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[Commodore Chuckles]

Your challenge this week is to do for another expansion what Shelters did for Dark Ages: design 3 cards to replace opening Estates, themed on one of the official expansions other than Dark Ages and Base.

The winner will be decided based on how well the cards fit with the expansion, as well as how well they work as opening cards. Please keep in mind that, as these are opening cards, they are cards you should want to trash a lot of the time. You can also make up a new type and color for them to share if you like, but in my opinion the Shelter type is only thematic for Dark Ages. Also, please give the name of the expansion you are using as a base.

[AJL828]

These are to be used with Renaissance.

This idea (thematically) is kind of like an anti-Dark Ages. While in the Dark Ages you're down on your luck and must work with whatever you have, in the Renaissance you're more sort of paying homage to the people and places that got you (and others) this far. These three cards represent buildings of days long past, now destined to be abandoned forever... probably. Sometimes it turns out that with enough work, it can be worthwhile to keep cherishing these old memory makers.

I also think this idea (mechanically) works really well with Renaissance too. While it isn't a central theme, a lot of Renaissance cards can trash or have other bonuses related to trashing. Forsaken Manor takes advantage of this by letting you trash an extra card like Sewers (hey that's also in Renaissance). It can help you thin just a little quicker, or sometimes even thin a card you otherwise couldn't (like with Hermit or Jack or something).
Abandoned Church also has the potential to trash cards, quite a few in fact. However it relies solely on Patron reveal reaction to do so. Renaissance has quite a few cards that can activate Patron and thus also quite a few cards that can activate this. But a lot of the time it will be easier for you to just trash this and move on instead of trying to set that up.
Lastly we have Old Bridge, with a simple on play effect, also paying homage to one of the set's themes. It can impact openings like Baker or certain Heirlooms or events do, and if you find yourself with a lot of Workshop type cards the cost reduction may prove quite useful on later turns. But it is terminal, so that probably won't happen very often.

[NoMoreFun]

For Seaside:

Northern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Action. Otherwise, when you discard this from play, trash this and gain an Estate.

Southern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Buy. Otherwise, when you discard this from play, trash this and gain an Estate.


Inland Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +$1. Otherwise, when you discard this from play, trash this and gain an Estate.

[emtzalex]

My Submission:

Hibernation Cave • $1 • Reaction - Shelter
When you return a card to its pile, you may Exile this from your hand.

Remote Lake • $1 • Victory - Shelter
Worth 1VP if on your Exile mat at the end of the game (otherwise worth 0VP).

Wild Pasture • $1 • Treasure - Shelter
$0
When you trash or Exile this, gain a Horse.

My submission is Hibernation Cave, Remote Lake, and Wild Pasture, designed to be from Menagerie. These are also "Shelters" but (fitting the set's theme), they are places where an animal might shelter, rather than a human. They also play on Menagerie's other themes of Exile and Horses, as well as the fact that there are multiple ways for cards to go back to their pile (either a Horse or using Way of the Butterfly).

[faust]

For Seaside:

Northern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $4*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Action. Otherwise, exchange this for an Estate when you discard this from play.

Southern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $4*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Buy. Otherwise, exchange this for an Estate when you discard this from play.

Inland Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $4*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +$1. Otherwise, exchange this for an Estate when you discard this from play.

If these are supposed to be like Shelters, then they don't have a pile, so they cannot be exchanged.

[Builder_Roberts]

My submission is Residences for Prosperity.
So, the whole thing about Dark Ages was trashing and benefits from trashing, plus an overall Lower cost. Prosperity, in contrast, is focused more on Treasures and Higher costs. So, these cards all help you hit those higher costs. It does create some Baker problems, in that the start is messed with quite a bit, but I saw no other way to capture the "feel" of Prosperity.
The way I figure, with these opening cards, you can't hit below $3. There are no 2-cost Kingdom cards in Prosperity.

Cottage • $3 • Treasure - Residence
$1
You may play an Action card from your hand.

Lodge • $3 • Reaction - Residence
When you gain a Treasure, you may trash this from your hand and gain a Silver.

Manor • $3 • Victory - Residence
2 VP
When you trash this, gain a card costing up to $7.

[silverspawn]

My submission is Housing for Prosperity.[...]

where did you get the art from?

[Builder_Roberts]

where did you get the art from?

I got my art by searching for synonyms of "wealthy shelter" + Fantasy Art. For instance, I got Manor's art by searching for "Manor fantasy art" then scrolling through the images.

[Xen3k]

Shelters for Nocturne

Faerie Tree - $3
Action - Victory - Fate - Shelter
You may reveal a Victory card from your hand to receive a Boon.
----
1VP

Hanging Tree - $1
Attack - Reaction - Doom - Shelter
When another player gains a Victory card, you may play this for +1 Card.
If that player hasn't received a Hex this turn, they receive the next Hex.

