So I’ve finally started sleeving my cards, which means playtesting fan cards will be a possibility (in the past I’ve only been able to use one or two proxies at a time, and even then I’ve only done a few games with fan cards). I took a bunch of card ideas I’ve had written down in a spreadsheet, pulled a few of my favorites, changed and added stuff until I think I now have a complete set. As most of the cards are completely unplaytested (and those which have had playtesting have had very little), I expect I’ll be making a lot of changes. But, I would like some preliminary feedback before I print these cards for playtesting.
The main theme of the set is, uh, “set [cards/actions/buys/coins] equal to X”, if that makes sense. For cards, that just means “draw up to X”. For the other vanilla bonuses, it’s a new mechanic, that sets your total number of [actions/buys/coins] equal to X. (I’m not sure I like the wording I’m using for this mechanic; I think it’s clear but a little wordy.) To clarify, if a card says “Set your current total number of actions equal to 3”, then you can imagine that little bubble on Goko that tells you how many actions you have left, that number is now 3, regardless of what it was before.
Sub-themes are, “stuff that deals with green/purple on top of your deck”, and I guess, a reactions sub-theme? The reactions thing wasn’t really intentional, I just kinda noticed I had four reactions in the set and that seems like a lot.
Anyway, cards:
Ghost Town
$1 – Action
+1 Card
Set your current total number of actions equal to 2.
A simple fixed village. I think it will take finesse to build an engine with Ghost Town as the only (or main) village. Ideally, you want to alternate Ghost Town, draw, Ghost Town, draw, etc. It costs $1 because it’s the sort of card you want as many of as possible if you want to get the full mileage out of it, but I’m considering putting it back at $2, just because costing $1 is sort of Poor House’s thing.
Farmer
$2 – Action
Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal two actions or treasures. Put the revealed cards into your hand.
A nice simple cheap terminal draw card. It’s +2 cards, except the cards are guaranteed to be “good”. I’m not sure the wording is precise as it is; it’s supposed to mean “two actions, or two treasures, or (one action and one treasure)”, but it could be interpreted as just “two actions or two treasures”. I’m not sure if I like that it doesn’t discard the dead cards it finds. This wording is simpler and it usually won’t make a difference, but since there’s four draw-up-to-X cards in the set, it feels like it would be nice if it skipped and discarded the dead cards. But I think having a simpler wording is more important.
Serf
$2 – Action-Attack
+1 Card
+1 Action
Reveal a card from your hand and put it on top of your deck. Each other player with five or more cards in his hand discards a copy of that card (or reveals a hand with no copies of that card in it).
My attempt at a $2 attack. You top-deck a card and they discard it. I'm really not sure whether it’s way too strong, way too weak, or just fine.
Vassal
$2 – Action-Reaction
+1 Card
+1 Action
Set your current total number of buys equal to 2.
When another player buys a victory card, you may discard this. If you do, +2 cards.
This is the only “set buys equal to X” card. The first Vassal is a Market Square, subsequent Vassals are plain cantrips. The reaction turns it into a lab when the opponent starts greening. It’s possible to trigger the reaction up to two times (meaningfully) in response to the same purchase, I think that’s fine and kind of funny.
Artisan
$3 – Action-Reaction
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may discard a card. Draw until you have 4 cards in hand.
When another player plays an Attack card, you may discard this. If you do, gain an Artisan.
Usually cards that explicitly gain themselves have problems, because they snowball like crazy. Rats has 20 of them in the pile and you don’t want too many of them, which makes it okay. Artisan’s self-gaining ability only triggers when other players let it, so I think it’s okay in that regard. I’m not sure the rest of the card is exciting enough though. Obviously the top half is quite weak by itself, but a lot of Artisans together can work as sifters, and they’re cantrips, so at least they don’t hurt. Printer (later in the set) likes lots of cantrips, so the self-gaining of Artisan can maybe be used to pick up cantrips fast for Printer.
Cardinal
$3 – Action
Trash a card from your hand. Look at a number of cards from the top of your deck equal to the cost of the trashed card, in coin. Trash any number of them and discard the rest.
A trash-for-benefit card, where the benefit is to trash more cards. I’m worried it’s too swingy if it misses Estate early on, and I’m also worried it compares too favorably to Doctor. I think it’s a fun way to clean up after a Curse war though.
Monk
$3 – Action
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. The player to your left chooses a card in the supply costing exactly $1 more than it. Gain a copy of that card, putting it into your hand.
A whacky take on the remodel-to-hand concept, the catch is that your opponent chooses the card you gain. I imagine the power level will vary heavily with how many options there are for your opponent to choose from. I’m really not sure if the $3 price is suitable, but I guess I’ll start testing there.
Barnhouse
$3 – Victory-Reaction
2 VP
When you would draw a card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, instead of drawing that card, reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal an action or treasure. Put that card into your hand and discard the rest.
