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Author Topic: What cards are still unique?  (Read 26772 times)

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AJD

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What cards are still unique?
« on: October 27, 2011, 12:20:19 am »
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So okay, all Dominion cards are unique in that none of them are exactly the same as any others. But most of them are made up of more or less the same atoms, as Donald once put it: +cards, +actions, +buy, +$, +VP; discard, trash, reveal, set aside, gain, top-deck, look at; etc. But there are a few cards that do things unlike anything any other card does. Now that Hinterlands is out, several cards that were unique for a long time are no longer unique—Mint is obviously no longer the only card with an on-buy effect; thanks to Inn, Counting House is no longer the only card that allows you to remove cards from your discard pile. But there are new unique features to some of the cards in Hinterlands, and some of the unique features of other cards are still unique:

Ambassador is the only card that can return a card to the Supply.
Coppersmith is the only card that changes the effect of playing another card.
Duchess is the only card that changes the effect of gaining another card.
Embargo is the only card that changes the effect of buying another card.
Inn is the only card that allows you to shuffle your non-empty deck.
Masquerade is the only card that allows cards to be passed between players.
Outpost is the only card that changes how many cards you draw in cleanup.
Pearl Diver is the only card that causes you to interact with a card in your deck other than the top card.
Philosopher's Stone is the only card that allows you to count your discard pile.
Possession is the only card that allows one player to make decisions for another player's turn.
Stash is the only card that allows you to stack the deck while shuffling.
Tunnel is the only card sensitive to when something is being discarded.
Young Witch is the only card that changes the number of Kingdom piles in the game.

Are there any other cards with totally unique properties? Note that even some cards with oddball features, like Grand Market, have atoms that exist in other card properties. (Grand Market and Contraband both have effects that can forbid you from buying something; Grand Market and lots of other cards have effects that are sensitive to what is in play at the moment.) Note that I don't discriminate between what triggers the effects; in the case of Young Witch and Duchess, it's simply their presence in the game. What triggers an effect (on play, on buy, on gain, when in play, when present, etc.) is just another atom.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2011, 12:22:46 am by AJD »
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cayvie

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2011, 12:38:33 am »
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Don't all the cards in Alchemy also change the number of supply piles in the game?
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michaeljb

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2011, 12:50:31 am »
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Duchess is the only card that changes the effect of gaining another card.

Haggler? I can see how Duchess is different since it's based on a specific card, rather than being based on gaining another card in general. I guess Talisman is similar to Haggler (gives you something extra after gaining a card, dependent on costs in some way) and I see how Duchess is different.
Answered my own question just by typing the answer and thinking a little more :P

How about this...
Black Market is the only card which lets a player buy something--or play Treasures--at a time other than the Buy phase.

@cayvie yes, but Kingdom piles are a subset of supply piles, so Alchemy cards don't mess with Young Witch's uniqueness
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AJD

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2011, 01:07:41 am »
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Duchess is the only card that changes the effect of gaining another card.

Haggler? I can see how Duchess is different since it's based on a specific card, rather than being based on gaining another card in general. I guess Talisman is similar to Haggler (gives you something extra after gaining a card, dependent on costs in some way) and I see how Duchess is different.

Right—I mean, Haggler's effect isn't "change the on-gain condition of another card"; it's "gain a card under condition X" (and condition X is "when you buy a card and this is in play", just like Remodel's is "when you play this and trash a card"). Duchess's effect is actually "Card X now has on-gain effect Y" (where X is Duke and Y is "you may gain a Duchess").

How about this...
Black Market is the only card which lets a player buy something--or play Treasures--at a time other than the Buy phase.

Yeah, that's probably sufficiently unique.
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biopower

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2011, 01:48:31 am »
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Smugglers can probably be worded somehow to be unique. "only card explicitly dependent on opponent's last turn", maybe?
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AJD

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2011, 02:06:38 am »
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Smugglers can probably be worded somehow to be unique. "only card explicitly dependent on opponent's last turn", maybe?

