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726

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Recycling cards

« on: April 22, 2016, 07:28:20 pm »

I think infinite combos are easier with Inheritance than with Band of Misfits.  If you play a Band of Misfits, it becomes Recycle, and thus cannot discard itself from play.  However, if you inherit Recycle, then Estates are still called Estates, and can therefore discard themselves from play.

Consider: Inheritance + recycle + king's court + market
Play Market.
Play King's Court, playing Estate three times. Discard all cards from play and draw them again.
Repeat infinitely, buy the supply.

727

Dominion General Discussion / Re: When did you start playing Dominion

« on: April 21, 2016, 02:09:56 pm »

I forget, maybe 2009?  Me and my brothers got both Base and Intrigue, and it took us a while to realize that we actually hadn't gotten duplicate gifts.

In my very first game, I went straight for the Scout/Great Hall combo.  Not sure if that worked, but it's hilarious in retrospect.

728

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Recycling cards

« on: April 21, 2016, 02:05:30 pm »

Inheritance + recycle = infinite turns?

729

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Card ideas for gift -- Now with playtesting!

« on: April 20, 2016, 10:58:17 pm »

So, I eventually changed these cards, removed some, added more.  And then we playtested them.  I didn't mock them up, we just played with blanks, nothing too serious.  Anyways, if anyone is interested, here are the new versions, along with my comments:

Generous Gift - $2 Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
The player to your right may discard a card to draw a card.
When you gain this card, put it in the discard pile of a player of your choice.

In playtesting I discovered that you often don't want to play this from your hand, because you don't need to draw that extra card, and you'd rather your opponent didn't get to draw one.  Anyways, it's pretty strong, but the +buy helps your opponent give Generous Gifts in return.  The gifting wars are hilarious.

Retirement Fund - $2 Action-Victory
+1 Action
Put 1 VP on your Tavern mat.  Any VP on your Tavern mat do not count towards your final score.
At the end of the game, if this is in your deck, take 3 VP from your tavern mat.  If you do, this is worth 1 VP.

This card has been buffed from its original version.  It needed the buff; it's not that strong.

Calendar - $3 Action
+6 Cards
Put five cards on top of your deck.

I submitted this to a fan card competition, and someone said it had a lot of AP.  I can say from experience, totally fair criticism.

Ghost Town - $3 Action
Reveal your hand.  If you have any Action cards, discard them and draw until you have six cards in hand.
+2 Actions

This card is a lot of fun.  Instead of having a draw-to-X village that just plays the same as a normal village most of the time, this one hardly ever plays the same as a normal village.  When you use this, you really want to load your deck up with terminals.  Sometimes it's amazing, sometimes it flops.  I haven't figured out how to predict it.

Research assistant - $4 Action-Reserve
+2 Cards
+1 Action
Put this on your Tavern mat
At the beginning of your Buy phase, before playing treasures, you may call this, to discard two cards.

Oh, another card I submitted to a competition, and it got in the semi-finals?  It's nearly the same as the original.  There are a lot of ways to use this card.  The main way is simply a lab.

Awkward gift - $5 Action
If you have at least three Actions in play, +2 Actions, gain a Silver, and put it in your hand.
Otherwise, +2 Cards, gain an Action card costing up to $4, and put it in your hand.

I played a game where this was the only village, and it was so fun.  It helped me pick up components and payoff, but the result was so clumsy because I had so much silver.  I love clumsy engines.

White Elephant - $4 Action
+1 Action
Reveal a card from your hand.  Have it switch places with the current Gift card.
If you received a card costing less than the one you revealed, then +$3, and you may trash a card from your hand.
Setup: Set aside a Silver as the initial Gift card.  The Gift card is not in the supply.

I playtested this at $5, and it was way too weak.  Haven't tried it at $4 yet, but I'm not optimistic.

Captain - $6 Action-Attack
Each other player looks through your discard pile, and may reveal this card. If anyone revealed a Captain, each other player gains a Curse; if this is revealed as something else, discard this.
If this is still in play, +$2, and each other player takes their -1 coin token.
In games with Captain, any card can be played face down as a Captain.  It stops being a Captain when it leaves play.

This was changed a bit, but embarrassingly I have not yet playtested it.

Colosseum - $8 Victory
5 VP
When you gain this, trash any two cards from the supply, each costing less than this.

This is based off a joke I had for an alternate victory card.  The card would cost $8 and be worth 6 VP.  That's it.  Well, this version is a little more exciting.  In one game, it led to a rush, and in another game it led to a slog.  I am pleased with this.

