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[ConMan]

Ok, going to mostly comment on wording and any obvious issues this run through ...

Sprawl - $6
Victory
4 VP
If the game ends due to three cleared piles, 7 VP instead.
I'm not sure if there's a difference between "7 VP instead" and "+3 VP," at least practically, but feel free to disprove me.

+VP is generally used to refer to what happens when you play a card like Monument and gain points in the form of VP tokens. If you were to actually get 3 VP tokens at the end of the game due to a card being in your deck, I would find that ... weird. For a card that has two possible VP values depending on an end-game condition, check Distant Lands:

Worth 4VP if on your Tavern mat at the end of the game (otherwise worth 0VP).

Also, in terms of making the game tempo interesting, I'd like to see what happens if it goes the other way around (because you might try to use your big spends to buy this rather than Provinces, only to see your opponent stop buying Provinces and start emptying piles).

Hidden Claim - $5
Action – Duration
Until the start of your next turn, whenever another player gains a Victory Card worth $8 or more, gain +2 VP.
Hidden Claim - $4
Action – Duration
Until the start of your next turn, whenever another player gains a Victory Card worth $8 or more, gain an Estate.
The +VP card is slightly more expensive because it doesn't clog your deck. It won't help you come back, but if you're neck and neck, might give you an edge or force your opponent to cede Province tempo.

Don't need the gain in front of +2 VP, and it should read "costing $8 or more". Also, the difference in effect is much bigger than a $1 price point - if I have 3-4 of the first version of these out, my opponent is probably not going to buy Provinces unless he's already finishing the game; if I have 3-4 of the second version, my opponent will be cackling with glee as he junks my deck with all the Estates.

Unified Front - $6
Action
If you have no cards remaining in your deck or discard pile, +3 VP.
Put that over-efficient draw engine to use!

So, getting involved in a land war in Asia, I see. If you can draw your deck and play multiple copies of this, then what incentive do you have to bring the game closer to its end? If both players Prince 5 copies of this each then trash their entire deck, why would either of them bother to do anything on their turns?

Standing Army – $6
Action – Attack – Reaction – Victory
This card is worth 1 VP for every two Attack cards in your deck, rounded down.
Discard a Treasure or Action card. Every other player discards down to two cards.
-----
When another player plays an Attack card, reveal this from your hand and discard it. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.
Another old card. If you get all ten Standing Armies, you get a not-too-shabby 50 VP. If you get only nine, though, you're left with the much less impressive 36.

Reaction should probably just be "you may discard this from your hand". Probably shares most of the problems that a card worth X VP for every copy of itself does.

Border Dispute - $7
Action – Attack
Each player reveals cards from the top of his deck until revealing a Victory card. Place the revealed victory card in your hand. Each other player returns his revealed card to the Supply and gains a victory card that costs at most $3 less. He then discards the other cards. For each card returned to the supply, choose one: Trash a Victory card from your hand, and gain a Victory card that costs no more than $3 more into your hand; or, gain an Estate. Discard the other cards.
Okay. Calm down. It is rather complex, but it's not as complex as the card text would have you believe. The following is the rough order of operations.

• All players reveal cards until they reveal a Victory card.
• All other players return their revealed Victory Card to the supply, and gain a Victory card that cannot cost more than $3 less than the returned card.
• You add the revealed victory card to your hand. For each card the other players have returned, you may Trash a Vicory card from your hand and gain into your hand a Victory card that cannot cost more than $3 more OR gain an Estate.
• Discard all the other revealed cards.

...Okay, the wording needs work. A lot of work.

It sure does. At the very least, the second sentence needs to be "Place your revealed Victory card in your hand" to confirm that you don't get everyone else's. I'll let someone else work out the rest of the issues.

