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Messages - Just a Rube

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51
Too bad Inheritance was a different card. I really want to envision it as:

"Sure you can inherit Uncle Bob's stash of VP tokens, but only if you agree to spend the night in the Haunted Mines"

or

"Sure you can inherit, but only if you agree to take care of that lonely old Scout."

52
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Ring Leader
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
+2 Cards.

When you buy or play this, each player (including you) reveals the top 4 card of his deck, discards one that you choose, and puts the rest back in an order he chooses.

EDIT: Added +2 Cards to Ring Leader's on-play effect.
Super-Spy. I don't like the added decisions/AP. On the other hand, it's terminal, so it's less likely to stack than Spy. In some ways, it's  like a Pillage for the next turn, in other ways it's a weakened Rabble.

I don't really think it's comparable to Pillage.  Pillage removes the best card from your hand.  This replaces your second best card with an average card.  The other player will still get a 5 card hand next turn, so it's actually not that bad.  But I do worry that it could be very unfun to play against, as victims keep getting key cards discarded.  It can happen with Spy or Scrying Pool and that hurts, but it's way more likely with Ring Leader because it searches 4 cards instead of just 1.
Sure, but early on that isn't too dissimilar to Pillage; the power level of a key card missing the shuffle and being replaced by an average card (probably Copper or Estate) is not too much worse than just making you discard it. Add that it isn't a one-shot, and has +2 cards to help my economy when I play it; this seems degenerate. It also oddly has 2nd player advantage; I open Chapel, you buy a Ringleader, you have a 2/3 chance of my Chapel missing the shuffle. Admittedly it's a shortened shuffle, but I can play this again as a normal action. If Player 1 tries that on Player 2, s/he only gets a 1/3 chance.

53
So, here's part 2 of my card reviews, where I cover the first half of the submissions, and pontificate for the 0 of you who care. I do have a card in this contest (although I won't say which half it was in), so if you feel I'm bashing your card unfairly, I can only say that my card has been bashed pretty heavily thus far.

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Palanquin
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. You may discard an Action card. If you do, +1 Card per $ it costs.
Others have described the balance problems, as well as the fact that this doesn't really fit in Hinterlands.


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Tribe
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+2 Actions. +$1. Look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Discard one and put the other anywhere in your deck.

When you buy this, you may discard a card. If you do, +1 Buy and +$2.
I don't  like "when you buy this, +X buy" cards. This one is better than most (and inherently somewhat self-limiting due to the discard factor), but still...

I'm not sure what to think of the on-play; the filter is like a Squire or a Bazaar that always draws a dead card, but the putting the other anywhere in your deck seems a bit strange. Not bad strange, mind you, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. It seems like most of the time, you'll put it on either the top or bottom of your deck; you can't really set up a mega-turn unless you happen to draw the mega-turn enablers in just the right way with this (i.e. spread out so that none are clumped). If you have multiple of these to play, I suppose you can place the cards so that they won't be seen again (or will, if you wanted to discard both) to avoid the Pearl Diver problem.

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Quagmire
Types: Victory
Cost: $3
Worth 1 VP.

When you gain this, trash 3 cards from a Supply pile.
This could just as easily read: Player 2 reveals a 5-2 split or a Baker in the kingdom. If he doesn't, he loses the game on turn 3. Even without letting you trash victory cards, this still has issues with Dark Ages cards. Also, I just don't like the mechanic.

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Hinterland
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Swap the cards in your hand with the cards on your Hinterland mat.

When you gain this, gain a Silver, putting it on your Hinterland mat.
As it stands, you will use the on-play exactly once. You will trade 4 cards of junk for a silver; basically a one-time chapel that gains a silver in-hand. This then becomes a dead card. You never want to play it again, because you are trading your new hand for a hand that you already decided to sacrifice a turn to get rid of. Early turns are more important than later turns, so that won't have been a decent hand. Plus it's a terminal, so you can't even store a powerful action that you for some reason didn't want to play that turn. You can't even use it to set-up a Native Village-Bridge type situation, because it only works if you already had all the NVs and Bridges in hand already; in which case why would you bother with the Hinterland.

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Pilgrimage
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+1 Action. +2 Buys.

While this is in play, when you gain a Victory card, Victory cards cost $1 less this turn, but not less than $0.

Clarification: Buying this multiple times in a turn does reduce costs each time.
So, this quickly snowballs. Other people have already done the math. But that's a big problem, and not one that can really be fixed without making the card completely uninteresting.

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Consulate
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+3 Cards. +1 Action. Discard 2 cards.

When you gain this, each other player gains a Copper, putting it into his hand.
So, this is strong. We know Draw 2, discard 1 nonterminal proved to be too strong for $4, and this is clearly stronger. Bump the price up.

