Whew. When I decided on this contest, I didn't realize how hard it is to both make and judge liaisons that work well with all the Allies, and that which Ally is in the game can make a big difference in how strong a liaison is.
One thing I notice about the entries is that the majority of them had giving Favors as the main thing they do, whereas for most of the official Liaisons (besides Underling), getting Favors is more of a secondary benefit.
Here we go...
Way of the Seagull by MrFrog
Way - Liaison
Follow this card's instructions; each time that would give you +Buys this turn, you get +Favors instead, and vice-versa.
Nice idea. The problem with Guildmaster could be fixed just by removing the last 3 words, so it doesn't turn Favors into Buys. Still, buys are often a resource that's hard to come by, so you usually won't want to trade them for Favors unless there's either an unusual abundance of buys or an especially strong Ally.
Noblewoman by Gubump
$4 - Action - Duration - Liaison
+2 Favors.
At the start of your next turn: +1 Card.
-
Setup: Add an extra Ally to the game. You cannot use that Ally if you have no Noblewomen in play.
I like cards that break the usual rules. It's weak apart from the Ally, but since its favors have more than one effect, and it's required for access to the 2nd Ally, it'll still be plenty strong a lot of the time. I like it.
FinalistShrine by JW
Action - Liaison
+1 Card
+2 Actions
+1 Favor
Trash a card from your hand. +1 Favor if it is an Action card.
Underling + Hideout. Seems super strong for most of the game, but you're screwed when you run out of stuff to trash. Hard to judge overall. I don't think mandatory trashing on a Village is very fun (I don't much like Hideout either), especially if the Ally is Peaceful Cult...
Neutral Ground by emtzalex
$4 • Action - Victory - Liaison
+1 Action
+$1
+1 Favor
Worth 2% if you have at least 5 Favors (otherwise worth 0%).
This looks like it'll usually be weak, and only worthwhile when there's a strong Ally (Then again, a lot of the Allies are strong). Worse, it doesn't sound fun to not use one of the resources it gives for five plays in order to get the VP (unless the Ally is Bankers or Shopkeepers).
Organizer by NoMoreFun
Action/Liaison - $4
+2 Cards
+1 Buy
______
When you gain this, +1 Favor per Favor you have.
In order to use Mountain Folk or Island Folk once, you have to buy 3 of these. It seems to me like a very awkward way of getting favors. It could make for interesting games with certain important Allies like if Peaceful Cult is the only trashing, and you really want to win the Organizer split with Order of Shopkeepers (multiplayer games with this and OoShopkeepers could be really frustrating). Generally though, I think the awkwardness will be less fun more often than more fun.
Retailer by xyz123
$5 - Action - Liaison
+ 2 Coffers
You may spend any number of Coffers. +1 Favor for each Coffer spent.
Coffers are generally stronger than favors (at least they're valued more highly when you compare Underling and Baker). With some Allies, it may never be worthwhile to trade Coffers for Favors. Other times, it could be a good idea. Overall, I think this card could use a little something more.
Mentor by 4est
$4 - Action - Liaison
+2 Cards
+1 Action
Each other player gets +1 Favor.
I like the idea. Sometimes it could work well, but it's going to be pretty bizarre with Circle of Witches. Like many of these cards, it'll depend on the Ally whether this'll be worthwhile. Unlike the others, Mentor wants a weak Ally for it to be worth using.
Borderlands by infangthief
Victory-Liaison $3+
Worth 1VP per empty supply pile.
-----
When you buy this, you may overpay for it. For each $1 you overpaid, gain 2 Favors.
Besides being a dud with OoShopkeepers and CoWitches, it could maybe work well with other Allies considering the generous exchange rate. This hard to judge how it'll play with most of the Allies, but not working at all with those two is a significant minus.
Assassin by X-tra
$3 - Action - Liaison
+1 Action
+$1
Trash this or a card from your hand. +1 Favor per 2 differently named cards in the trash (round down).
A trasher that trashes itself and gives Favors. The slight 2nd player advantage is interesting (because the first time this is played in a game, it will (almost) never give favors). Later in some games, this could start giving truckloads of Favors, which could get crazy with certain Allies (like Island Folk).
Craftsman by AJL828
$4 - Action - Liaison
Gain a card costing up to $4.
+1 Favor per $1 less than $4 it costs.
I like the idea, but it's really going to depend on the kingdom if/when you want cards costing less than $4, so it's strength will vary a lot. There's always the Silver+1Favor option though. Good card if not the most exciting.
semi-FinalistConcierge by mandioca15
$5 - Action-Liaison
+$2
+1 Buy
Trash a card from your hand.
This turn, when you trash a card, +1 Favor.
This could make it hard to get Favors, especially if there's no village on the board (which is already the case sometimes with Emissary). Otherwise, I like it. I'm kind of torn between not really liking the Priest mechanic, and wishing there were more $5 Woodcutter+s.
Stooge by trivialknot
$5* - Action - Liaison
+2 Cards
+1 Favor
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Instead of paying this card's cost, you may pay a Favor.
This makes it so you can pay a Favor to get more Favors. Your first couple favors are probably going to be spent gaining Stooges (unless it's a weaker ally when it won't be worth getting more than one, if any), so it works slowly, but it'll still be good with a strong Ally. I like it, but it's probably going to want a lot of Villages.
Finalist
Nursery by spineflu
$3+ Action - Liaison
+2 Actions
You may discard a card for +2 Cards.
-
When you buy this, you may overpay. For each $1 you overpaid, +1 Favor.
A nice sifting village with a 1:1 overpay for Favors. This is almost like turning the Allies into Projects you buy with coin but not quite. There's a limit to how many times you can buy and overpay for favors (unless something like Swap or Way of the Butterfly is in the kingdom...) I like it.
