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[pitythefool]

No durations, no events, nothing in play or set aside at the start of your turn (neither on the Tavern mat nor anywhere else).  No Empires stuff.

You start with 5 cards in hand, whatever cards you want.  Your deck contains a bunch of cards of different types unspecified for this puzzle; just assume the worst case for your answer.

You play one card and one card only.  You don't put any other cards into play while resolving that one card.

What is the largest hand size you can guarantee while still having at least one action remaining?  What card did you play?

I can get to 10 cards.

I can get 17, even with the restriction that the other 4 cards in your hand are Coppers.

Previously, you have used Teacher to put the +1 buy token on Market Square and Baker to gain an arbitrarily large number of coin tokens.


You play one Market Square. Then you enter your buy phase, spend an arbitrarily large number of coin tokens, buy Stonemason, overpay for $5, gain 2 Cultists, buy Stonemason, overpay for $5, gain 2 Cultists, buy Doctor, overpay for an arbitrarily large number of dollars, trash all the cards in your deck. As a result, you have 17 cards in your hand.

What if you draw Cultist when you trashed Cultist? Control-able?

Previously, you have used Teacher to put the +1 buy token on Squire, and used Embargoes to put three embargo tokens on Cultist.
There must be at least 18 Curses left in the kingdom (3 or 4 player game).
Your hand contains a Squire and a Watchtower and some treasure.  Play Squire for +2 buys for a total of 4 buys.  Buy Stonemason, overpay for $5, gain 2 Cultists and 6 Curses.  Use Watchtower to topdeck the cards.  You should be able to manage the order Curse, Curse, Curse, Cultist, Curse, Curse, Curse, Cultist.  Repeat the same buy two more times and topdeck the cards in the same manner.  Buy a Doctor, overpay by $6.  Trash the Cultists, drawing all of the curses.  That gives 6*3+4 = 22.  It only requires $30 in treasures and tokens.

Oops, no action remaining.    :-(

[Awaclus]

Oops, no action remaining.    :-(

Never mind that the other cards in your hand are Coppers and not Watchtowers and that Embargo triggers on-buy, not on-gain so you wouldn't gain those Curses.

[eHalcyon]

Play BoM (with +action token) as Ranger (with +card token).

This was the intended solution.

Awaclus' idea might work, though I meant for the draw to be accomplished by the resolution of the action played and not with a setup of arbitrarily large coin tokens and buys.  But I think the problem of Cultist drawing Cultist does actually prevent you from trashing more than one Cultist this way, since the worst case shuffle luck would always make it so that the Cultist you trash draws the other 3 Cultists.  +1 anyway for thinking outside the box.

That said, if we allow the coin token trick, we can stick with the intended solution and buy/trash just one Cultist along with it to push the hand size to 13.

Oh, and you can trash the Squire first to gain a fifth Cultist, so you can guarantee trashing two Cultists for a final hand size of 16 15 (using +Buy token instead of +Card).

[pitythefool]

Play BoM (with +action token) as Ranger (with +card token).

This was the intended solution.

Awaclus' idea might work, though I meant for the draw to be accomplished by the resolution of the action played and not with a setup of arbitrarily large coin tokens and buys.  But I think the problem of Cultist drawing Cultist does actually prevent you from trashing more than one Cultist this way, since the worst case shuffle luck would always make it so that the Cultist you trash draws the other 3 Cultists.  +1 anyway for thinking outside the box.

That said, if we allow the coin token trick, we can stick with the intended solution and buy/trash just one Cultist along with it to push the hand size to 13.

Oh, and you can trash the Squire first to gain a fifth Cultist, so you can guarantee trashing two Cultists for a final hand size of 16 15 (using +Buy token instead of +Card).

Play BoM (with +action token) as Squire (with +buy token).  Take the +2 buys for a total of 4.
Buy 4 StoneMasons, overpaying by $5 for each.  Gain 8 Cultists.  As you gain each Cultist, reveal a Watchtower and trash it for +3 cards each.
That gives 8*3+4 = 28 cards.

