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« on: December 19, 2017, 05:58:36 pm »
Okay I had it my mind that you had about 50 cards here but it's actually only about 20, which is much more reasonable to go through. I was probably getting confused between you and Asper because you're the Seasons guys.
Realm Tax: I like that this doesn't fall into the trap of giving +$1 per action in play, that would get ridiculous fast. I also like kingdom treasures that give some utility other than just money and this gives +1 buy which is nice. It seems like a strong card in an engine, Contraband without the restrictions, but you would prefer to buy it later, but then it'll be expensive later so you want to buy it sooner, but then it's just a Pouch which isn't great. I really like this actually. Only real nitpick is the name, because the card has nothing to with the Tax Event, but I can see the logic behind the name. This is a great start though!
Refugees: The top is decent, I don't think there's a card in Dominion that let's you pick the same thing twice like this does so that's something unique. It seems fairly strong for a $2 cantrip actually, +2 actions can be powerful at the right moment. The bottom is interesting, I guess it makes it hard to gain a bunch of these but also means the pile is always empty after you get one, so you have to watch out for those 3 piles! I wonder if the Refugees could just start out in the trash instead of on the mat. Interaction with other cards should be rare (just Lurker and Necromancer right?) and removes the need for the mat. I suppose you've probably already thought of that though!
Salesman: Woooo Prime token! I have no idea how strong the effect of moving the prime token is. Calling this is like playing a Highway, which is great but obviously balanced by this being a crummy terminal on the previous turn (or whenever you played it). Oh and I guess the point is that the Prime token is unaffected by the cost change so you can make something expensive and then call these and Remodel it into something big, or make it so your opponent can't make it cheaper with their Salesmen. My guess is that this can be nice on the right board, but is weak without support, which is a totally fine place for a $2 to be. Hard to say without playing with it.
Trapper/ Forest Hut: I'm not sure about this one, I think I would open 3 of these with the Forest Hut almost every time. It seems kinda similar to Urchin in that it's correct to open with them most of the time and then hope yours line up bettter than your opponents. I like that this costs $2 so Forest Hut can let you get more, but Forest Hut is a bit less exciting now that Heirlooms (Pouch mainly) are a thing. Also I assume that Forest Hut replaces the same shelter for each player? I wouldn't be thrilled if I lost my Necropolis and my opponent lost their Hovel.
Deposit: This seems quite strong, although I suppose it's hard to make a weak trasher. It trashes 2-3 cards on turn 3 or 4 and then becomes worse as you add more cards to your deck. I don't see the second ability being relevant all that often - apart from this trashing itself. I would guess this is slightly weaker than Steward, but pretty similar in terms of powerlevel and how it plays out (strong trasher that has another use later on). Oh wait it has a below the line - the second part seems more relevant now, I retract that statement. I would guess that 3 piles rarely happen in games with this still.
Provisioner: A non-terminal draw to X thing that gets a bit better when piles empty. The novelty is a little bit lessened by Cursed Village, but this is an uncommon ability anyway so that's not too bad. Based on my experience with Cursed Village I'm going to assume that this is weak, at least until a pile empties. The on-gain is really nice though, so the card should probably be weak to compensate for that. Seems really nice on a $3/$4 open.
Builder/Battlement: Builder's on-play effect seems fine, a mini Embassy. Weird that a card that says +4 cards on it doesn't increase your handsize. It seems on the weaker side of things, but I guess it's one of those things that is stronger when your deck is worse. I doubt Builder BM is ever a thing. I'm not sure on the whole Battlements thing though, you can only get them if your opponent plays an attack, which is already super swingy, especially with junkers and then the battlements can destroy discard attacks or if there's other stuff going on it can destroy the duration attacks too and then there's nothing to track the duration effect. I don't know, maybe it plays out differently to what I'm envisioning, you'll have to convince me on this one.
Mining Camp: This is a weird one. It reminds me of Leprechaun a bit, as a cheap Gold gainer with a penalty that's a bit random when you play it. Gaining a Ruins to hand and playing it is almost like a Boon, apart from that it junks you of course. This being a village is a bit weird at first, but I suppose that is to let you play the Ruin. I don't think the Gold gain has to stop when Ruins run out, I doubt that is too strong? I'd rather have a Silver than a Gold+Ruins a lot of the time so I doubt this is very strong. I have to say I do like the overpay on this though. It avoids the Counting House problem because it's on-gain, very nice.
Orphanage: This seems crazy! The on-play is already really strong and you get a free Silver? Topdecked as well? Crazy! Madness!
