Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Variants and Fan Cards => Topic started by: LastFootnote on January 14, 2015, 09:30:40 pm

Title: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 14, 2015, 09:30:40 pm
No, it's not Mine. It's a Treasure that gains Actions.

(http://i.imgur.com/2lTG8Qb.png)

Quote
Magic Mirror
Types: Treasure
Cost: $5
Worth $2. When you play this, you may discard an Action card. Gain a copy of it.

Apologies to pacovf for using the same name as a card he suggested. I couldn't think of another appropriate name for this card, but I am very open to alternative suggestions.

I've tried cards that gain you copies of cards in your deck before. Right now Enterprise has Committee, which is fun and provides a bit of player interaction, but is also one of the most complex cards in the set. I thought I'd try another option and see which one worked out better.

I was going to test this at least once before posting it, but you know how it is. I can't test it right now but I can mock up the image and post it on the internets right now. Initial feedback is appreciated!
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: liopoil on January 14, 2015, 09:38:45 pm
Whose is it then?

On another note, why can't it trash my necropolis and ruins? :(
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: sudgy on January 14, 2015, 09:39:59 pm
Hey, now drawing dead terminals isn't nearly as bad!
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: TheOthin on January 14, 2015, 09:57:31 pm
Hey, now drawing dead terminals isn't nearly as bad!

If you're happy gaining another terminal, at least.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Jimmmmm on January 14, 2015, 09:59:30 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 14, 2015, 10:01:31 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?

Your question confuses me. First of all, you're discarding the Action card you want to gain a copy of, so it won't be in your hand to discard again. Second, you can only discard one Action card per time you play a Magic Mirror. So if you have multiple copies, you can gain that many Action cards, as long as you have Action cards in your hand to discard.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Awaclus on January 14, 2015, 10:02:11 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?

The limit is 20 (Counterfeit 10 of these).
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Jimmmmm on January 14, 2015, 10:06:08 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?

Your question confuses me. First of all, you're discarding the Action card you want to gain a copy of, so it won't be in your hand to discard again. Second, you can only discard one Action card per time you play a Magic Mirror. So if you have multiple copies, you can gain that many Action cards, as long as you have Action cards in your hand to discard.

Argh, I read it as "When you have this in play", which I thought was a strange way of wording it. Never mind.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: liopoil on January 14, 2015, 10:12:46 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?

The limit is 20 (Counterfeit 10 of these).
Throw in rogue and black market for a lot more
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Awaclus on January 14, 2015, 10:19:56 pm
Anyway, the card sounds like a very powerful and fun card. Compared to Horn of Plenty, it's probably not unreasonably powerful, though.

Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: TheOthin on January 14, 2015, 10:34:12 pm
There's no limit to how many time you can use this in a turn right?

The limit is 20 (Counterfeit 10 of these).

What about HoP/Mandarin/Cultist?
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 15, 2015, 01:24:11 am
Anyway, the card sounds like a very powerful and fun card. Compared to Horn of Plenty, it's probably not unreasonably powerful, though.

Yeah, at first I was going to make it worth $1, but the fact that you didn't play the Action card this turn (barring Black Market) should weaken it quite a bit.

The main issue with cards like this is that players would rather play Action cards than discard them. I'm hoping Magic Mirror partially alleviates this by being a Treasure. If nothing else, you get $2 out of it.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Jimmmmm on January 15, 2015, 01:47:41 am
Isn't the "When you play this" unnecessary? Doesn't every card effect start with an implicit "When you play this" (unless it starts with a different "When")?
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 15, 2015, 01:48:53 am
Isn't the "When you play this" unnecessary? Doesn't every card effect start with an implicit "When you play this" (unless it starts with a different "When")?

All Action cards do. If you check a few Treasure cards, you'll see this "When you play this" wording.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Burning Skull on January 15, 2015, 03:00:11 am
I think it's cool and quite powerful, and it comboes nice with Black Market's ability to play treasures during the Action phase (And that kind of combo is very strong, because all Dominion games should be played with Black Market).
The one downside may be that it can lead to lots of AP in the end of the turn.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: pacovf on January 15, 2015, 01:38:47 pm
Apologies to pacovf for using the same name as a card he suggested.

