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[xyz123]

For the next contest the brief is to design a new spirit card together with another card or horizontal that provides a method of gaining it.

The rules/restrictions for this are:
- The spirit card you design must not be in the supply and must include the type Spirit.
- Remember that your spirit card can also be gained by Exorcist. Consider that when deciding on the card's nominal cost. It should always be possible for Exorcist to be able to gain your spirit card regardless of what else is in the kingdom.

Other than the above you are free to take this wherever you want.

The deadline will be 00:00 UTC on Monday 14th February. I will judge the cards within the next couple of days after that.

Good luck everyone and I hope you have fun.

[Augie279]

A card that can make its own draw-to-X engine. How much getting rid of your own cards to harvest some Souls is up in the air, though you do have the freedom to trash non-Durations from play if you want to have your cake and reap it too.

Edit because I forgot: There are 10 Souls.

[4est]

Here's my entry this week. Shaman is a Wishing Well variant, that lets you name a card and pick up the matches from the top three cards of your deck. If you're lucky, you can draw 3 cards non-terminally, though this will be rare outside the early game. Additionally, if you name Bear, look at that, you get a Bear.

Bear is an Upgrade variant, that can gain a card costing exactly $1 more or $1 less than the trashed card. It's a handy Spirit that can trash Coppers and Curses, turn Estates into $3 costs, turn Golds into $5 costs, and more. There are 10 Bears.

Early on, you'll have to choose between using Shaman to draw Coppers (or your other opening card) to spike a high price point, or forgo the draw altogether to gain a Bear instead. Once you've got a Bear or two in the deck, Shamans can try to summon them to your hand (or summon trash targets for your Bears). Bears can quickly clean out your starting cards, and can pull off some fancy midturn gains later if you're clever. Should their population in your deck become unbearable, they can trash one another into Estates or other Shamans.

[spineflu]

Distillery • $5 • Action
+3 Cards
You may play a Whisky from your hand. If you don't, you may gain a Whisky.

Whisky • $3* • Action - Spirit
Set up to 2 cards from your hand aside. If neither was a Victory card, +1 Action.

(This is not in the Supply)

Oh, spirit?

[NoMoreFun]

Shrine Pool
Action - $3
+1 Card
+1 Action
Play up to 3 Silvers from your hand (they still produce $). If you played 3, gain a Lady Luck. Otherwise, +1 Card per Silver Played.

Lady Luck
Action/Spirit - $7
+1 Action
Return this to its pile. If you did, put your deck and discard pile into your hand.

[LibraryAdventurer]

Distillery • $5 • Action
+3 Cards
You may play a Whisky from your hand. If you don't, you may gain a Whisky.

Whisky • $3* • Action - Spirit
Set up to 2 cards from your hand aside. If neither was a Victory card, +1 Action.

(This is not in the Supply)

Oh, spirit?

I think the 2nd sentence of Whisky should be "If you set aside two cards and neither was a Victory card". As it is, it's not clear whether you get the +1 Action if you don't set aside any cards (or only one). Also, it's like Island in that there's no way to get back the set-aside cards, right?

[Gubump]

[faust]

This gives a way to basically buy Spirits, if you accept some temporary junk card. The Spirit is trying to provide things that are currently missing from the Spirit realm without making Exorcist overpowered.

There are 8 Essences.

[faust]

It seems like Haunted Mansion/Will-o-Wisp is essentially a 1-card engine; buys, draw, economy is all provided. You don't even need other Spirits.

[faust]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

[emtzalex]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

Having only every played Nocturn online (and never having pushed up against the pile limits), I had no idea that there were not the same number of each Spirit.

• Will-o'-Wisp...(12 copies...)
• Imp (13 copies)
• Ghosts (6 copies)

This breakdown is...strange. Ghost seems to be pegged to Haunted Mirror, with the same number of copies (enough for 1 per player in the largest possible games). Less clear why there are 12 WoWs versus 13 Imps. Maybe Imp gaining with Tormentor is slightly more prolific than Wow gaining with Boons / from Exorcist trashing Estates? Maybe 12 WoWs is pegged to 4 players using Exorcist to trash their Estates? Or the 13 Imps has to do with them being mischievous/evil (and thus there is an "unlucky" number) versus the more lucky WoWs? Or it's a prime number since Imp's are more chaotic?

[spineflu]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

Having only every played Nocturn online (and never having pushed up against the pile limits), I had no idea that there were not the same number of each Spirit.

• Will-o'-Wisp...(12 copies...)
• Imp (13 copies)
• Ghosts (6 copies)

This breakdown is...strange. Ghost seems to be pegged to Haunted Mirror, with the same number of copies (enough for 1 per player in the largest possible games). Less clear why there are 12 WoWs versus 13 Imps. Maybe Imp gaining with Tormentor is slightly more prolific than Wow gaining with Boons / from Exorcist trashing Estates? Maybe 12 WoWs is pegged to 4 players using Exorcist to trash their Estates? Or the 13 Imps has to do with them being mischievous/evil (and thus there is an "unlucky" number) versus the more lucky WoWs? Or it's a prime number since Imp's are more chaotic?

two cards other than exorcist that give imps. swamps gift is only one of twelve boons - hard to empty the pile that way.

[faust]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

Having only every played Nocturn online (and never having pushed up against the pile limits), I had no idea that there were not the same number of each Spirit.

• Will-o'-Wisp...(12 copies...)
• Imp (13 copies)
• Ghosts (6 copies)

This breakdown is...strange. Ghost seems to be pegged to Haunted Mirror, with the same number of copies (enough for 1 per player in the largest possible games). Less clear why there are 12 WoWs versus 13 Imps. Maybe Imp gaining with Tormentor is slightly more prolific than Wow gaining with Boons / from Exorcist trashing Estates? Maybe 12 WoWs is pegged to 4 players using Exorcist to trash their Estates? Or the 13 Imps has to do with them being mischievous/evil (and thus there is an "unlucky" number) versus the more lucky WoWs? Or it's a prime number since Imp's are more chaotic?

I think Imp is 13 rather than 12 because otherwise there would have been a blank. The flavor thing you mentioned is probably an added bonus.

[faust]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

Having only every played Nocturn online (and never having pushed up against the pile limits), I had no idea that there were not the same number of each Spirit.

• Will-o'-Wisp...(12 copies...)
• Imp (13 copies)
• Ghosts (6 copies)

This breakdown is...strange. Ghost seems to be pegged to Haunted Mirror, with the same number of copies (enough for 1 per player in the largest possible games). Less clear why there are 12 WoWs versus 13 Imps. Maybe Imp gaining with Tormentor is slightly more prolific than Wow gaining with Boons / from Exorcist trashing Estates? Maybe 12 WoWs is pegged to 4 players using Exorcist to trash their Estates? Or the 13 Imps has to do with them being mischievous/evil (and thus there is an "unlucky" number) versus the more lucky WoWs? Or it's a prime number since Imp's are more chaotic?

two cards other than exorcist that give imps. swamps gift is only one of twelve boons - hard to empty the pile that way.

