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Author Topic: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks  (Read 8429 times)

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NoMoreFun

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #25 on: October 04, 2021, 06:54:22 pm »
0

Mystic has an inbuilt combo - itself.

I like it a lot more than Wishing Well for that reason. The cantrip "reveal the top card" cards not actually interacting with the top card of your deck always seemed like a design flaw to me.
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #26 on: October 04, 2021, 07:39:59 pm »
0

The current judge's opinion of Faust's post:  There's a reason I suggested using Goons. Generally, putting a card on the bottom of a split pile effectively makes it weaker because it makes it harder to get. It is unlikely you are going to help a weak card be better by putting another card on top of it. Perhaps I should've said this earlier, but the idea was to take an especially strong official card and put it on the bottom of a split pile. So KC and Mountebank are good choices, IMO. Probably Treasurer too. Adventurer or Mystic, not so much*.
That said, I like the way Old Boot both fits with Cobbler and has a mechanic to trash the extra Old Boots.

(*Maybe Adventurer could get its cost cut in half and go on the top of a split pile with a nice treasure on the bottom, but not for this contest...)

Unpopular opinion time! I find it hard to design a card for this, because many of the existing cards just play better if they're not part of a split pile. The submissions so far reinforce that opinion for me.



This goes on top of Cobbler.  I love Cobbler and I want it to be better.  The Boot token would make it much better in most kingdoms. There is only one Boot Token, so the price reduction applies to everyone.  (Pretend the card says "Action-Duration" on the bottom.  Looks like I forgot that part)
I'm not sure this makes Cobbler better. Cobbler is an early-game card, and with this you can only gain it well into the midgame.



Here's my entry this week. 5 copies of Lockbox go on top of 5 copies of Treasurer. +Buy helps deplete the top half of the pile, and then once you get the Key from Treasurer, you can "unlock" your Lockboxes for an extra one-shot $3 each. Be careful though: your opponent can swipe Lockboxes from the trash for themselves, but they'll need to steal the Key from you too to activate them.
This makes the first option on Treasurer pretty useless, by buffing the other two and limiting Treasurer gains to the mid-late game, where trashing is less useful anyways. I also really don't think it's necessary to reward Key control more. The better design for this would be if the text that Lockbox has was on Key, and Key did nothing else, and the first Treasurer option was removed. But of course that doesn't fit the contest.



Quote
Scrying Bones - $2
Action
+2 Cards
+1 Action
+1 Coffers
Put 2 cards from your hand onto your deck.

A cheap Candlestick Maker variant that can set up Mystic and helps you find the Mystics. It is an even 5 and 5 split with Mystic. Not sure if the draw 2 cards then return 2 cards effect is equivalent to a +Buy, but pricing it at $3 does not seem very appealing, so I went with $2. This also goes great with a number of other cards that care what is on top of your deck. Feedback is appreciated.
Giving Mystic an inbuilt combo cheapens the experience I feel. Now you can't enjoy those times when there are other combos, and much of the deck-tracking rewards from Mystic are gone.



Goes on top of King's Court
This should probably have a ? in the top corners, as the $4 is conditional (see Charm). I'm not convinced that this is good enough for King's Court to be uncovered a signficant portion of the time. Even if it is, though, limiting to 5 King's Courts makes it likely that the person who wins the split has a massive advantage.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2021, 07:54:09 pm by LibraryAdventurer »
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JW

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #27 on: October 05, 2021, 12:25:49 am »
+1

The current judge's opinion of Faust's post:  There's a reason I suggested using Goons. Generally, putting a card on the bottom of a split pile effectively makes it weaker because it makes it harder to get. It is unlikely you are going to help a weak card be better by putting another card on top of it. Perhaps I should've said this earlier, but the idea was to take an especially strong official card and put it on the bottom of a split pile. So KC and Mountebank are good choices, IMO. Probably Treasurer too. Adventurer or Mystic, not so much*.

