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3601

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 18, 2013, 07:39:32 pm »

Ugh...I just KNEW my card was one of the cards tied for first! No hard feelings, LastFootnote.

I'm wishing I voted, too, I loved Mountain Dwellers but I feel Diviner is ridiculously overpowered.

I give jet lag as an excuse.

That's too bad. I was counting on your vote. No matter, I'll have other chances.

So yeah, the consensus was really low this time.

EDIT: Oh yeah, so it was you who made Courier(B). I liked that one, and even voted for it. Unfortunately, it had a hard time competing with the much less subtle cards in the ballot.

3602

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 18, 2013, 06:50:43 pm »

Ugh...I just KNEW my card was one of the cards tied for first! No hard feelings, LastFootnote.

3603

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 18, 2013, 12:27:10 pm »

The thing is: it only gets you half as many actions as Golem, but lets you choose, and it helps with deck sifting. If you have it, you want a few key actions in as big a deck as you want, which is Hinterlands's theme or one particular combo, not lots and lots of them like you want with alchemy.

In my mind, seeing your key actions very often is still playing lots of actions, especially if the card you fish out helps you play your other actions (for example, a key village/throne room or a powerful draw card). It also seems like a broken-looking-but-actually-balanced ability, which I associate with Alchemy.

3604

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 18, 2013, 11:41:20 am »

Shaman
Action - $5
Discard your deck. Play a card from your discard pile.

is what I would have it at now.

Any reasons it wasn't liked? I was really hoping this one would do well.

It is a card idea has been discussed many times on this forum, and is usually referred to as Demonic Tutor after a similar card from Magic.  It just enables some really ridiculous combos.  Scavenger is the official card which has tread a bit on this design space.

If a Demonic Tutor (what I tend to call Broken Herald because I never played Magic:tG) belongs anywhere, it would be Alchemy. Thing is, Alchemy already has Golem. I`m guessing that a non-broken version of such a card would end up looking too much like Golem, with its prohibitive cost and lack of vanilla bonuses.

3605

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Tweaking Indulgence

« on: September 18, 2013, 07:34:04 am »

But Royal Seal doesn't give +buy.

3606

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 17, 2013, 08:30:29 am »

Mine was this one:

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.

Okay, this is actually Mountain Dwellers, but it's based on Mine. It's also mine. I was going to wait for the results before talking about it, but who knows when they'll be released.

Do we have a Secret History of Mountain Dwellers?
Not too much to say here. I didn't want to make another treasure flooder (we Had Trader and Cache already), but an on-gain Mine effect seemed like a cool idea. Engines aren't as averse to the Mine effect as they are to the treasure gainer effect, so perhaps it could have made everyone happy. I wanted the top part to at least be a cantrip, so that you wouldn't be afraid to get multiples of these. It needed a bit more than that, but a simple $1 coin would be too strong. I figured I can make the coin conditional so as to favour large handsizes and sifting. It made sense to me to have it activate with treasure in your hand, since you probably have treasure in your deck if you bought this in the first place.

My mistake was making it activate a 3 treasures in hand. That's overkill. Activating at 2 treasures would have been enough to drive home the point that it wants you to have at least some treasures in your deck, but even 1 treasure can possibly work.

Balance wise, I made it on-buy because I was worried it would be too strong with Border Village and Haggler, let alone if it could Mine cards from your hand when gained. I knew it had to at least be able to work on treasures in play for it not to suck. I liked that it was an early game accelerator, turning a copper into a silver before the first reshuffle, just like IGG can give a curse before the first reshuffle. Mining a Silver into a Gold is neat. Perhaps the best use of this card is to provide fodder for TfB.

This card had a relatively easy design stage compared to the card I'm preparing for Intrigue. You'd think all that work would make my Intrigue card better, but at this rate it's looking like it will be one of the weirdest Intrigue submissions.

3607

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Homage to the Best Card

« on: September 16, 2013, 04:21:08 pm »

Shouldn't cause any confusion when I say it.  Capitalization and context, guys.

Just be sure to not start a sentence with "Mine".

3608

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Tweaking Diviner

« on: September 16, 2013, 01:46:32 pm »

I'm going to agree with Sir Peebles that this card doesn't need to stack, at least not in a see-8-cards-at-once kind of way. Of course, play testing can confirm or deny that. Either way, it gets really confusing if this stacks with the number of diviners in play, as opposed to stacking with multiple buys. If it only stacks with buys, you can say "if you have at least 1 diviner in play...".

