CONTEST 127 RESULTS
Finally, here it is! Judging time. So first of all, ever since WDC have become self-contained in threads, this competition holds the title of least amount of posts (at least, at the time of this judging). To me, this tell that perhaps the challenge imposed here was kind of a whiff. We still have entries, so it’s not all bad. Still, I’d like to apologize if the restrictions put forth this week were too hard, or too uninteresting, etc.
One thing I’ve noted is that most of the entries here are pretty expensive cards. We have lots of
and
cards. Big ones! And for something really cool: We have exactly 6 cards for each picture! So let’s jump right in.
First, we’ll take a look at the Boaty Mc.Boatface cards:
Knarr (Action – Duration)
Now and at the start of your next turn: Gain a card costing up to 
and set it aside on this.
At the start of your turn after next: Put the set aside cards onto your deck (in any order).
Heh, I actually tried to do something pretty similar to this in a hypothetical fan expansion of mine. To be fair, I’d prefer if it was Crypt-like. As in, it gains and sets aside 2 cards onto itself when you play it, and while any remains, at the start of each of your turns, put one of those cards onto your deck. Functionally, it wouldn’t be the same. Cards would be slowly gained over 2 turns instead of them being gained together onto your deck 2 turns later. But I think tracking wise, this could be more elegant like this. Anyway, this is just an idea. As it is, Knarr seems pretty elegant power wise. I’d spike
to get that orange boat for sure.
Longboat (Action – Attack – Duration)
Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand discards 2 of them.
Now and at the start of your next turn, +2 Cards.
I can see why this is priced at
. This card is certainly no joke. A wharf that substitutes its Buys for a Militia Attack. Oh speaking of the Attack, I wonder if it should have simply told other players to discard down to 3 cards in hand. The only difference here is that it hurts less very few stuff like Expedition and the Flag Artifact. Anyway. So this card is a pretty good counter to itself, but not enough to bring a boring monolithic “well, you bought a Longboat, now I
have to buy one too” experience. While the punitive nature of this card might prevent other players to acquire Longboats of their own, creating a considerable lead to whoever could fire off the Attack first, so too does Goons. So I think all in all, I’m fine with this being a thing.
Galley (Action – Duration)
Now and at the start of your next turn, you may Exile a non-Province card from your hand for +2 Cards.
I’d suggest having the “other than Province” wording instead of “non-Province”, it rolls off the tongue better. This card is extremely strong I believe. Draw + thin was always considered incredibly good in Dominion. See Recruiter and Masquerade. Here, it does it twice at the cost of one Action. This is an incredible deal and you’d better believe I’ll try my gosh darn best to spike
. The fact that it can safely tuck away green cards (save for Province) is also a massive boon. Surely this will encourage Alt-
strategies in slower games. This might fall into the whole Sanctuary conundrum that some people dislike, as it alters massively the greening stage (it becomes inconsequential whereas greening should, by design, slow winners more). This isn’t that big of a deal to me personally, but this might be something to keep in mind.
Greatship (Action – Duration)
+1 per Greatship you have in play. +
at the start of each of your turns this is in play.
-
When you gain this, discard all Greatships you have in play.
I think the wording needs a “while” somewhere to make sure the
comes in as long as it’s not discarded. This is… an interesting card, whew! We have not seen something quite like this in Dominion. It reminds me of Stockpile a little bit, where it self-Exiles on-play, but re-enters your deck when you gain a copy of it. I think that this is overall quite slow. I have not crunched the numbers myself, but I feel like you can simply make more economy and
through Monument, which is cheaper and more straightforward. Otherwise, over-investing in Greatship, which is kind of what the card wants, seems like a very high opportunity cost. Still, I do appreciate the minigame presented here. We have not seen much stuff like this ever since Empires with Temple and Farmer’s Market.
Longship (Action – Duration)
Now and at the start of your nex turn, +1 Action and draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
I’ve playtested a similar card before. It played nicely and was unique in the sense that Duration draw-to-X was a pretty novel concept. Longship tries that idea too, and it still remains a good idea in my book. I mean, last time I judged one of these contests, I made Sheriff the winner, and Sheriff was a now and next turn draw-to-X card as well. The intricacies of Longship make this a worthy card. For instance, assuming a 5-card hand, the first copy of it you play is a Lab+. After that, they’re all half-turn cantrips. Unless you make a good draw-to-X deck, for which Longship is very well suited. It might join the rank of Cursed Village among the best draw-to-X cards in Dominion.