Shaman Hut - $1
Night - Shelter
Gain a Will-o'-Wisp.
If you have not gained a Victory card this turn, trash this to gain a Will-o'-Wisp and a Curse.

Faerie Tree is a real simple source of Boons. Hanging Tree is a Reaction Attack that only does something if players are buying Victory cards. The mitigating factor is that it relies on Hexes for the attack which are a real mixed bag. It at least replaces itself when you react with it. Shaman Hut gives access to Will-o'-Wisps, but requires you to have gained a curse Victory Card to keep it, otherwise you gain a curse anyways and it trashes itself. Feedback is appreciated.

Edit 1: Ok, took the feedback regarding Shaman Hut to heart and fiddled around with the concept a bit more. Came up with this new version. Acts more like a bonus for gaining Victory cards by rewarding you with a Will-o-Wisp. Still Curses you and trashes itself if you did not get a VP card, but gives you another Will-o-Wisp. So, out of the gates you can trade in Shaman Hut for 2 Wisps and a Curse. IDK if that is too appealing a trade or not, so additional feedback is appreciated. Thanks to segura and Builder_Roberts.

Edit 2: Modified Faerie Tree and Hanging Tree. Faerie Tree is harder to activate and get Boons off of, encourages early VP gain (encourages using Shaman Hut), is actually worth a VP, and has an increased price making it more appealing for trash for benefits effects. Hanging Tree is less punishing for the person that buys VP; players will not get hit with multiple Hexes per turn and no longer does collateral damage.

Old Versions

[Builder_Roberts]

I don't know why Faerie Tree is a Victory card at all. Shaman Hut seems interesting, but I don't think I'd ever play it if I didn't have Trashing.
Faerie tree is already an Action. Being a victory card worth 0 VP does nothing for it but give it an additional type.
The new version of Shaman Hut is pretty good! I'd play with it. Still a very late-game sort of thing. but you could just get 2 willow wisps and a curse and call it a day.

[Xen3k]

Faerie Tree is a VP card purely for card interaction. See Overgrown Estate, which could have just been a pure Shelter.

Shaman Hut will always be a detriment, but gives you options. Also, if an attack triggers on your turn and gives you a Curse, like maybe Black Cat or Hanging Tree, you can buy a VP and gain a Will-o-Wisp without losing it.

Edit: Modified Shaman Hut to be a bit more appealing to play.

[xyz123]

Some Shelter equivalents for Empires.

Broker
$1
Treasure - Castrum

$2
___________________________________________
When you discard this from play take 4 debt tokens

Stall
$1
Reaction - Castrum

Whenever you gain a card you may reveal this from your hand and discard it for +1 Buy

Gatehouse
$1
Victory - Castrum

Worth 9VP if you have 1 Broker, 1 Stall and 1 Gatehouse.


Notes
- Gatehouse follows the Empires theme of promoting potentially unusual strategies. If you hang on to these three shelters they will also effectively be a Duchy each at the end of the game.
- Broker potentially gives you a Silver in your starting hand to potentially spike some better cards on turn 1 and 2. If you use it though you have to pay back double the debt.
- For the third card, I deliberately wanted a weak card that didn't do a lot but could allow for some tricks in the right circumstances.
- I deliberately avoided making an action card to limit the number of cards that would allow you to trigger Gatehouse's points by exiling the cards. With that constraint I though a Shelter-Treasure, Shelter-Reaction and Shelter-Victory gave a nice mix.

- Edit - Changing the types so they are not shelters. Giving the cards a new type instead of Castrum, which is a term for a Roman fort or camp.

[Commodore Chuckles]

For Seaside:

Northern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Action. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Southern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Buy. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Inland Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +$1. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Normally the judge shouldn't comment on the cards before judging, but I need some clarification on how these work. It seems to me that if you're trashing a Passage, then you're not discarding it from play and so you'll never gain the Estate.

[4est]

Looks like xyz123 beat me to the punch for Empires-themed Shelters, but here are mine anyway. I tried to create cards that don't affect the opening most of the time, interact with the two main themes of Empires (VP tokens and Debt), and have some light interactions with each other. We're sticking with the name Shelter since all of these things do in fact Shelter you from stuff kinda.

Savings is a Gold, yeeha, but only if you have Debt. Nice for paying off those expensive Debt cards/events on the turn after you buy them, but not very useful otherwise.

Benefactor is a Reaction that lets you discard it from your hand for +1VP anytime you take VP or Debt tokens. It's tricky to line up, but it might be worth keeping around for the occasional extra VP.

