Expensive Cards:
First and foremost, I just want to mention that I have really liked this expansion. I first saw it on v2. I really liked that you were able to come up with more expensive cards (my favorite expansion is Prosperity). That said, I am not a huge fan of the idea of an expansion having >
and >
cost cards only. I am doing this analysis not to be mean, but just to give you some things that I think should be changed. This is the first time I am doing this with a fan set, and that is because I really like this set. Anyway, though I am probably not qualified to give you criticisms, I am going to give my thoughts anyway. You are free to ignore or to take into consideration these notes. Also, I am being very critical about your cards, but don't let that let you down. This set of cards is one of the best fan-made sets of cards (probably only worse than LFNs). Also, I really like the theme of the expansion as a whole. In modern times, the rich people are richer, and the poor are poorer. You have no cards in the middle, but only the super rich and super poor. Good Design!
Theatre:
Hate it when you have the perfect kingdom for an engine but there are no stinking +buys! Or when it’s a kingdom of 10 great cards but they're all terminal? Well then, this is card for you! Alone it's worthless, a cantrip costing $2. But the worse the kingdom is, the better it gets. The actors play the part of whatever is you're missing to get your strategy off the ground. No hand size increasers? This card is a basic lab costing $5. No villages? this card becomes a vanilla village at $3. It can be a worker's village at $4, a cantrip buy at $3, etc. Only when your kingdom is missing literally everything does this card cost $7. "Other cards" refers to non-Theatre cards, so theatre is not triggered by itself. "+2 Cards" only includes cards explicitly having +2 or more written on the card. Smithy counts, library does not, etc. Emptied piles no longer count as part of the supply, therefore this card becomes more expensive – and more powerful – the longer the game progress, akin to city.
http://Though it is somewhat interesting, I don't find that this card adds much to the game. I feel like if there is no draw, +action, or +Buy, then thats the way it is. Anyway, I'll go through all the different things that this card can be.
+1 Card, +1 Action (
): Absolutely useless (other than with cards like Conspirator, Throne Room, Peddler, etc.). If draw, +action, and +Buy are in the kingdom, you probably shouldn't play with this card.
+2 Cards, +1 Action (
): Laboratory. Exactly the same, but there is a guarantee to have no other draw in the kingdom. Probably will be bought a lot.
+1 Card, +2 Actions (
): Vanilla Village. Again, like the version before this, it guarantees that there will be no other Village in the kingdom. So this will also be a popular card.
+1 Card, +1 Action, +1 Buy (
): Market Square without the Reaction. Though this is strictly worse than Market Square, this means that there is no other +Buy in the kingdom. So a couple copies will inevitably be bought.
+2 Cards, +2 Actions (
): Laboratory + Village. This is most likely too powerful. In the Secret History for Menagerie, Donald X. said that Animal Fair's original top was this, and it cost
. Though it also had an alternate cost, I think that this version is much too powerful, especially considering that it is the only village and the only draw card in the game.
+2 Cards, +1 Action, +1 Buy (
): Lab + Market Square. This seems pretty balanced. Not much to say about this one.
+1 Card, +2 Actions, +1 Buy (
): Worker's Village. At least in the games that I've played, Worker's Village are very popular and powerful. Again, given that this is the only +Buy, only village, and that there is draw, this is probably powerful. BUT, it is probably balanced.
+2 Cards, +2 Actions +1 Buy (
) Lab + Worker's Village. Honestly, I am not totally sure about this card. I think that, in Colony games, this is very powerful. Being the only real way to build an engine, it will probably be madly acquired. Now, in Province games, I think a couple might be picked up, but not too many. Kind of similar to other
cards, it just will often be passed up on for Provinces.
So, my overall feeling is that this card is slightly too powerful in most cases. I think it definitely gets a lot more powerful when 2 of the 3 cases are not true. But, it is a pretty cool card. Also, just wondering, would the +Card trigger if City is in the Kingdom? It can give +1 Card twice, so it seems like it wouldn't but I am not totally sure. Also, I am bit sad to see the trashing part of this card leave, though that could make the card cost more than it already does.
