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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Terminal Draw non-duration Tactican
« on: July 13, 2012, 05:53:21 pm »
I think it would have to draw 7 cards to have qualified. :/
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677
Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 3!
« on: July 13, 2012, 05:49:39 pm »
Made sure I actually submitted this time 
678
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Pricing dilemma - terminal +cards/+$
« on: July 13, 2012, 04:25:16 pm »
And a $9 action yielding $5, +1 Buy? 
679
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Scholars
« on: July 13, 2012, 04:16:11 pm »
Wait, you guys actually programmed in the card? o_O
680
Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!
« on: July 12, 2012, 09:19:30 pm »
First reactions (I didn't submit a card this time - I had an idea but somehow didn't get a submission PM written up, apparently):
Cheetah - too complicated for me.
I think I like it. Taking the Council Room idea a bit further. If there are villages on board, opponents are likely to choose to gain Elephant, so this will run out quickly.
I don't think the restriction is enough to justify the price point.
Like some kind of borrowing Smithy. Village + Outpost makes the restriction irrelevant, but that takes work to set up and anyway I'm in favour of making Outpost good.
Lion - what Archetype said.
Seems intended as a kind of backwards Tactician. This is a new mechanic, and while it seems well-defined and obvious on the surface, I'm nervous. What happens with KC/TR? With Possession? With Outpost?
But not less than $0, right? RIGHT?
Interesting idea. I'll reserve judgment, though. Seems like the kind of thing that's hard to balance just right.
Might be a bit too strong. Not sure.
Giraffe - The shuffling thing seems like an unnecessary complication, and otherwise the idea is pretty vanilla. I'm not impressed.
Strikes me as clearly too weak for $5. In a village-type engine, you're eventually hoping to draw your deck anyway so the filtering isn't worth that much, and in a Lab-type engine it probably doesn't help enough towards the chances of getting big Treasure draws.
This is a new mechanic again and it strikes me as game-destroying. Far too easy to pile out this way.Especially since the effect will stack multiplicatively with Talisman. Someone else pointed out that this won't happen due to the effect being on buy. But still.
This is supposed to be something like "you may discard any of the cards you revealed", yes? I think it might still be too strong. You're getting a combination Smithy + sifting + what is probably a fairly powerful attack (I actually like the concept of the attack). Maybe if you also have to discard exactly 1 card, and draw the other 3.
Aardwolf - meant to combo with Nobles/Harem/GH? Just seems tricky overall. I don't like it.
This could be a lot of fun. $6 seems reasonable.
A limited Smithy. Conveniently avoids activating Tunnel despite doing a deck-search. I like the concept. It might actually be too expensive in many situations. OTOH, with sufficient trashing, it becomes virtually guaranteed to draw three Silvers - although if there are good $4s on board, you could end up drawing them dead... interesting.
This has got to be too strong. It's closer to Margrave than to Smithy (you almost always have one card in hand that you don't mind sacrificing, after drawing 3). Putting things on the bottom of your deck strikes me as gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to make Pearl Diver good - except Pearl Diver probably won't really counter the attack effectively.
Mandrill - very basic. Probably balanced, though.
Oryx - again with the "bottom of your deck" business. Seems like it's meant as a defense to Sea Hag or something like that, in decks where you can't get an engine going. An optional Courtyard effect is a nice plus as well. This is probably balanced, but I just don't like it.
The penalty is limited as it can only stack with itself so far; but then if you're building an engine with Villages with the intent of drawing your deck, is it worthwhile having a card that can reliably draw your deck on even turns while you pass on 0-card odd turns? Another card with obvious parallels to Tactician.
A godsend in late-game for BM decks. Probably far too weak to be worth considering for anything else. Unless maybe a village and KC are both out and you hit $6 once before $7 and you're trying to get things in motion with your first KC... ?
Crazy synergy with City. I'm also picturing Highway->Border Village->Camel, gaining a Border Village, gaining a Camel.
Some strange sort of hybrid Library/Council Room. But the draw is weaker than Council Room in typical cases, and while the filtering is more general than Library's, it has a count limitation, and incurs the CR's penalty (possibly 3 times). I suspect this is too weak.
A much better Library variant than above IMHO. Trading strength of the filtering (all actions vs. one card type) for flexibility.
Meerkat - I don't even know what's going on here, really.
Baboon - kind of an Alchemy variant of Smithy. I like it.
