CHALLENGE #31 - FEELING VULNERABLE
Design a Duration card that creates some sort of vulnerability to you while it is in play. I'll leave the term "vulnerability" mostly up to your interpretation, but you can think of it along the lines of the following:
(1) Something that alters the game in a way that might not help you or may help your opponents
(2) Something that effects you negatively
(3) Something that effects your opponents positively
Winner: Motherly Witch (auth: MeNowDealWithIt)
Runner up: Novice (auth: segura)
Challenge #32: Make me skip chapel!
Basically, in a kingdom with the card (-shaped object) you design for this contest, and chapel, make it frequently a viable strategy never to buy a chapel.
Winner: split pile — Pendulum / Dowser (auth: King Leon)
Runner Up: Apse Chapel (auth: scolapasta)
and a reminder what Worshippers are for:
At the start of your Clean-up phase, you may remove tokens from this to trash a card from your hand or one you have in play for each token removed.
Challenge #33: Just react!
Create a pure Reaction card.
Winner: Economist (auth: Chappy7)
Runner Up: Design (auth: Fragasnap)
Create a card that is at least one of Action, Treasure, Reaction, or Night with no fixed or conditional Vanilla++ effects.- Vanilla++ effects are: +Cards, +Actions, +Buys, +$, +Potion, +VP, +Coffers, and +Villagers.
- "Drawing cards" per a condition and putting cards into your hand can be likened to +Cards, but is fine (like Watchtower and Envoy).
- Playing other cards is often likened to +Actions, but is fine (like Throne Room)
- Treasures that produce $ count as Vanilla++ effects and will be disqualified (Counterfeit produces $1 and would be disqualified, Horn of Plenty produces $0 and would not be)
- Being a Victory card is fine, but it still must have an Action\Treasure\Reaction\Night effect (like Island and Tunnel).
- On-gain\on-buy effects that confer Vanilla++ effects still disqualify the card.
- If you are making a card that is modified by other random cards (like Young Witch, Black Market, or Band of Misfits), it is fine that the other random cards might have Vanilla++ effects.
- Fate cards that use random Boons are fine.
- Use of Artifacts is fine, but they still must confer no Vanilla++ effects.
- If you are making a Split pile or Traveller, every card involved must have no Vanilla++ effects.
- A card with "Choose X" options still must have no Vanilla++ effects (Steward, Count, and Charm would be disqualified)
- A Vanilla++ effect that scales on a condition may be used (like Philosopher's Stone, or Harvest)
Winner: Consul (auth: anordinaryman)
Runner Up: Crime Lord (auth: naitchman)
CHALLENGE #35 - A Thematic Curser
I'd like to call attention to a particular line in the wiki article on curser wiki article (http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Curser): It can be argued that the main curser from each early expansion closely represents the expansion's theme
(bold emphasis is mine). One of my favorite parts of the early expansions (up to Hinterlands) was how the curser really tied the themes and motifs of that expansion together. Mountebank is a great example since it follows both of Prosperity’s themes: Treasures, and Big-ness (7-cost cards, Colonies, in Mountebanks's cases a big curser that gives out 2 pieces of junk). I also how players can be protected against it to limit its power. Familiar also fits both themes: action-chains and Potions (which is a brilliant mechanic to prevent easily over-loading on it. Again, this limits its power). Both of these cursers really belong in the expansion they are in, and they both bring the entire expansion together.
For this challenge, I am hoping you to pick an expansion, and design a curser for it that *really* fits that expansion. Ideally, if the expansion has multiple themes/motifs, your curser should involve at least 2 of those themes. You may pick ANY existing expansion, even early ones. You may even pick the “expansion” of promotional cards. I think in promotional cards there are some subtle motifs. For example, swinginess and oddness that doesn’t normally fit in Dominion (black market, stash) and also self-synergy (Sauna/Avanta and Governor both have self-synergy). You are welcome to pick some of the more minor themes of an expansion, for example, Intrigue also has a minor self-synergy motif (Nobles uses both choices to build a +cards/+action draw engine on its own, and Minion uses both choices to have a full-engine of $ and draw and minor attack.)