Entrepreneur:
The jack of all trades of buying cards, this card is one step up from inventor! It is the reverse of capital, giving you coin tokens to spend on a later turn in exchange for taking that many coins from this turn, a great investment indeed. So that it doesn't cripple your turn entirely, you can still gain a $4 card, and if you have a couple gold left over, lets you buy 2 additional cards at a reduced cost. The debt collected stacks unlike capital, and the reduced cost benefit is like bridge, both effects reducing its throne room strength and overall ability to allow a mega-turn like bridge. It naturally has an anti-synergy with itself, giving you the choice between a strong turn or to build up for future turns.
My feeling is that this card is pretty weak. You basically spend a turn to get a
card. Usually it'll take 1-2 turns to pay off the debt, and then you can use coffers. I don't think that that is worth it. Also, I think the +2 Buys is kind of a waste. The point of the card is to waste a turn so you can have more powerful turns later, but then it gives +Buy so that you can buy more cards this turn? I dunno, maybe the card is more powerful than I think.
Hospital:
One step above doctor, but one step below donate in terms of quickly getting rid of unwanted cards. There is a bit of shuffle luck, it is much stronger in your last hand than first, but over multiple shuffles it should average out. Don’t expect to be able to trash all your junk at once. Then again, who said hospitals were guaranteed to cure you?
I love the thematic connection with Doctor
.Though I know you mentioned this, I think this card is too swingy in multiple ways. Given that you can't buy this in the opening, when it would be most useful (other than Baker, Borrow, maybe others), it is definitely hard to get. Often, one player will be able to buy it and the other one will be left without trashing. I think you might want to bump this card down to
just to reduce the swinginess of it. Then, even once both players have bought a Hospital, one player may get it at the beginning of the shuffle and only be able to trash 4 cards, while the other gets it at the end is able to trash about 8. I think that letting the card be able to discard some cards from the top of the deck before you play it (maybe 2?) will help reduce its swinginess. Overall, a nice card, but probably needs some fine tuning. I know that Forge and Altar also suffer from this, but Altar only can trash 1 card, and Forge is almost always bought around the 3rd shuffle when both players get it.
Meeting House:
Continuing the theme of chapel, bishop, temple, altar and the like, this card trashes and rewards your tithe in the form of coffers and victory tokens. Strictly better than junkman, but you want to get it early enough where you still have cards to trash, so costs $6. Because you must trash a card for the VP token, this card discourages never-ending games that is a danger with cantrip +VP.
I feel that, like Gubump said, this card is too OP. Although I see that you addressed this point, I feel like bumping it up to a
card is probably not the right choice. I think that it needs to be nerfed so that it can still be kept at a price point of
. I am not totally sure about what to do with it to nerf it, but I think that removing the
might be the right choice. Still strictly better than Junk Dealer, and I think it might be balanced. Right now though, it is probably brokenly powerful.
Infantry:
Infiltrate your opponent’s hands with this attack card. A +3 card attack like torturer or rabble, with an effect similar to ambassador, where you can effectively place an unwanted card from your hand into an opponent's. Can attack repeatedly but keeps opponent's hands at 5.
I honestly really really like this card. Like Altar, it lets you (pseudo-)trash a card, and has another powerful bonus for a
card. Unlike some of the previous cards, though, I think that this one is probably balanced. I really like the fact that it gives you +3 Cards before you return a card to the supply, I really like how you made the attack stackable, but not too powerful when stacked (since the player can discard the junk card you gave them last time), and I really like this card overall. Great Design! I really don't have any suggestions for this one. The only negative thing I have to say is its on-play effect isn't similar to Soldier's
.
