Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: Elanchana on December 15, 2014, 05:16:22 am

Title: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 15, 2014, 05:16:22 am
I've had this idea for a while and I've been doing it with the base set but I'm getting the ultra pack (fiiiiiiinally) in a couple weeks and I want more ideas so here we go.

I want to make some kingdoms with different...themes, shall we say, and create unrated tables on Goko with them as a sort of fun alternative to everything else. There could be a board of all attacks, a board of all durations, a board of the most expensive cards, a board of the cheapest cards, a pin race board, an "overpowered" board, etc.

What kind of themed boards can you come up with, what cards would you pick for those (or the ones I listed), and how would you play them?

Example (from when I asked for an "expensive cards" board):
These are all the cards that (arguably) cost more than $6: Peddler, KC, Forge, Bank, Expand, Possession, Golem, Prince.
GM is arguably the most expensive $6-cost, so lets add it. Let me then add Goons to counter Possession. And of course, Platinum and Colony.

I guess you want to ignore Bank and Expand, and you want to build to megaturn Goons. Since there is no good draw other than KC-Peddler, you probably want Golem and as many Peddlers/GMs as you can get, which should make the engine tricky. Golem and Goons discourage Possession enough. I guess you want as many Golems as you can get, some KCs and some Goons, plus a Forge to trash the garbage. Probably a tactical game.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 15, 2014, 05:48:37 am
A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

Here's (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=11099.msg378200#msg378200) an article about kingdom design which is probably worth reading if you want to design kingdoms.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Eran of Arcadia on December 15, 2014, 07:23:19 am
A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

You could use Prince, Treasury, and/or Scheme to make up the difference? They are like Duration cards in a vague sense.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Deadlock39 on December 15, 2014, 10:21:31 am
Also, Cutpurse was a duration at one point during design, and I think Ghost Ship was also inspired by attempts at a duration attack.  Lookout and Sea Hag also carry some of the "next turn" theme from Seaside.

Or you could just throw in Throne Room and King's Court because practically become durations when they are used with them.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 15, 2014, 10:39:34 am
Thanks for the article, Awaclus, although balance isn't really what I'm going for. A balanced theme board would be super fun, but the reason I'd play these on unrated is so that if it's more of a luck-based board and someone gets unlucky, their rating wouldn't suffer for it. I'm only looking for, um, plausible playability.

Heh, of course there are only 8 duration cards. That was me being dumb. I like the idea of TR and KC as the other two cards, although topdeckers (Scheme/Treasury/?) are a good idea too.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 15, 2014, 12:05:48 pm
Balance in this case means that there are two or more strategies available, and it's not immediately obvious which strategy you want to choose. Which makes the game a lot more interesting.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 15, 2014, 12:27:08 pm
A board of all Durations is literally not possible because there are only 8.

You could use Prince, Treasury, and/or Scheme to make up the difference? They are like Duration cards in a vague sense.

I was going to say Prince and Possession—they're the other ones that should be Duration cards based on their actual effects, and probably would have been if they were in Seaside.

(...Of course, Prince on a board of eight Duration cards and Possession would be kind of a waste of a kingdom slot..)
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: pacovf on December 15, 2014, 12:38:57 pm
(...Of course, Prince on a board of eight Duration cards and Possession would be kind of a waste of a kingdom slot..)

Well, maybe your opponent has bought all the havens while you were piledriving the fishing villages, so now you are ready to pay $8 for a one-shot, non-cantrip haven that only works on cards that cost $4 or less.

Boom! Edge-case'd!
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 15, 2014, 02:58:36 pm
Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Deadlock39 on December 15, 2014, 04:01:02 pm
Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 15, 2014, 04:11:35 pm
Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.
All-village board? Done. Totally going for it.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: amalloy on December 15, 2014, 04:43:51 pm
Wait, I'm pretty sure Village is the strongest card in Dominion.  The top board should be: Native Village, Village, Fishing Village, Farming Village, Mining Village, Walled Village, Worker's Village, City, Border Village, and ...uh ...Bureaucrat.

Or, if you want to go outside the official rules for the real ultimate board, swap out Bureaucrat for a pile of Ruined Villages.

