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26

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.2: $4 cards

« on: July 16, 2012, 04:53:09 pm »

Navigator seems overrated to me (I put it third to last). It's a tunnel enabler, but what else is it good at? The discard/reorder ability is really something you want for engine support, but as a terminal, it's likely to increase inconsistency, not decrease it. And if you reliably have the spare actions to play your navigator before your drawers, you probably don't need the it in the first place. Navigator is probably the only card besides scout that has never once may me say, "wow, I'm really glad I bought this card." Not that navigator is as bad as scout, but it's pretty bad.

27

Dominion Articles / Re: Prioritizing Potions

« on: July 15, 2012, 07:16:32 pm »

Interesting subject for an article, but you really ought to justify your conclusions. I don't really care that you think one should ignore alchemist when it's the only potion card if you don't tell me why. Whether I agree with you or not, I haven't learned anything.

As you know, all of these potion cards can be viable on their own (yes, even transmute, under some contrived circumstances). The article should say a little about what each card needs to make it work. Take familiar. You normally want it simply because it's a curser, but what about when other cursers are on the board? How about cards that counter cursers, like trader, or ambassador? University needs power cards to gain. What are they? Alchemist may be a bit overrated, but it still dominates many boards. What needs to be there for it to dominate? What needs to be absent?

In the 2 potion card section, you ought to point out any specific synergies between potion cards. Of course a lot of it comes down to lowered opportunity cost rather than actual combos (for example, transmute is often worth buying if you happen to have a spare potion, although you wouldn't buy a potion just to get a transmute.), but that's an important point to discuss, too.

28

Dominion General Discussion / Re: One Trick Pony

« on: July 15, 2012, 06:36:06 pm »

It isn't at all clear from the achievement description, but you have to buy a large number of the same action to get the achievement. I think seven?

29

Game Reports / Re: Game where bureaucrat/silver beats amb/silver

« on: July 14, 2012, 09:26:06 pm »

The only real chance for ambassador to be good here would be to thin the deck for a torturer chain. The silk road player would have to hope to pile out the silkroads and estates and accept taking all the curses. The torturer player will probably need to pick up a couple silkroads for denial purposes and pick up 4-5  provinces before that happens. It's tough for me to say offhand which strategy is dominant, but it would promise to be an interesting game.

30

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Terminal Draw non-duration Tactican

« on: July 14, 2012, 07:48:04 pm »

I don't think he meant that was a bad thing. It's actually a pretty interesting idea.

31

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Why does Adventurer cost 6?

« on: July 14, 2012, 05:29:27 am »

If adventurer cost $4, it would be too strong, because when you first buy it, it nets you slightly more than $2 on average, which isn't that bad for $4, and it keeps improving as the game goes on, to where it nets you $3-$4. It would probably work at $5, though. Or maybe as a still weak $6 with a +buy, as someone recently suggested (I forget who, sorry).

32

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!

« on: July 13, 2012, 08:53:11 am »

Cheetah
$4 - Action
+3 Cards
Discard a card.
Reveal your hand. If you have no Silver in hand, choose one: gain a Gold and a Copper, or gain a Silver.
--
If you have any Gold in play, this card cannot be bought.
If you have any Silver in play, this card costs $6.

This should be too strong, especially as an opener. Discarding a single card out of 7 isn't a big deal most of the time, so basically it's a smithy that gains money. The buy restrictions shouldn't get in the way very often in big money games, so they probably add needless complexity.

Elephant
$4 - Action
+4 Cards
Each other player gains an Action card costing at most $4.

Should be changed to "Each other player may gain an action card costing at most $4." +4 cards is much too strong for this to become a junking attack, too. When there aren't any cheap actions you'd want more than one or two of, this card is basically strictly better than smithy, and also stronger than council room. When there's a village on the board, you'd probably prefer most other terminal draw cards, so you don't build an engine for your opponent. When there's a village and this is the only terminal draw, I don't really know. Probably a super fast-paced game.

Hippopotamus
$3 - Action
Draw until you have 7 cards in hand.
--
While this is in play, you cannot buy Treasure cards.

Probably mainly good for fishing village/hippo style engines, but bad for big money. You probably wouldn't want to buy this often enough.

Rhinoceros
$3 - Action
+3 Cards
During your clean-up phase, draw only 3 cards.
--
When you gain this, you may place it on top of your deck.

Too weak. Drawing only three cards hurts way, way more than getting militia'd.