I definitely had games where Swamp's Gift was set aside with Druid and the Will-o-Wisps emptied.

[silverspawn]

those are the best games. Mass Will-o-wisp is so much fun

[anordinaryman]

I sought out trying to create a boon that was a remodel variant because I saw that missing from the spirits. Except, the design ended up better with the Action card being a remodel variant.

Transfigure | Action | $4
Trash the top card of your deck. If it costs $4 or more, gain a Sprite.

Choose one: gain a card costing up to $2 more than the trashed card, or gain a card from the trash.

Sprite | Night - Spirit - Fate | $3*
Trash this.
-
When you trash this, if you haven't already trashed a Sprite this turn, take three boons. At the start of your next turn, receive them in any order.
(This is not in the Supply.)

There are 10 Sprites in the Supply.

I like the idea of this random remodeler. If it hits a high cost card, you get a Sprite, which is a card that likes to get trashed (synergy!) and also self-trashes... which Transfigure can recover from the trash!

Total open to feedback.

Some open design questions:
- Do I need to limit Sprite to once per turn? I want to avoid someone resolving more than 3 boons at the start of their turn, but is this necessary? It seems difficult to consistently recover Sprites from the trash (you have to have cards to transfigure into them, or get lucky with a Fortress at top of deck).
- Is the cost right for Transfigure? I think the randomness of top-deck, combined with the potential to gain Sprites makes this on-par with Remodel.
- It's important to me that Transfiguring Sprites doesn't gain more Sprites because that's just too wild. So the question here -- is Sprite appropriately priced for Exorcist? I believe so comparing it to Fool. If not, would it work to raise the Sprite gaining to $5? I am also thinking that Sprite might be sort of weak so it could cost less? Although I like that transfiguring it turns it into a $5, but it seems that someone would be very unlikely to exorcise a 4 cost to get it, so maybe it should cost $2. I do like costing it $3 so it can be hit by more opponent trashing attacks. Also, this is a great card to gain via exorcist because it is great food for exorcist, so I actually am settled on $3 being okay on Sprite right now. But you can tell I am conflicted.

[emtzalex]

My submission:

Mischievous Fairies • $3* • Night - Reserve - Spirit Put this on your Tavern mat. Set aside a non-Duration Action card you have in play. At the start of your turn, you may call this to play the set-aside card. (This is not in the Supply.)	Fairy Ring • $4 • Action - Night If it's your Night phase, gain an Action card onto your deck costing up to $1 per differently named card you have in play (counting this). Otherwise, gain a Mischievous Fairies.

My submission is Mischievous Fairies. A mix between Ghost and Way of the Turtle (with the Reserve mechanic mixed in), it sets aside an Action card already in play, and allows a player to play the card at the start of one of their turns. While it may offer slightly more control than Ghost (both allowing the choice of cards in play and the choice not to play it at the start of each turn), it has a greater chance of missing (if drawn with no Action cards) and only plays the set-aside card once, rather than twice. And while the Reserve mechanic's ability to hold the card back until it is needed is great for cards that want collisions (making it like WotT), each turn you wait keeps both cards out of your deck.

There are 17 copies of Mischievous Fairies.

To get Mischievous Fairies, I created Fairy Ring, a day/night gainer that can always get MF, but will (generally) cost an Action to do so. If you save it for your Night phase, it gains an Action from the Supply, and topdecks it, but only if you have enough differently-named cards. There are some neat synergies here, as you can first use FR to gain MF, then use both (if you have them together) to set up collisions.


EDIT:
Submission updated (on the advice of Gubump) to fix Mischievous Fairies so they don't set aside Duration cards (which has tracking issues, and also allows a player to play a single copy of Hireling multiple times).

Old Version

[Gubump]

My submission:

Mischievous Fairies • $3* • Night - Reserve - Spirit Put this on your Tavern mat. Set aside an Action card you have in play face up (on this). At the start of your turn, you may call this to play the set-aside card. (This is not in the Supply.)	Fairy Ring • $4 • Action - Night If it's your Night phase, gain an Action card onto your deck costing up to $1 per differently named card you have in play (counting this). Otherwise, gain a Mischievous Fairies.

My submission is Mischievous Fairies. A mix between Ghost and Way of the Turtle (with the Reserve mechanic mixed in), it sets aside an Action card already in play, and allows a player to play the card at the start of one of their turns. While it may offer slightly more control than Ghost (both allowing the choice of cards in play and the choice not to play it at the start of each turn), it has a greater chance of missing (if drawn with no Action cards) and only plays the set-aside card once, rather than twice. And while the Reserve mechanic's ability to hold the card back until it is needed is great for cards that want collisions (making it like WotT), each turn you wait keeps both cards out of your deck.

There are 17 copies of Mischievous Fairies.

To get Mischievous Fairies, I created Fairy Ring, a day/night gainer that can always get MF, but will (generally) cost an Action to do so. If you save it for your Night phase, it gains an Action from the Supply, and topdecks it, but only if you have enough differently-named cards. There are some neat synergies here, as you can first use FR to gain MF, then use both (if you have them together) to set up collisions.

Mischievous Fairies has issues with Duration cards. As worded, you can e.g. play a Hireling and then set it aside with MF in the same turn.

[silverspawn]

the problem I see is that Transfigure can gain colonies from the trash

[emtzalex]

Mischievous Fairies has issues with Duration cards. As worded, you can e.g. play a Hireling and then set it aside with MF in the same turn.

Thanks. I updated it so it no longer sets aside Durations. Here is the new version (also in my initial post):

Mischievous Fairies • $3* • Night - Reserve - Spirit
Put this on your Tavern mat. Set aside a non-Duration Action card you have in play.
At the start of your turn, you may call this to play the set-aside card.
(This is not in the Supply.)

[spineflu]

In general, I think this contest needs a reminder that people need to specify how big the pile of the Spirit they designed is.

Having only every played Nocturn online (and never having pushed up against the pile limits), I had no idea that there were not the same number of each Spirit.

• Will-o'-Wisp...(12 copies...)
• Imp (13 copies)
• Ghosts (6 copies)

This breakdown is...strange. Ghost seems to be pegged to Haunted Mirror, with the same number of copies (enough for 1 per player in the largest possible games). Less clear why there are 12 WoWs versus 13 Imps. Maybe Imp gaining with Tormentor is slightly more prolific than Wow gaining with Boons / from Exorcist trashing Estates? Maybe 12 WoWs is pegged to 4 players using Exorcist to trash their Estates? Or the 13 Imps has to do with them being mischievous/evil (and thus there is an "unlucky" number) versus the more lucky WoWs? Or it's a prime number since Imp's are more chaotic?

I think Imp is 13 rather than 12 because otherwise there would have been a blank. The flavor thing you mentioned is probably an added bonus.

i still don't get why he'd do that and not 13 hexes.

[spineflu]

Distillery • $5 • Action
+3 Cards
You may play a Whisky from your hand. If you don't, you may gain a Whisky.

