Random effects are the most fun when they can be manipulated to the benefit of the player. Dominion uses Shuffle Luck to determine chance. See this article by Mark Rosewater:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/37
I have.
Note the Scoria Wurm section says much of what I had to about this likely being a card liked by a select few. Thinking about it more, the initial flipping mechanic should change. 4 flips could be reasonable considering how random it is. The problem there (and perhaps with the initial) is how many flips you're making players do. I could change it to two flips at $2 a piece. That opens a greater chance of getting no money. Another option is to guarantee some benefit, then flip to get more. Wouldn't be the best casino theme, but wouldn't be the worst, either.
The problem is : a chance of 1/8 to get $3, the same to get $0... and if you don't get $3 (7/8 chance) it's worse than silver ! This introduces a luck factor that doesn't depend at all on the player's deck like Harvest and even Treasure map do (and this is why Black market is my least favourite card too, followed by possession) ! So I dislike, sorry !
Increasing it by one flip makes it a lot better. I threw around some ideas above. I wasn't thinking about all the possibilities before.
I'm afraid it turns Dominion into a more "fun-orientated" game, instead of a strategic one.
I think some cards should gear in that direction. If this were in a set, it'd be the far end of it's play style, not the main motif.
"If you lose the flip, the player to your left chooses a card costing at least $1 less for you to gain."
Probably better, right ? Otherwise he would always choose curses....
it's awkward either way, since there's no clarification as to whether the "at least/most" is referring to the cost or the reduction, which are basically the opposite functions. I think "at most" is probably clearer, mainly since it's a less common phrase so it grabs you and makes you go "why did they word it like that?" but either way you'd need a specific explanation in the FAQ. that said, in my experience, people tend to assume their cards make sense, and since this replacing a bought Province with a curse is way too high a risk, it should be fairly obvious to people how it's supposed to be played.
I'm dumb. It should just be "up to $1 less", like the other half.
I think you're still overlooking that you can reveal the same reaction multiple times.
Say someone plays Swindler and hits your Silver, opting to give you another Silver.
Reveal Casino. Successful flip -- now you can gain a $4. Let's say TR.
BUT WAIT. Reveal Casino. Successful flip -- now you can gain a Duchy!
REVEAL CASINO. Let's say it fails this time.
Reveal Casino AGAIN.
Basically you can keep doing this until you get what you want or you hit a cost for which there is no valid card to gain (because then you wouldn't be gaining any card, so you can't reveal Casino at that point).
I know that you can reveal one Reaction card multiple times. I assumed you couldn't do so until the initial reaction resolved. If I understand Reaction timing correctly (which I very well might not), you would gain the replacement card before the initial reveal has resolved, thus having no event to reveal for. If that's an incredibly wrong interpretation, I'll adjust the wording.