Ancestral Home is my attempt of a sort of Attack Shelter. When you trash it, you get +1 VP, and everyone else takes 1 Debt (which is sort of like taking your -$1 token). To keep from being too oppressive, the Debt attack can't stack on top of other Debt, and Savings and Benefactor may make players actually thankful for the Debt anyway.

[Augie279]

For Adventures. Because there's no actual paths you can take in it for some reason. using the Project color bc am lazy

edit: Lakeside should be an Action-Path not a Reaction-Path but I'm too lazy to change it

[NoMoreFun]

For Seaside:

Northern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Action. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Southern Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +1 Buy. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Inland Passage
Action - Duration - Passage - $2*
If this is the first time you played a Passage this game, at the start of each of your turns for the rest of the game, +$1. Otherwise, trash this and gain an Estate when you discard this from play.

Normally the judge shouldn't comment on the cards before judging, but I need some clarification on how these work. It seems to me that if you're trashing a Passage, then you're not discarding it from play and so you'll never gain the Estate.

Reordered for clarity. Basically you only get to activate one of the Passages per game.

The others turn into Estates. That happens when you discard it from play to avoid issues with Throne Room.

[CaptainReklaw]

Shelters for use in Guilds.

[Dubdubdubdub]

Apiary • $1 • Action - Apiculture
+3 Actions
Discard a card

Honey • $2 • Treasure - Apiculture
If you have 6 or more differently named cards in play: +$2

Flower Fields • $3 • Victory - Apiculture
Worth 1VP for each differently named card in your deck costing $2 or less.

- - -

The Apiculture cards, made for Cornucopia.

I wanted these cards to be slightly more desirable than the existing Shelters. I believe Heirlooms have taught us it isn't a problem if some starting cards are a bit more powerful. Of course, the added card variety is already a nice boost to existing cards from Cornucopia.

[Edit: uploaded the wrong version of Apiary]

[Holger]

Some Shelters for Empires.

Broker
$1
Treasure - Shelter

$2
___________________________________________
When you discard this from play take 4 debt tokens

Stall
$1
Reaction - Shelter

Whenever you gain a card you may reveal this from your hand and discard it for +1 Buy

Gatehouse
$1
Victory - Shelter

Worth 9VP if you have 1 Broker, 1 Stall and 1 Gatehouse.


Notes
- Gatehouse follows the Empires theme of promoting potentially unusual strategies. If you hang on to these three shelters they will also effectively be a Duchy each at the end of the game.
- Broker potentially gives you a Silver in your starting hand to potentially spike some better cards on turn 1 and 2. If you use it though you have to pay back double the debt.
- For the third card, I deliberately wanted a weak card that didn't do a lot but could allow for some tricks in the right circumstances.
- I deliberately avoided making an action card to limit the number of cards that would allow you to trigger Gatehouse's points by exiling the cards. With that constraint I though a Shelter-Treasure, Shelter-Reaction and Shelter-Victory gave a nice mix.

I really like Broker and Gatehouse.  But AFAICS Stall is equivalent to a nonterminal Ruined Market except for the card type, and the rather rare case where you can redraw it after discarding, where it gives several +Buys. IMO,  this doesn't justify the increased complexity (and much longer card text) so I would just make it a Action Treasure with +1 Buy (or maybe + 2 Buys for a slightly stronger card).

Edit (in italics): Unlike Ruined Market, Stall does not use up an Action. So making it a Treasure instead of an Action comes much closer to your original concept.

[Builder_Roberts]

I've updated my submission (again) (sorry)

[Dubdubdubdub]

I've updated my submission (again) (sorry)

These are pretty significant changes! I really like both versions though But those yellow letters are near unreadable on my screen.

[AJL828]

Meant for Allies.
Compass is the Copper version of Tent. It messes with the opening but comes at the cost of slower cycling.
Tavern is simple.
Hut is the crazy one. It is obviously inspiread by Battle Plan. Due to the second option you can create rotating piles and block/unblock a good pile (the restriction to Kingdom piles exists to prevent potentially degenerate play and keep green and money always "open"). It might lead to interesting mini-games. Not sure how strong it is, so I am not sure about costly it should be. I did consider spending a Favor but that might make it too weak and there could be basic deck stuff like topdecking or discarding as cost. Not sure about this one and open for feedback.

I think that you should prevent Hut from triggering via Clean-Up discards. Consider a situation where you have a board with these, a good trasher (Remake or something) and an expensive kingdom card (anything $6 or more). The first player to react with this could lock the other(s) out of the trasher and be able to gain a large advantage due to pure chance. It is possible the other(s) could uncover the pile but again, it would be chance. This might be a little bit specific but I think it could come up often enough to warrant an adjustment.

