Challenge #43: Design a card (or card-shaped thing) that involves revealing your hand: Commentary & ResultsThanks everyone for the submissions, there were a lot of great ideas. OPs are hyperlinked, shortlisted entries are bolded.
Apostate by KudasaiI had to read this a couple times to understand how it works, but I think I like this card. Triple Labs are always hard to balance, but I appreciate that this one works eventually, provided you put in the effort. The trashing is nice at first, hitting Coppers and Estates, but then you really need to ensure you have enough fodder to prevent hitting key engine pieces (or another Apostate). Neat idea.
Chest by AquilaThe multiple choices make it just slightly more complicated than I like (i.e. “when am I allowed to take +Coffers, again?”), but I do like the player interaction. It feels more like a fairer version of Smugglers than Feast. Small nitpick: I’d prefer this say “player to your left” instead of picking a player.
Urban Sprawl by popsofctownThe idea of a Rats-like card that can gain copies of itself by revealing Estates and then better cards with Duchies and Provinces is certainly interesting, however I don’t like the weird buy restriction and may gain on first buy phase clause. I guess I understand why it’s there, but I imagine there’s probably a cleaner way to do it.
Pearl line by spinefluI’m impressed by your ambition here, but I’m afraid the line’s complexity stifles the more interesting ideas. Jeweler’s Silver attack is unique and makes Housebreaker’s attack more likely to hit. Fence is a weaker Horn of Plenty but why does it need to be a Reaction and use a non-standard exchange condition? Cartel seems okay, though it feels like a boring way to end the line—just turning your Traveller into some VP chips.
Lair by GubumpI think this still can cause loops, right? Since it’s still technically “the start of your turn” after drawing? Loops aside, it’s certainly a lot better than Tunnel, but it’s tricky that the Guide effect only works when it’s A) in your hand at the start of your turn, and B) in a hand you actually want to discard. At least buying this makes it more likely for both of these happen.
Rent by majiponiThe on-play is simple, though often weak. The reaction also feels pretty niche. Uh not much else to say, I guess? Could definitely use a buff.
Potpourri by Chris is meI think Donald X. tested a card similar to this one which eventually became Menagerie. Making yours not work on Action cards keeps it from being crazy too often, and the +Buy helps with the hands where it is. It compares quite favorably to Sacred Grove and Wine Merchant, so it might be on the strong side, but it’s still just terminal coin so it’s probably fine.
Genocide by pubbyIgnoring the distasteful card name and horrifying card art, I like the idea here. It feels similar to Forum with a village option can be useful sometimes, except I don’t like how costly it is to use—as currently worded, it would seem that discarding a total of 4 cards just for a village doesn’t seem worth it. Perhaps discarding just 2 cards after the reveal could trigger the +Action, or perhaps the Actions could even scale per card discarded (e.g. discard 2 cards, get +2 Actions).
Vandal by madioca15One of my favorites, I love the minigame here of trying to get a big hand of uniques and cash in for points, yet they’re still useful as a plain ol’ Woodcutters while you’re trying to get there. Simple, but some cool possibilities, and it feels much more fun than the similar (and swingier) Farmer’s Market.
No name by Fly-Eagles-FlyIt’s an interesting idea, however the options here don’t feel super balanced with one another. The Remodel plus trash is often going to be far better than the other two, both in the early game for trashing as well as mid to late for gaining engine pieces and VP. The Ambassador option is the weakest, since trashing your own junk is usually better than passing out more of it. Along with the gain a copy option, this is a card where the opponent will feel bad about whatever they choose, since there’s almost always going to be an option that’s good for you.
King’s Counsel by naitchmanKing’s Court on a card you can’t choose feels balanced at $3, and the player interaction and decisions here seem to be far more meaningful than those with Advisor, since you can’t just spam a bunch of these. It will be unplayable in some games, especially ones with few non-terminals, however with strategic hand management and choosing carefully when to play it and when not to, this can be incredibly powerful. You’ll of course never get Kinged King’s Counsels, and it will be tough to King other key payload or draw cards without help, but Kinging weaker cards such as a cantrip or a terminal silver isn’t bad at all for $3. Very neat card!