Lion
$5 - Action-Attack
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
Each other player with 0 or 1 curse on his [This Card] mat gains a curse on their [This Card] mat. If they do not gain a curse, they put all of the curses on their [This Card] mat into their discard pile.
---
At the end of the game, return all cards on your [This Card] mat to your deck.

Every three times you play it, it curses you twice. That's more often than torturer, on average. Plus, you don't have to chain it. Plus, it gives you a +buy. This card is probably too good.

Fossa
$5 - Action
+6 Cards
Lose your next turn.

Looks like a tactician reverse on the face of it, but I suspect it would play very differently. Really, this is only potentially viable if you can use it to draw your deck and you also have a source of +buy available. Of course, in many of those situations, you just use a smithy instead and not give up every other turn. Strictly worse than Bonobo (not that this is necessarily a problem).

Zebra
$6 - Action-Duration
Until the beginning of your next turn, for all other players, all cards (including in players' hands) cost $1 less.
Now and at the start of your next turn:
+3 Cards

Very strong. I'm tempted to say I like it. Maybe it ought to cost $7--think how often you pay $6 for wharf. Might give too big an advantage to the player who hits $6 first. With +buys, this would create very fast-paced games. In multiplayer games, cards will get stupidly cheap very quickly-- if the three players play two zebras each on their turns, the fourth can buy provinces for $2. Not sure if this would be fun or degenerate.

Wildebeest
$2* - Action
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
--
This costs $1 more per Treasure card you have in play.

Weak for big money because the buy restriction means you can't realistically pick this up before the first few reshuffles. I imagine it could be ridiculously good with fishing village, since it gives you the non-treasure coins to buy tons of these.

Leopard
$5 - Action
Reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. The player to your left chooses to discard them or return them to the top of your deck.
+4 Cards

The most obvious comparison is envoy. I'd guess this card is stronger on average, so the $5 price point is correct. Probably balanced.

Giraffe
$4 - Action
+4 Cards
Discard a card from your hand, then shuffle a card from your hand into your deck.

As others have noted, the shuffling would be a huge pain in a real-life game. Otherwise, this looks a lot like a mini-embassy without the benefit to your opponents. Very strong.

Okapi
$5 - Action
Name two cards.  Reveal cards from your deck until you have revealed two cards that you did not name.  Place those two cards into your hand and discard the rest.

I think I like it. Should be better in big money than in engines. If all you have in your deck is silver, estates, copper, and two of these, name copper and estates and it'll draw you $4 most of the time. Or you could buy several of these, name okapis, and never draw them dead.

Hartebeest
$5 - Action
+3 Cards
While this is in play, when you buy a card, if it is a Victory card, trash a copy of the card from the supply. Otherwise, trash two copies of the card from the supply.

Designed to help end the game on piles. In general, that should increase player 1 advantage or advantage to the player who is already ahead. Could get stupid in multiplayer.

Jackal
$6 - Action-Attack
Each player (including you) reveals the top 4 cards of their deck.  Your opponents discard any card of your choice, and they place the remaining 3 on top of their deck in the order of their choice.  You may discard any number of cards from your own deck.  Place the remaining cards on top of your deck in the order of your choice.
+3 Cards

Too good. The attack could be brutal when played in multiples (especially in multiplayer). You could easily have your turn nuked. The sifting effect is very strong, too.

Aardwolf
$3 - Action
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a Victory card. Put the Victory card and one other revealed card of your choice into your hand and discard the rest.
If the first card you reveal is a Victory card, put it into your hand, then +2 Cards.

Should be very weak in a big money game. Most of the time, you'll reveal a few coppers, maybe a silver, then hit an estate. It only gets weaker as you green, too. In an engine, well, it'll be a support card. You probably need to be swimming in +actions to make it viable.

Impala
$6 - Action
Discard any number of cards, then draw up to 7 cards in hand. You may trash a card from your hand; if you do, +1 Card.

Sort of like a superjack. So resilient to handsize attacks and cursers that you might choose not to buy either, although the pricetag ensures you'll get at least a few hits in before your attack can be countered. Not totally sure this is too good, but it probably swings the balance in favor of big money.

Eland
$3 - Action
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal 3 cards costing $4 or less.
Put all revealed cards costing $4 or less into your hand and discard the other revealed cards.

Sifts your high-value vp cards for you, although it doesn't like gold. You could put together a very good engine using this card if the components are cheap. In big money, it might actually be better than smithy. $4 is probably the right cost, but I like it otherwise.