I think this is a Bureaucrat/BM board. Instead of Bureaucrat, try adding Throne Room for the real village-only board. Or even Shanty Town: if you only buy one action, it's a village that's as good as a Moat!
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 15, 2014, 08:28:02 pm
Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)
I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: amalloy on December 15, 2014, 10:53:04 pm
Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)
I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.

Is Thief actually okay against this?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 15, 2014, 10:57:44 pm
Okay, if I ignore potion cost cards, it's pretty easy for me to make overpowered/underpowered challenge boards if I take the top two cards from each ranking list. How would you guys play these?

Tops board: Chapel, Fool's Gold, Masquerade, Ambassador, Sea Hag, Tournament, Mountebank, Rebuild, Goons, King's Court
(Junking or streamlining? There's so much conflicting stuff and the only unassisted village is in the prizes.)

Bottoms board: Secret Chamber, Duchess, Chancellor, Woodcutter, Scout, Thief, Counting House, Harvest, Adventurer, Farmland
(Slog city, although those sifters/discard-for-coins cards could be useful. Again, no villages.)
I'd build a KC/Masq/Goons engine on the tops board. Not the pin because it doesn't work if your opponent has enough junking, and it's definitely possible to have enough junking on this board. It's super important to get the engine going as fast as possible, because being on the receiving end of Goons+Masq is extremely awful on this board. I'd open Tournament/Masquerade, but Tournament/Chapel and Tournament/Ambassador are good too. If it starts looking like your opponent is doing something that can't stop the pin, it's always possible to change your plan spontaneously, since the pin and the engine play very similar early games.

On the bottoms board, you open Chancellor/Silver and play big money with no other Action cards.

Is Thief actually okay against this?

No, at least not in 2-player games.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: ephesos on December 16, 2014, 02:50:11 am
How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...
Wish it had a Village of some sort. As it is, I'm thinking Ambassador war at the start, followed by Soothsayer(gaining Gold matters more than having the Curse flung back at you) or Minion/Governor spam.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: qmech on December 16, 2014, 04:05:59 am
How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...

Welcome to Has-good-luck-when-attacked-by-Minion-ville; population: you.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 16, 2014, 11:03:24 am
How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...

Based on http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Non-Attack_interaction, I'd go with:

Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Council Room, Governor, Duchess, Envoy, Advisor, Contraband
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: bedlam on December 16, 2014, 12:29:50 pm
I've occasionally played with an all alt-vp game.

Gardens, Fairgrounds, Feodom, Island, Silk Road, Farm Land, Great Hall, Harem, Nobles, Duke

Not a lot of interactions, Island rush of course. Mildly Interesting once or twice.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 16, 2014, 02:34:26 pm
I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 16, 2014, 02:43:57 pm
Gardens, Fairgrounds, Feodom, Island, Silk Road, Farm Land, Great Hall, Harem, Nobles, Duke

eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint

Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: mpsprs on December 16, 2014, 03:15:45 pm
I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 16, 2014, 03:17:23 pm
Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.
What do those cards have in common?...

That treasures one sounds pretty sweet. What I'd do for a 5/2 on that board.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: liopoil on December 16, 2014, 03:18:44 pm
I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.
...Was there forager?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: mpsprs on December 16, 2014, 03:27:10 pm
I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Soulnet and I played a league match (so randomly generated) with 5 supply treasures, plus spoils and potions.  Alas, most of them didn't get played.  In fact we only ever acquired silver and masterpiece for treasure.
...Was there forager?

No.  10 coin forager would be nice though.  There was horn of plenty.  And hunting grounds for draw.  So you could play one hunting grounds, 7 different treasures, and then the horn for a province (yes, the horn could be worth 9, but this way only treasures pay for the province).
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 16, 2014, 03:54:51 pm
Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.
What do those cards have in common?

Not a lot, but that kingdom and the previous two kingdoms have in common the fact that they have two cards that are easily mistaken for each other (Mine/Mint, Fairgrounds/Farmland, Salvager/Scavenger). I just quickly chose the other cards to make it an interesting kingdom.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 16, 2014, 05:28:20 pm
Scavenger, Salvager, King's Court, Soothsayer, Farming Village, Menagerie, Coppersmith, Trading Post, Armory, Market Square.
What do those cards have in common?