(*Maybe Adventurer could get its cost cut in half and go on the top of a split pile with a nice treasure on the bottom, but not for this contest...)

Weak cards can be improved inelegantly without that much trouble by adding spammable top-cards that are worded to directly power them up. I’ve already got my entry, which does this for Raider. But consider the lowly Adventurer. It’s not hard to create a simple card that powers it up.
 
Adventuring Village
$4
Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions.
You may trash a Copper from your hand; or, you may play an Adventurer from your hand, for +1 Card and +1 Buy.
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #28 on: October 05, 2021, 01:01:42 am »
+1

The current judge's opinion of Faust's post:  There's a reason I suggested using Goons. Generally, putting a card on the bottom of a split pile effectively makes it weaker because it makes it harder to get. It is unlikely you are going to help a weak card be better by putting another card on top of it. Perhaps I should've said this earlier, but the idea was to take an especially strong official card and put it on the bottom of a split pile. So KC and Mountebank are good choices, IMO. Probably Treasurer too. Adventurer or Mystic, not so much*.

(*Maybe Adventurer could get its cost cut in half and go on the top of a split pile with a nice treasure on the bottom, but not for this contest...)

Weak cards can be improved inelegantly without that much trouble by adding spammable top-cards that are worded to directly power them up. I’ve already got my entry, which does this for Raider. But consider the lowly Adventurer. It’s not hard to create a simple card that powers it up.
 
Adventuring Village
$4
Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions.
You may trash a Copper from your hand; or, you may play an Adventurer from your hand, for +1 Card and +1 Buy.

True enough, and that is fine to attempt for this challenge. I'm just warning people that generally putting a card on the bottom of a split pile is going to make it weaker, so the card on top of it has to really go out of its way to both go empty and synergize with the card under it, in order to actually make a weak bottom card stronger. fwiw, I think your entry does this just fine.

spineflu

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #29 on: October 05, 2021, 06:27:51 pm »
+5

withdrew my other card for


Quote
Stablehand • $2 • Action
+2 Actions
Gain a Horse.
The next time you gain a Horse this turn, gain an additional Horse.

Top of a split pile with Livery. Because that card should have an enabler /s. But really the idea is delay when Livery explosions can happen (as well as make them more potent by allowing you to play more Liveries)
« Last Edit: October 05, 2021, 06:49:44 pm by spineflu »
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Mahowrath

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #30 on: October 05, 2021, 07:45:31 pm »
+5

Entry to split pile with Outpost



Quote
Outriders
Action - Duration: $3

+1 Card
+1 Action
At the start of your next turn, if this is still in play, +2 Cards
-
Discard this from play when another player buys a card with at least $2 unspent.

Menagerie-esque non-terminal draw that fails when opponents "Basilica". Technically leaves room for politicking in multiplayer (arguably less than invest!), but this is unlikely to matter as the game progresses as 1) this should naturally start to fail between turns for everyone, unless 2) you uncover and use Outpost for synergy.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2021, 08:02:25 am by Mahowrath »
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emtzalex

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2021, 12:50:49 am »
+3

My Submission:




Quote from: Art Colony
ART COLONY
ACTION
Cost: $2
+1 Card
You may play an Action card from your hand. If you did, reveal the top card of your deck. If it's an Action costing less than the card played, play it.
                                                                

My submission is Art Colony, going on top of Artisan. A weaker version of Herald (with a little Vassal mixed in), it gives one +Card and one virtual +Action, followed by a 3x conditional virtual +Card and +Action. I was partially inspired by my favorite top card of a split, Encampment. Encampment always gives you a Lost City effect, but risks being a one-shot. Art Colony is never a 1 shot, but only gives you the LC effect with some luck or some help.

This card gets along very well with any Action card that can topdeck a cheaper Action on-play: Armory, Artificer, Count, Graverobber, Mandarin, Replace, and Scavenger (less so Courtyard or Harbinger, which are a bit on the cheap side to pull it off, but could work with Ruins). And, of course, it goes well with Artisan.