Lemur
$4 - Action-Attack
+3 Cards
Put one card from your hand on the bottom of your deck.
Each other player draws a card, then puts cards from his hand on the bottom of his deck until he has 3 cards in his hand.

Far too good, and too much like ghost ship.

Mandrill
$4 - Action
Reveal the top four cards of your deck. Put two into your hand and discard the others.

Pretty good but not too exciting.

Oryx
$5 - Action
Draw 3 cards from the bottom of your deck. You may put a card from your hand on top of your deck.

At first I thought drawing from the bottom of the deck was a pointless gimmick, but then I realized drawing from the bottom lets you topdeck several cards to set up your next hand if you chain these. That actually sounds really cool if you can pull it off. I think I like this.

Bonobo
$5 - Action
+3 Cards
You may draw up to three additional cards. For each card drawn this way, discard a card at the end of your clean-up phase.

Should be satisfying to play. If you fail to draw what you needed with the first 3 cards, you can try again for a price. As others have noted, this would be strong against handsize attacks. Not stronger than library in that regard, though. In engines, you could use this to draw 6 cards each time, effectively sacrificing your next turn. Bonobo/haven would be a fun and very powerful combo, now that I think of it. This card is strictly better than Fossa (again, not necessarily a problem).

Hyena
$6 - Action
Reveal the top 7 cards of you deck.  Put 2 of them into your hand and discard the rest.

Probably would work better at $5. I'd almost always rather have an embassy.

Camel
$5 - Action
Gain a card costing up to $5, putting it on top of your deck.
+2 Cards

Too good. One Armed Man said it pretty well.

Duiker
$5 - Action
+1 Buy
Draw until you have 7 cards in hand. You may set aside up to 3 cards drawn this way, as you draw them. Each other player draws a card for each card you set aside. Discard the set aside cards after you finish drawing.

Too good for your opponents. Maybe if you changed it to "Each other player draws a card and discards a card for each card you set aside."

Kudu
$5 - Action
Draw until you have 7 cards in hand. You may nominate a card name, that, as you draw them, may be set aside; discard the set aside cards after you finish drawing.

My favorite of the library variants. Pretty solid.

Meerkat
$4 - Action
Discard a card.
Choose a card from your discard pile and put it on top of your deck.
If there's no card in your discard pile +4 Cards; otherwise +3 Cards.

Much too good. Topdeck gold, draw it, repeat with the next meerkat.

Baboon
$5* - Action
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
--
When you buy this card, place it and one other card you have currently in play on top of your deck.
--
When you buy this card, you may pay $3+P instead of $5.

Very strong, I think. The alternate cost is interesting, but it feels like it ought to go with a potion-related set. Not that that's a big deal for fan cards.

Gorilla
$2 - Action
Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal 4 Victory cards.  Put those Victory cards into your hand and put the other cards back on top in a random order.

I guess it's technically a terminal draw, but in practice it would feel like a "deck improver." Combos pretty well with harem, but it's probably not fantastic otherwise. In real life games, the shuffling the card requires would be a problem.

Badger
$5 - Action
+4 Cards
Put 1 or 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck.

Super courtyard. Very strong for big money, probably too strong.

Pangolin
$6 - Action
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
Choose one: +1 Card; or +$1.

Pretty reasonable, I think, but not terribly exciting.

Waterbuck
$3 - Action
+2 Cards
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal an Action card. Put the Action card in your hand and discard the other revealed cards.

Weak for big money, but ought to be better than a smithy for a lot of engines. Could be ridiculous with tunnel.

33

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!

« on: July 11, 2012, 07:51:26 pm »

Loon
$4 - Victory
Worth 1 VP per territory token on [This Card]'s supply pile.
--
Whenever a player buys a Province, put a territory token on [This Card]'s supply pile.
Whenever a player buys a [This Card], remove a territory token from [This Card]'s supply pile.

Could create a decent metagame, but I suspect this is actually too strong as is. If one player rushed them early game, your opponent is basically stuck since he can't start gaining provinces without powering these up. So both players will end up rushing these early, and then the game will degenerate somewhat.

No man, that's the best part! If one guy rushes them all or nearly all early on, you can buy Duchies and another pile to end the game on piles.  If you bought a Province or two during the rush, switch to Duchies, you only need Loons, Duchies, and another pile to run out.  I think that's balanced, albeit on a hairpin.  Sometimes the super Loons rush will be correct like you say, but it will be something you have to determine, not a duh thing.

