Contest #47 Results
I find there are two ways to go with Artifacts, make them easy to take to make competitiveness or hard to take for a way to get ahead. Events I thought could be a great way to make both happen, being there ready to buy whenever the time is right. In either case, the main asset of Artifacts in Dominion is player interaction, so in judging your entries I've tried to keep in mind how a strategic player will feel as the Artifact moves around.
Supervision/Sandals (segura)
Event, $0 +1 Buy, discard card with two or more types to take the Sandals.
Artifact, at the end of your Buy phase, choose add 1VP to this or take the VP.
This creates competition and either risky or carefully measured decisions based on tracking what your opponents have when on whether to take or add to the VP pool. Play things safe and get 1VP every other turn and that does you out of several turns of potential 1VP adds. Or go super safe and never choose to add any VP; that would be a bad scenario, which would probably happen when everyone builds to take the Sandals every turn. The cost to take and keep the Sandals is not using a two+ -typed card, an elegant way to ensure it's something useful most of the time; though of course, there won't always be a two type card in full random games so you have to make it happen, so this loses a little cleanness there. Needs playtesting with Tunnel and Faithful Hound too.
Overall: Make adding a VP mandatory when there are none. That someone's investment on one turn can yield no reward (Tunnel exempt) will probably make this have a limited audience; I for one don't like that.
Surveil/Beacon (spineflu)
Event, $2 +1 Buy, look at the top card of your deck, discard, trash or put it back, if you've trashed 3 or more cards this turn take Beacon and put deck into discard pile.
Artifact, when you shuffle you may first trash a card from your discard pile. Play with your deck face up.
The change to 1 card look $2 cost makes things so much better, not just for balance but now the Beacon has a lot more to do with trashing, both with the shuffle trash and knowing the top card of the deck. The idea of an Artifact that flips the deck over had crossed my mind; one could look through their whole deck (whilst the other players should just see the top), bottom card becomes top, but you'd have to ensure they can't look during shuffling so they can't get the order just right. Taking it calls for a fun twist on trashing, losing several cards during the same turn whilst still producing $2 so Chapel and Count aren't so relevant.
Overall: this makes trashing fun. The concept is great, but I wonder if the Beacon couldn't be changed to be an always relevant effect. If you trash to take it the shuffle trashing might not be needed, and sometimes knowing your deck makes no real difference outside of peace of mind.
Mining/Pick (Doom_Shark)
Event, $3, trash a card from your hand and gain a card costing up to $2 more than it, if you trashed a card costing $4 or more take Pick.
Artifact, when you trash a card you may gain a card costing less than it.
Mining is similarly powerful in the opening; it does work against the normally superior 5/2 starts, but losing 2 Estates will be a much more marked difference in deck power. Later on you can change Golds to Provinces and pick up some Duchies with the Pick, and this will really be the main reason to compete for the Pick. Winning by pile driving is another reason.
Overall: it's neat how the Pick comes in late when one would want it, and the competition for it to pick up Duchies is quite interesting, but the starting game will be pretty automatic.
Revolution/Guillotine (grep)
Event, $4, gain a card costing up to $5 and a Ruins, take Guillotine.
Artifact, at the start of your turn trash a card from your hand, if an Action +1VP.
This looks like one influential Event. You get a $5 and a Cathedral for $4, with a Ruins to get around. The early game could be really affected by this, particularly when the other trashing in the game is weak; yet the more one competes for it the more they undo their trashing with the Ruins. When there is other trashing to handle the starting deck, the Guillotine can be a setback later if it misses the Ruins with nothing else bad to trash. Buying late Revolutions will be about Duchies and cashing Actions in for VP, generally creating an easier Duchy dance at $4 cost but risking big loss of deck functionality.
Overall: every positive to getting this is set back by something negative, so there's great strategic depth here. Every negative is self-imposed, so things feel fine when they go wrong. Player interactivity is created by the threat of one thinning and possibly gaining VP. It's a contender.
Five Year Plan/Communism (majiponi)
Event, $3 +1 Buy, take Communism.
Artifact, this turn put 2 of your cards onto your deck in any order when you discard them from play.
Save $3 to Scheme 2 things. It'll be something to consider building around for late game, or possibly going for Duchy instead of province if it will potentially turn things round. It may be competed for during mid game building with spare $3s or to save a dud next turn.
Overall: simple and sound, and it creates some competitiveness. $2 cost might be better, but maybe this is better balanced. A contender.
Reconnoitre/Compass (mandioca15)
Event, $5, if you gained a Victory this turn take the Compass. Otherwise +1VP and trash a card from the Supply.
Artifact, at the start of your turn discard up to 2 cards then draw that many.