Whisky • $3* • Action - Spirit
Set up to 2 cards from your hand aside. If neither was a Victory card, +1 Action.

(This is not in the Supply)

Oh, spirit?

I think the 2nd sentence of Whisky should be "If you set aside two cards and neither was a Victory card". As it is, it's not clear whether you get the +1 Action if you don't set aside any cards (or only one). Also, it's like Island in that there's no way to get back the set-aside cards, right?

If you didn't set aside a victory card, (including if that means you didn't set aside a card at all) you get the +1 Action.

and yes, there's no way to get back the set aside cards, like island.

[LastFootnote]

i still don't get why he'd do that and not 13 hexes.

Oh man, I didn't even think of that during testing. I might have pushed for it, but honestly getting to 12 Hexes was hard enough.

[X-tra]

Probably not to break the 12 Hexes 12 Boons symmetry? I dunno.

[anordinaryman]

the problem I see is that Transfigure can gain colonies from the trash

Hmm… with transfigure it’s hard to get colonies in the trash in the first place. You have to luckily have them on top of deck when you play it, and play a second transfigure.

But with salt the earth it becomes ridiculous. Upgrade, too, and rebuild.
Is this risk worth restricting it to not gaining victory cards? Or an odd less than $8 clause?

[Gubump]

the problem I see is that Transfigure can gain colonies from the trash

Hmm… with transfigure it’s hard to get colonies in the trash in the first place. You have to luckily have them on top of deck when you play it, and play a second transfigure.

But with salt the earth it becomes ridiculous. Upgrade, too, and rebuild.
Is this risk worth restricting it to not gaining victory cards? Or an odd less than $8 clause?

Restricting it to non-Victories would be awful; nobody wants to risk losing 10 from playing their Transfigure. Less than is better, but still has the problem of people not wanting to Locust themselves.

[anordinaryman]

the problem I see is that Transfigure can gain colonies from the trash

Hmm… with transfigure it’s hard to get colonies in the trash in the first place. You have to luckily have them on top of deck when you play it, and play a second transfigure.

But with salt the earth it becomes ridiculous. Upgrade, too, and rebuild.
Is this risk worth restricting it to not gaining victory cards? Or an odd less than $8 clause?

Restricting it to non-Victories would be awful; nobody wants to risk losing 10 from playing their Transfigure. Less than is better, but still has the problem of people not wanting to Locust themselves.

oh that's an excellent point!!! Thanks for pointing that out!

 I think in that case I will have to live with the possible Colony gaining. I did some more thought and it's kind of hard to activate...
1. Remodel a Colony into a Colony.
2. Play Transfigure, trash a card that is not colony and gain the trashed Colony.
But it is actually more complicated-- if you drew your deck, then you play remodel, when you play Transfigure you trash a colony so you don't net an extra Colony from it! You have to gain a card first. And if you can't draw your deck, it's difficult to line up the Remodel with a Colony!
So it's actually kind of like.
1. Draw your deck
2. Remodel-variant a Colony into a Colony (Salvager works too). Note that these cards are pretty much always terminal.
3. Top-deck a card, or Gain a card to the top of your deck (OR gain several cards and then get lucky on your Transfigure play)
4. Play Transfigure to trash the non-colony, and then gain the colony you trashed in step 1.

That's a lot of steps and it'll be rare that Kingdoms can support this. So I think I will just live with this as a potential powerful combo to exploit in those Kingdoms.

[silverspawn]

playing transfigure *always* gets you the colony back; you don't need to setup anything. There can be a copper, silver, laboratory on top, whatever.

trashing a colony for benefit is not trivial but well... rebuild remodel replace salvager expand apprentice forge salt the earth transmogrify and I'm sure there are many others

[faust]

the problem I see is that Transfigure can gain colonies from the trash

Hmm… with transfigure it’s hard to get colonies in the trash in the first place. You have to luckily have them on top of deck when you play it, and play a second transfigure.

But with salt the earth it becomes ridiculous. Upgrade, too, and rebuild.
Is this risk worth restricting it to not gaining victory cards? Or an odd less than $8 clause?

Restricting it to non-Victories would be awful; nobody wants to risk losing 10 from playing their Transfigure. Less than is better, but still has the problem of people not wanting to Locust themselves.

oh that's an excellent point!!! Thanks for pointing that out!

 I think in that case I will have to live with the possible Colony gaining. I did some more thought and it's kind of hard to activate...
1. Remodel a Colony into a Colony.
2. Play Transfigure, trash a card that is not colony and gain the trashed Colony.
But it is actually more complicated-- if you drew your deck, then you play remodel, when you play Transfigure you trash a colony so you don't net an extra Colony from it! You have to gain a card first. And if you can't draw your deck, it's difficult to line up the Remodel with a Colony!
So it's actually kind of like.
1. Draw your deck
2. Remodel-variant a Colony into a Colony (Salvager works too). Note that these cards are pretty much always terminal.
3. Top-deck a card, or Gain a card to the top of your deck (OR gain several cards and then get lucky on your Transfigure play)
4. Play Transfigure to trash the non-colony, and then gain the colony you trashed in step 1.

That's a lot of steps and it'll be rare that Kingdoms can support this. So I think I will just live with this as a potential powerful combo to exploit in those Kingdoms.

Well, you simply need to do the thing before you have drawn your deck. If you have a card remaining in your deck you can be sure that you won't hit the gained Colony.

Also the issue isn't there with Salvager, which gains the extra Colony later. And there are other problematic cards which can put Colonies in the trash, Swindler comes to mind.

[Timinou]

i still don't get why he'd do that and not 13 hexes.

Oh man, I didn't even think of that during testing. I might have pushed for it, but honestly getting to 12 Hexes was hard enough.

Next contest....design a 13th Hex.

[silverspawn]

That's unironically not a bad idea

[nyxfulloftricks]

https://i.imgur.com/3TG4tYg.png Wisperer Night - Duration $4 Set aside the top 5 cards of your deck face down under this (you may look at them). At the start of your next turn, put them on top of your deck in any order. - While this is in play, cards cost $2 less on your turns. Walking Stick Treasure - Heirloom $2 $1 When you play this, you may gain a Spirit costing up to $0. Whispering Woods Landmark When scoring 1% per Spirit you have. Setup: Summon Spirits. Wind Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1 Coffers. (This is not in the Supply.) Water Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1 Villager. (This is not in the Supply.) War Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1%. (This is not in the Supply.) Willow Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, put it in your hand. (This is not in the Supply.) I found that will - o' - wisp was one of my favorite Spirits, so I wanted to double down on that. I have provided two cards that can be paired with my heirloom Walking Stick. The Landmark version provides an all in Wisp strategy comparable to Rats I think. While my other kingdom card Wisperer, *whispers* shhh we need to keep quiet about the spelling, I know *whispers* is a card that will help to set up your wisp strategy and possibly allow you to gain other Spirits besides the Wisps. All Wisps are piles of 12 Edit: I've updated Walking stick for brevity. For those who feel Wisperer is too strong, my thoughts are that it doesn't give you the cost reducer for buying cards on the turn you play it, and since it requires cards in your deck to be able to remain out for the duration (and with it being duration it does miss the shuffle), the $2 isn't overpowered, especially since none of the cards I made give a buy. It is essentially a silver for next turn when you have no buy. I've considered the interaction with workshop and it doesn't feel much different than if it was a cost reducer of $1 rather than $2. For the small interaction of remodel, yes it is strong, but in the case you can set up two of these on the turn before and then gain a province, you could have done something similar with other kingdom cards without all the hooplah. It also encourages something outside of just going with wisps.