Curses, I knew I should have trademarked it!

This might be a bit weak compared to horn of plenty? Horn of Plenty doesn't require discarding action cards, and you can build towards a mega turn with them because they can gain victory cards. The advantage of Magic Mirror is the extra two coins. Don't know whether that is enough.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 15, 2015, 02:09:14 pm
Apologies to pacovf for using the same name as a card he suggested.

Curses, I knew I should have trademarked it!

This might be a bit weak compared to horn of plenty? Horn of Plenty doesn't require discarding action cards, and you can build towards a mega turn with them because they can gain victory cards. The advantage of Magic Mirror is the extra two coins. Don't know whether that is enough.

2 Coins is pretty huge. Even if it's usually weaker than HoP, that's acceptable as long as it's sometimes better. And I think that's trivially true. Especially when you can only get e.g. 3 cards in play, you'd rather have the +$2. But even the gaining can sometimes be better, like when you happen to draw two terminal Actions without villages. Also, Magic Mirror can gain Potion-cost cards, which is a nice bonus.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: HiveMindEmulator on January 15, 2015, 05:43:09 pm
To really be the opposite of Mint, it should trash actions when you buy it.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 15, 2015, 05:46:19 pm
To really be the opposite of Mint, it should trash actions when you buy it.

Fact. I'm not going to add that, though.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Witherweaver on January 15, 2015, 05:51:04 pm
Also, the opposite of Mint should be Yours.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: sudgy on January 15, 2015, 05:53:18 pm
Yours - $? Action - Attack
Each other player trashes a treasure card costing $3 or more and gains one costing at most $3 less than it, putting it into his hand (or reveals a hand with no treasures costing $3 or more).
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Asper on January 15, 2015, 06:01:46 pm
Apologies to pacovf for using the same name as a card he suggested.

Curses, I knew I should have trademarked it!

Which is exactly why i trademarked the effect of River:
+2 Cards
Return this to your hand.

To keep this from being a derail-only post, i quite like your new card, LastFootnote. It's very simply worded (which is a plus) and you are right in that it being a Treasure makes it much more satisfying to play. Wonder how it plays.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 15, 2015, 06:06:15 pm
To keep this from being a derail-only post, i quite like your new card, LastFootnote. It's very simply worded (which is a plus) and you are right in that it being a Treasure makes it much more satisfying to play. Wonder how it plays.

I just printed it (along with a new version of Domain to test), so hopefully I'll find out tomorrow how it plays.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Witherweaver on January 15, 2015, 06:11:24 pm
It has a niche in a Big Money situation, I think, in the case where you either have enough money for your single purpose and don't need to play your Action, or when your Actions collide.  You may not always want another copy there, but I imagine in some cases you would take a free one.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: ipofanes on January 16, 2015, 09:11:18 am
To really be the opposite of Mint, it should trash actions when you buy it.

Before I clicked I thought "Does it gain a copy of the treasures you played in order to buy this?" (Gain two Magic Mirrors buying one ...)
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on January 16, 2015, 06:17:15 pm
Played my first game with Magic Mirror today. It was a 4-player game and I was the only one with a 5/2 split, so I opened Redistrict/Magic Mirror. Nobody else got one except one other player near the end of the game. Sometimes I forgot to save an Action card to discard, but hey, $2. At least once I had more Actions than I could play and it was great. The rest of the time, it was a tough decision whether or not to play an Action to gain a copy of it. I gained a fair few Terraces with it. Anyhow, I won the game, so probably it's not super weak. The real question is whether it's any fun to discard an Action rather than playing it. That's what killed most of the previous iterations of this concept for me.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: pacovf on January 16, 2015, 06:24:17 pm
You could try a version that gains a copy of an action card in your play area and work your way down from there if needed. It would be sexier, so it will get more playtesting because your friends will be more prone to buying it.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: SwitchedFromStarcraft on January 16, 2015, 06:44:56 pm
Also, the opposite of Mint should be Yours.
This may or may not be proof that you are or are not married.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: dondon151 on January 16, 2015, 06:48:54 pm
You could try a version that gains a copy of an action card in your play area and work your way down from there if needed. It would be sexier, so it will get more playtesting because your friends will be more prone to buying it.

