Challenge 54 - The Sweetest Sound
"A person's name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language." – Dale Carnegie
Your challenge is to create a card or card-shaped thing that refers to copies of itself by name.
I thought there were some really wonderful submissions this time. Broadly people went two directions -- cards that work better with more copies of themselves, and cards that work worse with more copies of themselves. There was a lot of fun play with how or when to gain, and also when the copies go away. Overall, I think that of the contests I've judged, these were some of the highest quality submissions over all. Very nice, simple, focused cards!
Reviews of the cardsRefugee Camp by forkofnature
Refugee Camp, Action, $2
+1 Card
+2 Actions
Discard a card.
-
In games using this, when you buy a more expensive card, you may gain a Refugee Camp.
This is sort of like the reverse Border Village! Neat! Don't be fooled, this is
much more powerful than necropolis. The main draw back of villages that decrease your hand-size is that you lose a change to draw your drawing cards. Refugee camp at the least sifts, so it gives you a second chance that the card you need is on the top of your deck.
I think this card only costs 2 because it cant cost 3. Strength-wise it is priced closer to what it should be at $3 -- except for the fact that no one ever buys this card, they buy a $3 or more card, and a Refugee camp comes along! So the price is actually perfect, since you end up having to pay $3 or more for it. Nice work!
Normally, the interesting decision about villages is
when to sacrifice a buy for them. Beginners buy them too early and too often. But not using your buys on them can end up losing the game if the split goes 3-7 the other way in a strong-engine game. Refugee Camp makes a different decision, it's when you gain them. And you don't have to lose a buy on it, so it's less of a tactical decision. Plus, you don't have to slow down to gain them back and not lose the split too badly. I think that games with Refugee Camp vs games with Village, games with Refugee Camp are just a little simpler tactically. I wonder if you could add some sort on-play affect that makes them more complicated? Or not, some cards need to be simple.
Honestly, I think this is a very cool and unexplored space. Nice work!
This is in the top 5Raven by Aquila
Raven - Action Reserve, $3 cost.
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may discard a Treasure to gain a Raven. Put this on your Tavern mat.
-
When you gain a Province, you may discard this from your Tavern mat. If you do, each other player gains a Curse.
I am very glad to see Raven make a return! It was originally submitted for a contest I judged and I said this:
I really love the concept here, and I hope you iterate on it and figure out a way to make Raven's self-gaining.
. I do think overall this is an even better submission this time around-- in particular the forcing you to discard a treasure to gain a Raven is very interesting. However, there is one way that this card is not "aligned it is with Dominion precedents" (one of the judging criteria). Donald X has gone on to record to say how divisive attack cards that do not benefit the player playing them are, and has thus avoided them since seaside (even skulk comes with a +buy and a gold). Raven goes further by actually having a clause to
hurt the player of the card. I think this is too far this direction. You don't have to remove the discard mechanic, but I think that there's a couple of things you could do here. Perhaps add an on buy mechanic (perhaps overpay) that makes the purchase of a Raven benefit the player. Perhaps Ravens on play could benefit you if you discard a Raven. Something like "you may discard a card. If it's a treasure, gain a Raven. If it's a Raven, +2$" Which effectively turns your second Raven into a Silver. Of course to make this tenable, you'd have to make the Tavern'ing optional as well. You can also remove the can-tripness and give it a static bonus, which might be interesting but it does veer away from rats/magpie cantrip self-gainers a bit.
I do love this card a lot, and I think it poses a ton of interesting decisions. If my opponent is stocking up on Ravens, can I build up a way to quickly empty duchies and ignore provinces? Is it worth sacrificing $ here to gain another Raven? I was really glad to see this come back!
Hoist by spineflu
Hoist • $5 • Action - Reaction
+1 Action
Reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. Put any revealed Hoists into your hand. You may discard any of the other revealed cards, then put the rest back in any order.
-
At the start of Clean-up, you may reveal and discard this from your hand for +1 Card when drawing a new hand.
