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[AJD]

As I understand it, Tunnel gets revealed en route to the discard pile, which means "when you discard" is not quite consistent with "when you play", "when you trash", &c., but is the only sensible option.

In practice, this is certainly the sensible thing to do. I can't (at the moment) think of any adverse consequences this interpretation of "when you discard" would have, relative to the official interpretation (discussed at length in the linked thread), but maybe I'm just not creative enough.

[Compynerd255]

Well, here are my comments on these cards - I know I haven't said anything yet, but here goes!

Cultivate
Types: Action – Victory
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Choose one: Trash a Victory card from your hand and gain a Treasure card costing up to $1 more; or trash a Treasure card from your hand and gain a Victory card costing up to $2 more.
This is worth 3 VP if there are at least 4 differently named Victory cards in the trash; otherwise it's worth 1 VP.

The top is interesting, especially due to the fact that it's nonterminal and self synergizes. I would be hard pressed, though, to like the variable Victory portion, simply because someone has to trash a Province to do it (although I will note that it's always possible). I would be more happy with the card if it depended on Treasures rather than Victory cards.

Cemetery
Types: Victory
Cost: $5
Worth 2 VP plus 1 VP for every 2 differently named Action cards in the trash.
When you gain this, trash a card from your hand other than a Cemetery.

I like this one more - encouraging players to trash Action cards isn't nearly as bad, and you could well get the maximum value of Cemetery even without any other trashers on the board - in fact, I bet that most games would have that.

Patrol
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Discard any number of cards. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
When you discard a card from your hand other than during a Clean-up phase, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, either trash that card, or put it on top of your deck.

Clarification: If you discard several cards at once, you can reveal a Patrol separately for each card discarded.

Allowing topdecking seems to make the card too powerful - it would kill all discard attacks. But allowing you to trash what you discard seems like a fantastic idea. The top portion seems good, too, if it drew you up to 4 instead of 5.

Model Village
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +2 Actions.
When you trash this, you may trash a card from your hand. If you do, gain a card costing up to $2 more than it.

Doesn't seem all too interesting - Remodel is hard enough to use as it is.

Tribal Man
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal an Action card. Choose one: Put the card into your hand; or play the Action, trash it, and gain a card costing less than it.
When you trash this, gain an Action card costing at most $5 that is not a Tribal Man.

I don't know why this one needs the Spoils, but I like the rest of the card: essentially, you can either choose to use up an extra Action to play the card unscathed, or take a free Action to downgrade the card.

Disciple
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Look through your discard pile. You may reveal a Treasure from it and put it into your hand. You may trash this and another copy of Disciple from your hand. If you do trash two Disciples, gain a Savior from the Savior pile.

Savior
Types: Action
Cost: 0*
+1 Action. You may put your deck into your discard pile. Look through your discard pile and put a card from it into your hand. You may return this to the Savior pile. If you do, play an Action card from your hand three times. (This is not in the Supply.)

Too wordy - Savior tries to do too much. I do, however, love the way you get Savior - in a Treasure Map-esque fashion. Savior's on-return effect seems like it should be end-gamey, but I think it should be something that's easier to pull off and more balanced than King's Courting an Action (such as a $ or gain bonus).

Renovate
Type: Action
Cost: $4
Trash a card from your hand. You may gain a card costing up to $1 more than the trashed card, putting it into your hand. If it is an Action card, play it.

This is fun. Get a free card to play - that always works.

Brick
Types: Treasure
Cost: $5
Worth $1. When you play this, trash a card you have in play. Gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.
When you trash this, gain a Copper, putting it into your hand.

Clarification: Under normal circumstances, you will be able to trash the Brick you just played.

I don't know what to say about this one - the fact that it costs $5 seems too strong to me, especially since Brick can trash itself.

Bricklayer
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Trash any number of differently named cards from your hand. +1 Card per card trashed.

Don't like this name either. The "differently named" cards clause seems to do a good job of balancing it.

Deathmonger
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Trash the top card of your deck. You may trash the top card of your deck.
When any player (including you) trashes cards, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, that player puts the trashed cards into his hand.

Basically, "trash one or two cards from the top of your deck" and "if you have this, you can sabotage the trash attempt and get them back in their hand". If we changed the Reaction to trigger on "a card" rather than "a set of cards", it'd make more sense. Another thing I see is that this becomes horrible with Cursers, since there's a chance that you can't trash them, though how likely is it that you're going to have this in your hand when they trash?

Carpenter
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Trash a card from your hand and gain a cheaper card, putting it into your hand. +$ equal to the cost in coins of the gained card.
When you trash this during your Action phase, +1 Action.

I don't see why the gained card should go in your hand, but it seems all right, I guess.

Necromancy
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
Choose one: Gain an Action or Treasure card from the trash, putting it into your hand. Play it immediately. At the end of the turn, trash that card; or each other player reveals the top 2 cards of his deck, trashes one of them costing from $3 to $6, and discards the rest.
When you gain this, you may trash a card costing up to $6 from the Supply if there is not a copy of it in the trash.

You wouldn't be able to play a Treasure immediately without ending your Action Phase, so that's an obvious problem. I also don't think that we need the Attack - the on-gain already does plenty for the card.

Ravage
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may discard a card. If you do, +1 Action. Each other player with 3 or more cards in hand reveals his hand and discards the card with the highest cost in coins (you choose in a tie). If he discarded a Victory card, he gains a Ruins, putting it into his hand.

Basically Pillage if it hits an Action card. Doesn't seem too interesting.

Junkyard (A)
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $5
+1 Action. You may gain a Ruins, putting it into your hand. Discard any number of cards. +1 Card per card discarded. +1 Card per Action card discarded. You may trash this.
When you trash this, +2 Cards.

Much too wordy, tries to do too much.

Mortuary
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Look through your discard pile. You may trash a card from your discard pile or hand.
While this is in play, when you trash a card costing $2 or more, +1 Card.

This one seems legit - I especially like the benefit for trashing non-junk.

Pact
Type: Treasure
Cost: $2
Worth $0. When you play this, trash it. For each Pact in the trash, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile, putting it into your hand.
When you buy a Pact, each player gains a copy of it (you get 2 copies total).

