visual critique: the text seems a bit off on some cards. I think especially the vanilla effects are too small. the exception here is forest hud.
wording: you keep using "every other player" instead of "each other player." any reason? official cards use "each". more specific wording suggestions on the cards.
Bivouac: I don't really have anything to say here, which is a good thing. It looks solid.
Money Launderer: I think it should be "at the start of Clean-up
this turn." Not because that sounds better, but because Scheme uses this wording. it's good to stay as close to official cards as possible.
I'm not sure how useful this really is. I like that it can do very different things with a simple effect though. It may be okay. Hard to say.
Poacher: I think this goes under the "cards that count itself" list. As such, it's good that it's cheap. I like the idea to couple it with an innate +buy early. It looks nice.
Builder: I'm... not sure about this. Not because it hurts the attacker, but because it's weird. If the attack is a witch, you can reveal it to get... a necropolis? And why is the "normal" effect a bridge without buy? I guess that "combos" with battlement, but you have to play the terminal first. Also, it's weird that it just plays in your deck.
This is too complex to just predict how it plays out without testing though. It's possible that it's super fun, then it's worth the awkwardness/lengthiness.
Draft Horses: Mh, might work. I kind of see frustration upon an empty discard pile, but maybe it's okay.
Suburbia: I'd probably copy the original wordings here too. The reaction is a mix of Tunnel and Horse Traders. That'd be: "If you discard this other than during a Clean-up phase, you may reveal and set it aside. If you do, then at the start of your next turn, put this into your hand"
I'm again not sure how fun this is. that's often a sign of good cards though. It looks solid.
Tenure: Uh, what? Why? This is political. And it's also strong and swingy. No-one is making political cards. I appreciate breaking conventional rules with reactions that hurt the attacker, but not with political attacks. They're "banned" from dominion for a reason.
Town Portal: I've tried giving up your turn in order to help the next turn before, and it didn't work. But you might have the better idea on what kind of card to put it on. Still, it's a tactician that only works when you're being attacked. Not a fan.
Blackmail: The attack is not bad, but the card looks too strong, at least to me. Even without the attack, it's +2$, trash a card from your hand, which is really good. With the attack, it's closer to +3$, which is probably stronger than masquerade, or at least about as good. I don't know how much you tested this, but I'd try it with +1$. I'd probably make the attack optional too.
Bog Village: There is a misplaced "from" in the text.
I don't like this one. I think a card that can trash from the supply should
a) either do something else that makes it non-trivial, or have another choice instead, and
b) trash two cards, because if you just trash one, one play changes the pile split into your favor, but only if you're the first one to buy this. That sounds unfun and like a first player advantage
and this card does neither. I mean, it can also get the cards back to the supply, but then what's even the point? you remove it, I put it back, then I buy it. and why is the 3$-6$ even there? you already restricted it to non-victory cards. I think you could just do "kingdom card".
Fraud: Uh. Please don't. I just know this will be frustrating, because the reaction is super powerful on 5$'s, so you always have to evaluate if it's worth risking to buy them. I already dislike this aspect about smugglers, and this is far worse.
You say you're trying variations, so good luck here. The reaction needs to change though.
Reconvert: I think this is just broken? it's so good on estates. remodel is already okay to turn estates into silver, or develop to topdeck them, and this one gives them into your hand. that's so good. I also don't like how the trash effect is just as good as a remodel.
Royalty: Mh. The top half of this is probably too strong for a 4$, but the bottom half usually helps your opponent. I... don't like it. It's too swingy. the attack is anything from "lose a silver" to "trash a bad card" or even "downgrade a province". I mean, if you like swindler, maybe you like this too. It seems similar to me, a better top half, a much weaker attack, but just as swingy.
Siege: This looks really weak. Even if TfB is present, it also works for your opponent, so you really don't produce resources. And the attack isn't even good. Yea, not feelings this one. I'm pretty sure this is one of the weakest cards in the game.
Dominion doesn’t have enough Masquerade!
I'll skip this one
Benefit: Uh, why the penalty? I don't see a reason why it's there. But also, this can lead to some interactions that I'm pretty sure you don't want to have. I play Benefit, you gain an estate. You discard Benefit, now I gain an Estate. I discard Benefit, now you gain an estate? And that's just 2 player. So, I really only see the top part working here.
Building Crane: Not seeing it. it's not nearly powerful enough for a one-shot, and the cost reduction... well, I don't think it's enough. A version for 4$ without the reduction would be pretty much strictly better, and I doubt it would be great.
Demagogue: Let's go through the options
-> empty discard pile: witch with +1 card. crazy good.
-> non-empty discard pile: smithy with... a weird effect. the new cards come into play faster, but the current cards much slower.
So, you play it, and it's either super good already, or it does a weird but probably strong attack, only to be a crazy strong attack the second time. That doesn't sound good to me, but there's an even bigger problem. Say your opponent has a dud hand and you have an engine (not a very unlikely scenario). He buys a silver or something, you play your deck. his dud hand gets back on top of his draw pile. next hand, he still has a dud hand. pin. and it's not even something you work for, it just kind of happens randomly.
Deposit: This looks neat. It does two very different things, which is courtyarding and trashing, and it can even do both at ones. it looks strong, but not overpowered, and pretty unique. I like it a lot.
Juggler: Mh. I'll just read this as a +2 cards, +2$ variant, an effect which, according to Donald (and my intuition), is "strong and uninteresting." The uninteresting part doesn't have to bother you, because this card does a lot an addition. But the powerlevel is questionable. You have more cards, so there's a bigger chance for a curse to be in them. You also have more flexibility. So, it's probably stronger than +2 cards, +2$, which probably means it'll often dominate.
It also has a duration problem. Because you return the curses to the supply, it can just junk forever. And then there's the self-damaging attack thing. You can't defend against this with reaction cards due to their wording, but your opponents can, and then it still attacks you.
It's not that clear how it plays out though.
Prefecture: Okay... so, it starts with 8VP (assuming 2p). that's better than province. But in a lot of games, it will just go down to zero. I don't think I can make a safe guess how it plays out, but I fear that it might be either too strong or just useless. Could be wrong here.
Reparations/Bastion: No big love, but they both look decent. And again, they might be really fun to play with. I like Bastion a little bit more.
Beachcomb: Political reaction in 3player. Also, you trash multiple cards at once. And if several people want to use the reaction, is it about who discards it first? do you have to ask everyone? For most reactions, the order doesn't matter. I don't see a fix for the reaction, there might be one, but as is I'd remove it. It causes too many problems.
I also don't like the top part. I consider it a variant of the "name a card, dig for that card, put it into your hand" effect, which I'm sure a lot of people have considered before. And yea, that's not a good idea. Your version is certainly better, because it resolves faster and isn't as powerful, but I still don't like it, mostly because it's so swingy.
One of the cards from my
collection post is:
c4 - Action - ?
+1 Action
Choose one: +1 Card; or look through your discard pile, and put a card from it into your hand.
which I
think is the better way to do this (less swingy), but I even consider this version to be probably not worth doing, which is why it's still in the collection post.
Mandate: Another complex card... well, but I don't think we need a Band of Misfits variant... and it's really similar too. Meh.
I couldn't help noticing that the cards seem to be best near the top. the quality progression is sort of like a check mark... is that coincidence? are the top cards better tested?