I was thinking about that.... Smugglers might get in on those terms, but on the other hand there's a sense in which Possession and Outpost need to keep track of game state from one turn to the next as well. (Possession so that the Possession turn knows that it's a Possession turn, since the Possession card isn't still in play by the time it happens; and Outpost because it needs to know whether there have been two turns in a row already or not.)
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biopower

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2011, 02:35:22 am »
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I was thinking about that.... Smugglers might get in on those terms, but on the other hand there's a sense in which Possession and Outpost need to keep track of game state from one turn to the next as well. (Possession so that the Possession turn knows that it's a Possession turn, since the Possession card isn't still in play by the time it happens; and Outpost because it needs to know whether there have been two turns in a row already or not.)

I considered that too, but I felt like the Possession/Outpost interaction isn't so much dependent on your opponent's last turn as it is your own turn, albeit possessed. After all, Outpost only explicitly talks about your own turn.
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jimjam

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2011, 02:37:15 am »
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Quarry is the only card that changes the relative cost between non-copper/curse cards (single usage) (All actions affect peddler).
Mining Village is the only card that gives you the option of trashing itself when you play it.
Island is the only card that lets you eliminate your entire deck without help from your opponent (Embargo/Mining Village doesn't really help, since how would you get to where you only had that one card)?
Transmute is the only card that can upgrade a copper into itself (without bridges).
Horn of Plenty is the only Treasure that doesn't give you any form of money.
Pawn is the only card that can ALWAYS let you get +1 card and +0 action (I guess atomically that's not that interesting but it's always bugged me that there's no Card with +1 card without a + action)
Cities is the only card that cares about piles emptying.
Tactician is the only duration card that may not do anything on your next turn (Haven)
Duke is the only Green you can get all of without getting any VP (in a 3 player game).(Fairgrounds, Vineyard. Fail.)
Curse is the only card lowering your VP (even in the corner case of gardens, it in itself lowers your VP).
Fool's Gold is the only card sensitive to when your opponent gains a card (Embargo doesn't count, since it's the embargo token that matters).


I don't know if Pearl Diver counts given Oracle, Cartographer, Wishing Well, Apothecary, Scout, etc.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2011, 02:39:33 am by jimjam »
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HiveMindEmulator

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2011, 03:19:22 am »
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Tribute is the only card that can affect another player's deck without attacking (thought I guess you could argue that possession does too...).
Lighthouse is the only card that has an effect on another player's turn while it is in play.
Copper is the only card that provides more money than its cost.
Curse is the only card that is purple (similarly for harem, fool's gold, tunnel...).
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rspeer

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2011, 03:32:16 am »
+2

Ooh, I can do these. It's like you're listing all the things that are annoying to code in Dominiate!

Grand Market is the only Kingdom card you might not be able to buy when you can pay its cost.
Horse Traders is the only card that affects the start of your next turn without being a Duration.
Lighthouse is the only card that unconditionally protects you from attacks.
King's Court is the only card that can cause you to have more Duration effects in play than you have cards in play. (...which is why the rules for whether to clean it up are so crazy.)
Secret Chamber is the only card you can reveal multiple times with different effects.
Stash is the only card that requires you to make a decision while shuffling.
Tactician is the only Duration card that you might clean up the same turn that you play it.
Possession is the only card that changes all the rules and makes your head explode.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2011, 03:35:01 am by rspeer »
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Geronimoo

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2011, 03:36:06 am »
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I could probably add a bunch of lines here too, but don't really see the point of this exercise.
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chwhite

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #11 on: October 27, 2011, 03:44:18 am »
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Copper is the only card that provides more money than its cost.

Fool's Gold can sometimes do that too.
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rspeer

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2011, 03:54:46 am »
+1

Bank can give you more coins than its cost, Diadem (to be lame) always does, and Philosopher's Stone confuses the issue of what "more" means.
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DStu

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #13 on: October 27, 2011, 04:09:18 am »
+1

I could probably add a bunch of lines here too, but don't really see the point of this exercise.