[GendoIkari]

I don't know if Hidden Transaction / Bribe can be balanced. It suffers from that problem whose name I forget, where a card is normally hugely underpowered, but can be way overpowered in specific circumstances. The thing is as it is now, it's essentially a terminal Copper if you can't combo it with anything. Actually worse than that, because you must buy 2 cards on your turn to get the terminal Copper effect. And it's hard to play 2 on a turn, though if you do, it's like playing 2 Silvers. So it has a Bridge kind of scaling there. But then, if you play a bunch of Market Squares and then one, then Market Square becomes Market. Market becomes Grand Market. Woodcutter becomes terminal Gold. Workers Village becomes Bazaar plus.

[MetaSkipper]

Ok, going to mostly comment on wording and any obvious issues this run through ...

Sprawl - $6
Victory
4 VP
If the game ends due to three cleared piles, 7 VP instead.
I'm not sure if there's a difference between "7 VP instead" and "+3 VP," at least practically, but feel free to disprove me.

+VP is generally used to refer to what happens when you play a card like Monument and gain points in the form of VP tokens. If you were to actually get 3 VP tokens at the end of the game due to a card being in your deck, I would find that ... weird. For a card that has two possible VP values depending on an end-game condition, check Distant Lands:

Worth 4VP if on your Tavern mat at the end of the game (otherwise worth 0VP).

Also, in terms of making the game tempo interesting, I'd like to see what happens if it goes the other way around (because you might try to use your big spends to buy this rather than Provinces, only to see your opponent stop buying Provinces and start emptying piles).

I'll get to the other criticism later, but I ran some math and theory in my head for Sprawl in a head-to-head. Note: I managed to mix up cost and VP value while I was making this card, so the cards were technically balanced for a 5 VP Duchy and an 8 VP Province. The intent was that Sprawl was always worse than Province, VP-wise, but you should be able to stay ahead by having more Sprawls than Provinces. Nevertheless, I'll just theory out the card as written and in reverse, as suggested.
Other Note: Throughout this, I will sometimes say you need X Y's to win. That really means you need an advantage of X in Y's, but I'm writing this after I wrote much of this and I'm lazy.

Card as Suggested
7 VP if ends on three-pile, 4 VP if ends on Provinces

If you think the game will end on Provinces, buy Provinces (6 vs 4). If you cannot afford a Province, buy Sprawls (4 vs 3).

If you think the game will end on three-pile, you need six Sprawls to match seven Provinces. (If your opponent gets eight Provinces.... the game is over on Provinces.) If you take one Province, you need five Sprawls to beat six Provinces; however, that makes it more likely that the game will end on Provinces.

Card in Reverse
4 VP if ends on three-pile, 7 VP if ends on Provinces

If you think the game will end on Provinces, and you buy no Provinces, your opponent will end up with 48 VP. You need at least seven Sprawls to be ahead at 49 VP.

If you are competing for Provinces, are ahead in by at least 2 points (1 if you have turn advantage), and have tempo, buy Provinces. The game will be closer to ending on Provinces and your opponent will be unable to catch up.
If you are competing, are behind or tied, and have tempo, buy Sprawls. You will gain more points if you trade Sprawls for Provinces. If your opponent buys Sprawls as well, you delay the endgame so you can catch up. It is also easier to gain two Sprawls in a turn than two Provinces.
If you do not have tempo but are competitive in points, buy Sprawls. Similar logic.

If there are no more Sprawls and you have more, buy Provinces to end the game faster.
If there are no more Sprawls and they split 4-6 against you, you can come back if you have three more Provinces. Otherwise, aim to three-pile.
If there are no more Sprawls and they split 3-7 against you, you need a five Province advantage.
If they split 2-8, you must have an eight Province advantage.
If they split 1-9, you cannot come back on Provinces alone. Either stall for time or aim to three-pile. If you try to force a three-pile too late, however, your opponent will simply gain an insurmountable lead in Provinces anyway.