Socialite by NoMoreFun A sort of mini-Cursed Village with a mild discard attack. Clearing out Victory cards from your own hand helps this keep drawing, though you’ll need trashing to prevent from choking on Treasures. It’s nice that the draw-to-X counters its own attack. This does stomp all over Night cards though which is a little sad, but I suppose there are official cards that do that too (I’m looking at you Haunted Woods).
No name by mad4mathLook at that, two cards named “No name.” This is a nice utility card that essentially lets you “save” extra Coppers and Action plays for a later turn. It works really nicely as a Night card too, as it lets you plan out which Treasures you’ll play and which you won’t, while also providing consolation prizes for dead-drawn Actions, or ones that have outlived their usefulness. Nice one.
Sellsword by GazbagThis feels like what Taxman should have been, it’s cheaper and more versatile, while still hitting opponents with a similarly targeted discard attack. Early game, there’s the decision of if it’s better to thin a Copper and Cutpurse your opponents or upgrade your Estate for a much milder attack. Depending on the board, it’s probably less likely to hit as the game goes on, but still hurts when it does. Also it’s cute that you can Sellsword Estates into more Sellswords.
Confessional by pstIt sounds great on paper: +2 Cards, +2 Actions, +$2, AND trash a junk card! Except…triggering this is going to be frustratingly difficult—far more so than triggering Menagerie. Yes, with sifters, discarders, or handsize attacks, it gets a bit easier, but most of the time, you’ll need trashing to get this set up—but by then you won’t need the trashing anymore, and playing with this becomes more of a liability than a useful engine piece.
Numismatist by grepSimple and straightforward, and the reveal mechanic cleverly prevents it from stacking and encourages variety. A bit boring if nothing else, though it can get much more exciting when there are Kingdom treasures to work with.
Arithmancer by Commodore ChucklesNice card name, I see what you did there. It's sort of a reverse Conspirator where the cantrip is guaranteed instead of the +$2, which makes them safer to gain a lot of. The issue here is hitting exactly $13 and reliably hitting it multiple times in a row. Discarding helps a bit, but I imagine this will trigger far less often than Conspirator.
Trade Agreement by grrgrrgrrThis one is interesting—a deal with the devil of sorts. You can get a whole bunch of Coffers and Villagers out of it, and eventually it eats all your fodder and won’t produce anything else unless you gain more Action cards with +Actions. The biggest problem here is this basically kills any non-terminal draw—I know the project sort of adds its own draw, but on boards without a terminal handsize increaser, this will be a very hard sell.
Soup Kitchen by King LeonI worry this is often going to be pretty weak, and probably could almost do without the treasure drawback. Yes, it can get strong in multiples in the right deck, but needs draw and buy. Also, this needs a “can’t go below $0” clause like Poor House.
Siege Tower by faustOne of the few attacks submitted, this one seems okay. It can be very painful when it hits, and the draw can help increase the chances of hitting something good, but if you have too many things in your hand or no bad cards in your hand, the attack might not hurt much or at all. It’s a bit hard to control, even more so than Raider, and thus looks a little weak next to something like Ghost Ship or Witch, but I think it’s probably still worth going for on a lot of boards.
Mart by alion8meA Peddler that gains copies itself seems good, with the drawback that having too many can make it discard copies of itself—kind of like Poacher with multiple empty piles. Having +1 Card at the very end reads a little weird, but I do appreciate that it makes it less likely you’ll draw into another Mart before revealing. Mart can auto-run the pile if your deck and discard are empty, but it’s a little tricky to set up.
Excavated Village by anordinarymanAt first glance I thought this was way too strong—of course you’d never play it without other Action cards so the "Village Idiot punishment” of gaining a Curse for a hand without Actions seemed unlikely to ever matter. However, the Cursing once piles empty is a very clever touch and makes this a much more interesting card (and piles WILL empty when this card is on the board). It’s sort of like University, except the player interaction can lead to some tough decisions—e.g. should you give someone another bad terminal, or a better card that's the last in the pile in hopes of Cursing them later? I’ve come around on this one. Also dope card art.
Hearth by seguraIt’s simple which I like, but I worry this will often just be a $5 Gold or better (since revealing Action, Treasure, and a third type such as Attack or Victory will be pretty common). Giving it +Buy instead of +Action might help, but it definitely seems too automatic in its non-terminal state.
Runner Up: Vandal by madioca15WINNER: King’s Counsel by naitchmanCongrats to naitchman and thanks everyone for participating!