I agree, this seems good. You can potentially water it down by discarding the Action card in play or by decreasing the +$ bonus to +$1 or even +$0 a la Horn of Plenty.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: TheOthin on January 16, 2015, 06:53:54 pm
You could try a version that gains a copy of an action card in your play area and work your way down from there if needed. It would be sexier, so it will get more playtesting because your friends will be more prone to buying it.

I agree, this seems good. You can potentially water it down by discarding the Action card in play or by decreasing the +$ bonus to +$1 or even +$0 a la Horn of Plenty.

The thing is, Horn of Plenty already is a +$0 Treasure that lets you gain a card and gets more freedom the more of your deck you can play on that turn. Would another card in that vein really be worthwhile?
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: pacovf on January 16, 2015, 07:01:40 pm
You could try a version that gains a copy of an action card in your play area and work your way down from there if needed. It would be sexier, so it will get more playtesting because your friends will be more prone to buying it.

I agree, this seems good. You can potentially water it down by discarding the Action card in play or by decreasing the +$ bonus to +$1 or even +$0 a la Horn of Plenty.

The thing is, Horn of Plenty already is a +$0 Treasure that lets you gain a card and gets more freedom the more of your deck you can play on that turn. Would another card in that vein really be worthwhile?

Agree with this, actually... IIRC, we've basically got three treasures that gain cards for you: Horn of Plenty, Talisman, and Hoard. The first requires you to play lots of cards, the second requires you to buy specific cards and can only gain cheap-nonVictory cards, the last requires you to buy Victory cards and gains you a specific card (gold). So, MM has to find a niche somewhere in there.

EDIT: not to mention that the new expansion might have some other treasure that LFN is purposefully dodging :P
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: dondon151 on January 16, 2015, 07:04:06 pm
The thing is, Horn of Plenty already is a +$0 Treasure that lets you gain a card and gets more freedom the more of your deck you can play on that turn. Would another card in that vein really be worthwhile?

Most cards get better the more of your deck you can play on your turn.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: TheOthin on January 16, 2015, 07:29:00 pm
The thing is, Horn of Plenty already is a +$0 Treasure that lets you gain a card and gets more freedom the more of your deck you can play on that turn. Would another card in that vein really be worthwhile?

Most cards get better the more of your deck you can play on your turn.

But most cards don't explicitly look at the cards you've played before them on your turn to directly determine their effect. They get their greater effect through interaction with the actual function of the cards you've played before.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Awaclus on January 17, 2015, 01:19:46 am
Also, the opposite of Mint should be Yours.
This may or may not be proof that you are or are not married.

I'm pretty sure he is or is not married.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: AJD on January 20, 2015, 02:58:42 pm
Yours - $? Action - Attack
Each other player trashes a treasure card costing $3 or more and gains one costing at most $3 less than it, putting it into his hand (or reveals a hand with no treasures costing $3 or more).

Ours
Trash a Treasure card from your hand. Gain a Treasure costing up to $6 more than it, putting it in your hand. Each other player may trash a Treasure card from his hand and gain a Treasure costing up to $3 more than it, putting it in his hand.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 06, 2015, 09:02:46 pm
OK, it turns out that the decision of whether or play or gain a copy of an Action card sucks. I knew this going in, but I gave it one more shot. Anyhow, I have a revision.

(http://i.imgur.com/HqeQBUZ.png)

Quote
Magic Mirror
Types: Treasure
Cost: $5
Worth $2. When you play this, you may discard 2 Treasures. If you do, gain a copy of a card you have in play.