Finding the only card that has some property is just extreme "What's missing?":

What's missing in the following list:

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Fangz

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #14 on: October 27, 2011, 04:11:29 am »
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Mandarin is the only card that lets you determine your hands for more than one turn.
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DStu

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #15 on: October 27, 2011, 04:12:43 am »
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Mandarin is the only card that lets you determine your hands for more than one turn.

Scheme?
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Geronimoo

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #16 on: October 27, 2011, 04:44:52 am »
+1

Shouldn't this be moved to Puzzles?
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philosophyguy

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #17 on: October 27, 2011, 07:27:21 am »
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Coppersmith is not the only card that changes the effect of playing another card. Any two actions will affect the playing of Conspirator.
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AJD

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #18 on: October 27, 2011, 09:53:45 am »
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Quarry is the only card that changes the relative cost between non-copper/curse cards (single usage) (All actions affect peddler).
Mining Village is the only card that gives you the option of trashing itself when you play it.
Island is the only card that lets you eliminate your entire deck without help from your opponent (Embargo/Mining Village doesn't really help, since how would you get to where you only had that one card)?
Transmute is the only card that can upgrade a copper into itself (without bridges).
Horn of Plenty is the only Treasure that doesn't give you any form of money.
Pawn is the only card that can ALWAYS let you get +1 card and +0 action (I guess atomically that's not that interesting but it's always bugged me that there's no Card with +1 card without a + action)
Cities is the only card that cares about piles emptying.
Tactician is the only duration card that may not do anything on your next turn (Haven)
Duke is the only Green you can get all of without getting any VP (in a 3 player game).(Fairgrounds, Vineyard. Fail.)
Curse is the only card lowering your VP (even in the corner case of gardens, it in itself lowers your VP).
Fool's Gold is the only card sensitive to when your opponent gains a card (Embargo doesn't count, since it's the embargo token that matters).

Most of these aren't all that unique.... For instance, Mining Village is a simple combination of the atoms +card, +action, "you may", trashing, and +$, all of which are found on many other cards; Transmute is a combination of trash and gain; and so on. City might count, though—I was thinking City and Trade Route are both sensitive to the state of the Supply, but because of edge cases involving Ambassador that's not quite true for Trade Route.
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AJD

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #19 on: October 27, 2011, 09:57:21 am »
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Coppersmith is not the only card that changes the effect of playing another card. Any two actions will affect the playing of Conspirator.

That's a fact about Conspirator, not a fact about "any two actions". That said, I guess Pirate Ship might have a claim against Coppersmith's uniqueness: playing Pirate Ship can change the effect of playing future Pirate Ships (for the rest of the game, rather than just for the rest of the turn).

Conspirator is the only card sensitive to how many cards have been played this turn, but Fool's Gold and Crossroads are both sensitive to how many copies of a certain card have been played, so that might not be sufficiently distinct.
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Geronimoo

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #20 on: October 27, 2011, 10:09:26 am »
+1

Apprentice is the only card that cares about the Potion cost of a card.
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Elyv

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #21 on: October 27, 2011, 10:28:36 am »
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Counting House is the only card that lets you put cards from your discard pile into your hand.
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Anon79

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #22 on: October 27, 2011, 10:52:17 am »
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Mountebank is the only card that increases your opponent's decksize by more than one?
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tlloyd

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2011, 10:57:03 am »
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Coppersmith is not the only card that changes the effects of playing another card (copper). Every treasure changes the effect of playing a Bank.
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AJD

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Re: What cards are still unique?
« Reply #24 on: October 27, 2011, 12:31:46 pm »
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Coppersmith is not the only card that changes the effects of playing another card (copper). Every treasure changes the effect of playing a Bank.

The effect of Bank is "$1 per Treasure in play". Playing Treasures doesn't change that effect.
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