I can't say I like what happens when all the Pacts get in the trash and the Spoils run out.

Ferret
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may trash this. If you do, +$ equal to the cost in coins of an Action card in the trash that you choose.
While this is in play, when you buy a card, gain a Ferret from the Supply or trash.

Interesting - the fact that it costs $4 almost always makes it a good play. I can't tell whether it would be better to say "while this is in play" as opposed to "in games using this" - I guess, thematically, that the Ferrets breed more of themselves in the former.

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

Ruins and Curse junkers, like many other people have said, seem too strong, since they run out the piles too quickly. This one seems especially bad, since the cards you'd most want to trash (Victory cards) give the best attack (Curses).

Priestcraft
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
+$2. Choose one: Trash a card from your hand; or choose a card in the trash and each other player gains a copy of that card, putting it on top of his deck.

Again, as others have said, this becomes scary with Curses in hand. If this is a production card, it would definitely need the Sea Hag fix (discard the top card first).

Miser
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Choose two: +$2; gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; gain a Silver. (The choices must be different.)

I'd probably want some other choice (such as +1 Buy), but other than that, the card seems to work fairly well.

Charter (A)
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +1 Action. Trash the top card of your deck. You may gain a card from the trash.
When you trash this, +2 Cards.

This is the most interesting one to me, in terms of the potential it has. However, right now, all that it does is trash the top card (activating on trash) and simply lets you gain the best card from the trash, whatever it is. I can guarantee that a Province will likely never stay in the trash - I don't see a reason why you would leave one in there unless there was a really powerful card in the trash such as King's Court (and I don't know why one would be in there, either).

...And that's all I have time to say for now. I might say more later.

[Robz888]

Bargain
Types: Reaction
Cost: $1
When you would gain a card, you may discard this. If you do, instead, gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

This is theoretically nice to deal with junking. Of course, the price level on this guy means you just end up with a lot of these. That's... not so great? Of course a lot of these means you aren't getting the worse junk, but these are pretty junky themselves. I don't know. Probably not a very worthwhile card.

Soldier
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
+1 Card. +1 Action. Each player trashes a Copper card from his hand (or reveals a hand without Copper). You may trash this. If you do, gain a Mercenary from the Mercenary pile if there are 4 or more Treasues in the trash; or gain a Madman from the Madman pile if there are 2 or more Soldiers in the trash.

Clarification: If there are 4 Treasures and 2 Soldiers in the trash, you choose whether to gain a Mercenary or a Madman.

Well this is just significantly easier to activate than Urchin/Hermit. Way, way, way so. Do not like it.

Archaeologist
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. You may trash the top card of the Ruins pile.
While this card is in play, when you play an Action card, play a copy of the top card of the Ruins pile.

Yes, this is a pretty cool idea. But as is... I think it's just quite too strong. If the top Ruins card is Ruined Library, I mean this card gives you an extra +1 card per Action you play. Of course Archaeologist has to be terminal. Does it have to give +1 card? I think it shouldn't. I also think it should possibly cost $6. Good idea, though.

Stronghold
Types: Victory
Cost: $6
Worth 1 VP for every 2 Spoils in your deck (rounded down).
When you gain this, gain 3 Spoils from the Spoils pile.

This turns Spoils into junk cards (sort of) and ends up being pretty bad. The bottom part is cool, though, but the top just doesn't work.

Garrison
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Trash a card from your hand. For each $2 that it costs (rounded down), gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile.
When a player trashes a card, you may reveal this from your hand and gain the trashed card. If you do, discard this.

Clarification: If multiple players reveal a Garrison, the Garrison of the player who trashed the card gets resolved first, the other players follow in turn order. Later players can't gain the card due to losing track; Garrison can only gain the card if it is still in the trash.

Okay. I think I like this. Both halves make sense, are new and sufficiently interesting. Car doesn't seem broken to me, and I think the clarification is logical. Yeah, I'm happy with this one.

Raid
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $3
Choose one: Play and trash up to 2 Action cards from your hand; or gain any number of Action cards from the trash costing up to $3 and play them in any order.
When you trash this, each other player gains a Ruins.

Way too powerful for $3. This is like a Throne Room effect. Sure there's a slight chance they steal your good actions, but okay, this is just too good I tihnk at $3.

Surveyor
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $4
+1 Action. You may trash a Victory card from your hand. If you do, gain two Treasures each costing exactly $1 more than it, putting one on top of your deck.
When another player buys a Victory card, you may set this aside from your hand. If you do, at the start of your next turn, return this to your hand and gain an Estate, putting it into your hand.

Eh. Treasure and Victory card trashing just isn't very Dark Agesy to me. That's probably personal bias. The card is probably fine, but doesn't excite me.

Smelter (B)
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
You may trash a card from your hand. If you trash an… Action card, +2 Actions; Treasure card, +$2; Victory card, +2 Cards.
When you trash a card you may discard this from your hand. If you go, gain a card costing less than the trashed card.

So this trashes Copper like a weak, weak Moneylender, it trashes Actions... but nobody wants to do that (except Ruins), it trashes Estates and then draws. It's not very good. Well, it's cheap, and you can gain cheap cards with it. Okay, I think it's fine. Not my favorite card ever but decent. Still kind of a weak, I think.

Condottiero
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $4
+2 Buys. +$2. Each player (including you) may discard a Treasure. If he does, he puts his deck into his discard pile and immediately reshuffles. Each other player gains a Ruins.
When you trash this, look through your discard pile. You may trash up to 2 cards from your discard pile or hand.

Clarification: Each other player gaining a Ruins is not contingent on whether or not he discards; it just always happens after the discard and shuffling effects.

A Marauder that Chancellors everybody? Okay. Well, too much like Marauder for me. Likely a very strong card.

Angry Mob
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $4
+1 Action. +1 Buy. Each player gains a Ruins, putting it into his hand.
While this is in play, when you buy a Ruins, you may trash this. If you do, gain a Mob Boss from the Mob Boss pile.

Mob Boss
Types: Action
Cost: $0*
+1 Buy. Reveal your hand. For each Ruins revealed, +1 Card and +$1. You may return a Ruins from your hand to the Supply. If you do, +1 Action. (This is not in the Supply.)