Hmm... Still sounds weird. I cast my ballot fully expecting this to play out like spy when it hits cards you don't want to discard. That seems fine. Gosh, we should have talked about this one earlier if we noticed the rules confusion.

I think the rules confusion is only in LastFootnote's proposed tweak -- the original doesn't have any rules issues as far as I can tell.

The original is fine so long as you can introduce a resolving order. I guess that's fine. Other cards require resolving order too (Watchtower, talisman, Royal Seal).

3609

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 16, 2013, 01:42:41 pm »

Whew* I'm happy that the winner is at least an all around fine card. Congratulations, jamespotter! I feel a bit bad for not voting for it, but I was hesitant to vote for so many cards. Personally, my opinion on this card is pretty neutral. So much disagreement this time around.

3610

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Tweaking Diviner

« on: September 16, 2013, 01:30:22 pm »

I'm going to agree with Sir Peebles that this card doesn't need to stack, at least not in a see-8-cards-at-once kind of way. Of course, play testing can confirm or deny that. Either way, it gets really confusing if this stacks with the number of diviners in play, as opposed to stacking with multiple buys. If it only stacks with buys, you can say "if you have at least 1 diviner in play...".

Hmm... Still sounds weird. I cast my ballot fully expecting this to play out like spy when it hits cards you don't want to discard. That seems fine. Gosh, we should have talked about this one earlier if we noticed the rules confusion.

3611

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 14, 2013, 12:40:20 pm »

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.

I would worry about this being too strong at filtering for alternate Victory and simple end-game variance at possibly drawing a Witch Doctor just after the last shuffle. I'd like this card a lot more if its discard was capped-- maybe to 4 or something. Probably one of my favorite submissions here for theme and effect. I like that it's a weak on play, so you won't want to put more than one or two into your deck which mitigates how fiddly shuffling each time you play it is.

Takes the niche effect of Chancellor and gives it on-gain, allowing greater control of when trigger it.  That's cool.  Epic-level filtering, but swingy because it's onl good if you draw it early in the shuffle.  Mediocre effect.

Possible broken combo: Tunnel.  If I do not vote for it, Tunnel will be the reason.

Good point about Tunnel being broken. It could easily be fixed by name dropping cards ("Curses, Duchies, Estates, and Provinces" rather than "Victory and Curse cards"). It would make it weaker with alternate Victory cards though, but I like the thing enough without synergizing with Gardens.

You know, I was worried about this being too strong, but as you said, it's rather weak on play. There's only so many times that you'd want to reshuffle your deck with the on-gain ability before it stops being worth it. This one could grow on me.

Voting is going to be tricky for me. I've changed my mind about a whole bunch of cards since the start.

3612

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #3: Dark Ages

« on: September 12, 2013, 11:42:19 pm »

In the bold predictions thread, someone predicted that people would submit card concepts that Donald X. had already tested and found not to work, as documented in the Secret Histories.  It may be a good idea to read up on the Secret Histories to keep yourself from falling into that trap.  While reading all of them might be too time consuming, it might be good to at least read one for each contest.

Here is a link to Dark Ages Secret History.

Here's a big one to consider:

- A few cards tried to provide other uses for the Ruins pile. One was "+1 Card +1 Action, play the top Ruins, put it on the bottom." It was cute but there's a tracking issue. I did Ironmonger instead. Another card played the top four Ruins. It gave you +$3 instead if the Ruins ran out, because what fun is that.

So be careful if you do something like this.

There was another that played the top 4 ruins. Not sure what the problem with that one was.

Another benefit of reading the secret histories is that you learn of the different ways that Donald X. was able to simplify cards where possible. For example, there was an action card that was put back into your hand when you played it. It became Diadem. Another gave you +1 coin whenever you played another card or something. It became Horn of Plenty. I'm really happy none of those cards with vanilla bonus multiplier/swapper mechanics made it into a set.

3613

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: How to fix Submissions that fail

« on: September 12, 2013, 10:36:43 pm »

Just FYI, I plan to stipulate that the second Prosperity card we make cannot be a Treasure or use VP tokens. Gotta get some variety in there.

I thought the Cornucopia Expansion already covered that.

I was just waiting for somebody to say that. Surprised it took this long.