It's either Salt the Earth for any Supply pile or take a cantrip cellar-for-2-cards start of turn effect. The former probably is worth $5 for being a 'better' version of the Event. Compass is certainly handy to have and worth competing for, but for $5 and a gained Victory? Letting the Victory gain determine which option makes good sense, the greening can be sifted through with Compass, so the Salt the Earth bit bumping up the $ cost I'd say is holding competing for the Compass back.
Overall: change the no-Victory-gain option to something else that's cheaper, and I think it'll be a great design.
Subscribe/Floating Trophy (grrgrrgrr)
Event, $5, gain a card costing up to $4, move your Trophy token to its pile (when you play a third card from its pile during your turns, take Floating Trophy).
Artifact, at the start of your Buy phase +1VP.
Set up a way to take the Trophy, and if you run an engine playing the 3 cards each turn get 1 VP each turn. It'll be a race to start with to see who can get the first VP, who can get ahead, which can be fun (and whilst Treasures can take the Trophy Actions are way better). Later on shuffle randomness might become a factor affecting the swing.
Overall: a little too affected by chance to be consistently fun.
Warfare/Holy Land (Fragasnap)
Event, $3, take Holy Land, trash Victory card with lowest cost in $ from the Supply.
Artifact, when you gain a Victory each other player may trash a card costing at least $3 from their hand, if they do they draw a card, if they don't they gain Curse.
Pay $3 to have a means of attacking that bypasses Moat variants. It's a pure 'attack' like Sea Hag where the self advantage seems to be about 3-pile strategies, or a way to possibly get further ahead with your Provinces and Duchies with a spare $3 mid-late game. How often will the possibility of getting nothing out of the $3 investment deter someone from trying it? Unless they want to imply a forced $3 to someone else anyway.
Overall: the way this enhances rush strategies might be nice, though such games seem to be rare. And I guess this really adds player interactivity, but...it's hard for a softie like me to imagine enjoying this.
Liturgy/Confessional (NoMoreFun)
Event, $3 +2 Buys, take Confessional.
Artifact, when you gain a card you may trash a card from your hand.
One of two consecutive 'buy splitting' entries. This one is more expensive and looks to Monastery some cards away. Well, it would do if it could trash Coppers in play, and because it can't Confessional won't be immediately useful very often.
Overall: I would prefer to put Travelling Fair in the game than this, the $1 extra cost doesn't pay for anything much more than the top-decking effect. Put the Copper trashing on and it would make quite a lot more competitiveness.
Flattery/Signet Ring (naitchman)
Event, $2 +2 Buys, take Signet Ring.
Artifact, Forbidden cards are in the Supply your turns, setup add an extra kingdom pile costing $4 or more, this is the Forbidden pile and isn't in the Supply.
This buy splitter grants access to an extra pile if nobody else uses it before the buyer's next turn, or lets them securely buy from the pile straight away for $2 more cost. How impactful this is depends on what the extra pile is.
Overall: it's quite nice, but the Forbidden pile ideally needs to be selected manually rather than randomised to ensure it's meaningful. Only a minor setback, just if one of the players sets up the game they get a head start having to think of the game's interactions to choose a good pile.
Accolade/Sword (Commodore Chuckles)
Event, $0, if there's no debt on this take <6> and put it on this (it remains yours), and take Sword, gain a Ruins and 2 cards costing up to $4.
Artifact, at the start of your turn play an Action from your hand, trash it and gain one costing exactly $1 more.
After someone buys this nobody else can until the debt has all been paid. Whilst this ensures one use of the sword for the buyer, it also gives them a way to keep possession of it; this could make for a potentially strong building and piling strategy. Player 1 could open with this twice for 4 $4s, 2 Ruins and 5 debt, so also a fair amount of building to $5s or Ruins trashing his Sword could do, and nobody else could get a lookin. Hard to tell for sure if this would be a sure-win scenario, but it seems a bit strong in some cases.
Overall: Sword might be a nice Artifact (if players are OK with the interaction with Durations that Procession recently lost), but Accolade I'm convinced needs work.
Excavation/Holy Relic (ShadowHawk)
Event, $3, Trash 2 Treasures you have in play and a Victory costing $3 or more from your hand. If you did, take the Holy Relic.
Artifact, when you first play an Action on each of your turns, add 1 to each denominative bonus (+1 Card, +1 Action, etc) in its text.
Excavation needs a way to give proof of a Victory costing $3+ in hand, because it's not optional. You could add '(or reveal you can't)' to as it is, but do you want this to be able to work like Bonfire for Treasures, trashing them from play without having the Victory in hand? Or, do you reveal the Victory from hand first, then trash it and the 2 Treasures, then, 'if you trashed 3 cards, take the Holy Relic'? The latter feels more appropriate to me. I also take the Relic to add 1 to every bonus in the ability of the card above and below the line, and every scaling amount of '+1 per…' (Vault, Goons VP) to be doubled. There are some scary combos here (Groundskeeper, City Quarter, Goons), but this adds impetus to buy a Victory to get the Relic.