Nope, nope, don't want Ruins, nope. YEah I think this combo of cards is just super super weak.

Charter (B)
Types: Treasure – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
Worth $2. When you play this, each other player gains a Ruins, putting it into his hand.

Too much like IGG for me.

Danse Macabre
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may play an Action from your hand for none of its effects. If you do, +4 Cards and +1 Action.
When you buy this, trash it.
When you trash this, gain 2 cheaper cards of different costs.

I really like the thought that went into this card. It's very cool, but I think it's just a bit too fancy. There's going to be a large, large number of boards where you can never get this, you just do the on-trash thing which will have its uses but be pretty marginal over all. When you CAN gain this card, I expect the top part is just extremely, extremely strong. So I think this card may very well be terribroken. Maybe if it were tweaked it would work. +4 Cards and +1 Action is SUCH a powerful effect. You would just gain lots and lots of these things and use them on themselves.

Garderobe
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $2
+1 Action. +$2. Gain a Ruins, putting it into your hand. You may play an Action card from your hand costing up to $3.

Terrible. Terrible card. This effect is incredibly weak.

Drug
Types: Action – Victory – Looter
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. +$1. You may gain a Ruins. If you do, +1 Card. You may gain a Ruins. If you do, +1 Action.
Worth –3 VP if every other player has fewer Ruins than you.

Again, you wouldn't want so many Ruins. Ruins are really bad for your deck, do people realize this? And as a personal thing I just don't like the bottom part at all.

Street Sweeper
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $4
+2 Cards. +1 Action. Trash a card.
When you trash this, gain a Ruins.

? The top, by itself, is amazing. It's better than Lab, and cheaper! It's better than Upgrade and Junk Dealer in all likelihood. The top part is a $6 benefit. The bottom... okay, well just don't trash it then. Don't buy so many of these guys, just like two or something. Way, way too strong an written.

Blood Feud
Types:
Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $4
Choose one: +1 Action, +$1, and each player (including you) gains a Ruins, putting it in his hand; or reveal up to 3 cards from your hand, play the revealed Action cards in any order, then trash all the revealed cards.

So sick of cards that give you Ruins. This one at least gets rid of them in some semi-logical way, but I think it's just not worthwhile.

Barrister
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
+2 Cards. Each player (including you) reveals the top 2 cards of his deck; you may choose a revealed Treasure for him to trash. He discards the rest. You may gain a Treasure from the trash.
Setup: Replace one of each player's starting Coppers with a Claim.

Claim
Types: Treasure
Cost: $0
Worth $1. When you play this, look through your discard pile. You may trash a Claim from your discard pile or hand. If you do, gain a Gold, putting it into your hand.

Clarification: In a 6-player game, the starting player does not replace a Copper with a Claim.

Barrister is a super-strong Thief type card. Don't think it would be fun. Also, stealing Treasures isn't Dark Agesy.

Mendicant
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $2
+1 Card. +1 Action. Gain a Ruins, putting it into your hand. You may play any number of Ruins from your hand. If you played two or more, +1 Card.

Probably terrible, although the super cheap cost and oodles of vanilla benefits may swing it the other way. Nah, probably just terrible.

[Schneau]

Wednesday's Card:

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

Before reading others' comments:
I really like this card as a medium-weak trasher and a medium-weak junker. Before Dark Ages was released, I had hoped for a Dark Ages-y curser, since each set has its own themed curser. Well, Cultist and Marauder were as close as we got. This card feels like it could have fit right in as the Dark Ages curser. Plus, its a lot of fun with multi-type cards.

First up, Incendiarist provides light trashing. Then, depending on what you trash, you either give out Ruins or Curses, or gain a Spoils. Near the beginning of the game, this will mostly trash Estates to hand out Curses, unless its a Shelters game. It will also get some action trashing Coppers for Spoils. I really like this interaction, since Spoils can help build up an engine near the beginning, but then get out of the way once the engine starts chugging. I also sort of like that this doesn't give benefit for trashing Curses, and will make explosions of Ruins once Ruins start being trashed by it. The only downside here is that it seems unlikely to start trashing Actions in the first place, meaning Ruins may never come into play even if this card as a Looter is bought. But, with some on-trash benefit cards of DA, this might happen anyway.

As for power and balance, I think it seems very reasonable at $5. I would guess it's weaker than most $5 junking attacks, though maybe close to the level of Soothsayer. I don't think its broken from what I can tell.

After reading others' comments:
I guess most of the comments boil down to "this is too strong" or "this is too weak". I don't get the first -- I really don't think this is stronger than other $5 cursers. The most comment complaint that trashing Estates to give out Curses seems unfounded. To me, that action is very similar to Ambassador, since in the early game Estates and Curses are approximately equal. Plus, I don't think the ability to do that 3 times in a game is close to as strong as Witch's +2 Cards and always give a Curse. True, there are other options on Incendiarist, but Estate->Curse is probably the strongest.

As for the "too weak" comments, I don't get that at all. Surely this would be at least in the top 2/3 of $5, right? It seems reasonably balanced for a $5 card, especially since $5 is a price point with a lot of variation in power.

[Robz888]

Wednesday's Card:

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

Before reading others' comments:
I really like this card as a medium-weak trasher and a medium-weak junker. Before Dark Ages was released, I had hoped for a Dark Ages-y curser, since each set has its own themed curser. Well, Cultist and Marauder were as close as we got. This card feels like it could have fit right in as the Dark Ages curser. Plus, its a lot of fun with multi-type cards.

First up, Incendiarist provides light trashing. Then, depending on what you trash, you either give out Ruins or Curses, or gain a Spoils. Near the beginning of the game, this will mostly trash Estates to hand out Curses, unless its a Shelters game. It will also get some action trashing Coppers for Spoils. I really like this interaction, since Spoils can help build up an engine near the beginning, but then get out of the way once the engine starts chugging. I also sort of like that this doesn't give benefit for trashing Curses, and will make explosions of Ruins once Ruins start being trashed by it. The only downside here is that it seems unlikely to start trashing Actions in the first place, meaning Ruins may never come into play even if this card as a Looter is bought. But, with some on-trash benefit cards of DA, this might happen anyway.