[eHalcyon]

Play BoM (with +action token) as Ranger (with +card token).

This was the intended solution.

Awaclus' idea might work, though I meant for the draw to be accomplished by the resolution of the action played and not with a setup of arbitrarily large coin tokens and buys.  But I think the problem of Cultist drawing Cultist does actually prevent you from trashing more than one Cultist this way, since the worst case shuffle luck would always make it so that the Cultist you trash draws the other 3 Cultists.  +1 anyway for thinking outside the box.

That said, if we allow the coin token trick, we can stick with the intended solution and buy/trash just one Cultist along with it to push the hand size to 13.

Oh, and you can trash the Squire first to gain a fifth Cultist, so you can guarantee trashing two Cultists for a final hand size of 16 15 (using +Buy token instead of +Card).

Play BoM (with +action token) as Squire (with +buy token).  Take the +2 buys for a total of 4.
Buy 4 StoneMasons, overpaying by $5 for each.  Gain 8 Cultists.  As you gain each Cultist, reveal a Watchtower and trash it for +3 cards each.
That gives 8*3+4 = 28 cards.

After Apprentice was suggested, I amended the puzzle so that you can't specify the other 4 cards in your hand, so you have no Watchtower.  But OK, it works for the original.

Next time I propose a puzzle maybe I should be super restrictive.  I never know how specific to get with puzzle parameters; I should have said "before the Buy phase" or something.

[navical]

Ok, let's try a new version of the same puzzle.

You have 5 cards in hand, no cards in play, set aside, or on the Tavern mat, no accumulated money (or actions or buys other than the one you started your turn with). You may specify the kingdom, your hand, and the contents and order of your draw deck and discard pile. No Empires stuff, though. You play a card. When that card finishes resolving, you have at least 10 cards in hand.

How many possibilities are there for that card?
Hard mode: how many of those do not require Adventures tokens already placed and are independent on the order and/or contents or your draw deck or discard pile?

I make it 30; hard mode: 15 but I wouldn't be surprised if I've missed one or two.

[michaeljb]

No idea if someone has brought this one up before, but I'm also wondering if it was possible pre-Empires: buy a Province on turn 1 in solo.

[LaLight]

Okay, here's my first puzzle:

Your deck contains only schemes and labs. Why do you put only schemes on top of your deck every turn?

[ThetaSigma12]

Okay, here's my first puzzle:

Your deck contains only schemes and labs. Why do you put only schemes on top of your deck every turn?

Because they have the +card and +coin tokens on them.

[faust]

Ok, let's try a new version of the same puzzle.

You have 5 cards in hand, no cards in play, set aside, or on the Tavern mat, no accumulated money (or actions or buys other than the one you started your turn with). You may specify the kingdom, your hand, and the contents and order of your draw deck and discard pile. No Empires stuff, though. You play a card. When that card finishes resolving, you have at least 10 cards in hand.

How many possibilities are there for that card?
Hard mode: how many of those do not require Adventures tokens already placed and are independent on the order and/or contents or your draw deck or discard pile?

I make it 30; hard mode: 15 but I wouldn't be surprised if I've missed one or two.

We can put a Ferry token on Hunting Grounds. Then this works for any card that either trashes a card from your hand or gains an action costing up to $4:
Inherit Cultists. Trash a Hunting Grounds, or gain a Hunting Grounds, reveal Watchtower, trash it. From the trashed Hunting Grounds, gain three Estates, trash them with Watchtower for +3 cards each. This gives the following list:

Code: [Select]