Oil Refinery:
Are all your action cards too complicated with all their "mechanics" and "words" and what not? Well refine them down into plain ol' vanilla! Turn your 10 native villages into regular, normal, not-a-novel-of-a-description villages! Or peddler variants, or even labs! This card is unique in giving a choice that doesn't need to be unique. Choose +3 cards, or $3, or +1 action and +2 buys if that's your thing. The new bonuses are considered instructions, so playing a second refinery and naming the same card again overrides the effect of the first refinery, so they don’t stack.
I am just going to say this now, but I feel most of the >
cards won't be bought too much with no Colony (I feel the same about the official ones too). Now, moving onto this card. I feel this will be too powerful with cheap, spammable actions (e.g. Cantrips that cost
-
). Without them though, it might be weak. Actually, it might be too weak no matter what. The problem is that you can't choose where it goes in a deck drawing engine, so you might have it come at the bottom of your deck, in which case it isn't very powerful. And if you buy multiple, the other player has probably been buying Provinces in the meantime. I feel like you might want to make it a cantrip in order to make it more powerful.
Artillery:
This second attack card lets you load, aim, and fire a card out of your enemy's hand. The only other discard attack that lets the attacker choose the card to discard is pillage, and such a powerful ability forces it to be a one-off. To make this balanced without having to trash itself, you must spend all your actions, effectively ending your Action phase and preventing you from playing more than one per turn. Originally required you to discard your hand instead of spending all actions, but that was far to limiting.
So basically you end your buy phase to kind of screw your opponents turn. I really liked it when I first saw it, but like Pillage, I have grown less fond of it. I like that you have made sure that there aren't really scaling problems (you only gain ONE card). On the other hand, I feel that this is too powerful. If you build a deck drawing engine with this in it, and your opponent is playing BM (though they probably shouldn't be with this and a deck-drawing engine), they are totally screwed. I think this card is much too powerful to be printed.
EDIT: I just realized that you get to gain one of the cardsActually I really like this card. If you both are playing deck drawing engines, this probably won't do much against them because they will still be able to draw their deck (although you will be able to gain a card). If you are playing against a BM player, you will have to gain Golds and Silvers, which will clog up your engine. This card is so close to being broken, but I think it is one of the best, if not the best, design from a fan-made card that I have ever seen. And this is coming from someone who has read all 300 pages of the weekly design contest multiple times, the set expansion contest, and many, many fan expansions. You should really be very proud of designing this card. I also really like the thematics of this card.
Observatory:
Letting you take a peek at everything ahead of you and zero in on exactly what you need, observatory is the strongest deck inspector in the game! Nets out to a lab but with an assured good card to add to your hand, provided you’re not at the end of your deck. But as a reserve, you can hold on to it until after a shuffle, and with the right engine, reliably draw your entire deck to keep it strong.
In a deck drawing engine, this probably does nothing. On the other hand, in a weak engine or in BM, this can get very powerful. I honestly don't have a lot to say about this. The only thing I might want for this card is for it to not give +1 Card on play and make it
or
. But, I think this card is nice when you have Colonies. Nice design!
Police Station:
Need to protect your stuff from criminals? Hire a police station! This reaction card is jack of all trades on steroids: this card simply remedies any possible ill effects from just about any attack. Lets you sift through the top 3 cards of your deck if they were muddled by ghost ship or rabble, trash the curse from witch or sea hag, and or retrieve from the trash anything pirate ship or knights forced you to trash. Reaction effect similar to horse traders, preventing attacks like pillage or enchantress from stopping you from playing it, and costs debt so you can still buy it after being attacked. Opening double police station is also a possibility if you’re so inclined. The constables are still figuring out how to reverse hexes it seems, so unfortunately, you’re still out of luck with those.
First things first, how are you able to open with two of these? They cost 7 Debt each, and you only have $7 in the first shuffle. I think that this card might be too powerful. Let me go through the abilities one by one:
Draw up to 8, discard 3: This is pretty powerful, comparable to watchtower and Library. I'd say on its own it'd cost
-
.
Trash a card from discard pile: with the discarding effect on this, it is made to be pretty powerful. obviously it can't be priced on its own, but i'd say it adds about
to the card.
