Weekly Design Contest 160: JudgingThere were a lot of really creative entries this week! Pretty much every card-shaped thing had something to like about it, and a lot seemed to me like they could pass as official card-shaped things (and particularly interesting ones at that!). Below are my comments on each card:
Pot of Gold by Augie279
I like the simplicity. I like things that reward you for getting Duchies. My only issue with it is that I feel like the “always”-effect is too strong and the “bonus”-effect too weak (not in terms of power level, just in terms of interestingness). I’m not sure of a nice fix off the top of my head. A solid entry though.
Midas by majiponi
This is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure how well it works in practice. The treasure-trashing penalty just means you wait until your Coppers are gone before you buy it, which you were probably going to do anyway because it costs $8. But I guess it nerfs the obvious TfB combos that have you trash actions and then fuel the TfB with all the Gold you got. Actually, that initially seemed like the main use to me, but the fact that you junk yourself with Copper when you do it might make it not worth getting at all. I’m not quite sure what to think about this one…
Offering by Gamer3000
I like this one a lot. It’s a really unique idea and it’s still pretty simple. My feeling is that it’s overpriced, but I don’t have anything to base that on and I’m not too concerned with balance anyway. This is definitely a contender.
Lure by Builder_Roberts
I really like the simplicity. I think it’s probably rarely (if ever) worth getting without trashing, but with trashing it becomes an interesting choice whether to take Lure or Silver.
Burglar by Gubump
I like the attack a lot, it is creative, novel, and like Bandit Fort, punishes you for using Silver and/or Gold. It’s not enough to completely shut down a player using lots of Silver/Gold, but that’s fine because it costs $3 and doesn’t need to have a dominating effect. It accentuates other kingdom-dependent sources of coin, which is good design. This is a contender.
Crone by Marpharos
It’s a weaker Witch that defends against itself. That’s sort of an interesting concept, but I think there’s a problem inherent to it. If it appears in the same kingdom as Witch, you’ll always take Witch because it’s basically just better. But as others pointed out, it can’t cost less than Witch, because in the non-mirror it’s the same as Witch. Maybe you could work around this with a Potion or Debt cost, but I’m not sure that does much to fix the issue.
Homestead by segura
This is really neat. I think it’s underpriced, but I don’t care much about balance, it would be easy to adjust with playtesting, and the concept is really good. This is going on my top
n list.
Tyranny by X-tra
This is very clean and simple. It’s like a Duchy, but two cards instead of one, but they can both be trashed (or just the Curse can be trashed, if it’s near the end of the game). I like that it’s so similar to Duchy while still being neither clearly better nor clearly worse, though I imagine on a lot of individual boards it will be either clearly better or clearly worse. I like it overall.
Ledger by nyxfulloftricks
I love this. It’s like a super-ultra Peddler, or a non-terminal Coppersmith with maybe some draw, or something; but then it junks you with more of the fuel that it drives on. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around whether it’s balanced, but it’s definitely game-warping. I think it will be most interesting in engines with some trashing but not a lot, where you can sort of keep up with the junk you’re getting but still keep some around for the Ledgers. This is definitely a strong entry.
Financier by kru5h
So either it’s the 3 terminal options from Courtier, or else it’s a mini Silver-flooder that produces a lot of coin right now. I like the simplicity and this feels like it could be a real published card. I’m guessing which option you choose will generally depend on whether you need exactly $4 right now. Nice card.
Lycantrope by n_sanity
I love the attack, and I love how the on-gain effect hands out a defense for the attack, and how that deters you from opening with it. I’m not so sure about it being a Night-Action with the +2 cards effect; it seems to me like maybe there could have either been a simpler or a more interesting effect to go along with the attack, but there’s nothing particularly wrong with it. I think this is going in my top
n list.
Old City by J410
I like this, it’s very simple and it makes sense in terms of playability: the extra card draw compared to Village cancels out with the extra junk card(s), but then you trash those junk cards and now you’re left with just this powerhouse card. So it takes some effort, but in the end you’ve got a Lost City. This seems like what Cache/Banquet should have been (a strong top half that’s not already available in every game), and what I like in comparison to Lost City is that it doesn’t just accelerate everyone, but has an accelerating effect that slows you down to make up for it. I think this deserves to be on the top
n list.
Coin Press by Xen3k
So I understand the wording changes, but it wound up as something that’s hard to grok just from reading it. Essentially the effect is get a Silver to hand, or turn two Silvers into a Gold (in-hand), or turn two Coppers into a Silver (or trash other stuff into Silver but that’s uncommon). I think this card is doing a little too much all at once, though I recognize all the effects are all sort of on the same theme. I don’t think it’s a bad card, just not for me. I do kind of like the idea of “melding” treasures into stronger treasures though.
Crook by 4est
So it’s like half a Trading Post, combined with a trashing/junking attack. I like the attack, but it might get nasty in conjunction with discard attacks. It’s neat that the attack can actually help other players in the beginning of the game, which is when the top half of the card is most appealing. Clever design.
Sprite by spineflu
This combines (perhaps not intentionally) some things I liked from previous entries (discarding Silver as an option to an attack, Copper-gaining-to-hand as an attack). Otherwise it seems weak, and not-obviously-fixably weak. Copper-to-hand seems like a weak attack to me, and even if it is strong in a particular game, they have another option to avoid it. Trashing a treasure to gain a Gold is reminiscent of Taxman, one of the weakest cards in the game, though this is better as it always gets Gold and doesn’t top-deck it. But it’s slower since it’s a Duration. So there’s some nice ideas in this card but I’m not sure it really works.
