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2851

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Hidden Village: an after-the-fact village

« on: February 21, 2012, 04:26:21 pm »

I kind of feel like you could make a case that "You may play this during your Action phase even if you have no actions remaining" would still leave you with 0 actions afterward—playing it would take you down to –1 actions, and then the +1 Action brings you back up to 0, since you're still opting to play it as an action yourself. Whereas having a card get played as a result of a Reaction ability is more like having it get played as a result of Golem or Throne Room and thus not reduce the Action count. That's my intuition, anyway, though I'm not sure how far I'd be willing to defend it.

2852

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Hidden Village: an after-the-fact village

« on: February 21, 2012, 02:26:33 pm »

Yeah, I totally buy that rationale for $3; the card does seem not-quite-as-good-as Fishing Village, for instance.

I think it kind of has to be a Reaction, though, doesn't it?

2853

Variants and Fan Cards / Hidden Village: an after-the-fact village

« on: February 21, 2012, 02:54:34 am »

Picking this up from a discussion in an unrelated thread, here's my idea for an after-the-fact village:

Hidden Village
$4: Action-Reaction
+1 card
+1 action
----------
During your Action phase, if you have 0 actions remaining, you may reveal this from your hand and play it.

(Thanks to Robz888 for thinking of the name "Hidden Village".)

The idea is that playing a terminal draw action and then revealing Hidden Village has the same effect as playing Village and then your Smithy (or whatever), but Hidden Village is easier to use because you're more likely to have it in your hand when you need it. Pst suggests a variety of other minor ways it may be more useful than regular Village, which seems to justify the $4 price point; but it's not strictly better, so a $3 price could be justifiable too.

2854

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Anagrams

« on: February 21, 2012, 12:05:05 am »

Alchemist: The Claims
("I can synthesize a universal solvent! I can convert lead into gold! I have discovered the secret to eternal youth!")

Ambassador: Or Amass Bad
(That's what the card does, all right.)

Contraband: Don't Ban Car
("Aw, man! I really wanted to buy a Car!")

Embargo: Go Bar Me
("I dare you. Just put an Embargo token on Car and see what I'll do.")

Familiar: I Am Frail
(All those curses are bad for your health.)

Forge: Gofer
("Hey, you! Go get me something whose cost is exactly the sum of these other costs!")

Gardens: Dangers
(All those geese wandering around the gardens biting people, for example.)

Great Hall: All Gather
(Plenty of space in the hall for everyone.)

Hamlet: Thelma
("Hey hon, what can I do for you? One action and one buy? Sure thing, hon, I'll just need two cards.... Have a nice day, now.")

Harem: Am Her
(...and her, and her, and her...)

Minion: No, I'm In!
(Those four new cards are in a hurry to push out your old hand.)

Native Village: At All I've Given
(...You're going to give it back now, right?)

Saboteur: Beat Sour
(How you feel when your opponent King's Courts it on you.)

Spice Merchant: The Nice Cramps
(What you feel when you draw it with no Coppers.)

Transmute: Turns Meat
(...into Gold? Or maybe into a Duchy?)

Treasure Map: Me, A Trap? Sure!
(Sure!)

Tribute: Rebut It
("I hereby intend to prove that when your opponent plays Tribute it does not, in fact, hurt you.")

Woodcutter: To Crude Two
(They're sawing that tree pretty crudely, anyway.)

2855

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Cards you only need one copy of

« on: February 20, 2012, 01:44:24 pm »

In general I agree of course you only want one Chapel. But if you open Chapel/Something and happen to draw Copper-Copper-Estate-Estate-Estate on turn 3, picking up a second Chapel can sometimes be better than nothing if you're planning to build up a big engine. If you're lucky, you'll get one extra turn of trashing out of it before the two Chapels collide and you want to trash one with the other.

2856

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What you think you've done / What you've actually done

« on: February 17, 2012, 05:59:15 pm »

All right, pst; you've convinced me that this is interestingly different from regular Village! 

2857

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What you think you've done / What you've actually done

« on: February 17, 2012, 05:57:31 pm »

This is actually a fan card I've occasionally contemplated:

Probably-Not-Sufficiently-Different-from-Village Village
$4: Action-Reaction
+1 card
+1 action
----------
During your Action phase, if you have 0 actions remaining, you may reveal this from your hand and play it.

The only practical difference from regular Village is, you still get the extra action if you draw it off your Smithy, but you don't if you draw the Smithy off of it.

The way it's worded now, I don't think it costs an action to use if you have 0 left. So it's often more advantageous to play it after your terminal leaving you with 2 actions instead of the normal 1 from a village/terminal pair.

How do you mean? I have one action; I play my Smithy, leaving me with 0 actions; I reveal Hidden Village (thanks, Robz888!) and play it, getting +1 action. There's no way for me end up with 2 actions remaining with this.

2858

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What you think you've done / What you've actually done

« on: February 17, 2012, 04:59:17 pm »

It would be a different story if somehow a smithy->village play order were legal. =P

This is actually a fan card I've occasionally contemplated:

Probably-Not-Sufficiently-Different-from-Village Village
$4: Action-Reaction
+1 card
+1 action
----------
During your Action phase, if you have 0 actions remaining, you may reveal this from your hand and play it.