Would have been faster if I could write posts on the bus with my phone without getting carsick

3614

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 12, 2013, 10:34:32 pm »

So Used Land Salesman probably isn't as OP as I made it out to be after all, though the argument I thought of to come to that conclusion is different from eHalcyon's. Basically, if you magically have 8 Used Land Salesman in play, you don't necessarily have a megaturn like you would with 8 Bridges/Goons/Merchant Guilds, because it doesn't give coin like those other cards do. You still need coin-generating cards from the rest of your deck. Having those cards in your deck while at the same time being able to get a whole bunch of these super-late is an impressive feat.

That leaves the edge cases where green cards improve your deck (hybrid-victory, crossroads) or games with Silk Roads. Those cases still might be enough to warrant reducing this to +3 cards instead. Only playtesting can say for sure.

3615

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: How to fix Submissions that fail

« on: September 12, 2013, 10:06:45 pm »

Just FYI, I plan to stipulate that the second Prosperity card we make cannot be a Treasure or use VP tokens. Gotta get some variety in there.

I thought the Cornucopia Expansion already covered that.

3616

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 11, 2013, 07:31:11 pm »

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.

I really do think the in-play clause is neat.  It's a penalty that sometimes is a bonus.  It could support unusual early-greening strategies.  Not much to say about it -- I just like it a lot.

So your attention to this card has enhanced my own interest in this card. I find it fairly balanced as is in the context of an early-greening card in Terminal Draw BM. Gaining a Duchy every time you gain a Gold bloats your deck with a card that gets in the way of the draw, quickly making this as effective as Smithy for drawing treasure. Without good deck filtering, you choke hard.

But, I want to talk about its endgame potential now. Seen in another way, this is a Hunting Grounds fused with a Haggler that forces you to gain Victory cards. The Massive draw looks great for an engine, but the Haggler effect looks great for payload. So I see a big balance issue regarding its megaturn potential. In games using this, I'll want to build up a strong engine, then get a whole bunch of these. The next turn, I put 3 or 4 of these in play, and now I get a bunch of Duchies if I buy a card over $5 and a bunch of estates when I buy a card over $2. It could be bonkers. Just like with Bridge, Goons, and Merchant Guild, this is a terminal action that you want as many copies of in play as possible. But Bridge, Goons, and Merchant Guild act as obstacles to your draw. This is the opposite; it gives 4 cards on play! That's enough to make you Throne your village over this to ensure you have the actions to get as many of these in play as possible.

So I'm thinking that the part below the line is ill-suited for a card that draws more cards, at least as many as this one does. If this must be a draw card, it should give at most 3 cards on play. +2 cards might end up being the balanced number in the end, with a drop in cost if necessary.

With all that said, I like the bottom effect enough to consider voting for this.

3617

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 11, 2013, 01:42:42 pm »

For Witch Doctor, there is a noted broken combo with tunnel, but is there any way we could reword WD so it works?

Easy enough.  Instead of "reveal and discard any number of Victory and Curse cards from it." you could say "reveal any number of Victory and Curse cards, and place them in the discard pile."  that's a Chancellor-esque fix, but it might be a confusing subtlety. I think some people are confused by this existing distinction, anyway.

I was about to suggest something similar. Instead of just "place them in the discard pile", you can write "reveal any number of Victory and Curse, setting them aside. Put the set aside cards into the discard pile.". Although, I'm not even sure it's a broken combo, considering you still have to draw it early in the shuffle. I mean, have you seen what happens when Rebuild names Tunnel?

3618

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 11, 2013, 06:59:28 am »

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

Though it looks like a worse Haggler, it's at least better for gaining cards at the $2 and $3 price range. I'm sure it can be rebalanced if needed. The real question is if Haggler makes it superfluous.

I didn't notice the similarity to Haggler before, but it's been pointed out several times and it seems obvious now.  How is Fence better for gaining $2-$3 cards?  To do that, you need $2 in your hand.  With Haggler, you only need $1 in hand to do the same thing.  Haggler is almost always better.

The edge case where Fence is better is when the cheaper card that you want is a Victory card.  Haggler can't gain VP, but with Fence you can buy a green card and gain anything, including another green card.  So with Fence, you could buy Silk Road and gain a Fence or a Duchy.  With Haggler, you can buy Haggler or Duchy but you can't gain Silk Road off of that.

I meant that, with Fence, you gain a $3 cost card if you buy a $2, not a Curse/Copper/Poor House like you would with Haggler.

But Haggler comes with +$2 while Fence has nothing.  When you can afford a $2 card with Fence, you would have been able to afford a $4 card with Haggler.  If you have to buy a $2 card with Haggler, you would only be able buy a Copper if you have Fence instead.