I don't like the on-gain; it's not clearly a penalty or a bonus, just different. So it doesn't act to compensate for a too strong card (a la Embassy's silver gain penalty) and it doesn't really have an obvious synergy for the card itself, either thematically or mechanically.

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Trade Agreement
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+3 Cards.

While this is in play, when you gain a Trade Agreement, gain a card costing up to $5.
This needs to say "other than Trade Agreement" at the end of the below the line clause. With that change, it becomes sort of a Border Smithy. Which means it needs to go in engines of some sort (BM will use the in-play clause probably once) to gain engine pieces to go with its draw.

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Mountain Dwellers
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. Reveal your hand. If you revealed 3 or more Treasure cards, +$1.

When you buy this, you may trash a Treasure card you have in play. Gain a Treasure card costing exactly $3 more than it.
I like the idea of an on-gain mine. Like it a lot. Probably more than I should. The top is a highly conditional Peddler. Seems fine.

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Emerald Vein
Types: Action – Victory
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Reveal your hand. +$1 per Victory card revealed.

Worth 1 VP.
This is a non-terminal Secret Chamber variant. The original Vault/Secret Chamber read "your Victory Cards are also Coppers this turn" or words to that effect, according to the Secret Histories.

Yes, it can stack much more easily than Secret Chamber, but how many $5 VP cards are you planning on getting early?

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Troglodyte Caves
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. Discard any number of cards. +1 Card per card discarded.

When you gain this, you may reveal a card from your hand costing less than this. Gain a copy of it.

Cantrip Cellar. Seems reasonable. Not sure of the synergy with the on-gain, but maybe I'm missing something.
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Vendor
Types: Action
Cost: $1
+1 Action

When you buy this, +2 Buys.
Don't like this. I've already said that I don't like cards that give you +buy on gain, and that's essentially all this card does. And someone else already pointed out the concerns with Highway.

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Artefact
Types: Action
Cost: $2
+1 Card. +1 Action. Choose a card from your hand. Trash it, discard it, or put it on top of your deck.

When you buy this, set it aside instead of gaining it. Discard it after you next shuffle your discard pile (or when the game ends).
Not sure the delay is enough to make a safe cantrip trasher at $2 reasonable. On the other hand, the Chapel problem (needs to be equally accessible to everyone at start, importance as escape hatch in completely junked decks) argues in favor of leaving it at $2.

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Ring Leader
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
+2 Cards.

When you buy or play this, each player (including you) reveals the top 4 card of his deck, discards one that you choose, and puts the rest back in an order he chooses.

EDIT: Added +2 Cards to Ring Leader's on-play effect.
Super-Spy. I don't like the added decisions/AP. On the other hand, it's terminal, so it's less likely to stack than Spy. In some ways, it's  like a Pillage for the next turn, in other ways it's a weakened Rabble.


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River
Types: Victory
Cost: $3
Worth 2 VP.

When you gain this during your turn, all cards except Victory cards cost $2 less this turn, but not less than $0.
I'm pretty sure all the good Dr. Who jokes have been made by now, so I'll just stick to analyzing the card. Without buys/gainers, it's just a $3 worth $2VP, like Tunnel w/o discarders. Even with buys, I'm not sure how often in the pre-greening phase I'd want another dead card just to increase my available money by one per non-Victory buy.

I think the idea is to do interesting things with TFB cards (Workshop this, then Remake it into a Gold), which is probably one reason why it's a Victory Card.

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Factory
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $4
+1 Action. You may discard a card that is not a Victory card. If you do, gain a copy of it.

When you gain a card, you may reveal this from your hand and put it onto your deck. If you do, put the gained card into your hand.
This will likely be in my hand at the start of every turn (assuming I gain at least one card a turn). So matching up pairs of Factory to take advantage of the combo will be easy. Interesting.

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Sanctuary
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+2 Cards. Discard 2 cards.

When you gain this, set aside a card from your hand. Return that card to your deck at the end of the game.
The above-line effect is extremely weak. The bottom is potentially ok, but not enough to justify a $5 price tag on such a weak action, especially since a $5 hand is less likely to be available in an early hand with junk, anyway. Even when you lower the price, the on-buy is effectively replacing a junk card (probably Estate) with a slightly less junky card (+2 Cards, Discard 2 cards).

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Workers' Co-operative
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Buy. +$3.

While this is in play, when you buy a card, each other player may gain a card costing less than it.
The penalty is way too strong. Unless you are running an engine based on ludicrously cheap ingredients, this will help your opponent almost as much as you with each play, and they still have their own turns to help themselves.

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Smelter
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Buy. +$1.

While this is in play, when you buy a card, gain a Silver, putting it on top of your deck.
A solid Silver-flooder. Very appropriate.

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Witch Doctor
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+$1. Look through your deck; reveal and discard any number of Victory and Curse cards from it. Shuffle your deck.