Echo - $2 Event
Put your deck in your discard pile.  Discard a non-Victory card.  Gain a copy of it.

The tradeoff here is interesting, because you get more copies of a card in exchange for not playing it.  In the one game I played, it was useful to pick up lots of advisors.

Reverb - $2 Event
Once per turn: Skip your cleanup phase (discarding no cards from play or your hand, and drawing no cards).  Take an extra turn after this one.

This is the village event you always wanted.  It's like having a coin of the realm permanently on hand, except more expensive.  You can use your silvers as necropolises, but then maybe you should have bought a village instead of a silver?

Supreme Court is the same, but now it costs $4.  Playtesting found it's not very exciting.  It's easier than Throne Room to collide with actions, but top-decking a card is as bad as taking a -1 card token.

The Deciduous Forest Hag is still the same, although I renamed it.  I found that it's a weak curser, but that's exactly what you want in a $4 curser.  After curses run out, sometimes it's good to play, sometimes it's a liability.

Garbage Processor is still the same, but I think it might need a redesign.  It's weak, because sometimes you don't have anything in your discard pile, and other times you just get three coppers.

730

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 6: Event

« on: March 30, 2016, 10:14:25 pm »

Thoughts on various cards

Campaign
Types: Event
Cost: $0
+1 Buy

Once per game, if you did not buy any victory cards this turn, take another turn after this one. You may not buy any victory cards for the rest of this turn.

Clarification: You may not buy any victory cards the turn you buy this event but any cards during the additional turn.

It seems like you would always buy this on your first turn.  I suppose you could use it later to catch your opponent with a surprise rush?

Cobbler
Types: Event
Cost: $1
+1 Buy
Gain a silver to your hand. Each other player may gain a silver.

This is too good in the rare case when you want a silver flood but your opponents don't, and otherwise useless.  I call that imbalanced.

Coronation
Types: Event
Cost: $8
Once per game: Move your Crown token to an action supply pile costing up to $4. (When you play a card from that pile from your hand, after you resolve it, play it again.)

Clarification: When you play it again, it's already in play, so the event's effect doesn't happen again. For the same reason, you only get one extra play if you use Throne Room, King's Court, Procession or Disciple to play the card; and none if you use Golem, Herald or Prince. (Procession and Disciple say to "Play an Action card from your hand twice", but for the purposes of this card that's "Play [an Action card from your hand] twice", not "[Play an Action card from your hand] twice", as the card does not return to your hand.)

I don't know why we want this throne room token to work so badly, it's never going to work in my opinion.

Disaster
Types: Event
Cost: $4
Once per turn: Trash the top 3 cards of any non-Victory Supply pile.
Flip your Pest token face up (It starts face down).

Pest token: When you would gain a Victory card, gain nothing instead. When you buy a non-Victory Action card, flip this face down

I like the idea of boosting rush strategies by trashing from the supply, and the pest token balances it a bit by making it hard to buy victory cards on the same turn you rush to the end.  But it's kind of complicated for the thing it's trying to do, and uninteresting when there's no rush strategy.  I strongly feel that supply pile trashing is better as an on-gain effect for a kingdom card.

Drinking Song
Types: Event
Cost: $2
+1 Buy
Choose one: Put a card from your hand onto your Tavern mat; or put any number of cards from your Tavern mat on top of your deck.

Compare to Trade.  You can pay $4 to island two cards from your hand, but you don't gain the silver.  I guess that's fine.  I might open with two drinking songs though.

Invent
Types: Event
Cost: $1
+1 Buy
Once per turn: Flip your Journey Token over. If it's face up, +$3

You probably want to buy this almost every turn.  I don't think that makes it exciting, it makes it boring. 

This is crazy with other journey token cards.  For example, with pilgrimage you can pay $5 to instantly gain those copies.

Reconstruction
Types: Event
Cost: $1
+1 Buy
You lose your remaining actions (actions, not action cards).
Discard a card from your hand with a cost higher than $0. If you do, turn your Journey token up (it starts face up). If it's face up: +1 Action.
Return to your action phase.

As I mentioned with the last event competition, I designed an event that gives you a new action phase, but it was cheaper and simpler than this.  I think this event is overrating the value of having an extra action on demand.  Although, I suppose you could just discard estates?

Like invent, this has the problem that it doesn't interact well with other journey token cards.

Recruit
Types: Event
Cost: $4
The player to your left names two cards. Gain a card costing up to $6 that he did not name.