With the clarity that comes with a nice long sleep, I now understanding and fully agree with what you're saying. I had this vision in my head that you'd be buying a whole bunch on $2s with multiple buys, but most of the time you'd just get a gold or something. The cases where you get 2 victory cards off 1 buy would be very rare.

3619

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 10, 2013, 11:49:01 pm »

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.

Of the +buy on-buy cards, this one seems the least likely to get out of hand. You have to discard a card to get the effect, so it's not an endless loop kind of thing. Unfortunately, this gets out of hand with a single Highway (a Hinterlands card) in play!

Huntsmen is unlikely to get out of hand, because its cost increases.  This one doesn't give any extra buys, and the discard requirement means it isn't even so problematic with Highway.

You're right about Huntsman. I must have been tired.

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).

We should give this one a chance. Cantrip trashing is really strong, but this misses a shuffle. But then, if I open Nomad Camp...

What about Nomad Camp?  You open NC, get 2 Artefacts after that... they still miss the reshuffle.  The question is whether the delay is enough to keep this from being too powerful.  I suspect not at $2, maybe at $3 or $4.

I guess a Nomad Camp opening isn't much worse than an Artefact/Artefact opening.

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.

If you expect your card to be well received, you should distance your card from the stupidly swingy Chancellor and Counting House as much as possible.

The Counting House issue is a fair criticism, but Chancellor is not.  Chancellor is swingy because you draw it at the right time or you don't.  By putting the Chancellor effect on gain, it allows skilled players to trigger it at a good time.

Oddly enough, I was comparing the on-play of Witch Doctor to Chancellor, not the on-gain. If you draw Witch Doctor at the end of your shuffle, it's even more annoying than drawing Chancellor at the end of your reshuffle.

Edit: I mean close to the point when you would reshuffle. What do you call that anyway?

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

Though it looks like a worse Haggler, it's at least better for gaining cards at the $2 and $3 price range. I'm sure it can be rebalanced if needed. The real question is if Haggler makes it superfluous.

I didn't notice the similarity to Haggler before, but it's been pointed out several times and it seems obvious now.  How is Fence better for gaining $2-$3 cards?  To do that, you need $2 in your hand.  With Haggler, you only need $1 in hand to do the same thing.  Haggler is almost always better.

The edge case where Fence is better is when the cheaper card that you want is a Victory card.  Haggler can't gain VP, but with Fence you can buy a green card and gain anything, including another green card.  So with Fence, you could buy Silk Road and gain a Fence or a Duchy.  With Haggler, you can buy Haggler or Duchy but you can't gain Silk Road off of that.

I meant that, with Fence, you gain a $3 cost card if you buy a $2, not a Curse/Copper/Poor House like you would with Haggler.

3620

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 10, 2013, 10:43:45 pm »

It's as I feared: Many of the Hinterlands card submissions ended being just convoluted, not cohesive, or just strange. This was definitely a harder set to design for than Prosperity.

Some thoughts on a few cards.

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.

Of the +buy on-buy cards, this one seems the least likely to get out of hand. You have to discard a card to get the effect, so it's not an endless loop kind of thing. Unfortunately, this gets out of hand with a single Highway (a Hinterlands card) in play!

Quagmire
Types: Victory
Cost: $3
Worth 1 VP.
When you gain this, trash 3 cards from a Supply pile.

Even with a no-victory card clause for the bottom, Dark Ages cards break this ability.

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.

Okay, there is a bunch talk about this card. I'll admit it's one the really unique submissions here, though it compares to Native Village. If any kind card form here belongs in Seaside, it's this one. I'd like to see a variation of this later on in the contest. As written, It just seems silly.

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.

What's up with the clarification here? Why would buying this reduce costs? Uh, seems too strong in the presence of gainers. One Stonemason that gives you 2 Estates makes Estates free during your buy phase.

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 concept, and I'm curious to see how strong it is. It can turn a Silver into a Gold for only $5, but I think you need to reliably activate the peddler on-play effect to make it truly effective. I think what it really needs is some sort of first-game engine.

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.

I like this one too. I noticed the "less that this" clause, Which helps with a bunch of balance issues. I don't mind that it's similar to Cartographer. We haven't seen a Cellar variant that doesn't reduce handsize yet.

Vendor
Types: Action
Cost: $1
+1 Action
When you buy this, +2 Buys.