If one player rushes loons, he probably won't be able to buy many provinces, so the duchy rush would probably be the right counter for the other player. Rushing loons could be weak if you can't get them all, because the province player can steal points by buying one or two. If you have 6 loons worth 5vp, it's a 10vp swing when your opponent buys just one. Also, consider how hard it would be to get more than two or three loons before the other guy gets his first province, after which buying more loons will generally reduce your score. I suspect a loons rush is actually a weak strategy, most of the time. But whether or not a loons rush is a good idea, if both players go for provinces instead of loons, eventually the loons become so good that you can't afford not to buy them. This is likely to be their real strength, and they're too good in this situation--in "normal" games, they'll grow to become cheap provinces or better until someone buys one. Basically, the only game where no one buys a loon at some point is a game where no one buys more than two provinces.

34

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Lucky Coin

« on: July 10, 2012, 06:14:20 am »

I think it's a really neat idea, but it tortures the rules of the game. Maybe you could implement it as an action - reaction?

Lucky Coin
$6 - action - reaction
+1 card
+1 action
+$1
+1 buyDuring your action phase, if you have no actions left, you may reveal and play this card.

Maybe this isn't perfect either, but I think this should produce a very similar effect without resorting to secondary action phases partitioned by truncated buy phases.

35

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!

« on: July 10, 2012, 05:58:01 am »

Thoughts on the cards, continued (Now with 75% more formatting!):

Yellowlegs
$7 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this, gain a card costing less than this.

Presumably the designer priced it at $7 to be a consolation prize for when you miss the province. I imagine you'd mainly buy it for Yellowlegs->duchy lategame or for trash-for-benefit fuel midgame, which is fine, if a little dull.

Sandpiper
$2* - Victory
When you gain this card, place a VP token on this card's supply pile.
--
For each VP token on the pile, the cost of this card increases by 1.
--
At the end of the game, this card is worth victory points equal to the number of VP tokens on the pile.

Another card you're essentially forced to buy, since it's a better deal than provinces and worth more by the time the pile runs out. What's more, they're cheaper if you're the first to start buying, so everyone has to rush to get them.

Tern
$3 - Victory
2 VP
--
If you gain this during your action phase:
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1

Ridiculous with ironworks/workshop, slightly less ridiculous with remodelers, but simply a consolation prize without enablers. There really aren't enough enablers to make this consistently interesting, even if it turns out to be balanced.

Puffin
$9 - Victory
4 VP
--
When you gain this, gain a Duchy and an Estate.

Really only something you'd buy on your last run through the deck to get in as many points as you can. Could increase the endgame slog effect because the player who is not too far behind can buy this to gain a small lead without taking the second-to-last province. Now the other guy can't take that province, so he buys a puffin, too. But now both players' decks are so green they'll have a tough time even getting to $8.

Macaw
$6 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this, you may trash a card from your hand. If you do, gain 2 Silvers; if you don't, gain 1 Silver. Put the gained Silver(s) on top of your deck.

Quite strong, I think. I'd take it over a duchy almost every time. Two silvers on top of your deck gives you high odds of purchasing a province next turn.

Hummingbird
$6 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this: +1 VP.  You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, get +VP equal to half its cost in coins, rounded down.

I think I like it. Trashing gold or hummingbird nets you fewer points than a farmland remodelling a gold or farmland, but you have one less green card floating around, and hummingbird can get vp out of more things. I'd make the trashing mandatory, though, like farmland. Relatively minor change, but it feels better to me.

Kingfisher
$4 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for every 2 cards in the supply pile with the [This Card] token on it (rounded down).
--
When you gain this, you may move the [This Card] token to a Kingdom supply pile of your choice.
--
Setup: Place the [This Card] token on the [This Card] supply pile.

As others have said, very swingy. Unless you split the kingfishers evenly, you can't afford to let your opponent buy the last one. If you have more kingfishers, he puts the token on an empty pile. If you have less, he puts it on, say, the curses.

Pelican
$6* - Victory
4 VP
--
When you buy this card, you may pay an additional $3 ($6). If you do, gain another (2) [This Card].

I like that it supports engines without +buys on the board (gives you a reason to work up to $12 turns). Much stronger than puffin, which is also $9 for 8vp, but split between 3 cards.

Waxwing
$6 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for every Province in the supply at the end of the game.

