit strategies and the Boons will give it a nice boost.
Fairy Ring + Mischievous Fairies by emtzalexhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885446#msg885446 Nice complimentary theme between the two cards and yet the differences mean there will be a place for Mischievous Fairies and a place for using Fairy Ring as an action gainer.
On boards that offer a strong reliable engine, it is going to be easier to power Fairy Ring up to the point where it can gain more actions that your engine wants and this will likely be the correct use of the card.
If an engine is less reliable it will be harder to use Fairy Ring to gain the actions you want, but these will also be the types of boards where Mischievous Fairies will likely make a bigger difference. They can be used to help bootstrap your turns.
As a said before, a nice complimentary synergy, both thematically and how I think the cards will play.
Wisperer + Walking Stick + Whispering Woods + Wisps by nyxfulloftrickshttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885526#msg885526It was commented that the synergies here are very strong but I think in most cases that will be kept in check by Walking Stick being an heirloom, which (barring a few edge cases) limits Spirit gaining to one per shuffle. The flipside of it being an heirloom though is that if you were to lose it, due to a trashing attack for example, your means of gaining Spirits will be gone. Could that be too swingy?
Where you have the possibility of regularly gaining more Wisps, such as Exorcist being in the kingdom or Druid with the Swamp's Gift as one of the set aside Boons (a scenario mentioned elsewhere in the thread) then I think the power level of the synergies could become a problem.
Devoted Thrall + Lost Soul by Xen3khttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885570#msg885570A Spirit that allows you to buy other Spirits. It does make gaining one of the official Spirits this way slow but that is fine. The nominal cost of the Spirit cards is less than what they should be if they were actions. Something that allows a player to buy Spirits has to have some sort of built in constraint or limitation to compensate. I think this is a good way of allowing Spirits to be bought.
Devoted Thrall is the card here that grabs my attention. The mechanics of an engine built using this, particularly where this the only Village are interesting. I think you would want to avoid playing anything bar villages or draw until you have maxxed out your capacity for playing Devoted Thralls, especially if your draw is terminal. Other non-terminals is something you would want to avoid playing until after this if at all possible.
There are some potentially interesting interactions if this were to be the only Village. Would it effectively turn Necromancer into one if Devoted Thralls are being trashed. Cavalry could allow you to buy it back from the trash and then play it again. With the right non-terminal support that could increase your terminal space.
Retired Dead Pirate + Ghost Pirate by LibraryAdventurerhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885571#msg885571What should happen if the top card of your deck when you play Retired Dead Pirate is a Night Duration? Do they then end up being played in your action phase? This potentially causes a problem with Crypt as you would not normally have Treasures in play during your action phase. It also has an impact on how Ghost plays.
There are some nice ideas here. I like the Gold gaining is optional. Ghost Pirate offers a nice way of smoothing out an engine if you are unable to get rid of your starting Coppers.
I think some of the conditions on the cards would be better if they found a way not to be limited to Durations. Ghost Pirate couldn't work on all Action cards as that would be overpowered. The problem though is if you have no other Durations in the kingdom as then Ghost Pirate would only work on itself and Treasures.
Dryad + Forest Spirit by AJL828http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885572#msg885572Simple support cards have a place in Dominion and it is only right they should also have a place in the card design contests. I like these cards.
Forest Spirit could help both engine and money decks. If there are Gainers, Remodelers, etc, in the kingdom than this could be an additional source of draw. I like that the Silver gaining is optional. It widens the scope of when the card can be used. You might want it early on to boost your economy whilst your engine comes together, but there will usually be a point where you would want to stop gaining Silver. The Silver gained could also be used as trash fodder so there is synergy with trash for benefit cards.
I can also see it being useful in money games. Dryad would be converting your starting Estates into Silver gainers.
There will be times this will be ignorable. If you cannot make Forest Spirit draw you are rarely going to want it for an engine.
Invoke by ahyangyihttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885590#msg885590An event that adds an additional kingdom pile as an additional non-supply Spirit pile. Interesting idea. Top decking a card from your hand per Invoked card in play is an intriguing concept. There are many reasons why top decking cards can help, for example, getting a poor card out of your hand so something like Sage or Farming Village can skip past it, removing duplicates to activate Menagerie, avoiding terminal collision, etc. Also if running a draw to X engine, top decking a card might not make that much difference.