Overall: if I have the intent of the cards right, this is a good way to get a powerful Artifact, gaining a useless card to trash on a later turn (Artisan exempt) or forcing opponents to lose late greens if they are to have it. But I have to figuratively deduct points for the way Excavation currently is.
Decompose/Compost (hhelibebcnofnena)
Event, $2 +1 Buy, take Compost.
Artifact, at the end of your turn (after drawing) trash a card from your hand.
One use of Cathedral may not quite be worth $2, considering the one turn hold scenario, but you're also buying it off someone else so there's competitive value. If someone's left with the Compost, they probably have to have good things in hand to trash to it later, so there's always that risk for them to consider.
Overall: simple and effective, consistent yet balanced and interesting competitiveness in almost every game. It's a contender.
Unleash/Curio (Kudasai)
Event, $0, once per game: +1 Action +1 Buy, put deck and discard pile into hand, return to Action phase, take Curio.
Artifact, when you gain a card take your -$1 token.
You referenced my Exhibit and Emblem, that's nice! I guess that's where the idea for this contest came from, thinking of them. Still, there's a responsibility to get this judgment right…
Players look to unleash a mega turn when they've collected sufficient payload, mainly money and Buys. Or it could be used in an engine when the turn enablers (drawing, villages) fail to show up in the starting hand, so it has nice usability. The Curio, though, I feel would be better taking 1 debt rather than the -$1 token, as buying several cards has no setback as is (you don't produce any $ after you play all your Treasures). It would make timing this more significant, and might better keep a rather boring pure money and Buys strategy in check.
Overall: it's nearly something great, just that a big buildup strategy to a grand final turn or close to final turn will mean Curio doesn't hurt much.
Land Surveying/Map (DEGwer)
Event, $4, if you don't have the Map take it, if you have the Map gain a Victory.
Artifact, at the start of Clean-up put your -1 Card token on your deck.
Firstly, welcome to the forum and the contest. You definitely want to swap the 'if you have the Map' and 'if you don't' bits around, otherwise Provinces and Colonies cost $4. As majiponi explained, you'll always have the Map when you get to that instruction. Put the other way round, Provinces still cost $8 but with 2 Buys, but so will Colonies, so it's not good in them being there when buys are available; this will always be the mandatory strategy, and that will take much of the interest of that game away. If you added 'once per turn' usage that would take a lot of the craziness away, but might still be too intense an effect to not contest, even on a late Duchy turn.
Overall: reducing the cost of Victory cards is a very volatile effect, so doing it by a whole $4 or $7 without the effort of 4 or 7 Bridges in play is imbalanced without question. Hope this isn't too hard hitting for your first time, but here's a design principle to remember in future.
Infusion/Cauldron (scolapasta)
Event, P +1 Buy, trash a card you have in play for + $1 per $2 it costs, if it costs $4 or more take Cauldron, then play any number of Treasures from your hand.
Artifact, Potions have "Choose one: +P; or + $3".
The Potion cost of the Event is a great idea in this contest, you play the Potion repeatedly to compete for the Artifact. But how many Potions does one get so that they should turn into Gold for deck payload? And seeing that this won't be a permanent feature, why not just get Golds? The half-Salvager bit would work for removing the Potion you used to pay for this, if the Cauldron didn't imply you should try to keep it; otherwise it has a few niche uses.
Overall: I feel Cauldron should do something else, but Infusion is good.
Fishing/Fishing Rod (Gazbag)
Event, $3, If you have Fishing Rod gain a card costing up to $4, otherwise +1 Buy and take Fishing Rod.
Artifact, at the end of your Buy phase put a card from your discard pile onto your deck.
This squeaked into judging by about 2 minutes! I'll be brief so this contest closes nearer to on time. For top-decking things for next turn I prefer Five Year Plan/Communism as it's more definite in its impact, you'd need $3 + a bought card to guarantee a good card in the discard pile.
Overall: not bad, but lacks a little excitement.
Shortlist: Surveil, Revolution, Five Year Plan, Flattery, Decompose, Unleash.
This is really close between 3 to me, so I've put 2 runners-up.
Winner: Decompose/Compost by hhelibebcnofnena.
Runners-up: Revolution/Guillotine by grep, Five Year Plan/Communism by majiponi.
Whilst Decompose might look rather un-innovative next to Cathedral, it's doing everything I perceive an Artifact should do in making interaction and strategic decisions based on what opponents are doing. Choosing not to buy it off someone to potentially harm them gave it the edge over Five Year Plan, whilst Revolution has great strategic depth but could pressure pile emptying if Guillotine is heavily contested.
Congrats, and nice to see people who haven't hosted before up there.