Longship (Night – Duration)
At the start of your next turn, +2 Cards. Return this to its pile.
(This is not in the Supply.)
Interesting idea! I did not expect an out-of-Supply card in this contest, but you made something pretty appealing here. This is a nice addition to Horses, Villagers and Coffers. Here, it’s a bigger next turn handsize “token”, which I think is a reasonable thing to do. While functionally different, I wonder if it could’ve simply afforded to be an Action card with a +1 Action slapped on it. Yeah yeah, there’s the whole “draw dead” business, but Horses manage just fine.
As a side note: I find it just a tad disappointing how thematically, this is a Night card, yet the art shows a boat in a beautiful and sunny day.
Next up, we will check the horsie dude cards:
Paladin (Action – Duration – Reaction)
Either now or at the start of your next turn, +2 Cards and +1 Action.
-----
When another player gains a Victory card, you may trash this from your hand for +5 Cards.
Okay, so we have the “either now or at the start of your next turn […]” Village (Village Green) and Smithy+ (Barge). Late to the family reunion, Paladin makes a dramatic entry! Maybe I’m being overly verbose, but what I essentially mean is, I think it’s a beautiful addition among those 2 cards. Village Green costs
, Barge costs
and Paladin costs
. There is some beautiful symmetry at hand here. So the top part is appealing to me. Perhaps very strong in nature, I can still definitely see this as a worthy addition to Dominion.
As for the Reaction, it’s unquestionably unique. I will admit that trashing an expensive
card is a little oof however. I mean, I get it. People are greening and you want to spike. So bring on the big draw! I will definitely consider doing that way more often than the almost entirely pointless Reaction of Fool’s Gold. To draw 5 cards, I suppose it makes sense that Paladin should remove itself from your deck, but man. That beautiful Lab you were going to use on your turn could’ve done the job too. Only after you draw will you become smug; or full of regrets, haha!
Northern Regiment (Action – Attack)
+1 Action
+
Gain a Horse onto your deck.
Each other player discards down to 2 cards in hand, then gains a Horse to their hand.
Hmmm. So the non-Attack stuff is pretty much Supplies. It does the same. It’s kind of like Candlestick Maker vs Ducat. So, Supplies is already a strong card. I think this is already better than it, because lots of stuff in Dominion prefers Action-heavy decks. But Northern Regiment is also more expensive, so you can’t add them to your deck as quickly as you could with Supplies and extra Buys.
That leaves us with the Attack as the major different component. It’s a pretty unique discarding Attack. Stacked 3 times (which its non-terminality should help with), it actually increases your opponents’ handsize. In 3 or 4 player games, if multiple players open with Northern Regiment, it’s to their detriment, as it will eventually start being helpful toward your competition. So again, pretty unique in that regard.
Centurion (Action)
+3 Cards
You may discard an Action card for +
.
Very nice! This card definitely is on the simpler side. This is mostly a good thing, because it is super easy to assess at first glance. And because it’s not overly intricate, it ain’t as big of a headscratcher. I don’t think we’ll ever find a player that goes “how the hell am I going to add this to my deck” in the face of Centurion. Because here, the idea is immediately apparent: You drew into Action cards, you have no more Actions left, bam, here’s a soft terminal to help you mitigate that situation. It’s a very feelsgood moment. Perhaps even more than playing dead Werewolves in your Night phase. I think the only minuscule and barely apparent negative thing I could say here is that perhaps the mechanic of Centurion is a little similar-ish to Vault? It’s really not that big of a deal.
Templar (Action – Attack)
+1 Action
Each player (including you) looks at the top card of their deck, then may trash it or put it back.
Each other player gains a Curse onto their deck.
The fixed version of Sea Hag. Quick, send this prototype to Donald X! I kid, I kid, but this really is a neat way to exploit the whole “Curse to deck” business. Here, it works half the time, which is a good way to mitigate the anger of getting a Curse onto your deck. Unlike Sea Hag, this gives a bonus when played, thank God! It’s a weird Zombie Spy/Duchess hybrid and I don’t dislike this. It’s very elegant how that bonus is directly tied-in with the Attack. I don’t know about the +1 Action, but I suppose this could work. I can definitely see people all opening Templar. You thin while you junk. Not much besides Ambassador does that. Well done!
Conqueror (Action)
You may play a cheaper Action card from your hand 3 times. If you didn’t, gain a Horse.