Alms is pretty crazy because you can gain a $4 whenever.  This strikes me as crazier than alms.  Basically, all $5 cards are discounted except for possibly the key card.  But you can still pick up the key $5 pretty easily because it no longer competes with the other $5s.

Sabotage
Types: Event
Cost: $0
Pay the cost of an action card in the supply to place it under the Sabotage event. When any player plays a card from this card's supply pile they discard a card.

I don't like a card that so easily shuts down engines.

Siege
Types: Event
Cost: $5
Once per game: Put your Contraband token to an Action Supply pile which contains ten cards. When another plays a card from that pile, the player to its left names a card which can not be bought this turn.

Why does this only affect opponents?  What if I buy siege on a card, then buy a copy of the card, preventing my opponent from doing the same to me?

Decree
Types: Event
Cost: $3
+1 Buy.
Move your Decree token to an Action Supply pile. Directly after resolving a copy of that Action, you may remove your Decree token from its Supply pile and play it again.

Sounds good, actually.

731

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Events: Trade

« on: March 24, 2016, 08:25:53 am »

If you don't have a better way to trash estates, then trashing two estates for two silvers is like adding 4 peddlers to your deck.  It is worth going out of your way to get 4 peddlers.

Trashing two coppers for two silvers is like paying $7 for two peddlers.  This is decent, but not terrific.

732

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: New idea: Secondary deck

« on: March 08, 2016, 05:20:48 pm »

This is a really cool idea.  Without commenting on specific cards, here are my general thoughts:

1. You should think of the starting politics deck the same way you think of the starting deck of 7 copper and 3 estates.  The starting deck should be basically junk.  After all, you want to encourage players to buy new politics cards, not stick to their starting deck.

2. Along those lines, the starting shuffle should only take two turns to get through a shuffle.  Four turns (five turns if you skip the first one) is way too long to wait.

3. Think hard about how the starting politics cards affect the opening.  For example, if you draw Prosperity on your second turn, that seems to give you quite an unfair advantage.

4. Is it even necessary to shuffle the politics cards?  Shuffling four cards seems pointless.  Maybe just flip the discard pile, or put used cards on the bottom.

5. The politics cards you buy should in general be buffed.  Compare to kingdom cards of similar cost.  If you buy just one politics card, you only get its bonus once every five turns.  In practice this means playing it about 3 times in a game.  And you're also missing out on the bonus you could have gotten from some other politics card.

733

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 4: Intrigue (Voting!)

« on: February 24, 2016, 09:55:21 pm »

Vizier
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
You may choose an Action card from your hand. If you do, the player to your left chooses: either you play it twice, or you play it once and every player other than yourself discards down to three cards in hand.

Do you reveal the action card before or after the other player chooses?

The two choices are not balanced.  +1 action and everyone discards down to 3 is very weak.  Also, the player to your right should choose, since they probably have 5 cards still.

Undertaker
Types: Action
Cost: $2
Choose one: +2 Actions and put any number of cards from your hand on the bottom of your deck; or +2 Cards.
While this is in play, when you would draw from the top of your deck, draw from the bottom instead.

Do you draw from the bottom of your deck during cleanup?  I'm guessing not.

The most important thing here is +2 actions/+2 cards, and the other effects seem marginal.  I guess if you have extra treasure you could save them for a later terminal draw?

Tribunal
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 action
Discard a card from your hand. Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck, put the revealed cards that share a type with the discarded card into your hand, trash the rest.

This card will make me sad in the late game.

Slanderer
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Trash a card from your hand. If it is an Action card, gain three Action cards costing less than it.

It just doesn't seem as versatile as stonemason or develop.

Shady Dealer
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
+1 Card
+$2
Each other player gains a Swamp from the Swamp pile

Swamp
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $0
+1 Buy
You may discard a card. If you do, +1 card
When another player gains a Victory card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, return this card to the supply.

Setup: When Shady Dealer is in the Kingdom or Black Market deck, add the Swamp pile to the kingdom. Have 10 for two players, 20 for three players and 30 for four players.

I feel like an alternate curse card needs to do something more novel to justify taking up so many cards.  Swamp is somewhat better than a ruins, why not compensate with a junker that feels more powerful?

Royal Tutor
Types: Action
Cost: $5
You may play an action card from your hand. If you do so, play another action from the supply costing up to the cost of the first played card.

Clarification: The second card remains in the supply.

I think there would be tracking problems, but otherwise pretty cool.