Gorilla - Scout without the +Action. zzzzz. Also, wtf is a random order? Am I supposed to "shuffle" 4 (or 2) cards?
Neat concept. I like it.
Pangolin - Council Room without the opponent draw, or Smithy + coin + buy. $6 seems right. I like cards that have this little bit of flexibility to them.
Tunnel etc. notwithstanding, this seems actually worse than Moat in a Lab-style engine since you remove one of your Labs from your deck - oh, but you discard the non-actions before that point, which probably is a wash. In a Village-powered engine this becomes stronger than Smithy. In any event, it seems flawed.
Cheetah - too complicated for me.
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Elephant
$4 - Action
+4 Cards
Each other player gains an Action card costing at most $4.
I think I like it. Taking the Council Room idea a bit further. If there are villages on board, opponents are likely to choose to gain Elephant, so this will run out quickly.
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Hippopotamus
$3 - Action
Draw until you have 7 cards in hand.
--
While this is in play, you cannot buy Treasure cards.
I don't think the restriction is enough to justify the price point.
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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.
Like some kind of borrowing Smithy. Village + Outpost makes the restriction irrelevant, but that takes work to set up and anyway I'm in favour of making Outpost good.
Lion - what Archetype said.
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Fossa
$5 - Action
+6 Cards
Lose your next turn.
Seems intended as a kind of backwards Tactician. This is a new mechanic, and while it seems well-defined and obvious on the surface, I'm nervous. What happens with KC/TR? With Possession? With Outpost?
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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
But not less than $0, right? RIGHT?
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Wildebeest
$2* - Action
+3 Cards
+1 Buy
--
This costs $1 more per Treasure card you have in play.
Interesting idea. I'll reserve judgment, though. Seems like the kind of thing that's hard to balance just right.
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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
Might be a bit too strong. Not sure.
Giraffe - The shuffling thing seems like an unnecessary complication, and otherwise the idea is pretty vanilla. I'm not impressed.
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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.
Strikes me as clearly too weak for $5. In a village-type engine, you're eventually hoping to draw your deck anyway so the filtering isn't worth that much, and in a Lab-type engine it probably doesn't help enough towards the chances of getting big Treasure draws.
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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.
This is a new mechanic again and it strikes me as game-destroying. Far too easy to pile out this way.
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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
This is supposed to be something like "you may discard any of the cards you revealed", yes? I think it might still be too strong. You're getting a combination Smithy + sifting + what is probably a fairly powerful attack (I actually like the concept of the attack). Maybe if you also have to discard exactly 1 card, and draw the other 3.
Aardwolf - meant to combo with Nobles/Harem/GH? Just seems tricky overall. I don't like it.
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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.
This could be a lot of fun. $6 seems reasonable.
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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.
A limited Smithy. Conveniently avoids activating Tunnel despite doing a deck-search. I like the concept. It might actually be too expensive in many situations. OTOH, with sufficient trashing, it becomes virtually guaranteed to draw three Silvers - although if there are good $4s on board, you could end up drawing them dead... interesting.
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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.
This has got to be too strong. It's closer to Margrave than to Smithy (you almost always have one card in hand that you don't mind sacrificing, after drawing 3). Putting things on the bottom of your deck strikes me as gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to make Pearl Diver good - except Pearl Diver probably won't really counter the attack effectively.
Mandrill - very basic. Probably balanced, though.
Oryx - again with the "bottom of your deck" business. Seems like it's meant as a defense to Sea Hag or something like that, in decks where you can't get an engine going. An optional Courtyard effect is a nice plus as well. This is probably balanced, but I just don't like it.
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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.
The penalty is limited as it can only stack with itself so far; but then if you're building an engine with Villages with the intent of drawing your deck, is it worthwhile having a card that can reliably draw your deck on even turns while you pass on 0-card odd turns? Another card with obvious parallels to Tactician.
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Hyena
$6 - Action
Reveal the top 7 cards of you deck. Put 2 of them into your hand and discard the rest.
A godsend in late-game for BM decks. Probably far too weak to be worth considering for anything else. Unless maybe a village and KC are both out and you hit $6 once before $7 and you're trying to get things in motion with your first KC... ?
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Camel
$5 - Action
Gain a card costing up to $5, putting it on top of your deck.
+2 Cards
Crazy synergy with City. I'm also picturing Highway->Border Village->Camel, gaining a Border Village, gaining a Camel.
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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.
