Renaissance Expansion Contest Results
Theatre Venue by Xen3k *Short-List*Theatre Venue
$5 - Victory
Worth 1VP plus an additional 1VP per set you have of Theatre Venue - 2 Villagers.
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When you gain this, if you have no Villagers, +3 Villagers, otherwise +1 Villager.
The first TV you buy gets you 2VP. If there are no other sources of Villagers in the Kingdom, it may be optimal to use up the Villagers that you gain with the first TV before you buy the next one. With the second and third TV that you buy, each TV gives you the same amount of VP as a Duchy. Each successive pair of TVs that you buy with be worth one additional point each (gaining your 8th TV could make each of them worth as much as Provinces) as long as you are able to retain the optimal number of Villagers. Even if there are no other sources of Villagers in the Kingdom, you could theoretically score up to 48 points in a 2-player game, or up to 96 points in a multiplayer game with TVs, which would still make this a viable Alt-VP strategy.
With other sources of Villagers, you could theoretically score up to 72 points in a 2-player game, or up to 156 points in a multiplayer game. This could easily become the dominant strategy. In a 2-player game, you would probably beat your opponent if you win the Theatre Venue split and have at least 10 Villagers, as that would give you at least an 18-point differential.
The way the scoring works would potentially require players to think about how many Villagers they can afford to use during the course of the game (if you have 4 TVs in your deck and 6 Villagers, spending just one of those Villagers could cost you 7 points at the end of the game), but this is probably more likely to occur in games where Villagers are scarce. Unlike other scaling alt-VP cards that require gaining additional cards to pull off effectively, Theatre Venue is fairly self-sufficient.
Overall, I think this is a provocative twist on alt-VP, even if the scoring mechanism is a bit on the convoluted side.
Aqueduct by seguraAqueduct
$4 - Project
At the end of your turn, +1 Villager per unused Action you have.
Aqueduct is to Actions/Villagers what Pageant is to Coin/Coffers. An Actions/Villagers counterpart to Pageant was actually one of the outtakes for Renaissance.
Unlike Pageant which is restricted to +1 Coffers per turn, Aqueduct allows you to gain as many Villagers as unused Actions you have. At first glance, this seems like a good deal. However, this is countered by the fact that if you are having lots of unused Actions and building up a large pool of Villagers, your deck probably doesn't need them. This cost at $4 seems fine, and could be a worthwhile buy if there are no other ways to gain Villagers (or in weak Kingdoms without villages/splitters). However, outside of these circumstances, I think this becomes much less interesting and it would probably be better to bypass Aqueduct for something else.
Letterpress by majiponiLetterpress
$6 - Project
When you gain a non-Victory card costing up to $4, gain a copy of it (that doesn't come with another).
Letterpress is a Project that is essentially a permanent Talisman, except that it triggers on gains, not just on buys. I'm assuming that the rules would be similar to those for Duplicate in that it wouldn't allow you to gain copies of non-Supply cards (gaining 6 Wishes from Magic Lamp would be crazy). Even so, Letterpress can be very powerful. It vastly improves your gainers and trash-for-benefit cards. It would be helpful for both engines and BM decks, and it could also allow you to empty out piles quickly if you are looking to close out a game.
The permanent, mandatory Talisman effect comes with downsides. There may be cards that you wouldn't want too many copies of in your deck. If you are behind on VP, you would also need to be careful about piles running low, and in a sense, it punishes you for gaining cards that you may want to improve your deck. If you wanted to play an IGG and need the extra Copper to afford a card, you have no choice but to gain two Coppers. Gaining Death Cart would give you another Death Cart and a total of 8 Ruins. These circumstances are largely within the player's control (except if Messenger or Swindler are around), but then there's the obvious drawback with cursers and junkers. The intention was probably to try and balance the card, but it makes Letterpress a liability in those situations. I would probably try a variant that triggers only on buy; it is less powerful, but that would avoid the issue with cursers and junkers and wouldn't need that to try and balance it.
Town Square / Crowded by LibraryAdventurer *Short-List*Town Square
$5 - Action - Reaction
+2 Villagers.
Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck, put one in your hand and discard the rest. If all 3 revealed cards were Actions, take Crowded.
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When you reveal this (using the word 'reveal'), gain a Silver.
Crowded
Artifact
You may not use more than one Villager per turn.
If you end your turn without playing any Actions, return this.
(Villagers used this turn before taking Crowded don't count towards this.)
On it's own Town Square, is a fairly strong Village. Even if it only gave you +2 Actions instead of Villagers, it would be quite strong $4 (perhaps $4.5) due to its sifting ability and Patron-like Reaction. +2 Villagers is strictly better.
Crowded, the associated Artifact, is presumably intended to rein in Town Square's ability. In this case, the trigger is similar to that for Horn (when a player already has Lantern) when playing Border Guard. Crowded limits you to playing one Villager per turn after you gain it. Because of this, Town Square is likely to be weaker in engines with few Treasure cards.