If you think the game will end on three-pile, and you buy no Provinces, your opponent can have, at most, 42 VP. Even if you have all ten Sprawls, that is still only 40 VP. If your opponent buys six  Provinces, you need to have at least four more Sprawls than he Provinces. If your opponent buys five, four, or three; you need three more. If your opponent buys two, one, or none; you only need one more.

If you are competing for Provinces, you need at least two Sprawls to overcome a 3-4 split in your opponents favor.

If you are competing for Sprawls, it is wiser to attempt to end by Provinces if your opponent cannot gain a Sprawl advantage of more than two in the time you can gain a Province advantage of four. (Technically, you only need three, but an advantage of 5-2 still leaves one Province left.)
You can also try to gain eight Provinces for six Sprawls. This is too easily blocked, however.


That's... a lot of math. And I'm not even done thinking.

[eHalcyon]

I don't know if Hidden Transaction / Bribe can be balanced. It suffers from that problem whose name I forget, where a card is normally hugely underpowered, but can be way overpowered in specific circumstances.

I think it was back during the design contests, WanderingWinder coined the term "Fancy Balance Issues".

[GendoIkari]

I don't know if Hidden Transaction / Bribe can be balanced. It suffers from that problem whose name I forget, where a card is normally hugely underpowered, but can be way overpowered in specific circumstances.

I think it was back during the design contests, WanderingWinder coined the term "Fancy Balance Issues".

That was it, FBI!

[MetaSkipper]

Amusingly, this is a card I developed for the Really Bad Cards thread, and then I realized there wasn't anything excessively bad about it. Well, maybe there is, but I can't find it.

Economies of Scale - $5
Action
+1 Card
While this card is in play, if you have six or more cards in your hand, when you play an Action card, +1 Action or +1 Card.

[GendoIkari]

Amusingly, this is a card I developed for the Really Bad Cards thread, and then I realized there wasn't anything excessively bad about it. Well, maybe there is, but I can't find it.

Economies of Scale - $5
Action
+1 Card
While this card is in play, if you have six or more cards in your hand, when you play an Action card, +1 Action or +1 Card.

A few bad things...

1. On a board with no villages, it does nothing.

2. It's hard to get it to do anything even after that... you have to play a village, then this and a Lab/some card draw, and THEN your other actions will be extra good.

3. When you do get it to work, it's maybe too good. It basically ensures that you will draw your deck and play all your terminals.

[MetaSkipper]

Well, while I was away, an expansion was released, another one is one the way, and two existing sets are facing changes. So, instead of doing the reasonable thing and fading into obscurity, I went to designing more cards.

Double Counting - $6
Action - Duration
At the start of your next turn, +$ equal to the amount of money spent this turn, unless an Attack card is played or another player plays three Action cards. At the start of your next turn, choose one: You may not play Treasure cards until the end of your turn; or you may not play Action cards until the end of your turn.
The ability to guarantee at least the same amount of money spent is probably strong enough to be as expensive as Gold, although at that price point, about the only thing that you would use it for are securing multiple Golds or Provinces in a row. The next-turn limitation and built-in reactability are limiting features, although I'm not sure if it's too easy to play three action cards reliably by the time this would come into play.

Accrual Basis - $2
Action - Duration
Resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on your next turn (and only on your next turn) on this turn. Until the start of your next turn, resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on this turn on your next turn.
Originally, this card was going to have all actions that take place on turns other than this one resolve on this turn, but that was messy in the case of "until the end of the game" Durations.

Full Faith and Credit - $4
Treasure
If there are eight or more Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $0.
If there are three to seven Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $1.
If there are two to zero Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $3.
When this card would be trashed, return it to the Supply instead.
Part of me is concerned that this is just an enabler of Big Money. Instead of ramping up from Coppers from Silvers to Golds, you just buy these which eventually turn into Golds once enough are bought, and so they don't really clog the deck. On the other hand, for most of the game, they're horrifically overpriced Coppers, especially if only one player is going for them. The $4 price point is meant to make it impractical to mass buy, and prevent opening with Two Full Faith and Credit.