In other words, 0, on many boards. In games where you can ensure a 3-pile ending, this would be fun, but I don't know if you can realistically do that before these become worth $3 or less on enough boards.

Woodpecker
$4 - Victory
Worth 5 VP minus 1 for every three treasures in your deck (round up), but not less than 0.
--
When you buy this, you may trash a treasure card from play and from your hand.

Without trashing, this card isn't going to be worth it at all. If I understand the wording ("round up" is confusing terminology at best, but I won't get into that here), it's worth $2 vp with your 7 initial coppers, and it's all downhill from there. Even with strong trashing, there are very few engines that run on so few treasures that you'd want this card.

Flycatcher
$4 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for every three [This Card] tokens you have.
--
In games using this, you may gain a [This Card] token at the end of any turn in which you shuffled your deck.

This card opens some very unique strategies, in my opinion. It should open up engine possibilities that wouldn't otherwise exist on weak boards where you emphasize cycling over money, aiming to shuffle your deck every turn. If the game runs 20-ish turns and you shuffle every turn after a certain point, flycatchers would be worth enough to be a strategy on their own. In a conventional engine, flycatchers would also build value quickly, but the game would tend to end sooner, limiting their value. In a big money game, I'd guess they would tend to be worth 2-3vp, sort of like gardens, but I could be off base there. Edit: Also, I like that it could combo with chancellor. Anything that combos with combos with chancellor is cool in my book.

Bluebird
$10 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for every differently costed card in your deck.
--
Rules: In games using this, add Platinum to the Basic cards in the Supply.

I like it. 0 for copper, 2 for estate, 3 for silver, 4 for some action, 5 for duchy, 6 for gold, 8 for province, 9 for platinum, 10 for bluebird. That's 9 vp for $10, which is pretty good. If potion cards are in play, this could be better than colonies. Needs some clarification in a few cases, eg peddler and tournament prizes, though.

Vireo
$6 - Victory
3 VP
--
When you gain this, gain a Victory card costing less than this.

Another one you'd buy late to squeeze out as much vp as possible. Pretty reasonable, but not terribly exciting.

Bunting
$6 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for each special card in your deck.
--
Setup: Before the first turn each player selects a special card from among the kingdom cards and these are announced simultaneously.

This card would be totally dominant in any 2 player game with a decent, spammable card in the kingdom. If you and your opponent pick the same pile, it's a race to win the split--the winner of the split wins the game. If you pick different piles or your opponent goes for provinces, your buntings could be super cheap colonies by the end of the game. Bunting should be a little balanced in multiplayer, though. Any card you'd want a ton of copies of is a card everyone else is going to buy, too. Buying up all the chancellors to make your Buntings worth 10 vp just isn't going to work out, but you might get away with 5 or so with some planning.

Lark
$4 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this card, you may gain a copy of a card costing $4 or less that does not have the name [This Card].

Lets you run out the piles super fast. I expect this to be too strong.

Nuthatch
$4 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this, you may gain a Curse. If you do, gain a card costing up to $6 that is not a Victory card.

Too weak. Two junk cards and a gold for $4 is a deal I'd almost never take.

Warbler
$5 - Victory
Worth 1 VP for each set of Copper, Silver, and Gold in your deck.

I think this could be a bit strong, but I like the idea. In a standard big money game, it's no trouble to pick up at least 6 golds if you're not racing for provinces. The silver and copper take care of themselves.

36

Dominion General Discussion / Re: One Trick Pony

« on: July 09, 2012, 10:40:12 pm »

Eight ghost ships:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120706-152402-e44f26b2.html

37

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!

« on: July 09, 2012, 10:20:49 pm »

Uhh, rinkworks, there are two cards named bluebird.

38

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!

« on: July 09, 2012, 10:13:13 pm »

Here are some thoughts on the first half or so of the cards. There are some really cool ideas here, but I don't like that so many of them are designed so that you can't hope to win without buying a few. Don't be surprised if I edit this pretty soon--there's a good chance I misread/misinterpreted a few.


Gadwall: Very strong, probably too strong. 4vp for $6 is a good buy by itself, better than fairgrounds on a lot of boards and equivalent on most others. The curse-for-gold bit gives you a net effect similar to "buy a gold, gain +5 vp." Except it's even better than that, since a high cost vp card is more useful than a curse.

Loon: Interesting concept, but you'd be practically forced to buy it in most province games (it won't take long before they're better than duchies, and if you put off buying them, they become half price provinces), and you'd almost never want it in colony/alt vp games.