As for power and balance, I think it seems very reasonable at $5. I would guess it's weaker than most $5 junking attacks, though maybe close to the level of Soothsayer. I don't think its broken from what I can tell.

After reading others' comments:
I guess most of the comments boil down to "this is too strong" or "this is too weak". I don't get the first -- I really don't think this is stronger than other $5 cursers. The most comment complaint that trashing Estates to give out Curses seems unfounded. To me, that action is very similar to Ambassador, since in the early game Estates and Curses are approximately equal. Plus, I don't think the ability to do that 3 times in a game is close to as strong as Witch's +2 Cards and always give a Curse. True, there are other options on Incendiarist, but Estate->Curse is probably the strongest.

As for the "too weak" comments, I don't get that at all. Surely this would be at least in the top 2/3 of $5, right? It seems reasonably balanced for a $5 card, especially since $5 is a price point with a lot of variation in power.

The thing I dislike most about it is the name. Incendiarist is not a thing.

[eHalcyon]

Patrol
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Discard any number of cards. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
When you discard a card from your hand other than during a Clean-up phase, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, either trash that card, or put it on top of your deck.

Clarification: If you discard several cards at once, you can reveal a Patrol separately for each card discarded.

Allowing topdecking seems to make the card too powerful - it would kill all discard attacks. But allowing you to trash what you discard seems like a fantastic idea. The top portion seems good, too, if it drew you up to 4 instead of 5.

Top-decking doesn't kill discard attacks.. Ghost Ship is still fine.  If you mean in conjunction with the fixed draw, it's still not a perfect defense because Patrol is terminal.

Necromancy
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
Choose one: Gain an Action or Treasure card from the trash, putting it into your hand. Play it immediately. At the end of the turn, trash that card; or each other player reveals the top 2 cards of his deck, trashes one of them costing from $3 to $6, and discards the rest.
When you gain this, you may trash a card costing up to $6 from the Supply if there is not a copy of it in the trash.

You wouldn't be able to play a Treasure immediately without ending your Action Phase, so that's an obvious problem. I also don't think that we need the Attack - the on-gain already does plenty for the card.

Sure you can, if the card lets you.  Black Market does it too, and it's even less explicit about it.

Soldier
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
+1 Card. +1 Action. Each player trashes a Copper card from his hand (or reveals a hand without Copper). You may trash this. If you do, gain a Mercenary from the Mercenary pile if there are 4 or more Treasues in the trash; or gain a Madman from the Madman pile if there are 2 or more Soldiers in the trash.

Clarification: If there are 4 Treasures and 2 Soldiers in the trash, you choose whether to gain a Mercenary or a Madman.

Well this is just significantly easier to activate than Urchin/Hermit. Way, way, way so. Do not like it.

That's wrong.  It's way easier to get Madman through Hermit -- you just don't buy something.  You can do that with your very first Hermit.  To get a Madman with Soldier, one has to already be in the trash.  And while it's easier to get Mercenary through a Soldier than through an Urchin, that can potentially be tweaked just by changing the number of requisite treasures.

Danse Macabre
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may play an Action from your hand for none of its effects. If you do, +4 Cards and +1 Action.
When you buy this, trash it.
When you trash this, gain 2 cheaper cards of different costs.

I really like the thought that went into this card. It's very cool, but I think it's just a bit too fancy. There's going to be a large, large number of boards where you can never get this, you just do the on-trash thing which will have its uses but be pretty marginal over all. When you CAN gain this card, I expect the top part is just extremely, extremely strong. So I think this card may very well be terribroken. Maybe if it were tweaked it would work. +4 Cards and +1 Action is SUCH a powerful effect. You would just gain lots and lots of these things and use them on themselves.

Lots of people have been saying this but I don't really see it.  Yes +4 Cards, +1 Action is powerful... but you need to neuter an action card to do it.  Basically it turns itself and one other action card into two Labs.  If you don't have another action card in hand, it's dead.  Considering that you have to jump through a hoop to even get a copy of it, and that you have to jump through another each time you want to activate it, it doesn't seem so brokenly powerful to me.  Lab itself is not bonkers good.  And unless the extra action card is a Ruins (in which case, that's just a nice little counter) then there is significant opportunity cost in throwing away that other action.

If there is a complaint to be made about the on-play, it's that it's fairly swingy in whether you can match it up with an action or not.  Baron is somewhat similar though.

[eHalcyon]

Wednesday's Card:

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

Before reading others' comments:
I really like this card as a medium-weak trasher and a medium-weak junker. Before Dark Ages was released, I had hoped for a Dark Ages-y curser, since each set has its own themed curser. Well, Cultist and Marauder were as close as we got. This card feels like it could have fit right in as the Dark Ages curser. Plus, its a lot of fun with multi-type cards.

First up, Incendiarist provides light trashing. Then, depending on what you trash, you either give out Ruins or Curses, or gain a Spoils. Near the beginning of the game, this will mostly trash Estates to hand out Curses, unless its a Shelters game. It will also get some action trashing Coppers for Spoils. I really like this interaction, since Spoils can help build up an engine near the beginning, but then get out of the way once the engine starts chugging. I also sort of like that this doesn't give benefit for trashing Curses, and will make explosions of Ruins once Ruins start being trashed by it. The only downside here is that it seems unlikely to start trashing Actions in the first place, meaning Ruins may never come into play even if this card as a Looter is bought. But, with some on-trash benefit cards of DA, this might happen anyway.

As for power and balance, I think it seems very reasonable at $5. I would guess it's weaker than most $5 junking attacks, though maybe close to the level of Soothsayer. I don't think its broken from what I can tell.

After reading others' comments:
I guess most of the comments boil down to "this is too strong" or "this is too weak". I don't get the first -- I really don't think this is stronger than other $5 cursers. The most comment complaint that trashing Estates to give out Curses seems unfounded. To me, that action is very similar to Ambassador, since in the early game Estates and Curses are approximately equal. Plus, I don't think the ability to do that 3 times in a game is close to as strong as Witch's +2 Cards and always give a Curse. True, there are other options on Incendiarist, but Estate->Curse is probably the strongest.