Artisan is a solid (but expensive) card, as the ability to gain a $5 is extremely powerful, and even if you have to play it terminally, the topdecking (normally a drawback) can be used to put that card into the next turn's hand. It gets even stronger in the presence of good villages and good $5 Action cards (especially strong draw cards), as the village can allow playing the gained card that turn.

When played together, both cards are supercharged. Artisan's topdecking turns AC into the village Artisan loves, and the virtual +Card undoes Artisan's topdeck disadvantage. Meanwhile, Artisan's high cost actually becomes an advantage, allowing AC to play those powerful $5 cards Artisan can gain.

Because Art Colony is effectively (at least) a cantrip, it is fairly spammable, allowing players to reach the Artisans. They become even more worth having when you start buying those Artisans.
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #32 on: October 07, 2021, 12:11:21 am »
+2

24 hour warning

EDIT: Submissions I have so far:

Destitute Village (by JW)
Cupbearer (by Timinou)
Old Boot (by Chappy7)
Stablehand (by spineflu)
Lockbox (by 4est)
Scrying Bones (by Xen3k)
Trailblazer (by arowdok)
Scrapyard (by Boomyday)
Skeptic (by NoMoreFun)
Projection (by Aquila)
Land Survey (by xyz)
Goshawk (by mandioca15)
Treasure Vault (by silverspawn)
Outriders (by Mahowrath)
Art Colony (by emtzalex)
« Last Edit: October 07, 2021, 12:18:28 am by LibraryAdventurer »
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The Alchemist

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #33 on: October 07, 2021, 12:53:57 pm »
+2



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.
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JW

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #34 on: October 07, 2021, 01:17:45 pm »
+2



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.

The on-play effect alone seems too strong for a $4 cost. At the start of a (non-Shelters) game, this effect is quite a bit better than Laboratory.
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anordinaryman

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #35 on: October 07, 2021, 01:19:41 pm »
+1



Quote
Vanishing Coin | Treasure | $3
$1
Trash a card you have in play.
-
When you trash this, +1 Card +1 Buy and gain a Vanishing Coin.

Adventurer isn't good. We all know that. But if you could clear out your coppers, it would be a lot better. Still not too strong, but hey. I wanted to add a card that made you happy to see Adventurer and its split pile on the board.

Vanishing Coin trashes in play which is amazing for trashing Coppers. It can also self-trash for +1 Card, +1 Buy. Also you can trash for benefit it to get an additional +1 Card +1 Buy (+1 Buy has no effect if it is not your turn).

The compulsory trashing and trash from in-play makes Vanishing Coin not strictly better than Loan, but it does appear to be stronger in many cases.

Looking for feedback.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2021, 01:20:47 pm by anordinaryman »
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JW

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #36 on: October 07, 2021, 03:10:01 pm »
+1



Quote
Vanishing Coin | Treasure | $3
$1
Trash a card you have in play.
-
When you trash this, +1 Card +1 Buy and gain a Vanishing Coin.

Adventurer isn't good. We all know that. But if you could clear out your coppers, it would be a lot better. Still not too strong, but hey. I wanted to add a card that made you happy to see Adventurer and its split pile on the board.

This card isn't nearly enough to redeem Adventurer. Adventurer is so weak that it needs a card that directly interacts with Adventurer to power it up, like the topt card I've proposed above (which isn't my entry for this contest, because I like my entry better than that idea, so feel free to copy any or all of it).

Adventuring Village
$4
Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions.
You may trash a Copper from your hand; or, you may play an Adventurer from your hand, for +1 Card and +1 Buy.
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #37 on: October 08, 2021, 12:26:26 am »
+3

submissions closed.

EDIT: I will most likely post results tomorrow night (in about another 24 hours)
« Last Edit: October 08, 2021, 01:17:23 am by LibraryAdventurer »
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The Alchemist

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #38 on: October 08, 2021, 08:52:46 am »
0



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.

The on-play effect alone seems too strong for a $4 cost. At the start of a (non-Shelters) game, this effect is quite a bit better than Laboratory.