A while ago there was a card design contest, to which I submitted a card with this reaction, but a cantrip on top. I'm not sure if it's worth keeping since it’s wordy and clunky, but I think it's unique and interesting. As a victory-reaction card, it skips over itself, so maybe you can get away with picking up a couple of them if you're planning on doing a lot of drawing. It helps you to green without clogging your deck too much. I had originally priced it at $4, but I bumped it down to $3 just because the set needed more $3's, and I expect it to be weakish anyway.
Rialto
$4 – Action
+1 Card
+$1
Set your current total number of actions equal to 1.
A nice, simple, on-theme Peddler variant. I wanted a card that set your actions equal to 1, and I think a Peddler was a nice simple way to do it. I think it will be on the strong side at $4, but it should be okay.
Surveyor
$4 – Action-Attack
+2 Cards
Each other player reveals the top four cards of his deck, discards two of them that you choose, and puts the rest back on top in any order.
I wanted a deck-mucking attack to make Farmer and Barnhouse more useful. This is sort of a weaker, cheaper Rabble.
Marquess
$4 – Action
The player to your left names a card. Gain a card costing up to $5 that is not the named card.
This is a nice simple card I came up with a while ago. It's good whenever there are two or more $5 costs you want. It may be particularly crazy/interesting in Duke or Rebuild games. I'm worried it may be too strong in general.
Mountain Village
$4 – Action
+2 Actions
Look at the top card of your deck and choose one: put it into your hand, or discard it and +1 Card.
A simple spy village, not much to say about it. It may be unexciting since Ironmonger exists.
Page
$4 – Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
Each other player with 4 or more cards in his hand discards a card.
The set wanted another cantrip, and I wanted a discard attack that could discard down to three to interact with the draw-up-to-X cards. I'm not sure this was the best way to do it, but I think it's reasonable, though maybe too similar to Urchin.
As I’ve thought about it more, I’m worried it just looks really lame next to Urchin. On the one hand, the first Page is the same as the first Urchin, and then the second Page just makes them discard another card whereas the second Urchin gets you a Mercenary; plus, Urchin is cheaper. On the other hand, if Urchin and Page are both on the board, I think it would be reasonable to pick up one of each, since playing a Page with an Urchin in play still gets you the Mercenary while also making the opponent(s) discard an extra card, so maybe it’s fine. Still, I’m not really attached to Page and wouldn’t mind replacing it.
Inventor
$4 – Action
+3 Cards
You may play an action card from your hand. Trash it or trash this.
They may self-synergize too well (you can play Inventor-Inventor-X, which is like +6 cards, +1 action, and only trash one Inventor). Otherwise I think it's a fun, cool, whacky card. Obviously it’s good with cheap cantrips. I'm actually not convinced the wording works the intended way; if you don't play an action card with Inventor, you're supposed to have to trash the Inventor (so it's not strictly better than Smithy), but I think you have the option to choose "Trash it" even if "it" doesn't exist. Any wording suggestions would be appreciated.
Aqueduct
$4 – Action-Reaction
Victory cards cost $2 less (but not less than $0).
When another player gains a card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, he discards the top card of his deck and puts the gained card on top of his deck.
I really liked the bottom-half, meant to punish greening and combo with junking attacks. The top half started out as a Curser so that there would be self-synergy, but then it just looked like an awkward Sea Hag. So instead, the top half makes it easier to green, and now it anti-synergizes with the bottom half, in the sense that other players can punish you for making use of the top half. TR-TR-Aqueduct-Aqueduct makes Provinces cost $0, but you need your own +buy card to take advantage of it, so I hope that's okay? I like how with Vassal it means you can’t get more than 2 Provinces in one turn. The reason for the Bridge-style thronable wording is because I didn't want all of the text on the card to come below a line, or to have both the "main part" and the reaction part to be together below a line; I would prefer it to be non-thronable. Parade-Aqueduct is crazy.
I think it’s weird if the opponent wants to trash a card with Watchtower and you want to make them top-deck it with Aqueduct, but I assume that just resolves in player order, starting with the player taking his turn?
Amulet
$5 – Treasure
Set you current total number of coin equal to $4.
Simple on-theme treasure card. You want it in decks without virtual coin. I had it set $ equal to 3, but that just seemed really weak (probably on par with the other $5 treasures, which are all weak (obviously not counting IGG)).
Bandit
$5 – Action-Attack
+$2
Each other player with five or more cards in his hand trashes a card from it. If it costs $2 or less, he gains a Curse.
If they trash Copper, it's like a Cutpurse-Swindler. If they trash Estate, it's like -2 VP. I'm worried it's too nasty, since both of those are pretty bad, and it's probably worse if it hits a $3+ card. But, it's completely blocked if the opponent has a curse in hand (and even benefits them if the curses are out). Maybe it should return to the supply instead of trashing?