Pledge
Types: Treasure – Action
Cost: $4
+ 1 Card + 1 Action
You may trash this card. If you do: + 1 Card.
Worth $2

Clarification: When you play this card in your Action phase, it counts as an Action card, when you play it in your Buy phase (this includes the additional Buy phase of Black Market), it counts as a Treasure Card. (That is, this card can played as a plain cantrip OR a oneshot Laboratory OR a Silver.) As long Pledge is not in play (e. g. if it is in the supply, in a player's deck or on a player's hand), it counts as both Treasure and Action card. But once you put it in play, it counts as only one type of card for the rest of your turn. If you Prince or Golem Pledge, it will always count as Action card, because it comes into play in your Action phase. Mint will only trash Pledge, if it was played in your Buy phase.

I don't like a $4 card that is strictly better than silver.  Sometimes you buy a silver when you hit $4, and buying a pledge instead of a silver will just be automatic.

Penal System
Types: Treasure – Victory – Reaction
Cost: $3
Worth $1
Worth 1VP
When a player plays an Attack, you may reveal this. If you do, that player may not play any more Action cards this turn.

Noooooooo my poor actions......

Parade
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Choose one: Play an action card from your hand twice, or draw until you have 6 cards in hand.

I like this card.  I like it a lot.  It's self-synergizing but you can't build a deck out of Parade alone.  If you buy a lot of Parades, you're passing up on other good $5 actions that you could have been throning with your Parades.

Outskirts
Types: Victory
Cost: $4
Worth 2VP
When you buy this, gain another Outskirts.

Setup: Use 11 copies in 2-player, 15 in 3-4 player, and 18 in 5/6 player games.

I wonder how this compares to gardens.  Having lots of green hurts you the least when you have a big deck.  When you have a big deck, a single gardens is worth more VP than two outskirts.  Hmmm...

Masons
Types: Action – Treasure
Cost: $6
If you play this as an action, +3 Cards
If you play this as a treasure, Worth $2

If action/treasure ever gets done, this is the way to do it.  A simple card that adds a lot of flexibility.  You could build a big money deck with these and never draw them dead.  Or if your engine is short a few villages you won't be quite as sad.  Not sure if $5 or $6 is more appropriate.

Livery
Types: Action
Cost: $6
+2 cards
You may reveal a card from your hand; if it is an...
Action card, +1 Action
Treasure card, +$1
Victory card, +1 Card

Why even bother revealing a card?  Just choose one.  It doesn't seem like there's anything particularly exciting you can do with that extra flexibility.

Landlord
Types: Action – Victory
Cost: $5
+2 Cards. You may discard a Victory card. If you do, +1 Action.
Worth 1 VP per empty Supply pile.

Seems like a cool card.  You could buy them all out, and they're a bit like powered up great halls?  I'm not sure great halls really lend themselves to 3-pile strategies though.

King's Feast
Types: Action
Cost: $6
Action
Choose 3 times:
+1 Card; +1 Action; +1 Buy; +$1

Too many choices!  I think I'd probably default to lab or village most of the time.

Heir
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may discard an Estate. If you do: +3 Cards
You may discard a Duchy. If you do: +$3
You may discard a Victory Card. If you do: +1 Action

Clarification: The options are independent and in order, meaning that you discard 0 to 3 cards.

I'm really curious how this plays.  If you have a lot of estates you can sift through them.  And your duchies become gold.

Counsellor
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Gain a card costing up to $5.
Each other player chooses one: he draws a card or trashes a card from his hand.

That's a really strong drawback.  I'd be really careful with it.

Cordwainer
Cost: $5
Types: Action
+3 Cards
Reveal your hand. If you have exactly one Action card in hand, +1 Action.

This is the smithy version of shanty town.  But it seems much more drastic.  Terminal or non-terminal makes a huge difference, whereas +2 cards or +0 cards on Shanty town is more marginal.

Auditor
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
All players draw two cards. Each other player reveals his hand. You choose two cards that they have to put on top of their deck.

You could do fun things with this, like topdeck their non-terminals leaving only terminal draw actions.  My major concern is that it would take a really long time so you know fun divided by time and all that.  And no on-play benefit?

Abandoned Village
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $4
+1 Card
When a player gains a victory card, you may set this aside from your hand. If you do, gain a Silver, putting it into your hand. Return this to your hand at the start of your next turn.

The on-play action is so weak, I'm sure there are better things that could go there.  Make it a victory/reaction!