[Joxeft]

For Menagerie:

	Old Estate - Shelter - Action - Victory - Cost: 3 +1 Card Trash a card from your hand. - 1%
	Abandoned Village - Action - Shelter - Curse - Cost: 2 +3 Actions +1 Buy - -1%
	Old Barn - Shelter - Reaction - Cost: 2 When you trash this reveal it and choose one: +1%; or exile your hand.

I'm not sure if old barn needs the Reaction part please tell me if it doesn't.

Feedback is appreciated.

[scott_pilgrim]

Submission (for Menagerie):

Name: Hay Farmer
Types: Action, Farmer
Price: $1
Text: +1 Action; Exile a Horse from its pile.

Name: Animal Trader
Types: Action, Farmer
Price: $1
Text: Trash this. Gain a Horse.

Name: Rancher
Types: Action, Farmer
Price: $1
Text: +1 Buy
While this is in play, when you play a Horse, you first get +1 Card.

[Xen3k]

For Menagerie:

	Old Estate - Shelter - Reaction - Cost: 3 When you draw this you may reveal and trash it. - 4%
	Abandoned Village - Action - Shelter - Cost: 2 +3 Actions +1 Buy - -1%
	Old Barn - Shelter - Reaction - Cost: 2 When you trash this reveal it and choose one: +1%; or exile your hand.

I'm not sure if old barn needs the Reaction part please tell me if it doesn't.

Feedback is appreciated.

Old Estate should probably have the Victory card type, Abandoned Village should have either the Curse or Victory card type, and you are correct that Old Barn needs to be a Reaction. I like how Old Estate and Old Barn give interesting choices. Abandoned Village is an interesting Necropolis variant, probably the most straight forward to plan for.

[Dubdubdubdub]

Name: Rancher
Types: Action, Farmer
Price: $1
Text: +1 Buy
While this is in play, when you play a Horse, you first get +1 Card.

I would love to play with this. But even with only the below the line effect, it’s potentially incredibly powerful for a Shelter. I realise you need to line it up with the Horses and a Village, but it effectively doubles the effect of every Horse.

You know what? That sounds really cool. Not a criticism, I’m going to upvote right now

[Joxeft]

I have updated and fixed my entry.

[Chappy7]

Alchemy, because someone had to do it.



First of all, when these are used, you are supposed to add a cost pile to the kingdom. I wasn't sure if that should be written on each card or what, so for now I just left it off. Or maybe it's better to say when a cost card is used, there's a random chance these get used too.

Stir helps you get potions.  Booth incentivizes using potions (a bit) and Ingredients does a Philo Stone-esque thing, and offers buys so hopefully you don't have to use your one and only buy on a cheap card like University.

Edit: Switched the colors to match how the shelters work.  Looks like the card generator I was using puts the "primary" color on the botthom and the "secondary" color on the top

[Jonasssss]

My submission are the Expelled people of Menagerie!

Martyr - Reaction - Expelled
When you would Exile a non-Martyr card or return a non-Martyr card to the supply, you may Exile this to instead put it into your hand.

Martyr can Exile himself to save a horse, a butterfly, or someone else from Exile.

Brigand - Action - Expelled
You may put a card you have in Exile into your hand. If you didn't, gain a horse.

The Brigand, can help you leave Exile, or ride away using a horse.

Warden - Action - Expelled
This turn, when you Exile a card, +1 Card

The warden is a simple guy and just wants to see other people go in Exile.

[spineflu]

Night Mayor • $1 • Night - Citizens
Put your deck into your discard pile.

Ombudsman • $1 • Reaction - Citizens
When a Boon is revealed on your turn, you may trash this from your hand to receive it again.

Bodygardener • $1 • Reaction - Victory • Citizens
When a hex is revealed, you may trash this from your hand to be unaffected by it.
-
1%

EDIT: made a clarity note on the trashing to specify "from your hand"; i'm not going to update the images since that would require firing up photoshop again and who has the time, but please use your imagination to fill in the gaps there.


For Nocturne, naturally. These help exacerbate the good swingyness, when random good things happen to you (boons), and mitigate the bad swingyness (especially painful hexes), or cause more swingyness (such as opening $6* + night mayor enabling a t2 $7 hand when something like Cursed Gold is in the kingdom, from getting Cursed Gold in both opening hands).

As far as interactions, I wanted these to interact with (1) hexes either earned (cursed village) or attacked with (sulk/vampire/werewolf/etc); (2) boons as they spawned - intentionally no interaction with druid, but with lost in the woods, bard, etc; and (3) the edge case of wanting to put your deck in the discard but not wanting to buy a card to do it.