Currency Exchange - $5
Action
+$2
Each player reveals their hand. Each player may gain a copy of any Treasure revealed in this manner.
You know, this card sounded better in my head. Now it just sounds overpriced for the too undesirable an effect of giving everyone at the table the best treasure.

Reverse Mortgage - $3
Action
Discard any number of Victory cards from your hand. +1 Coin token for each card discarded in this manner.
I think this card is ultimately going to suffer from "no one wants Victory cards until the end" syndrome. But it sounded cool.

Quantitative Easing - $6
Treasure
+1 Card
+$2

Interest Rate Reductions - $6
Treasure
+1 Action
+$2

Now, these cards got me thinking. Treasures, by and large, give you some amount of money or Buys, either directly or practically. Despite my best efforts, I could not find a Treasure that gave card draw. Coin of the Realm sort of gives actions, but not on its own turn without edge cases. Treasures are not engine pieces.
So why not make a Treasure with draw, or actions? Quickly I identified that Treasure cards have a hidden +1 Action, by virtue of not consuming an Action. But then what was the difference between Bazaar and a theoretical card, given below?

Printing Press - $??
Treasure
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1

At first I couldn't find it, but then I realized Printing Press is slightly (or much) stronger because you can't draw it dead, ever, because it's a Treasure. How much of a cost increase that warrants, though, I'm not sure. There are also more cards that interact with Actions than Treasures (I think).
Anyway, Quantitative Easing is $6 because it sounds like it's worth $2 more than Conspirator, which is effectively the same with the trigger. Interest Rate Reductions is $6 because it's like Festival, but never being dead in the hand is a bit better than +1 Buy.

[loneXolf]

Well, while I was away, an expansion was released, another one is one the way, and two existing sets are facing changes. So, instead of doing the reasonable thing and fading into obscurity, I went to designing more cards.

Double Counting - $6
Action - Duration
At the start of your next turn, +$ equal to the amount of money spent this turn, unless an Attack card is played or another player plays three Action cards. At the start of your next turn, choose one: You may not play Treasure cards until the end of your turn; or you may not play Action cards until the end of your turn.

Seems hard to track, Also this becomes useless vs engines or when attack cards are in the kingdom.

Accrual Basis - $2
Action - Duration
Resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on your next turn (and only on your next turn) on this turn. Until the start of your next turn, resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on this turn on your next turn.

Text seems weird so you get double effects of all duration cards or is this some type of attack? Also this card is worthless if it's the only duration in the kingdom.

Full Faith and Credit - $4
Treasure
If there are eight or more Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $0.
If there are three to seven Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $1.
If there are two to zero Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $3.
When this card would be trashed, return it to the Supply instead.

This card will only be useful in workshop games since it takes too long for this card to be useful. Idk maybe it's worth decking out this pile out however your opponents will also start buying this card when they see you are going for them.

Currency Exchange - $5
Action
+$2
Each player reveals their hand. Each player may gain a copy of any Treasure revealed in this manner.

How is this card not just not just a much better mint without the trash effect? Also this card lets engines keep up with the gold count of big money decks.

Reverse Mortgage - $3
Action
Discard any number of Victory cards from your hand. +1 Coin token for each card discarded in this manner.

Seems weak in most cases, since you need a lot of victory cards to make the most of this card. And this card is bad with most of the mixed type victory cards.

Quantitative Easing - $6
Treasure
+1 Card
+$2

Seems to be only useful in big money decks, and I see venture being better in more kingdoms also is this card better than gold for big money?

Interest Rate Reductions - $6
Treasure
+1 Action
+$2

How are +1 actions on treasure cards useful? You can't play actions during your buy phase and only a few cards let you play treasures during the action phase such as black market and storyteller.

