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[King Leon]

This idea comes from the game Blue Moon and the Yu-Gi-Oh anime where it is called or Leadership card respectively Deck Master.

To avoid mirror matches and make different lesser used strategies more interesting each player gets a randomized Monarch card which is unique and has different abilities. The Monarchs should be balanced, so that everyone has the same chances of winning.

Examples:

Lady Valerie
Duchies cost $1 less in your turns (but never less than $0)

Lord Donald
On setup: You may replace one Copper in your deck with a Silver. If you do, turn this card face-down.
--
At the end of the game: If this card is face-up: 2 VP

Lord Matthew
When you buy a card costing $4 or more: +1 Buy

Lord David
At the end of the game: 3 VP

Lord Wei-Hwa
Once per game: You may call this in your Buy phase. If you do: + $1, + 1 Buy, turn this card face-down.
--
At the end of the game: If this card is face-up: 2 VP

Lord Miikka
Once per game. After you have played an Action card, you may call this. If you do: Play that Action card a second time, then trash it, turn this card face-down.
--
At the end of the game: If this card is face-up: 2 VP

[Asper]

I think this idea of player abilities (which is what Monarch cards would be) has come up once or twice before. The problem with it was always that in Dominion, the strength of different abilities varies greatly depending on the board, and so balancing them would be almost impossible - unless getting your ability was part of the game, so every player had equal access to it. I'm not saying you should use it, but bidding for different abilities would be such a mechanic.

The suggested abilities are all pretty nice, although i feel that Donald is too good and Miikka is too weak on average - which, too, wouldn't be such a problem if you got them as part of the game.

[Marcory]

Also, are mirror matches really a problem? If a game is underlyingly good (e.g. Chess), then mirror matches don't diminish the game, and if a game is underlyingly bad (e.g. Tic-Tac-Toe), then mirror matches are the least of the problems.

Even your basic Smithy-Big-Money mirror can have different outcomes based on more than shuffle luck--i.e. how early do you go with Province over Gold if you have $8? How soon do you get Duchies when you have $6? When do you get Estate over Silver? Sure, such a game is usually not as interesting as one in which you have to choose between, say, Silk Road and Bishop strategies, but then again, games where you only buy Smithy, basic Treasures, and basic VP aren't all that common.

[tristan]

About the general idea, not sure. If everybody can pick his Monarch after the game is set up but before it begins that's OK but I wouldn't like them to be randomly distributed.
About balance, among these I'd virtually always pick Lord Donald.

[gkrieg13]

About the general idea, not sure. If everybody can pick his Monarch after the game is set up but before it begins that's OK but I wouldn't like them to be randomly distributed.
About balance, among these I'd virtually always pick Lord Donald.

I feel like Lord Matthew is the crazily overpowered one.

[GendoIkari]

Lady Valerie sounds extremely weak. Sure it's great, maybe even overpowered, if Dukes are around, or it's a slog game in general. But there's plenty of games out there where buying a Duchy never ends up being the right move, and in these games I don't think having it cost $4 instead of $5 will change that. Ironically, in the game where you most want Duchies, a Rebuild game, Lord Valerie hurts you.

[tristan]

About the general idea, not sure. If everybody can pick his Monarch after the game is set up but before it begins that's OK but I wouldn't like them to be randomly distributed.
About balance, among these I'd virtually always pick Lord Donald.

I feel like Lord Matthew is the crazily overpowered one.

True, I missed that it provides several buys as long as buy expensive enough cards.