When you gain this, put your deck into your discard pile.
Back to my old point about opening. I open with this every time. I Chancellor my deck (and since I've just seen either my $4 or my $5 hand when I buy this, I'm almost certainly getting a better hand than I would normally). I have an excellent chance of skipping most of my Estates for the second shuffle (and note that this card itself gives +$1, which is above average for my deck at this point).

So it's super strong early on, in an unbalanced way. Later on (and really even from the beginning) it's super-swingy.

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Diviner
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+2 Cards. +1 Buy.

While this is in play, when you buy a card, reveal the top 2 cards of your deck, discard any number, and put the rest back on top in any order.
Potentially lots of revealing/decision-making. Otherwise ok?

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Shoreline
Types: Victory
Cost: $6
Worth 4 VP.

When you gain this, +1 Buy.
I already said that I don't like +buy on gain, but here it's bad in a different way. $6 is just $2 less than a Province, and there is no reason to buy this if you aren't greening, so you would generally (PPR aside) prefer Province to this, and this to Duchy. That's it. This is just a slight tweak on PPR situations. That doesn't seem worth a kingdom slot.

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Mill
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Each other player draws a card. Gain a card costing up to $5.

When you gain this, each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.
Once again, openings for on-gain cards. I open with this, all my opponents have their opening hands crippled. I can keep this up as long as it's in the supply, keeping my opponents crippled, while using my money/gainers (and note this is a gainer that can gain itself) to build up and win before they've even had a chance to start building an engine.

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Travelling Salesman
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $5
Discard any number of Treasure cards from your hand. +2 Cards per card discarded.

When another player gains a Victory card, you may discard this. If you do, gain a card costing less than the gained Victory card.
I am sure there is a joke about the Travelling Salesman Problem here, but I'm not getting it.

As for the card itself, it fuels its draw by discarding Treasures, which is somewhat strange (though again, strange doesn't necessarily mean bad). The reaction messes with end-game greening in a way that I'm not sure I like; I'd be tempted to disallow it to gain Victory cards, just to prevent me from gaining Duchy on all my opponents' Province buys.

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Courier (A)
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +1 Action. Discard any number of cards. Gain a card costing exactly $1 per card discarded.

When you would gain a card other than during your Buy phase, you may discard this from your hand. If you do, gain a card costing up to $2 more instead.
Another Workshop variant, with a twist. It can always gain $5 (at the cost of discarding your hand). If they collide, the other copies become effectively silvers for the purpose. So there is the synergy. If you can get a big enough hand, you can gain Provinces with it.

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Oicho-Kabu
Types: Action – Victory
Cost: $5
+1 Buy. +$2.

Worth 1 VP. While this is in play, when you buy a card, +$2 and discard the top card of your deck. If it's a Victory card, trash this.
So, I gave in and looked up Oicho-Kabu on Wikipedia, and apparently it's a Japanese card game resembling Black Jack and Baccarat. I'm now envisioning a player using this card, buying something, and saying "hit me". If they have multiple buys, they can keep doing this until they hit a Victory card, at which point they go bust. So kudos for the theme.


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Wayfarer (A)
Types: Action
Cost: $2
+1 Card. +1 Action. +1 Buy.

When you buy this, you may trash a card from your hand. If you do, +$ equal to its cost in coins.

So, a Market Square with an on-buy Salvager effect (without the buy). Too strong for $2, especially since it synergizes strongly with itself (giving cantrip plus buy, which means this card is easy to amass and use to clean out your junk quickly). Not sure what the right cost is, but on-buy trashing, even without being able to spend the coins right away, seems very strong early on.

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Construct
Types: Action
Cost: $3
Trash a card from your hand. Gain two cards each costing exactly $1 more than it.

When you gain this during your Action phase, +1 Card and +1 Action.
I like the on-play. It's a weaker Remake, which is fine.

Everyone keeps describing this as a weaker Remake, so I feel like I should point this out again:

This is strictly better* than Develop at the same price.

*Yes, I know "gain a card costing X+2" is not strictly better than "gain a card costing X" in the standard sense. It's close enough for the purpose of evaluating card design though.
Surely the point is that it doesn't put them on deck, which Develop does. So Develop can do cute "perfect shuffle luck" tricks to set up your next turn.

But you raise a good point (which I missed while going through them, even though I had read your comment before posting), which I'll have to think about.

Edit: Notice that you posted the same thing immediately afterwards. Which brings up an obvious missing name for a Hinterlands card: Ninja

55
This is Medieval times. Cats are too close to witches; we clearly need "Terriers" as our Rats-slayers.

But other options:

Saint
Castle
Crag
Monastery
Priory
Pardoner
Simoner
Summoner
Paladin
Burgh
Charter
Privilege
Vassal

56
Very interesting SirPeebles!  Thanks for taking the time to type all that up.

I'm not all that fond of the name.  Are indulgences something commonly understood?  I've learned of them before, but it took a while before it clicked that you were referring to the Catholic thing and not just gratification.  Also, artwork might be hard to find for something so abstract!
I'd say that they're certainly more widely known a term than, say "feodum". But maybe that's cheating.