Don't remember if I talked about this one yet, but seriously. I have 1 Highway and a couple of Goons in play. Mega ownage.

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).

We should give this one a chance. Cantrip trashing is really strong, but this misses a shuffle. But then, if I open Nomad Camp...

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.

A good Spy effect, if such a thing exists. Sure, there is some AP involved, but this is terminal and actually has a good chance of being effective.

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 notice the anti-synergy with itself and the on-gain effect. Worth a closer look.

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.

That on-gain effect is new, and I like it. But the on-play...that's something that should be on-gain, or on a terminal action.

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.

I like the allusion to both Island and Oasis in the name (am I missing one?). This compares unfavourably to Inn, I'm afraid

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.

I don't think people realize just how much benefit this kind of thing is for your opponents. The 3-pile problem is especially relevant in multiplayer games.  But as it's been pointed out, Contraband also has a pretty big penalty, so perhaps it fills a very specialized role. Must it be terminal?

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.

I'm for this card. using 4 buys gets you a Province next turn, and all those Silvers help you get at least one Province in subsequent turns. I like this silver flooder with Gambit potential.

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.

If you expect your card to be well received, you should distance your card from the stupidly swingy Chancellor and Counting House as much as possible.

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.

Reminds me of Scouting Party from the Dominion Outtakes, but this only applies to one player, so it's not such a mess in the end. This fits Seaside much better than Hinterlands, though.

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.

It's been mentioned that this is awful for the game when p1 opens 5/2, especially since this card is actually powerful.

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.

I like cards that benefit large handsizes. Weak with the top-only effect, but the bottom effect makes up for that, I think

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.

This gets trashed if it turns over a copy of itself, so no, not that broken. I might even vote for it.

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.

Yes. Cool. Salvager in a pinch. Now this feels more like Hinterlands.

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.

Powerful, but implemented as a reaction that has this card discarded. I don't see what's wrong with it, and I might make for less dreadful games in the end.

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.

Barring Pearl Diver, I expect the bottom-of-the-deck thing will be best for junk cards that you want to miss the reshuffle.
You know, sometimes simple and concise is better.

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

Though it looks like a worse Haggler, it's at least better for gaining cards at the $2 and $3 price range. I'm sure it can be rebalanced if needed. The real question is if Haggler makes it superfluous.

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.

The issue with this card is that you'll be discouraged to get these if your opponent already has a few because the placing of a card onto the mat isn't optional.

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.

The top part is cool. The bottom part has potential. Both parts have a draw-and-discard theme. Overall, it's nice, I guess.

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.

A bunch of Workshop variants, and this one possibly has the most charm. You can't gain Schemes or other actions with it, but it's a cantrip so it's just as well that it doesn't. Silk Roads are fair game for this. Tricky to use right, but I approve.

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.

It's become apparent that it's really a no-brainer to take the curse. Unlike Cultist and Torturer, this doesn't draw, so there's little risk of being flooded with curses. With the "instead" change, this should just make Provinces worth $2 less, no?

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.

Weirdly enough, I prefer this without the reaction bit, only because it would belong below a separate line. Or the on-gain can be removed. Either way makes this better.

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 scales so much with the number of players. It's a cantrip on top of that. This can't possibly work as a cantrip.

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.

Maybe this is bland, but it would have been a great addition to Hinterlands. Keep in mind that, unlike Walled Village, this doesn't have anti-synergy with itself. So you will eventually get the +buy when you need it, at the cost of 1 spot in your hand.

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.

I like how this card works, but I actually think this is too powerful at $4.

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.

Why are people so against this card? At least this should be fine balance-wise. It's not like Mill above, where the card's on-play is actually good and getting it denies others from getting Mill. This sucks once in your deck, and it only costs $4. If anything, this saves someone with a 3/4 split from losing horribly to Mountebank/Chapel or something. I have no issues against it.

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.

Now I'm wondering about how decent of a nerf the forced vicoty card gain is. It still looks too strong on board with hybrid victory cards, Crossroads, or Silk Road.

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 opens up a new copper-based strategy. The effect below the line is what elevates this to nifty/cool/interesting territory.

3621

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #3: Dark Ages

« on: September 10, 2013, 08:40:58 pm »

Though neither a theme nor a sub-theme, Dark Ages emphasizes combos between specific cards. Expect me to be more forgiving to cards which only effective for a subset of boards

3622

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #3: Dark Ages

« on: September 10, 2013, 05:11:25 pm »

Man, I can see why rinkworks burned out after running a contest like this.