734

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 3: Event (Voting!)

« on: February 16, 2016, 09:39:57 pm »

Bootstraps
Types: Event
Cost: $6
Once per turn: Look through your discard pile. You may put a card from your discard pile into your hand. Play an Action card from your hand.

I had an idea for an event that was similar to this.  My event would give you an extra turn, but skip your cleanup phase (discarding no cards from your hand or from play, and drawing no new cards).  In effect, it was an +Action event.  I priced it at $2, although I never playtested it.

Compared to my card, I don't really like this one.  It's prohibitively expensive, it depends on your discard, and it's confusing rules-wise.  But obviously I like the underlying idea of buying actions with an event.  It's like a coin of the realm that you don't even have to buy.  Suddenly you can make a deck with nothing but terminal draw and money.

Dragon's Offerings
Types: Event
Cost: $6
Trash a card costing less than this from the Supply. Put this in front of yourself. At the start of each of your turns, if this is in front of you, you may gain a non-Victory card costing less than a card another player gained on his previous turn.

This seems highly game-warping.  If anyone buys it, nobody can ignore it.  I don't really like the unignorable aspect.  The supply-trashing seems designed to end games, but if it really comes to ending the game that way I think maybe the game isn't fun anymore.

Odyssey
Types: Event
Cost: $4
The player to your left moves your +1 Card and +1 Action tokens to an Action Supply pile (when you play a card from that pile, you first get +1 Card, +1 Action).

Finally, the scout buff we've all been waiting for.  Hmmm... an even better target would be Prince.

Plague
Types: Event
Cost: $0
Pay the cost of an action card in the supply to set it aside as a plague card. At the end of the game plague cards score an additional -1VP.

Clarification: Set aside cards never become part of any players deck.

Like a previous commenter, I prefer a set price rather than a variable price.  Plague certainly isn't stronger when placed on expensive cards, if anything it's weaker.  But I think this is an interesting event.  It incentivizes variety with VP.  In multiplayer, you want someone else to spend their money on it.

Time Walk
Types: Event
Cost: $5
Put your Duration token on a non-duration Action-supply pile. At the end of the turn, instead of discarding the action from play, set it aside and play the action again at the start of your turn, discarding it from play at the end of that turn.

Playing an extra action without having to draw it or spend an action, it's like Pathfinding and Lost Arts put together.  I don't think there's any correct price point for that.  I am also confused about the rules for one-shots.

I wanted to comment on other cards but I have to go right now.

735

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Action Attack Duration Reaction

« on: January 29, 2016, 09:52:12 pm »

If you followed the card literally, the revealed card would be in "revealed cards land" when you gain the copper, and thus the copper would go on the deck first, followed by the revealed card.  I'm sure this isn't the intention though.

This is a cool card.  The problem with copper junking is a) it's kind of weak, and b) since there are a lot of copper, it can be painful in the long run.  This appears to solve those problems by a) topdecking the copper, b) having diminishing returns.

736

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Seasons - the set the community has been waiting for!

« on: January 23, 2016, 01:55:55 pm »

I like that it is nonterminal... but there might be issues with that. The other nonterminal Remodel-family card is Upgrade, and that has "exactly". This one does not, so I'm afraid it enables milling piles. You can really speed up the game by multiple Province -> Province plays. Not sure how big of a problem that is. It might not be a problem,but it would defnitely be a thing to look out for in playtest rounds (if you didn't already).

Don't forget Transmogrify!  Transmogrify is more closely comparable, since it is also +1 action, and it also only remodels up to $1 more.  Transmogrify is also much better at milling Provinces than Restore.  In my experience, milling Provinces with Transmogrify is definitely a thing, but it's a good thing.  It doesn't ruin games, it adds that extra dimension of strategy.

My first impression of Restore is that it looks weak.  Remodel doesn't especially benefit from being non-terminal, since you can use it to remodel terminal actions that it collides with.  The winter effect is bad at gaining Provinces, which is what you'd want to do at that point, so I'd think that milling Provinces is the only useful winter ability.  But I could be wrong, I didn't playtest it.

737

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 2: Base Set (Voting!)

« on: January 21, 2016, 02:57:00 pm »

The way I think of the Base Set is that it established all the different card prototypes.  Witch is the prototypical curser, Workshop the prototypical gainer, Village the prototypical splitter, Remodel the prototypical trash for benefit etc.