The on-play is a risky peddler that requires a collision with a victory. Even when it does collide, it's just a peddler with a single card restricted cellar effect, which is already a weak $2. The people on the discord in fact preferred the on-play priced at $3, not $4, so I don't think it's better than a lab in the open.
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MiX

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #39 on: October 08, 2021, 08:59:38 am »
+1



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.

The on-play effect alone seems too strong for a $4 cost. At the start of a (non-Shelters) game, this effect is quite a bit better than Laboratory.

The on-play is a risky peddler that requires a collision with a victory. Even when it does collide, it's just a peddler with a single card restricted cellar effect, which is already a weak $2. The people on the discord in fact preferred the on-play priced at $3, not $4, so I don't think it's better than a lab in the open.

Do the people in discord know that discarding a victory card's not a real cost in early game, so it's better than a peddler? And how is it risky when it's always a cantrip, and when it's not better than that your hand is already really good? There isn't always trashing.

Also, without the coin, this is comparable to fugitive.
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Gubump

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #40 on: October 08, 2021, 01:00:54 pm »
0



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.

The on-play effect alone seems too strong for a $4 cost. At the start of a (non-Shelters) game, this effect is quite a bit better than Laboratory.

The on-play is a risky peddler that requires a collision with a victory. Even when it does collide, it's just a peddler with a single card restricted cellar effect, which is already a weak $2. The people on the discord in fact preferred the on-play priced at $3, not $4, so I don't think it's better than a lab in the open.

Do the people in discord know that discarding a victory card's not a real cost in early game, so it's better than a peddler? And how is it risky when it's always a cantrip, and when it's not better than that your hand is already really good? There isn't always trashing.

Also, without the coin, this is comparable to fugitive.

I agree that it's better than Peddler early on, but I definitely don't agree that it's "comparable to Fugitive" without the coin. Fugitive discards after drawing (which is much stronger) and can't whiff to be just a plain Cantrip.
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The Alchemist

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #41 on: October 08, 2021, 10:47:47 pm »
0



Farmer: Forms a split pile with Farmland. 5 Farmers then 5 Farmlands, independent of player number.

The on-play effect alone seems too strong for a $4 cost. At the start of a (non-Shelters) game, this effect is quite a bit better than Laboratory.

The on-play is a risky peddler that requires a collision with a victory. Even when it does collide, it's just a peddler with a single card restricted cellar effect, which is already a weak $2. The people on the discord in fact preferred the on-play priced at $3, not $4, so I don't think it's better than a lab in the open.

Do the people in discord know that discarding a victory card's not a real cost in early game, so it's better than a peddler? And how is it risky when it's always a cantrip, and when it's not better than that your hand is already really good? There isn't always trashing.

Also, without the coin, this is comparable to fugitive.

Yes, it is better than a peddler when it collides with a victory, let's say that's worth $5. It's also significantly worse than peddler with no collision, easily less than a $2. Making it $4 then, does not seem to be an issue. Discard first then draw is significantly weaker than draw first and discard, so fugitive is not a valid comparison, cellar is.
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JW

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #42 on: October 08, 2021, 11:28:28 pm »
0

Yes, it is better than a peddler when it collides with a victory, let's say that's worth $5. It's also significantly worse than peddler with no collision, easily less than a $2. Making it $4 then, does not seem to be an issue. Discard first then draw is significantly weaker than draw first and discard, so fugitive is not a valid comparison, cellar is.

The Cellar comparison is inapposite. When you discard only a single Estate to Cellar, you draw one card and end up with fewer cards in hand than you had before, worse than if you had drawn that next card instead of Cellar to begin with (because you discarded an Estate). When you discard Estate to Farmer, you draw two cards and end up with the same number of cards in your hand.
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Timinou

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #43 on: October 08, 2021, 11:34:10 pm »
0



Quote
Vanishing Coin | Treasure | $3
$1
Trash a card you have in play.
-
When you trash this, +1 Card +1 Buy and gain a Vanishing Coin.

