Magic Library: What is the rationale behind the wording for the reaction "After another player finishes playing an Attack card...", as opposed to the more standard "When another player plays an Attack card"?
The wording Magic Library has makes it trigger
after the Attack takes effect, whereas the standard wording would make it trigger
before. Magic Library's wording makes it a better defense against e.g. Militia-class attacks.
Paladin: I think this is a bit weak for $6. It's slightly better than Destrier because of the sifting, but Destrier has a variable cost and is usually expensive at $6.
I think you're underestimating it. It's strictly better than a Laboratory (Laboratory is just draw 2, Paladin is draw best 2 out of 3), so it has to cost at least
. And best 2 out of 3 is actually quite a bit better than random 2 out of 2. Laboratory is already a high-tier
. Laboratory's not a top-tier
or unbalanced by any means, but if anything, Paladin is actually too
good, imho.
EDIT: Ninja'd. Here's my response to Carline's most recent comments:
I think it's OK. It's the female version of Pawn. Both give you two vanilla bonus (different for Pawn, same for Maid). All the things Maid could do are similar or weaker than what a cost card does - 2 Cards (Moat), 2 Actions (Necropolis), 2 Buys (less than a Squire), (less than a Duchess).
I think Timinou is right, actually. Remember that the versatility is a BIG deal. Let's analyze the options that Pawn has:
+1 Card, +1 Action: Useless cantrip. Can't actually exist by itself, so I'll call it a
effect.
+1 Card, +1 Buy: +1 Card and +1 Buy aren't all that much better combined than by themselves. And that's because the strength of +Cards and +Buys are very highly dependent on what else the card does; more so than other vanilla effects. I'd probably call this a
effect; it would be reasonable for an Attack card to give out a card with this effect.
+1 Card, +
: +Cards are generally better than +
, so this is between +2 Cards and +
. Probably a
effect.
+1 Action, +1 Buy: See my comment on +1 Card, +1 Buy. Another
effect.
+1 Buy, +
: Strictly worse than even a terminal Candlestick Maker, and strictly worse than Herbalist, which is already a bottom-tier
-cost. Probably a
effect.
As you can see, most of the effects that Pawn can give are junk-level bad, and the rest are Scout-level. Maid, on the other hand, has some effects that would be reasonable to pay for without the versatility. I'd say the Maid's strictly-better-than-+2 Cards-ness is superior to Moat's, and that Maid should probably cost
. Likewise, Maid's strictly-better-than-+
-ness is superior to Duchess's. In fact, I'd argue that Duchess is actually worse than a pure +
, as your opponents didn't have to spend a buy and then later a card slot and an action to get the self-spy effect. Giving an effect to every player is generally worse than not getting it at all for this reason.
I put this clause for it doesn't stay unnecessarily next turn when you trash Coppers with it.
It doesn't need that clause to avoid staying out unnecessarily. The official rule for Durations is that "a Duration is not discarded from play until the Clean-up phase of the last turn on which it does something," and getting +
doesn't count as "doing something." Same reason Research doesn't stay in play when you trash a Copper with it (putting zero set aside cards into your hand doesn't count as "doing something").
Changed "show" to "reveals".
The spirit of the card is "they choose and you choose over they choice". It won't be this card without this.
If they choose a good card, you gain it. If they choose a bad card, you do a kind of Mountebank attack. If they choose a mediocre card like Silver, it's not so bad also, you play it twice.
I have an edge case for you: The player to your left reveals a Duchy. There's only one Duchy left, and you know that if either you or your opponent gains it, the game ends and you lose, but you have enough to buy a Province this turn and that would make you win. So your only option is to choose to play it twice. But playing a Duchy doesn't make any sense, as Victories aren't playable. What happens?
Warriors: It's a clever concept, but I think it may be a bit weak for $4.
I initially thought to put it at , but it's stackable and could give you a lot of +buys, so I think maybe it' OK at . I don't know for sure.
You play Dominion very differently from how I do if you don't think that getting upwards of 4 Buys is needlessly excessive most of the time. The excessive amount of +Buys you can get usually doesn't make up for the fact that it's more expensive than Village and doesn't draw. Because of cards like Villa and Cavalry, the fact that the conversion is mandatory can even be detrimental in some instances.