Perhaps you could get some volunteers (who are active enough that you could trust them) to run various rounds?

Also i think nobody would be mad if you felt you needed to pause the contest for a week or so... Gives us more time to fix our cards, and after all, you're doing us a favour.

Seconded. I wasn't even prepared for a Dark Ages submission yet

3623

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #1: Prosperity

« on: September 09, 2013, 08:45:40 pm »

I guess I'll be happy with the 4 votes Dividends got - clearly it was not a stellar card, but it also wasn't completely broken. Interesting how some people said "Only good with alt-treasure", some said "Overpowered any time you want lots of Silver", many noticed "Gold that gains Silver", several missed the gain-to-hand bit and thought you only got $1 this turn. Interesting that no-one compared it to IGG or Masterpiece, which it is kind of an amalgamation of. I think it works well in more situations than many people gave it credit for - it does synergise well with most of the alt-Treasures, particularly the ones in Prosperity, and it's also worth getting any time that Silver would improve your deck which includes a lot of slogs.

All that aside, congratulations to the winner and almost-winners. I'd love to see what a bit of playtesting decides as to which of the top few cards are really as good as they seem.

Dividends
Types: Treasure
Cost: $6
Worth $1. When you play this, gain a Treasure card costing less than this, putting it into your hand.

The presence of Venture in the kingdom would make this too strong. Otherwise it's kinda like Explorer and Masterpiece.
Hmmmm....

No one reads my posts *sniff*.

3624

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #2: Hinterlands

« on: September 09, 2013, 05:04:28 pm »

I don't feel like saying too much, as the number of cards here is overwhelming, but there are some serious designs concerns on a few cards.

Palanquin
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. You may discard an Action card. If you do, +1 Card per $ it costs.

This is probably too strong (especially with a bunch of Tournaments in the deck or something), but even this isn't my main focus here.

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.

While I'm scanning through these cards, I'll just say now that I think this is too strong for $4, especially with the copper thing on gain.

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.

Auto-pile depletion with Trade Agreement. Huge problem, especially with Watchtower, or with Graverobber or apprentice or something.

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

This isn't broken, but I want to say that this is just the Secret Chamber with +1 action and Worth 1VP. Good thing this isn't the Intrigue, or else we'd have to deal with the amazing Scout synergy.

Vendor
Types: Action
Cost: $1
+1 Action
When you buy this, +2 Buys.

Gaining an extra buy when you buy this makes this devastating in Goons games and Merchant Guild games. Otherwise, I mean, it costs something, so there's a limit to how many of these you can get.

Shoreline
Types: Victory
Cost: $6
Worth 4 VP.
When you gain this, +1 Buy.

It's been pointed out that this can be gained outside your turn (say, though Swindler). The +buy (as well as +action and +coin) have this ambiguity problem with on gain effects. It can just be changed to be an on Buy effect and all is good. An okay card, btw.

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.

Okay here! Dominion outtakes Herald issue. Donald X. had such a hard time balancing the +1 action Herald that got to be choosy about the drawn action card. This doesn't automatically play the drawn action, but with the discard-your-deck thing I expect this to be too strong.

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.

Wait, do you get +2 Cards just by discarding the revealed Pasture? The problem with this is that it punishes your opponent indirectly for trying to obey PPR or something.

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.

Remake, move over! Replacing a starting Estate with a $5, a $4, and a $3 cost card sounds way too good.

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

Must be on-buy, otherwise It's broken with Border village. Buy Border village, gaining duchy, gaining border Village, gaining Duchy, gaining Border Village...A 2 pile piledrive with 1 Buy.

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.

Still Broken Herald.

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.

Here's the Remake that only trashes one card instead of 2. It's not imbalanced, I don't think, due to the reduced trashing, but something important to consider.

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.

I assume you can discard a Painful Journey for the +2 Cards. This this incorrect?

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.

Terrifying with a discard attack. Reminds me of Masquerade-Militia. Though, then you just get a curse instead.

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.

Kinda strong with the free +4 cards on a $5 cost, especially for Big Money. Probably fine with +3 Cards.

3625

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Treasure Chest Design Contest — Card #1: Prosperity

« on: September 09, 2013, 03:59:48 pm »

I wanted to make my card the way it was because, hey, why does Dark Ages have cards that give +2 buy and not Prosperity, I always found +2 buys weird.