I like the concept of a negative Artifact. In this case, players are unlikely to take the Artifact early in the game until they have a certain density of Action cards in their deck. You could also be fortunate if one of your opponents takes the Artifact from you on one of your turns. As such, I'm not sure how effectively Crowded would keep Town Square in check, if that is the goal. Perhaps the trigger for Crowded could be having more than X number of Villagers after playing Town Square.
Furnace by Aquila *Short-List*Furnace
$4 - Action
When you gain this or play it:
trash a card from your hand. If it costs $4 or more, +2 Coffers. If it isn't a Treasure, you may trash another card from your hand.
Furnace allows you to trash cards from your hand both when gain it and when you play it. As such, opening Furnace/Silver could be quite strong. Furnace can really shine if you draw it and have at least $4 to spend (ideally with at least one Silver), as that would let you buy another Furnace to trash the one in hand, potentially trash another card in your hand, and also get +2 Coffers for your trouble. Rinse and repeat the next time you draw Furnace.
Because of the mandatory on-gain trashing, a well-timed (or fortunate) Swindler, Messenger, or Jester that gives your opponent a Furnace could be quite detrimental for them. If that is a bug rather than a feature, that could be fixed by revising Furnace to make the on-gain trashing optional.
Overall, I like this card and think it is different enough from other trashers to make it interesting.
Obsolete Denomination by grrgrrgrr *Short-List*Obsolete Denomination
$3 - Project
During your turns, Coppers produce $0. When you play a Copper, trash it.
Obsolete Denomination is simple but brilliant. When you buy it, all the Coppers in your deck become worthless, but you can then trash them by playing them. It seems like something you would want in most games, but I don't think that the optimal timing for when to buy it would be straightforward. Obviously, if you buy it too soon and don't have enough economy in your deck, you will shoot yourself in the foot (I wouldn't recommend Obsolete Denomination for a first game of Dominion). You also need to be careful about the presence of trashing attacks that could destroy your deck's economy and time your purchase accordingly (or forgo it entirely). I think it's balanced enough so that if there are other strong copper trashers in the Kingdom, the choice of whether to go with those or Obsolete Denomination won't always be obvious. You need to be cognizant of the presence of cursers/junkers and how much other junk you already have in your deck before you buy Obsolete Denomination. Since you still need to draw the Coppers to trash them, you may need to be prepared for a few turns where you won't be able to do much if you buy it before you have enough economy in your deck or sufficient draw to get rid of them quickly.
Stronghold by GubumpStronghold
$7 - Project
When you gain a 2nd card in one of your turns, gain a Gold.
At $7, Stronghold would be one of the most expensive Projects (costing on par with Canal and less than Citadel). Stronghold can be useful both for BM decks as well as engines that need to increase their payload (you wouldn't need to forgo an engine part to buy Gold instead), but at $7, the ability seems quite underwhelming to me. Stronghold can be quite lucrative if you have enough gainers or +Buys, but would be dead in Kingdoms without any gainers or cards that give you +Buys. I don't know what the probability of that happening would be but I think it would be often enough to be worth considering.
Favor by spineflu *Short-List*Favor
$4 - Treasure
+1 Coffers
+1 Villager
You may return this to the Supply to return to your Action phase, then +1 Card.
For $4, Favor is a Kingdom Treasure that gives you +1 Coffers and +1 Villager. You can also choose to return a Favor (pun intended) to return to your Action phase and draw a card. In that sense, Favor is similar to Villa and Cavalry but with enough of a twist to make it unique. I like those cards because of the tactical possibilities that they open up, so I find this concept intriguing. I'm assuming that Favor doesn't give +1 Buy if you return it to the Supply, since players would return to their Buy phase after going back to their Action phase. If this isn't the case, then I think Favor should also give +1 Buy.
Mining Shaft by silverspawn *Short-List*Mining Shaft
$4 - Action
Trash a card from your hand. +1 Coffer per $1 it costs.
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When you trash this, each other player gains a Gold.
Mining Shaft is a Salvager variant that gives you Coffers instead of coin. Coffers are strictly better than coin; however, unlike Salvager, Mining Shaft does not give you +1 Buy. This can be quite important if there are no other sources of +Buys, but my sense is that Mining Shaft is still stronger than Salvager. Interestingly, in the Secret History for Renaissance, Donald X mentions that an early version of Recruiter allowed you to trash a card for +Coffers.
The rationale for the on-trash effect below the line is not entirely clear to me. If it's meant to nerf the card, I don't know how effectively it does so, since I'm not sure how often players will feel compelled to trash a Mining Shaft especially if there are other targets in their hand.
I'm always amazed by the quality of fan creations on this forum, and I definitely don't feel worthy enough to judge. Nonetheless, I've tried to do my best to provide a fair critique, and I realize that I'm ultimately passing judgement based on initial impressions rather than actually playtesting any of these submissions. So please take my comments for what they are worth.
Anywho...since everyone can't be a winner, here are the final results:
RUNNERS-UP: Furnace by Aquila,
Favor by spinefluWINNER: Obsolete Denomination by grrgrrgrrCongratulations to grrgrrgrr!