As far as naming, I started with Night Mayor and Ombudsman, two actual titles, and decided on "Citizens" for the type name. Then I remembered this meme and couldn't get the name "bodygardener" out of my head, so that's what the 3rd one is. 50/50 estate and bodyguard.

[Firestix]

Edit: Renamed Tower and Cauldron to Forlorn Tower and Alchemical Still

My Submissions:

Alchemical Still ($0 Reaction - Component) When you gain a Potion, you may trash this from your hand to gain a card costing $4 or less.	Extract ($0 Treasure - Component) [Potion] +1 Buy Gain a Curse. Trash this.	Forlorn Tower ($0 Victory - Component) 1VP When you trash this, you may put your deck into your discard pile to look through it and put a Treasure from it into your hand.

These are to be used with the Alchemy expansion, replacing your starting Estates.

My goal is hopefully that these cards make investing into potions and potion cost cards less awkward.

(I saw Chappy7 made some for Alchemy already. Taking a quick look, they're both different enough that I'm comfortable submitting this as is.)

• Alchemical Still allows you to gain a potion without missing out on another purchase.
• Extract is a one-shot potion treasure that allows you to gain a potion cost card in the opening turns. The downside is that it gains you a curse when you use it.
• Forlorn Tower is an Estate. Keeping it can help you offset the Curse you could gain with Extract. If you manage to trash it, you can discard your deck to put any treasure in your discard to your hand.

[emtzalex]

My Submissions:

• Cauldron allows you to gain a potion without missing out on another purchase.
• Extract is a one-shot potion treasure that allows you to gain a potion cost card in the opening turns. The downside is that it gains you a curse when you use it.
• Tower is an Estate. Keeping it can help you offset the Curse you could gain with Extract. If you manage to trash it, you can discard your deck to put any treasure in your discard to your hand.

Cauldron and Tower are already the names of official cards/landscapes.

[X-tra]

Let's try this for promos. If promo cards aren't considered an expansion, I'll withdraw this entry. Until then:

[faust]

Here is my set for Adventures.



EDIT: I decided to give Signpost the -1 Card token instead of the -$1 token, just to make it a bit more unpredictable and thematic, and because Roadside Inn already interacts with your $.

Old version:

[Xen3k]

Original entry updated.

[X-tra]

I love these, but just a small comment. I think the self-trashing Ombudsman and Bodygardener should say that they are being trashed from your hand.

[gototogo]

After taking a few minutes to think up some simple cards for Base Shelters I reread the original post and realized that Shelters for the Base set are not allowed in this contest.  Oh well, posting for posterity then:

Dry Moat • $1 • Action - Shelter
+2 Cards

Sundial • $1 • Treasure - Shelter
$1
+1 buy

Beggar's Feast • $1 • Reaction - Shelter
When another player plays an Attack card, you may trash this to gain a Silver

The idea was to keep things as vanilla and simple as possible.  Dry Moat (originally called Henge) from Moat, and is the obvious relative of Necropolis. Sundial is half of Astrolabe, with Woodcutter gone I did want another cheap +buy, and here you do not even need to buy it!   I wanted a nerfed Feast to round it out and settled on a very weak Beggar variant with an air of Overgrown Estate.

Dry Moat and Sundial seriously shake up the initial two hands, with some shuffle luck you can gain a 6 or two 3's with your first hand and then maybe even see those cards on turn 2.  Game-changing and perhaps a bit too luck-dependent, but no more so than some other cards I would say.  I would say they shake up the game no more so than Chapel.  Certainly Dry Moat can become much less important if there is any other draw present, but Sundial may mean that you forgo Market or Festival for another card at times.

Beggar's Feast is the weak card here, presumably it would not stop anyone from wanting to go for an attack since it does not actually stop them, it simply gives the player a slight benefit one time.  And if there are no Attacks, hey, nothing wrong with one card causing just a little Confusion, one more thing that was originally in the pre-release Base Set.

Honorable Mention goes to:

Divided Estate • $1 • Victory - Shelter
1/2 VP

Originally I was going to do something cute like "worth 1/N VP, where N is the number of Shelters in your deck", so it rewards you for trashing your other Shelters, and can be a tie-breaker in different contexts, and puns division of estates and in mathematics.  Or simply "Worth 1 VP if the game ends after someone else's turn", to again be a different tie-breaker.  But 1/2 VP just seemed simple, and simple is the way to go with the Base set.

[silverspawn]

Seems like you've hit gold with this challenge. So many great entries!