Wow. Every Hoist you don't play is sort of like top-decking an experiment next turn. It's also nice because next turn you have a bigger hand and in those bigger hands, your more likely to have other draw cards that the hoists will be nice sifters for! Really interesting decision -- do I play all my hoists? Or Do I keep them for a bigger hand next round? I have two hoists in my hand. Do I play them hoping to draw more, or do I keep them in hand. Keeping them in hand isn't free, of course. You sacrificed a card this hand for them.I can see in certain decks they function a bit like weak Den of Sins. If you have a 20 card deck with 5 cantrips and 5 Hoists, then each turn you likely see all 20 cards and keep the 5 Hoists in hand for next turn starting with 10 to draw the last 10 cards, rinse and repeat. I am a sucker for sifters like this. It is very strong but not too strong. I actually think this is an improved Cartographer. It's more interesting in every way. It will, just like Cartographer, be slow, but I think it's worth it.
Really nice work!
This is in the top 5Rabbit by grep
Rabbit - $3 - Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
If you have an even number of Rabbits in play, +$1 and gain a Rabbit.
I think the best part of design here is the "even number" gaining. Without command cards, this means you need to spend at least two gains on a Rabbit before they start multiplying. If you did it on odd it would be probably two strong and multiple too fast. (and of course, thematically this is hilarious and fun). However; by also putting the +1$ on the even event, the card is weakened substantially. I wonder if the money bonus could happen with odd numbers? It would be a lot stronger. Right now, even if I buy 2, I have to wait for them to line up, just to get a half-merchant. When I do line them up, I gain a 3rd one which helps me, but still I only have the equivalence of 1 merchant in my deck. Even if I manage to get all 10, I spent most of the game with them not lining up, and only by the end of the game am I getting the equivalent of $5. I would bet that player who buys 2 early Rabbits is significantly worse off than a player who buys 2 early merchants. I don't think the price difference of $1 is enough here. It just isn't strong enough to be worthwhile. Of course there are some unusual situations. Command cards let you play them with 0 in play which is nice. I think this card could be better by putting the $ bonus on odd Rabbits. You might even be able to price it $4 at that point.
I also wanted to point out that Rabbits was the name of a runner-up. I don't know if you saw my post earlier in this thread, but it is. I think we should try to avoid duplicate names in this thread if we can.
Loner by NoMoreFun
Loner
Action - $4
+2 Cards
+1 Action
This turn, at the start of Clean-up, if you have exactly one Loner in play, gain a Loner. Otherwise, return all Loners in play to the supply.
Yes, yes, very nice. This is a card that very elegantly refers to itself, both for gaining, and for anti-synergy. Well-done! I'm pretty sad buying an experiment for $4, so you have to be careful about playing your last Loner. Strategically, you probably want to count to make sure you always have at least 1 left in your deck. So perhaps you play all but 1 in your hand. But maybe the next two cards in your deck can dramatically change this turn!! These are interesting and complicated decisions. I'm a sucker for cheaper-lab alternatives. This is a very good one.
This is in the top 5Censure by Fragasnap
Censure
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+1 Card, +1 Action. The player to your left may reveal a Censure or Province from their hand. If they don't, +1 Card and then discard a card.
I think that I'm fine ignoring Censure in most games. I probably only pick it up when I have $3 and don't want any other card. Which, you know, some cards have to be a Pearl Diver, but they are less interesting cards. Even less interesting it encourages opponents to pick up further Censures. I think the concept of "your opponent may block with a copy of this card" is really really interesting, and I'd be curious to see where you could go with it. It just doesn't work so strongly for me on this Fugitive-like card. Personal opinion, you know.
Storeroom by [TP] Inferno
Storeroom
$2
Action
+1 Action
Gain a Storeroom. Do this twice: +2 Cards, then discard 2 cards.
Storeroom is already the name of a Dominion card. You should rename this. This card is also a sifter, with the interesting complication of having it gain more of itself. Sifters are good when you have a few good cards to get to, but more sifters mean you have to sift through the sifters themselves in order to get to the good card. So it hurts itself in an interesting way. Nice! The sifting is a little powerful and slow, in a bad way. Ever throne room a cellar? So much AP. This card gives you AP on a single play. I think if you made it +1 card, Discard a card, +3 cards, discard 3 cards, it wouldn't cause as much AP, since the first discard should be easy. I think you can make this card stronger because the real cost of this card is buying it too-early. So people are likely to buy it late, which means costing it low isn't as consequential, so you could investigate a way to make this stronger on play to also make it more captivating. I'm a sucker for sifters, but I could only pick this up late, and sifters are most valuable with asymmetric decks but later in the game your deck is more symmetrical. Not that all cards need to be valuable turn 1! But sifters as a concept want to be valuable turn 1.
