Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Variants and Fan Cards => Topic started by: RelzeriZynx on September 16, 2015, 11:33:44 pm
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Leap Frog
Action - Attack
$4
+1 Action
If another leap frog is in play, Choose one; +1 card for every other leap frog in play up to 3 Cards, or +1 action.
Every player including yourself discards the top card of their deck.
If it is a treasure, they discard another card from the top the deck.
If it is a victory card, they discard two cards from their hand.
If it is an action card, they receive + 1 Card.
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Is this a fair and balanced card?
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It's certainly fair, as in, not overpowered.
It mimics an aspect of Scrying Pool that is one of the few aspects of official cards that Donald himself has agreed is a design mistake, though.
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I'd advise putting a limit on the victory-based discard-from-hand, or it will be absolutely miserable in multiplayer. At that point, though, the card would be getting a bit wordy and it might be worth giving a set bonus rather than a "choose one" for the first part.
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The card doesn't seem very powerful. Ignoring the second half, playing 3 of them is just like playing 3 cantrips - the first Leap Frog is +1 action, the second is +1 card +1 action, and the third is +2 cards +1 action. Looking at the second half, I actually have a good chance to help my opponent when playing this. Assuming my deck and my opponent's are of roughly equal consistency, it's not worth it for me to play an action that has us both get +1 card or discard 2. My opponent will come out ahead by buying something else and getting free cards from me. Note that cards that have an opponent draw (Council Room, Governor) give a significant card advantage to the person who actually plays it. Equal gains are just not worth pursuing.
The victory card discard seems pretty harsh, especially since it seems like you'll want to play multiple Leap Frogs per turn. The end game will get pretty painful. If a treasure is discarded, do you just discard the next card, or discard it and then do something based on what that next card is? If it's the latter, you'd wind up in an infinite loop in decks that only have treasure. If it's the former, the effect doesn't really seem all that impactful - slightly helpful for speeding up cycling, but it may not be worth the extra time to resolve.
Overall, it seems like it will help your opponent too much early, hurt them too much late, and also be a bit of a pain to resolve.
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I think the card is trying too hard to be clever. This reminds me a lot of Tribute and that is pretty weak. It is also a lot like Transmute which is super weak. I think these kind of weird and wacky cards with a lot of text are overkill, to be honest. But, that's me.
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Looks like it could be abused with Spy/Scrying Pool and be used as a Torturer! Discard their entire hand each turn!
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Thanks for your replies! :) I'll have to rethink how this card will work. :P