Gain card from trash: This is definitely a powerful ability on top of the other effects. I'd say it costs about
-
. Also, did you mean for it to only gain non-victory cards from the trash? I like playing Village, Remodel Province to Province, play Police Station and regain that Province.
I'd say its probably a little too powerful. I would price it at 10 Debt.
EDIT: I would say that it isn't too powerful. I looked at the other Debt cards too, and saw that it probably is the right price. Also, I really liked the naming you have on this card.
Factory:
The next advancement on laboratory, this factory is perfect for any engine and will make you reconsider buying that province, but watch out not to be too clogged up by smogs (see below) when you use it! Nets out to +3 cards +1 action if you can draw your whole deck and clear smogs, but you will always have one smog remaining unless you have some other form of trashing.
I saw that you have now changed it so that you get +4 Cards instead of +3 Cards. When I first saw the card (the +3 Cards version), I remember thinking, "isn't that just a weaker Lab that costs more?" I think that this card is probably balanced. The only problem I have is that in Province games, it isn't going to be bought. Unlike Prince, it isn't a really unique concept that someone wants to pick up. But in Colony games, I'd love to pick up a couple of these. Also, again, great job with the name. In modern times, Laboratories have now become Factories and give out Smog. Perfect theme.
Stock Exchange:
An action-treasure like crown and one step up from bank. This lets you trade vanilla bonuses for any other vanilla bonus you need during your action or buy phase. Combination cellar, diadem, storyteller, and vault. Can really help if you're engine hit a dry patch or if you're just short some gold on your buy phase. As normal, +Actions in the buy phase are useless. First spend all gold, actions, and buys you'd like and discard any unwanted cards, count that number, then choose that many vanilla effects, only executing them after all the choices have been made. Be careful not to accidentally leave yourself with no buys to end your turn with!
I think this is probably weak. Though it is strictly better than Laboratory and Gold, it still probably isn't too powerful. But in some cases, such as when you are playing Markets and have way too many Buys, this will be very valuable. Again, this is probably skippable in Province games. My only problem is that, unlike Factory, it is often skippable in Colony games too. Also, you usually only want to pick up 1 or 2, so the pile will still have ~7 cards left even in games when it is viable. To me, I think you probably need to make it more powerful (again).
Town Hall:
You're the mayor and lucky for you a lot of decisions need to be made with this duration card. Like Count, choose some harmful effects and then you get to choose some great effects next turn. Tough choice between completely ending your current turn by discarding or topdecking everything, or gaining some junk to topdeck and trash the next turn with one of your bonuses. But your town will appreciate the investment by giving returns 3-fold! Literally!
I am really, really torn about this one. On one hand, it totally destroys this turn, but on the other hand, it makes next turn OP. So I really don't want to judge this card since I can't decide if its OP or not. Unlike the other 2
cost cards, though, I think this will be worth getting, because like Prince, it is a cool wacky effect.
Supermarket:
You’ve heard of grand markets, now get ready for super markets! A +$1 combined with +1 buy to grand market, making it the only disappearing gold in the game, but the drawback is stricter, needing at the least 3 golds to buy or some serious virtual coinage. This brings the price to $9, giving platinum a run for its money, literally.
I don't think this will really be bought at all.
Province game: Will never be bought. I think that by the time you reach
without 4 or more treasures in play, your opponent has probably won the game. I don't think it'll be bought.
Colony games: It pains me to say this, but I think that this will have very few copies bought also. Platinum is much easier to obtain, and although less deck-drawing, engine-friendly, I think that you'll probably first want to buy Platinum so that you can actually get a Supermarket. In this sense, it seems kind of similar to Adventurer (Same price as the expensive Treasure, but want to buy expensive treasure first to help the action card).
I think that this card probably should get +
instead of +
. Again, I like the theme of it, but I think it will too often be passed.
Public School:
Let your cards edumacate themselves and lern to be gooder. A step up from teacher, now you can make every action card a cantrip instead of just one! At least for this turn that is. And for your treasures, an extra coin sure does make public schools a better investment than a dusty ol’ plat.