Printing Press - $??
Treasure
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1

Same notes as above. "How are +1 actions on treasure cards useful? You can't play actions during your buy phase and only a few cards let you play treasures during the action phase such as black market and storyteller."

[MetaSkipper]

Double Counting - $6
Action - Duration
At the start of your next turn, +$ equal to the amount of money spent this turn, unless an Attack card is played or another player plays three Action cards. At the start of your next turn, choose one: You may not play Treasure cards until the end of your turn; or you may not play Action cards until the end of your turn.

Seems hard to track, Also this becomes useless vs engines or when attack cards are in the kingdom.

You know, I was worried letting it go unchecked would be too strong. Would making it unstoppable (at least, within its own terms) be too powerful?

Accrual Basis - $2
Action - Duration
Resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on your next turn (and only on your next turn) on this turn. Until the start of your next turn, resolve the effects of Duration cards that take place on this turn on your next turn.

Text seems weird so you get double effects of all duration cards or is this some type of attack? Also this card is worthless if it's the only duration in the kingdom.

The card reverses when the effect of a Duration card happens. If it happens on this turn normally, it happens on your next turn. If it happens on your next turn normally, it happens on this turn.

Full Faith and Credit - $4
Treasure
If there are eight or more Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $0.
If there are three to seven Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $1.
If there are two to zero Full Faith and Credit cards in the Supply, $3.
When this card would be trashed, return it to the Supply instead.

This card will only be useful in workshop games since it takes too long for this card to be useful. Idk maybe it's worth decking out this pile out however your opponents will also start buying this card when they see you are going for them.

Could test it at $3, but making it too cheap makes it too compelling a buy, perhaps.

Currency Exchange - $5
Action
+$2
Each player reveals their hand. Each player may gain a copy of any Treasure revealed in this manner.

How is this card not just not just a much better mint without the trash effect? Also this card lets engines keep up with the gold count of big money decks.

Mint doesn't let everyone else get a Gold. Engines keeping up with Big Money might be a sticking point, though.

Reverse Mortgage - $3
Action
Discard any number of Victory cards from your hand. +1 Coin token for each card discarded in this manner.

Seems weak in most cases, since you need a lot of victory cards to make the most of this card. And this card is bad with most of the mixed type victory cards.

Could up the Coin token count. I wouldn't say most Victory cards have play effects to have anti-synergy with.

Quantitative Easing - $6
Treasure
+1 Card
+$2

Seems to be only useful in big money decks, and I see venture being better in more kingdoms also is this card better than gold for big money?

Venture is probably the better card for most decks, if they're in the same kingdom. Quantitative Easing is probably stronger in Big Money. I think Quantitative Easing will be better than Gold earlier on, then gets worse as the game goes on, value wise. For just hitting $8, though, Gold might be better.

Interest Rate Reductions - $6
Treasure
+1 Action
+$2

How are +1 actions on treasure cards useful? You can't play actions during your buy phase and only a few cards let you play treasures during the action phase such as black market and storyteller.

> check rules
> realizes you can't play Treasures during the Action phase
> FeelsBadMan

Printing Press - $??
Treasure
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1

Same notes as above. "How are +1 actions on treasure cards useful? You can't play actions during your buy phase and only a few cards let you play treasures during the action phase such as black market and storyteller."

>Still FeelsBadMan

[loneXolf]

- $5
Action
+$2
Each player reveals their hand. Each player may gain a copy of any Treasure revealed in this manner.

How is this card not just not just a much better mint without the trash effect? Also this card lets engines keep up with the gold count of big money decks.

Mint doesn't let everyone else get a Gold. Engines keeping up with Big Money might be a sticking point, though.

Ah I misread this card when I first reviewed it, sorry. I thought the effect was: Each player reveals their hand, choose a treasure to gain a copy of from the revealed cards.

New Review - Currency Exchange seems bad since it's pretty much a 5 cost terminal action, that only gives +2 coins and a effect everyone can benefit from.