Grebe: I don't think you could afford to pass these up in a province game. If you buy 6, all but the first two were discount provinces. And you'll get to 6 if your opponent doesn't dip into the Grebes, too. They're easier and easier to buy as you go.

Flamingo: Very easy to pile out. An $8 hand empties these in a single turn with no help. Would give engines some comeback opportunities if they can pile out the estates, too. I think I like it.

Petrel: I'd expect this to be pretty strong. Could be dominant on many boards. Get 5 or more coppers, silvers, and estates, and they're already duchies. Add in one type of action card and the petrels themselves and you're at 5vp. Add curses to the game and they're cheap provinces.

Shearwater: Seems balanced. I like it.

Guillemot: Tailor-made for rush strategies. Ironworks-guillemot would put ironworks-gardens to shame. Each guillemot should be worth 5vp in two-player if you rush them uncontested, and the card helps you run out the estates, so you only have to deplete one more pile.

Cormorant: Clearly designed to be trashed. But 4vp for $6 is already good. Like Gadwall, I think it's too close to strictly better than fairgrounds on most boards.

Pipit: Should be fun, I think. The strength of pipit itself is largely dependent on what's in the Pipit pile.

Gannet: Should work. Not totally game-warping, but it would create some interesting dynamics when a 3-pile ending is possible but not the most direct route to victory.

Tanager: I think I like it. Probably more useful than outpost on average. Even without an outpost-style combo on the board, you can probably get enough out of the extra turn to justify buying this over a duchy in most situations.

Egret: Pretty balanced, I think. Creates a virtual +buy which ought to slightly tip the balance in the favor of engines.

Heron: On boards that support it, it effectively converts extra buys into vp and make 3-piling easier. Mostly worthless on boards that don't support it, though.

Bittern: You'd be pretty much forced to buy this. You can't let your opponent have a 7vp card for $4 uncontested.

Ibis: Useless on boards without +buy available, potentially overpowered when lots of +buy are available.

Spoonbill: Useless when there are no trashers

Osprey: Another card which I don't think you can afford to pass up. If you don't contest them, your opponent will get 8 cards worth 8 vp each for very little effort.

Harrier: A stronger version of egret, I think. To pay $9 for this and take a province is a no-brainer, late-game. You probably wouldn't use it to gain action cards a whole lot. Maybe a gold, now in then.

Kestrel: Most of the time, I guess you'd buy this when you don't expect to reshuffle again. Could be interesting as a pseudo-mint if the opportunity arises.

Plover: I expect the creator added the on-gain trash ability to guarantee there can be something in the trash with no other trashers, but that ability is too slow to make this card a worthwhile strategy in those games. Early, you'll be lucky to trash more than an estate. Late, you can hold back some coppers to trash, but at that point you're passing up buying a gold at minimum.

Oystercatcher: I like the basic concept, but I think the numbers might need tweaking. You can to a lot with 14 non-victory cards, which makes these cheap provinces. Even if you just buy seven treasures, you can pick up a lot of these pretty quickly (I tested with fairgrounds as a stand-in. Got 6 by like turn 13-14). Of course, you stall out pretty quickly, but you get the idea. With good trashing, Oystercatcher could be ridiculously strong.

39

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 09, 2012, 02:33:01 pm »

Congratulations to Schneau and Lastfootnote! I also voted for both of you, and I didn't give out many votes.

I'm pleased with both winning submissions, but I'm a little disappointed at how few votes some of the most interesting peddler variants got. I thought Castor, err, Assault would get more votes, for example. And hey, my card, too.

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Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 09, 2012, 05:16:16 am »

Probably good, since most of the discussion has centered around whether a given card is too weak or too strong.

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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Working on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic expansion

« on: July 08, 2012, 10:37:35 pm »

I'm making a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic themed expansion for Dominion. The main theme is cards that help your opponents...like Governor or Council Room, for example. It also has sub-themes of discouraging big money, and interactive cards where you must pay attention to your opponent's strategy.

Here are some card I'm considering:

Cottage
$2
Action - Duration
+2 Actions, +1 Card. While ~ is in play, at the beginning of your opponents' turns, they get +1 Action.

The basic Village of the set.

Helps your opponent more than it helps you, since you had to purchase it. I think I like Karhyl's fix.

Zecora
$2
Action
+1 Action. Each player may trash a card from their hand. For each player that does, draw a card.