But they played a huge part in triggering the Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther's 95 thesis were written in direct response to a passing Indulgence seller, who used the catchy advertising jingle "As soon as a coin in the box rings, another soul from purgatory springs"). You could probably find a picture of an Indulgence seller.

57
So I'll talk about half of these cards now and half later. I'll start with the second half because I suspect they tend to get overlooked by people who started at the top and are now running out of patience towards the end. Plus, I have a point about Sultan specifically that I want to make. I'll do the first half later.

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Sultan
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+2 Cards. +1 Action. Discard a card.

When you gain this, look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Discard any number of them and put the rest back in any order.
The top half is probably too strong for $4 (I think someone mentioned that Donald X. playtested a version at $4 and found it too strong?) and almost (e.g. tunnel) strictly weaker than Lab at $5. But still maybe an ok $5 if Lab didn't exist.

So, one concern to think about with on-gains is: what if I open with it? Nomad Camp and Inn both mess with the opening split in different ways. IGG and Noble Brigand mess with your opponents. Farmlands is too expensive. I'm probably missing some others, but the trend is clear: if they mess with your opening split, they have fairly weak on-play effects (sure I can maybe get a 4/5 split with Nomad camp, but only if I commit to using an opening $4 on Woodcutter, and even then it's not likely; Inn is similar). Opening Sultan? I'm discarding at least one estate (and frankly, I'm likely discarding all of them to get an earlier reshuffle) and thus likely getting at least a $4.5/$4 opening, which is probably too strong?
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Safe House
Types: Victory – Reaction
Cost: $3
Worth 2 VP.

When you gain a card costing $0, you may discard this. If you do, gain a Gold.
So, similar to Cache (instead of 2 coppers and a Gold, you get a copper, a gold, and a Victory card), but you have to spend an extra buy and can stack oddly. I'll have to think about it.

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Commander
Types: Victory
Cost: $5
Worth 2 VP

When you gain this, gain a Reinforcement card, putting it on top of your deck.
Setup: Add an extra Action Kingdom card pile costing $5 to the Supply. Cards from that pile are Reinforcement cards and cannot be bought.

Clarification: Unlike most Victory cards, there are always 10 copies of Commander in the Supply regardless of the number of players.
Instead of IGG emptying IGG and Curse piles, this empties the Reinforcement and Commander piles simultaneously. On the other hand, a VP card doesn't help buy more Commanders, so rushing will be difficult, unless the Reinforcement card is something like Vault. I'd probably like this more if it were a half-Harem (1VP-$1) instead, but it might be too strong. Obviously much weaker if there is anyway of gaining the Reinforcement cards without buying them (e.g. a Remodel).

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Midnight Gathering
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. You may put your deck into your discard pile. Look through your discard pile. You may reveal an Action card from it; put it into your hand.
So it becomes an action card of your choice? I don't know, it seems too much like Band of Misfits, but limited by the number of other actions in your deck. Now that I think about it, that makes it probably way worse than Band of Misfits; a huge part of Band of Misfits is the flexibility (I can use this as a Sea Hag/Moneylender now, but later it becomes a valuable engine component). Here, you still need to have that number of the engine components and any opening-game cards are dead). I don't think being able to grab bigger actions makes up for that? How many big actions will you be getting with enough money to spam $5 cost cards left over?

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Pasture
Types: Victory – Reaction
Cost: $4
Worth 2 VP.

When another player gains a Victory card, you may reveal and discard this along with any number of cards from your hand. If you do, +2 Cards per Pasture and +1 Card per other card discarded.
So, effectively a cellar/lab when your opponent gains a Victory card, and a dead card otherwise. Could be interesting, I suppose, but I wouldn't buy it early, and by the time I want it, I'll probably only see it once or twice? Although cellaring during the green stage would be nice. I'll have to think about this card some more.

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Trailblazer
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Gain a card costing up to $4.

When you gain this, reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. Put any number of the revealed Victory cards and Curses into your hand. Put the other cards back in any order.
So, there are a lot of Workshop variants, and people tend to group them all together and say "another workshop variant", but I want to try to look at each of them separately, because they deserve to be considered individually on their merits.

As I said with Sultan, this can mess with the opening split similar to Nomad Camp or Inn. I don't mind it as much here, because a) everyone can buy it (it's a $4 not a $5, which is a big difference for an opener), and b) once you've done that, it's a Workshop, not an almost $5 in its own right. Still, an interesting effect.

