Buffoon: I would replace the word "show" with "reveals" to be consistent with other cards. I think giving the opponent the choice of which card to reveal sounds good on the surface, but I think more often than not, they will reveal mediocre cards and Buffoon will end up being weaker than Jester. I feel like it would be better to have the opponent reveal the top card of the deck (I wouldn't have them discard it like with Jester).
[imgwidth=150]https://uploaddeimagens.com.br/images/003/008/893/full/Buffoon_%2829%29.png?1608437074[/img]
If they choose a good card, you gain it. If they choose a bad card, you do a kind of Mountebank attack. If they choose a mediocre card like Silver, it's not so bad also, you play it twice.
Don't get me wrong - I love the idea of giving your opponent a choice, and then making a decision based on what they choose. I'm still concerned about the power level. One potential consequence of Buffoon is that because one of the options is for every other player to gain a copy of the card, in multi-player games some Supply piles could run out faster. In such a scenario, your opponent could reveal a card whose Supply pile is empty, and your choices would be either to play that card twice (which may not necessarily be useful for you) or force everyone else to gain a Copper, which is fairly weak compared to other junking attacks. In certain games where your opponent is winning, it may actually be beneficial for them to reveal an Estate. If you choose the junking attack, you risk accelerating the end of the game by emptying out a Supply pile, whereas if you choose to gain an Estate, that wouldn't help you much.
Also, how would this work with Ruins? I may be wrong about the rules, but if a player reveals "Abandoned Mine", for instance, you can't force them to gain a copy of it unless it also happens to be the top card in the Ruins Supply pile.
Many attack cards don't do the attack part when a supply pile is empty (Curses for Witch, the revelead card pile for Jester, etc).
Right, but Witch gives you +2 Cards and Jester gives you $2 (and in games with 3+ players you'd have to be unlucky if all players revealed something from an empty Supply pile). Buffoon doesn't do anything in this case other than the sub-par junking effect in this case.
With Ruins, you may always play them twice if the top card of the pile is not the same of the revelead one.
Depending on what is revealed, it may not always be that helpful.
Have you considered giving Buffoon some vanilla bonuses in addition to the attack?
Also if someone reveals a moat
Comparing to Jester attack part:
- If the revealed card is an Action, Treasure or Night, Buffoon is so much better than Jester: If you want to gain a copy, it’s the same; if it’s bad and you want to junk, you junk with an additional Copper; and you have the extra option of play it twice. If its pile is empty, Jester attack fails, Buffoon can play it twice.
- If the revealed card is a Curse, Buffoon junks with a Copper more. If Curse pile is out, Jester attack fails, Buffoon may give a Copper.
- If the revealed card is an Estate, with Buffoon you junk with a Copper more. You also may gain it in the endgame, if you want. If Estates pile is out, Buffoon may give Copper. If Curse pile is out, Jester attack fails.
- If the revealed card is a good Victory, Buffon may gain it, which is better than gives a Curse. If their pile is out, Buffoon may give Copper. If Curse pile is out, Jester attack fails.
When the revealed card is bad, Jester junks with a copy, but also discards it from the top of deck, which could help your opponent (the opposite when it's a good card).
When Jester attack fails, it’s less than a Woodcutter. The worst case of Buffoon, when happens, is Ambassador attack without trashing, not so good, but not a total fail.
I think the better options Buffoon has over Jester in most of the cases, in special the play twice option and additional junking, counterbalance the +
of Jester.