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Variants and Fan Cards / Dominion: Alchemy Reforged!
« on: April 13, 2021, 10:19:37 pm »Dominion: Alchemy Reforged
Alchemy has always been my favorite expansion from a theme perspective. Being such a big part of the Medieval world of thought, Alchemy dominated scientific understanding for hundreds of years yet has such a small part in our popular culture, especially with respect to other aspects of pre-Renaissance life. So it was always a bit sad to see it quite often ranked as people's least favorite expansion, and for good reason. The potion mechanic is clunky, the attacks are annoying, it has the bottom two weakest cards in the game (out of 12), and Possession. This combined with many fan attempts I've seen at Potion cost cards that just don't hit the mark, and finally my love of historical alchemy, have inspired me to make a new expansion:
Alchemy
This fan expansion is my attempt at a "second half" to Alchemy, a set which really deserved to be a full expansion in my eyes. Of all Alchemy's critiques rightly accused, the biggest one for me is... Alchemy hardly has any cards actually *about* alchemy! In the original set, only Transmute, Alchemist, and Philosopher's stone actually reference a concept derived from Alchemy - and two of those cards suck! So my first step was to actually fix what I found to be Alchemy's biggest atrocity, by remaking those two sorry excuses for cards and adding several others that actually have a theme derived from some Alchemic concept.
The second step was to fix that darned Potion mechanic. This first way to address this actually quite simple: More potion cards! A big drawback of Potion cost cards is simply the investment required for just one card (two if you're lucky) in the kingdom is just too great an opportunity cost to swallow, leading to many boards where these cards are simply flat-out ignored. To that end I've added 6 additional Potion cost cards, 8 counting the remade ones. Next, short of simply changing the rules of Potions, I included three projects in this set which, when included with Potion cost cards, eases some of the burden having Potions in your deck brings. Each is a nice quality-of-life change which should make playing with Potions a lot less annoying. And lastly, each Potion cost card in this set was designed with keeping one philosophy in mind: only put Potion costs on cards which have to be Potion cards. When used right, having a potion in the cost is a great way to temper a card that otherwise would not be balanced at any regular coin cost (more on this later), but they should not be used frivolously. Of the 10 potion-cost cards in Alchemy, only 5 really needed to have a potion in their cost to be balanced: Apothecary, Alchemist, Familiar, University, and Scrying Pool, though an argument could be made for the others. That's why for this fan expansion, with each Potion cost I will also be including a snippet as to *why* I believed the card does and has to have a potion in its cost. This is not an easy task, and I am by no means perfect, making balanced Potion fan cards that are also fun to play is a daunting task oft failed, but it's a challenge I am willing to take!
And the third step, bring Alchemy's intended goal to fruition. Action cards and Engines was always one of the main themes of Alchemy, but due to the other theme of Potions, this ended up falling flat on its face. So to revive this goal, I am also introducing to this expansion a host of non-Potion engine enablers, mainly Laboratory and Library variants (fitting for ones studying the alchemical arts), and in the process filling a much-needed engine niche that remains remarkably empty: Draw-to-X. There are currently only 4 Library variant/Draw-to-X cards in the game currently (only 7 if you count discard your hand then draw), meaning we're often stuck with just the one type of village-draw-village-draw-payload engine we're used to, when honestly I find the DtX variety much more fun. And thus, with the hope of increasing engine diversity, I've included 7 additional DtX cards.
Without further ado, here are the cards!
Potion costs:
Alkahest is an arabic name given to the substance known as The Universal Solvent, a reagent able to dissolve anything it came into contact with, including its container! Thought to be an essential ingredient to making the philosopher's stone for its ability to decompose any complex matter into its base constituents, and thus considered one of the Holy Grails of Alchemy. Fitting to theme, don't be surprised when this card dissolves your entire deck of junk in one or two goes!
Why does it cost a Potion?: This card is basically a chapel variant with some sifting conditional on the trashing. As such it would be similarly priced, however, it is significantly stronger than chapel with any draw, being able to trash as many cards up to your current handsize. As such, in order to temper its momentum, a potion cost is justified.