Whoa! King’s Court that does not have access to those beautiful
cards. But who’s to say King’s Courting a Smithy is bad? Or what about a Horse, that seems pretty doable too. Although, that implies that you had to play Conqueror for a Horse, which is really, really bad for
. No, being limited in what you can triple is not the problem here. The real problem is being unable to chain Conquerors. This takes a really big slice out of what makes King’s Court just so damn powerful. I can see Conqueror being totally worth it. It can be the Village you need, for instance. Or it can provide that massive draw you need. But man. The chaining. It’s all about the chaining.
Heh, I wonder if it should unconditionally give players a Horse. Yes, on top of playing a card 3 times. Honestly, I’d test both versions.
Mounted Vandal (Action – Duration – Attack)
At the start of your next turn, +2 Cards. Until then, when another player gains an Action card, they gain a Copper; and when they gain a Victory card, they gain a Curse.
The thing about Swamp Hag is… well first, people tend to dislike it, as it makes you fight every instinct that tells you to buy a card. Which is kind of what Dominion is all about. But I digress. Swamp Hag is a thing, which means that Mounted Vandal has a working model it can base itself upon. Oh yeah, the other thing about Swamp Hag. It only ever dispatches Curses. The Curse pile runs out in games. The Copper pile does not. There are a lot of Coppers in the pile. With Mounted Vandal, I fear that the junking phase will never end. Mounted Vandal costs
, which means all players can open with one (which is not true to cards such as Mountebank). And why wouldn’t you? Duration draw is really good. People open Enchantress all the time. So the junking starts very early and does not ever really stops.
This brings me to the final problem that a card like this might arise: Giving up entirely on Action cards and focusing more on money-centric strategies. Silvers and Golds are not penalized, and so it might be more appealing to go down that route. Hey, you’ve got that Duration draw after all, that’s even more help for you.
Finally, we have that big castle thingy. Here are the cards that use that art:
Bastion (Action)
+1 Card
+2 Actions
Exile a card from your hand. If it’s a Victory card, Exile this.
The problem with these weekly contests is that you guys are too competent at making cards, much to the detriment of the poor judge! Bastion is no exception. It is a very beautifully crafted card. This is a Village that thins, not unlike Hideout. Both have a drawback when they thin green stuff. Hideout self-Curses, whereas this goes into Exile. Hideout nets you
-2 when you do so early on with Estates, while Bastion keeps your
. Both cards force you to thin. But Bastion can get good stuff back if you’re in a pickle, while Hideout removes those cards permanently.
Overall, Bastion seems on the stronger side. It even continues working later on in the game when Provinces start entering your deck. One should be careful though, because if people thinned their Estates early on with Bastion, especially in games with 3 or more players, then the Bastion pile could be running low. First, because it is a Village and, well, people need Villages. Second, because players who thinned Estates will probably want their Exiled Bastions back. So by the time you reach the endgame, it is possible that the Supply does not provide enough Bastions anymore for you to Exile Provinces while hopping to get your Bastions back. This is an interesting little battle that is not so obvious on the surface. And Bastion provides that minigame with so few words, too!
So while I stand by my initial opinion that Bastion has the upper hand over Hideout, it is not to the detriment of Bastion. It is interesting enough that I think it can allow itself to be overall stronger. And let’s remember, it’s not
strictly better too. Even more reasons for this card to be allowed to exist.
Bastion (Action)
+1 Card
+2 Actions
The next time you get +Cards this turn, first look at that many cards from the top of your deck and either discard them, or put them back in any order.
Essentially, this is a Village that gives your next draw a Catacomb-like power. The bonus is very original. And helpful as well. This Village should make your deck a lot more consistent. Kind of like Wandering Minstrel. Perhaps it will take too long for players to always decide whether they should discard or not when you invest heavily in Bastions (which you probably will, what with it being a Village), but Catacombs, Navigator and other stuff like this exists as well, so this concern is probably unfounded. All in all, I like Villages+ for
that give an extra nice utility. Bastion fits well in that range.
Castle Town (Action – Reaction)
+1 Card
+2 Actions
-----
When you trash a card, you may discard this to put that card into your discard pile.