Some strange sort of hybrid Library/Council Room. But the draw is weaker than Council Room in typical cases, and while the filtering is more general than Library's, it has a count limitation, and incurs the CR's penalty (possibly 3 times). I suspect this is too weak.
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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.
A much better Library variant than above IMHO. Trading strength of the filtering (all actions vs. one card type) for flexibility.
Meerkat - I don't even know what's going on here, really.
Baboon - kind of an Alchemy variant of Smithy. I like it.
Gorilla - Scout without the +Action. zzzzz. Also, wtf is a random order? Am I supposed to "shuffle" 4 (or 2) cards?
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Badger
$5 - Action
+4 Cards
Put 1 or 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck.
Neat concept. I like it.
Pangolin - Council Room without the opponent draw, or Smithy + coin + buy. $6 seems right. I like cards that have this little bit of flexibility to them.
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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.
Tunnel etc. notwithstanding, this seems actually worse than Moat in a Lab-style engine since you remove one of your Labs from your deck - oh, but you discard the non-actions before that point, which probably is a wash. In a Village-powered engine this becomes stronger than Smithy. In any event, it seems flawed.
681
Game Reports / Re: Midgame decisions!
« on: July 11, 2012, 05:51:26 pm »
RJ could grab the rest of the HoPs aiming to gain Duchies with them, while counting on qmech continuing to pick up Caravans, for a three-pile rush? Though he'd probably need to pick up a few of them himself... Transmute could be used for Caravan->Duchy, too. RJ already has 2:1 Militia, but decks could easily get big enough to justify buying a third. Salvager is also useful for ending on piles since it can basically be used as "discard a card from your hand, trash a copy of that card from the Supply".
Another weird thought I had was RJ might deliberately pick up Embargoed Embargoes, then Remodel the Curses into more Embargoes, then Transmute all the Embargoes into Duchies... o_O But in the rare cases where you do want to three-pile ASAP and it's worth taking 10 Curses to do so, I'd think Embargoing the Curses would be much faster.
Another weird thought I had was RJ might deliberately pick up Embargoed Embargoes, then Remodel the Curses into more Embargoes, then Transmute all the Embargoes into Duchies... o_O But in the rare cases where you do want to three-pile ASAP and it's worth taking 10 Curses to do so, I'd think Embargoing the Curses would be much faster.
682
Dominion Articles / Re: Masquerade
« on: July 11, 2012, 03:02:06 am »You KCed a scheme, you can always set it so that it's the top card of your deck.
Oh, right, it's played on the Outpost turn too, silly me
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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Scholars
« on: July 11, 2012, 12:32:56 am »
D'oh, the action gets iterated, not just the consequence. >_<
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Dominion Articles / Re: Masquerade
« on: July 11, 2012, 12:31:15 am »1. Multi-player pins are possible, just hard to pull off. A simple example is Kc/Scheme/Militia/Outpost/Kc/Masq:
Kc -> Sc -> Mi -> Op -> Kc -> Mq
Kc -> Sc -> Mi -> Kc -> Mq
That will pin two players in 3er.
That leaves a 1/6 chance that the Scheme isn't in your hand at the start of your turn...
685
Help! / Re: All this gold and I still can't green effectively, wtf
« on: July 11, 2012, 12:22:42 am »
Thanks. Reflecting on it, in a Colony game you're generally trying to get 3 of your Golds in hand at a time to get access to the big-ticket items (assuming you don't also have a bunch of Silver, anyway), and a lot of Gold + a lot of Copper = still not that great of a Gold density. And with Steward being the best drawing available, while it's also needed for trashing... yeah. Ugh. Oh, right, Library. I guess I should pick one or two of those up... and then after playing turn 10 as suggested, buy Silver instead of a second Steward, probably wouldn't need a second one at all hmm?
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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Scholars
« on: July 11, 2012, 12:15:26 am »Are you sure that isn't insane? It's pretty easy exp growth.
KC Scholars -> 24 cards in hand?
18, since you only have 3 more to discard assuming we're talking about starting out the turn this way. But yes, this could get really crazy, and yes it's good for any kind of draw engine too, as long as there are villages or (KC/TR + cantrip) around.
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Help! / Re: I will try to post a game here every day.
« on: July 10, 2012, 11:31:50 pm »I think given tunnel and gov that you want to buy harem pretty much always instead of gold
I don't think I understand the reasoning here.
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Game Reports / Probably the most satisfying Tournament game I've had yet.
