And here is, what you all were waiting for:
mail-mi - Tarnished Cards - Curse replacement
This suggestion is interesting and the cards seem to be balanced at the first glance. The Fortress effect makes it more difficult to get rid of them. I really love it that each kingdom challenges you find new counters against or synergies with the individual Tarnished cards. For example, you could use Tunnels to counter Tarnished Armor or Loan to neutralize Tarnished Gift and Tarnished Blade can help you to get rid of Stewards, Sea Hags, Materpieces or other poor cards. Definitively a pile for experienced players with much potential in any kingdom.
Asper - Supporters - Bonus cantrips for gaining Provinces
Ok, this is no final submission, but man, let’s give Asper a chance nonetheless. Ok, I think, that Duchess would have gone through as a Basic card. But Duchess was a total fail, because she is a terminal. Hey, she is useful in Duchy slogs and accelerates for a 3-pile ending, but that’s all. Asper, however, came up with the idea to have cantrips as rewards for Provinces and that’s really nice. And they are a separate pile, which does not count the the game ending. This makes even larger engines possible. But - wait! Asper’s idea comes with Tournament’s first-come-first-served flavor. So, while another player is setting up a combo, you can shine with a free cantrip Coppersmith, which comes with your early Province. This makes the game much more exciting.
sprialsteircase - Gruel - junk card, gives a bonus for gaining and trashing
This card continues the idea of the never-released Confusion card in a new and charming way. Converting a Workshop into a Silver+ and if you have +Buys left, you can convert them to $1. That’s even better, if you anyway need some extra fodder for obligatory trashers like Rats, Trade Route or Forager. Because trashing also gives +Buy, you can even buy another Gruel for $1 and so on. As a Kingdom Card this would never have a chance, but as a Basic Card, it is just amazing.
NoMoreFun - Repairs - Jack of all Trades light
Often, Attack cards like Witch or Ghost Ship are so game-dominating, that other potentially interesting strategies are completely outclassed. Repairs ensures that Attack cards always come with a Jack “light”. The non-terminal draw-to-5 option seems to be too strong for a $2 card, but I assume, that costs $2 for the same reason like Chapel, to ensure, that 5/2 players are not disadvantaged to 4/3 players. While Repairs can weaken the aftereffects of Attacks, it does not really fix the problem of missing deck diversity in presence of strong attacks. Double Witch becomes just Double Witch + Repairs. Thus, this card is still just a drop in the ocean.
Commodore Chuckles - Components - Combinable cards
This was the first idea, I was curios about. Instead of Silvers, you can buy three components to combine them to $5 or $6 cards. This is especially nice with the extra +Buy of Poach. This keeps your deck lean and smooth. However, it is difficult to get three Components into your hand, that’s why the got their specific bonuses. Wheel draws 2 cards and makes Component line-ups much easier, Pulley helps you with buying additional Components and Pulley gives you more buying power, so that you often can buy a $4 or $5 card instead of another component or a Silver, when you trash Pulley and two other components from your hand. Spring is just poor, a Necropolis us much worse compared to the other options. But I realized that these cards are somehow not very appealing to me. I don’t like that they are mixed and that they go to the Trash after use. 4 separate piles and a replacing Spring’s +2 Action with vanilla cantrip would be better better in my opinion.
4est - Deed - Pile-blocking gainer or Supply trashing Copper
Once I had a similar idea of a pile-blocking card, but it was a single card and started on the Province pile. It was okay, but also pointlessy throttling the game. Here, we have even one card per player. 4est, however, did something new. He / She has succeeded in designing that card in manner, that it does not slow the game to much down, because it comes with an in-built-Salt-the-Earth, which may be used to get rid of other Deeds or Provinces. I also like the concept to create much more opening-possibilities. when you also play with the Dark Ages shelters, this should replace Hovel, because Overgrown Estate has more combos (for example Shepherd). Overall a very solid concept.
Fragasnap - Jinx, Curio, Heretic - Curse alternatives
Honestly, I liked the Tarnished cards more, because they are more puzzling. If good trashers are in the kingdom, Jinx and Co. don’t add much more value to the game. Giving the player the choice to select their Curse slows Attacks down. So does the Reaction card Jinx. Heretic also seems to be only rarely usable. All in all, I am not very happy with these cards. Sorry, but mail-mi did this just better.
Gazbag - Boat - one-shot Lab as reward for having Copper, Silver and Gold
That card is interesting, but it also looks a bit swingy. Copper, Silver and Gold are always available but I can’t imagine, that investment into hand management to get that special Treasure card line-up for is really worth just a one-shot Lab. The biggest problem is the big random component. Dominon should not have such moody mechanics.
Aquila - Tasks - individual quests
An unused idea with huge potential. The rules are simple and easy to understand. Tasks cost $2, only one at once. That’s it. Self-explaining. Humans like small achievements and this mini-expansion invites casual and experienced players to evaluate themselves and find creative ways to fulfill them. Each kingdom provides other possibilities and each player has the choice: Doing an easy task with a small or a hard task with a high reward.
Chappy7 - Charity and Contribution - Once-per-game events to reduce start hand advantages
As I wrote before, I interpret these Events as one-time States. Considering the focus on creativity, novelty and originality, I feel that this cards don’t add much value to the game. Baker and 4est’s Deed do this better.
herw - Principality and County - vanilla Victory cards with Potion costs
Principality and County are very simple. Vanilla victory cards with a $3 difference are a good target for Rebuild. However, Principality is too similar to Vineyard in my opinion. There is not much difference between P and $2P. (Yes, I would sometimes even pay $4P for a Vineyard, if there is no +Buy in the kingdom), because the number of Potion cards you can buy, depends on the number of potions in your deck. If you have 10 cards and one of them is a Potion, you can buy a Potion card in every two turns. More than 1 Potion increases the probability of a collosion, which can cost you the win, if you are unlucky. Potion decks utilize fast deck cycles with cards like Scrying Pool, Golem and Alchemist and like non-terminals (e.g. Familiar > Witch and University > Workshop). These cards not only cost a Potion, but also help to draw your potion more often. That means, that Potion decks usually already have a lot of Action cards. I see no really reason, why Principality should be preferred over Vineyard. The same problem for County. You can just buy a Silver or a Gold instead of the Potion to get to $8, which is even easier that to get $5P. But hey, this is your 50th post. Keep going on! Your idea is not a RBCI, but other contest participants had just more innovative ideas.
d - Currency - Scrabble crossover
This idea shifts Dominion to a complete other game. While this is an innovative and creative submission, I think this would have been better off in Challenge #6. This card has several problems with its randomness, translation issues and it also forces very long games where players try to gain as many Currency as possible and then buy all the Duchies and Estates. Solemnly I award you the extra ribbon for the most creative out-of-competition submission.
Results (Hugh it’s almost 2 am here, I have to go to bed now!)
Winner: Aquila with Tasks
Runner-up: mail-mi with Tarnished Cards
Congratulations!