Adventurer isn't good. We all know that. But if you could clear out your coppers, it would be a lot better. Still not too strong, but hey. I wanted to add a card that made you happy to see Adventurer and its split pile on the board.

This card isn't nearly enough to redeem Adventurer. Adventurer is so weak that it needs a card that directly interacts with Adventurer to power it up, like the topt card I've proposed above (which isn't my entry for this contest, because I like my entry better than that idea, so feel free to copy any or all of it).

Adventuring Village
$4
Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions.
You may trash a Copper from your hand; or, you may play an Adventurer from your hand, for +1 Card and +1 Buy.

IMO, Capitalism is the card that redeems Adventurer, provided you have good Copper trashing. 
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #44 on: October 09, 2021, 02:15:40 am »
+5

 Sidekicks Results

I too, wish we had a viable card called Adventurer (It's part of my username after all). But we don't. The original Adventurer would be fine costing $2. So it would take quite a lot to make it worth paying $6 for it. I will first address the two cards that were meant to go on top of Adventurer.

Quote
Trailblazer (by arowdok)
$4 cost - Action
Reveal your hand and discard pile. Trash a revealed Copper from both.
If no Coppers were trashed, gain a Trailblazer. If you can't gain a Trailblazer, gain an Adventurer and a Gold.
If you have no Coppers to trash, then you're not going to want another Trailblazer (you probably don't need a second one anyway). Probably the "gain a Trailblazer" part should be "trash a Trailblazer from the supply". So Trailblazer is a decent Copper trasher (which could probably cost $3 imo), but Copper trashing isn't nearly enough to make Adventurer worthwhile. (although getting the Adventurer for free helps.)

Quote
Vanishing Coin (by anordinaryman)
$3 - Treasure
Trash a card you have in play.
-
When you trash this, +1 Card, +1 Buy, and gain a Vanishing Coin.
I like this better than Trailblazer. Vanishing Coin is a nice Treasure/ruins trasher that trashes itself when you're done with it. It's a fine card, but it takes more than this to make Adventurer worthwhile.

Now, all the others:

Quote
Destitute Village (by JW)
$1 cost - Action
+3 Actions
+1 Buy.
+1 Card for each Raider you have in play.
(on top of Raider)
I like it. Villages and +buy are (almost) always in demand. We always want more than one village -unless there are other villages available of course, but then you might get it for the +buy. Raider is not so awful that it's beyond help, and it's not a card that's important to get early, so it's not hurt too much by having another card on top. Is there any reason Destitute Village costs $1 instead of $2? Thematically, it's a little weird for the village to like having Raiders around. But whatever. Theme isn't that important to this game in general. I also think it's a little weird for a village to go on top of a night card, which doesn't need actions.
FINALIST

Quote
Cupbearer (by Timinou)
$3 cost - Action
+1 Card
+1 Action.
Reveal the top card of your deck. If it's an Action, put it in your hand. Otherwise, discard it.
(on top of Prince)
This is nice and simple and it ensures there's always a viable target to play Prince on. It kind of looks like a fixed version of Sage. The fact that it's weaker than Herald gives it an excuse to cost $3, but it looks like it'll be pretty strong for $3 once you've done some building and trashing.
disclaimer: It's hard for me to judge a card that's supposed to go with Prince because I've only played with Prince a couple times so I have almost no first hand idea of how strong/weak it is. (I prefer playing IRL to online. I have almost every set, but not Prince.)

