CONTEST 122 RESULTS
22 entries if I didn't miscount. God I hope I didn't. Multiple apologies if that's the case. Perhaps I should've tallied the entries before jumping directly to judging as other smarter people have done before me. Ugh. I'm already late as it is though, and my punctual self can only take so much, heh. Anyway, many entries means many ways in which I can screw up my judging. Don't take what I say here personally, I ain't no expert. Just a guy who enjoys some Dominion. So mostly, I will pick my winner, finalists and semifinalists based on how much I like the card over how balanced it is. I am in no mood to do a systematic analysis of everything, and empirically determining how much a card should
truly cost and yaddi yadda. Nope.avi.
Still, I will try my best to give some constructive thoughts. Hopefully, said thoughts are not tooooo far off being reasonable. A man can dream. Anyway. Self deprecation over, it's judging time!
First of all, we will analyse cards that can be a good component in a draw-to-X engine without being draw-to-X cards themselves. I’m happy to see some entries in this category, as I thought most people would find making an actual draw-to-X card more appealing. Anyway, here’s what we’ve got:
Corbita (Action – Duration)
+
At the start of your next turn, reveal and discard any number of Action or Treasure cards for +
each.
This is probably a bottom median card, what with it being a half turn terminal Silver. These type of cards really do struggle to fight for terminal space. And here, rotating Corbitas by playing 2 copies, one per turn, doesn’t seem as efficient as doing it with stuff like Dungeon or Enchantress. However, I think, the power is unique and cool, and there is no question it is a strong draw-to-X enabler. Perhaps it relies too much on that type of interaction to be worth it, but I say that the unique bonus makes it a fine card. It’s up to the player to determine how to best exploit Corbita!
Refuge (Action)
+1 Action
+1 Buy
Exile from 1 to 3 differently named cards from your hand.
The comparison to Temple was correct, I believe. After all, the non-Vanilla effect is pretty much borrowed from that card. You keep the
though, for the best or the worse (Exiling Estate + Curse, for instance). Probably for the best, let’s be real. This card seems pretty comfortable at its power level. I wonder why the +1 Buy was added, but I’m not against it. Just curious. Either way, the card is fine. It’s a good, but expensive thinner. Such cards have a place in Dominion. If you run a draw-to-X engine with this, I can see players being forced to Exile stronger cards. But that’s okay: you can always get them back.
Sorceress (Action – Attack)
+1 Card
+1 Action
Discard a card. If it’s an Action card, each other player gains a Curse. Otherwise, +.
Och, a cantrip Attack card… and a curser as well! To give a Curse, you need to fulfill a difficult condition, but at least you do not need to invest into a Potion to get this Familiar-esque curser. In a draw engine, this will be quite nasty I believe. The payload option, while easier to obtain, is nothing too crazy. It’s sort of a mix between Oasis and Mill. But this costs
, so again, nothing too crazy. All in all, the card seems fine, until you get that one game where someone finds a quick and easy way to turn your deck into a pile of Curses, haha!
Town Square (Action)
+2 Actions
+1 Buy
Look at the top card of your deck. You may discard it.
Cute, elegant, a card totally worth existing. Would’ve been a perfect fit in the Base game (an additional Village wouldn’t hurt, a cheap source of Buys is needed, the top deck inspection works with some other Base cards). Villages that do not draw work good with draw-to-X, and here the additional bonuses are good for you. I’d pick this over Native Village any day, but then again, I am a pretty strong Native Village hater, heh. Okay well, Town Square’s good, so huzzah!
Wizard’s Tower (Action – Victory)
+2 Cards
+1 Action
Reveal your hand and discard all Victory cards and cards costing 
.
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1
I think you best said it yourself. It’s a Laboratory that completely throws the Lab chaining out of the window. Getting multiple copies of this thus seems like a poor idea. I somehow can’t shake the feeling that this smells like Great Hall, although, my intuition could seriously be off here. I don’t see myself opening with a Wizard’s Tower ever… and so I’m having trouble judging when and if I want one of these in my deck at some point. This card certainly tries to fill some kind of niche, but it’s hard to find which one. Discarding for draw-to-X seems appealing, but you get no bonus from discarding at all. It just… sort of happen. Mill gives you some dosh at least.