I think this card is too OP. Especially with Scheme. Make sure that every turn this is on top, and its kind of gg. You don't even need multiple copies (though if you have multiple copies, it gets insane). Make those Pearl Divers Labs + Villages! Make that Smithy a Triple Lab! Yeah, I can see this getting out of hand really quickly. And then it also gives you some +
. Also, I assume that it wouldn't trigger when you play it (e.g. it won't be a Lab Village with its extra ability). This is way too OP. And, unlike some of the other cards, it will still be bought in Province games. You probably need to nerf this to only giving other cards +1 Card (no +Action), though that might still be too good. I do like the theme of this card.
Steel Foundry:
A Smithy or Blacksmith on steroids, this super-terminal draw is a great way to use up actions. Nets one more card than a Blacksmith counting the smog, or the equivalent draw power of 3 smithies, but at the cost of two actions instead of one like every other action, and of course the -1 VP if you fail to clear that out.
First of all, do you plan for this to still work when you only have 1 Action when you play it. I assume so. Anyway, I think this might be a little powerful with strong villages, but I think it is a well designed card. Actually, I think that is a very well-designed card. It makes engines a massive way to draw, and can even do well in BM. Also, I definitely think that the Smog helps balance the card. Again, really well designed card. I think this is one of those few times where -1 Action works on a card. The only that I can't say is great about is the name, but then again, that's because I don't know what a Steel Foundry is. Really good card!
Metropolis:
And lastly the pièce de résistance: metropolis. From lowly hamlet, to village, to city, then metropolis. A village with one more +action than even bustling village, but with some VP to justify purchasing it late. A metropolitan area is practically a duchy anyway. As with the previous cards, considering smog it nets out to +1 card, +4 VP after the first time played.
Because it also gives the player
, it probably is a card that will be bought even in Province games. I'm not really sure what to say about this card. It gives Smog for theme and to balance, it draws, but does not really since it gains a Smog. It's a village. It's basically a perfect engine card. I really do like this card. In previous iterations, I didn't terribly like the card, but you have now made it nice and simple. Nice design, perfect name choice again, and just a really good overall card.
Cheap cards:
I'll be honest, I am not a fan of a lot these, but then again, in general, I am not a fan of cheap cards in general. I don't really like them because you always have to overpay for them. But anyways, there are a good number of these that are definitely well designed.
Smog:
Wow all this industrial activity is really clogging up the place. The more you use some of the high-powered cards, the more you pollute your deck. This self-clearing junk is just slightly less harsh than a curse, if you can clear it away in time. Without another trashing card you'll always have one left over. 20 cards to a pile, and not renewed if emptied. Adds thematically to the expansion by replacing curses, a medieval fear, with something more modern but just as deadly.
Why do you know such good design? I wish I could come up with ideas like this. Anyway, I like that there are no junking attacks that give out Smog, because that would be really weird. I like that they clear themselves out, so that they aren't as bad as curses. I also like that, as you said, it is good thematically since Smog is more of a modern theme. The only negative thing I can say is that it doesn't really make sense. Why does Smog clear out other Smog? Nonetheless, it is really good (bad) card.
Slums:
Village that gives actions based on how many have already been played. Useless if the first card played in a turn, but the village version of city quarter the more actions you have played. If your slums are too productive they are returned to the pile, but the +Buy makes it easier to gain them back.
I feel that this card is kind of useless. I know that sounds really harsh, but it is kind of what I feel. If you are already playing that many actions, you probably won't need the extra actions from this. And even if you can, you have to return this. The only times that this will be useful is when you have a deck-drawing engine with no villages and +Buy. But nonetheless, I think that it is a very fun card that, although it is hard to use, very useful in some situations. I also like that, like Poor House, it can make you change up your deck to be able to use a cheap card for a powerful effect. Honestly, the more I look at this card, the more I am liking it. Also, I like the theme of this card, (at least to me, the slums are like a village, but much worse).