The only practical difference from regular Village is, you still get the extra action if you draw it off your Smithy, but you don't if you draw the Smithy off of it.

2859

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Is Transmute ever useful?

« on: February 16, 2012, 08:11:29 pm »

<a href=http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120131-200736-4777d357.html">Here's</a> a relatively recent Scrying Pool game where Transmute was a significant part of my gameplay, if not of my strategy, anyway. Haggler/Scrying Pool makes gaining Transmutes much more likely.

2860

Rules Questions / Re: Possession + Cache + Watchtower question

« on: February 15, 2012, 10:56:06 am »

In particular, the Possession card stipulates that cards of the Possessed person that are trashed get un-trashed. But cards that anyone else (such as the Possessor) might trash during the same turn stay in the trash as usual.

And you can't reveal Watchtower from the Possessed person's hand, because the Possessed person never actually gains anything. So the Watchtower is never triggered.

2861

Dominion General Discussion / Pivoting out of Fool's Gold?

« on: February 11, 2012, 02:08:56 pm »

So I played a game with Nomad Camp / Fool's Gold, but no trashing or Warehouse-style filtering or whatever. In a situation like that, I feel like you have to buy Fool's Gold, since if your opponent gets all ten they'll probably dominate and can do it pretty fast; but a 5/5 Fool's Gold split (which is what we got) leaves neither deck with enough to be able to line them up reliably. So—once the Fool's Gold stack is empty, you've got a pretty weak deck. I spent a while not buying Silver after that, since I didn't want to further reduce the probability of my Fool's Golds lining up, but should I have given it up as a lost cause and started buying Silver immediately to pivot into, say, an Oracle/Big-Money deck? (Actually, what I probably should have pivoted into was Nomad Camp / Silk Road, but that won't always be on the board.)

This is actually an actual example of the Prisoner's Dilemma in Dominion: if neither of us buys Fool's Gold, we'll both have better decks than if both of us buy Fool's Gold; but if one buys Fool's Gold and the other doesn't it's very powerful. Or am I wrong about the value of even ten Fool's Golds in an untrimmed deck?

2862

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Kingdom design thread

« on: February 10, 2012, 02:46:39 pm »

I spent a day last summer playing a bunch of themed kingdoms, and I think my favorite was "Dominion: Feminism"—i.e., a kingdom made up of cards with women as the central figure in the art:

Explorer, Fairgrounds, Farming Village, Forge, Fortune Teller, Peddler, Scrying Pool, Sea Hag, Witch, Young Witch (bane: Herbalist; include Colony)

It includes a lot of cursers, but a lot of decent counters for cursing; the Bane is weak and Farming Village counters Sea Hag well, which might make Young Witch a better buy, but then the presence of Peddler makes Herbalist a bit more attractive, so maybe you're better off waiting for the regular Witch. Young Witch plus Potions plus Colonies means it's possible to pump Fairgrounds up to 8 points each, especially if you're going to end up with some curses anyway.

I put this together before Hinterlands came out, obviously; but adding Trader instead of, I don't know, Explorer would change the play of this kingdom substantially as well.

2863

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What is the worst card in Dominion?

« on: February 10, 2012, 11:44:14 am »

Adventurer is terrible against trashing attacks (Swindler, Saboteur, Thief, Pirate Ship, Noble Brigand), so let's get that out of the way first. Thief, Pirate Ship, and Noble Brigand trash the Treasures that Adventurer needs to function.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily the case. In the same way Golem is good if you have a couple of key actions you want to play over and over, Adventurer can be good if you have just a couple of key treasures. If you're getting Thieved or Pirate Shipped, then instead of buying Gold, which can get attacked, you can keep just a few Golds around and use Adventurers to grab them when you need them. (Then after you do that, your treasures are likely to be in your discard pile, and thus probably out of range of attack for the next turn.) To get to Provinces this way it helps to have a Festival or so as well, of course.

2864

Rules Questions / Re: Trader and gaining multiple cards at once

« on: February 09, 2012, 04:45:40 pm »

I don't think you can get 2 silvers. You gain the curse you bought before you gain the ones from embargo. And then since the pile is empty you can't gain a curse and can't reveal the trader.

If you reveal the trader for the curse you bought, the embargo event never triggers.

You're not buying a Curse; you're buying from some other pile that has multiple Embargo tokens on it.

(Also, if you buy from an Embargoed pile, you gain the curses before you gain the card you bought.)

2865

Rules Questions / Re: Trader and gaining multiple cards at once

« on: February 09, 2012, 04:40:52 pm »

I don't think there's any other card out there that lets you simultaneously gain 2 cards... all you have is things that could trigger at the same time, each letting you gain a card.

I don't see what distinction you're trying to draw here. Isn't this case just two Embargo tokens triggering at the same time?

2866

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What is the worst card in Dominion?

« on: February 08, 2012, 12:03:23 pm »

And if IGG or Goons are on the board, why would I ever buy Counting House?

...Because Counting House costs less than Goons.

