I initially wanted this to be able to give an Idle Hands and VP per unused Action, but I think that would be broken with Champion.
Yeah, the original version would've been very broken with Champion. Though, it is interesting that it would be one of the few times when it would be beneficial to have two Champions. As it is, it can potentially be a rather strong event. You get 2 VP and one junk card for $2 - making it, in most games, better than Estate. It would combo really well with Worker's Village, becoming almost equivalent to "spend $2 for 2 VP". While on the other hand, in games without much +Action, it would typically be just a little better than buying an Estate
Overall, I'd say this is a good Event with a fair price
As junk, they're lighter than Ruins are, taking Ruined Library as a comparison. I quite like them as -Actions that kinda get in the way of draw, so I thought simple:
Buried Village - Action, $3 cost.
+2 Cards
+2 Actions
-
When you gain this, gain 2 Idle Hands.
Unlock its power over time.
Basically a Lost City with a different penalty - hurting you rather than helping others. This could be potentially a bit too strong with certain Ways, especially Way of the Horse which would turn that penalty into a rather nice bonus! Academy would also effectively neutralize the penalty. But, in most games, that would be a genuine penalty. Opening double Buried Village would probably be pretty strong - the chance of subsequently drawing Buried Village with Idle Hands would be decent, and the +2 Actions from BV would make it easy to get rid of the IH's. So, $3 seems a bit too low for this. I'd probably go with $4
My Submission:
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BACCHANAL
[Card art is part of the painting Bacchanal by artist Charles-Joseph Natoire. It shows figures sitting around outdoors engaged in celebratory activities, surrounded by others who are providing them with food and wine. A tree appears in the top right corner of the frame.]
+2 Actions
+1 Buy
+②
Gain an Idle Hands.
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A Festival that costs $4 but also junks you with an Idle Hands on play. Because each IH is effectively -1 Action, the net effect of each play is +1 Action, +1 Buy +$2. A disappearing Spices at $4 would probably be too strong, but that only happens if they collide. If you miss, you could end up either stuck with an IH you can't play (turning it into a junk card) or drawing a card dead. If you buy more of these in order to increase the chances of collision, you end up with more IHs, and an increased chance that you draw one of these dead when you play your excess IH. And the fact that this card doesn't draw makes it less likely to you will have an IH after you play one.
Of course, if you can increase the likelihood of collisions (e.g. with sifting) or find an additional source of +Actions, this can be a cheap way to get a powerful card.
Interesting take. It's a pretty strong card, but at the cost of potentially junking up your deck. You'd probably want to make sure you have other villages and/or sources of villagers to ensure that you can get rid of the IHs. It would be pretty conditional - a really great card in kingdoms that support it, or a self-junking card in other kingdoms. I like this one
Playful Devil - $4
Action - Attack
+1 Card
If this is the first time you played a Playful Devil this turn, +2 Actions, otherwise +1 Card.
Each other player may reveal an Idle Hands from their hand; if they don't, they discard a card and gain an Idle Hands to their hand.
A cheap attack card that is non-terminal the first time you play it. The Idle Hands will usually never cycle into your deck so this almost acts like a State attack. I don't think this is a very strong attack, unless it is supplemented by hand-size attacks, so I think the cost is reasonable. Feedback is appreciated.
In games where +Action is scarce, you might not be able to play the gained Idle Hands, so the IH's would sometimes accumulate to some extent. The non-attack part is pretty weak - a regular Village the first play, a Moat after that. Combined with an attack that's frequently weak, but not completely ignorable, I think the price is decent
Resort
Action - $4
+3 Actions
You may gain an Idle Hands to your hand.
It's a slightly different Village that involves playing 2 cards to get the normal Village effect, but also has some flexibility.
