WDC #141: Seaside Revisited
Commentary & ResultsThanks everyone for the submissions, it was a lot of fun to see so many interesting ideas!
I don't know about you all, but this contest has definitely gotten me more excited to see the new official Seaside cards coming later this spring. As for many others, Seaside was my first Dominion expansion and I've always held a special fondness for it, though as the years have gone by, it's clear there's a lot of potential to make it even better. I'm hyped to revisit it again
It was very difficult to pick a winner! OPs are linked, shortlisted entries are bolded, enjoy!
Buccaneer by X-tra
A nice Workshop variant, identical to Falconer on play, and the Duration turn is effectively +$2, gain a Silver, not bad. This does have the same issue Falconer does when played terminally: where it often feels a little bad to not take the Silver to hand, but here, the extra Duration Silvers can make up for it. I imagine this is likely a very strong money enabler. Seaside could certainly use another gainer, and this does fit this mold well.
Sirens by JWCantrip for $5 with a Village effect and trash a card for +1 Card on the duration turn. It seems fine, though likely a little weak (compared to e.g. Ratcatcher’s cantrip and delayed trash). There’s also some wonkiness where early game you won’t need the village and late game you won’t need the trashing. Interesting idea nonetheless.
Bounty by xyz123I like this one a lot, and it feels very Seaside. It's a pleasantly simple idea, and I'm honestly shocked I haven't seen it before! $6 is expensive, but feels right for Silver + non-terminal Armory. Much more interesting than Merchant Ship, and it’s cool that this one actually isn’t a Duration so you can play it each turn. Certainly stronger than Hoard and can create some neat next-turn setups. As I said earlier, the expansion could really use a gainer other than Smugglers and this fills that gap perfectly.
Hatchway by NoMoreFunAnother Workshop variant, this one lets you put something from your discard on the bottom of your deck (essentially getting to use it once more this shuffle). Cute with Pearl Diver. I like that you can bottom deck something you didn’t gain, though this may not come up when drawing your deck. Looks fine, if a bit uninspiring.
Vacation Spot by Augie279Silver on play, and if you discard a couple cards, you effectively get gain a Gold next turn and +$3, a pretty decent duration effect. The comparison to Secret Cave feels apt, since you still have to reduce your handsize by 3 to get the duration effect (Secret Cave discards one more but has the cantrip draw), which is a tough sell in a lot of decks. At least the +$2 on play helps a little. Definitely more interesting than Explorer, though it still feels a bit weak for $5.
Secret Harbor by silverspawnA new take on Wishing Well, this one lets you choose whether to make your wish this turn or next. Instead of being a lab though if you wish well, you get a Grand Market/Village effect. As with Wishing Well, the cantrip top means there are not a lot of ways to guarantee activation if you choose the now option, though there are a few more on the duration turn (it’s a cute defense against Sea Hag and Ghost Ship). However, without the combos, more so than some of the other now or later Durations that we saw in Menagerie like Barge and Village Green, this one feels too much of a risk to use on the duration turn since you not only get nothing if you guess wrong, but you also miss out on playing it again for at least another turn.
Harbor by AJL828Sort of like Cargo Ship but as a Village. You don’t get the extra draw from Cargo Ship’s duration, but the Village effect and being able to play every turn more than make up for it, very slick. This does feel very Seaside (which could use one more Village) and will play a very useful role in a lot of decks, particularly ones with multiple gains per turn. The flavor works well too, your Harbor gives your new card a convenient place to dock on top of your deck. Nice one!
Admiral by jakavEffectively a Worker’s Village on this turn and a Worker’s Village + Lab next turn. Obviously much stronger than Fishing Village, and $6 feels about right. My one concern is that this could have the same issue as Wharf where it just gives you everything you want—draw, actions, buy, all on a single card. There’s not really a ton of reason not to go for Admirals and it’s likely the pile will get rushed in most games.