Obviously, likes Silk Roads/Garden rushes a lot. Can also be a terminal Scout (gaining itself), if you ever want a terminal Scout. Maybe an end-game engine as a (very) poor man's Wandering Minstrel effect?
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Bargain
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it, a card costing exactly $2 more than it, and a card costing exactly $3 more than it. Discard down to 2 cards in hand.

When you gain this, each player (including you) may trash a card from his hand.
Probably better than Expand, and at $4. This card seems far too strong. Open this, hit an estate next shuffle, gain a Silver, another Bargain (trashing a copper), and a $5. That's way too strong.

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Clairvoyant
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+1 Action. Look at the top card of your deck. You may put it into your hand. Otherwise, +$1 and either discard it or put it back. Look through your discard pile and put a card from it or your hand at the bottom of your deck.
So, can be a cantrip (if you hit a decent card or a Copper) or a peddler (for cards you don't want anyway). Not sure how useful putting cards back on the bottom of your deck will turn out to be in practice, but it's a novel effect.

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Fence
Types: Action
Cost: $5
While this is in play, when you buy a card, gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

EDIT: Changed from "when you gain a card" to "when you buy a card".
Without the edit, this was ludicrous. With the edit, it's a much weaker Haggler.

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Shaman
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Action. Name a card. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal an Action card with that name. Put it into your hand and discard the rest.

When you gain this, each other player discards any number of cards from his hand then draws a card per card discarded.
Similar to Midnight Gathering above. Cheaper than it or Band of Misfits, but with an on-gain penalty. I like this somewhat better (just because of that difference) but I'll want to see some playtesting to see if it works

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Tinker's Wagon
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Gain a card costing up to $4.

When you gain this, move a card costing between $3 and $6 from the top of one Supply pile to the top of another.
Another workshop variant. You cover up a card, then later use the Tinker's Wagon to uncover that pile and then normally buy the card. Alternatively, you can use the Tinker's Wagon to gain itself, covering a card that you don't want but your opponent might early, sort of like an embargo. So that's the synergy between the effects.

I'm not sure how I feel about the mechanic itself; can you cover an empty pile, thus making it unempty? What if you (using highway/bridge) move the last Province to another pile, thus ending the game early?

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Thrift Shop
Types: Action
Cost: $6
+1 Action. +$2. If this is not the first time you played Thrift Shop this turn, you may gain a card from the Thrift Shop mat.

When you gain or play this, place a card costing up to $5 from the Supply onto the Thrift Shop mat.

Clarification: There is only one community Thrift Shop mat. Each player does not have his own.
So, you need to stack it to do something with it. Which is tough to do with a $6, even one that acts as a Silver. I have a similar rules concern (do cards on the mat count as not being in the suppy at the same time?

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Grandee
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Buy. Gain a card costing up to $4.

When you gain this, gain a Gold; each other player gains a Silver.
So a Grandee is sort of like a foreign governor, which I assume is the motivation behind the name (which I like). The rest of the card doesn't really seem to  "click". It can't gain itself without Highway, bridge, etc. None of the effects really synergize together, and a $5 needs to be powerful.

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Construct
Types: Action
Cost: $3
Trash a card from your hand. Gain two cards each costing exactly $1 more than it.

When you gain this during your Action phase, +1 Card and +1 Action.
I like the on-play. It's a weaker Remake, which is fine. The obvious synergy with the on-gain is to make it like Rats, but gaining another $3 along with the second Construct.  You can even make it into a partially powered up City that trashes and gains two Constructs. I like this card.

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Missionary
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a Victory card. Gain an Action or Treasure card costing up to the Victory card's cost, putting it onto your deck. Discard the revealed cards.

When you buy this, reveal a card from your hand. If that card costs $6 or less, gain a copy of it.
This is swingy in most decks. Seems like it would be nice with Alt-VP. Maybe too nice; buy this, reveal Gardens in hand, gain a Gardens. So a slightly better workshop in that respect, but riskier in non-Rushes. On the other hand, if you can trash your Estates, gain a Duchy at some point, and this becomes a workshop that goes up to $5. I'm not sure if I like that swinginess.

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Chapterhouse
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. +$1. Draw until you have 6 cards in hand. Discard 2 cards.

When you buy this, each other player draws a card. When you gain this, each other player with at least 4 cards in hand discards a card.
So, a sifting copper with an on-buy sift or an on-gain urchin for your opponents. I guess that's thematic, although I'm not sure about the name. Obviously more powerful with the ability to gain $5 cards, at which point it becomes an on-gain discard attack (although a weak one). Which I don't like. I feel like there ought to be some reason behind an on-gain attack beyond just hey, let's make an on-gain attack. Noble Brigand is a Thief variant which is (a) a weak class of attacks in general (so it's not overpowering) and (b) has fun interactions with e.g. Fool's Gold. IGG isn't technically an attack, but the combination of running out 2 piles at once is a key component of the card. This card just possibly attacks.