EDIT: Haha, I just realized it can always gain a copy of itself (if you have the Treasures to discard). Awesome!
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Witherweaver on February 06, 2015, 09:18:54 pm
That seems pretty cool at first glance.  I'd be interested in knowing how it plays.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 07, 2015, 08:21:19 am
I'd be particularly interested in how it plays on a Grand Market board, where discarding Coppers is often a non-penalty anyway.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: TheOthin on February 07, 2015, 08:34:16 am
I'd be particularly interested in how it plays on a Grand Market board, where discarding Coppers is often a non-penalty anyway.
Combine that with its ability both to help buy Grand Markets and to duplicate them once you start loading up...
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 07, 2015, 09:34:51 am
I'd be particularly interested in how it plays on a Grand Market board, where discarding Coppers is often a non-penalty anyway.
Combine that with its ability both to help buy Grand Markets and to duplicate them once you start loading up...

Although it means you have to keep some Coppers around (or discard better Treasures), which makes it harder to buy Grand Markets when you don't draw Magic Mirror. And of course it doesn't help you buy your first Grand Market. It's still a combo, but doesn't seem too crazy on the face of it.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Joseph2302 on February 07, 2015, 09:36:56 am
I'd be particularly interested in how it plays on a Grand Market board, where discarding Coppers is often a non-penalty anyway.
Combine that with its ability both to help buy Grand Markets and to duplicate them once you start loading up...

Although it means you have to keep some Coppers around (or discard better Treasures), which makes it harder to buy Grand Markets when you don't draw Magic Mirror. And of course it doesn't help you buy your first Grand Market. It's still a combo, but doesn't seem too crazy on the face of it.
It gives you $2, which is $2 towards cost of first Grand Market. Although you do have to keep coppers, which is a penalty, so I don't think it's too crazy.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Asper on February 07, 2015, 12:08:42 pm
So if i get this right, it's either a Silver or a Horn of Plenty for cards you have. I assume it's balanced, but i get the feeling that this is just "Mint for actions" with a bit of added complexity (Treasure type, coin production, discard clause...) so they are more different. The basic concept is compelling, if a little redundant, but the stuff beyond it feels... added.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 07, 2015, 09:09:17 pm
So if i get this right, it's either a Silver or a Horn of Plenty for cards you have. I assume it's balanced, but i get the feeling that this is just "Mint for actions" with a bit of added complexity (Treasure type, coin production, discard clause...) so they are more different. The basic concept is compelling, if a little redundant, but the stuff beyond it feels... added.

Well, the fact that it's a Treasure matters because otherwise you'd be unable to duplicate terminal Actions without a village. Yes, you could have "play an Action then gain a copy of it" or some such, but the Treasure is more flexible in the same way Scheme is: you don't have to always collide the Magic Mirror with the Action you want to duplicate; you can draw the Mirror later.

Because it's a Treasure, the +$2 is nice just because it's nice when Treasures produce coins; that's ostensibly their purpose. It's also nice to differentiate it from Horn of Plenty a bit. But setting those two things aside for a moment, let's compare it to a version that produces $0 and doesn't require you to discard Treasures. That version would be stronger when it's strong and weaker when it's weak, and it's hard to say whether than would be more or less fun. I think it would certainly be crazier. They could really easily gain themselves and then gain a bunch of copies of some powerful non-terminal Action (Baker, Grand Market, Highway, etc.) really quickly. The version I laid out (with +$2) makes it way harder to go crazy because you actually have to have 2 Treasures in hand to discard for each card you want to gain. And at the same time it's better when you fail to match it up with a card you want more of. So it's less swingy than a version worth $0, for better or worse.

My thought process was actually something like, "It would be good if this produced at least $1, but I think it might be too strong if it did that and also gained you a great card. Ah, what if you have to discard a Treasure to 'pay' for the card you gain?" And then I decided that discarding two Treasures made it a bit more meaningful; something you actually had to shoot for, you know? So it's worth $2 instead of $1.