[Commodore Chuckles]

Contest closes in 24 hours

[Commodore Chuckles]

Contest Closed

[Commodore Chuckles]

I'll try to get the judging up later today. In the meantime, here is the list of entries, let me know if I missed any:

Forsaken Manor/Abandoned Church/Old Bridge by AJL828
Passages by NoMoreFun
Hibernation Cave/Remote Lake/Wild Pasture by emtzalex
Cottage/Lodge/Manor by Builder_Roberts
Faerie Tree/Hanging Tree/Shaman by Xen3k
Broker/Stall/Gatehouse by xyz123
Savings/Benefactor/Ancestral Home by 4est
Lakeside/Mountainside/Riverside by Augie279
Flower Stand/Savings/Seaside Shanty by Captain Reklaw
Apiary/Honey/Flower Fields by Dubdubdubdub
Compass/Tavern/Hut by segura
Old Estate/Abandoned Village/Old Barn by Joxeft
Hay Farmer/Animal Trader/Rancher by scott_pilgrim
Stir/Booth/Ingredients by Chappy7
Martyr/Brigand/Warden by Jonasssss
Night Mayor/Ombudsman/Bodygardener by spineflu
Ascetic/Copycat/Novice by X-tra
Alchemical Still/Extract/Forlorn Tower by Firestix
Signpost/Roadside Inn/Empty Cave by faust
Dry Moat/Sundial/Beggar's Feast by gototogo

[Commodore Chuckles]

So, I decided to try my own hand at this and make starting cards for the set that for reason was ignored... Intrigue!

Cupbearer
Action - Agent - $1
Choose one: +1 Card, +1 Action, +$1 or +1 Buy.

Escape Tunnel
Reaction - Agent - $1
When you trash or discard a card, you may trash this
from your hand to put that card in your hand.

Hidden Estate
Victory - Agent - $3
Worth 1 VP for every 2 card types in your deck, rounded down.





And now, onto the judging.

Forsaken Manor/Abandoned Church/Old Bridge by AJL828
Forsaken Manor looks fun and satisfying to trash. I’m not sure about the other two, though. There aren’t that many things that can trigger Abandoned Church, and Old Bridge’s effect is maybe too game-warping for a starting card. Also, I don’t think these fit that well with Renaissance. Renaissance’s main themes were Coffers and Villagers, which aren’t used at all here.

Passages by NoMoreFun
Oh, wow, these are really different! Basically you can choose whether you want +1 Action, +$1 or +1 Buy at the start of your turn for the rest of the game. That’s an interesting strategic choice to make. I don’t think these work that well as starting cards, though. Getting powerful effects like a guaranteed +1 Action every turn is more fun when you can work up to it instead of getting it right away. These cards also barely end up affecting your deck differently since they git rid of themselves, and then two of them just end up being Estates anyway.

Hibernation Cave/Remote Lake/Wild Pasture by emtzalex
You proved me wrong! Shelters CAN be thematic for something other than Dark Ages. Onto the cards themselves. The most obvious way to get rid of Hibernation Cave is with a Horse… oh, and look, Wild Pasture gives you a Horse when you trash it! Very clever! I do worry about the luck-based aspect of this interaction if there’s no other way to gain Horses. But the fact that Horse increases your hand size reduces the luck at least. Remote Lake is very neat. The fact that Exiling is an expansion-specific mechanic is sort of a problem, but still, this is a great use of it. Oh, and Wild Pasture really doesn’t need to be a Treasure; I think it would be fine as a pure Shelter type. Still, I think you did a great job with these. I like how simple they are, and they tie in with Menagerie’s themes very well.

Cottage/Lodge/Manor by Builder_Roberts
So yeah, since Prosperity is sort of the opposite of Dark Ages, replacing your Estates with $3 cards instead of $1 is an obvious thing to think of. At least, it was obvious to me when I thought of this contest. I like Cottage a lot. It’s something that can sometimes be useful, but that you usually wouldn’t want to buy and would often be happy to trash. And it’s thematic by being a Treasure, and it helps you hit Prosperity’s high price points. Well done. I think Lodge is too easy to get rid of; having the trashing only work on Treasure-gaining was thematic but I agree that it had issues as buying a Silver is boring and often weak, so I’m not sure how I would fix it. And Manor… to be honest, I liked the original Manor better. The +VP was very on-theme, while gaining a $7 card feels too good for a starting card.

Faerie Tree/Hanging Tree/Shaman Hut by Xen3k
I don’t think it would ever be worth it to hang on to Faerie Tree for the Boons, so that just makes it a more expensive Estate if you can get rid of it. With Hanging Tree, I don’t really like the idea of Attack starting cards; I think attacks are something you should have to buy. Shaman Hut is another card that isn’t worth hanging on to for the later bonus, so it’ll just end up trashing itself immediately, which isn’t very interesting. I think overall these are too complicated for starting cards.