Then we arrive at the core of it: cards that actually do some draw-to-X stuff. As expected, this category has received the most submissions. Let us take a look:
Atheneum (Action – Attack)
If this is the first Atheneum you played this turn, +1 Card, +1 Action and each other player with 4 or more cards in hand puts one onto their deck. Otherwise, draw until you have 8 cards in hand and each other player draws until they have 5 cards in hand.
There are simply too many words here for what this card does. It’s got all this text to make you Attack, then undo the Attack and… where are we going with this? I mean, I understand the concept behind this, and I think there is something worth exploring here. It’s just… it’s so needlessly complex for a marginal effect. Draw to 8 cards is a tough idea to balance, so I am glad someone took a shot at that. We have discussed this rather intensively on Discord once, and the conclusion was that it was indeed a really tough effect to try for. Maybe the buffer Atheneum you must play before you get to have the big draw is a good idea, but that’s something that is easier to determine after a couple of play testing sessions.
Book Seller (Action – Reaction)
+1 Action
You may discard a card. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
I am glad you updated this card. The first version had serious problems with the Reaction, since it did not mention that it had to be discarded outside of Clean-up. This meant that every Book Seller you played would be discarded from play during Clean-up, increasing your next handsize by 5 cards. Nuts! But this was then, and this is now. For this version of Book Seller, it works. It works, but it’s a little on the boring side I’d say. It is a discard before Lab when you chain them, which sounds fine at
. Like I said, I guess only the dull aspect of Book Seller is something I have a beef with, which is super subjective and personal.
Bookstore (Action – Reaction)
You may spend an unused Action (Action, not Action card), to discard up to 7 cards. Draw until you have 7 cards in hand.
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At the start of your turn, you may reveal this from your hand, to play it.
I had trouble to understand the subtleties of this card after a quick glance. I believe that this is indicative of a card that’s perhaps a little too complex. It is weird to me that you spend double Actions to get the full effect of Bookstore when you play it sans the Reaction. Especially since only one component of the card gets unlocked whereas you always draw no matter what. This feels non-cohesive, even if the second effect strongly benefits from the former. When reacting with this, you could essentially give up on your Action phase to draw a lot, which seems to be a desirable effect in money-centric strategies. Or you could React without spending an Action to get something akin to Duration draw. I think the card is versatile enough, which is cool. My beef is only toward how hard it takes you to re-read the card to fully comprehend it.
Broker (Action)
Reveal any number of Treasures from your hand. Put them on the bottom of your deck in any order, then draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
Misleadingly fun! It doesn’t look like much on the surface, but this makes you build engine-y decks that actually want Treasures in it. This is the cool way of playing Dominion. The fact that you stack your hoard of yellows under your deck means that you can keep going with your turn and grab your payload back later. Pretty clever in my opinion. And unique as well. Save for Pearl Diver, pretty much nothing deals with the bottom of your deck in Dominion. This does it. And it does it in a cool way. I like Broker.
Council of Elders (Action)
+1 Buy
All players (including you) may discard a card. Draw until you have 7 cards in hand.
Short and to the point, this card is very easy to assess. I will always praise good and efficient design like this. The +1 Buy doesn’t feel out of place at all here too. It’s interesting to see that on a draw-to-X card. Dominion has never done it before. The one little thing I might say here is that I think perhaps other players should get something for discarding, à la Vault. Otherwise, if they are not mirroring the draw-to-X deck, there is almost zero reasons why they’d discard. For newer players, it sounds like a trap effect. “Discarding for nothing? Huh? Why would I do that? Are you trying to pull a quick one on me, Greg?”. Overall, neat card.
Flywheel (Action)
Trash a card from your hand. Draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
Beautiful. One might argue that this should perhaps cost
, as it is a trashing Smithy and this seems on the higher end of those
variants. I think I’d leave it as-is for now, and check where it stands after play testing it. It’s an easy adjustment anyway. My take on Flywheel is this: It’s very simple and elegant and, like, I love it. Yay!
Geographer (Action)
+2 Actions
You may discard a card from your hand. If you did, draw until you have cards in hand equal to its cost in 
.