As for the "too weak" comments, I don't get that at all. Surely this would be at least in the top 2/3 of $5, right? It seems reasonably balanced for a $5 card, especially since $5 is a price point with a lot of variation in power.

The main complaint that people have is that it can give out both Curses and Ruins, and this is a fair concern.  I think I agree with others that DA shouldn't have an actual Curser, since it has Ruins as its thing (if you want every set to have a thematic Curser, DA really is set with Cultist/Marauder, whereas Soothsayer doesn't really fit Guilds at all). 

[Robz888]

Soldier
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $3
+1 Card. +1 Action. Each player trashes a Copper card from his hand (or reveals a hand without Copper). You may trash this. If you do, gain a Mercenary from the Mercenary pile if there are 4 or more Treasues in the trash; or gain a Madman from the Madman pile if there are 2 or more Soldiers in the trash.

Clarification: If there are 4 Treasures and 2 Soldiers in the trash, you choose whether to gain a Mercenary or a Madman.

Well this is just significantly easier to activate than Urchin/Hermit. Way, way, way so. Do not like it.

That's wrong.  It's way easier to get Madman through Hermit -- you just don't buy something.  You can do that with your very first Hermit.  To get a Madman with Soldier, one has to already be in the trash.  And while it's easier to get Mercenary through a Soldier than through an Urchin, that can potentially be tweaked just by changing the number of requisite treasures.

Not buying something hurts a lot though, which is why you don't always just take Madman... and also because Hermit is a very interesting card with a lot of cool uses that you would rather have.  Okay, yeah, Soldier can't get you a Madman right away, but it's pretty straightforward to do it, and Soldier is a really uninteresting card to me.

Danse Macabre
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may play an Action from your hand for none of its effects. If you do, +4 Cards and +1 Action.
When you buy this, trash it.
When you trash this, gain 2 cheaper cards of different costs.

I really like the thought that went into this card. It's very cool, but I think it's just a bit too fancy. There's going to be a large, large number of boards where you can never get this, you just do the on-trash thing which will have its uses but be pretty marginal over all. When you CAN gain this card, I expect the top part is just extremely, extremely strong. So I think this card may very well be terribroken. Maybe if it were tweaked it would work. +4 Cards and +1 Action is SUCH a powerful effect. You would just gain lots and lots of these things and use them on themselves.

Lots of people have been saying this but I don't really see it.  Yes +4 Cards, +1 Action is powerful... but you need to neuter an action card to do it.  Basically it turns itself and one other action card into two Labs.  If you don't have another action card in hand, it's dead.  Considering that you have to jump through a hoop to even get a copy of it, and that you have to jump through another each time you want to activate it, it doesn't seem so brokenly powerful to me.  Lab itself is not bonkers good.  And unless the extra action card is a Ruins (in which case, that's just a nice little counter) then there is significant opportunity cost in throwing away that other action.

You just neuter a weak action, which this is. So you just get lots of these and play them all like this and it's uncomplicated and easy. It's like too much self-synergy, if that makes sense. Lab is not bonkers because it costs $5. This, when you can get it at all, will be easy to get a lot of. It's pretty much terribroken, although certainly not beyond fixable.

[Schneau]

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

The main complaint that people have is that it can give out both Curses and Ruins, and this is a fair concern.

I really don't get this argument. Just the fact that a single card can give Curses and Ruins doesn't make it concerning. What if there were a card that said "You may trash a Province. If you do, each other player gains a Curse and a Ruins." Is that card too strong or OP? No. It's not. So, you have to look at what the card actually does, which it seems that no one is doing when they say "lolz, gives out Curses and Ruins, too strong".

The main reason a card could be bad if it gives out Curses and Ruins is that it could be too good at filling opponents' decks with junk. Maybe there's a secondary concern that it would be too easy to empty 2 piles this way, but I just don't see that happening with Incindierist -- if you're buying Estates to trash to give out Ruins, you're going to have a bad time. Which gets us back to the first point. At least in 2 player games, this is almost never going to give out all the Curses. Next, let's think about what you have to do to give out Ruins -- you have to trash another Action card. Sure, if that's another Ruin, that's great, but otherwise it's not going to happen much. And even in the trash-a-Ruin scenario, you're not going to have tons of Ruins from other Incindierists alone, since if its the only Looter, it will end up more like Ruins tennis sending back and forth 1 Ruin. So, I really don't see the problem here when you actually dig into the card and look beyond the fact that it *can* give Ruins and Curses.

(Note: I will admit that it's a bit different in 3- and 4-player games, where there are more Estates to trash and more of a Ruins explosion. But, I still don't think this will be any stronger than the top 3 or 4 $5 junkers.)

[SirPeebles]

As for Soldier upgrading to easily, that is definitely a concern.  I open with Soldier, then on turn 3 play it.  This early, probably all four of us have a Copper in hand, so I am pretty much guaranteed a Mercenary.  Then the second person to play Soldier already gets to choose either upgrade.

[Robz888]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

[SirPeebles]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

It is not true that you can always do one of those things.  If the game has some stronger form of trashing, you aren't going to hold on to much junk just to fuel this card.

[Robz888]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

It is not true that you can always do one of those things.  If the game has some stronger form of trashing, you aren't going to hold on to much junk just to fuel this card.

Yeah, but this is just quite strong trashing in and of itself, because it trashes for you while junking your opponents. I mean you are always going to have pretty much a Copper around at least. I guess this does not match well with Chapel, unlike some other junkers, but other than that...

[ChocophileBenj]

I made the first half.
One of the cards in the contest is mine.

Cultivate
Types: Action – Victory
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Choose one: Trash a Victory card from your hand and gain a Treasure card costing up to $1 more; or trash a Treasure card from your hand and gain a Victory card costing up to $2 more.
This is worth 3 VP if there are at least 4 differently named Victory cards in the trash; otherwise it's worth 1 VP.

I think the action card is too poor (Copper -> Estate -> Silver -> Duchy -> ..., and ?) and the victory part isn't that interesting, because it's only an extra pile of estate/duchy. (well, it may easily become a duchy with a few other trashing)

Cemetery
Types: Victory
Cost: $5
Worth 2 VP plus 1 VP for every 2 differently named Action cards in the trash.
When you gain this, trash a card from your hand other than a Cemetery.