Not a lot, but that kingdom and the previous two kingdoms have in common the fact that they have two cards that are easily mistaken for each other (Mine/Mint, Fairgrounds/Farmland, Salvager/Scavenger). I just quickly chose the other cards to make it an interesting kingdom.
Ooh, that would be interesting - Mine, Mint, Fairgrounds, Farmland, Scavenger, Salvager, four more cards... the table would just be called "Good luck with that."

Edit: Maybe Trader and Trading Post? I don't know if anyone else confuses those two but I sure do.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: dondon151 on December 16, 2014, 05:38:35 pm
Edit: Maybe Trader and Trading Post? I don't know if anyone else confuses those two but I sure do.

Also Horse Traders.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: qmech on December 16, 2014, 05:47:48 pm
Chapel/Cellar?  Although (whisper it quietly) it's not such a problem on Goko.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 16, 2014, 06:04:51 pm
I played a board of eight Treasure cards plus Mine and Mint a couple times; that was fun. I don't remember exactly which eight we used though.

Found it! It was Bank, Contraband, Hoard, Horn of Plenty, Loan, Mine, Mint, Philosopher's Stone, Royal Seal, Venture.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: ConMan on December 16, 2014, 07:47:31 pm
Edit: Maybe Trader and Trading Post? I don't know if anyone else confuses those two but I sure do.
Mine'sMint'sMine'sMint's The pair I usually confuse is Trading Post and Trade Route.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: scott_pilgrim on December 16, 2014, 11:48:48 pm
Don't forget Possession/Procession!
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: pedroluchini on December 17, 2014, 03:48:17 am
I tend to mix up Scrying Pool and Apothecary, because they both cost $2P and have the ability to draw a bunch of cards from the top of deck.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: luser on December 17, 2014, 05:42:51 am
Also counterfeit/contraband.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: RTT on December 17, 2014, 09:32:15 am
i sometimes mix up Quarry and Talisman on Goko . both cost 4$ and are a treassure and the text isnt on the preview in goko.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: theblankman on December 17, 2014, 04:37:46 pm
How about all cards that can help your opponent?
Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Masquerade, Ambassador, Council Room, Governor, Pirate Ship... Minion, I guess? I've had so many lucky redraws with that card...

Based on http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Non-Attack_interaction, I'd go with:

Vault, Bishop, Embassy, Soothsayer, Council Room, Governor, Duchess, Envoy, Advisor, Contraband

I started putting together a "help your opponent" board for kingdom design contest, but never finished it.  Soothsayer is an attack, and Envoy, Advisor and Contraband aren't really helping your opponent, they're just presenting your opponent with choices about what you do.  I'd go with Tunnel and Market Square to enable Vault and Bishop more, and since there's draw and money, why not throw in some kind of action plays for good measure.  Then you're building an engine to play even more things that help your opponent.  Maybe...

Vault, Bishop, Council Room, Governor, Duchess, Embassy, Market Square, Tunnel, Throne Room?, Village?

I wonder about Procession instead of Throne Room maybe... there's MS and vanilla Village at $3, Procession and Bishop at $4, and assorted $5s to gain.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 26, 2014, 01:24:06 am
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 26, 2014, 06:47:35 am
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 26, 2014, 01:48:46 pm
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.

Ooh Squire, I likes. So what would you do on this one? Trash with Mercenary, draw with Scrying Pool, get VPs with Goons? (with Squires to boost productivity?)
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 26, 2014, 02:11:11 pm
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.

Ooh Squire, I likes. So what would you do on this one? Trash with Mercenary, draw with Scrying Pool, get VPs with Goons? (with Squires to boost productivity?)

Open Urchin/Swindler, try to win the Squire split, then probably Scrying Pools and Goons. That's what I would do, but it's hard to say without testing how good it would be against Minion and Cultist strategies.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 26, 2014, 02:14:03 pm
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.

Ooh Squire, I likes. So what would you do on this one? Trash with Mercenary, draw with Scrying Pool, get VPs with Goons? (with Squires to boost productivity?)

Open Urchin/Swindler, try to win the Squire split, then probably Scrying Pools and Goons. That's what I would do, but it's hard to say without testing how good it would be against Minion and Cultist strategies.

Mercenary and Scrying Pool are a good counter to Cultist, right?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 26, 2014, 02:19:31 pm
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.

Ooh Squire, I likes. So what would you do on this one? Trash with Mercenary, draw with Scrying Pool, get VPs with Goons? (with Squires to boost productivity?)