Reconvert: Crazy! This is so much better than Salvager, who needs that stupid +buy anyway? Seriously though, this is super powerful because of the versatility.
Reeve: Ah, the $4 village with a marginal bonus, a true dominion classic. There's actually a bit of tricky play with the Estates on the opening turns, depending on whether you want to shuffle on turn 1 or not. That could be cool, I'd be very interested to play with that. I doubt you gain Estates with this very often, but I suppose just starting the game with 3 Action-Estates increases the value of a village. How does this interact with Inheritance? I assume you move the token and Estates become the inherited thing? I guess this marks the end of the crazy cards too.
Shire: I live in shire, well I guess it's a metropolitan borough now, but historically it was a shire! Ah it's like a Smugglers type thing, but it's easier to track which is nice. But it can't gain Duchies so boo. But it's non-terminal which is nice. It'll be worth at least 1VP and often 3. Seems strong to me, and maybe crazy.
Beachcomb: Hmmm can this lead to infinite combos? Oh can it not discard any Beachcombs, or just itself? I think that could be a bit clearer on the card. I guess it can't discard any Beachcombs because otherwise you can get infinite VP with Monument and Bustling Village or a +1 action token. Not sure I'm a fan of that ability in general though honestly, seems like a pain to track. The on-gain is weird too, I guess it's useful with mid-turn gaining or Horn of Plenty or something? Seems like the kind of thing tht would be better suited on a card that can trigger it itself.
Benefit: Seems at it's best with a $2 cantrip on the board to pick up with a $5, or a good $3 and $4 card. It seems potent on the right board, but quite well balanced to me. I wonder if the reaction should exchange the gained card now that that's more of a thing? I suspect that if Trader was a new card in Nocturne it would exchange the gained card for a Silver.
Building Crane: Did I already talk about this one, or was that a different version? $5 is steep for a one-shot, although it does make itself cheaper. This might be crazy with +buys?
Juggler: This is odd, you'll return the Curse unless you need that $2 or have something else to do with the Curse. Keeping a Curse around to try and block opponents Juggler seems bad. It's weak next to Witch and Mountebank but I suppose they're pretty good so that's fine and there are tricks to do with this so it might be fun.
Reparations: If you gain a card with this and empty a pile do you get +$2? The "at the time you play it" wording is confusing me. If you aren't supposed to then I'd switch around the abilities so the +$ ability is on top. This is weak until it starts giving money, but it's a gainer so it's going to have utility when that's a good thing to be doing. I like it apart from the confusion.
Revaluate: Isn't the word Reevaluate? Anyway, I'm a big fan of Remodels. I still don't know how strong moving the Prime token is but this is obvs way weaker than Butcher (what card isn't though?) and seems weaker than Replace to me, but Replace is super good so that's okay too. I also could very easily be underestimating the Prime token. I think the idea is to make an action expensive with the token and then trash it to turn this into an Expand. Graverobber expands actions, but this can also trash other things too. I'll have to play with these Prime token cards to get an idea on how good/fun they are.
Riverside: I used to live on a riverside, although it was in the middle of a city so it wasn't as nice as this one. I suppose you would have to do a calculation, but I guess in most kingdoms this will end up being 4VP without too much work. I guess the Prime token movement isn't that strong then, because this is usually worth enough VP to justify the $6 cost?
Chancellery: Very similar to Obelisk, but it makes the pile cost more, which is cool. Then in games with Prime token cards this becomes more tricky. Maybe you could have this in the setup of a Prime token card because that seems like the most interesting case for this, to make sure it's different enough from Obelisk. I can see why you wouldn't want to do that though and this is fine as is anyway.
I'll talk about Petty Lord another time because there's so much going on there.
In terms of an overall set I think it could do with another terminal draw card? We normally get about 2 per expansion I think, right? Not much terminal payload either actually, like your Wine Merchants and your Farmers Markets and your Sacred Groves and the like. There's a good number of villages and trashers though. Well there's a lot of stuff I like here, the cards seem pretty coherent with clear concepts for the most part. A few things I'm not convinced by and a couple that I think are crazy. Nocturne might have made a few a little redundant too, but nothing glaring there. I would love a Peddler variant too, everybody loves those! That was my main gripe with Nocturne, although I suppose 2nd edition base is now 50% Peddler variants so I guess we needed a break from that. Oh and this a tree card to justify the Roots and Renewal name. Err well there's my thoughts, hopefully you find them at least slightly useful! Feel free to tell me that I'm an idiot too, if I've just said a load of rubbish.