Parade
$5 – Action
You may play an action card from your hand twice. If you didn’t, draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
This card has really nice self-synergy: you play one as a throne on another, using it to throne a non-drawing card, and then draw back up; or you throne one to draw with another so you have more cards in hand to throne. The reason that I think the self-synergy here is okay (whereas the self-synergy on cards like Minion can lead to dull games) is that Parade really needs other cards to work; a deck of just Parades doesn't do anything Watchtower can't do (I know that’s not 100% true but close). It's a support card for an engine.
Dungeon
$5 – Victory-Action
+1 Action
Trash up to three cards from your hand.
Worth [VP] equal to the cost of the lowest-costing card in your deck, in coin.
I submitted this card to the Intrigue card design contest, and it did reasonably well. It hasn't changed since then. Some people liked it, some didn't, I like it but I understand people's complaints about it. I still think it's a nice new alt-VP card.
Lord
$5 – Action
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
When you discard this from play, if you didn’t buy a card costing $5 or more this turn, you may put it on top of your deck.
A simple Smithy+, it gives you +buy so that the bottom half is easier to trigger. It's meant to encourage engines.
Jubilee
$5 – Action
+$2
Set your current total number of actions equal to 3.
Similar to Festival, without the +buy but giving you more actions if used correctly (and fewer if used incorrectly). It's also a disappearing village, meant to interact with the draw-up-to-X cards in the set. I actually think a Jubilee-Watchtower engine is a lot more interesting than a Festival-Watchtower engine, because in the former there’s the question of “do I play Jubilee or Watchtower first?” (playing Jubilee first gets you more cards, while playing Watchtower first gets you more actions), while in the latter you just always play Festivals before Watchtowers whenever possible.
Scholar
$5 – Action
+1 Action
Draw until you have 7 cards in hand. Each other player draws a card.
The first one is like a double-lab for you and a lab for everyone else, but you can follow it with a couple Bandits or Serfs (or a Parade of Bandits/Serfs) for extra damage. I like how it anti-synergizes against itself (like Vault).
Scribe
$5 – Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
Discard any number of cards. +$1 per card discarded.
I wanted a discard-for-benefit card, to combo with the draw-up-to-X cards. It made sense to make it non-terminal so that you could easily follow it with draw-up-to-X, but I feel like maybe someone has done this exact idea already? It looks familiar (and obv. it’s really similar to Vault)…
Harbinger
$6 – Action-Attack
+2 Actions
+2 Buys
Each other player gains a Curse.
Specifically designed to combo with Aqueduct; the actions help you play lots of Aqueducts, the buys help you buy lots of cheap Provinces, and the curse can be top-decked by an Aqueduct in hand. It's the most expensive curser, and it doesn’t draw, so I think it’s okay that it’s non-terminal. I expect that it’s on the weak side, which I think is great, since it’s nice to have a curser that’s not a must-buy in every game (yes I know not all cursers are must-buys in every game, but they tend to be way more powerful than other cards on average). Also I think it’s okay that it’s weak, because it’s also a village and a source of +buy, so there are good reasons to buy it even with other cursers on the board (though it is quite expensive to be just a +buy village). But it may be even weaker than I’m anticipating, not sure.
Printer
$6 – Action
+1 Action
While this is in play, when you play an action card, +1 Card.
This (along with Inventor maybe?) is the set’s card of insanity. I may end up cutting it just because of the sheer crazy factor. I imagine it will be ignorable on boards where you’re not planning to play a lot of actions every turn; probably it will be ignorable roughly when and only when King’s Court is ignorable. I expect that even just Scheme-Printer will be a mega powerhouse combo (not only is Printer the sort of card you want to play as early in the turn as possible, but top-decking a bunch of cantrips (excess Schemes) is exactly what Printer wants); and then there’s Printer-KC-Scheme, which is just, like, start every turn with 3 actions and a 9-card hand.
Anyway, I think Printer will be fun, but it may be insanely strong, and it may just be too crazy. And maybe it won’t be fun if it means “first player to the Printers wins”. Oh, and there’s also this concern where, a player may forget (or “forget”) to draw cards from Printer in a case where it would be advantageous for him not to draw cards, and then other players are supposed to catch him. I know cards aren’t supposed to do that, that’s sort of a result of Printer’s “while this is in play, when X, do Y” nature. It could be fixed I guess by saying “you may draw card”, but I prefer less text.
So anyway, that’s all the cards. Right now I think the distribution of card costs and functions is fine, except maybe too many reactions if that’s a thing? I’m open to any suggestions, comments, questions, etc., like I said most of these have had no playtesting, and I’m hoping to get some feedback regarding any changes that should be made before I make images, print them, and start playtesting. Thanks in advance!
