I predicted some things from this, hooray!
On Split Piles:
It'll be interesting to see how it compares to Knights. With Knights, they all share one major effect (The trashing attack) and then vary extra bonuses. But with just two different cards in a pile, you can design a bigger difference but with closer interaction. I wonder if these piles will be shuffled or if they'll be specifically ordered (5/5, or interleaved).
Not the most daring prediction, but I'll take it. The cards are very different but work closely together. And my question is answered; they are specifically ordered 5/5.
Yesterday I gave some thought to what it would mean to have a mixed debt cost.
New thought for fan cards (and maybe some official cards that are yet to be revealed): a cheap debt card would be a lot like a regular cost card, because you wouldn't often need to put off paying for it. But it would have an important distinction - you can't gain it with cost-based gainers like Workshop, and you can't reduce its cost (unless there is a new card that does that specifically). You could also mix regular coin costs and debt costs to make something that essentially reduces in cost to a positive minimum.
Fortune probably wasn't designed specifically to be a card where you can essentially reduce its cost to $8 and no less, but that's how it works out.
Gladiator sounds like a strong payload. Played well, it shouldn't be too tough to win the mini-game and make it a cheap terminal gold. It seems like something you wouldn't want it too early (otherwise you may get stuck revealing Estates and Coppers which are easy to block), but you can't wait too long because there are only 5 in the pile and they may get trashed by other Gladiators. Shelters make it easier to win the mini-game. Then, Fortune is huge. It's not as expensive as it looks since it provides so much money itself, if your deck can draw into it. I wonder how often it will be worthwhile to pick up a second one, even though they don't stack.
Settlers is a Peddler as long as you've got Copper in your discard. Bustling Village is a City with an extra action if you've got a Settler in your discard. That's
really good... but it relies on having those things in your discard, so not the most reliable. I'm sure some people will not like this dependence on shuffle luck, but oh well. Since Settlers are a lot like Peddler, I expect that they'll be bought pretty quickly in many games. Maybe there will be some trepidation as players waver on buying the last Settlers and exposing the Bustling Villages. OTOH, maybe not, since Bustling Village is better the more Settlers you have.
My first thought on Catapult is that it joins Swindler and Ambassador as another $3 junker. It requires $3 fodder to do so, but is otherwise more reliable at cursing than either of them. But the most common attack from early Catapults is going to be the discard attack, which works with Copper. That alone will make it better than Militia a lot of the time, I think. You make $1 less, but you get to trash a card. Worth. The trashing aspect means that it should be compared to other cheap trashers like Trade Route and Forager. With the bundled attack, I think Catapult will hold up well. Rocks is hilarious. Combined with Catapult, it's 3 pieces of optimal fodder at an affordable price. You can buy Rocks to set up a Silver for your Catapult next turn. When you play Catapult twice in the same turn, using Rocks immediately provides the extra fodder for the second one. Rocks is mostly terrible without Catapults though. Also, it reminds me a lot of Masterpiece, which is humourously also a good source of Catapult fodder.
I want to give a shout-out to Co0kieL0rd for this:
Hey, this is not the "Really intriguing, kinda interesting card ideas" thread! I will counteract this elaborate balderdash with a really bad card idea:
Catapult
Cost: $4
Types: Action/Attack
Trash any number of Rocks from your hand. For each Rock trashed, each other player trashes a card from their hand.
When you buy this, gain 5 Rocks from the Rock pile.
Rock
Cost: $0*
Type: Rock
It's a Rock. (This is not in the Supply.)
Also, Donald mentioned throwing stuff at the board, so I count this as a prediction:
Knife Thrower
$4 - Action
Choose a card in your hand. Standing 2 feet away from the playing area, throw the card at the Supply. Gain a copy of one Supply card that it touches. Trash the thrown card.
The RBCI thread: your source for Dominion inside information.