[faust]

Whispering Woods Landmark When scoring 1% per Spirit you have. Setup: Summon Spirits.

Walking Stick Treasure - Heirloom $2 $1 When you play this, you may gain a Spirit costing up to $0.

Wisperer Night - Duration $4 Set aside the top 5 cards of your deck face down under this (you may look at them). At the start of your next turn, put them on top of your deck in any order. - While this is in play, cards cost $2 less on your turns.

Wind Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1 Coffers. (This is not in the Supply.)	Water Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1 Villager. (This is not in the Supply.)	War Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, +1%. (This is not in the Supply.)	Willow Wisp Action - Spirit $0* +1 Card +1 Action Reveal the top card of your deck. If it costs $2 or less, put it in your hand. (This is not in the Supply.)

I found that will - o' - wisp was one of my favorite Spirits, so I wanted to double down on that. I have provided two cards that can be paired with my heirloom Walking Stick. The Landmark version provides an all in Wisp strategy comparable to Rats I think. While my other kingdom card Wisperer, *whispers* shhh we need to keep quiet about the spelling, I know *whispers* is a card that will help to set up your wisp strategy and possibly allow you to gain other Spirits besides the Wisps.

Some commentary on this.

1) Not sure what "Setup: Summon Spirits" is supposed to mean. You don't need special setup rules for Spirits.
2) Why does Walking stick say "up to $0"? Cards in Dominion cannot cost less then $0, so you might as well just say "a Spirit costing $0".
3) Wisperer's cost reduction seems very strong. There is a bit of a tricky thing here in that you need to still have cards to set aside, which may be tricky on the 2nd play - I like that design-wise. But I worry that even 1 Wisperer per turn is too good.
4) I am not convinced that in a game with Whispering Wood you ever want to add anything to your deck except for Spirits (and possibly $2 cards). A bunch of Will-o-Wisps in, you draw your deck, then you can starting adding War Wisps to generate VP indefinitely.

[nyxfulloftricks]

1) Not sure what "Setup: Summon Spirits" is supposed to mean. You don't need special setup rules for Spirits.
2) Why does Walking stick say "up to $0"? Cards in Dominion cannot cost less then $0, so you might as well just say "a Spirit costing $0".
3) Wisperer's cost reduction seems very strong. There is a bit of a tricky thing here in that you need to still have cards to set aside, which may be tricky on the 2nd play - I like that design-wise. But I worry that even 1 Wisperer per turn is too good.
4) I am not convinced that in a game with Whispering Wood you ever want to add anything to your deck except for Spirits (and possibly $2 cards). A bunch of Will-o-Wisps in, you draw your deck, then you can starting adding War Wisps to generate VP indefinitely.

The reason I added setup: Summon Spirits was because other cards have setup rules and I felt it was weird Spirit cards did not. Also, it was just cute flavor mostly. I modeled Walking Stick text off of other gainers, but you are correct in that "s Spirit costing $0" is simpler and will work. I'll get that adjusted. I agree that Wisperer's cost reduction could be strong, but due to you needing enough cards in your deck to be able to set aside for it to be a duration and thus get the bridge effect it might be okay. If everyone thinks that is too strong I'm not opposed to lowering the cost. As far as Whispering Woods goes, I considered lowering the number of available War Wisps, and/or changing scoring the be 1 VP per different Spirit you have. Due to you potentially avoiding other kingdom cards with that landmark is the reason I made Wisperer, as an alternative way to play with Walking Stick and is more of my main entry.

[LibraryAdventurer]

1) Not sure what "Setup: Summon Spirits" is supposed to mean. You don't need special setup rules for Spirits.
2) Why does Walking stick say "up to $0"? Cards in Dominion cannot cost less then $0, so you might as well just say "a Spirit costing $0".
3) Wisperer's cost reduction seems very strong. There is a bit of a tricky thing here in that you need to still have cards to set aside, which may be tricky on the 2nd play - I like that design-wise. But I worry that even 1 Wisperer per turn is too good.
4) I am not convinced that in a game with Whispering Wood you ever want to add anything to your deck except for Spirits (and possibly $2 cards). A bunch of Will-o-Wisps in, you draw your deck, then you can starting adding War Wisps to generate VP indefinitely.

The reason I added setup: Summon Spirits was because other cards have setup rules and I felt it was weird Spirit cards did not. Also, it was just cute flavor mostly. I modeled Walking Stick text off of other gainers, but you are correct in that "s Spirit costing $0" is simpler and will work. I'll get that adjusted. I agree that Wisperer's cost reduction could be strong, but due to you needing enough cards in your deck to be able to set aside for it to be a duration and thus get the bridge effect it might be okay. If everyone thinks that is too strong I'm not opposed to lowering the cost. As far as Whispering Woods goes, I considered lowering the number of available War Wisps, and/or changing scoring the be 1 VP per different Spirit you have. Due to you potentially avoiding other kingdom cards with that landmark is the reason I made Wisperer, as an alternative way to play with Walking Stick and is more of my main entry.

A double discount on a $4 cost card is crazy strong even for just one of them. Maybe you could say "While this is in play, card cost $1 less, and Spirits cost an additional $1 less than that." (or a better wording with that effect)

[Xen3k]

Devoted Thrall - $4
Action
+2 Actions
+$2
If you have 3 or more Action cards in play, trash this and gain a Lost Soul from its pile.
----
You may buy this from the trash as if it was in the Supply.

Lost Soul - $0*
Night - Spirit
You may pay any amount of $. If you did, exchange this for a Spirit costing less than what you paid from one of the Spirit piles.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Devoted Thrall is an undercosted Silver/Village that trashes itself if you have two or more Action cards in play when you play it. The bonus is that you gain a Lost Soul and you can always buy a Devoted Thrall from the trash if you are so inclined to do so. Lost Soul is basically a place-holder Spirit. You can save your money until the Night phase to exchange a Lost Soul for any other Spirit, as long as you saved enough coin. Until you do, it acts like Junk and helps balance out the strength of Devoted Thrall. Feedback is appreciated.

[LibraryAdventurer]

Retired Dread Pirate
$5 - Action - Reserve
Reveal the top card of your deck. If it's a Duration card or a Treasure, you may play it. You may gain a Gold for each Duration card you have in play. If you gained any Golds, put this on your tavern mat. Otherwise, +1 Action and gain a Ghost Pirate.