Open Urchin/Swindler, try to win the Squire split, then probably Scrying Pools and Goons. That's what I would do, but it's hard to say without testing how good it would be against Minion and Cultist strategies.

Oh yeah, Swindler would be brutal. I'm not an expert but I think with decent shuffle luck this strategy would be great against Cultist because the ruins would both feed Mercenaries and power up Scrying Pools. You'd still need to win the Squire split though. (Edit: ninja'd)

Testing is what I'd play unrated for. Also to avoid the frustration of not winning splits/races.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 26, 2014, 02:47:12 pm
I just promised someone a fully-fledged "Attackmania" board so I better come up with one. What kind of stuff would be good for a board of all attacks? So many of them are terminal, and piling up enough terminals in the kingdom can lead to boring big money games...

Minion, Cultist, Urchin, Swindler, Goons, Spy, Torturer, Ghost Ship, Scrying Pool, Squire.

Ooh Squire, I likes. So what would you do on this one? Trash with Mercenary, draw with Scrying Pool, get VPs with Goons? (with Squires to boost productivity?)

Open Urchin/Swindler, try to win the Squire split, then probably Scrying Pools and Goons. That's what I would do, but it's hard to say without testing how good it would be against Minion and Cultist strategies.

Mercenary and Scrying Pool are a good counter to Cultist, right?

Yeah, otherwise it wouldn't be hard to say that you go for Cultist.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: qmech on December 26, 2014, 03:21:07 pm
ruins would both [...] power up Scrying Pools

This isn't usually the right way to think about the interaction between Ruins and Scrying Pool.  They don't get in the way as much as Curses, but they don't generally result in you having extra useful cards that you wouldn't have otherwise.  (They can do if you have something like Cellar, but otherwise if you hadn't had the Ruin then you'd have drawn the following card anyway.)  They actually get in the way slightly, as Ruin/Estate/Actions is a worse top of deck that Estate/Actions if you play Scrying Pool.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: theblankman on December 26, 2014, 04:41:31 pm
Open Urchin/Swindler and pray.
FTFY.  I think that board would come down to mostly Swindler luck.  Squire split is important but Swindler affects that, especially if you're playing SPs.  For an even uglier game, replace something with Knights.  For a not quite as insanely swingy game, replace Swindler with maybe Jester? 
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Amac on December 26, 2014, 06:52:02 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Awaclus on December 26, 2014, 06:54:29 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?
Mountebank?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: AJD on December 26, 2014, 06:54:41 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?

Grand Market.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: scott_pilgrim on December 26, 2014, 07:05:29 pm
ruins would both [...] power up Scrying Pools

This isn't usually the right way to think about the interaction between Ruins and Scrying Pool.  They don't get in the way as much as Curses, but they don't generally result in you having extra useful cards that you wouldn't have otherwise.  (They can do if you have something like Cellar, but otherwise if you hadn't had the Ruin then you'd have drawn the following card anyway.)  They actually get in the way slightly, as Ruin/Estate/Actions is a worse top of deck that Estate/Actions if you play Scrying Pool.

While this is true generally, I would think Mercenary counts as "something like Cellar" (though obviously not to the same extent), since you want to draw up extra stuff to trash with it.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: liopoil on December 26, 2014, 07:57:04 pm
ruins would both [...] power up Scrying Pools

This isn't usually the right way to think about the interaction between Ruins and Scrying Pool.  They don't get in the way as much as Curses, but they don't generally result in you having extra useful cards that you wouldn't have otherwise.  (They can do if you have something like Cellar, but otherwise if you hadn't had the Ruin then you'd have drawn the following card anyway.)  They actually get in the way slightly, as Ruin/Estate/Actions is a worse top of deck that Estate/Actions if you play Scrying Pool.
Well, cultist and marauder are usually very weak and ignorable on scrying pool boards, and death cart is much stronger. Sure the ruins are still junking, but very weak junking, enough to make the cards just not worth getting.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 26, 2014, 09:19:12 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?

Coppery board. Me likey.  I agree with the Mountebank suggestion because Grand Market would be near futile. I don't know if I'll be able to get the promos though, so is there something that can replace Cache?
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: liopoil on December 26, 2014, 09:25:10 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?