Finalist
Court Occultist by Xen3k
$5 - Action - Attack - Liaison
+2 Cards
+1 Favor
Each player, starting with the player to your left, may trash a card from their hand for +1 Card.
If all trashed cards share a card type, +1 Action and +1 Favor. Otherwise, each other player gains a Curse.
It's never just a Lab or a Witch since the player of the Occultist also gets to trash. It's weird to have an attack that helps other players just as much as it attacks them. Honestly, I don't see the point in the attack happening this way.
Allies' Village by Carline
$4 - Action - Liaison
+2 Actions
+2 Favors
You may spend a Favor for +1 Card.
This seems strong for what it does considering Underling is a $3, at least it'll be really strong with a strong Ally, but not (usually) strong enough to cost $5. I like the idea, but you want to be playing villages anyway, and I think Favors should have a cost, something you have to go out of your way to get much of. So I think this is too easy. Still, I'm calling it a
semi-finalist.
Foreign Market by Commodore Chuckles
$5 - Action - Liaison
+1 Villager
+1 Coffers
+1 Favor
Gain a Horse.
Funny. This could work, but it's not particularly compelling imo.
Bribery by Augie279
$4 - Project - Liaison
At the end of your Buy phase, you may pay any number of $, for +1 Favor per $ spent.
Another one that basically lets you buy favors for a 1:1 rate. Being able to buy the Favors at will once you buy the project makes it seem too easy to me. I think Nursery is more interesting as a new Village + the buying favors overpay.
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Delegate by Joxeft
$4 - Action - Liaison
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Favor
You may discard a card for +1 Favor. You may spend 2 Favors to change the Ally to one of the set-aside Allies.
And another one that adds additional Allies to the game. I like the idea, but I don't like that the card is otherwise so similar to Underling.
Pawnbroker by Firestix
$4 - Action - Liaison
+$2
Trash a card from your hand. You may look through your discard pile and trash up to one copy of it.
Heirloom: Keepsake
Keepsake
$0 - Treasure - Heirloom
You may discard a Treasure for +1 Favor.
-
When you trash this, +4 Favors.
Pawnbroker seems like a strong trasher for Copper and Estate. I don't like setups that weaken your opening buys, and not giving any coin is a big drawback for Keepsake. I don't see any reason for Keepsake not to give any coin, except to make you want to trash it even more. I have said that I think there should be a price for Favors, but I think the price to keep Keepsake for more Favors is too high. Not only does it no nothing besides give favors, but you have to discard Treasures for them as well as keeping the junk card.
Syndicate by Aquila
$5 - Action - Liaison
+1 Card
+2 Actions
Choose one: +$1, or trash a card from your hand.
Each other player gets +1 Favor.
And another one like Mentor that gives Favors to other players. I think this one is more interesting and fun-looking than Mentor. (Though it's still going to be kind of weird with Circle of Witches.) It'll going to feel bad to be giving other players extra turns with Island Folk with this, especially if this is the only village or the only trashing, but it's harder to pass on than Mentor in those cases I think.
Peacemaking by UltimateGeek
$4 - Event
Move your +1 Favor token to an Action supply pile.
(When you play a card from that pile, it is considered a Liaison and you first get +1 Favor.)
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Setup: Add a random Ally if no Ally was drawn.
This is my favorite of the Landscape Liaisons (despite it not technically being a liaison). The Allies are such that this would be easily worth $5 with some Allies, and possibly not worth buying for $4 with others. But it's less bad for a landscape to be dead some games than for a kingdom card.
FinalistChamberlain by Lackar
$5 - Action - Liaison
+$2
Discard any number of Treasures, revealed, for +1 Favor each.
I feel like this could cost $4, but otherwise seems good, though not particularly interesting.
Marchioness by D782802859
$2 - Action - Liaison
+1 Action
+1 Buy
+1 Favor
-
In games using this, when you gain an Action costing $5 or more, you may gain a Marchioness.
Easier to get for free than Duchess, since you don't want to buy Duchies nearly as often as other $5s. Way to use the Duchess mechanic for something that's actually worth having in your deck (most of the time anyway).
Procurator by Timinou
$2 - Action - Liaison
+1 Action
Look at the top card of your deck. You may either discard it for +1 Card or trash it.
-
When you discard this other than during clean-up, +2 Favors.
I like this one, although it could make it very hard to get Favors if it's the only card that discards. Giving two at a time partly makes up for that. I like that it's a decent $2 card even without the Favors (and I think Dominion could use more decent $2 cards).
Finalist
Schmooze by Chappy7
$3 - Action - Liaison
+1 Card
+1 Action
Reveal your hand. If there are four or more revealed types, trash this and +4 Favors.
I didn't know Schmooze was a real word until I looked it up just now. It's a unique way of giving Favors, but still Underling already covers the space of "cantrip that does nothing but give Favors". Maybe the last line could work well with different bonuses above it.
Exchange Rate by arowdok
$3 - Action - Duration - Liaison
Now and at the start of your next turn, choose one: +1 Favor; Spend a Favor for +2 Villagers;
Spend a Villager for +2 Coffers; Spend a Coffers for +2%.
A unique idea to use Favors as an investment to trade them for other tokens later. The problems I see are that this is slow, and it could get too strong with other cards that give Coffers or Villagers.
Demolition by jakav
$3 - Action - Liaison
Discard any number of cards, then draw that many.
+1 Favor per card discarded.
A Cellar Liaison (without the +action). This might still be okay costing $2 since it doesn't have the +action. Seems good. I like how it's a sifter that gives more motivation to sift more.
It's a tough choice, but I'm going to say the winner is...
Nursery by spinefluRunners up: Noblewoman by Gubump and Peacemaking by UltimateGeek.
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #146: Contacts (Read 9186 times)