Fortune Seekers by Erick648There’s a little too much going on in this card for my liking. Making my opponents choose from three different options like this is going to cause serious analysis paralysis for opponents (even more so than Advisor which can cause AP sometimes too, but at least it’s usually just discard the best card of three). The Wish-like mechanic of gaining something to your hand if you have three in play feels tough to trigger (since you need THREE of these things and some cooperation from opponents) and doesn’t feel like quite enough of a payoff when compared to Treasure Map. As a side note, I do like the Monopoly submission, though it really wants to be non-terminal.
Treasure Ship by Xen3k
Seaside really feels like it could have had a Treasure - Duration, and I’d actually be surprised if we don’t get one in the official update cards that are coming soon. Not much to really say on this one, I think it would be a fine card, if a little vanilla. More interesting than Merchant Ship, and would play well in both money and engine decks, though you will want to get at least two. I like it.
Buried Treasure by LackarGetting some more use out of the Island mat is nice, and I love the flavor of “burying” your Treasures on a deserted island. However, the top of the card is awkward (both as an Action or a Treasure) with the terminal +1 Card, and honestly, I feel like this doesn’t need to be an Action at all. Make it a Treasure with just the bottom (and maybe switch to differently-named Treasures if non-terminal both choices Miser is too strong, which it probably will be).
Skipper by JoxeftWelcome to the forums! Skipper is similar to Den of Sin with the non-terminal duration draw, but adds in a Bridge effect while in play. $6 is expensive but does feel right in comparison to Highway. Buying a bunch of them will take some time, though the cost reduction will help, and once you do, it’s fairly easy to get several of these in play on alternating turns, like Bridge Troll. It’s possible the +Action may make it a little too strong to play strings of these, but maybe it’s fine. Seaside doesn’t really need more Duration draw, though I could see this being a slightly less dominant alternative to Wharf perhaps.
Architeuthis by LibraryAdventurerAnother Den of Sin variant, this time as a Silver on play. It’s sort of a combination of Wharf and Merchant Ship and it feels balanced at $6 ($5 would for sure compare too favorably to Den of Sin). Similar to Skipper, you’d want to have these alternate in clusters to stay consistent. Again, I don’t know that Seaside needs more Duration draw, but I like the idea nonetheless.
Transport Ship by Captain ReklawSort of like Ratcatcher, though better for Islanding your Estates, I think it can probably cost $3 or maybe even $2. The biggest issue here is the Island effect being mandatory—while it’s not a problem in the beginning, you quickly are going to run out of targets in the midgame, and with only your starting hand to pull from, it won’t be long before this is no longer safe to play. The simplest fix is to add a “you may” to the Duration which will make it more worthwhile to keep around for Islanding VP cards in your starting hand once you’re out of the early game (it could probably stay at $4 with the “you may”).
Whirlpool by exfretA riff on Pearl Diver, Whirlpool lets you look at and move ANY card from anywhere in your deck to anywhere in your deck and then draw a card. Uh. Similar to DXV's original Confusion card art, I stare into the swirl here and have just no idea how to play this card. Apart from cute combos like Wishing Well, I guess it's usually best to look at the top card and either bottomdeck it or leave it before drawing. Maybe? Or is looking for something to topdeck and draw better? While it's definitely far more interesting than its inspiration, the ambiguity of what card to look at seems destined to cause a lot of AP for newer players in ways that card movers like Pearl Diver and Secret Passage don't.
Pearl by grepAnother Pearl Diver replacement, Pearl is a $2 Copper that lets you look at and draw a card off the bottom of your deck. If your bottom card is a Treasure, it's sort of a mini-Venture, not bad for $2. If it's a Victory card, you can sift it out of the way this shuffle. Hitting Actions though is very sad and doesn't really help you at all. I think the idea definitely has potential and it's certainly more interesting than Pearl Diver, but it needs a little something more to make it a little more rewarding and usable in more decks. Ironically, it doesn't really synergize much with Pearl Diver as you'd usually rather keep a Pearl on the bottom of your deck to get drawn by another Pearl.