Having to top desk multiple cards when playing multiple Invoked cards is more of a liability. What if the Invoke pile happens to be the only village in the kingdom. It isn't clear what the right thing to do will be.
Another scenario that needs thinking about is when the Invoked card is a Victory card. You don't play these so the topdecking constraint is not relevant. They end up costing two less but with the limitation that the only way to gain them is to buy them (or gain them with Exorcist if that happens to be in the kingdom).
This has the potential to change the way some kingdoms are played, or at least think about them differently. I can't think of any situations where this would break the game, but there could be edge cases I haven't thought of.
Departure + Apparition by pubbyhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885628#msg885628Not all Action cards are meaningful when played in your Night phase, but enough are so, a card that allows you to play them in your Night phase is a simple but worthwhile idea. Apparition could change how you build your deck as you could potentially play more terminals than you have actions for, if some can be played in your Night phase.
Should Departure be a Night-Action, or does the Night phase clause only apply due to being played then because of Apparition? If it is the latter I like that it makes a more difficult to do, particularly as Departure does have the potential to gain anything (as long as you haven't already gained it yet).
Being able to only gain cards you haven't gained yet does help to keep the power level in check, with regard to running the Province (or Colony) pile, but I think there are some edge case issues. For example, this could potentially run the Castles pile. I would also question whether or not it would be too easy to gain Fortune with Departure. Maybe some upper cost limit is required in terms of what it can gain.
Gnome + Fairy by jakavhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885655#msg885655Fairy is a nice idea. It is basically Barracks in card form. I like the reaction that means it doesn't take up space in your hand.
There is a thematic similarity in that both cards help to set up your next turn. There is a difference though. Fairy will be at its best when you are drawing your deck as then the additional +action will be consistent and predictable. Gnome will be most useful when not drawing your deck. It wants to have undrawn cards once you are playing your Treasures. If you have drawn your deck it is just a Silver.
That doesn't necessarily mean there is an anti-synergy though. Every reliable engine would have been at some point an unreliable engine whilst they are being built. Gnome could help it get through this stage quicker. Gnome could also potentially help if the engine is starting to stall when adding Victory cards.
Gnome also has interesting synergies with Black Market and Storyteller that allow you to play Treasures in your Action Phase. The Storyteller interaction is particularly interesting you can sift the top of your deck before drawing.
All Hallows Eve + Poltergeist by arowdokhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885704#msg885704The potion or debt cost debate is interesting. I don't have an issue with potions myself. In some ways I quite like the potion option because I think you should be made to work to gain a card like Poltergeist. On the other hand though the Potion could be another card to help power up Poltergeist once you have gained it.
I like the way that All Hallows Eve does gives different Spirits in different situations. Not keen on the Horse gaining option as it breaks a very strong thematic link.
Poltergeist's strength is going to be very kingdom dependent, but I do have concerns about how powerful it potentially can be. When you are able to draw your deck, how many different cards do you typically have in your hand? Probably close to the point where a couple of these can drive a megaturn. If you can KC this or Black Market is in the Kingdom, a single Poltergeist might be enough to set up a megaturn. Maybe the number of things you can do needs to be capped.
Gemstone Mine + Sprite Dragon by silverspawnhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885706#msg885706Sprite Dragon is a twist on Stables. You need to discard a Silver to get the +3 Cards +1 Action, but if you don't discard it is still a cantrip as opposed to doing nothing.
Gemstone Mine has synergies in that it can gain Silvers but needs to trash one in order to gain a Sprite Dragon.
I like the paradox of Sprite Dragon. It is a very good card for engines but needs aligning with a Silver to be so. I think it is definitely worth getting where there is sifting or other strong deck manipulation cards available. I am wondering if Sprite Dragon money strategies could be something. It would be like Smithy Big Money but you could get more Sprite Dragons because it wouldn't matter so much if they collide. The trick will be ensuring they align with Silvers, but Gemstone Mine can help with that by turning your starting Coppers into Silvers. With cards that allow Silver flooding this strategy could be very strong.
Honourable MentionsInvoke by ahyangyi
Gnome + Fairy by jakav
Fairy Ring + Mischievious Fairies by emtzalex
Dryad + Forest Spirit by AJL828
Runners UpsDevoted Thrall + Lost Soul by Xen3k
Gemstone Mine + Sprite Dragon by silverspawn
WinnerRunestone + Essence by faust
Congratulations Faust!!!!
