Very happy with the quality of entries this week.
Rig The System
Event - $5
Once per game: The next time you would shuffle, instead arrange your deck in any order.
This is the sort of thing I was hoping to see. It will let you do a megaturn with a less than optimal deck, or make sure you have exactly $8 for your last few turns, or it could be used early for Treasure Maps. An issue I see is that it will be quite time consuming - you could add "each other player may use the bathroom" to the text. So the once per game helps as an anti-frustration feature, but even then if every player gets this that's probably going to be grating in both IRL and online games unfortunately.
Supernova
Event ($3)
Once per game: +1 Buy and at end of turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, then put all but 5 of these cards into your discard pile.
Similar to Rig The System and I think this one has the edge. This one is less powerful, but also less time consuming, and most of the fun of Rig the System is present here. Once per game balances it in terms of power and I think it will get players thinking about when to use it, and the +buy means that everyone will probably use it once.
Prospecting Village
$4
Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions
Once per game: +1 Card and, until the end of turn, when you play a Prospecting Village, you may gain a Gold.
I put in the brief that a Village with a once per game feature could be a good card, and you delivered. This will enable Hermit/Market Square-esque megaturns, where a deck that could barely generate $ suddenly has a lot. A "village idiot" strategy might be too good? Even if you only have a couple, you'll be happy with the once per game effect. Very nice thematically though.
My Submission:
Demonologist • $4 • Action
+3 Cards
If you have Dark Pact, +1 Action. Otherwise, discard a card. If you discarded an Action card, you may trash it to take Dark Pact.
Dark Pact • State
At the start of your turn, you may gain a Curse. If you didn't, discard 4 cards, then +1 Card.
Demonologist on its own isn't much worse than Smithy. Then once you take Dark Pact, you'll be able to quite easily draw your deck, and any trasher will be able to deal with the Curse. In a 2 player game where you both take a pact, you'll have 5 turns of a relatively minor effect before you take the major hit - enough to start greening. Even then, starting your hand with a Demonologist will be able to get you back on your feet without much trouble. The interesting aspect of the card is building up your deck, but you can just discard a Demonologist you'd otherwise draw dead to get things going.
I thing just buying Demonologists (and a trasher) might be too strong which makes the card less interesting.
Mass Migration - 12D
Event
Once per game: Gain one card from each Supply pile.
Populate + Alliance, but it costs Debt so you can get it any time. The most "depends on the kingdom" entrant I've seen in a contest. In a well balanced kingdom you may open with this, but if there's 9 terminals and one village then you'll want to get a few villages first. You may also want to leave it to your last turn to get the free bonuses with no consequences.
So for a simple card that seems like it's already been done, it's very interesting and makes you really want to look at the kingdom you're playing with even more than Populate. Good job.
Entrust • $1 • EventOnce per game: if you've taken 2 or more turns this game, gain a card.
This would be fine costing $0, or giving a +buy. I don't even think opening with it is all that bad. Sure it's an advantage for $5/$2 openings but there are plenty of other times in the game where you'd want to use this so it's not that frustrating.
This makes the interesting decisions involved in a game of Dominion even more interesting. It is a good "teacher card" to get beginners over the "buy the most expensive card you can afford" phase of learning. Well done.
Would probably be ok at $5. At $6 it's probably too expensive. I like the idea in general - lining up cards with Throne Room can be hard, so do you want to wait for the ideal card or just take what you can get. But once per game seems way too infrequent for an expensive Throne Room to just be sitting there. I think it would be better if each one came with a Token (like LastFootnotes Trade Tokens/Gems) and you could spend it to get the King's Court/Disciple effect.
 | Colonization
Project - 5
At the start of your turn, if you have any coin tokens on this,
remove one for +2 Cards and +$1.
When you buy this, put three coin tokens on this.
|
Instead of having you think about a turn, this asks you to think about a string of turns.
When I was thinking about this card I was thinking how interesting it would be if it was the only source of +buy in a kingdom. Then I looked again and saw the 2nd bonus was +$1, which is less interesting. I think I'd like this better if it gave +2 Cards, +1 Action and +1 Buy, so the colonisation turns really make the difference.
Still what you have here is 3 good turns, and you definitely want to buy this at some point but it's not clear when - the +cards are weaker earlier in the game but an early advantage can go a long way. In that sense, good design.
I wanted to upvote this so badly when I saw it. One of those designs that is just good to look at. It fills similar design space to Possession in terms of disincentivising megaturns, but I like it much more. It will be quite satisfying to "buy time" with this when you're behind. I think it would be better with an on buy +buy just so that the "slow and steady" engine can jam a megaturn without needing your own +buys. It ultimately does fill a similar niche to Seize the Day in terms of what it can do, the more I think about it. So it's not going to do as well in the competition, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good idea (think Candlestick Maker and Ducat).