Certainly you made an interesting card that generated a lot of discussion.
Jedi by majiponi
Jedi
cost $3 - Action - Attack
+1 Action
Each other player reveals their hand.
Choose one: Draw until you have 6 cards in hand; or each other player discards their hand and draws 5 cards.
---
When another player plays a Jedi, you may reveal this from your hand, to be unaffected by that Jedi.
This card is slow (since you have to look at all the cards potentially multiple times) and you make a decision each time, and it's non-terminal. Donald X learned that spy was bad for this reason. This is also political. You see everyone's hand and then you choose your action. If I play with Ali and Briggs, and Briggs has a bunch of bad cards in their hand, and Ali has a bunch of good cards in their hand, what i choose to do is political. And Dominion is meant to be not political. Notice how Minion doesn't let you see your opponent's cards before making the choice. The one part of design that is very good is that this card lowers your hand count, which incentivizes you to draw back up to 6. However, that ability is strong enough (first play is a lab), that I don't think $3 is the right cost for this.
Bivouac by Kudasai
Bivouac - Action - $5
+1 Action
+$2
You may play a Bivouac from your hand. At the start of Clean-up this turn, if you have 3 or more Bivouacs in play, discard them all. Otherwise, put them all onto your deck.
I think you have over-estimated the value of being able to top-deck your Bivouacs. Starting with two Bivouacs is basically like you starting your turn with a Silver and a Festival that doesn't have a +buy. Not that inspiring of a start. Plus, if you use these in an engine, you have a lot more than 2 in play so you don't even get the benefit. They start to look even more like really sad Festivals. Villages are meant for engines, and therefore villages that don't draw really need strong bonuses to make them compelling in engines, especially ones costing $5. +2$ isn't nearly as helpful to an engine as the +buy does for festival, and again, the top-deck isn't so strong. Fishing Village doesn't decrease your hand-size next turn,
and it gives you money too the next turn, and it's appropriately cheap--making it a strong engine enabler. If your village doesn't enable engines, it isn't doing it's job as a village. I think you could potentially weaken this and cost it $4. Perhaps allowing you to choose to reveal a Bivouac from your hand to either play it, gain $, or gain a buy. If you keep the +2$ and non-terminality then this still costs $5.
Millstone by Something_Smart
Millstone
$4 - Treasure
$1
Choose one: return this to the Supply for +$2, or gain a Millstone.
Cats by Gazbag
Cats
$4 Action
+2 Cards
Choose one: Gain a Cats; or +1 Action and return this to the Supply.
I'm actually going to talk about these cards together because, well they both break down to the same, very interesting concept:
Get a mild bonus and choose to either return this to the supply for a stronger bonus; or gain another copy of this card
I love this concept, I think it makes really interesting decisions--do you make this turn weaker (both cards offer a pathetic $0 or $1 card costing bonus if you choose to gain another) to make other turns better? And when is the right time to gain the strong bonus? Plus when you gain the strong bonus, you lose the card itself, how humiliating! I love these decisions--very interesting and complicated. Nice work.
Millstone: Ultimately, in the beginning of the game copper is actually not that horrible, so it probably doesn't hurt to use it, but you gained this at the expense of a silver. Pretty strong drawback. And spiking up to use the $3 early isn't as strong as it seems. $4 for a spoils is about right, but it's not fun to buy a $4 cost just to buy a $5 later with it. It's like a feast in a sense, though non-terminal. I'm thinking you could probably have it self-trash for a +buy to make it a little more fun to get the stronger benefit from.
Cats: This card functions a lot differently than Millstone because Experiments help you continue to draw. I also like that you get to see your next card before choosing whether to trade this for an action. I'm a sucker for cheap labs. It does seem strong, though. Basically, in the begining of the game, +2 cards is roughly equivalent to +2cards, +1 action, so this card doesn't have a strong enough drawback (Millstone does only generate +1$, which is a better drawback of not returning the card). Even so, this seems fun to play with, so
This is in the top 5Islet by popsofctown
Islet
6$ Action - Victory
You may set an Islet from your hand aside on your Island mat. If you do, set this aside on your Island mat.