Ghost Pirate
$2 - Night-Duration-Spirit
When you discard a Treasure or Action-Duration card from play this turn, you may set it aside. At the start of your next turn, discard any number of Coppers from your hand for +1 Card each, then put the set-aside card into your hand.

FAQ: Once placed on the tavern mat, the Retired Dread Pirate stays there for the rest of the game.

Not a really serious entry, but it is my entry nonetheless.

[AJL828]

Dryad
Action ($2)
+1 Action
Trash a card from your hand. If it costs $1 or more, gain a Forest Spirit.



Forest Spirit
Action - Spirit ($2*)
You may gain a Silver.
+1 Card per differently named card you've gained this turn.

[LibraryAdventurer]

Dryad  Forest Spirit

Flavor nitpick: A dryad is a forest spirit.

[ahyangyi]

Well, in Dominion pixies are not spirits, I'd argue that dryads are even further.

[ahyangyi]

Well, my last comment inspired me to fix the "Pixie is not a Spirit" problem. Now they are, at least occasionally.



Basically, a card is designated as spirit, gain that type, is $2 cheaper, but self-ghost-ships if you play more than one in the same turn.

Of course, for Pixie-Spirits you can trash the first pixie for the boon effect, then play the second without triggering the topdecking.

[jakav]

My submission:

Mischievous Fairies • $3* • Night - Reserve - Spirit Put this on your Tavern mat. Set aside a non-Duration Action card you have in play. At the start of your turn, you may call this to play the set-aside card. (This is not in the Supply.)	Fairy Ring • $4 • Action - Night If it's your Night phase, gain an Action card onto your deck costing up to $1 per differently named card you have in play (counting this). Otherwise, gain a Mischievous Fairies.

My submission is Mischievous Fairies. A mix between Ghost and Way of the Turtle (with the Reserve mechanic mixed in), it sets aside an Action card already in play, and allows a player to play the card at the start of one of their turns. While it may offer slightly more control than Ghost (both allowing the choice of cards in play and the choice not to play it at the start of each turn), it has a greater chance of missing (if drawn with no Action cards) and only plays the set-aside card once, rather than twice. And while the Reserve mechanic's ability to hold the card back until it is needed is great for cards that want collisions (making it like WotT), each turn you wait keeps both cards out of your deck.

There are 17 copies of Mischievous Fairies.

To get Mischievous Fairies, I created Fairy Ring, a day/night gainer that can always get MF, but will (generally) cost an Action to do so. If you save it for your Night phase, it gains an Action from the Supply, and topdecks it, but only if you have enough differently-named cards. There are some neat synergies here, as you can first use FR to gain MF, then use both (if you have them together) to set up collisions.


EDIT:
Submission updated (on the advice of Gubump) to fix Mischievous Fairies so they don't set aside Duration cards (which has tracking issues, and also allows a player to play a single copy of Hireling multiple times).

Old Version

It's unclear whether the set-aside card is discarded. Right now, you would permenantly lose the set-aside card. You could add a "discarding it" clause at the end of the card.

[pubby]

Enables some funky night-centric strategies. Obviously you can gain Provinces with Departure, but it's generally worse than HoP, as you can't easily double-province that way.

[Gubump]

My submission:

Mischievous Fairies • $3* • Night - Reserve - Spirit Put this on your Tavern mat. Set aside a non-Duration Action card you have in play. At the start of your turn, you may call this to play the set-aside card. (This is not in the Supply.)	Fairy Ring • $4 • Action - Night If it's your Night phase, gain an Action card onto your deck costing up to $1 per differently named card you have in play (counting this). Otherwise, gain a Mischievous Fairies.

My submission is Mischievous Fairies. A mix between Ghost and Way of the Turtle (with the Reserve mechanic mixed in), it sets aside an Action card already in play, and allows a player to play the card at the start of one of their turns. While it may offer slightly more control than Ghost (both allowing the choice of cards in play and the choice not to play it at the start of each turn), it has a greater chance of missing (if drawn with no Action cards) and only plays the set-aside card once, rather than twice. And while the Reserve mechanic's ability to hold the card back until it is needed is great for cards that want collisions (making it like WotT), each turn you wait keeps both cards out of your deck.

There are 17 copies of Mischievous Fairies.

To get Mischievous Fairies, I created Fairy Ring, a day/night gainer that can always get MF, but will (generally) cost an Action to do so. If you save it for your Night phase, it gains an Action from the Supply, and topdecks it, but only if you have enough differently-named cards. There are some neat synergies here, as you can first use FR to gain MF, then use both (if you have them together) to set up collisions.


EDIT:
Submission updated (on the advice of Gubump) to fix Mischievous Fairies so they don't set aside Duration cards (which has tracking issues, and also allows a player to play a single copy of Hireling multiple times).

Old Version

It's unclear whether the set-aside card is discarded. Right now, you would permenantly lose the set-aside card. You could add a "discarding it" clause at the end of the card.

Since it doesn't say "leaving it there", the set-aside card goes into play.

[jakav]

Gnome Treasure Cost: 5 Worth $2 Look at the top two cards of your deck. Discard any number of them, then put the rest back in any order.                           When you gain this, gain a Fairy.

Fairy Night - Spirit - Reaction Cost: 3* At the start of your next turn: +1 Action                       When you draw this, you may reveal it for +1 Card. (This is not in the supply.)

Where the Gnomes go, the Fairies follow. The Gnomes improve the gardens, and are valuable. Fairies also improve the gardens, but instead of adding value to them, they add beauty. Gnome is a Silver, with some added, useful filtering for your next turn. Though Gnome has slightly more text than is usual, it's complexity is low, is not hard to play with, and a useful buy comsidering that it comes with a Fairy. Fairy is an interesting village, it works for your next turn, cannot be drawn dead due to it's night type, and is like a cantrip because of the below the line effect. In essence, it is a different, useful village. It is a good option for Exorcist, and is good for reliability.

Feedback is appreciated.

Edit: fixed Fairy because of feedback from Gubump.

[Gubump]

Gnome Treasure Cost: 5 Worth $2 Look at the top two cards of your deck. Discard any number of them, then put the rest back in any order.                           When you gain this, gain a Fairy.

Fairy Night - Spirit Cost: 3* At the start of your next turn: +1 Action                       When you draw this, +1 Card (This is not in the supply.)

Where the Gnomes go, the Fairies follow. The Gnomes improve the gardens, and are valuable. Fairies also improve the gardens, but instead of adding value to them, they add beauty. Gnome is a Silver, with some added, useful filtering for your next turn. Though Gnome has slightly more text than is usual, it's complexity is low, is not hard to play with, and a useful buy comsidering that it comes with a Fairy. Fairy is an interesting village, it works for your next turn, cannot be drawn dead due to it's night type, and is like a cantrip because of the below the line effect. In essence, it is a different, useful village. It is a good option for Exorcist, and is good for reliability.

Feedback is appretiated.