Carnival
Action - Reserve
$5
+2 Actions
$1
____________________________________________________________________________________
At the start of your turn you may call this. On this turn when you play an action +1 Action
____________________________________________________________________________________
When you gain this, if this is the first Carnival you have gained this game put it on your tavern mat.
I like the way you did the "once per game" on this. I have no idea why you'd buy more Carnivals after your 2nd, and there's no reason for it to be a sub $2 strength card. I guess sometimes you REALLY want that + action, but this is essentially a pile that you'll ignore after you buy "your" Carnival. Kind of cool thematically - you get your "souvenir" from the Carnival but it's not the same as when you were there. But this would be fine as +$2 instead of +$1
The once per game effect is one I was thinking about when I made this round. A one off Champion can be a huge momentum shift and it would especially shine in the kinds of kingdoms where you would pay $5 for an extremely weak +2 Actions card.
Obsolete Denomination (project where Coppers trash themselves but no longer generate $) is one of my favourite fan cards, and this recaptures some of its magic. But I think it will be too often obvious to buy this and just pull the trigger when you have enough other ways to generate economy, and it being a Beggar (a Terminal Gold in the long term) is too strong given what else it does. This card, with Obsolete Demonination as a State would be ideal - so you still "feel" the space the extra coppers are taking up as they vanish.
(not a serious entry)
The irony is you usually do only win once per game, but with this, if you're ahead in points when you buy it, you win twice.
YAAAAAAAY! Though in doing so it fails the competition criteria.
I actually preferred the first version for the interesting strategy around filling gaps in a kingdom, though it being "once per game" doesn't make the card more interesting.
For the version here the "once per game" dilemma is whether you wait for the card you want to use it for and risk having your tokens put on a non ideal card. I imagine it being more of a race to buy this first with a half decent card, and then both players chase it. There'd be some games where players would disagree on what the best target for costuming is, but it will get less interesting at higher levels of play.
This is a really nice addition to basically any game of Dominion, especially BM kingdoms. When you hit $8 but don't want to buy the penultimate province, take the risk and get an even bigger advantage, but it will worsen your deck if the game drags on. May be more interesting at $7 or $9 just so it's not directly competing with Province. But great design.
Royal Crest - $5
Treasure
$2
If you returned Kings Favor this turn, +$1 and +1VP.
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Setup: Each player takes Kings Favor.
Kings Favor
State
At the start of your turn, you may return this. If you do, +1 Buy and play Treasure cards from your hand twice this turn. If you don't, +1 Card, then discard a card.
King's Favor is great. It gives you a one off Fortune, which can really make the difference, but in return you'll lose an ability that will actually shine during Greening. So interesting decisions.
Was expecting more from Royal Crest. I think it will lead to a lot of buyers remorse. Because you have to ask for the King's Favor at the beginning of a turn, you might not end up drawing your Royal Crests, and so you paid $5 for a Silver. Even when it works, it's not a big VP advantage, and Gold isn't that hard to come by in many Kingdoms.
I like the design idea and the idea of setting up a megaturn. The problem with this card is just seems too strong. If you activate the effect immediately, you're in a good position to gain more Golds (something which isn't the case for Camel Train). Activating the megaturn is also very strong, but I think it diminishes the importance of the rest of the kingdom either way.
I think a version with Actions, where you get +1 Action per card you take off the mat, would be better, especially in a game that doesn't otherwise have +Actions.
This is one of those ideas which I'd like to workshop until we land on a version of the idea that works.
I'd reword it to put Once Per Game: in front. A peddler with a nice strong attack you'd want to use to disrupt a megaturn or to slow your opponents down at a crucial moment. Only issue is I can see resentment for when players deploy the attack and they ultimately still have a good hand, but that's a factor of how you build your deck. Probably best for a late game turn to get the edge. Something like a double Pillage may have more use cases and would be simpler too.
My test for Allies is whether I'd play Underling for this, and I don't think I would. What you can accomplish by stacking up favours early enough to add to the first province gain isn't really worth it, and I'd hate looking my Liaison cards afterwards (though most of them other than Underling seem to have dual purposes). I'd like it more without the Once per Game, so not ideal for this contest.
Event: Bring out your dead
Once per game: Trash 4 Action cards you have in play to gain a Province.
I think this would work fine without the once per game in Kingdoms. Trashing 4 Actions and still paying $5 is quite a hefty cost, especially if you mistime a province gain. A good event.