Quote
Old Boot (by Chappy7)
$2 cost - Action - Duration
+2 Cards.
At the start of your next turn, choose one: trash an Old Boot from the supply, or move the Boot token to an Action supply pile (card from that pile cost $1 less).
(on top of Cobbler)
I like the card, and as I mentioned, I like the way it's designed to go empty and works nicely with Cobbler, but (as faust said) Cobbler is a card you want in the early game so having a card on top of it hurts despite the synergy. I don't think they will go empty fast enough to help Cobbler more than it hurts.
FINALIST

Quote
Stablehand (by spineflu)
$2 - Action
+2 Actions
Gain a Horse.
The next time you gain a Horse this turn, gain an additional Horse.
(on top of Livery)
Livery is a good choice of card to nerf by putting something on top of it. And this is a good fitting card to put on top of it. I can't think of much else to say here.
FINALIST

Quote
Lockbox (by 4est)
$2 - Treasure
+$1, +1 Buy.
If you have the Key, +$3 and trash this.
(on top of Treasurer)
Another nice simple cheap card to go on top of a strong $5 card. +buy and being on top of a strong card should make it go empty without much trouble. The problem with this is the interaction of Treasurer taking it out of the trash and playing it for another $4. So instead of +$3, Treasurer basically gives +$7 (not including +$1 from the Key), which'll make it all the more frustrating for a player who can't manage to play 2 Treasurers in a turn (1 to take the Key and 1 to get a Lockbox from the trash). And there's no limit to how many times you can do it once there's a single Lockbox in the trash.

Quote
Scrying Bones (by Xen3k)
$2 cost - Action
+2 Cards
+1 Action
+1 Coffers.
Put two cards from your hand on top of your deck.
(on top of Mystic)
This is nice for Mystic. Mystic isn't specifically a card you need early, more often you decide if you want it at all. I think in the way that this helps Mystic be stronger, it also makes it less interesting. I think it's more fun to guess correctly with Mystic when you didn't use another card to peek. Then if you guess wrong, you can always play another Mystic. I guess I just don't agree that Mystic wants a card (in the same pile) to synergise with it. This is a pretty subjective contest...

Quote
Scrapyard (by Boomyday)
$4 cost - Action
+2 Cards
+1 Action.
Gain an Estate and a Silver.
-
When you trash this, +2 Cards, +1 Action, and gain a Duchy or a Gold to your hand.
(on top of Forge)
No one wants to dig through this much junk to get to Forge. Especially if it's the only trasher on the board, when Forge shows up, if you want it at all, you probably want it as soon as you can get it. You certainly don't want a self-junker if Forge is the only trashing on the board. Scrapyard might actually work better if Forge was on top and Scrapyard underneath it. That way, you can get Scrapyard once you've trashed down already, but it probably wouldn't be worth it even then.

Quote
Skeptic (by NoMoreFun)
$2 - Action
+$1.
Trash a card from your hand. If it costs less than this, +1 Card, +1 Action.
(on top of Mountebank)
A Junk Dealer variant for $2? Nice. Very strong for $2, but you could make the Chapel argument, that a card this essential should be easily available to all players. It should make Mountebank games less of a slog. Winning the Skeptic split may be just as important as winning the Curse split. In short, I like it, but I think it may be a bit too strong.
semiFINALIST

Quote
Projection (by Aquila)
$2 - Treasure
At clean-up, you may trash a Treasure you would discard from play this turn, to gain a Treasure costing up to $3 more than it.
(on top of Venture)
Venture is the official attempt to fix Adventurer, and Venture is actually fun and worth buying sometimes. Also, it's not a card you want early in the game anyway, since it's much better after you trash your Coppers. So putting this on top of it may help more than it hurts. It turns Coppers into Silver, then it can turn itself into a Venture once they're uncovered. Well done. Hopefully this isn't the only Copper trashing on the board though.
semiFINALIST

Quote
Land Survey (by xyz)
$4 - Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
Discard any number of Victory cards revealing them. $1 per card discarded.
(on top of Rebuild)
This is fine. I mean, the problem with Rebuild isn't that it's too strong, it's that it's an unfun, one-card strategy. This could maybe make it slightly more fun? The more I think about it, the more I think it could actually make it a little more fun. Rebuild itself would be weaker, not only because there's a card on top of it, but if multiple players are going for it, then you won't be able to get as many Rebuilds as you want before the pile runs out. It's been a long time since I've played with Rebuild at all (I use a modified version which is really a different tfb card with the same name), so it's hard to me to judge this, but it looks like potentially a good attempt at making Rebuild more fun. Just maybe, it could work better as part of a multi-card strategy instead of focusing only on Rebuild. 
semiFINALIST