Ohhh what a cool unique effect! I would like to compare this to Apprentice, since it draws according to a certain card’s cost, but these two cards aren’t that close after all. This is cheaper, is a Village, does not trash and will draw less. So, plusses and minuses. Early on in the game, this is not too good. In fact, I cannot recommend opening with a Geographer. Even if you discard your bought Silver, you do not draw. Later on in the game, though, it starts becoming more appealing. It is a Lost City if you discard a
, which… I don’t think you want to do that often. Discarding a Province, though, mama mia! +5 Cards and +2 Actions. Go nuts. If you have a way to collide these two cards to make it happen, there could be something really good here. Your subsequent Geographers won’t do too much if you pull that off, but spiking a big draw is probably all you need to get going anyway. To reiterate: Cool effect!
Industrious Guide (Action)
Reveal your hand. Discard all non-Action cards. Draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
Looks tough to use in an engine (you’ll have mostly Action cards) and undesirable in a money-centric strategy (you’ll draw more, at the expense of discarding all of your Treasures). In your engine, this might net in being a +2 or +3 Cards, which, okay. But if you utilize stuff like Native Village, Fishing Village, Necropolis, or Inn, then it looks better. These are the cards to be on the lookout for. Anyway, pretty straightforward card, albeit looks a little difficult to use efficiently, perhaps.
Scribe (Action – Duration – Reaction)
+1 Action
Either now or at the start of your next turn, draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
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When you discard this other than during Clean-up, you may play it.
I’m really not trying to take a jab or anything, but to me, this is kind of the fixed version of the first iteration of Book Seller, since it addresses my biggest concern with it. It even adds a nice Duration clause, mimicking that of Village Green. This makes it an excellent defense against discarding Attacks. Well, the first one does. Subsequent discarded Scribes will do nothing, and you’re better off putting them in your discard pile first instead of uselessly making them miss a turn. Multiple Village Greens will thus stack in the face of Attacks, while Scribes will not, however they will do more the first time you react with one. Pretty neat I’d say! Maybe this is stepping a little bit on Village Green’s quirk, what with Scribe being orange and blue and sharing the same Reaction, but I think this works anyway. I can see myself trying to play the minigame of “how can I discard my Scribes this game…” And this is a fun minigame. I like Scribe is what I’m trying to say, lol.
Sheriff (Action – Duration)
Now and at the start of your next turn: Discard 2 cards, then draw until you have 7 cards in hand.
The Sheriff’s in town y’all! At
, he certainly packs a punch. Discarding 2 before drawing to 7 is strong, but having it as a Duration effect is
really strong. +4 Cards at the start of your turn after sifting is undeniably a powerful effect. This might be one of the most potent draw card in the game actually, ha! I said I didn’t want to enter cost debate, but let’s consider for a moment that this card might cost
. It certainly would have a place in the small exclusive club of
cards. I would test both versions and see which one comes on top. All in all, while strong, Sheriff is, above all,
interesting. Duration draw-to-X has not made an appearance yet in Dominion, and I’m happy to see this idea being exploited. In such an elegant way too! So all in all, I give the Sheriff a thumbs up.
Tidy Town (Action – Attack)
+2 Actions
Each player (including you) discards any number of cards from their hand, then reveals a hand with only Actions and Treasures. Then, draw until you have 4 cards in hand.
What a crazy Attack! This might make someone discard down to 2 cards or less if they have 1 or more green cards in their hand. No Attack in Dominion can leave you with such a small start-of-turn handsize. If your hand is something like “Village, Village, Silver, Silver, Estate”, then normally a Militia would make you discard something like Estate and Silver. Maybe. But here, it goes beyond that and makes you discard an extra Silver. Or might as well toss the 2 Villages at this point. Point is, it can be extra mean if you have Victory cards in hand. This looks appealing in non-trashing boards. The perk you get when you play Tidy Town sounds like it could potentially be a Village, more or less. So that’s my take here. I just fear that the Attack can cut too deep if you’re unlucky enough to have a hand such as the one I described above.
Tome (Treasure)
Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
People in this thread have compared this to Venture and I think I will echo these thoughts. The fact that you can play this as your last Treasure is really good. You refill your hand. You can rinse and repeat with the Treasures you drew if you drew or had another Tome in hand. This could lead to boring “buy nothing but Treasures and Tomes” decks, which, I dunno, could be worrisome. One thing is for sure however: this card is sexy clean. 2 line of text is a beautiful sight.