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Barn
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. Discard a card. If you discarded a Victory or Curse card, gain a Treasure costing up to $4. Otherwise, +$1 and gain a Victory card costing up to $4. Put the gained card into your hand.

When you buy this, gain an Action card costing up to $4, putting it onto your deck.

EDIT: Changed "When you gain this" to "When you buy this".
So, a somewhat more complicated workshop variant. More precisely, it's a cantrip that turns another card into a non-terminal Workshop that can't gain actions. And you get a little money if you decide to discard an action or treasure. And the on-buy gives you an action that gets top-decked. But it can't gain itself w/o Highway/Bridge etc.  Not that the on-buy would trigger anyway. Maybe a bit too complicated?


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Huntsmen
Type: Action
Cost: $0*
+1 Action. +1 Buy.

When you gain this, +2 Buys. During your Buy phase, this costs $2 more for each card you've gained this turn.
Don't like this. I don't like the concept of getting extra buys by buying a card, I don't like the tracking it requires ("wait, what order did I buy my cards in; do I have $2 or $4 left? I can't look through my discard pile to check"), and I don't like the on-play either.

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Painful Journey
Types: Action – Curse – Reaction
Cost: $4
Discard any number of Curses. +2 Cards for each Curse discarded.

Worth –1 VP. When you would buy a Victory card, you may trash this from your hand. If you do, gain a Victory card costin less than the bought card and gain 2 Curses.

Clarification: You cannot gain this card when another card instructs you to gain a Curse.
Why is this a curse type? If the idea is to let it take advantage of it's own abilities, just say "+2 Cards for each Curse or Painful Journey discarded." And the penalties seem too harsh; I can't think of a situation I would ever buy this.

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Wagon Raider
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $4
Each other player may put a card costing more than $2 from their hand into your discard pile. If he doesn't, he gains a Curse.

While this is in play, when you buy a Gold, you may gain a Province instead.

EDIT: Added "instead" to the end of the text.

So, a weaker Sea Hag (no one will pretty much ever give you a $3 or greater card voluntarily outside of something like Moneylender), that becomes a terminal silver that can only buy Provinces and doesn't stack (but does make it easier to buy more provinces). So it creates a slog, and then occasionally helps you spike to Provinces.


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Nomadic Village
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +2 Actions.

When you gain this, put it into your hand.
When an opponent gains an Action card, you may discard this. If you do, search your discard pile for an Action card and put it into your hand.
Village that goes straight to hand (I'd honestly prefer it being top-decked, because with no gainers "to hand" is essentially the same as being gained normally). If your opponent gains an action card, you can discard it to do a Midnight Gathering effect, which is another reason I'd like it to go on top of the deck (so your opponent is on notice that you have it in hand this turn). But maybe that would be too oppressive. I'm not really sold on this card idea.

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Stranger
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. +1 Buy. Each other player discards the top card of his deck. Copies of cards revealed this way cost $2 less this turn, but not less than $0.

This seems like it would scale badly to multiple players. It also doesn't really feel "Hinterlands" to me. I suspect in practice you will usually be hitting Coppers and Estates early on, so it takes a while before it's good, and then you have the Smugglers problem ("stop copying me!").
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Courier (B)
Types: Action
Cost: $2
+1 Action. +1 Buy.

When you discard this from play, if you bought no more than one card this turn, you may put this on top of your deck.
I like the idea of a "Walled Market", but this implementation is too weak; I'd almost never want it on top of my deck. Maybe if the top half were like Market Square instead.

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Sawmill
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+1 Action. +1 Buy.

When you gain this, set it aside onto your Sawmill mat. At the start of each of your turns, you may put any number of cards from your mat into your hand.

Very similar, but without clogging up the top of your deck. I think this is a much better implementation of this concept.
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Pyramid
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Action. +$1. +1 Card per Pyramid you have in play. Discard one card per Pyramid you have in play.

When you buy this, gain an extra copy of it.
So the pile runs out twice as fast. I don't like that, especially since it guarantees that there will be an uneven distribution of Pyramids (6-4), if you are in a situation where this card is good and you want to spam it. And it seems like whenever it's good, it will need to be at least semi-spammed; if you only play one per turn, you payed $4 for an Oasis.

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Lucky Coin
Type: Treasure
Cost: $4
Worth $1.

When you gain this, each other player with at least 5 cards in hand reveals his hand and discards a card that you choose.
I don't like on-gain attacks, and this is only an on-gain attack ($4 for a Copper is just clogging up your deck).

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Used Land Salesman
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+4 Cards.

While this is in play, when you buy a card, gain a Victory cards costing less than it.
This penalty is far too harsh early on, and then too good on the last turn.

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Wayfarer (B)
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal one costing $1 or more. Put all the revealed cards into your hand.