EDIT: I just realized that you get +Buy the first time you buy it on a turn. This makes it much more viable. I think that this will definitely be used in engines with no village.
Worker:
Terminal draw that gets stronger the more you play, chaining together if they find each other. The more workers you have on your assembly line, the more work you can do! Chaining effect is similar to library's interaction with actions, but playing instead of discarding. Playing 5 workers averages out to 5 smithies, but for a quarter the cost!
As Gubump said, you need to reveal these cards to keep you honest. Other than that, I actually find this card very interesting. The fact that it can chain to itself and get more draw, which makes it have a greater chance to chain, which gives higher draw, etc. My only problem is that this will often be a little swingy. e.g. your first Worker hits another, mine doesn't. It might break the balance of the card, but you could allow Workers to first say "you may put a card from your hand onto your deck" so that you can topdeck Workers to keep the chain going if you have multiple in hand. But other than that, I really like the concept of the card, I just think that it needs a few tweaks. Also, the theme is spot on. If you have more workers, you are more effective. Perfect again on theme. I've made one fan card (for Weekly Design Contest) and I couldn't even get a name. You've created a whole set with perfect names to fit the cards. I am really in awe at how people who make fan-made sets name the cards. Some of the names in even official sets aren't great, but almost all of yours match the card. That is something that is really hard to do.
Banknote:
An action version of treasure cards that gets stronger the more you have! This is useful in scrying pool games, games with treasure attacks, or any other game where you just don't want your deck cluttered with treasures. Adding to that, cards that would gain you gold and silver explicitly can gain Banknotes instead. It especially combos well with my stock exchange (coincidence? nope.) Exchange your currency today!
This, like Poor House, can make you change the way you play. That is something not many cards can do, which I really commend on you on. On a side note (or maybe a side Banknote
, I think that the bottom is very interesting. I think the card that this is most similar to is Fool's Gold. Like Fool's Gold, it makes
if you have one, and it can make a lot more if you have more Banknotes. With all of the Banknotes, it makes $55. That is pretty powerful for a
card. But, I do not think that it is overpowered. Like Fool's Gold, you really have to commit to it to get any value, and since I really like the design of Fool's Gold, I also really like this card. I think that it changes gameplay a lot and I don't think that this is one of the cards that you should change. The only thing I think you should change is the name. Why do more banknotes give you more money? It doesn't make sense to me, but it might to you.
General Store:
Want to buy 2 workers and a silver? Or how about a market and two coppers? This card will help you hoard up on cheap cards for whatever strategy calls for it (looking at you gardens). Priced at $1 to help people round out their gains on boards where this is the only $1 card, so you could gain another general store and two $2 cost cards for example.
Other than in Alt-VP (e.g. Gardens) strategies, I don't think that this card is very powerful. In a Gardens strategy, this can gain a General Store, a Gardens, and a Copper. Pretty powerful. I just feel that this will inevitably be a bad card in every other strategy. I think this card needs to be changed. The only problem is, I'm not sure how this should be changed. But I do think it needs some very major revamping in order to make it more viable in normal strategies. Also, I am not a fan of the name on this one either.
EDIT: I actually think that the name on this one is good. You have
, so you can either spend it on one expensive thing and many cheap ones, or you can spread it out. Great name! (Again)
Landfill:
Put something in the dump, get something out. Straightforward card to let you trash out your junk, but also gives you full access to the trash to gain anything you need back. Great defense against knights or good synergy with procession.
I feel like this is too weak of a trasher. Compared to Raze, which costs 1 more, it kind of looks pathetic. This is unless, there is TFB. Then it becomes OP. Like Police Station, play Village, Remodel Province into Province, gain a Province from the trash. I feel like this goes from horrible in one kingdom to OP in another. Kind of like the last card. Again, I don't know how to change this, but it needs to be less OP when it is OP (maybe by making it non-victory, or by saying up to
?) and make it better when there is no TFB.