2867

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan cards: Siege and Great Warrior

« on: February 08, 2012, 09:31:45 am »

I worry about "all cards cost $1 more" card concepts because it seems to be they create unresolvable rules paradoxes. Suppose your opponent plays a Siege and then you play a Highway. How much do Coppers cost? Would the order in which the cost-alterers were played matter (even if they're "while in play" effects)?

2868

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan expansion -- Dominion: Anime

« on: January 31, 2012, 08:59:43 am »

Time Machine was actually <a href="http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=117.0">playtested for Seaside</a> and rejected. I don't really understand why people are confused by how such a card would interact with Durations, though.

2869

Rules Questions / Re: Duration cards rules

« on: January 28, 2012, 11:08:59 am »

And a slightly unrelated note is that other than "it's not a Seaside card", I've never really seen why Possession isn't a duration card. It hasn't done everything it's going to do until you've finished your turn and the player to your left has taken an extra turn with you telling them what to do, so surely it shouldn't be cleaned up before then? It's the only card in the game that I can think of which can cause a situation where you need to remember what has previously happened (other than, for example, remembering if you took $1 or +Buy from a Pawn) with no record available to look back over.

I agree with you in principle here. But: Smugglers. (Also, though this is an odd case, Mining Village–Mining Village–Conspirator, I guess.)

2870

Game Reports / Fun Inn tricks

« on: January 24, 2012, 08:26:44 pm »

<a href="http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/24/game-20120124-172239-ebfe1b22.html">For the annals of fun Inn tricks</a> to perform at the bottom of a shuffle:

— AJD's turn 10 —
AJD plays [a bunch of Actions that add up to $8 and some +buys]
AJD plays a University.
... getting +2 actions.
... gaining a Treasure Map.
AJD plays 2 Coppers.
AJD buys a Treasure Map.
AJD buys an Inn.
... shuffling 2 cards into the draw pile.
(AJD reshuffles.)
(AJD draws: 2 Treasure Maps, a Festival, a Gold, and a Silver.)

2871

Dominion General Discussion / Re: THE Dominion Card List(s): $5 cards Part 1/3 posted

« on: January 23, 2012, 10:22:55 pm »

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Counting House as a complement to Goons in Village-free games.

I was going to ask if that was a viable strategy...is it? Because it popped into my head as an obvious complement to a goons deck.

Someone correct if I'm wrong, but I really don't see it.

You need to spend $5 to get some junk for your deck that only becomes useful insofar as you are also adding a bunch of other junk to your deck.  And if you draw it at the end of a shuffle.  And if you don't draw it in a hand with a Goons.  And the best it's likely to get you is one Province, which is nice but isn't crazy good.  The only way I could see it being useful is if you think there's a decent chance you will have a cantrip +buy so that you might be able to actually get something really good if you happen to drag 18 coppers into your hand or something.

I've seen it work a few times, not usually played by me. Obviously I can't swear that I was playing optimally in those games either, of course. But I do think you're underselling it here a bit. The more you play Goons, the earlier in your next reshuffle the Counting House will become useful; and I think if you draw Counting House and Goons in the same hand then you probably want to use the Counting House if you're far enough through your deck to be able to get a province out of it. Certainly a Warehouse or something would help here.

2872

Dominion General Discussion / Re: THE Dominion Card List(s): $5 cards Part 1/3 posted

« on: January 23, 2012, 10:46:08 am »

Counting House is one that shines very rarely. The best use may be countering Mountebank.

I totally disagree.
Counting house is better than most people think. Yes, Counting house shines rarely, but when it shines, it really shines.
The best use is countering mountebank ? No... the best use is obviousy the awesome combo Inn/Chancellor/Counting house. But, Warehouse, Coppersmith and Golem are really good also.
Of course, Counting house is very situational. But here it's underrated.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Counting House as a complement to Goons in Village-free games.

2873

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What combos with JoaT?

« on: January 21, 2012, 02:15:10 am »

But just plain bordervillage+torturer loses against double jack/warehouse (a very strong deck).

Oh man, Jack seems like an awesome counter to a Torturer engine. If you've got a Jack in hand you can basically be hit by three Torturers a turn at almost no cost to you.

2874

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Dominon analogies

« on: January 19, 2012, 11:44:00 pm »

Cache:Ill-Gotten-Gains :: Workshop:Ambassador

(when you buy it / play it, you / they gain something)

How about Cache:Ill-Gotten Gains :: Ill-Gotten Gains:Torturer?

(when you buy::play it, you:they gain::may-gain copper:curse)

2875

Rules Questions / Re: Reveal question

« on: January 18, 2012, 08:14:39 pm »

With cards that cause other players to reveal cards, such as Thief or Spy, does that occur before or after the other players deal their new hands?

In the normal flow of play, I play an action, do my buy phase, then clean up. If the next player then plays Thief, does their effect occur before or after I get my new hand. If it occurs before I get my new hand, then how does that apply to cards like Militia which by necessity must occur after I get my new hand.

So far we have played the effect after the effected player drew their new hand.

You always get your new hand at the end of your turn. So, by the time someone is playing a Spy or whatever, you've already got your new hand dealt.