You do get to trash a card yourself, and draw a card from that. The one thing I don't like about this is how it's of different powers in different game sizes. In 4p, it's probably too strong at $2.

I think the basic idea is alright, but it's too cheap. If your opponents don't trash, it's essentially a cantrip trasher, which is easily a $4 card. You could balance this card for 3p+ by limiting the card draw to 2. Maybe something like this:

Zecora - $4 - Action
+1 action
Each player may trash a card from their hand. If you trashed a card, +1 card. If any other player trashed a card, +1 card.

Dragon
$4
Action - Attack
+2 Cards
Each opponent discards a Gold or reveals a hand with no Gold.

This will need a lot of playtesting to get the perfect balance. I want it to be relatively low-cost, and with a weak non-Attack part (maybe even "+1 Card" or nothing) so there's a tension between being stronger in the late game, but being most effectively bought at early game price points.

I've also considered making it "Gold or Platinum," but that's a bit awkward when there are no Platinum cards in the game. Like Noble Brigand, I guess it's a very stupid Dragon with a poor sense of valuation.

This card would be too swingy for my taste. It's not likely to hit consistently on most boards, but it'd be brutal when it did.

Pinkie Pie
$4
Action - Duration
+2 Actions, +1 Buy, +$2
At the the start of each opponent's turns until your next turn, they get +1 Action, +1 Buy

Of course, I couldn't resist making Equestria's foremost party pony a "Festival for everyone."

Like cottage, too good for your opponents. Not only is your net gain only $2, but your opponent doesn't have to use a card slot to get the +actions, so he has a better chance of making use of them than you do.

Princess Celestia
$4
Action
You may choose an action card in your hand. Play it three times.
Return ~ to the supply. Each other player gains a copy of Princess Celestia.

No idea whether it's balanced, but this is an interesting idea. Probably a little worse than a one-shot king's court, since you're pretty likely to get one more Celestia play if you buy the first one. You'd definitely want to buy it with cursers on the board, since getting triple cursed hurts so much. In 3p+ games, you'd run into problems when all the Celestias are gone, since only the player to your left gets one. And the celestias are extremely likely to run out, since you hand out more than you return. Not sure if that problem can be addressed.

Rarity
$4
Action - Attack
Choose one: +$3, each opponent gains a gold, or +$2, each opponent gains a silver; or +$1, each opponent gains a copper.

Maybe a bit powerful, in it's ability to bounce from a mini-Mounteback (bought on turn 1) to a late game Gold-lite. Making it work at $5 would be hard, though...and the silver ability would just be totally worthless. It might be best to just take out the +$2 ability.

I think I like it. The copper attack is nothing compared to sea hag, and the +$3 is a cool way to give the card late-game utility. The +$2 ability would be sometimes worth it midgame, say to buy a province. I also like the amusing interaction with lighthouse. "I play Rarity, choosing +$3, and you gain a gold. Oh wait, attacks don't affect you this turn. Too bad."

Applejack
$4
Action
+2 Cards, +2 Actions, +1 Buy
Each other player gets +1 VP.

Too many $4's...Applejack is, of course, a Trusty Steed in disguise.

Again, cool idea. I have no idea whether this is balanced, but it's probably not too strong. You'd probably have to buy it as a support card to your engine rather than as the primary draw mechanism, unless you have a crazy goons machine or megaturn in the works.

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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: a terminal silver with moat's reaction

« on: July 08, 2012, 07:21:16 am »

It can't be $3 because it's strictly worse than silver if no attacks are on the board (edit: well, there are a few edge cases where you'd conceivably still prefer it--throne room/king's court, scheme, etc.--but you get the idea). But maybe it could be $3 if it had one more tiny bonus. Maybe something like a chancellor effect...

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Game Reports / Re: Most fun way I've piled out the game. Anyone else with good ones?

« on: July 06, 2012, 03:13:01 am »

Now that councilroom is back up, here's one where I empty the potions... into my opponent's deck:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120614-004107-e397755a.html

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Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.2: $3 cards

« on: July 05, 2012, 03:52:10 am »

I think Oasis is more or less fine where it is. It does well enough in any engine that isn't super thin and it has some pretty strong combos (scrying pool, double tactician, menagerie, tunnel, minion, to name a few). That said, I agree that wishing well is probably better overall.