Except when you're forced to gain it (Swindler, but not Jester because it's a victory card), and when there are no other trashers, it may be nice. But I'm not ready to trash a great action to boost it !

Patrol
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Discard any number of cards. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
When you discard a card from your hand other than during a Clean-up phase, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, either trash that card, or put it on top of your deck.

Clarification: If you discard several cards at once, you can reveal a Patrol separately for each card discarded.

Reaction part is pretty nice, but also pretty strong ! And I already tried the action part with 7 and 6 cards instead of 5 and no reaction and a higher cost, so it's a bit of my idea, too. But I think both together are too strong.

Model Village
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +2 Actions.
When you trash this, you may trash a card from your hand. If you do, gain a card costing up to $2 more than it.

Should be able to trash itself like Mining village, but it may be broken. Too poor, otherwise.

Tribal Man
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal an Action card. Choose one: Put the card into your hand; or play the Action, trash it, and gain a card costing less than it.
When you trash this, gain an Action card costing at most $5 that is not a Tribal Man.

Disciple
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Look through your discard pile. You may reveal a Treasure from it and put it into your hand. You may trash this and another copy of Disciple from your hand. If you do trash two Disciples, gain a Savior from the Savior pile.

Savior
Types: Action
Cost: 0*
+1 Action. You may put your deck into your discard pile. Look through your discard pile and put a card from it into your hand. You may return this to the Savior pile. If you do, play an Action card from your hand three times. (This is not in the Supply.)

Disciple seems boring (platinum, gold, or copper ?), but Savior may be okay. Pretty fine.

Renovate
Type: Action
Cost: $4
Trash a card from your hand. You may gain a card costing up to $1 more than the trashed card, putting it into your hand. If it is an Action card, play it.

I agree, it may empty Fortress pile ! Not for me, sorry !

Brick
Types: Treasure
Cost: $5
Worth $1. When you play this, trash a card you have in play. Gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.
When you trash this, gain a Copper, putting it into your hand.

Clarification: Under normal circumstances, you will be able to trash the Brick you just played.

Upgrading treasures ? I dislike the idea. Treasures should give you $s and gain things only, but the treasure part is fine. I hate the on-trash part, though.

Bricklayer
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Trash any number of differently named cards from your hand. +1 Card per card trashed.

Deathmonger
Types: Action – Reaction
Cost: $3
Trash the top card of your deck. You may trash the top card of your deck.
When any player (including you) trashes cards, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, that player puts the trashed cards into his hand.

Action part is a bad idea because you need a spy, or something to check. And if you want to save them you need... another Deathmonger ! And reaction part steals cards (Swindler/Saboteur/bridges+knight on a province/platinum/colony, here you go !)

Carpenter
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Trash a card from your hand and gain a cheaper card, putting it into your hand. +$ equal to the cost in coins of the gained card.
When you trash this during your Action phase, +1 Action.

Looks like haggler if you trash an expensive card (gain a cheaper card and buy back what you trashed), maybe a bit more boring if you have other money and no +buy.
I dislike the "when you trash this during your Action phase" ideas, but they don't seem to harm many people, and it's not worse than other ideas. I don't know, in fact.

Necromancy
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
Choose one: Gain an Action or Treasure card from the trash, putting it into your hand. Play it immediately. At the end of the turn, trash that card; or each other player reveals the top 2 cards of his deck, trashes one of them costing from $3 to $6, and discards the rest.
When you gain this, you may trash a card costing up to $6 from the Supply if there is not a copy of it in the trash.

Too many words !
Only the action card should be played immediately, but the action part is fine, just another Knight-like.
I dislike the on-gain part, though.

Ravage
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may discard a card. If you do, +1 Action. Each other player with 3 or more cards in hand reveals his hand and discards the card with the highest cost in coins (you choose in a tie). If he discarded a Victory card, he gains a Ruins, putting it into his hand.

I dislike the idea of forcing to reveal hands, sorry.

Junkyard (A)
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $5
+1 Action. You may gain a Ruins, putting it into your hand. Discard any number of cards. +1 Card per card discarded. +1 Card per Action card discarded. You may trash this.
When you trash this, +2 Cards.

EDIT: Added "+1 Card per Action card discarded" to Junkyard (A).
The "you may gain a ruins option" is pretty controversed, but I like the idea of action cards giving you 2 cards instead of just 1. Okay.

Mortuary
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Look through your discard pile. You may trash a card from your discard pile or hand.
While this is in play, when you trash a card costing $2 or more, +1 Card.

Simple, and nice. Another terminal trasher, that allows you to trash from discard this time. I like this.

Pact
Type: Treasure
Cost: $2
Worth $0. When you play this, trash it. For each Pact in the trash, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile, putting it into your hand.
When you buy a Pact, each player gains a copy of it (you get 2 copies total).

Should be 20 of 'em in the supply, otherwise it would deplete. And of course, you should fix the on-gain part. I don't like the ideas of Spoils for $2, though.

Ferret
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may trash this. If you do, +$ equal to the cost in coins of an Action card in the trash that you choose.
While this is in play, when you buy a card, gain a Ferret from the Supply or trash.

So mostly a one-shot $4 ? Hmmm... I dislike this.

Incendiarist
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $5
You may trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, each other player gains a Ruins; Treasure card, gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; Victory card, each other player gains a Curse.

Ambassador-like. It is fine.

Priestcraft
Types: Action – Attack
Cost: $5
+$2. Choose one: Trash a card from your hand; or choose a card in the trash and each other player gains a copy of that card, putting it on top of his deck.

May ruin a turn if stacked !

Miser
Types: Action
Cost: $4
Choose two: +$2; gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile; gain a Silver. (The choices must be different.)

I think I will always choose +$2/Spoils ! I like it, though.

Charter (A)
Types: Action
Cost: $4
+1 Card. +1 Action. Trash the top card of your deck. You may gain a card from the trash.
When you trash this, +2 Cards.

Another "trash top card from your deck". Sometimes you hit your province and you have to catch hit back, so it's a discard, sometimes it's the same with your Grand Market or something useful you wouldn't like to discard, sometimes it's a cultist so jackpot, or a copper that you may convert into a province... it's still too swingy, sorry !