Broker/Stall/Gatehouse by xyz123
I like Broker. It’s like Cursed Gold but way less annoying. Cursed Gold takes up a starting Copper so you either have to use it and take a Curse or start with less $. Broker avoids this by replacing an Estate instead, and it only gives you Debt which is always temporary. Stall is definitely the weak link here; I think I’d prefer something more exciting, though this still somewhat fits thematically because of Forum. Gatehouse is cool; I think if Stall were more interesting it would in turn make Gatehouse even better. The main problem I have with these is their prices; a puny $1 doesn’t fit thematically with Empires.

Savings/Benefactor/Ancestral Home by 4est
I feel that Savings sort of negates the purpose of Debt. The whole point of the mechanic is that you have to pay it back later, but Savings says, nope, you kinda don’t! I like Benefactor; getting VP for taking on Debt seems fun, though it’s unfortunate that it won’t get much use. Ancestral Home, well, I already shared my opinion on Attack starting cards; I don’t like them. I think if I could combine this with the previous entry, Broker/Benefactor/Gatehouse would be my ideal starting cards for Empires.

Lakeside/Mountainside/Riverside by Augie279
Lakeside is maybe a bit too complicated, but it’s still a cool response to Necropolis. Mountainside is boring and unthematic. Riverside is a good use of the Tavern Mat. Replace Mountainside and you have some decent starting cards for Adventures.

Flower Stand/Savings/Seaside Shanty by CaptainReklaw
Flower Stand and Savings are great; they’re simple and on-theme (+Buy is maybe not completely a Guilds theme, but it helps you spend your Coffers, which is a Guilds theme). Seaside Shanty offers interesting choices, but I am somewhat worried about the possibility of endless arms races with it. It would be worth it to playtest with it to find the right proportion of Coffers to VP. At least the fact that you only have one of them puts a cap on the power. I would definitely get rid of the -1 VP part and make it a Victory card, though.

Apiary/Honey/Flower Fields by Dubdubdubdub
The main purpose of Apiary besides the +Actions seems to be activating Menagerie, though I suppose it could also help with Harvest. I think it could be more thematic. Honey is worth keeping around if you really want deck diversity, but I don’t think it’s worth it if you’re trying to get the $, since it’s just a crummy Silver. Maybe it should give +$3 instead. Flower Fields is good. I like the basic idea of these, but Apiary and Honey need some work.

Compass/Tavern/Hut by segura
Compass and Tavern are great, being simple and on-theme. As you said yourself, Hut is the crazy one. I do like the general idea of being able to rotate piles. But being able to block someone from gaining a card in the beginning seems really annoying. I think it’s probably too wacky for a starting card.

Old Estate/Abandoned Village/Old Barn by Joxeft
The main problem with these is that they’re not thematic to Menagerie. Old Barn has Exiling, which is thematic, but then it also has VP tokens, which is not a Menagerie mechanic. I think Old Barn could work if the VP part is dropped. The others need changes to fit in better with the set.

Hay Farmer/Animal Trader/Rancher by scott_pilgrim
Rancher is too strong; getting an extra lab from every Horse you play seems totally bonkers to me. Hay Farmer and Animal Trader are cool. I like how Hay Farmer encourages you to keep Animal Trader around until you’ve saved up some Horses. If there are other ways to gain Horses though, I suspect the correct move is to go ahead and trash Animal Trader immediately, which is boring. I would try to fix this.

Stir/Booth/Ingredients by Chappy7
Stir: yes, yes! Finally a way to make Potion costs less awkward. Ingredients also makes Potion costs less awkward by providing +Buy, which is nice. I think it could be simplified, though. I’m not sure about Booth. I think it will just end up being the same as Vineyard. After all, the only non-Action Potion-cost cards are Vineyard itself and Philosopher’s Stone. What if it instead gave you VP for each differently named Treasure in your deck? That would be another way to encourage people to get Potions.

Martyr/Brigand/Warden by Jonasssss
OK, so at first glance, I thought maybe these were too complicated for starting cards. But then, after looking at them some more, I really like all the subtle interactions between them. I don’t think any of them are too strong; you’ll still want to trash them a lot of the time. Overall, I think these would give a different, fun experience.

Night Mayor/Ombudsman/Bodygardener by spineflu
I like the general idea of these. Night Mayor gives a good Night ability that’s weak but still useful, though I worry about the advantage it gives to the player who draws it on turn 1 instead of turn 2. Ombudsman and Bodygardener will mitigate the annoying part of Boons/Hexes while offering interesting choices. The main problem is that Boons and Hexes both have to be present in the game (not likely in full random) if both want to avoid feeling sad. I don't know if there's a simple way to address these problems.