Way of the Flying Fish (Way)
+1 Action
Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
Quite the controversial card this week! Now I’m almost too scared to say stuff about it, since it has been debated so much already. Well, to me, when I first saw it, I figured this card landed somewhere between Way of the Mole and Way of the Owl. Seeing that these 2 Ways already exist made this a little less unique for me. See, I’m not looking at the power level right now, I’m talking about this Way out of pure feels, lol. Though if I took my own personal shot at this card regarding its strength, I would say that it might be on the stronger side of Ways. I feel like there is quite a few ways (lol) you can make Way of the Flying Fish work and build an engine around it. You sift with Warehouse, then you Lab with any other Action card in your hand, for instance. Anyway, that’s just my take on this, I’m ready to have it demolished, hahaha!
Finally, we have a couple of outliers that act as some sort of hybrid between draw-to-X cards and draw-to-X activators. But! Perhaps this weird combo will offer some interesting ideas. Let’s check it out:
Bookkeeper (Action)
Choose one: +2 Coffers; or draw until the number of cards in your hand equals your Coffers.
Unquestionably a very unique effect. Props to you for coming up with such a bombastic and fun idea! I feel like this can snowball to crazy levels though, since the draw is technically unbounded. People play Butcher for the 2 Coffers without trashing, and it is often the correct play to stockpile said Coffers. Players might tend to do the same here. It does however take a while to get going. Only when you play your 4th Bookkeeper do you start getting some kind of draw. The slow pace of it is perhaps what’s keeping Bookkeeper in check. Yet somehow… God I just really fear that one explosive deck. Throning this, for instance, considerably accelerates the point of non-return abuse in a game. All in all, people will probably take this to try for the draw. Otherwise, they took a Villain without an Attack.
Clock of the Time Dragon (Action)
Discard a card. If it was a Treasure, +2 Actions and +. Otherwise, draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
Okay, that is a badass name for a card. I needed to say that first. The card itself looks really fun to play too. It is a little reminiscent of Minion. I feel like you could build a deck of these Dragons, and try to manage a healthy balance of Treasures and Action cards. I like that you discard the Treasure for payload, since you might draw it again when you activate your draw-to-X. Beautifully designed!
Odd-Jobber (Action)
+1 Action
Choose one: Play up to 3 Treasures from your hand; or draw until you have 5 cards in hand.
If you have an odd number of Treasures in play, +1 Buy.
First of all, I think I could do without the bottom clause. The whole “odd number” for the Buy thingy. The minigame of Odd-Jobber is to play a deck which wants Treasures and Action cards, like Storyteller. To streamline it, I don’t believe it needs the extra minigame just for a Buy. But that’s just my personal opinion. I mentioned Storyteller; this is highly reminiscent of this to me. Played from a hand of 6 cards or less, each Treasure you play is +1 Card. Storyteller makes you draw more according to the value of played Treasures, but here, you actually get to cash them in. So the comparison is healthy, I believe. If my assumption is correct, then this would be a bit underpriced. I’m only speculating here, so it’s not a strike against Odd-Jobber by any means. I just love spit balling, often incorrectly, about Dominion stuff.
Peon (Action)
Choose one: Draw until you have 6 cards in hands; or +2 Actions and +.
Simply put, I think Clock of the Time Dragon tries that effect in a more interesting way. There is a minigame going on with Clock of the Time Dragon, whereas here, it is way more straightforward and monolithic. And it is cheap too, so why not. Tossing a bunch of Peons in your deck to build around it sounds totally feasible. The end result doesn’t sound too thrilling though. Maybe a clever player adds a good trasher and some decent payload cards in there too. So yeah. I think the monolithic aspect of this card seems a little too upfront.
Semifinialist: Broker ; Refuge ; Corbita ; Geographer ; Scribe
Finalists: Clock of the Time Dragon ; Flywheel ; Town Square
Winner: Sheriff
Clock of the Time Dragon almost won this one. But I decided to enact Sheriff as the winner, as it is more unique (no Duration draw-to-X in Dominion thus far), and less monolithic (Minion syndrome). Town Square and Flywheel were likewise strong contenders, if only because of how darn elegant they are, but Sheriff is triggering something in my brain that makes me go: “Ooooh ye babyyy!” And like, I gotta listen to the brain, I suppose. One might say Sheriff is too strong, to which I reply: “Take it to Donald, the man who made Wharf.”
So there you have it! Congratulations, AJL828! And a good round of applause for all these beautiful entries we have been blessed with this week!
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Topic: Weekly Design Contest 122: That Other Way of Drawing (Read 10532 times)