A little late on the judging, sorry.
Contest #49: Make a Card with a Custom Heirloom* Means it's in the Top 5Noble Son/Father’s Sword by ShadowHawkhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg813963#msg813963Noble Son looks like sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating. You’re going to get screwed over a lot if you’re relying on it for +Actions. Father’s Sword will help increase diversity, but it won’t be enough on its own. Other than that, the actual on-play ability of Father’s Sword doesn’t actually help Noble Son, it’s just something that’s likely to be good if Noble Son is already good.
*Foundation/Safe by Aquilahttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg813971#msg813971I really like these. Foundation looks super fun overall. Safe is has a bunch of neat uses on its own, and you’ve really done a good job fitting it with Foundation. The top decking helps line up something to upgrade, the Coffers help save up for Foundation and even the $1 price point makes it often a decent target for upgrading itself. My one complaint is that putting “you may” on both of them makes the pair seem a bit too easy to use. Forcing the top decking on Safe would be pretty annoying so I can see why you didn’t do that. I feel that Foundation would be more interesting if the upgrading were forced, though. That would make the choices more intense and differentiate it further from Transmogrify.
*Farrier/Horseshoe by Fragasnaphttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg813981#msg813981Another nice pair of cards, although Farrier seems too good for $3. I can’t think of much else to say except that I do like them.
Tinker/Tin Snips by spinefluhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814004#msg814004I don’t think there’s enough reason here for the cards to be returned to the Supply instead of just trashed. There are very few cards besides Tinker that Tin Snips will interact with. I’m also not seeing any reason for this to be a Night card. It seems annoying that you have to remember to not play Tin Snips if you want to use the Reaction.
Strategist/Strategic Money by Abel_Khttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814005#msg814005These are way too complicated. Try to make cards that each implement a simple, singular idea. Be sure to check how your cards compare to existing ones - Strategic Map is strictly better than Estate, so it should cost more. Also, if it’s really necessary to refer to a group of cards, make up a new Type for them so that you can just name the Type (which is why Donald made the Spirit Type, for instance).
Haunted Dresser/Drawer by majiponihttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814015#msg814015Drawer is cute - both the name and the effect, though it might be hard to track the effect as the card isn’t a Duration. Drawer does seem very strong, though - I might bump the price up to $4 or even $5. Haunted Dresser has some neat uses. Top decking a Treasure or Victory card is usually bad, but Drawer can cancel the effect. I guess it’s good then that Drawer isn’t a Duration, since it means you can play Haunted Dresser every turn and not worry about top decking something bad. Honestly, though, I think I'd often prefer to just have something good for my extra card next turn. You can top deck an Action card and get Villagers but then you can't play it this turn.
*Dividends/Investment by pubbyhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814021#msg814021I like Dividends as an Heirloom. Its effect is neat and making it an Heirloom is a nice way to stop it from getting too crazy. Investment is also nice - normally a simply Peddler but it synergizes well with Dividends. Overall these are simple but still have good interaction.
Mine Worker/Mine Cart by grrgrrgrrhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814028#msg814028These are both rather wordy, but I like the basic idea of them: keep Durations in play with Mine Worker, then cash in on Mine Cart when you’ve piled up a whole bunch of them. Mine Cart should maybe be a Duration itself, and I’d prefer if Mine Worker had a different, less wordy top part.
Galley/Coffee by grephttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814079#msg814079I like Galley’s basic effect. On average it’s a bare cantrip that offers a large amount of flexibility. The on-gain and Coffee will help increase your average handsize, but they both come with drawbacks - with Coffee you’ll spend the extra draw on the Coffee itself, and if you discard a Treasure card that usually means not playing it. I’m not completely persuaded Galley needs either of these as it already gives Villagers on play.
Senator/Bonds by [TP] Infernohttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814091#msg814091So Bonds is like Cursed Gold, but with an effect that usually isn’t as bad. For me, though, it might actually be more annoying to play with, because the bad effect hurts you immediately and it won’t ever stop. Senator is a good way to turn it into a bonus, although for my taste the cards feel a bit too closely bound. Without Senator, Bonds’ effect is virtually always bad, and it’s hard to think of ways besides Bonds to guarantee that Senator’s effect hits - though it’s a good defense against handsize attacks and the interaction with Cathedral is neat.
Novelist/Book by DEGwerhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814097#msg814097These look fun on first glance. I feel that they could be made cleaner, though, either by dropping Manuscript or by making Novelist and Manuscript and split pile and ditching Book.
Wizard/Grimoire by Gubumphttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814098#msg814098I’d like this a lot more if there were other things you could do with the Spell Tokens. As it is, though, spending your Spell Tokens on Curses is something you’ll want to do as soon as possible, so this is ultimately just a slower Witch.
*Elder/Locket by Something_Smarthttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814111#msg814111An all-around good entry, with cards that have good interaction but that are also good in and of themselves. Elder looks very fun, a Golem-Vassal hybrid that plays in its own different way. Locket also looks fun. The usefulness is obvious, but it can burn you when you buy a Treasure or especially a Victory card.
Gild/Ingot by Gazbaghttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814210#msg814210Gild I’m not too excited about; if Gold is good you’ll get it, otherwise not. I do like Ingot though; it looks like a fun thing to try to crack.
Street/Map by NoMoreFunhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814466#msg814466Nice and simple, but too much so? I don’t really like that Map is identical to Diadem except for not having +$2. Still, it seems like a good thing to make into an Heirloom to prevent the effect from being overpowered.
*Pelt/Fur Trader by anordinarymanhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814482#msg814482I like Pelt a lot. It’s the sort of thing that’s useful in many games but that you still only want one of. I also like that Fur Trader gains Silvers to your hand. I'm not sold on the rest of the effects, though. Pelt can already effectively replace your gained Silver with something else, so it feels redundant that Fur Trader can as well.
Musician/Lute by Kudasaihttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814495#msg814495I like the idea of Lute, but it’s really weak. I think it should give an unconditional +$1; that would make it maybe worth keeping around. Musician is also very weak; it’s unreliable as a Village and gaining Ruins is awful. Musician should either have some way to trash the Ruins or give a whole bunch of +Actions so that you can at least play the Ruins and it leaving your deck doesn’t hurt as much.
Picture Taker/Micro SD Card by Frolouchhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814557#msg814557Micro SD Card looks frustrating and weak; in the beginning its value depends on you having Coppers in your discard, and when you have better Treasures you’re more likely to not have a discard. Picture Taker feels too similar to Mint; the discarding doesn’t add anything interesting because the copy is also going in your discard.
Clergy/Teachings by Fly-Eagles-Flyhttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814572#msg814572I may be wrong about this, but it seems to me that the optimal strategy for Clergy is to always choose Copper; then your opponent can get rid of their Estates but still has 7 junk cards. The exceptions would be in the odd case where your opponent’s Coppers do not outnumber their Estates or if there’s Curses. Either way, the situation where you can trash more than one card at a time with this doesn’t seem likely. The cards overall seem fine but don’t excite me much.
Plough/Savings by 4esthttp://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18987.msg814634#msg814634Plough should absolutely be $5. Get an even number of cards in your hand and it’s a Lab. Having said that, it does have some interesting strategy behind it: you can either use it as a straight Lab or alternate it with terminal payload for a Lost City effect. Savings looks fine, though maybe a bit too similar to Haven.
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Winner: Elder/Locket by Something_SmartRunner-up: Foundation/Safe by Aquila