Quote
Goshawk (by mandioca15)
$3 - Action - Reaction
+2 Cards
———
When you play a card that has two or more types, you may play this from your hand.
(on top of Falconer)
A card with this text really should be a blue dog, imo. Anyway, this seems like a fine card, but I don't really see that it goes with Falconer (except for the similarity in the reaction, but that doesn't make much of a synergy). Falconer, as a gainer, is a card that's better to get early. I always thought Falconer seemed weak for $5, and putting Goshawk on top doesn't help it much.

Quote
Treasure Vault (by silverspawn)
$2 - Treasure
You may discard an Action card for +$4.
(on top of King's Court)
I probably had a poor choice of assignment for this contest. I didn't foresee that about half the entries would use official cards that I don't like playing with, and that makes it harder to judge. Anyway, I do think this card might improve King's Court games, both by making it easier for both players to spike $7 (so the first person to spike it doesn't run away with the game), and by making there be fewer King Courts in the pile...
semiFINALIST

Quote
Outriders (by Mahowrath)
$3 - Action - Duration
+1 Card
+1 Action
At the start of your next turn, if this is still in play, +2 Cards
-
Discard this from play when another player buys a card with at least $2 unspent.
(on top of Outpost)
I get the idea that this'll give you a five card hand for those Outpost turns, but I think this will be too strong in the early part of the game when people aren't producing a lot of coin every turn. Considering its early game strength, Outriders will probably go empty pretty quick, so Outpost isn't weakened much by having it there. Like with Mystic, I think there are enough ways to take good advantage of Outpost without it having a synergy in the same pile.

Quote
Art Colony (by emtzalex)
$2 - Action
+1 Card
You may play an Action card from your hand. If you did, reveal the top card of your deck. If it's an Action costing less than the card played, play it.
(on top of Artisan)
I really like how this card works together with Artisan, and as Art Colony is a cheap cantrip, it shouldn't be much trouble to uncover the Artisans. This is my favorite of the entries that go on top of official gainers. Also, since Artisan costs $6, you might not be able to get it real early anyway, so I don't mind putting another card on top of it as much.
FINALIST

Quote
Farmer (by The Alchemist)
$4 - Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may discard a Victory card for +1 Card and +$1.
-
When you Trash this, +$2.
(on top of Farmland)
This looks a lot like (the updated version of) Land Survey, but Farmer is more like Shepherd. Shepherd is a strong card. This has the limitation that you can only discard one victory card per Farmer you play for the benfit, but the benefit is even stronger than Shepherd for one victory card, and this is still a cantrip if you draw it without a victory card, unlike Shepherd. Also, I don't like the idea of putting a card on top of Farmland. It doesn't need a nerf, and it's fun to Farmland an Estate into a good $4 card and still have plenty of Farmlands left in the pile to turn your Farmlands into Provinces.

It's hard to choose from the few finalists, but I think I'll go with...
Stablehand by spineflu as the Winner
...which proves that just because I don't have a lot to say about a card doesn't mean I don't like it.

Runners up:
Art Colony by emtzalex
Destitute Village by JW

Honorable mention:
Vanishing Coin by anordinaryman. Would've been a finalist if it went on top of Venture instead of Adventurer.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2021, 02:34:24 am by LibraryAdventurer »
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spineflu

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #45 on: October 09, 2021, 10:33:57 am »
+1

Oh wow, ty so much LibraryAdventurer. Lemme ponder about what to make the next contest and I'll have that up soon.
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LibraryAdventurer

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #46 on: October 09, 2021, 06:20:17 pm »
+2

PS: @xyz: I almost missed that you changed your entry. In the future, you probably want to make a new post to let the judge know you updated your card. There was a big improvement between the two versions.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2021, 06:26:07 pm by LibraryAdventurer »
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emtzalex