Robber Baron
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $4
You may discard a Ruins. If you do, +$3 and each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand. Otherwise, gain a Ruins.
When you gain this, gain 2 Ruins.

Well chosen name ! But it's a bit poorer than Militia, because as some people said, you need another card just to gain $1 more than militia.

Sacrifice
Types: Action
Cost: $5
Trash a card from your hand. If you do, +$2 and gain a Spoils from the Spoils pile.

Convert the cards into Spoils and gain immediate benefit. Looks a bit like Merchant Ship. I like this, but does it fit well with the thema of poverty in Dark Ages ? Let's say yes, as it looks much like Altar.

King of the Slums
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $5
Look at the top 3 cards of the Ruins pile. Gain any number of them, putting them into your hand. Put the rest back in any order. Choose up to 3 Ruins from your hand. Play the first one three times, the second one twice, and the third one once.

Giving yourself ruins is already bad, but at $5 it's ... wow !

[Schneau]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

I agree that the choices make this card good. I don't think $6 good, but maybe. But, I definitely disagree with your assessment of the pricing of the parts:

- Trashing a Ruins to give out Ruins? That's worth $0 on most boards. I'd likely never buy that card (which will most of the time be worse than a Ruins itself) except for some, but not all, Cultist and Marauder games.

- Trash a Copper to gain a Spoils -- if you consider Spoils to be about equivalent in value to Silver, then this is a much worse Mine or Taxman. Maybe a $2 card, at most $3.

- Trash an Estate to give a Curse? That's got to be worse than Ambassador, right? Amb is much more general, can pass Coppers, and passing Estates is almost as bad as Curses. So, again, a $2-$3 card.

So, I agree that the combination is what makes this card interesting and decently powerful. But, not overly powerful.

[eHalcyon]

You just neuter a weak action, which this is. So you just get lots of these and play them all like this and it's uncomplicated and easy. It's like too much self-synergy, if that makes sense. Lab is not bonkers because it costs $5. This, when you can get it at all, will be easy to get a lot of. It's pretty much terribroken, although certainly not beyond fixable.

I don't think it would be super easy to get lots of them.  I mean, what would be the best card for that?  Ironworks, maybe?  So you can get one of these per Ironworks per shuffle.  Still doesn't seem uncomplicated and easy to me.  How many Ironworks will you go for?  What payload are you going to go for, and how will you get it?  Just having Labs isn't great if there isn't a good card for you to play at the end.  And these can still whiff.

As for Soldier upgrading to easily, that is definitely a concern.  I open with Soldier, then on turn 3 play it.  This early, probably all four of us have a Copper in hand, so I am pretty much guaranteed a Mercenary.  Then the second person to play Soldier already gets to choose either upgrade.

But can't this be solved just by changing the numbers a bit?  Perhaps the bigger issue is how it scales with number of players, but plenty of official cards have that issue too.

[SirPeebles]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

It is not true that you can always do one of those things.  If the game has some stronger form of trashing, you aren't going to hold on to much junk just to fuel this card.

Yeah, but this is just quite strong trashing in and of itself, because it trashes for you while junking your opponents. I mean you are always going to have pretty much a Copper around at least. I guess this does not match well with Chapel, unlike some other junkers, but other than that...

Unless you break open your actions, it can only trash and junk three times, and that is if you successfully line this up with all three of your estates.  And only once in a shelters game, although then necro is more apt to bring out ruins.  Most often, past the first curse or two, you are gaining spoils.  Trashing Copper for a Spoils, not junking.  Copper for Spoils is probably roughly moneylenderish, and moneylender is not strong trashing.

You just seem to have a deeply emotional loathing of the card, which I can't comprehend.  It seems fine to me, beyond scaling awkwardly.  But you tend to comment on mostly two player games, which is where this is least dominating.

[Robz888]

I think the main complaint against Incendiarist is that it's very dominating, and thus uninteresting.

Each of its options is really good, and the fact that you have the option makes them even better. And it trashes junk. The Action trashing thing really only works against other Ruins, but hey that's not bad at all. "Trash a Ruins, if you do, give each other player a Ruins." What would you price that card at? $4 seems reasonable to me (compare with Marauder). "Trash a Copper, if you do, gain a Spoils." That's probably at least a decent $4 benefit as well. "Trash an Estate, if you do, give other players a Curse." That's definitely a $4 benefit.

You can ALWAYS do one of these things. You can even just trash Curses if you need to, for no benefit (which isn't good, but at least you can). Altogether I think that makes it a very, very strong $5 card, possibly a $6 card. The choices really improve this card.

It is not true that you can always do one of those things.  If the game has some stronger form of trashing, you aren't going to hold on to much junk just to fuel this card.

Yeah, but this is just quite strong trashing in and of itself, because it trashes for you while junking your opponents. I mean you are always going to have pretty much a Copper around at least. I guess this does not match well with Chapel, unlike some other junkers, but other than that...

Unless you break open your actions, it can only trash and junk three times, and that is if you successfully line this up with all three of your estates.  And only once in a shelters game, although then necro is more apt to bring out ruins.  Most often, past the first curse or two, you are gaining spoils.  Trashing Copper for a Spoils, not junking.  Copper for Spoils is probably roughly moneylenderish, and moneylender is not strong trashing.

You just seem to have a deeply emotional loathing of the card, which I can't comprehend.  It seems fine to me, beyond scaling awkwardly.  But you tend to comment on mostly two player games, which is where this is least dominating.

I don't LOATHE the card, I just think it's quite strong and uninteresting. I mean sure, my opinion is somewhat arbitrary. There are lots of cards to reject!

[Robz888]

You just neuter a weak action, which this is. So you just get lots of these and play them all like this and it's uncomplicated and easy. It's like too much self-synergy, if that makes sense. Lab is not bonkers because it costs $5. This, when you can get it at all, will be easy to get a lot of. It's pretty much terribroken, although certainly not beyond fixable.

I don't think it would be super easy to get lots of them.  I mean, what would be the best card for that?  Ironworks, maybe?  So you can get one of these per Ironworks per shuffle.  Still doesn't seem uncomplicated and easy to me.  How many Ironworks will you go for?  What payload are you going to go for, and how will you get it?  Just having Labs isn't great if there isn't a good card for you to play at the end.  And these can still whiff.