So the cards I am most excited about are ones that seem to do something new, but in a fairly basic way.  Pilgrim is the one that seems to fit this the best.  I'm so interested to see whether it actually works as a card.  I'd be worried that duchies will run out and then no one will be able to end the game.

Along similar lines, I also express enthusiasm for Reconstruct, which is neither really a trasher nor trash for benefit (ETA: The gaining is optional.  I missed that).  Paddock explores the new space of cantrip silver gaining.  Lord isn't very basic, but is definitely doing something different--terminal draw plus trashing has only been done by Masquerade, and victory trashing has only been done by Rebuild.

Lots of other interesting cards here too.  I'll have a hard time voting.

738

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Seasons - the set the community has been waiting for!

« on: January 13, 2016, 07:27:37 pm »

If you wanted to avoid using VP chips, you could have Sojourner set itself aside instead of trashing itself.  Make it worth 1 VP if it's set aside.  Disadvantage: more text, less thematic.

Personally I don't care if it uses VP chips.  I have VP chips, after all.

739

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 1: Adventures

« on: January 13, 2016, 12:34:12 am »

Here are some scattered comments:

Blueprint
Types: Action - Reserve
Cost: $4
You may move your Trashing token to an Action Supply pile (when you buy a card from that pile, you may trash a card from your hand.)
Put this on your Tavern mat.
When you trash a card, you may call this, to gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

This card confuses me.  My first impression is that it's weak.  Mostly I want to trash estates, which makes this a $3 gainer with Plan attached?  Conman pointed out you can call them in multiples; I guess that's good?  It is not overpowered to gain Duchies with it--Duplicate does the same.

Elven Palace
Type: Action - Duration
Cost: $5
For the rest of the game, at the end of your buy phase, you may trash a card from your hand.
(This card stays in play.)

I thought this card was too overpowered.  Then I realized, everyone will get a copy, like with Chapel, and isn't that fair?  The pricing just determines when people get the card, how swingy it is, and whether you want multiples.  I think it's a cool chapel variant.  I'd test it at various prices in the $2-6 range.

Engineer
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+Buy
Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up); then if it's face up, you may move your Trashing token and your -$2 token to an Action Supply pile.

Clarification: The Trashing token and the -$2 token must be moved to the same Action Supply pile.

What I like about this card is that it's basically Plan and Ferry together, and yet very different!  Ferry and Plan are events that you open with.  Engineer takes much longer to activate.  It's definitely weaker than either Plan or Ferry, but that's okay, because they're really strong.

Harlequin
Types: Action - Attack
Cost: $5
Each other player flips their reserve token face up
Flip your reserve token over (It starts face up)
If it's face up
+5$ and each other player discards down to 3 cards in his hand

I do like the interaction mechanic, but I'm disappointed by the ability it's attached to.  It looks too much like Giant, probably weaker.  I fear that no one will ever bother fighting over the reserve tokens.

Innkeeper
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+1 Card, +1 Action.
Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up).  If it is face up, +1 Card, +1 Action.

Maybe this is just me, but I strongly feel that Journey Token cards should be no better than a ruins on their first play.  Otherwise, fine.

Paladin
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $5
Choose two: +1 Card, +1 Action, +$1. (Choices may be the same)
You may reveal a province from your hand. If you do, place your +card, +action, +coin, or +buy token on the Paladin supply pile.
When you gain a curse or ruins, you may reveal this. If you do, trash the gained card.

I think this draws comparisons to Tournament, and just doesn't feel exciting next to the idea of getting Prizes.  But if you consider it by itself, it's really more like a City that blows up just for you when you collide it with a Province.  Once you get one collision, they turn into labs, and it will be easy to collide them with Provinces again and again until they're basically grand market labs.

I think the "choose two" mechanic hurts the card, because it makes it play slower.

Recruit
Types: Action - Reserve
Cost: $5
Put this on your tavern mat.
At the start of your turn, you may call this, to turn your journey token over (it starts face up); and if it's face up, for the rest of the turn, whenever you play an action, you first get +1 card.

This card looks great because it feels overpowered, but maybe it isn't really.  It turns all your cantrips into labs!  But to do it every turn, you need 4 copies of Recruit, and you need to play two per turn.  If you can pull that off, maybe you deserve Pathfinding on everything.  And if you have 8 copies of Recruit, maybe you deserve double Pathfinding on everything.

740

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 1: Adventures (Voting!)

« on: January 12, 2016, 11:49:45 pm »

Is there a missing card?  mith said there were 18 submitted, but I only count 17.