--
Worth 4 VP
Ah, yes. An excellent Seaside addition, combing the treasure map concept with the Island. When I originally designed this contest, I imagined more people might go for Treasure Map concepts, this was one I definitely didn't think of at all. You have to gain two Islets to have them go away,
and line them up. I do think this is appropriately costed, since Distant Lands requires an entire shuffle and play for them to have value, while this one is instantly valuable. But you still want to buy them early so you can play them and get them out of your deck. Interestingly enough, I think that this is a strong enough alt VP that I could play around the Ravens submission with this. I like this a lot. Focused, well-priced, and introduces a ton of alt-vp.
This is in the top 5Bicycle by mad4math
Bicycle
$5 Action
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a Bicycle. Put 3 of the revealed non-Bicycle cards into your hand, and discard the rest.
Hm! Buying one of these is essentially look through your whole deck, pick your 3 most useful cards right now. That's actually incredibly strong. Too strong, I'd say. Since the more Bicycles you have in your deck, the worse they are, Bicycle should have some mechanic for gaining more. Having them port-themselves was a very very good suggestion. I also think they could gain a Bicycle on play. That way you have to be careful about when you buy it.
Hm, there's essentially two types of games with Bicycle. Ones where it's the only hand-size increaser, and one's where it's not the only hand-size increaser. In games where it's the only, you just buy 1 and go big money. On games where it's not, it's incredibly powerful since you just pick your engine parts you need and use those to draw the next Bicycle. So, in that case, having them self-gain is probably too good for that use-case.
I wonder what this card would look like if it only drew 2 cards (letting you put the Bicycle in hand, probably) and it would be cheaper, of course. I think this could avoid it being way too powerful when you only have a few.
I do love that you designed a card that is very strong but you don't want to buy a lot of. It's like Chapel in that regard.
House by pubby
House
$4 Action
The player to your left names their favorite card. If they name House, they win the game.
This card is unlikely to be any one's favorite because it takes away pretty much all strategy. If someone's true favorite card is House, it means they really don't like Dominion. Which could be really helpful for me with my friends to make sure they actually enjoy the game I love so much, or if they're just humoring me. So I could buy this card and play it force them to tell the truth. And if they don't name House, whatever card they name, I could make sure we play with next time so they have more fun. So this card is really good, this means it is my favorite card -- ARGH OH NO!!!
Fertile Village by grrgrrgrr
Fertile Village (Action, $4)
+1 Card
+2 Actions
You may discard an Action, to gain another Fertile Village.
This was received a while after the 24 hour submission deadline, but who cares, I'll let it in the contest anyway!
I think this is a great example of a 4-cost village. You can gain your second village, but at the harsh expense of discarding an action, which the whole reason you
bought this card was so that you could
play more actions! I love this complicated focus and synergy. I don't have much to add, but I think that most often the best move will be not discarding Actions. The ability to know when it is time to gain another Fertile Village is a tricky one that will distinguish good from great Dominion players. Nice work! Of course, cards you don't care to play that turn (ruins, sometimes necropolis, sometimes encampment) will strengthen this card. This card was incredibly close to the top 5, but there can only be 5. I can easily see this card making it in a Dominion expansion.
Final ResultsThe top 5 are: Refugee Camp, Hoist, Loner, Cats, Islet.
These are all wonderful. This is very hard.
Right now, Loner feels more tricky than Cats, in an interesting way. It's a lot less powerful, whereas Cats can be strong, in the beginning of the game getting +2 cards is probably equivalent to a Lab anyway. So Cats can't be the top card. Refugee Camp modifies the game in a way I can't be convinced I love, though the concept is rad, it just isn't my favorite. This leaves Hoist, Loner, and Islet. At some point I just have to go with my gut, though I keep swinging around each time.
First placeLoner by NoMoreFun
Loner
Action - $4
+2 Cards
+1 Action
This turn, at the start of Clean-up, if you have exactly one Loner in play, gain a Loner. Otherwise, return all Loners in play to the supply.
Second placeHoist by spineflu