Lookout is the most overrated on this list in my opinion. My judgment is probably skewed a bit since I don't like the card, but seriously, it trashes one card at a time, does nothing for your current turn, and you can't use it more than a few times before you risk trashing good cards. It's good against sea hag, true, but I'd take just about any other trasher any other time.

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Game Reports / Re: IGG Rush

« on: July 05, 2012, 01:42:23 am »

IGG games can be surprisingly nuanced. What terminals to buy and how many, when to gain copper, do you buy the last IGG or get a head start on the duchies, do you go for the "rush" or plan to pick up some provinces, etc. The problem is, most of the nuances aren't evident to new players, so they assume when they lose it was due to luck.

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Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.2: $2 cards

« on: July 04, 2012, 03:32:29 am »

I haven't read all of the discussion, and I did not submit a list, but I have a feeling that as a community, we underrate Herbalist. I mean, it's not THAT great, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was better with BM than we assumed. Being able to get an extra play of your Gold in a reshuffle, especially late game, seems like it would a huge benefit. It is one of those cards that I think needs experimenting with and seems more useful than just about any of the other bottom-tier $2 cards.

I don't know, it seems reasonably ranked to me. I think I put herbalist dead last, though I stupidly didn't record any of my rankings. Herbalist + BM is essentially tied with BMU (if anything, a hair worse), according to the simulator. In a BM setting, a terminal copper just won't cut it in general. In an engine, you might want an herbalist for the +buy, but virtually any other +buy card would be preferable. Topdecking your treasure might even be disadvantageous, since what you really want in an engine is for your action chain to go off. There are a few combos, like alchemist/herbalist or herbalist/philosopher's stone, but I can't think of anything else.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I really don't think secret chamber deserves last place (I think I put it at #14). Sure, it's terrible in most games, but when it's good, it's usually the key card. Double tactician/secret chamber or scrying pool/secret chamber, for example. People tend to forget how useful the reaction can be, too. Of course, it can directly defend against some attacks, like minion and swindler, but perhaps more importantly, it lets you tweak your current and next hands any time you're attacked. You can use it to smooth out terminal collisions or get an extra chance to find your village. If you're attacked often enough, you can keep passing the secret chamber to the next hand, so you get the benefits of the reaction without having to actually play the card so much.

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Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 03, 2012, 09:49:48 am »

You're right! I misread Capella, too. The text isn't at all ambiguous, but the phrasing feels backwards, somehow. I would've understood it more easily if the wording had been more like this:


Capella
$3 - Action
+1 Action
+1 Buy
If there are no empty piles in the supply, +1 card, +$1. If there is exactly one empty pile in the supply, +1 Card.

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Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 02, 2012, 08:26:11 pm »

To start off discussion, here's a list of peddler cards I think are too strong or too weak to get an approval point.

Canopus,
Vega,
Procyon(weak),
Archernar(weak),
Hadar,
Capella(weak), 
Altair(weak),
Antares,
Formalhaut(weak),
Deneb,
Regulus,
Adara(altVP-strong,Provweak),
Shaula,
Mirfak,
Wezen(weak),
Alhena(weak),
Murzim,
Alphard,     

Of the cards on your list, I gave approval votes to Regulus and Wezen. I agree that Regulus is a bit strong, but I think Wezen is perfect at $3.

Also, what makes you think Murzim is too strong? $4 is a balanced cost for a vanilla +1 Card/+1 Action/+$1. The cost-increase makes it too weak, in my opinion.

The Wezen-style cards strike me as weak without an engine (Like pops said, it'd fizzle too often) but potentially strong with one. It's a little like conspirator in that regard, but the payoff is lower, so it's more likely to be a support card than the star of the show.

Murzim strikes me as a good opener, then too weak otherwise on most boards, but with remodelers it could be quite strong, since murzims could easily be converted to provinces or even colonies. I would guess it'd be too strong in those situations.

Edit: Don't know what I was thinking about Murzim. Remodeling it shouldn't be too strong.

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Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 02, 2012, 07:55:49 pm »

I also think Regulus/Hadar is too strong. Imagine playing this card with caravan, or conspirator, or alt vp (not Hadar, here), or pretty much any cheap cantrip. Heck, even using to fill your deck with silver would be strong. Unlike other card gainers, like ironworks, this card improves your current hand in addition to improving your deck, and there's no disadvantage to spamming it.

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Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!

« on: July 02, 2012, 07:11:54 pm »

Wow, that's a lot of cards. I count 36 peddlers and 38 cursers. Any chance we could do a second round of voting? Take, say, the top ten from each category?