As the name suggests, the Elixir of Life grants longevity, even immortality, upon those who consume it. It's creation was one of the primary purposes of the Philosopher's Stone, being able to perfect base metals such as Lead to flawless Gold, it also, it was believed, would perfect the human to its most flawless form. This card is the perfect cure to any engine at risk of being dead, drawing dead that is. If you're out of +Actions or if you're out of any draw/terminal payload, this card will fix ya out of that bind and keep your engine alive!
Why does it cost a Potion?: This card is way too strong on the first shuffle, almost guaranteed to be a Lost City x2, since you haven't bought many actions yet. For that strength, it can't be an opener, and you'd have to price it at 6. But, once it's in your engine, it's much weaker than that, since once you have actions or have these collide, it's much more difficult to get both bonuses, sometimes even getting neither (if you were to draw 3 for example). Thus for it to have a fair price and still not be able to be an opening buy, the potion cost is necessary.
Ingredients is a virtual silver but with the option of being a horse-traders/festival variant. +2 Actions, +$4, discard 3 vs +1 Buy, +$3, discard 2. Works very well with any Draw-to-X, as you can play it, discard 3, and be left with a single card to draw back up. Rinse and repeat. Also a nice coffers bonus on the side, great for providing your engine what it needs. One of 4 cards in this set that play themselves again.
Why does it cost a Potion?: Without the potion cost, this would be balanced at $4, but it's too good for the open, since this is a guaranteed $5 on the first shuffle. Even if you land this with 3 estates, you're guaranteed to be able to play this for $4 and still have a coffer left over. The only other $4-cost guaranteed $5 is Deathcart, and that can still be a one-shot without the right collision. So to be a non-automatic open, it would have to cost $5, but that would make it a very weak $5. Ergo, potion cost. And hey, now you don't have to hit the $6 pricepoint to get those coffers. One usually has spare coin lying around when buying potion cards anyway.
Alchemical name for distilled spirits useful for many reactions, and getting inebriated of course. Similar to Apothecary in its interaction with Potions and Coppers, and makes engines with little Copper thinning or DtX engines with potion cards a lot more viable. The and/or means to play up to 3 cards, of which either could be a Copper or Potion. Based off a similar card by eHalcyon with some inspiration by Shael.
Why does it cost a Potion?: This one's straightforward, it costs Potion to force Potions into the game. Played with other potion cards, it can make making engines with them a little less cumbersome.
The cure-all substance, able to return anyone to peak physical health. The Panacea, like the Elixir, was highly sought after by Alchemists, who believed all physical ailments were just chemical imbalances in the body that, if returned to balance, would heal any injury or sickness. This card is the cure-all for any engine you'd like to build, giving you exactly what you need. Based off a card by Graystripe77.
Why does it cost a Potion?: This card is strictly better than Laboratory, like Alchemist, so must cost more than $5. However like Alchemist, the card is not quite good enough to cost $6. This is one of the situations where the potion cost is perfect for making a card cost effectively close to 5, without needing to worry about strict power/price comparisons.
Ah Transmute, the card you love to hate. Trash for benefit is always nice, but when you're limited to only gaining 3 cards, none of which particularly appealing, its no wonder you're left with a trasher that leaves you with more junk than you started with. This version boosts its power level up to that of expand, with a type restriction of course.
Why does it cost a Potion?: This one's simply because the original also costed a Potion, but with this version, you can trash a Transmute for a Province instead of a lowly Duchy, and don't worry, you can still trash your Coppers for Transmutes and Estates for Golds. Only remodeller in the game that can get you Potion cost cards too, which may come in handy in this set.
Alchemists' aspirations didn't end at immortality and command over the material earth oh no. They believed it was possible to animate a human from base organic matter. With this card use your Artificial human army to work your engine. If you set it up just right, you might just be able to play your whole deck.