Fairy needs to be a Reaction and say "when you draw this, you may reveal it for +1 Card." As it is currently, it has a major accountability issue because it's mandatory but your opponents have no way of seeing what cards you draw.

[jakav]

Fairy needs to be a Reaction and say "when you draw this, you may reveal it for +1 Card." As it is currently, it has a major accountability issue because it's mandatory but your opponents have no way of seeing what cards you draw.

Thank you, I've updated my submission.

[mathdude]

Fairy needs to be a Reaction and say "when you draw this, you may reveal it for +1 Card." As it is currently, it has a major accountability issue because it's mandatory but your opponents have no way of seeing what cards you draw.

Thank you, I've updated my submission.

Fairy should also be a Duration if I'm not mistaken.

[xyz123]

24 Hour Warning

Below is a list of entries I have noted. Please let me know if I missed anyone.

4est - Shaman + Bear
ahyangyi - Invoke
AJL828 - Dryad + Forest Spirit
anordinaryman - Transfigure + Sprite
Augie279 - Reaper + Soul
emtzalex - Fairy Ring + Mischevious Faries
faust - Runestone + Essence
Gubump - Haunted Mansion + Brownie
jakav - Gnome + Fairy
Library Adventurer - Retired Dead Pirate + Ghost Pirate
NoMoreFun - Shrine Pool + Lady Luck
nyxfulloftricks - Wisperer, Whispering Woods, Walking Stick + Wisps
pubby - Departure + Apparation
segura - Summoning + Elementals/Demons
spineflu - Distillery + Whisky
Xen3k - Devoted Trall + Lost Soul

[LibraryAdventurer]

Thank you for typing my name as two words so it links to the cards.

[arowdok]

Here an event I worked on this week to give out some of the Spirits in a quest like way. I noticed that Imps encourage diversty so limited Poltergeist in a similiar way that idea going.
Also I made a nonPotion version as I have noticed most posters here hate potion cost, though my reasons for wanting to use it here are: it adds more diverseity of names on the board, delays the purhase of the event, it keeps the event cheap to buy which allows players to it after buying 1 or 2 real cards in the same turn while not making it free to buy.
The gain 2 horses is because I love the Horse card, Horses work very well with Imps, Ghosts, and Poltergeist, if the Ghost pile runs out the event still works at gaining something good on turns you gained 2+ cards.

All Hallows' Eve
^ or @5
Event
If the number of cards you've gained this turn is:
2+, gain a Ghost from its pile or gain 2 Horses;
1, gain an Imp from its pile;
0, gain a Poltergeist from its pile.

Poltergeist
$5*
Action - Spirit
Reveal your hand. Choose a different thing per differently named card in your hand: +2 Actions; +2 Buys; gain a Horse; cards cost $1 less this turn; gain a card costing up to $3.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Quantity 12

These are not my entries. I thought others might enjoy tinkering with these ideas down the line and since it is late in the contest I am hopefully not be limit others' entries by posting similiar ideas.

Evil Eye
$5
Treasure
$2
-
While you have this in play, you may buy Spirits from their piles as though they were in the Supply.

Sixth Sense
$5
Project
During your turns, you may buy Spirits from their piles as though they were in the Supply.

Apparition
$3*
Action - Spirit
Choose four: +1 Card; +1 Action; +1 Buy; or +$1. You may choose the same choice up to twice.
Return this to its pile.
(This is not in the Supply.)

Banshee
$3
Night - Attack - Spirit
Each other player with 5 or more cards in hand puts cards from their hand onto their deck until they have 4 cards in hand.
You may play an Action card from your hand.
(This is not in the Supply.)

[silverspawn]

Edit: 12 Sprite Dragons in their pile.

[emtzalex]

It's unclear whether the set-aside card is discarded. Right now, you would permenantly lose the set-aside card. You could add a "discarding it" clause at the end of the card.

Since it doesn't say "leaving it there", the set-aside card goes into play.

Right. Both Innovation and Summon play set-aside cards, which go into play.

[xyz123]

Submissions Closed

I will judge the cards in the next couple of days.

[xyz123]

Results time.

I haven't playtested anything, so judgement is based on my opinion. Things I considered:
- How much I like the concept of the card.
- Are there any general problems I can see.
- When would/wouldn't I want to gain this.
- When would/wouldn't I want to play this.
- How it fits into common deck types, engine, money, etc.
- Can I think of any official cards it has interesting interactions with, this could be synergies or anti-synergies. Can I think of any official card the entry might have a problem with.
- How would the submitted Spirit play differently in Exorcist games.

Summoning + Elementals/Demons by Segura
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885353#msg885353
I like the idea for gaining the Spirits here where, you have a choice to gain them instead of another card. I also like the idea that a different selection will be in play each time with Summoning.
The big question I have is whether or not this would require a rule clarification. What happens in a game featuring both Summoning and Exorcist? Interpreting the current rules would suggest that the two selected Elementals/Demons can be gained by using either Summoning or Exorcist. The other three can still be gained by Exorcist but not Summoning. That would be correct from the Exorcist-Spirit perspective, but I am not sure if is what is best for these cards and this mechanism.
This is a great concept but I am not sure that shoehorning the Elementals/Demons in as Spirits is quite right. I think they may better as their own new type of non-supply card.

Reaper + Soul by Augie279
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885354#msg885354
Interesting idea to split engine components across the Spirit and the card that gains it. The timings of building this is interesting as you will be getting your draw cards later than you would normally buy them. In most cases your first play of the draw card (Soul) will be two shuffles after you gained your first village (Reaper).
I like it that Soul discards first before drawing to 6 to avoid the later Souls being redundant on the next turn if more than one has been played.
I do have a worry about how often Soul will be gained in games with Exorcist but not Reaper. If you are able to gain the targets to trash (for gaining Soul) quickly enough and align them with Exorcist reliably enough you have probably already built an engine and therefore don't need Soul. There might be some exceptions where you are able to get very thin very quickly, or have some powerful sifting and there is a lack of other draw options.
Where these cards might really shine is in games with Ruins. If you are attacked with a Looter it is a great counter to build up your engine. I do wonder if you would actually want to buy Ruins yourself.

Shaman + Bear by 4est
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885411#msg885411
Two variants on existing cards but both bring something new to the game. I like some of the options Bear offers. If you want to turn cards into Victory cards at the end of the game, 6 cost cards can become Duchies and 3s can be turned into Estates. It could be interesting if there are key 4 cost cards you want a lot of. Bears can turn themselves into those cards. This will be slower to set up initially, but can it help catch up later on in the race for those cards.