Chapel
Workshop
Feast
Remodel
Throne Room (this one is easy)
Masquerade
Steward
Ironworks
Trading Post
Upgrade
Ambassador (in a 6-player game, reveal Lost City for +5 cards, have +card token on Ambassador)
Lookout
Smugglers
Salvager
Transmute
Apothecary (needs +card token to draw 6 cards)
Scrying Pool
University
Golem (into one of the other cards)
Apprentice
Trade Route
Bishop
Counting House
Expand
Forge
King's Court
Remake
Horn of Plenty
Jester
Develop
Jack of All Trades
Forager
Mercenary
Armory
Death Cart
Procession
Rats
Band of Misfits
Count (you need to have an Overgrown Estate in hand and draw a Watchtower with it to be able to pull off the HG/Cultist thing)
Graverobber
Junk Dealer
Dame Anna
Rebuild (inherit Cultists; rebuild Estate (+3 cards) into Estate, reveal Watchtower, trash Estate (+3 cards)
Rogue
Altar
Stonemason
Doctor
Herald (long enough chain suffices)
Butcher
Disciple
Raze
Amulet
Ranger (+card token needed)
Artificer
Storyteller
Black Market (play Platinum, buy Hunting Grounds, reveal Watchtower etc.)
Governor

These are 57 cards. Of course our procedure does not work in hard mode, since it requires the Estate token. I'm too lazy to work around that right now, but it probably comes down to "can you trash 2 Cultists?"

Edit: hard mode list:

Code: [Select]

Chapel (trash 4 Cultists for 12 cards)
Throne Room (into Hunting Grounds)
Apprentice
Forge (see Chapel)
King's Court
Remake (trash two Cultists, gain 2 Border Villages + 2 Cultists, trash the Cultists with Watchtower)
Jester (for any other player, reveal Cultist, you gain and trash it - it does only depend on the other players' deck!)
Develop (trash Cultist (+3 cards), gain Border Village + Cultists, trash Cultist (+3 cards), gain Fortress, trash Fortress, put in hand)
Mercenary (trash 2 Cultists)
Procession
Band of Misfits
Count (trash 4 Cultists)
Doctor (trash 3 Cultists)
Disciple
Storyteller

That's 15; the same 15 that you found?

EDIT: Bridge Troll doesn't work, so we have to restrict to using Ferry.

[faust]

Okay, here's my first puzzle:

Your deck contains only schemes and labs. Why do you put only schemes on top of your deck every turn?

If your deck contains only Schemes and Labs, there's little point to putting Labs on top over Schemes, because you'll draw your deck anyway. Things that might give Scheme an edge, other than tokens:

- Scheme is the bane card
- you need to reveal it to your opponent's Gladiator
- you want the expensive Labs to not be in your hand for Chariot Race
- you don't want your opponent to be able to Pillage-discard a Lab (this doesn't really matter if your deck is only Labs and Schemes)
- you know that your opponent will play Enchantress and therefore don't want Lab to be your first action (only really matters if there are tokens on Lab)

[LaLight]

Okay, here's my first puzzle:

Your deck contains only schemes and labs. Why do you put only schemes on top of your deck every turn?

If your deck contains only Schemes and Labs, there's little point to putting Labs on top over Schemes, because you'll draw your deck anyway. Things that might give Scheme an edge, other than tokens:

- Scheme is the bane card
- you need to reveal it to your opponent's Gladiator
- you want the expensive Labs to not be in your hand for Chariot Race
- you don't want your opponent to be able to Pillage-discard a Lab (this doesn't really matter if your deck is only Labs and Schemes)
- you know that your opponent will play Enchantress and therefore don't want Lab to be your first action (only really matters if there are tokens on Lab)

Ok, i had two answers: tokens and that my deck literally contains schemes and labs =) but i love the thought about Chariot Race!

[Accatitippi]

More of a lame riddle than an easy puzzle, but whatever:

A card walks into a bar, and tells the barman: "+1 Buy; When you play this, double your coins if you haven't yet this turn. When you gain this, gain a Gold per Gladiator you have in play."

What card is that?

[LaLight]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

[navical]

Note first that you can use Procession-KC-Brigde Troll to arbitrarily lower the cost of each card.

Bridge Troll doesn't reduce costs unless it's in play, and you aren't allowed cards in play. So the gainers don't work.

But I didn't see the Inherit Cultists -> trash Hunting Grounds -> trash 3 Estate-Cultists idea. Nice.