Why does it cost a Potion?: Similar to Golem (its intention anyway), this card is just too strong if you can snowball into it early, so to dampen it a bit, you need to at least build up a bit before it is available, which honestly is what you'd want to do anyway.
The crème de la crème, the pièce de résistance, the hors d'oeuvres of the hour, The Philosopher's Stone has captivated the attention of not only Alchemists for hundreds of years but modern audiences as well. Believed to be the most perfect material possible, even being called quintessence, the element of the heavens, it was ascribed many magical seeming properties and qualities yet it was essential to the Alchemist's material view of the world. The stone was believed to be able to transform any material substance into any other, though unsurprisingly gold stood out in the forefront. Such a powerful object deserves an incredibly powerful card to match. The original card... didn't. Hopefully this version does it justice, while having a much more thematic effect, turning junk into Gold and letting you buy other Potion cards more easily as well. Fitting to the theme, colliding potions is pretty much one of the hardest costs to reach, and the Philosopher's stone was the biggest goal of the Alchemists. Turn your hands into Gold today!
Why does it cost two Potions?: A card with this powerful of an effect needs a strong enough barrier to gaining. Fortune needs 5 cards removed from its pile before being purchased, and even then costs 16 equivalent. I wanted to make a Treasure card similarly powerful, fitting of the name Philosopher's stone, and needing to collide two potions was the perfect condition. It is similar to Treasure Map in that regard, and similar thinking that goes into building around that should go into this.
Draw-to-X and Lab Variants:
In the Rites of Excommunication in the Catholic Church, one deemed heretical enough to no longer be in communion is ostracized by sacred ritual involving a Bell, a Book, and a Candle. Many alchemists in their time were excommunicated for partaking in the Devil's art. With this card, if you can manage to hold on to all 3 pieces, you can have a mini DtX engine of your own on a board that otherwise would not have catered well to it.
The alchemists believed that all the world was up of only four distinct elements in various proportions. A burning log demonstrates this fact by its decomposition, the Air released as smoke, the water that sizzles out, the earthen ash left behind, and of course the fire liberated as it burns. Here they form a split pile of 16 cards, in the order Air, Water, Earth, Fire, repeated four times. These four cards represent all the key components needed for a good DtX engine: thinning, discarding, virtual coin, and of course the draw.
Well someone has to maintain all these libraries! Archaic name for librarian, this card nets out to a terminal Discard 2, Draw 3, unless you've managed to shrink your handsize by playing non-draw actions first that is. And hey, here are some villagers to help you out with that!
A center of learning in Classical Greece and even today, an athenaeum is a place for all scholars alike to gather and share their knowledge. A combined Festival and Library in one, this single-card engine is great in almost any deck.
Part lab, part library. The Research Library is the laboratory equivalent to DtX, drawing 2 cards with 1 Action when played from your starting hand. Be wary though, because unless you've got some non-draw actions afterwards to play, this card is only a cantrip from then on out. However if a DtX engine isn't your thing, no need to fear, because if you do somehow manage to get past 6 cards in your hand, this card is once again your run-of-the-mill Laboratory.
Another DtX Lab variant, except this time letting you play a card before drawing. A Lab if you play a Treasure, but can be a Lost city if you play the right action. And if you do have more than 5 cards in hand, hey its at least a Necropolis.
A combination Workshop/Lab, this card alternates between gaining a card and drawing a card. DaVinci would be proud!
The royal Scholar, when not in the Council Room advising the monarch, spends his time here in the Royal Archives! Payload, draw, and sifting all in one, with the right cards it can easily draw your deck, but also discard it all too! Make sure to bring enough +Actions!
The Rest:
Sometimes when things seem mostly under control, it just takes one trigger to start a chain reaction that can lead to catastrophe! Chain a bunch of these Reactions together and see how far you can go. The first play is pretty weak as far as trashers go, but if you can trigger it off another trash, it becomes +3 cards and replace a card in your hand with one in the trash into your discard. i.e. a lab with "trash sifting". Combos incredibly well with trash-for-benefit. Costs $2 to be available in the open with any of the plethora of $5 trashers and so it can be remodeled from copper.