Coppery board. Me likey.  I agree with the Mountebank suggestion because Grand Market would be near futile. I don't know if I'll be able to get the promos though, so is there something that can replace Cache?
Cache isn't a promo.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 26, 2014, 10:01:10 pm
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?

Coppery board. Me likey.  I agree with the Mountebank suggestion because Grand Market would be near futile. I don't know if I'll be able to get the promos though, so is there something that can replace Cache?
Cache isn't a promo.

I stand thoroughly corrected. I was thinking of Stash I guess.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 27, 2014, 12:08:27 am
I just came up with a board that I like to call "so many". It basically tries to get as many different cards on the board as possible.

Tournament, Young Witch (bane: Hermit), Urchin, Grand Market, Bandit Camp, Cultist, Black Market (random), Knights, Alchemist, Fairgrounds

Plus Colony/Platinum AND Shelters. With the ten kingdom cards, plus one for the bane and nine for the extra knights, the seven base cards, plus Platinum/Colony and Potions, the three shelters, the five prizes, the four ruins, spoils, the two non-supply actions, and the fifteen Black Market cards, that comes out to... 60 unique cards. You'd never be able to get them all (unless you're Celestial Chameleon) but imagine playing a Fairgrounds on that.

Edit: Whoops! I forgot that you're only allowed to use Colony/Platinum if you have Prosperity cards in the kingdom. Goodbye Marauder, hello Grand Market.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Amac on December 27, 2014, 04:52:38 am
Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?
Mountebank?

Apothecary, Coppersmith, Counting House, Beggar, Moneylender, Ill-Gotten Gains, Cache, Cutpurse, Count... and... something?

Grand Market.

These were the ones I thought of, but Mountebank at least gains copper, instead of giving copper a penalty. Although Cutpurse penalizes having copper as well.

Mountebank fits in better, still.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: enfynet on December 27, 2014, 09:56:05 am
I just came up with a board that I like to call "so many". It basically tries to get as many different cards on the board as possible.

Tournament, Young Witch (bane: Hermit), Urchin, Grand Market, Bandit Camp, Cultist, Black Market (random), Knights, Alchemist, Fairgrounds

Plus Colony/Platinum AND Shelters. With the ten kingdom cards, plus one for the bane and nine for the extra knights, the seven base cards, plus Platinum/Colony and Potions, the three shelters, the five prizes, the four ruins, spoils, the two non-supply actions, and the fifteen Black Market cards, that comes out to... 60 unique cards. You'd never be able to get them all (unless you're Celestial Chameleon) but imagine playing a Fairgrounds on that.

Edit: Whoops! I forgot that you're only allowed to use Colony/Platinum if you have Prosperity cards in the kingdom. Goodbye Marauder, hello Grand Market.
You're "allowed" to use Colony/Platinum/Shelters whenever you want. Setup rules are just there to hel decide randomly.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Elanchana on December 27, 2014, 10:28:46 am
I just came up with a board that I like to call "so many". It basically tries to get as many different cards on the board as possible.

Tournament, Young Witch (bane: Hermit), Urchin, Grand Market, Bandit Camp, Cultist, Black Market (random), Knights, Alchemist, Fairgrounds

Plus Colony/Platinum AND Shelters. With the ten kingdom cards, plus one for the bane and nine for the extra knights, the seven base cards, plus Platinum/Colony and Potions, the three shelters, the five prizes, the four ruins, spoils, the two non-supply actions, and the fifteen Black Market cards, that comes out to... 60 unique cards. You'd never be able to get them all (unless you're Celestial Chameleon) but imagine playing a Fairgrounds on that.

Edit: Whoops! I forgot that you're only allowed to use Colony/Platinum if you have Prosperity cards in the kingdom. Goodbye Marauder, hello Grand Market.
You're "allowed" to use Colony/Platinum/Shelters whenever you want. Setup rules are just there to hel decide randomly.

Oh. Well, I kind of like GM in there anyway, it makes cycling slightly easier.
Title: Re: Themed "challenge" boards
Post by: Jack Rudd on December 27, 2014, 10:53:35 am
We could further specify that the BM deck contains Trade Route, Embargo, Monument/Goons/Bishop, Native Village, Pirate Ship, Island and Butcher/Baker/Candlestick Maker/Plaza. Use ALL the random stuff in the game!