Submission Rules* Submit
no more than one card per person per challenge. You do not need to submit for all challenges if you don't want to, but of course you can't win if you don't compete.
* Submit your cards to me via this forum's messaging system. Submissions made after each week's deadline cannot be accepted.
* Each card you submit must have a name, a cost, a list of types, and the exact wording that should appear on the card. Also include a brief description of any special design considerations (e.g., Stash having a unique back), but do NOT include any other information, such as strategic commentary or examples about it would play.
* Although you must submit names for each of your cards, the names will not be listed on the voting ballots, so make sure your card's appeal does not depend on your choice of name.
* I will accept revisions to your contest entries provided they are submitted to me before the deadline. If you submit a revision to an entry you have previously submitted to me,
resubmit your revised card(s) in their entirety. That is, don't tell me "Oh, can you make that +2 Cards say +3 Cards instead?" Just resubmit the full card.
* Only submit cards that are your own design.
* You may submit cards that have been previously posted here in this forum, including those that have been refined by the community as a whole, provided you can still claim that the central conceit of the card -- and the majority of its final version -- is yours. This applies to cards
previously posted, however -- if your submissions aren't already posted on his board, please refrain from doing so until after the results have been announced.
* A single card might conceivably qualify for multiple challenges within this series. However, you may not submit the same card for more than one concurrent challenge. That is, if you have submitted a card to one challenge, you may not submit it to another challenge until the results of that first challenge have been announced.
* Do not disclose your submissions publicly, either in this thread or elsewhere
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The deadline for this week's challenges is Monday, September 3, at 10am EDT.--
Challenge #14 - Self-Synergizing CardObjective: Create a card that synergizes or combos with itself in such a way that playing the card might be more effective or powerful when prior copies of the card have already been played.
Because self-synergy is difficult to define in black and white terms, no card will be refused eligibility. However, voters will be charged with judging not just card quality but their conformance to the spirit of this objective as described above.
Note that this definition of self-synergy is a distinct concept from a card that is merely helpful to play in multiples. For example, playing multiple Villages might be a good idea, because you can get a lot of +Actions that way. But playing one Village doesn't generally enable you to play another to better effect.
For this challenge,
no rules clarifications are permitted. This is to avoid a situation where a rules clarification may suggest a non-obvious self-synergetic use for the card and leave voters to guess about a non-obvious self-synergetic use for other cards. (However, there is no reason self-synergy for any or all of the submitted cards can't be discussed after the ballot is announced, including by the authors of the cards.)
Because all cards will be considered eligible for this contest, I will not list any non-examples. Instead, I'll list a few sample arguments for
some official cards that fit the spirit of this contest.
Better-Than-Linear Yields: Bridge (cost-reduction and +Buys both stack, resulting in exponential benefits when multiples are played). Goons (VPs-per-buy and +Buys both increase, resulting in exponential benefits when multiples are played). King's Court (after one, play a card three times; after two, play three cards three times). Fool's Gold (playing one quadruples the benefit of any others you play).
Compounding Draw: Crossroads (draws cards to power up other Crossroads). Madman (draws cards to power up other Madmen.)
Subtle Self-Synergy: Stables (playing one successfully increases the chance that you'll have Treasure cards with which to play others successfully). Mystic (one failed Mystic play guarantees the second will succeed). Conspirator (playing a Conspirator as your second action activates successive Conspirators). Native Village (play some to stow cards away, then another to draw them all into your hand). Bank (playing one increases the value you derive from any others you can play). Cartographer, Apothecary (a second play of each of these cards enables you to draw a specific card out of the next four in your deck). Cultist (playing one means you can play others without consuming Actions). Rogue (play one to put something good in the trash, then another to take it back out).
Single-Card Engines: Minion (playing a Minion to cycle is more effective if you've already played some for cash). Hunting Party (playing a Hunting Party is generally going to be better at finding your key cards -- or other Hunting Parties -- if you've already played some to draw copies of junk cards into your hand). In this category, the line between "card that is good to spam" and "card that powers up successive copies" is especially fine, but it's there.
Unlikely Cases For Self-Synergy: Outpost, Counting House (they have no effect when stacked). Militia, Ghost Ship, Fortune Teller (repeating the attack portions of these cards doesn't compound the severity of the attack). Scout (each play of Scout decreases the likelihood that another Scout will be as helpful). Laboratory (because although each play of a Laboratory increases the likelihood that you'll
have another to play, the benefit you get from
playing each Laboratory is the same).
Wrong Kind of Self-Synergy: You might say that University self-synergizes, because it gains you Actions and also gives you +Actions to play them. Yes, but how does University enable or power-up playing
other copies of itself? There are a number of cards whose different components synergize with each other, but that's not the kind of self-synergy I'm looking for here.
I'm going to put Treasure Map in the "wrong kind of self-synergy" category too, because although you do need another copy of itself to get the four Golds, you don't
play that second copy. Grand Market and Peddler each help you buy more copies more easily when you play some, but they don't change the effectiveness of successive copies you play.
Still, these are nuances that voters will have the freedom to work out for themselves and come to their own conclusions about.
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