« on: July 10, 2012, 11:25:07 pm »
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/10/game-20120710-201630-208fb233.html
On the last turn, my opponent swindles my Princess, and he's definitely been ahead on Provinces, after getting the first Prize and also beating me to the GMs by a wide margin. But Expand saved the day, as I had previously turned my Platinum (the only one gained all game) into a Colony, and then it managed to grab me the last Province to pull out the win. Really felt like snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
On the last turn, my opponent swindles my Princess, and he's definitely been ahead on Provinces, after getting the first Prize and also beating me to the GMs by a wide margin. But Expand saved the day, as I had previously turned my Platinum (the only one gained all game) into a Colony, and then it managed to grab me the last Province to pull out the win. Really felt like snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
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Dominion Articles / Re: Expand
« on: July 10, 2012, 03:20:04 am »Governor may merit a special mention. Along with being a great $5 target for estates, you may be able to make the Expand into a Province when your opponent remodel's a gold into a Province.
Not to mention the option to Expand the Governor
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Help! / All this gold and I still can't green effectively, wtf
« on: July 10, 2012, 02:44:09 am »
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/09/game-20120709-234105-1f51f2bb.html
My opponent bought five Cities that were all pretty much totally useless, while I grabbed a couple early Caches and then managed to flood my deck with Gold using a Mint as well as purchases... but somehow I constantly had trouble getting to 8, never mind 11, while my opponent got Platinums and then Colonies with ease despite the Cities being effectively empty cards that could have been at least Silver. Did the initial extra coppers from Cache really hurt that much? Or was it just bad shuffle luck? What else can I do here? There aren't any real engine pieces.
My opponent bought five Cities that were all pretty much totally useless, while I grabbed a couple early Caches and then managed to flood my deck with Gold using a Mint as well as purchases... but somehow I constantly had trouble getting to 8, never mind 11, while my opponent got Platinums and then Colonies with ease despite the Cities being effectively empty cards that could have been at least Silver. Did the initial extra coppers from Cache really hurt that much? Or was it just bad shuffle luck? What else can I do here? There aren't any real engine pieces.
691
Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 2!
« on: July 10, 2012, 12:25:12 am »QuoteTernNot enough enablers to be worth existence imo.
$3 - Victory
2 VP
--
If you gain this during your action phase:
+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1
This becomes ridiculous with Ironworks, though. 2VP for $3 is already almost worthwhile (the effect on Tunnel is sometimes huge, but it's hard to trigger). This turns your Ironworks into a Lab +2VP +$1 for the cost of a dead card.
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QuoteYellowlegsDoesn't this compare poorly to Harem when it gains gold?
$7 - Victory
2 VP
--
When you gain this, gain a card costing less than this.
I think the intent is to let you get Yellowlegs + Duchy instead of Duchy + Estate in greening phase when you hit $7. That said, it does seem kinda marginal to me, too.
I don't see my card here. But I also don't see a copy in my outbox... I have this sneaking suspicion that I wrote up a message to submit entries, and then somehow failed to actually submit it >____<
692
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: a terminal silver with moat's reaction
« on: July 09, 2012, 06:21:05 pm »$3 is where Woodcutter, Chancellor and Silver both are. Woodcutter and Chancellor are like the default terminal Silvers. But I think Moat's reaction isn't that strong. You still need to have it in hand when your opponent plays his attack. And if his attack is not so harmful then the reaction pales in comparison too.
Is Moat's reaction really worth less than a +Buy, though?
693
Rules Questions / Re: Should Inn always shuffle your deck, even when you don't put any Actions in?
« on: July 08, 2012, 06:54:56 pm »As a side note, I had a friends that played a whole USCF rated game that started with his bishops and knights swapped. No one noticed (including his opponent) until after the game, so the tournament director counted it as an official game.Man, I have only played Chess a little, but how can anyone not notice this the first time they try to move a knight (which is usually pretty early)?
I believe his first (or maybe second) move was Kd3. It was a huge innovation in opening theory, but has rarely been played since.
You mean Nd3, yes? Also, wasn't somebody notating or otherwise presiding over the game?
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Game Reports / Re: IGG Rush
« on: July 07, 2012, 04:01:51 am »If there's no other cursers and your opponent IGG rushes and you don't, you gain around 10 curses. You're forced to play IGG.
... But the same reasoning applies to any other curser if it's the only one in the kingdom...