Statue:
A weaker version of monument. Instead of $2, gain a copper to your hand. Eventually stops when you run out the copper deck, so max 40 or so VP and a pile is run out, so no endless games.
I think it might be a little too good. But other than that, dang, this is such a good design. You don't let it go infinite, and it dilutes your deck, and it makes you want to spend. I think that the card should cost $2, just to make it slightly harder to get. Perfect Design! I can't really say much about this because there is nothing to say. It is a very well designed card. Good job! About theme, it is basically a lesser monument, like the card at hand, so again, spot on!
Street Market:
The purest form of market. Cantrip with variable +Buys. Stronger the more silvers or gold in your hand. Really useful for when you're running your goons or gardens decks and +Buys are really your biggest limiter, as this can get you far more buys than any other card if you set things up right.
Ok, now I am back to analyze these cards again. Obviously, for the second ability, you need to first reveal your hand in order for the card to actually work. But about the balance, I am not totally sure. As you said, it is mostly used in goons or gardens decks, but in Goons decks you usually don't want many Silvers and Golds, so it doesn't work. And in Gardens decks, you usually have many coppers. So I am not totally sure when one would use this card. In an engine, you don't have many treasures, in BM, you don't need the buys. This is the only card so far that I think needs to be majorly revamped so that it will actually be bought sometimes. Only thing that is positive is the name, as it says, is a weaker Market.
Coal:
Similar to Encampment from the Strife fan expansion (http://www.nosro.net/games/dominion/strife/list.php#encampment).
The idea is the same, burn up this card for a temporary bonus. However, you can choose to put it back or trash it, leading to some interesting player dynamics. Learn to share this non-renewable resource or burn them all up to prevent the other player from using any.
I want to first say that this is a bit redundant with the official card Encampment. It is very similar. But, I think it is honestly more well designed (if Encampment was always a one-shot). You get to choose if you want to get rid of it, and when you do, you get another choice as to the reason for getting rid of it. Though I think it will cause too much AP (analysis paralysis) for newer players, I think it will be well used by veteran players.
EDIT: Actually, I think you probably do need to get rid of this card. The only reason being, when will you buy Ride if this is in the kingdom. It obviously needs to be nerfed in order to be playable. I know that Delve makes Silver almost worthless to buy, but there is cost reduction and other things in which you want to buy cards (e.g. Goons). I can't find a single card that wouldn't make this strictly better than Ride. (I know that Encampment almost is, but it is only half of a split pile and cannot be amassed.
Power Plant:
Burn a card as fuel in the power plant to give you more cards to keep your engine going, turning it into smog. If you accidentally draw a card dead, you can save it for next turn. Must trash first so weaker than a masquerade in that regard, and also weakened by needing to gain a smog.
I think that this card is very powerful, if not too powerful. It is probably near chapel level (I mean, I'd still normally buy Chapel over it, but not always). Though it only technically trashes two cards because of the smog, it draws. Imagine a turn (not abnormal) with a Power Plant, 3 Coppers, and 1 Estate. You can trash 2 Coppers and an Estate, draw the same, and then have to gain a smog. You then are able to buy a
cost card. I think it probably is too powerful and deserves to be a
cost card. But then again,
/
split will have a major disadvantage with this on the board. So, I think the pricing is right. I honestly am starting to really like this card. While going through all of these cards, this is the only one that I hadn't recognized from earlier. This is probably due to the fact that I thought it was lame. But now looking at it and analyzing it, I think that it definitely is an interesting card with many uses. Also, I again love the theme of this card. You burn cards for fuel, but you get more Smog since you are burning things.
Prison:
This card used to be an effect like island allowing you set aside any card for the rest of the game, but then menagerie came out with the excellent exile feature and it was perfect for this card! Put away any card, but extra points if you manage to lock up a criminal. Just make sure their buddies don’t let them escape!