Distillery + Whisky by Spineflu
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885412#msg885412
Not having to go out of your way to gain Whiskys is a nice touch. If you are playing Distillery for draw the opportunity to gain them comes along anyway. The obvious use here is removing Victory cards as you go to stop them clogging up your deck, hence, I presume the reason for getting you action back if you use it on a non-victory card. Using Distillery for draw is going to strategically impact the endgame as it will allow you to start buying Victory cards earlier.
When not using Distillery on Victory cards the next use is as a way of cleaning up your deck when there are junking attacks, but I am also wondering about the viability of using extra buys or gains on Whiskey fodder to effectively make the Distillery/Whisky interaction non-terminal. Think of it as whether or not you would give up a gain or buy in return for getting another action. There are going to be kingdoms where you would make that swap.
Lastly, I presume the reason for setting cards aside as a pseudo exile is so that you do not have a way of getting potentially useful cards back.
*Note, when judging this card I assumed the cards have been set aside permanently. This isn't clear though and could be open to different interpretations. I did check the wiki for a list of cards that set others aside and each does explicitly tell the player what to do with it.
http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Set_aside#:~:text=To%20set%20aside%20a%20card,in%20play%22%20for%20any%20purpose.

Shrine Pool + Lady Luck by NoMoreFun
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885413#msg885413
Lady Luck does have a lot of potential as a Spirit. It does cost 7, which in most games with Exorcist means you will need to trash a Province to gain it. As long as you are not reliably drawing your deck and your deck is capable of gaining more than a Province per turn I can see this being worthwhile.
My worry is whether or not Shrine Pool is too good to cost 3. If it aligns with one Silver it is a Lab. When it aligns with 2 or 3 it is even better.

Haunted Mansion + Brownie by Gubump
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885416#msg885416
Agree with the comments regarding Haunted Mansion and Will-o-Wisp making an engine. I am not a fan of monolithic strategies and I consider one supply card combined with a non-supply card that it can gain monolithic.
I don't think it is difficult to fix the card. Either making it non-terminal or removing the +buy would stop it being a complete engine. There are some nice ideas here. My favourite is encouraging a player to gain multiple spirits and rewarding them for doing so. I also like the idea of making the Spirit card's cost more meaningful and it has done it in an original and interesting way.

Runestone + Essence by Faust
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885429#msg885429
Mining Village has already proven the concept that there are times you want to trash a card worth more than $2 for $2 after playing it and this applies that idea to Spirits. The question is when is it worthwhile doing so. The obvious one is your last shuffle. You won't play them again so you may as well cash them in for some Victory cards. The more interesting question is what are the other scenarios? A potential one that springs to mind is gaining Imps with Devil's Workshop. Imps are great providing you have enough different actions to support them being non-terminal. Once you reach the number of Imps your engine can support, should you trash one (or potentially more) with Essence for $2 each and gain replacements with Devil's Workshop? There are going to be other situations where it will be worth trashing your Spirits. Identifying them will make this a card that rewards skill.
I am assuming Runestone does not prohibit a $0 overpay so you can gain Will-O-Wisps. If so, this could be very strong with cost reduction where you can make Runestones free.

Transfigure + Sprite by anordinaryman
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885445#msg885445
The comments about the trash gain being a problem are correct. Gains from the trash, like from the supply do need to be bounded in some way.
I do like the trashing clauses on Sprite as this stops you running out of Boons (although still possible in a 4 player game with this and Druid), which is a potential problem with this design.
Transfigure is a lot more powerful when the kingdom enables a player to know, or even better, choose what card is on top of their deck before they play it. Otherwise it has the potential to be swingy. If you hit something you really didn't want to you can gain it back but it has still cost you an action.
With the Boons Sprite is an excellent trash for benefit target. Where gaining them can be reliable, either because Transfigure has the right support, or Exorcist is in the kingdom, it will enable trash for benefit strategies and the Boons will give it a nice boost.

Fairy Ring + Mischievous Fairies by emtzalex
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885446#msg885446
Nice complimentary theme between the two cards and yet the differences mean there will be a place for Mischievous Fairies and a place for using Fairy Ring as an action gainer.
On boards that offer a strong reliable engine, it is going to be easier to power Fairy Ring up to the point where it can gain more actions that your engine wants and this will likely be the correct use of the card.
If an engine is less reliable it will be harder to use Fairy Ring to gain the actions you want, but these will also be the types of boards where Mischievous Fairies will likely make a bigger difference. They can be used to help bootstrap your turns.
As a said before, a nice complimentary synergy, both thematically and how I think the cards will play.

Wisperer + Walking Stick + Whispering Woods + Wisps by nyxfulloftricks
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885526#msg885526
It was commented that the synergies here are very strong but I think in most cases that will be kept in check by Walking Stick being an heirloom, which (barring a few edge cases) limits Spirit gaining to one per shuffle. The flipside of it being an heirloom though is that if you were to lose it, due to a trashing attack for example, your means of gaining Spirits will be gone. Could that be too swingy?
Where you have the possibility of regularly gaining more Wisps, such as Exorcist being in the kingdom or Druid with the Swamp's Gift as one of the set aside Boons (a scenario mentioned elsewhere in the thread) then I think the power level of the synergies could become a problem.

Devoted Thrall + Lost Soul by Xen3k
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885570#msg885570
A Spirit that allows you to buy other Spirits. It does make gaining one of the official Spirits this way slow but that is fine. The nominal cost of the Spirit cards is less than what they should be if they were actions. Something that allows a player to buy Spirits has to have some sort of built in constraint or limitation to compensate. I think this is a good way of allowing Spirits to be bought.
Devoted Thrall is the card here that grabs my attention. The mechanics of an engine built using this, particularly where this the only Village are interesting. I think you would want to avoid playing anything bar villages or draw until you have maxxed out your capacity for playing Devoted Thralls, especially if your draw is terminal. Other non-terminals is something you would want to avoid playing until after this if at all possible.
There are some potentially interesting interactions if this were to be the only Village. Would it effectively turn Necromancer into one if Devoted Thralls are being trashed. Cavalry could allow you to buy it back from the trash and then play it again. With the right non-terminal support that could increase your terminal space.

Retired Dead Pirate + Ghost Pirate by LibraryAdventurer
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885571#msg885571
What should happen if the top card of your deck when you play Retired Dead Pirate is a Night Duration? Do they then end up being played in your action phase? This potentially causes a problem with Crypt as you would not normally have Treasures in play during your action phase. It also has an impact on how Ghost plays.
There are some nice ideas here. I like the Gold gaining is optional. Ghost Pirate offers a nice way of smoothing out an engine if you are unable to get rid of your starting Coppers.
I think some of the conditions on the cards would be better if they found a way not to be limited to Durations. Ghost Pirate couldn't work on all Action cards as that would be overpowered. The problem though is if you have no other Durations in the kingdom as then Ghost Pirate would only work on itself and Treasures.

Dryad + Forest Spirit by AJL828
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885572#msg885572
Simple support cards have a place in Dominion and it is only right they should also have a place in the card design contests. I like these cards.
Forest Spirit could help both engine and money decks. If there are Gainers, Remodelers, etc, in the kingdom than this could be an additional source of draw. I like that the Silver gaining is optional. It widens the scope of when the card can be used. You might want it early on to boost your economy whilst your engine comes together, but there will usually be a point where you would want to stop gaining Silver. The Silver gained could also be used as trash fodder so there is synergy with trash for benefit cards.
I can also see it being useful in money games. Dryad would be converting your starting Estates into Silver gainers.
There will be times this will be ignorable. If you cannot make Forest Spirit draw you are rarely going to want it for an engine.