Corsair by spinefluA modified Pirate Ship now as a Duration which counts differently named Treasures in the trash like Forager and nicely eliminates the need for a mat. However, this still suffers from some of the same issues Pirate Ship does: trashing opponents' Coppers and being a very slow source of coin. Corsair at least lets players trash some of their own Treasures too which helps, but it's going to be very hard for this to make more than $2 or $3 in a lot of games. Being a Duration and requiring the Treasure trash for payload almost seem to make this a little weaker than Pirate Ship in some ways.
Reconstruct by GubumpSo it's Hireling except the extra card you get is always Remodel. Hmm. I think it's fine? The get your Remodel back every turn thing is kinda cool and it's interesting that it's a Duration you can still play every turn, but only have to draw once (assuming you have the actions and trash targets to play it every turn). I get why it has the on-gain, though it sure makes you think twice about getting it early which is when you really want your Remodels for upgrading your Estates. This makes me wonder if there's simpler way to make it harder to get early that doesn't require the set aside clause, perhaps the easiest is to just make it cost $6 (which would also make it a much better Reconstruct target itself for gaining Provinces in the endgame). Reconstruct is an unconventional use of the Duration mechanic which makes me doubt its fit in a lower complexity set like Seaside, though it's definitely a unique idea.
Deck Officer by anordinarymanI also love Lookout and I agree, it's almost certainly getting replaced, which is sad but I get it. Deck Officer scratches some of Lookout's itch with the thrilling risk of trashing the top card without knowing what it is, or giving players the ability to seed it at the cost of reducing handsize. That said, outside of setting up the trash, I don't really see the top deck option getting a lot of use on a nonterminal stop card like this, and it feels like the card needs something more. I wonder about changing the +1 Action to +2 Cards which would make the topdeck option much more useful, or perhaps to cantrip which would help Deck Officer compare a bit more favorably to other $2 nonterminal trashers like Raze and Ratcatcher.
Harbor by TiminouA $4 Village that can forgo the +Actions to play an Action from your hand next turn, sort of like Delay but without costing a Buy. The biggest issue here is that I'm struggling to think of many scenarios when terminal +1 Card, play an Action next turn is better than Village, play an Action now. In many games, I could see the Duration option rarely getting any use and this just becomes Village for $4. One simple fix is to move one of the if you didn't Actions to the top so it's either cantrip Duration play or Village, which should buff the Duration option significantly.
Kraken by nyxfulloftricksA trashing attack, though this one targets Action cards, and on the Duration turn, it gains a trashed Action to hand or is a Silver as a consolation. Trashing attacks are always swingy but this one even more so: I discard your Estate and Copper and get +$2 next turn while you trash my Wharf, AND gain it to hand next turn. And does Seaside really need another degenerate Attack? I would recommend dropping the to hand part, and perhaps adding a cost restriction to the attack and gaining like Rogue has. All this to say, I wouldn’t mind seeing a sea creature make its debut in Seaside.
Layaway by arrowdokAnother Treasure - Duration, this one lets you save an Action from your hand this turn to play at the start of your next turn, again similar to Delay. As a Treasure, it works very nicely with terminal draw since it can save a dead drawn action. Obviously it's less helpful in games where Actions are plentiful, but still a neat card with some utility in a lot of decks, and it accomplishes several Seaside dreams of both a Treasure - Duration and of making any Action card a Duration.
Honorable Mentions: Buccaneer by X-tra, Skipper by Joxeft, Treasure Ship by Xen3k, Architeuthis by LibraryAdventurer, Layaway by arowdok
Runner Up: Harbor by AJL828
WINNER: Bounty by xyz123Congrats to xyz123 and thanks everyone for participating!
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Topic: Weekly Design Contest #141: Seaside Revisited (Read 10743 times)