Alchemical Still/Extract/Forlorn Tower by Firestix
Alchemical Still and Forlorn Tower are good Alchemy versions of Hovel and Overgrown Estate. I also like Extract; it’s there for you if you want that one Transmute. I don’t think these should be $0, though, they’re all clearly worth more than that. Other than that, I like them.

Ascetic/Copycat/Novice by X-tra
Oh, wow, I didn’t even think of somebody trying to do this for the promos! Props for trying something totally crazy. Obviously, the first issue that comes up is, what is the “theme” of the promos? Well I guess if there is a theme, it’s adding more cards to the game, so adding another pile of cards to the Kingdom works for that. I like the way Copycat and Novice work in general, and Novice’s Reaction fits well since two of the Promos can give you Golds (Governor and Dismantle). The one I don’t get is Ascetic. How does punishing you for having $5 cards fit with the Promos, especially since the additional pile you’re adding is $5 cards?

Signpost/Roadside Inn/Empty Cave by Faust
Signpost is basically the opposite of Overgrown Estate. Overgrown Estate is worth nothing and rewards you for trashing it; Signpost is worth something and punishes you for trashing it. Could be annoying. Interesting idea though. I like Roadside Inn a lot; it gives you a way to get rid of it for a price, but then it uses the Tavern Mat to potentially come back and be useful. Empty Cave is also very nice; Events are in more than one set so it will get a fair amount of use. A lot of cheap Events already come with +Buy, but there are still some that feel like they need this so this is a good idea I think.

Dry Moat/Sundial/Beggar’s Feast by gototogo
So, the reason I excluded the Base set is because the Base set is all about simplicity, and nothing is simpler than 3 Estates. Still, I’ll give my opinion of these. Dry Moat and Sundial change your opening $ in a huge way, which I don’t think fits well in the Base set. As far as I know, the first card that changed your opening $ was Baker, which wasn’t introduced until Guilds. These cards, though, change your opening $ even more than Baker. In fact, they give such large amounts of $ that they probably break the game’s balance. Definitely not a good fit for Base. Beggar’s Feast is more along the lines of what I’d expect for base starting cards. I like the fact that you kept these simple, but I think two of them definitely don’t work as starting cards for Base.

Honorable Mentions: Broker/Stall/Gatehouse by xyz123, Flower Stand/Savings/Seaside Shanty by CaptainReklaw, Compass/Tavern/Hut by segura, Martyr/Brigand/Warden by Jonasssss, Alchemical Still/Extract/Forlorn Tower by Firestix

Runner-up: Signpost/Roadside Inn/Empty Cave by faust

Winner: Hibernation Cave/Remote Lake/Wild Pasture by emtzalex

[Builder_Roberts]

Dang, really thought I had that one... shows what I know about changing the last card. Good contest.

Congrats to emtzalex!

[4est]

Fantastic contest prompt and great comments, Commodore Chuckles! 
 
One small note on Savings in response to your feedback:

Savings/Benefactor/Ancestral Home by 4est
I feel that Savings sort of negates the purpose of Debt. The whole point of the mechanic is that you have to pay it back later, but Savings says, nope, you kinda don’t!

In most cases, Savings actually only works if you're paying off Debt on subsequent turns. If you have no Debt when you play it, it does nothing, and doesn't help pay for any Debt you incur that turn (e.g. play Savings, buy Overlord, you still get 8 Debt and Savings doesn't help you since you played it before getting Debt). You have to have Debt for next turn and then Savings helps you pay it off (it's a real life lesson in personal finance where uh you shouldn't spend your savings unless you're in Debt.

Anyway, congrats to emtzalex!

[emtzalex]

Hibernation Cave/Remote Lake/Wild Pasture by emtzalex
You proved me wrong! Shelters CAN be thematic for something other than Dark Ages. Onto the cards themselves. The most obvious way to get rid of Hibernation Cave is with a Horse… oh, and look, Wild Pasture gives you a Horse when you trash it! Very clever! I do worry about the luck-based aspect of this interaction if there’s no other way to gain Horses. But the fact that Horse increases your hand size reduces the luck at least. Remote Lake is very neat. The fact that Exiling is an expansion-specific mechanic is sort of a problem, but still, this is a great use of it. Oh, and Wild Pasture really doesn’t need to be a Treasure; I think it would be fine as a pure Shelter type. Still, I think you did a great job with these. I like how simple they are, and they tie in with Menagerie’s themes very well.

Winner: Hibernation Cave/Remote Lake/Wild Pasture by emtzalex

Thanks, Commodore Chuckles, for the judging and the win. I'll try to have the next contest up later tonight (forum time).