Ok first and foremost, what a great name. Jail a card, if it's a baddy, get a bonus. On the other hand, I think that this should give cash just for thematic purposes. You usually are payed in cash if you find a criminal. Onto the actual design of the card, though, I don't find it terribly exciting. I think that the bonus for locking up an attack should be higher. Often, it will be more useful just playing the attack itself than fiddling around with Prison. Which makes this card a single exiler. I think in order for it to be viable, you need to increase the reward for exiling an attack. For theme, as I said earlier, maybe a cash reward. Something like +
I think is worth exiling an Attack. I think this definitely needs some change, though, in order to make it viable on a number of boards. Because, right now, it is much too weak.
Reforge:
Gain 1 coin token for copper, 5 for plat, etc. Weaker version of moneylender but on all treasures, and it’s coin tokens so that's nice. Potentially game changing if you trash up all your treasures and end with a megaturn.
First, you need to keep the player honest, so this needs a "may." Most often, you are going to be trashing coppers with this. Sometimes, you may trash a Silver after your engine is running, but mostly, it will be Coppers. This means that the card is "Trash a Copper from your hand for +
and +1 Coffers". Looking at it this way, it seems way too powerful. This is about in line with Moneylender, but maybe slightly weaker. Which means that this card should probably be a
or maybe even a
. But I really do like the design of this card. Also, it might be hard to keep track of how much it produced.
EDIT: Just realized that you don't get +
. This now seems very weak. Trashing a Copper for +1 Coffers isn't too powerful. But then again, this is a
cost card. I definitely think that this is well priced and well designed. Good Job.
Sanitation System:
Originally named sewers before the release of Renaissance. Sift through all the waste in your deck with this alternate to courtyard. Chain together multiple sewers and make a sewage system that can get you the cleanest hands around!
I honestly am not sure about this card. I think that this might be a little too similar to Courtyard. But other than that, it's a nice card. I don't think its too good. I don't really know what to say. I think only playtesting can really tell if this card is too good or bad. I really, really, really, really, really, like the theme on this one, though.
Boom Town:
Remade version of a card from Auto-Destruct Sequence (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=3984). I really liked this card idea, and it fit the set perfectly, but it had some balancing issues so I modified it to include in my set.
I think that this card is probably too powerful. I feel like, with any sort of trashing, this can get out of hand easily. Five of them in a hand leaves you with 4 cards, 9 actions, 3 Buys, and
. I would definitely dump the +2 Actions and change it to +1 Action. Because right now, it seems way too overpowered. Otherwise, you can just start an engine with a bunch of these. For the theme, I'm not sure what a boom town is, so I can't say.
Locomotion:
Progress comes at a cost to everyone, involved or not. Move your deck along with this card, but watch as you get junk in everyone's face, including yours! This card is a self-junker with an option to remove them later.
This card honestly seems super fun and great. For theme, you help yourself (+2 Cards), hurt everyone (Smog to everyone), and you use something for fuel (Trashing). Perfect!! Now for the card itself, it seems very balanced. Though, it might be a little too powerful. Considering that its +2 Cards, Trash a (non-copper) card, it seems slightly too powerful. But I really think that it is a good card. I really don't think that you need to change this card. I love this card so much!
Salesman:
And last but certainly not least, salesman. The buy equivalent of hireling, giving you the extra buys you need to get all these cheap cards! Less unique now that fair is an event, but is still helpful to have in many situations. Strictly worse than fair, because fair acts immediately instead of needing to wait a shuffle and doesn’t require an action to play.
I feel like you should dump this card. Given that there is already Fair, it seems like kind of a waste. I don't have much to say, other than that it if a fine card (probably undercosted, should be a
), but considering that there is Fair, I think you should get rid of it. I know that it is different (doesn't happen immediately, can have multiple), but doesn't seem like it is worth it.
I really have loved this expansion. I remember seeing it for the first time, and thinking that it was great. Now with your new changes, it is becoming better and better, and with some changes, it'll become almost perfect. Also, I just want to say that this took 3 and I am a kid, so I am sorry if I sounded rude, but I hope that you appreciate the time I took to make this analysis.