741

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Caravan Guard

« on: January 09, 2016, 12:59:26 am »

Here are some money density calculations with peddler vs caravan guard.

Suppose you shuffle every N turns.  N doesn't have to be an integer because we're averaging.  Each peddler adds a value of 1/N coins per turn.  Assuming you're not using the reaction, each caravan guard adds a value of 1/(N+1) coins per turn, because cards played on the last turn skip a shuffle.

Peddler is at its best when N is small.  Caravan Guard is also at its best when N is small.  But the difference between peddler and caravan guard is greatest in precisely that situation.  That's what makes caravan guard so weak.

Here's a hypothetical.  Say that we have three players.  Player A buys a silver each turn.  Player B buys a peddler each turn (assume they can).  Player C buys a caravan guard each turn.  In terms of money density, Player B beats Player A after turn 3.  Player C only beats Player A after turn 10!  So maybe you are better off buying those silver.

I absolutely agree that Peddler is usually better than Caravan Guard, and I also think that Caravan Guard seems pretty weak.  The hypothetical is a huge oversimplification of practical strategy though, and I don't think the data is useful.  When are you ever going to buy only Silver or Caravan Guard for 10 turns? 

Moreover, money density doesn't matter in the kinds of decks where Caravan Guard would be preferable to Silver - that is, decks that want to play a lot of actions, where Silver being a stop card is really bad.  I think that's what SCSN is getting at when he says that Silver and Caravan Guard fulfill different functions and don't really compete with each other.

That's too bad.  I was definitely hoping my absurd hypothetical would solve Dominion so we would never have to play anymore.

742

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Caravan Guard

« on: January 08, 2016, 08:14:34 pm »

Here are some money density calculations with peddler vs caravan guard.

Suppose you shuffle every N turns.  N doesn't have to be an integer because we're averaging.  Each peddler adds a value of 1/N coins per turn.  Assuming you're not using the reaction, each caravan guard adds a value of 1/(N+1) coins per turn, because cards played on the last turn skip a shuffle.

Peddler is at its best when N is small.  Caravan Guard is also at its best when N is small.  But the difference between peddler and caravan guard is greatest in precisely that situation.  That's what makes caravan guard so weak.

Here's a hypothetical.  Say that we have three players.  Player A buys a silver each turn.  Player B buys a peddler each turn (assume they can).  Player C buys a caravan guard each turn.  In terms of money density, Player B beats Player A after turn 3.  Player C only beats Player A after turn 10!  So maybe you are better off buying those silver.

743

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Why are engines fun?

« on: January 06, 2016, 12:24:16 pm »

My understanding of an engine is an action-dense deck, but here we seem to be talking about engines that draw your deck?

Going by the Johnny/Timmy/Spike player typology, I think it appeals to Timmy.  There's a big wow factor in drawing your deck and doing lots of stuff.

I'm more of a Johnny.  My favorite thing to do is not to make an engine, but to take advantage of the most ridiculous synergy I can find on the board.

744

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Band of Merry Men

« on: December 14, 2015, 09:32:31 pm »

The main reason Masquerade is not an attack is that if someone reveals moat, it's not obvious what you should do.

745

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Three alt-VP cards

« on: December 07, 2015, 10:59:37 pm »

But next to Island, Cloister looks relatively weak, since it's harder to get rid of and doesn't set aside any other cards.

Is it harder to get rid of? Getting rid of Island but keeping the 2 points is a terminal action; you can get rid of Cloister with any non-terminal trasher or trash-for-benefit, or a buy, and keep the points.

I was just thinking about the "buy a Victory card" method of trashing, which is usually more opportunity cost than playing an action.  But it's true that you could use another trasher.

On the other hand, is that really the point of the card?  Cloister has two main properties: (a) +2 VP even if you trash it, and (b) you can trash it like a hovel.  I thought the main point was (b), but when there are other trashers (a) is the stronger effect.  We could isolate property (b) like so:

Cloister - Victory/Reaction, $3
2 VP
When you gain a victory card, you may reveal this from your hand.  If you do, trash it and +2 VP.

ETA: I guess GendoIkari already suggested this upthread (but with $6 and 3 VP)

746

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Three alt-VP cards

« on: December 07, 2015, 09:21:31 pm »

I enjoyed the whole discussion about the problems with a $6-cost Duchy+, and I agree with LFN.  I had also been trying to design a victory card, and I had to change it because of precisely that problem.

