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« on: November 06, 2020, 11:21:10 am »
Contest #93 Results
Firstly, thank you all for your entries. I had a lot of fun reading through them and thinking about their merits and demerits. Feel free to disagree with any or all of my analysis below.
Haunted Mansion (silverspawn)
A one-shot King’s Court-plus. While I have often wondered what a card would cost that allows you to play a card four times ($10?), this version feels rather swingy. If you line up a junking attack with this early on, it’s essentially game over. It also feels harsh that you lose your payload card too. I feel there is a good idea here, but it needs development (perhaps it could cost less, or retain the payload card, or play the card fewer times).
Hacienda (spineflu)
This follows in the footsteps of Villa and Cavalry in allowing you to switch turn phases. This one is unique, as it’s a Treasure that allows this. It is a nice effect - similar to Toil. It does feel pricy at $5, though, as you only get to use it once. I feel this might work better as a $4. If you don’t use the effect, it’s basically a tall Silver. Again, I like the idea, but some development is required.
Golden Spoils (Carline)
An inverse Fool’s Gold, as you don’t want to play more than one of these. Unless you can exert some kind of control over when you draw these or you need the buys, you’d probably only ever buy one, as a solitary Golden Spoils is better than Gold. Once you have one, getting Gold becomes easier. It’s a tricky balancing act. Overall, though, I like it, as I like Fool’s Gold.
Mail (grep)
An Ambassador-lite, almost. This is a cheap and accessible way of getting rid of cards you don’t want. I like the fact that it costs $1, for the reasons outlined in the original post, plus the fact that it’s another $1 card (we only have Poor House for that at present). In a game with trashing, you’d probably ignore this, so it does feel quite niche.
Mapmaker/Map (D782802859)
A Smithy that effectively gains itself, but as one shots. This feels similar to Lackeys, with a step up. It’s simple but effective. I like this concept.
Mountaineer (pubby)
A double Hireling that sticks around until you turn to green. This allows you to power up your deck effectively. It feels very powerful, even after being edited. I do like the strategic idea of having a useful resource that you need to blow up at some point - you have to decide when to do so. It still feels like there are many Kingdoms where this would be overpowered, so some development might be needed.
Clue/Hideaway (Aquila)
Another Fool’s Gold variant, this time paired with a gainer. Having the buy is necessary if you are to ever uncover the Hideaways. I haven’t played with Nocturne, so I’m not sure how good Hideway is, but it looks like a nice card. Overall, this feels like a good entry.
Cargo (segura)
A limited Lost City variant that gives you a reasonable consolation prize if they run out on your turn. This feels like an attempt to turn Artifacts into cards. I like the strategic idea of having a smaller number of relatively powerful cards to fight over. This is a good entry. This is the kind of idea I’d like to see developed into other cards, as I feel it has a lot of merit.
Quay/Cart (gambit05)
I liked Cart upon seeing it in a previous contest, so I’m glad to see it make a reappearance. It’s pretty powerful, but that’s fine, as it’s a one-shot. Quay looks simple and nice, and makes use of the debt mechanic, which was underused in Empires in my opinion. Overall, this is a nice package.
Escape Artist (Fragasnap)
A Camel Train variant that also allows you to exile cards during Cleanup, either from your hand or from the Supply. I liked the initial idea of having an Action card that did nothing upon playing it, but I’m glad you added an above-the-line effect to stop confusion. This feels very useful without being overpowered, so I like it.
Rosary (Rhodos)
A cantrip that allows you to go big with your draws when the time is right. It has a similar effect to Research. Again, deciding when to blow something up is a fun part of the game for me, so I like this card: simple, yet effective.
Assistant (NoMoreFun)
A self-gaining Smithy that eventually runs out of steam. Another simple yet effective card that I like. You probably don’t want loads of these, so there is a balancing act in deciding where to draw the line.
Tobacco Box/Old Pipe (Xen3k)
A Heirloom that acts as a Quarry for Treasures. Interesting to see a Treasure that allows trashing. Tobacco Box feels a little underwhelming - Ducat seems to accomplish this idea better. I think I would like this if Tobacco Box did more things.
Determining the winner was difficult, as there are some excellent cards here.
Runners-up: Rosary (Rhodos), Quay/Cart (gambit05), Golden Spoils (Carline)
Winner: Cargo (segura)