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Re: Weekly Design Contest #130: Sidekicks
« Reply #47 on: October 15, 2021, 12:15:00 am »
+2

Quote
Art Colony (by emtzalex)
$2 - Action
+1 Card
You may play an Action card from your hand. If you did, reveal the top card of your deck. If it's an Action costing less than the card played, play it.
(on top of Artisan)
I really like how this card works together with Artisan, and as Art Colony is a cheap cantrip, it shouldn't be much trouble to uncover the Artisans. This is my favorite of the entries that go on top of official gainers. Also, since Artisan costs $6, you might not be able to get it real early anyway, so I don't mind putting another card on top of it as much.
FINALIST

It's hard to choose from the few finalists, but I think I'll go with...
Stablehand by spineflu as the Winner
...which proves that just because I don't have a lot to say about a card doesn't mean I don't like it.

Runners up:
Art Colony by emtzalex
Destitute Village by JW

Thanks LibraryAdventurer! I was really happy with how Art Colony turned out, and how it works with Artisan.



I designed several more of these. Here are a few of my favorites, all of which cost $2 and go on top of an official $5 or $6 non-Victory card (I've yet to satisfactorily resolve the question of how many cards go in a non-Victory/Victory split pile). One of these (Sheep) works for two official cards, so it shows up twice.


SHEEP
ALTAR
                         

Quote from: Sheep
Sheep
Action

Cost: $2
+$2
You may play a Sheep from your hand.


When you trash this, +1 Card, +1 Action.






CABIN BOY
CAPTAIN
                         

Quote from: Cabin Boy
Cabin Boy
Action - Duration

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action
At the start of your next turn, you may play an Action card from your hand.






CURATOR
HIRELING
                         

Quote from: Curator
Curator
Action - Reserve

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action
Put this on your Tavern mat.


At the start of your turn, you may reveal 4 differently
named cards in your hand and call this, for +1 Buy, +$3.







HUNTER
HUNTING GROUNDS
                         

Quote from: Hunter
Hunter
Action

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action

You may discard 2 cards for +1 Action, +$1.






EYE OF NEWT
APPRENTICE
                         

Quote from: Eye of Newt
Eye of Newt
Reaction

Cost: $2
Directly after you finish playing an Action card, you may discard this for +1 Card, +1 Action.
At the start of your buy phase, you may discard this for +1 Buy.
When you trash this, gain a Gold.


During your Action phase, this costs P more.






ARCHIVIST
ARCHIVE
                         

Quote from: Archivist
Archivist
Action - Duration

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action

At the start of your next turn, reveal your hand. If you revealed exactly one Archivist, +4 Cards.






CLOTH MERCHANT
BAZAAR
                         

Quote from: Cloth Merchant
Cloth Merchant
Action

Cost: $2
+2 Cards
+1 Buy







SHEEP
BUTCHER
                         

Quote from: Sheep
Sheep
Action

Cost: $2
+$2
You may play a Sheep from your hand.


When you trash this, +1 Card, +1 Action.






FAGIN
COUNTERFEIT
                         

Quote from: Fagin
Fagin
Action

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action

You may gain a Copper to your hand.







HENCHMAN
VILLAIN
                         

Quote from: Henchman
Henchman
Action

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action

Reveal the top card of your deck. If it’s an Attack card, put it into your hand.







FIELD HAND
HARVEST
                         

Quote from: Field Hand
Field Hand
Action - Reaction

Cost: $2
+1 Card
+1 Action

You may put this onto your deck.


When something causes you to reveal this (using the word "reveal"), +1 Action.






SPIRE
PATROL
                         

Quote from: Spire
Spire
Action

Cost: $2
+4 Cards
+2 Actions

Put 5 cards from your hand onto your deck in any order.

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he/him/his

Thanks to Shard of Honor for his Extended Version of the Dominion Card Image Generator, which I use to mock up my fan cards, and to Violet CLM, who made the original.
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