They really won't whiff, though. It's very easy to get actions to collide, when any old action will do! (Buying the most amount of actions WITHOUT having them collide is the hard thing.)

[markusin]

Archaeologist
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $5
+1 Card. +1 Action. You may trash the top card of the Ruins pile.
While this card is in play, when you play an Action card, play a copy of the top card of the Ruins pile.

Yes, this is a pretty cool idea. But as is... I think it's just quite too strong. If the top Ruins card is Ruined Library, I mean this card gives you an extra +1 card per Action you play. Of course Archaeologist has to be terminal. Does it have to give +1 card? I think it shouldn't. I also think it should possibly cost $6. Good idea, though.

Yeah I have to agree that it's way too strong as written. Just having one of these in play while R. Library or R. Village is on top can lead to effortless super turns. It seems very hard to balance though. You don't know if the top 10 Ruins are all Abandoned Mine or Survivors at the start of the game. The source of the problems is that this is using Ruins in a way they weren't designed to be used. Ruins were just supposed to be junk cards, not a vanilla bonus randomizer deck. Ideally, this would interact with a non-supply "dig site pile" that consists of a bunch of unique card. That could be cool. Those kind of cards weren't allowed for this contest though.

Raid
Types: Action – Looter
Cost: $3
Choose one: Play and trash up to 2 Action cards from your hand; or gain any number of Action cards from the trash costing up to $3 and play them in any order.
When you trash this, each other player gains a Ruins.

Way too powerful for $3. This is like a Throne Room effect. Sure there's a slight chance they steal your good actions, but okay, this is just too good I tihnk at $3.

But Throne Room almost works at $3. The $3 restriction on card gains should have an effect on how this plays out, no? Also, lining up Throne Room with an action can be hard enough. This has to line up with 2 actions to make full use of the first choice.

Condottiero
Types: Action – Attack – Looter
Cost: $4
+2 Buys. +$2. Each player (including you) may discard a Treasure. If he does, he puts his deck into his discard pile and immediately reshuffles. Each other player gains a Ruins.
When you trash this, look through your discard pile. You may trash up to 2 cards from your discard pile or hand.

Clarification: Each other player gaining a Ruins is not contingent on whether or not he discards; it just always happens after the discard and shuffling effects.

A Marauder that Chancellors everybody? Okay. Well, too much like Marauder for me. Likely a very strong card.

I agree that it looks very strong

Danse Macabre
Types: Action
Cost: $4
You may play an Action from your hand for none of its effects. If you do, +4 Cards and +1 Action.
When you buy this, trash it.
When you trash this, gain 2 cheaper cards of different costs.

I really like the thought that went into this card. It's very cool, but I think it's just a bit too fancy. There's going to be a large, large number of boards where you can never get this, you just do the on-trash thing which will have its uses but be pretty marginal over all. When you CAN gain this card, I expect the top part is just extremely, extremely strong. So I think this card may very well be terribroken. Maybe if it were tweaked it would work. +4 Cards and +1 Action is SUCH a powerful effect. You would just gain lots and lots of these things and use them on themselves.

I'm in the camp that thinks this is too strong when you can gain it. This might even be able to use the gainer as a second action card, depending on the gainer.

[AJD]

The source of the problems is that this is using Ruins in a way they weren't designed to be used. Ruins were just supposed to be junk cards, not a vanilla bonus randomizer deck.

I dunno; Donald X. cut Hatter apparently because it was too hard to track, not because Ruins simply aren't suited to that function. (Hatter is cantrip, play top Ruins and move it to the bottom of the pile. ...And honestly, I don't see that that's that much harder to track than, say, Ironmonger.)

[StrongRhino]

I feel like that Archeologist would be good with that fix that someone suggested where you only get the under the line bonus once per Archeologist.

Personally, I think Incendarist scales pretty badly in 4p games, if one person goes for it and makes a Ruins explosion, it seems like everyone needs to go for it too, which is boring.

[markusin]

The source of the problems is that this is using Ruins in a way they weren't designed to be used. Ruins were just supposed to be junk cards, not a vanilla bonus randomizer deck.

I dunno; Donald X. cut Hatter apparently because it was too hard to track, not because Ruins simply aren't suited to that function. (Hatter is cantrip, play top Ruins and move it to the bottom of the pile. ...And honestly, I don't see that that's that much harder to track than, say, Ironmonger.)

True, but I'd be surprised if that was the only factor. What happens to Hatter in games where 2 or more players go for Cultist and Marauder?

I should have been more specific concerning my concern with Archaeologist. Archaeologist works in a way that every single card played after it can be boosted with an extra vanilla bonus decided by chance. The card doesn't actually play the Ruins, and I wouldn't even call it a Ruins-for-Benefit card, since it doesn't give you Ruins and doesn't particularly want you to have Ruins over other actions in your hand. Already, the Dominion outtake card that gave you a coin after every action you played was either really weak or really strong depending on your action density. Imagine having a card that can make every action card non-terminal. The Ruins effects weren't balanced around being a booster for any action that is played. It's worse here because the Ruins can be bought later on in the turn, potentially denying your opponent from getting the same benefit. I think that special bonuses have to be designed for such a mechanic.

[markusin]

I feel like that Archeologist would be good with that fix that someone suggested where you only get the under the line bonus once per Archeologist.

I originally thought Archaeologist was a cantrip the played the top Ruins once, like a Ruins Ironmonger. Such a card could cost 4 like Ironmonger, and it has that top Ruins trashing too (which could be changed to putting the card at the bottom of the deck). I was able to wrap my head around that version. I was baffled when I realized how it actually worked.

[StrongRhino]

I feel like that Archeologist would be good with that fix that someone suggested where you only get the under the line bonus once per Archeologist.

I originally thought Archaeologist was a cantrip the played the top Ruins once, like a Ruins Ironmonger. Such a card could cost 4 like Ironmonger, and it has that top Ruins trashing too (which could be changed to putting the card at the bottom of the deck). I was able to wrap my head around that version. I was baffled when I realized how it actually worked.

Oh, ok. Still feel like it would be an ok fix.