When you discard this from play, gain a card costing up to $1 per Copper you have in play.
This seems like a cute Counting House variant. I suspect it will rarely draw more than a couple coppers per-play even early on, which means you will be gaining more coppers, which means you draw more coppers. Eventually you get a lot of coppers and then play them and discard them to double-Province. My only concern is that it makes Hunting Party-X seem like a flexible deck type. Literally everything that isn't a Copper, Curse, or Ruins (or have lots of Highways, etc. in play) hurts this deck; even multiple Wayfarers can block the draw and choke the deck.

58
I guess maybe the reason behind the workshop love is because it's one of the few basic card-types that's not really present in Hinterlands? Haggler is the closest to that slot mechanically, but feels somewhat different, even if it isn't per se.

Also, trying to meld on-plays with on-gains/buys is hard; a $4 or less workshop variant can always use it's on-play to provide a terminal version of it's on-gain (by gaining a copy of itself). Given that a lot of people (including me) thought of the on-gain effect first and tried to design a card around it, the appeal of "let people do the cool on-gain thing more" should be obvious.

Really, this contest has made me realize how difficult the Hinterlands design-space is to work in; leaving aside rules issues (and note that we've already had several submitted cards reveal themselves as having major rules problems as written) it's interesting to note how many of the ideas submitted have clear parallels with rejected cards from the Hinterlands Secret History. We also seem to have a lot fewer "wacky" submissions in this contest than the Prosperity contest (by which I mean cards that have somewhat strange effects, even leaving the workshop-variants aside, it seems we have a lot more vanillaesque cards).

59
On the other hand, I am really struggling to come up with a theme for Cornucopia names. The cards themselves are fine, but the naming is less tight a fit than, say, Seaside or Alchemy.

The harvest festival! Farming Village, Harvest, and Horn of Plenty refer specifically to the crops themselves; Fortune Teller, Menagerie, Tournament, Jester, and Fairgrounds (and arguably Hunting Party and Horse Traders) refer to the autumn fair thrown in celebration of the harvest, and the many delightful events and attractions to be found there. ("Autumn, a time of celebration!")

So...for Cornucopia names:

Cotton Candy Machine
Rickety Ferris Wheel
Fried Dough (or Funnel Cake)
Bumper Cars
That Ride with the Spinning Teacups that I Don't Know What it's Called

Feel free to use any of these names for your submissions for Cornucopia cards.

60
Well, most of the sets have cards with off-theme names (what does a Caravan have to do with the Seaside?). Hinterlands itself has a far-travel/touch of the exotic theme (Crossroads, Mandarin, etc.), but plenty of cards that don't really fit (Jack-of-all-Trades is a great name for the card, but has little to do with the broader theme).

On the other hand, I am really struggling to come up with a theme for Cornucopia names. The cards themselves are fine, but the naming is less tight a fit than, say, Seaside or Alchemy.

Incidentally, do we know which expansion is coming after Hinterlands?

61


I suppose that means that you'll pick a stock name?  I mean, if there is a card called "No Name" then I will have a decent idea of whose it is.  Like, 90% sure. :P
I've been through the contest with a card with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain

62
Dominion General Discussion / Re: the i'll use a coin token joke
« on: September 04, 2013, 10:48:27 pm »
say your opponent splits 5/2 and there is witch on the board.

you can make a hilarious joke if you split 4/3. When you play your 4, say "now i'll use my coin token" and pretend that there is baker. you don't have to give me credit.
This works best with a Black Market. They'll just assume they missed the Baker when looking through the Black Market deck, and have to recheck.

63
For a lot of special Treasures, it's more advantageous to play them in the buy phase! That's why Horn of Plenty is a Treasure, for instance.
Now I want to see a Villa/Counterfeit Combo.

64
pink elephants.
When you gain this card, take a drink?

The interaction with Trader seems pretty clear to me.

65
I think the card I submitted is better for a seaside/hinterlands hybrid. LFN, can I turn in a different card instead?

Yes, feel free.
My new one... I don't know. It could be horribly overpowered.
That's why we have voting!

Who knows, maybe it will work out; I was pleasantly surprised by some of the kind words people gave to my Prosperity card, even though it won't win, by a long-shot (and got some criticism to, but mostly things I expected). It gave me a good feeling and more feedback.

66
By the way, I love Indulgence, but completely completely completely agree that it should be a terminal action, not a Treasure.

That would make it even more like Embargo. Too much so, in my opinion.
Funny, my first thought on Indulgence as a terminal was "that makes it more like a much weaker Goons."

Both involve +$2, +1 Buy, and give you the option of gaining VP for buying a card you don't necessarily want (Goons can obviously give you a card you do want, but most of the VP will probably come from the mega-turn at the end of the game, buying coppers/curses for points).

The differences are obviously significant (and weaker Goons != weak card, necessarily), but it explains how I found it easy to understand the play-test complaints of Indulgence turning out to be too weak in practice, and why I am stumped on how to appropriately balance the card.