Winner: Parade (auth: segura)
Runner up: Landlord (auth: NoMoreFun)
The new contest is about doing a non-conventional junker, i.e. it should not distribute Curses or Ruins unconditionally. You could do a Copper junker or come up with a new type of junk. Landscape cards are also OK.
Winner: Gremlin (auth: faust)
Runner up: Lancer (auth: Kudasai)
Design a card or card-shaped object that comes with an existing Heirloom.
So the card should include the Heirloom in the normal way, replacing a starting Copper. Of course there should be some mechanical reason for having it come with the Heirloom.
Winner: Kelpie (auth: mail-mi)
Runners-up: City Farm (auth: Gazbag)
Modeller (auth: Aquila)
Drawbridge (auth: NoMoreFun)
Create a Village.
The only rule is that the card must itself provide some source of extra actions. So Throne Room variants and Lost Arts wouldn't count, but Barracks would. Also cards that give Villagers wouldn’t count unless the card also gave some source of extra actions. I will comment on submissions that don't count (I'm bad at remembering to +1 things).
Winner: Neighboring Village (auth: Aquila)
Runners-up: Midwife (auth: RTT)
Hillside City (auth: Freddy10)
Contest #39: a Duration card.
A very open book. But READ THIS: you know why this contest is here, we're seeing 2 new promo Durations come to the game. I will favour designs that could convincingly be promos. Cover new mechanical territory if you can, and don't be afraid of complexity as this isn't going to be a judging factor. The less like similar to any official card, the better. Use other (card shaped) components in your design if you like.
Think of things that will actually add to the game, and avoid the design mistakes of things like Stash.
Winner: Wonder (auth: Kudasai)
Runner Up: Gift (auth: majiponi)
CHALLENGE #40 - KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE!!!
This weeks challenge comes in two parts, which will be judged roughly 50/50, but on different judging criteria:
(1) Design a card shaped thing that gains Prizes. Criteria: Balance
Prizes are some of the best cards in Dominion, so designing a card that gains them has to be carefully thought out and balanced. Timing considerations and opportunity cost are important here.
(2) Design a card that is a Prize. Criteria: Creativity
If coming up with a Prize gainer is stressing you out, this should be your chance to unwind, pull out all the stops, try some crazy ideas and most importantly have fun. Prizes offer a lot of design flexibility as they don't take up room in the Kingdom, can't be abused in multiples, and don't really matter if they are not always useful. With that in mind, I will judge cards better that would have some of these issues if they were in the Supply (i.e. cards that only really would work as a Prize). I would like to see Prizes that fill any niches the other official Prizes don't touch on. If this is proving too difficult, overlap is perfectly fine as long as the Prize has a different play style. As with Aquila, I'm very partial to existing mechanics being used or meshed together in ways that are new and interesting.
Winner: Burial Ground + Craftsman (auth: anordinaryman)
Runner up: Horse Show + Archivist (auth: Fragasnap)
We're going to take aim at one of the more common complaints of Dominion:
CHALLENGE #41 - DOMINION IS NOT SOLITAIRE
Design a card or card-shaped thing that has non-attack player interaction baked into the mechanics of the card/card-shaped thing. I'd prefer original ideas of player interaction, so simply making a new artifact isn't likely to win this contest, but who knows, maybe if the interaction is interesting enough, it could win!
Winner: Discover (auth: pubby)
Runner up: Bartender (auth: Fly-Eagles-Fly)
CHALLENGE #42 - MONOGAINER
A monogainer is a card-shaped thing that gains cards from exactly one named pile. Examples of monogainers are: Bureaucrat (gains Silver), Baron (gains Estate), Rats (gains Rats), Dominate (gains Province), Pillage (gains Spoils), and Tormentor (gains Imp). Cards that are not monogainers include: Workshop, Tournament, Black Market, Beggar, Count, and Rebuild, for these cards can gain multiple cards with different names.
The goal of this challenge is to design a monogainer. If needed, you may also design the card your monogainer gains.
The gained card must be of a single name and fixed per-game, but I will allow cards where the gained pile is randomly chosen at setup (a la Young WItch banes).
Winner: Curio Shop (auth: 4est)
Runners up:
Vendor (auth: alion8me)
Scientist (auth: LibraryAdventurer)
Volume + Encyclopedia (auth: Aquila)
aaaaand we're caught up.