WDC #173: New Year's Resolutions
Commentary & ResultsHappy New Year everyone, and thanks for the submissions and resolution ideas. I had hoped for more resolutions focused mainly on playing Dominion vs. on card design, but I didn't specify that, so that one is on me
I also wasn't expecting so many fan mechanics in the entries. I'm usually not great at evaluating those, but I'll do my best here.
OPs are linked, shortlisted entries are bolded, enjoy!
Eventful by Will(ow|iam)A Trait that turns its card into a sort of Black Market variant that lets you play a Treasure and buy a set-aside event. Black Market is one of my favorite cards and the idea of doing something similar for Events is interesting, but I think tacking this kind of varying event thing onto onto a Trait (which also varies) is just way too complicated. It would be much simpler as just an Action card (or perhaps a Treasure without the play a Treasure part).
Balance by arowdokFan mechanics are always tough for me to evaluate. Prophecies seem simple enough I suppose, though arguably, a one-time game-wide effect needs to be impactful enough to be worth using, but not so impactful that it breaks the game. Reversing the turn-order is interesting at a glance but I think on paper the effect won't be felt as much as it might seem. It's nice for the last player to get an extra turn midgame, but aside from that (and in cases of ties I guess), I don't think it significantly changes up player's strategies in most cases.
Early Wakeup by majiponiA cheap Treasure that makes $4 at first and then gets worse as the pile gets smaller. I know DXV has tried scaling cards like this before in the form of VP cards (see Duke's secret history), the issue there had to do with the card swinging wildly between worthless and amazing depending on how many you/your opponents get. In practice, Early Wakeups are a no-brainer opener and likely remain $2 Golds or at least Silvers in most games. It really should cost more I think--probably $4 or even $5, at least to not break the opening. These are tricky to cost, but I think it works better than the scaling VP one.
Gold Mine by NoMoreFunIt's Mine, but as a Treasure! And hey it can trash Actions too. Mine isn't a good card of course, but making it a Treasure does help it quite a bit. It's non-terminal, and they can chain themselves together which is neat though rarely gamebreaking. I know lots of people don't love Mine, but this past year's major influx of new Treasures is making Treasure-gainers like Mine better with each set, and Gold Mine would play especially nice with a lot of the new Prosperity and Plunder Treasures.The trashing actions piece likely doesn't come up a whole lot, but it will be nice when it does. Solid entry.
Hibiscus by BryGuyAnother fan mechanic, so Gophers are basically +Buy tokens, seems easy enough. Hibiscus gives you +Buy and a Potion this turn, and then gives you that again next turn but only if someone else buys a Potion card. There are several issues here. First, even with Gophers instead of straight +Buy, this is very weak. It's essentially an expensive Ducat that doesn't provide economy. Unless you're playing like an all Alchemy kingdom like a Vineyards board or something, the Potion is rarely going to be that helpful (since you already have one to buy this card). Other players will rarely buy one Potion card, let alone multiple for the Duration effect to do much (which even if they got 3 Potion cards, +3 Gophers +3 Potions is not that impressive). Finally, the 2P cost is very expensive for this effect. Compare to Scrying Pool, University, and Apothecary, all of which have a much more helpful effect than Hibiscus.
Continents by AquilaMore fan mechanics, I'll do my best here. Continents are an interesting idea to try and make for longer games if players are interested in that or want to help make multiplayer games a bit longer, though apart from the extra set-up and endgame rules, these don't feel all that different from Edicts (if I'm remembering those correctly). Paradisiac sounds nice in practice, there's definitely always those attacks that suck so much worse in multiplayer. Obviously, there will be boards with no Attacks where this does nothing. The on-trash thing is fine but feels a bit tacked on, and a lot of times you won't ever want to trash (when you have good Attack cards or when handsize attacks are out there). Cavernous feels like an Ally, sort of a combo between Cave Dwellers and Desert Guides. Volcanic is the most interesting of the three, it's like Cathedral, but not at the start of your turn, which is typically a bit easier to work around. One fix: it needs a handsize restriction or an on your turn restriction to prevent junking attack pins.
Diet by xyz123A one-shot that trashes itself and two cards and gains a card costing up to the combined costs of the cards you trashed. Even with the nerf from 3 cards to 2, I think Diet is still too strong. This is nearly strictly better than Feast, though I guess it's at least more interesting. Most of the time, you can get a $5 or $6 out of this by trashing at least one Estate, and it's actually not hard for this to gain Provinces in the late game--I do actually like that part of it, though there will be boards where this might be a little dangerous. Diet seems too automatic in the early game, and I feel like it should come with some additional penalty. It's an interesting case where costing less actually would make it weaker, so perhaps trying at $2 would be worth checking--it's possible to open with two of them which is maybe too strong, but then gaining $5s is harder.