Same as Supernova and I think that Supernova is cleaner mechanically. Not sure what cost leads to more interesting games; this may get used more often early game, but should the effect really be free?
Treasures in Heaven
$4 - Event
Choose one: Exile up to two cards you have in play; Exile one card from your hand and one card you have in play;
Or, once per game, you may exile an Action card from your hand for +1VP per Treasure card you have in Exile.
Stronger Bonfire. And then towards the end you get a big VP boost for your deck, and it might not even hurt your engine thanks to Exile. I understand why it needs to be once per game (to prevent stalemates), but it's not as interesting in terms of when you want to buy it.
Monument
Lanmark
Once per game before you may gain 1 VP per action card in play.
Heirloom: Gilden ticket
Gilden ticket $2
+$1
You may trash this card. If you do: +2 actions, +1 buy and return to your action phase.
(Removed the +1 card to make trashing first turn less usefull. )
Monument is the name of an official card - your previous name "Stadium" was fine. Otherwise 2 good ideas. I can imagine games getting kind of silly with Action chains to get the most points from the Landmark, for both players, but it's tempered by 3 pile endings. Still it's the kind of games that Dominion's "victory cards do nothing" system was trying to avoid, where decks just get crazier and crazier until the game ends.
The heirloom is a very nice effect. It's probably more likely to be a "get out of one terminal collision free" ticket than something you strategise around. But there is some strategy: Trashing first turn will be tempting in many games as trashing is powerful, but you lose your failsafe.
Keep the idea for Gilden Ticket handy - it would go nicely with another card.
Trusted Companion
$4
Action
+1 Card
+2 Actions
If you don't have Traitor, you may take Traitor.
If you have taken Traitor this turn, +$3.
Traitor
-
State
When you play a Trusted Companion, +1 Buy and discard a card.
I like the theme. This one is similar to Prospecting Village. You'll probably want to use this late game where discarding hurts less. and you want the +buy more. You might want to pull the trigger even if you can't line up too many Trusted Companions. I this also may lend itself too much to a "Village Idiot" strategy as discarding doesn't hurt that much. I'd like it better if Traitor was just +1 buy and the +1 Card on Trusted Companion was dependent on you not having taken Traitor.
Butler
My submission is an heirloom. You have the choose to trash it early to remove what's effectively a copper, or hold onto it to trash it later when you can get more points.
Either trash it at the beginning, or trash it as close as you can to your last shuffle. An interesting choice. However I think it's way too dependent on shuffle luck. If you trash it in the opening it could be anything from no VP to 3. If you decide to wait until late game, you may not get a good opportunity (with Butler appearing high in the shuffle). I think this will lead to game endings where people complain about bad shuffle luck.
Mansion is very simple. I think I prefer Duke as it involves Duchies, while Mansion will just lead to ignoring Duchies. It will lead competition over Mansions as soon as it's clear a player is going for them. Even losing the split 5-3 gives the player with 5 a 16VP advantage (2 Provinces a Duchy and an Estate).
They're decent ideas but I think they will lead to ragequit heavy games.
"Race to $15" isn't as fun a game as Dominion. You just build up and up and eventually hit the mark, and never have to worry about your deck falling over or consistency. At least Sanctuary/Bounty Hunter/Displace/Banish play out over several turns. With this it will seem like the game is over just when it's starting to get interesting.
Has tracking issues (which are now an official part of the game with Elder+Catacombs). There is also a tendency to move away from Attacks that don't really do anything for the attacker.
I think it's an interesting idea - forced Advisor. Would be interesting to playtest. The "once per game" effect is in line with the competition - you'll need to find the right moment to attack harder. But I think this card needs a fair bit of work to be in line with other official cards.
Central Bank
Ally
Once per game, at the start of your turn, you may spend up to 5 Favors for each other player to gain that many Coppers.
You've found a good design niche - how to do a Copper attack without running into the issues associated with the enormous size of the copper pile. In Importer games, Ouch (and you will definitely want to open Importer as you're in for a slog). In other games, quite interesting. It might be ideal just to attack on turn 1, but it would also be good to gum up someone's deck just as it gets lean (e.g. in games with Student). It runs into the issue with Underling where they're dead after you do the attack. But I like this quite a lot regardless. I'll be thinking about this as new Liaison cards are revealed next week.
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The following entrant purchased "YAAAAAAAY!" and has therefore won:Congratulations
X-tra, winning with the event
Opportunity!
The runners up:
Central Bank by infangtheif, and
Supernova by AJL828/
Strategize by Gubump
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #144: A one time thing (Read 8033 times)