I like this. In many games, as The Alchemist pointed out, it's essentially equivalent to a choice between a standard village and +3 Actions. In games with trash-for-benefit or Ways, though, the gained Idle Hands could give you extra flexibility (of course, using it as a Way, except for Horse, Chameleon, or Butterfly, would leave it in your deck - and Butterfly would very rarely be useful for Idle Hands outside of cost-reduction). Overall, though, in most games it wouldn't be meaningfully different from "Choose one: +3 Actions or +2 Actions +1 Card"
edit: made cost $4
Gaining an Idle Hands at least ensures that you'll be able to use this as a Moat if there's no other Action cards, but most times, you're ending up with a junk card. I think this would typically be weaker than a standard Throne Room
Idle hands are, essentially, -1 Action tokens akin to horses being +1 Card tokens, so if you play a cantrip with copycat, your get +1 Action and card! but have to pay it next turn with two actions. i think thats balanced?
Also, i changed Idle hands a little bit: some formatting fixes, added a 2$ worth to it so you can have a weak trashing for benefit, some art i think fits.
This is a pretty interesting idea - a Throne Room way with a mild penalty. Since it's gained on to your deck, if you play any draw after Copy Cat, you'll get it in your hand on the same turn, so that it would often amount to using two Actions to play an Action card twice. So, the net effect is weaker than a standard Throne Room, which only requires one Action. I feel like that's not enough of a cost to really balance it. Using this on anything with more than +1 Action means that you end up ahead on Actions. For example, on a normal Village, you get the equivalent of +2 Cards +3 Actions. So, as it stands, I think it's a bit too strong for a Way. Maybe add a "once per turn:"?
"If you have an Action card in play" is an interesting condition, as it's pretty uncommon to not play
any Action cards. So, once you buy this, it's almost automatic every turn. It's interesting in that it's a net wash - you gain a Villager, but the Idle Hands itself functions as an anti-Villager. Having the Villager can help with consistency, though. It's almost like "borrowing" an Action - you get an extra Action up front, but you eventually have to pay it back. Overall, I think this is a really clever use of Idle Hands
Exhaust • $4 • Event
Once per turn: If the previous turn wasn't yours, gain up to 7 Idle Hands and take another turn after this one, drawing the same number of cards as the number of Idle Hands gained with this for your next hand.
swapping out Loafing for a Mission/Seize the Day variant. What if a bonus turn with seven cards? Well, be prepared to take on some junk for that. Take an extra turn with a zero card hand (on account of the Prince/Guide/Hireling/Summon set up you did) and no junking penalty? Go for it.
This is a really good use of Idle Hands, and a great take on extra turns. This could potentially empty out the Idle Hands pile. Some cards with Prince could make this especially powerful. Prince of Minion, for example, would let you take no junking penalty, but start your second turn with 4 cards and 2 Actions - really strong! Ghost hitting the right Action card could also make the extra turn really good. Watchtower could potentially be a bit silly with this. The first player to buy this with a Watchtower in hand could gain 7 Idle Hands, trash 'em all, and still get a turn with 7 cards - and in two player now make sure that no one can ever use this for more than an Outpost effect for the rest of the game
Respite: This is a moat variant that lets you store up spare +Actions for later in the form of villagers. The hard-working denizens of your kingdom get their well-earned rest every now and again!
Modification: for my implementation, the Idle Hands pile has 30 cards regardless of player count, to match Horses.
This is sort of a moat variant, certainly, but it's also a kind of "borrowing" of Actions, like with Assistance above, making it more likely that you'll be able to draw a Village. A cool idea
I'm not sure how balanced or broken this is, but let's see what comments it draws...
Temp Agency
$5 - Night-Duration
Each player (including you) gains an Idle Hands.
At the start of your next turn, +1 Card, 1 Action, you may trash 2 Idle Hands from your hand to gain 2 Horses.
Sometimes when you hire from a Temp Agency, not much good work happens. Other times, things just click and you get a lot of productivity.
This is an interesting one too. It's like a Ghost Town but with junking. Since everyone gets IH's when it's played, it's one of those that you wouldn't want to ignore if your opponent is getting it - since it lets them trash some of the IH's they're getting. But otherwise, it seems like an overpriced Ghost Town in most cases. Occasionally being able to get 2 Horses doesn't seem like enough of an upside to compensate, though
Some really interesting ideas here!
1st place: Spineflu's Exhaust
2nd place: grrgrrgrr's Assistance
3rd place: Xen3k's Playful Devil