Copper Mine by xyz123
I really like the attack on this, though it might be really nasty (it’s hard for me to estimate since I can’t think of any existing cards to compare it to). Not much else to say about it. Cool idea!
Beachcombers by Dubdubdubdub
I really like this card-shaped thing, because it really feels like it could have been an official Ally. The power level seems in line with existing Allies. “Spend a favor for +$1” is too strong (and also just turns Favors into Coffers), but at the cost of gaining a Copper it gives you some interesting decisions. If you really need that $1 to push you over an important threshold, or if it’s late in the game and you don’t think you’re going to see the Copper again, it becomes really tempting, but with potentially a long-term cost (or maybe not if you have strong trashing). The option to pick up a few extra VP late in the game is nice too. My only complaint is that it’s slightly awkward that it’s limited to three times per turn; I don’t see a way around that though. This is one of my favorite entries, well done!
Gilders Guild by NoMoreFun
I’ve noticed that I tend to like NoMoreFun’s card-shaped things, and this is no exception. This is another Ally entry, and also another really compelling one that feels like it could be an official Ally. The power level seems about right. In some sense you get +$1.5 value out of each Favor spent, but it’s very limited in what it can do. But there are often lots of ways to gain Silver, and you (pretty much) never wouldn’t rather have a Gold, so it gives a nice boost to your deck if you can find ways to take advantage of it. This is another contender for my top
n list.
Amphitheater by emtzalex
I like some of the ideas with this one, but I think the execution is a little off. For one thing, the Curse option feels awkward to me, and I almost get the feeling it’s just there to make the card qualify for the contest. I think the most appealing idea with this card is the way that it can build up coin (by discarding and re-drawing Gold) if you’re overdrawing your deck (which you may well be, since it draws 3 cards semi-non-terminally). But I don’t think +$1 is nearly enough of a reward for that to ever be worth building a strategy around. I also like conditionally non-terminal cards, and this is a neat way to do it, but I think it’s weak at its price point. So I think with some changes this could be a really nice card, but as it is it doesn’t quite do it for me.
Moray by CaptainReklaw
I like alt-VP and I like that this actually makes some sense balance-wise at $7, which is an awkward price to design alt-VP at. Unfortunately, I think it’s terribroken as it is now. In the vast majority of games, it’s just an expensive Duchy, but in the games where it’s good, it’s potentially worth a ton of VP. It has the problem though that if it’s worth a lot of VP, it’s nearly impossible to get, since a Copper-flooded deck won’t generally hit $7. Actually, I think that makes it a really interesting card. You have to get several of them first,
then start flooding your deck with Copper. But unfortunately there won’t be many games where it’s worth going for at all, and the extra awkwardness of being hard to get when it’s strong just further nerfs an already weak card. I almost wonder if you could get away with 1 VP per Copper, instead of 1 VP per 2 Coppers…it would be completely game-warping but maybe in a fun way?
Forest Village by AJL828
I really, really love this idea. It’s unique, simple, and different. I like how it slightly anti-combos with itself by making your hand size bigger after every play (and therefore more likely to have Copper/Silver/Gold in it). I also like how it encourages you to focus on kingdom cards and build a deck with alternative sources of coin. This really feels like it could be an official card. Definitely a top
n card!
Decay by Chappy7
This is a pretty neat concept. I like the anti-Mine idea, and the handing out your -$1 token if you can’t anti-Mine anything makes sense, since you “should” (in some sense) lose a $1 from your hand. It’s a little wordy for a hex, but the idea is intuitive enough that I think it’s okay.
Writer by Joxeft
This is actually a pretty cool idea: you compress Coppers into Silvers. You don’t change the total coin your deck produces (unless you trash an odd number of Coppers), but you make them take up less space. I wonder if it might be better as an event that trashes from play, since you probably only use it once or twice anyway.
Serenity by arowdok
This is a neat one too, and pretty unique. It gives you an extra way to generate VP by set-collecting on the different types of VP cards. I think it’s overpriced, comparing to Colony, but I’m not too concerned about pricing. I like the way this changes how the game plays. This is going on the top
n list.
Empire by binbag420
I like the novelty, but I worry that the effect is underwhelming at any price point. Usually by the time you’re buying Provinces, you’re not going to see the cards you get much more. 8D seems way too much to me, but maybe the fact that it stops you from getting Curses justifies it in some games? I’m not quite sure what to think of this card overall, but I appreciate the idea.
So it turns out I had some difficulty restraining myself from putting things on the top
n list, which I guess means you all did a really good job this week! Sorting the list required some really tough choices.
Runners Up9. Burglar by Gubump
8. Lycantrope by n_sanity
7. Offering by Gamer3000
6. Serenity by arowdok
5. Old City by J410
4. Homestead by segura
3. Ledger by nyxfulloftricks
2. Gilders Guild by NoMoreFun
1. Beachcombers by Dubdubdubdub
Winner0. Forest Village by AJL828
, Buys and Actions the played Action card yield, since it's not their turn and, just like Caravan Guard, these resources vanish before they can use 'em). But sometimes, they can play an Attack in the middle of your turn, like Militia, which can really mess you up. It's pretty versatile, really!
. Gain a card that costs equal or less than the named cost. The player to your left takes Coffers equal to half the amount of
, or would
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and costing