If Cloister is a $4-cost 2VP card, then it starts to look similar to Island.  That's not as bad as the comparison to Duchy, because Duchy is always in play and Island usually isn't.  But next to Island, Cloister looks relatively weak, since it's harder to get rid of and doesn't set aside any other cards.  So maybe it would be better if Cloister cost $3.  Alternatively, you could go bigger!  Maybe $7 or $8 for 4VP.

Re: Labyrinth.  Effectively, this is a cantrip that gives you VP.  The main differences are that you get 2 VP per turn maximum, and it's more reliable (never skipping a shuffle and never colliding).

This strikes me as OP.  If a game lasts 15-20 turns, you could get about 20-30 VP from it instead of wasting your time building an engine or whatever.

747

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Three alt-VP cards

« on: December 07, 2015, 01:47:34 pm »

The fact that Cloister is a victory card causes it to have a supply of 8 (12) cards in a 2 (3+) player game.  I think that's a desirable property.

748

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2015 Edition: All cards

« on: December 05, 2015, 01:02:46 pm »

How are the cards ranked?  Did people actually vote on a complete ranking of all cards, or they just ordered by the percentage points from the other lists?

749

Variants and Fan Cards / Mechanics inspired by passing

« on: December 04, 2015, 11:19:11 pm »

1. I was thinking about the mechanic of passing cards.  For example, LastFootNote's Wanderer.

Wanderer: Action, $3
+4 Cards. The player to your right gains this card.

One of the problems with this is that it's political.  If you buy one, you most help the player on your right.  Ideally, you'd pass a Wanderer to all players, but then that's just a recipe to pile out Wanderers.  So the idea is you have a token to indicate who "really" has the wanderer.  For example, one implementation would be

Wanderer(2): Action, $3
If you have your Wandering token, then spend it, +4 Cards, and each other player takes their Wandering token.
Otherwise, +1 card, +1 action.
When you buy this, take your Wandering token.

This card is interesting, but not that much like the original, and it loses all the flavor.  So, um, maybe it wasn't a great idea.

2. Earlier, I had suggested another self-passing card, one where you get a bonus for buying it, but otherwise it's a dead card.

Tedious Tale: Action-Victory, $6
The player on your left gains this card.
When you buy this, +3 VP chips.

So let's try to do that with tokens:

Tedious Tale(2): Action-Victory, $6
If you have the Tale token, +1 action, +1 card.  Otherwise, take the Tale token.
3 VP

The idea here is that there is only one Tale token that can only be held by one player at a time. Taking the token represents "passing" the card.  But still, it's rather different from the original Tedious Tale, since you can't give your opponent dead cards that they didn't buy themselves.

At this point I'm thinking, forget passing!  This token idea opens up so much more design space.  You could have a card that does something different depending on whether it's contested or not.  For instance:

Smithing village: Action, $4
If you have the smithy token, +3 cards.  Otherwise, +1 card, +2 actions, and take the smithy token.

Smithing village is probably a terrible idea.  But you see how very simple effects could be combined into a complex card.

3. One more idea!  I wanted to design a card (White Elephant here) which is like Masquerade, but which incentivizes swapping more expensive cards.  I was unsatisfied with it, and it didn't seem to work no matter what I changed.  So I thought, why swap cards between neighbors?  Just swap cards with the last person to play the card.

White Elephant: Action, $5
+1 action
Reveal a card from your hand.  Have it switch places with the current Gift card.
If you received a card costing less than the one you revealed, then +$3, and you may trash a card from your hand.
------------------------------
Setup: Set aside a silver as the initial Gift card.  The Gift card is not in the supply.

I'm not sure that's balanced.  But you get the idea.

Can you think of any well-balanced cards using these mechanics?

750

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: A bunch of custom card ideas, looking for feedback

« on: November 28, 2015, 12:27:12 pm »

Siege Machines: I had missed the fact that it only gives out ruins when it hits a $3-4.  That makes it a lot weaker, and not a great opener.  And as LastFootnote said, it's double strength when it hits.  That's bad because it makes it very chancy.  I think I'd drop the top-decking part, and make it hit more often.

Imp: I think it's better if Imps can trash themselves, because otherwise you have a huge power difference between Imps in kingdoms with other trashing, and Imps in kingdoms without.  Umm... but maybe something else should be changed about the card to make it weaker.

Provincial Revolt: Yeah maybe don't give VP chips to opponents, forget I said that.  I think the vanilla bonus should be changed to be more vanilla though.  Right now it's double-strength when it hits.  I don't know about the rest.  Needs testing.