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Dominion Articles / Re: Shanty Town
« on: July 04, 2012, 01:39:40 pm »I'm really beginning to like to kingdom supply based stats from the council room. This suggests the torturer prefers, from worst to best : university, nobles, shanty town, mining village, hamlet, native village, inn, walled village, border village, farming village, village, festival, worker's village, bazaar, fishing village, city. It's interesting that three of the worst torturer partners are the villages from the Intrigue set.
Whaaaaaaaa? Border village is worse than vanilla village with torturers according to CR? That's such a classic combo.
I'm guessing because it's hard to get to 6 reliably when you're buying $6 actions instead of Gold? :/
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Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Speed Challenge: Fastest Pin
« on: July 04, 2012, 01:34:19 pm »One of the throne rooms is pinned to the outpost.
Ah, OK, I never can remember just how that works. See edit for my solution, then.
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Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Speed Challenge: Fastest Pin
« on: July 04, 2012, 01:26:51 pm »Or if you want to be a bit cleverer:
Minion/Throne Room/Throne Room/Outpost/Masquerade
I don't think that actually works, though.
I assume the idea is: Minion, opponent is down to 4 cards. TR-TR-Outpost-Masquerade (A), pass nothing twice and trash the return. On outpost turn, MTTA, trash the remaining two cards in opponent's hand.
But what if you draw TTA on the Outpost turn? Now however you play it, you'll draw the Minion with the Masquerade before you can actually play the Minion, and thus you'll be compelled to pass it.
If it did work, though, I think you could do something like this:
Open Quarry/Woodcutter. Shuffle to QWCCC / CCCEE / CE.
QWCCC, buy Minion and Outpost.
CCCEE, buy Chapel (H). Draw CE and reshuffle to HEE / OCCCC + QWC / CM.
CEHEE, trash CEEE.
OCCCC, play Outpost, buy Throne Room. Outpost turn, QWC, buy TR and Masquerade (A). Draw CM and reshuffle to TTO / HQWC / ACC / CC.
CMTTO. Play TTOM, attack and draw HQWC, trash QWC. Outpost turn, ACC, Masquerade draws CC, pass C and trash return. Reshuffle to HCCCC / MATTO.
HCCCC, trash CCCC.
MATTO, with just H in discard and empty deck. Opponent will have a 1-card turn this turn (being gifted the Chapel) and will be pinned from then on.
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Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas
« on: July 04, 2012, 01:27:48 am »....I'm not actually entirely sure that's a bad idea. >_> A pretty strong opener on most boards, but it de-synergizes with itself so you can't really stack it or build around it.
With +1 cost per copy and a base of 4, this was actually submitted to the contest...
699
Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry
« on: July 03, 2012, 02:29:27 pm »
Dear scion, I'm sorry I won the City split 6/4 even though I was buying Vineyards early, and that I subsequently piled in a Colony game before you could buy any Victory cards. Thank you for pursuing Remodel so aggressively.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/03/game-20120703-112159-5072fb04.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/03/game-20120703-112159-5072fb04.html
700
Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: Mini-Set Design Contest, Part 1!
« on: July 03, 2012, 01:59:02 pm »
The more I think about Capella the more interesting it gets. Definitely a game-changer, making the game much more likely to end on piles. Probably disadvantages 5/2 openings; everyone else will want to open Capella/Capella without a really compelling reason otherwise since it's clearly better for initial money density than Silver/Silver. Basically there's just so much pressure for everyone to run out the Capella pile cooperatively, and then if there are decent $2 cards on the board the +buy will still be good, but otherwise idk how much a cantrip buy is really worth.
On further reflection, maybe $4 is fine. Opening Murzim/Murzim is still strong, and as others noted you can get cool Remodel/etc. effects if you do manage to acquire a whole bunch.
"an activated Conspirator", AKA a GM without the +buy. That's a lot, but adding copper hurts. IDK, maybe $5 is fine.
I think you're right about Murzim on $3. Still not crazy about it, though.
On further reflection, maybe $4 is fine. Opening Murzim/Murzim is still strong, and as others noted you can get cool Remodel/etc. effects if you do manage to acquire a whole bunch.
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I hate to admit I didn't realize Rigel's copper gain was mandatory. Still like it, though. Even if you count the copper gain as +$1, it is an activated Conspirator. Is that too strong for a $5, considering the (usual) downside of an extra copper?
"an activated Conspirator", AKA a GM without the +buy. That's a lot, but adding copper hurts. IDK, maybe $5 is fine.