Whoa, I really like this! Castle Town has multiple uses, thanks to its very cool Reaction. Well first, it’s a Village, so you buy it, right? But the extra bonus here gives a unique twist and pairs nicely with other cards. It’s like a reverse Fortress in a way. So first of all, we have the obvious “don’t trash my stuff, meanie” defense. A Knight raids a Recruiter, and you want that Recruiter back. If in hand, Castle Town’s got your back. Then, we have all of the trash-for-benefit cards who will love to get their fodder back. Think Apprentice and Governor. Or even stuff like Cultist with its +3 Cards on-trash clause. The numerous possibilities make Castle Town a worthy addition to a deck that knows how to exploit this well. Lovely!
One thing I'd try is to make the Reaction simply on-reveal, not on-discard. Worth trying in my opinion!
Stronghold (Victory)
Worth 2 if copies of Strongholds make up less than half of all your Victory cards.
-
When you gain this, gain an Action card costing up to .
I believe this needs to mention “copies of Strongholds
you have”, to be more precise.
I’ve always been a little on the fence about these all-or-nothing Victory cards. If you’re not tracking your deck efficiently, which I wouldn’t blame you for, then you can accidentally screw yourself. Victory cards you buy tend to increment your
, that’s their whole shtick. But here, you can cross a threshold which would take a good chunk of your
away and you’d be none the wiser. Maybe I’m exaggerating the problem here. Perhaps that, in practice, people will track their number of Strongholds better than I give them credit for.
The on-gain effect is, well, it’s nuts, isn’t it? Hitting
in Dominion is probably everyone’s first goal in a given game. Stronghold’s doing it for you, right there and then. Adding a “junk” card to your deck is totally worth doing that, as it’s easy for you to snowball from there onward. Stronghold could even become a juicy trash-for-benefit card, or nice Shepherd/Crossroads fodder, etc…
Eyrie (Action)
+4 Cards
You may discard 2 cards for +1 Action.
Props to you for changing the cost of Eyrie, as I too believe it was too strong at
. As it stands now, it is another Hunting Grounds, but it substitutes the trashing clause with a nice discard for Action effect. Discarding makes this a Laboratory with extra sifting, which is a good effect in itself. If you have Villages, then you do not even have to discard and can simply keep the big draw. This is incredibly versatile and seem like a clear superior choice over Hunting Grounds, save for some crazy Lurker + Hunting Grounds combos. Even if it’s one heck of a card, I still like the simplicity of it. I’d test it to see how dominant it is in games.
Stronghold (Action – Duration)
+2 Actions
The first time any player (including you) plays an Attack card before the start of your next turn, +2 Cards.
I can’t believe this is the only card costing
or less submitted during this contest (well, there’s Longship, but it’s not a Supply card, so it’s a tad different)! Well, I can believe it. That castle in the picture looks pretty majestic after all.
There was some discussion about the wording employed here, but I get the idea. You get the +2 Cards first before the Attack. It’s kind of like a pseudo-Reaction of some sort. I think it will be stronger if it can trigger itself off your opponents’ Attacks, as it’s a free bigger hand next turn. Otherwise, trying to time it off your own Attacks can be sort of awkward. But it’s definitely not impossible. Drawing Attacks such as Ghost Ship will probably love Stronghold.
In the absence of Attacks though, we might run into a little bit of a problem. A good chunk of the card gets circumvented. In fact, the whole appeal of this gets pretty much nullified. Yes, we have stuff like this existing in Dominion, such as with Squire’s on-trash effect, or Moat’s Reaction. But most of the card still works. Here, we’d have an overpriced Necropolis. That only works half a turn too, yikes. People need Villages and will take whatever they can get, but this… with no Attacks, I’d probably not even bother with Stronghold, even if it’s the only Village in the Supply.
Since a lot of cards share the same name due to the nature of this contest, authors will have their names in brackets next to the card name.
Semifinialist: Centurion [
AJL828] ; Longship [
arowdok] ; Longship [
The Alchemist] ; Northern Regiment [
Xen3k] ; Templar [
grep]
Finalists: Bastion [
emtzalex] ; Paladin [
Timinou]
Winner: Castle Town [
majiponi]
Not only does Castle Town piqued my interest with its mechanically and innovative Reaction, but it also fits the art very well thematically. It mirrors Fortress as this big indestructible structure, walling off your precious cards against imminent destruction. I know the good folks of this thread seemed to have a soft spot for emtzalex’s Bastion – and so did I – but Castle Town edged over it in my own personal tastes. Paladin and the semifinalists were all good as well. Like I said somewhere in my wall of text above, it gets harder and harder to judge, as fan card quality has seriously skyrocketed over the years. You guys need to learn to stop being so good at it to make my life harder, harr harr.
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #127: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (Read 6620 times)