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[Elanchana]

I've had this idea for a while and I've been doing it with the base set but I'm getting the ultra pack (fiiiiiiinally) in a couple weeks and I want more ideas so here we go.

I want to make some kingdoms with different...themes, shall we say, and create unrated tables on Goko with them as a sort of fun alternative to everything else. There could be a board of all attacks, a board of all durations, a board of the most expensive cards, a board of the cheapest cards, a pin race board, an "overpowered" board, etc.

What kind of themed boards can you come up with, what cards would you pick for those (or the ones I listed), and how would you play them?

Example (from when I asked for an "expensive cards" board):

These are all the cards that (arguably) cost more than $6: Peddler, KC, Forge, Bank, Expand, Possession, Golem, Prince.
GM is arguably the most expensive $6-cost, so lets add it. Let me then add Goons to counter Possession. And of course, Platinum and Colony.

I guess you want to ignore Bank and Expand, and you want to build to megaturn Goons. Since there is no good draw other than KC-Peddler, you probably want Golem and as many Peddlers/GMs as you can get, which should make the engine tricky. Golem and Goons discourage Possession enough. I guess you want as many Golems as you can get, some KCs and some Goons, plus a Forge to trash the garbage. Probably a tactical game.

[Awaclus]

A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

Here's an article about kingdom design which is probably worth reading if you want to design kingdoms.

[Eran of Arcadia]

A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

You could use Prince, Treasury, and/or Scheme to make up the difference? They are like Duration cards in a vague sense.

[Deadlock39]

Also, Cutpurse was a duration at one point during design, and I think Ghost Ship was also inspired by attempts at a duration attack.  Lookout and Sea Hag also carry some of the "next turn" theme from Seaside.

Or you could just throw in Throne Room and King's Court because practically become durations when they are used with them.

[Elanchana]

Thanks for the article, Awaclus, although balance isn't really what I'm going for. A balanced theme board would be super fun, but the reason I'd play these on unrated is so that if it's more of a luck-based board and someone gets unlucky, their rating wouldn't suffer for it. I'm only looking for, um, plausible playability.

Heh, of course there are only 8 duration cards. That was me being dumb. I like the idea of TR and KC as the other two cards, although topdeckers (Scheme/Treasury/?) are a good idea too.

[Awaclus]

Balance in this case means that there are two or more strategies available, and it's not immediately obvious which strategy you want to choose. Which makes the game a lot more interesting.

[AJD]

A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

You could use Prince, Treasury, and/or Scheme to make up the difference? They are like Duration cards in a vague sense.

I was going to say Prince and Possession—they're the other ones that should be Duration cards based on their actual effects, and probably would have been if they were in Seaside.

(...Of course, Prince on a board of eight Duration cards and Possession would be kind of a waste of a kingdom slot..)

[pacovf]

(...Of course, Prince on a board of eight Duration cards and Possession would be kind of a waste of a kingdom slot..)

Well, maybe your opponent has bought all the havens while you were piledriving the fishing villages, so now you are ready to pay $8 for a one-shot, non-cantrip haven that only works on cards that cost $4 or less.

Boom! Edge-case'd!

[Elanchana]

Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)

[Deadlock39]

Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.

[Elanchana]

Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.

All-village board? Done. Totally going for it.

[amalloy]

Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.

I think this is a Bureaucrat/BM board. Instead of Bureaucrat, try adding Throne Room for the real village-only board. Or even Shanty Town: if you only buy one action, it's a village that's as good as a Moat!

[Awaclus]

Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)

I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.

[amalloy]

Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)

I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.

Is Thief actually okay against this?

[Awaclus]

Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)

I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.

Is Thief actually okay against this?

No, at least not in 2-player games.

[ephesos]

How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...
Wish it had a Village of some sort. As it is, I'm thinking Ambassador war at the start, followed by Soothsayer(gaining Gold matters more than having the Curse flung back at you) or Minion/Governor spam.

[qmech]

How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...

Welcome to Has-good-luck-when-attacked-by-Minion-ville; population: you.

[AJD]

How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...

Based on http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Non-Attack_interaction, I'd go with:

Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Council Room, Governor, Duchess, Envoy, Advisor, Contraband

[bedlam]

I've occasionally played with an all alt-vp game.

Gardens, Fairgrounds, Feodom, Island, Silk Road, Farm Land, Great Hall, Harem, Nobles, Duke

Not a lot of interactions, Island rush of course. Mildly Interesting once or twice.

[AJD]

I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

[Awaclus]

Gardens, Fairgrounds, Feodom, Island, Silk Road, Farm Land, Great Hall, Harem, Nobles, Duke

eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint

Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.

[mpsprs]

I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.

[Elanchana]

Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.

What do those cards have in common?...

That treasures one sounds pretty sweet. What I'd do for a 5/2 on that board.

[liopoil]

I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.

...Was there forager?

[mpsprs]

I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.

...Was there forager?

No.  10 coin forager would be nice though.  There was horn of plenty.  And hunting grounds for draw.  So you could play one hunting grounds, 7 different treasures, and then the horn for a province (yes, the horn could be worth 9, but this way only treasures pay for the province).