67
Also, please remember to vote for cards that you think could be good with an easy fix that most people seem to want.

Example: Charity (A) where the gain is conditional.
So in this instance would your vote read:

"Charity (A)"
or
"Charity (A) [modified so the gain is conditional]"

Just trying to get the formatting straight.

68
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Guilds Strategy
« on: September 04, 2013, 10:14:48 am »
There's only 10 Merchant Guilds in the supply, you can't play a bajillion of them.
1 bajillion < 10 (for very small values of 1 bajillion)

69
Yeah, at this point I would actually be pretty surprised if Indulgence doesn't win.  Everyone seems to love it (myself included).  I really think it's the best card here.

Not my card either (although I wish I had come up with it)...
I agree, it's certainly the most interesting.

My only concern is how well it would stack; if they name the same card twice, do you gain 4 VP? That makes whatever you pick a much better duchy.  Alternatively, there can only be so many "bad" cards in a set to pick; silver becomes a harem for instance. But those are all concerns that probably can be play-tested and tweaked if needed.

Also not my card (obviously).

70
Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Contest: Bold predictions
« on: September 02, 2013, 09:06:25 pm »
  • Guilds entries will include a (possibly ironic) Tiller, and at least 3 Cheesemakers.
But how many Cheese Destroyers?

71
Quote
Mediator
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
+$3. Reveal 3 cards from your hand. The player to your left selects one of them. Discard it or put it on top of your deck.

When another player plays an Attack, you may set this aside from your hand. If you do, +1 Card, +1 VP, and at the start of your next turn, discard this.

Concept: Cheap terminal Gold with a drawback.  +VP reaction.
Prosperity fit: Big effect (for a $3 card at least).  VP tokens.  Non-attack interaction.
Comments: The reaction seems kind of tacked on, but without it the connection to Prosperity is kind of weak.  This doesn't actually hit any of the major themes as listed by LastFootnote, though it hits two of the minor themes.  I don't think it's a close enough fit for this contest.

For the designer: the reaction can just discard itself right away, no need to set aside.  The only reaction that sets itself aside is Horse Traders, and that's because it goes back into your hand later on.
Not my card, but I assume the reason for having it set aside is for the case where you have no cards in your draw or discard  pile, and someone plays an attack.

If it didn't go aside, as written you'd reveal it, discard it, get the VP and draw a card (which is the Mediator you just discarded), and could then react/reveal again, ad infinatum for infinite VP.

I'm not sure how I feel about the reaction, but I do appreciate the designer at least spotting that rules issue.

72
But Zombies don't need books; they eat brains not use them. So where do you get more Zombies for your Necropolis? The Catacombs.

It's all so clear now! Reading in a Library is good for your brain, and Zombies love good brains. That's why Library draws an additional card for Necropolis!
Although that brings up questions about the Lovecraftian horror that is Shanty Town. When other people (cards) are around, they act just like a Necropolis. We've already determined how disturbing that is. But when no one else is looking? They act as a super Laboratory, or even a good-sized City. What research are they conducting? Where do those extra inhabitants come from? WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?



Of course, as an academic, I'm contractually forbidden to publicly speculate about the disquieting relationship between University and two related cards: Necropolis and Altar.

73
Although, now that I think about it...

I previously determined that, since +action cards are represented by groups of people (e.g. Village), thus Necropolis must be providing groups of Zombies.

Libraries and Smithies increase your local economy, represented by letting you draw more cards.

But Zombies don't need books; they eat brains not use them. So where do you get more Zombies for your Necropolis? The Catacombs.

QED

74
Dominion General Discussion / Re: WW's Power Rankings
« on: August 24, 2013, 09:46:40 am »
The middle-of-the-road-ishness of guilds may be because it's so new still. There's a tendency to play it safe with unfamiliar cards so I expect some of them will drift more towards the higher or lower end as time goes on.

Or it could be that Donald has got better at creating cards so that there are less really weak or really overpowering ones?

Ed
(The again it wasn't that long ago we got Rebuild...)
Of course, technically Dark Ages was designed after Guilds, and Rebuild in particular was one of the last cards added in all Dominion...

75
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Greatest Dominion moments 2013
« on: August 10, 2013, 06:41:37 pm »
Just last night I played a clearly less experienced player.
I opened pot-silver, aiming for familiars. He opened moneylender-silver.
My pot missed the reshuffle and was paired with 2 copper / 2 estate.
My opponent is buying just random cards.
My opponent gets a potion during his 3rd deck cycle.
He wins the curse split EIGHT to TWO. Also wins the game by 4 points despite being pretty bad.

Games like this make me question why I even like Dominion.
The real question is, why were you buying pot?
I think we all know why people buy pot.

The real question is why he shuffled it in with his cards.

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