Mansion by JWI'm all for replacing Harem, though Mansion is pretty similar to Nobles. It's a Necropolis unless you discard an Action and then you get a sort of sifting Village. Nice when you've got weak Actions to discard to it, but I think it's going to be pretty weak on a lot of boards. You don't want to discard your Actions when you have a card that gives you +Actions. Additionally, Nobles already can do Necropolis and it can also draw 3 cards without having to discard an Action. Could it replace the payload part of Harem instead by providing $ instead of cards? I guess that doesn't synergize as well with a Village, but something along those lines.
Cutter by emtzalexIt's the mythical +2 Cards +$2 card that doesn't exist, here as a one-shot. The Barge-style, now or at the start of next turn this is kinda a neat, and I like how you've figured out a way to have it stay in play for tracking purposes. Personally, I think it's simpler without the Reaction, though including it is fine and will get a few free plays out of it. Nice one.
Temptation by fika monsterWayy too much text here. 10 lines! I don't think the concept is all bad--it's sort of an Anti-Changeling where you can junk yourself with a Temptation for an extra copy of a card that you gain--I like that, there's some Stonemason vibes in there too. The on play is complicated though and the choice of letting players gain copies of cards in my hand or getting -2VP is very feels-bad. I'd say the penalty of a mostly useless stop card feels like plenty, and you could still grant it some other simple on-play or bonus that's mildly helpful or harmful, but it's still mainly the bottom you'd use this for.
Covenant by czzzzSort of a Treasure Vassal and it's got Crystal Ball vibes too. I like the simplicity and it will be fun to chain a bunch of these together or with other Kingdom treasures. It's going to compete with a lot of other $5s. The +Buy will be pretty random in most games which I don't really like--perhaps it should just give it straight out instead of conditionally (or not give it at all). Unlike Vassal where discarding Treasures with it doesn't really hurt that much usually, discarding Actions with this is going to feel pretty bad. There's not really a good way around this issue without it becoming too similar to Crystal Ball (Hmm I suppose you could have it grant +Buy or even +$1 and +$1 Buy like Figurine if you discard an Action, maybe? Not a great consolation, but it's something), but I think it's still an interesting card that will have a use in some Kingdoms.
Strategy by LordBaphometA double-Lab if all your cards in play and in your hand have only one type and it makes multitype cards cost less. The top is interesting and it does make you look at the board a bit different and perhaps go for strategies you wouldn't otherwise pursue, though I worry it might be a bit monolithic and shutting down all the fun multi-types maybe isn't always that fun (There are huge swaths of Dominion that this just won't play nice with: Durations, Attacks, etc.). The bottom sort of makes up for this by making multi-types cheaper (it should probably not work on VP cards). Overall, I like that Strategy will vary significantly based on the rest of the kingdom, though it's a bit odd to me that the two parts of the card antisynergize. You don't want multitypes if you go for Strategies and you don't want Strategies if you're getting a bunch of cheap multitypes.
Amateur by D782802859A $1 card! The gain and play is cool and nicely eliminates the whole $11 Herbalist problem you sometimes see with cheap +Buy cards. It's also interesting that the card sort of changes function depending on how you play it--when during your Action phase, you'll often end up spending the Villager right away, whereas if you play it after buying one, you'll keep the Villager for next turn, making it feel more like an $1 Event that gives you a village next turn. Players will have to be careful not to fill their deck with these though! Big fan of this one.
Gateway by SignErrorIt's a bad Tools, but you get to play the card right away, neat. On a lot of boards, your opponent will just make you gain and play things you don't want (or potentially even things that can harm you if they force you to take a mandatory trasher. You also get this cool Horn of Plenty minigame where you try to get one of everything in play so you can cash in your Gateways for Provinces. It's going to be a lot harder to pull off than Horn mega-turns, but I think it's still plenty interesting on its own as a wonky gainer.
The Drunken Sinner by sumrexA cantrip trasher similar to Junk Dealer that can either trash 1 card from your hand, or 3 cards and gain a Copper. I like the simplicity, however even with the comparison to Hideout, I think this has to cost $5 or possibly even more given the strength of early trashing. Even just cantrip trasher is a very strong $4, and the 3 card option makes this an automatic open on nearly all boards. Hideout trashing Estate doesn't actually thin, while even the Copper gain option on this still thins you two cards (and often replacing an Estate with a Copper). I'd recommend giving it another penalty of some sort and increasing it to $5 to compare to Junk Dealer or Count vs. Hideout.
Honorable Mentions: Gold Mine by NoMoreFun, Cutter by emtzalex
Runner Up: Gateway by SignError
WINNER: Amateur by D782802859Congrats to D782802859 and thanks everyone for participating!
Finally, in case anyone is interested in my Dominion resolution: it's to find time to play against more human opponents. As I've gotten busier with work and kids, I have less time for playing live games and I've spent much more time playing AI opponents since it's okay to be interrupted, but I can tell this is starting to cause me to develop some bad habits in how I play. While the Temple Gates AI is a LOT better than Lord Rattington, there's still something different about playing against real life people that I don't think AI can replicate (at least not yet).
Here's to another year of Dominion
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Topic: Weekly Design Contest #173: New Year's Resolutions (Read 2594 times)