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Author Topic: Transmogrifying pseudo-cantrip  (Read 1557 times)

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AJD

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Transmogrifying pseudo-cantrip
« on: February 18, 2017, 01:44:01 pm »
+1

Has anyone tried something like this?

Augment
Action: $3
+1 Action
Trash the top card of your deck. You may gain into your hand a card costing up to $1 more than the trashed card.


(Various tweaks are possible to adjust power level, such as removing the "you may", or having it return to the supply instead of trashing.)
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Asper

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Re: Transmogrifying pseudo-cantrip
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2017, 08:48:59 pm »
+1

Has anyone tried something like this?

Augment
Action: $3
+1 Action
Trash the top card of your deck. You may gain into your hand a card costing up to $1 more than the trashed card.


(Various tweaks are possible to adjust power level, such as removing the "you may", or having it return to the supply instead of trashing.)

It's a nice idea, but if it hits Copper, it's a cantrip trasher, if it hits something costing from 2$ to 4$, it insta-upgrades the drawn card, and even if it hits something you don't want to trade, it's still a cantrip (except when the pile is already empty). Considering Upgrade costs 5$ and can choose which card you trash, while this on the other hand is relatively risk-free and gains the card to hand, I doubt this can get away at a cost below 5$. Not sure it's going to be a great 5$, though. But 4$, I doubt it. Maybe it needs both a boost and a cost increase, or a nerf otherwise? I really don't know.

Either way, I'm not sure its nice to have it destroy a card if there's no copy left in the supply. That would just feel unlucky, I suppose. You could avoid that by returning the card to the supply, but maybe it's easier like this:

Look at the top card of your deck. Either put it in your hand or trash it and (...).

Last part could be:
"gain a card costing up to 1$ more") => Can't remove Copper from your deck, might be a 4$.
"you may gain a card costing up to 1$ more") => Super flexible, can gain cards with same or lower cost while still getting rid of Coppers. Probably 5$.
"gain a card costing exactly 1$ more") => Upgrade wording. Can't really judge cost.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 08:53:43 pm by Asper »
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AJD

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Re: Transmogrifying pseudo-cantrip
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2017, 01:22:17 am »
0

I priced it at $3 in comparison to Lookout. Lookout can let you choose a card to trash, and also lets you cycle and filter; this doesn't give you a choice of card, but upgrades as it goes; they both can be unlucky late-game and force you to trash a good card. You think as written it's too strong for 3? Hm, maybe. Since costs in the 3–4 range for trashers are mainly based on early-game utility, let's look at effects on the first shuffle:

If you open Lookout/4, to a first approximation, on the first shuffle you get:
c. 34%: trash Copper, discard Copper
b. 51%: trash Estate, discard Copper
a. 15%: trash Estate, discard Estate

If you open Augment/4, you get:
d. 64%: trash Copper
e. 27%: trash Estate, gain Silver in hand
f. 9%: no thinning, but retroactively convert your 3/4 open into a 3/5 open

(e) and (f) are both potentially pretty good, but are they good enough to compensate for the fact that 64% of the time the first-shuffle effect is strictly worse than any first-shuffle effect of Lookout?

Here's Upgrade for comparison:
g. 12%: trash Copper
h. 88%: trash Estate, gain Silver

I guess I don't know how to compare the fact that Augment has a better best-case scenario with the fact that its best-case is so much less likely than Upgrade's. (Well, without playtesting, anyway.) I guess what that does is it just makes Augment really swingy, which might not be a lot of fun to play.
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Asper

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Re: Transmogrifying pseudo-cantrip
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2017, 08:42:29 am »
0

But your version of the card never is unlucky. Even if you hit Province, you can gain another Province in hand. It's a cantrip worst case.
And unlike Lookout, if you reveal a Copper and want the coins it gives (eg because your hand started as four Coppers and Augment), you can do that and hit 5$. So in fact it has a best case better than Upgrade, and even worst case it only loses a little additional cycling, but in return still lets you choose to use the drawn card immediately instead of strashing it.
Unlike Upgrade, it doesn't necessarily force you to reduce your hand late-game. And yes, there will be a few turns where the card only thins, but the thinner your deck is, the greater it gets. It'll be a lot stronger than Upgrade faster than you think, I believe.

I didn't consider the swinginess here, but you're right, it's a bit of a self-Swindler in that regard.
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