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« on: June 04, 2019, 01:06:45 am »
CHALLENGE #31 - FEELING VULNERABLE - COMMENTARY AND RESULTS
I appreciate everyone's entries. This was a tough challenge this week, but these were all great submissions. I really appreciate the effort! Anyways, on to the commentary.
Repurpose - Gazbag:
Well this is classic Gazbag right here. Balanced and touching on just about everything I was hoping from this challenge: a mildly strong effect and an appropriate vulnerability that seems to fit just right. Your set aside cards will generally be within reach of all other players so this will probably hand out a lot of Coffers to your opponents, but the strength of getting the gained card next turn along with a 6 card hand should not be underrated. Assuming those two things equal out (and I have no idea if they do) getting real value out of this card will depend on players not dishing out too many tokens.
Motherly Witch - MeNowDealWithIt:
Boy I am not the person to judge Attack cards, but I do think this looks balanced. The on-play effect is certainly strong enough that you probably can't afford to avoid it, but the real challenge likely comes from determining how many of these you can manage and that determination will rely a lot on the other Kingdom cards. I also really like that this may be a rare Curser that is skippable the first few shuffles. Not rushing it and losing the Motherly Witch split may cost you the Curse split as well, but you still have potential to make that up with advanced Copper attacking.
Novice - segura:
Ahh the ole' quest to make Double Lab balanced. The discarding at the start of your next turn is a nice touch, but I wonder if it's needed here. This seems to come down to choosing between the strong and reliable draw of Novice or building an overdraw engine from $5 cost components to get the Coffers bonus. I think this could work, but maybe without my burdensome Duration requirement. The Potion does help distinguish the two. If you grab a Potion you're not likely to hit $5 anytime soon.
Privateer - mandioca15:
The overall packaging of this feels good. Will likely force games into early greening though and that's not everyone's cup of tea. Sometimes it's mine though!
The double Gold might be too strong at $5 with this vulnerability, but it's hard to say without testing.
General - Gubump:
Throne Room on steroids! At first this seems utterly broken, but I think there's a lot going on that can reign it in. What I like most is how this redefines the game in a way where rushing down a pile is no longer that optimal strategy. Doing so leaves those cards without any copies in the Supply wide open for double throning. I do think something like this should cost around $7+ just so players can't load up on them while waiting for piles to empty.
Rope Bridge - hhelibebcnofnena:
Another bridge that draws! Didn't that win one of these contest lately? This is a nice clean design with a lot of strategy potential. You certainly need to keep track of how many Rope Bridges are out there. Being a Duration will help keep track of how many Rope Bridges could potentially be played between your turns. Could be really fun, but I worry all of that tracking could be tedious.
Lich - King Leon:
A Swamp Hag that always curses is quite nice. The vulnerability cleverly can be a bonus, but also hurts you. Very interesting, but I worry about the ability to topdeck any amount of curses onto someones deck. Very unlikely in a 2 player game, but more so with 3+ players.
Grand Tour - naitchman:
I gotta say I just really like how this card came together. It got some criticism there for being a Big Money enabler (and it surely is), but I think there are enough ways to beat BM Grand Tour that this kind of works. Villager tokens and mass Market-esque type strategies come to mind. Really cool card, but it does need to cost around $8.
Credit - mail-mi:
I recall some good discussion occurring "some time ago" about this card. I also recall saying I couldn't accurately judge if it was good or not and now I find it here before me for this Weekly Design Contest. Bold move mail-mi! Well I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. I certainly like the idea of turning debt into a benefit. Mission is doing a bit of the same thing and that works well, so who is to say this can't work.
Politician - NoMoreFun:
Interesting concept. Reminds me of Experiment in the way that this could end up being a one-shot.
Rally Point - Aquila:
Just a great card. Easy to understand, but probably a bit tougher to master. Quad-Den of Sin all at the cost of those all important $5 cost cards. I think you're correct though, this will make Silvers too good. Perhaps this could be balanced around $8. I wanted to play test this one, but didn't have the time, so I can only speculate. Nice entry though.
Mystical Chest - scolapasta:
Really interesting, but the Hex accumulation is a positive and not a negative. Certainly works as a card, but it tends to lean away from the scope of this contest. With that said I can't score this well, but I do think it's a great card and would like to try it out sometime.
Bookstore - Commodore Chuckles:
I like how this solves the issue of scaling player counts with the draw up to 6 cards in hand clause. I still think this could be brutal with large player games though. You'll likely have all your good cards skipped early game, but perhaps this works mid to late game with a thin enough deck. Could potentially be tedious to play having to reveal your hand constantly, but hey that could be a good thing. It'll keep players engaged when it's not their turn (a probable I encounter with my player group)!
Village Idiot - Frolouch:
That's a lot of card types. Certainly a game to be played with Courtier! Probably too swingy to work well though.
Messenger Bird - ClouduHieh:
A solid well rounded card, but since it's bonus to other players isn't contingent on anything they do, it doesn't quite need the Duration effect and thus doesn't really fit this competition. I think it make a great card though. Just something more along the lines of Councilrooms wording.
Copper Pixie - majiponi:
A fine $2 cost card (and those are hard to make), but I think Begger already fills this role well enough. I also think 3 Coppers in hand now instead of $2 now and $2 later is more versatile beyond Garden games. It makes hitting the $6 and $7 price points a bit easier and for less Coppers gained.
Conjurer - faust:
Really cool looking card. I like that you can play it safe by not playing the Action next turn. I really like the feel of this card, but my big hang up is the use of Hexes (and really it's an issue with Hexes and not your card design). Specifically that most Hexes don't stack making the vulnerability on this a bit weak, but when you do get a stacking Hex you likely can't risk all of that punishment. I think the mechanics on this are excellent, but maybe handing out Boons to opponents instead self-hexing is the way to go here. I think it would also be helpful to know what Hex (or Boon) you're dealing with before you choose which card to gain.
Trade Pact - 4est:
The addition of the Silver gaining is a nice touch, but beyond that this feels very similar to Masquerade.
Well going into this I had some clear favorites and I was pretty sure who I was going to give this to, but after writing all these reviews up I've changed my mind completely. Of my 3 absolute favorites: Grand Tour, General and Rally Point I've decided to choose none of them. These are all great designs, but the pricing was off just enough that I didn't think it would be fair to those who hit it closer to home.
So it in the end it came down to Motherly Witch and Novice. Both are great designs and implement my vague description of "vulnerability" very well. Ultimately though I think Motherly Witch is a slightly cleaner design so that will be my choice for this weeks winner. I wish I could elaborate more on my decision, but I've got to wrap this up. I really appreciate everyone's entries. They really were all great designs, but unfortunately we can only have one winner a week.
Congrats MeNowDealWithIt!
Draw BB.