[-Stef-]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

[LaLight]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

okay, technically that's ok, but what if they do not now, what mix is right?

[-Stef-]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

okay, technically that's ok, but what if they do not now, what mix is right?

Could you formalize this constraint? Is the person with the soon-to-be-empty hand not allowed to cooperate in any way, and in fact do whatever he can to prevent the empty hand from happening?

[LaLight]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

okay, technically that's ok, but what if they do not now, what mix is right?

Could you formalize this constraint? Is the person with the soon-to-be-empty hand not allowed to cooperate in any way, and in fact do whatever he can to prevent the empty hand from happening?

I can say, that this can happen in a normal game, without cooperating and house rules

[navical]

Code: [Select]

Chapel (trash 4 Cultists for 12 cards)
Throne Room (into Hunting Grounds)
Apprentice
Forge (see Chapel)
King's Court
Remake (trash two Cultists, gain 2 Border Villages + 2 Cultists, trash the Cultists with Watchtower)
Jester (for any other player, reveal Cultist, you gain and trash it - it does only depend on the other players' deck!)
Develop (trash Cultist (+3 cards), gain Border Village + Cultists, trash Cultist (+3 cards), gain Fortress, trash Fortress, put in hand)
Mercenary (trash 2 Cultists)
Procession
Band of Misfits
Count (trash 4 Cultists)
Doctor (trash 3 Cultists)
Disciple
Storyteller

That's 15; the same 15 that you found?

Not quite. Doctor fails the hard mode rules. I hadn't seen Jester at all but would say it fails the spirit of the hard mode rules even if not the precise statement. I'd missed Mercenary entirely, but had Golem incorrectly in my hard mode list. I have two more that you don't have:
Upgrade works in a similar way to Develop, the +1 Card replacing the Fortress. Cultist works if you have 5 Cultists in hand.

[schadd]

all this stuff seems pretty np-difficult

[math]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

okay, technically that's ok, but what if they do not now, what mix is right?

Could you formalize this constraint? Is the person with the soon-to-be-empty hand not allowed to cooperate in any way, and in fact do whatever he can to prevent the empty hand from happening?

I can say, that this can happen in a normal game, without cooperating and house rules

It would definitely make things clearer if you did formalize the constraint, because as it stands, Stef's solution still works; your opponents could Summon the right mix of cards by pure luck, without any cooperation.  If you Borrow on turn 1, that reduces it to 4 opponents needed, again with the right luck, but if Stef is right and you are doing everything possible to prevent this from happening, you wouldn't Borrow on T1. 7 opponents could guarantee that it would happen no matter what you did - the first summons Militia, and three others summon Bureaucrat and three summon Cutpurse.  However, an 8-player game can't really be considered a "normal game".

[LaLight]

Then, the next (I think it's harder):

I start Turn 2 without any cards in my hand. Why is that?

Five opponents go before you and summon the right mix of Cutpurse & Bureaucrat on their turn 1.

okay, technically that's ok, but what if they do not now, what mix is right?

Could you formalize this constraint? Is the person with the soon-to-be-empty hand not allowed to cooperate in any way, and in fact do whatever he can to prevent the empty hand from happening?

I can say, that this can happen in a normal game, without cooperating and house rules

It would definitely make things clearer if you did formalize the constraint, because as it stands, Stef's solution still works; your opponents could Summon the right mix of cards by pure luck, without any cooperation.  If you Borrow on turn 1, that reduces it to 4 opponents needed, again with the right luck, but if Stef is right and you are doing everything possible to prevent this from happening, you wouldn't Borrow on T1. 7 opponents could guarantee that it would happen no matter what you did - the first summons Militia, and three others summon Bureaucrat and three summon Cutpurse.  However, an 8-player game can't really be considered a "normal game".

ok, my fault, i dunno how to formalize that. One thing comes to mind, that every player gets profit from these actions, including you.

and yeah, i count Stef's answer as the right answer, just there's one more =)

[navical]

5 Summoned Bishops also works.

[LaLight]

5 Summoned Bishops also works.

Yeah, that is my answer!