My Submission: |
Slush Fund $5 Action - Duration Until you use this card's , at the start of each of your turns, if you have 2 Buys or fewer, +1 Buy.
: +$4 (This stays in play.)
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I really like this idea for a mechanic. There is a ton of possibilities and I can definitely see myself designing several cards. I have come up with one to submit, but I might replace it later.
For my submission I decided to take the whole
Duration extends the time you can use it thing a step further, by making a Hireling style
stays in play card. When played, Slush Fund is terminal and gives no immediate benefit. Thereafter, it provide a non-cumulative +1 Buy
as long as you have one in play at the start of your turn until you use the burn ability. More importantly, it's burn effect will refund you most of its original cost, letting you hit much higher price point (but only once per copy).
You can burn Slush Fund the turn you use it, and may want to. But if you do, you don't get the +1 Buy that comes with it. The reason I wanted to make the +1 Buy non-cumulative is so a player can't (without some other source of +Buys) just put a bunch of these in play then rush Provinces all at once.
I kind of think of Slush Fund like a reverse Capital. Instead of a big payload one turn and a deficit later, this makes you pay first and get the benefit later. While that is (conceptually) worse, the burn ability means you can get Slush Fund's payout at any time, and don't need to rely on it coming out of your deck at the right time. Similarly, while it seemingly a 1-shot Wine Merchant for the same cost, this flexibility is a huge advantage over WM (which only pays out the turn you get it).
Originally I had it cost $4 and burn for $3, but I thought that was too good for a $4 card. At $5 you are (generally) foregoing some pretty strong Actions (that can be played ore than once). Plus, at $4 players could get it with gainers.
EDIT: It occurred to me that a player will keep getting the +1 Buy even after they trash their Slush Fund (and don't replace it). I'm probably going to change the card so that doesn't work, but I haven't decided that for sure.
EDIT 2: I changed it so it doesn't keep giving the +Buy after it is burned. I didn't make the condition that it be in play, because I think there is sort of a (rules lawyer-y) issue with a Duration card that's later turn abilities are conditional on it being in play (in that, the rule for Durations says they stay in play if they are going to do something; so at Clean up you'd ask "should this stay in play?" and answer "if it's going to do something" then ask "is it going to do something" and answer "if it stays in play", creating a sort of closed loop). If someone wants to trash it with Bonfire and keep getting the +1 Buy, that's Donald's problem.
Old version:
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Slush Fund $5 Action - Duration At the start of each of your turns, if you have 2 Buys or fewer, +1 Buy.[/font][/size]
: +$4 (This stays in play.)
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