I haven't tested it yet, so I'm not sure it's balanced. I've printed it out, though, so I hope to test it sometime next week at the latest.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: Asper on February 07, 2015, 09:20:02 pm
So if i get this right, it's either a Silver or a Horn of Plenty for cards you have. I assume it's balanced, but i get the feeling that this is just "Mint for actions" with a bit of added complexity (Treasure type, coin production, discard clause...) so they are more different. The basic concept is compelling, if a little redundant, but the stuff beyond it feels... added.

Well, the fact that it's a Treasure matters because otherwise you'd be unable to duplicate terminal Actions without a village. Yes, you could have "play an Action then gain a copy of it" or some such, but the Treasure is more flexible in the same way Scheme is: you don't have to always collide the Magic Mirror with the Action you want to duplicate; you can draw the Mirror later.

I'm aware that the fact it's a Treasure buffs the card by a fair bit. Not only will you never draw it dead, but the point when you draw it doesn't matter, either. I just feel it's unnecessary for the card idea. Not that i never did a treasure that couldn as well have been an action... And you have a point, HoP is a pretty un-treasure-y official card that seems to have that type for buffing mostly. Anyhow, my alternative would have just been Mint with a +action attached:

+1 Action
You may reveal an Action card from your hand. Gain a copy of it.

Edit: Fixed a double negative.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 07, 2015, 10:52:48 pm
I'm aware that the fact it's a Treasure buffs the card by a fair bit. Not only will you never draw it dead, but the point when you draw it doesn't matter, either. I just feel it's unnecessary for the card idea. Not that i never did a treasure that couldn as well have been an action... And you have a point, HoP is a pretty un-treasure-y official card that seems to have that type for buffing mostly. Anyhow, my alternative would have just been Mint with a +action attached:

+1 Action
You may reveal an Action card from your hand. Gain a copy of it.

Huh. That's a good point. I can't recall whether I'd ever thought of that version before. For what it's worth, if you look at the Treasure version I posted above, it does not specify Action card like the version in the OP does. So I could do: [+1 Action; You may reveal a non-Victory card from your hand; gain a copy of it], but that seems nuts, doesn't it? It's like a non-terminal Mint that also works on Action cards. Of course it doesn't trash your Coppers on-buy like Mint does, which is arguably Mint's primary function. Maybe it wouldn't be so crazy.

Anyway, I've printed the Treasure version so I might as well test it out. It does fit with Enterprise's subtheme of cards that care about Treasures and despite the "added" stuff, it isn't too terribly complex (3 lines of text). I'm cautiously optimistic.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: GendoIkari on February 11, 2015, 11:59:49 am
It seems to me that the non-terminal action version is just too similar to Mint to be interesting. If it can gain non-Victory, it's strictly better than Mint once it's in your deck (which is OK, an on-buy effect still matters), but it just still seems like a buffed Mint. I mean, adding +1 action to a non-terminal is a pretty big buff. So I like the current treasure version. Deciding if you want to discard 2 treasures or not is an interesting decision.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 20, 2015, 03:07:43 pm
So I got to test the latest version (above) in two games today, and it was a bit of a dud. Once again, only I bought it. I'll probably test it a bit more, but I have a simpler version that I may try as well. Please let me know what you think.

Quote
Investment/Magic Mirror
Types: Treasure
Cost: $6
Worth $1. When you play this, gain a copy of a card you have in play.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: popsofctown on February 20, 2015, 03:51:15 pm
I don't see anything wrong with not playing actions feeling not fun at first.  Buying green cards that makes your deck suckier is not fun at first.
Title: Re: The Opposite of Mint
Post by: LastFootnote on February 20, 2015, 04:12:58 pm
I don't see anything wrong with not playing actions feeling not fun at first.  Buying green cards that makes your deck suckier is not fun at first.

Well, it feels worse; I don't know what to tell you. Usually it's an Action you could have played, and you bought that Action so that you could play it.

Buying a Province feels good because it's a reward for finally getting an $8 hand. That same feeling just doesn't apply to the version of Magic Mirror in the OP.