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[Polk5440]

I am curious what the community thinks would be an improvement to my submission to the non-attack interaction category of rinkworks's contest. I would like to make the card better because I REALLY like the idea of a Stables externality. It gives opponents an interesting choice involving Treasures/discarding. Tacking it onto a super-Stables for you just made sense. For reference, this is the card I submitted:
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Horse Farm (Gooseberry) -- tied for 10th place
Action
Cost: $5

You may discard up to two cards. If you discard a Treasure, +4 Cards, +1 Action.  If you discard two cards, +1 Buy.
 
Each other player may discard a Treasure. If he does, he draws 2 cards.
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From the comments during the contest it seemed like people thought

1) It was too complicated and 2) it seemed a little weak/externality a little strong.

I agree with 1). I am surprised about 2). Considering Stables and Laboratory are both priced at $5 I would think that as an externality the power would be about the same. I am curious about your opinions on this.

I did think the card was underpowered as just +4 Cards, +1 action plus stables externality, so I added a version of the Hamlet +Buy option to give it a little more strength (which also has the flavor of Horse Traders). But I can see why that just added too much confusion.

How about version B:
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Horse Farm (B)
Action
Cost: $5

+1 Buy

You may discard a Treasure. If you do, +4 Cards, +1 Action. 

Each other player may discard a Treasure. If he does, he draws 2 cards.
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This adds a little more power (you get the buy for sure) and reduces the complexity in the text.

[LastFootnote]

Nice, but probably a bit too close to Stables. Also it has the same crazy interaction with Militia/Goons that Governor has, but that's just a personal preference I have against Governor.

[Polk5440]

Nice, but probably a bit too close to Stables.

It's true; actually, that was another reason I didn't just have discard Treasure then +4 Cards +1 Action. On the other hand, Council Room plays sufficiently different from Smithy that it's interesting. Maybe the real question is, would Horse Farm be too much like Council Room is to Smithy?

Also it has the same crazy interaction with Militia/Goons that Governor has, but that's just a personal preference I have against Governor.

I personally love playing Governor-draw or Village-Council Room chains followed by a Militia. But I tend to like faster games, too.

[rinkworks]

The revision is definitely better.  Simple is good.

On the other hand, the balance between player and opponent benefit might be too good for the opponent.  Remember that the opponent doesn't have to use a card slot on this, nor spend an Action to play it.  So if we correct for these things, then the benefits are:

* Player discards a Treasure for +3 Cards.  Also gets +1 Buy.
* Opponent discards a Treasure for +2 Cards.

So the net difference is a Lab and a buy.  Actually, maybe that's okay after all, especially since that +Buy is likely to be useful, given your resulting hand size.

[One Armed Man]

If you don't have a treasure to discard, it creates a really bad feeling. I much prefer the simplification of the effect.