Invoke by ahyangyi
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885590#msg885590
An event that adds an additional kingdom pile as an additional non-supply Spirit pile. Interesting idea. Top decking a card from your hand per Invoked card in play is an intriguing concept. There are many reasons why top decking cards can help, for example, getting a poor card out of your hand so something like Sage or Farming Village can skip past it, removing duplicates to activate Menagerie, avoiding terminal collision, etc. Also if running a draw to X engine, top decking a card might not make that much difference.
Having to top desk multiple cards when playing multiple Invoked cards is more of a liability. What if the Invoke pile happens to be the only village in the kingdom. It isn't clear what the right thing to do will be.
Another scenario that needs thinking about is when the Invoked card is a Victory card. You don't play these so the topdecking constraint is not relevant. They end up costing two less but with the limitation that the only way to gain them is to buy them (or gain them with Exorcist if that happens to be in the kingdom).
This has the potential to change the way some kingdoms are played, or at least think about them differently. I can't think of any situations where this would break the game, but there could be edge cases I haven't thought of.

Departure + Apparition by pubby
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885628#msg885628
Not all Action cards are meaningful when played in your Night phase, but enough are so, a card that allows you to play them in your Night phase is a simple but worthwhile idea. Apparition could change how you build your deck as you could potentially play more terminals than you have actions for, if some can be played in your Night phase.
Should Departure be a Night-Action, or does the Night phase clause only apply due to being played then because of Apparition? If it is the latter I like that it makes a more difficult to do, particularly as Departure does have the potential to gain anything (as long as you haven't already gained it yet).
Being able to only gain cards you haven't gained yet does help to keep the power level in check, with regard to running the Province (or Colony) pile, but I think there are some edge case issues. For example, this could potentially run the Castles pile. I would also question whether or not it would be too easy to gain Fortune with Departure. Maybe some upper cost limit is required in terms of what it can gain.

Gnome + Fairy by jakav
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885655#msg885655
Fairy is a nice idea. It is basically Barracks in card form. I like the reaction that means it doesn't take up space in your hand.
There is a thematic similarity in that both cards help to set up your next turn. There is a difference though. Fairy will be at its best when you are drawing your deck as then the additional +action will be consistent and predictable. Gnome will be most useful when not drawing your deck. It wants to have undrawn cards once you are playing your Treasures. If you have drawn your deck it is just a Silver.
That doesn't necessarily mean there is an anti-synergy though. Every reliable engine would have been at some point an unreliable engine whilst they are being built. Gnome could help it get through this stage quicker. Gnome could also potentially help if the engine is starting to stall when adding Victory cards.
Gnome also has interesting synergies with Black Market and Storyteller that allow you to play Treasures in your Action Phase. The Storyteller interaction is particularly interesting you can sift the top of your deck before drawing.

All Hallows Eve + Poltergeist by arowdok
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885704#msg885704
The potion or debt cost debate is interesting. I don't have an issue with potions myself. In some ways I quite like the potion option because I think you should be made to work to gain a card like Poltergeist. On the other hand though the Potion could be another card to help power up Poltergeist once you have gained it.
I like the way that All Hallows Eve does gives different Spirits in different situations. Not keen on the Horse gaining option as it breaks a very strong thematic link.
Poltergeist's strength is going to be very kingdom dependent, but I do have concerns about how powerful it potentially can be. When you are able to draw your deck, how many different cards do you typically have in your hand? Probably close to the point where a couple of these can drive a megaturn. If you can KC this or Black Market is in the Kingdom, a single Poltergeist might be enough to set up a megaturn. Maybe the number of things you can do needs to be capped.

Gemstone Mine + Sprite Dragon by silverspawn
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885706#msg885706
Sprite Dragon is a twist on Stables. You need to discard a Silver to get the +3 Cards +1 Action, but if you don't discard it is still a cantrip as opposed to doing nothing.
Gemstone Mine has synergies in that it can gain Silvers but needs to trash one in order to gain a Sprite Dragon.
I like the paradox of Sprite Dragon. It is a very good card for engines but needs aligning with a Silver to be so. I think it is definitely worth getting where there is sifting or other strong deck manipulation cards available. I am wondering if Sprite Dragon money strategies could be something. It would be like Smithy Big Money but you could get more Sprite Dragons because it wouldn't matter so much if they collide. The trick will be ensuring they align with Silvers, but Gemstone Mine can help with that by turning your starting Coppers into Silvers. With cards that allow Silver flooding this strategy could be very strong.


Honourable Mentions
Invoke by  ahyangyi
Gnome + Fairy by jakav
Fairy Ring + Mischievious Fairies by emtzalex
Dryad + Forest Spirit by AJL828

Runners Ups
Devoted Thrall + Lost Soul by Xen3k
Gemstone Mine + Sprite Dragon by silverspawn

Winner
Runestone + Essence by faust


Congratulations Faust!!!!

[Gubump]

Runestone + Essence by Faust
I am assuming Runestone does not prohibit a $0 overpay so you can gain Will-O-Wisps. If so, this could be very strong with cost reduction where you can make Runestones free.

You can't overpay to get two -cost Actions with Stonemason, so I think you'd have to overpay to get a Will-o-wisp.

[LibraryAdventurer]

Results time.
Retired Dead Pirate + Ghost Pirate by LibraryAdventurer
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21062.msg885571#msg885571
What should happen if the top card of your deck when you play Retired Dead Pirate is a Night Duration? Do they then end up being played in your action phase? This potentially causes a problem with Crypt as you would not normally have Treasures in play during your action phase. It also has an impact on how Ghost plays.

Yes, this allows you to play a Night card in the Action phase, and it's optional to play it for when you reveal a Crypt (or anything else you didn't want to play at the moment), so there wouldn't be any problem.

There are some nice ideas here. I like the Gold gaining is optional. Ghost Pirate offers a nice way of smoothing out an engine if you are unable to get rid of your starting Coppers.
I think some of the conditions on the cards would be better if they found a way not to be limited to Durations. Ghost Pirate couldn't work on all Action cards as that would be overpowered. The problem though is if you have no other Durations in the kingdom as then Ghost Pirate would only work on itself and Treasures.

I planned for the possibility, and I think it would still be decent (worthwhile sometimes at least) in kingdoms without other durations.
Did I at least get points for the Princess Bride reference?

[faust]

Thank you for the judging, and the win! New contest will appear shortly.

[faust]

Runestone + Essence by Faust
I am assuming Runestone does not prohibit a $0 overpay so you can gain Will-O-Wisps. If so, this could be very strong with cost reduction where you can make Runestones free.

You can't overpay to get two -cost Actions with Stonemason, so I think you'd have to overpay to get a Will-o-wisp.

Just to clarify, this was the intended way to play.