Speaking of explosions, it was after all Chinese alchemists who first invented gunpowder while attempting to create the elixir of life. This attack is the first to trash from opponent's hand, but out of 5 cards to choose from, it's likely you'll be helping rather than hurting, so make sure you play them at the right time!
A mechanical model of the Solar System, orreries were some of the first ever mechanical devices invented. In fact, the first mechanical computer invented in Greek antiquity, the Antikythera Mechanism, was indeed an orrery. And as the celestial bodies do their circular dance around the sun, so too will your cards revolve around your deck with these in play. Talk about cycling! The sifting effect combined with being able to seed your next shuffle with cards you gain makes it great for deck control, just make sure not to fill the bottom of your deck with junk. Watch out Star Charts you've been upgraded!
Reduce those cards to their base essence with distillation! Highly useful not just in DtX engines but any time spare villagers or coffers are in demand, or heck, just get it for some alt-VP. A niche item for sure but one with many uses!
Aqua Regia is the name given to the most powerful acid known to alchemists until the modern era, the only acid known to be able to dissolve Gold! Meaning "Royal Water", this red acid was thought to be instrumental in the pathway towards finding the Alkahest and ultimately the Philosopher's stone! Here you can dissolve your Golds into any number of cards, anything from two Duchies to 5 Estates to 2 silvers and a copy of itself. Oh and Aqua Regia is known to dissolve Copper too don't ya know.
A better well-secluded place for further research won't be found beyond Sanctum. In exile is the perfect place for your actions and treasures to focus on unlocking the secrets of the universe, just make sure you have them in the right balance!
Mercury, the alchemist's best friend. The liquid metal has been perplexing those studying it since its discovery 3500 years ago, the first discovered with the likes of Gold, Silver, Copper, and Lead, preceding even Iron! This dual nature led many alchemists to ascribe almost mystical properties to the metal, and along with Sulfur and Salt, it was thought to be the root of not just the Philosopher's stone but all metals. This Action-Treasure shares a similar dual nature, being the classic peddler variant in the Action phase, and a +Buy silver in the buy phase. This combined with the topdeck ability make it perfect in both engine decks but also big money decks, as now you can rest assured your smithies if they collide with this will still be able to play them, and if they collide with each other you can always save one for the next turn.
It was believed that before the universe separated out into 4 distinct elements, there was a single substances which permeated the cosmos, the prima materia. This substance was without quality or property, having no color, density, viscosity, or texture. Many alchemists believed that in order to transmute one material to another, one had to first break it down not just to its elemental components but then return the elements themselves to prima materia so that they can be formed again into different proportions and forming a new material of your choosing. And so too does this card. The perfect blank canvas, this card transforms itself into the last thing it touched, or played, taking on its likeness, ready to be used immediately.
Projects:
Sometimes one of the biggest drawbacks of Potions is the opportunity cost of getting a potion the turn you drew a lot of other coin, and needing to choose between waiting another shuffle for that potion cost card or getting something more expensive. With a +Buy however, Potions become a lot less inconvenient, and heck, you might even grab one just for the buy if its the only one around!
Allowing something to sit instead of causing it to stagnate can surprisingly allow it to flourish instead. If you do happen to forgo using your potion this turn, you can rest assured you can have it saved until it is needed, or better yet, set up an even better next turn with the best of what you had now. Choose between using your potion or double Scheming as you research for the future.
The great work, the alchemist's dream, the pinnacle of human achievement, it's what we have been building up to all this time. This the final project does the impossible, turning Potions to Gold. With some preparation and investment, Golds can be yours for the rest of the game for the low price of $4 instead, making them significantly more enticing.
And we have come to the end of our journey. Hopefully with the work we've put forth, Alchemy can attain the glory it once had and lost, and be relevant once again as an integral and unique part of this Dominion!
