My (Arbitrary) Judgments
Groundhogosity: 3/5, Excitement: 3/5
I like this kind of slight-challenge engine-builder quite a lot; and the tension of when to spend out and when to hold onto your repeats is interesting. If you've got two of these going the tension does dissipate somewhat though, as the only time you'd let two+ go would be if you expect not to have another turn; unlike Wine Merchants where you might have 3 or 4 in the tavern and decide to let them rest a turn, if your deck isn't getting shuffled next turn.
It has something of a repeating theme, but as czzz mentioned it is a repetition that you have to work to maintain, which lowers the groundhogosity somewhat. It might have scored higher on that factor if there wasn't such heavy competition.
Groundhogosity: 5/5 - I cannot deny that this is absolutely 100% connected to Groundhog Day.
Excitement: 3/5 - I'm not a massive of most Ways, the ones that replace the card with a 1-cost effect just don't grab me most of the time (though sometimes they shine). This is a bit stronger than most, closer to a Way of the Mouse. Best case it's enabling me to get more uses out of the payload cards if I buy a lot of villages; worst case it's 100% useless because there are no villages.
Repeater
$5 Action
+2 Cards, +1 Action; Reveal all Repeaters from your discard and put them in your hand.
Groundhogosity: 2/5 - yes, there's some repeating stuff in there, but it doesn't feel groundhog-day like to me.
Excitement: 0/5 - Sorry, but a significantly upgraded lab at $5 doesn't seem interesting to me it seems like an obligatory buy that makes the game hinge on who gets them earlier. The gameplay results could be interesting if it cost 6, or if it had something like "+1 card/+1 action - put a Repeater from your discard into your hand, or reveal that you can't and +1 card". Alternating between drawing a ton of cards and drawing none (if you trigger a bad shuffle) OR just draw a lot of cards reasonably consistently (if you avoid triggering a bad shuffle) is potentially interesting gameplay, but at the price it's at it's just too good to make me happy to see it.
Groundhogosity: 1/5 - I can see the connection if I'm actively looking for it, but it doesn't FEEL connected - the gameplay doesn't lean repetitive, nor does the thematic of an executioner fit the themes of the film or the festival.
Excitement: 5/5 - I like remodelers, I like gainers, I like things that make engines work better, and I think I'll really like this. I don't know how it stacks up power-wise, but I think I'd have fun finding out.
Punxsutawney Phil
Action
$4
+1 Action
Name a card, then reveal the top card of your deck. If you named it, either put it in your hand, discard it or trash it, then +1 Card
Groundhogosity: 4/5. It's definitely got a decent amount of groundhog flavour, but I don't feel like it quite pulls together right somehow.
Excitement: 3/5 - I like the wishing well/mystic concept in theory, but in practise I tend to find myself getting annoyed at my poor guessing ability and/or having to pore through the logs to work out what three cards are left in my deck. Tying the ability to trash cards into guessing correctly makes that feel even more frustrating.
Déjà Vu - $7
Night
If this is the first time you played a Déjà Vu this turn, +1 Buy, trash this, gain a Gold, discard your hand, and set aside all non-Duration cards you have in play. Return to your Action phase and play each set aside card in any order.
Groundhogosity: 2/5 - getting a second super-powered version of the turn feels somewhat groundhoggy, but the fact it's a one-off feels rather not.
Excitement: 4/5 - $7 cards tend to be epic and gameshifting, and this will be no exception. But $7 for a one-shot feels odd... I might love it or hate it after playing with it for a while, but for now I'm leaning positive.
Groundhogosity: 6/5 - Yes, this overloaded my groundhogometer. Let me explain: Firstly, it's a groundhog doing burying stuff. Secondly, it strongly references Groundhog Day the festival, with the two modes based on the seeing-of-its-own "shadow" in another players hand. Thirdly, it produces a play-pattern where you and the other player are locked into a cycle of exiling, because as long as you play a groundhog it ends up on top of the deck and in your next hand, making THEIR groundhog then go on top of the deck, and so on until one of you makes a choice that breaks the cycle - emulating the film.
Excitement: 4/5 - It's a good card with some interesting decision-making involved, and it's just elegant.
Groundhogosity: 3/5 - While Deja Vu got dinged for being a one-shot, this takes slightly less of a ding for being available to use again next turn (while Deja Vu is always waiting on whether or not it's drawn)
Excitement: 3/5 - It either doesn't get used at all (because you can't make $8 worth off just the actions) or it results in doubled-up super-turns. It swings big, but it feels like I'd get bored/annoyed with it if I saw it often.
Golden Flute
$3 - Action
If this isn't the first time this turn you've played this card, +1 Card.
Choose one: +1 Action and +$1, or Discard a card to replay the previous Action card you played this turn that's still in play.
Groundhogosity: 4/5; redoing stuff results in doing it better the second time around - and this provides its own way to redo stuff. That feels groundhoggy.
Excitement: 3/5 Starts out as a copper, if you manage to pair it up with another copy of itself it becomes an Oasis, if you pair it with a Throne Room or similar it becomes a peddler on the second use. If that was all there was to it it'd be a 1/5; but the more general case of using it on any other action as a "-1 action, -1 card" version of a throne room makes it interesting enough that I'd be willing to give it a bit more of a go.
Costing it as $3 is a good call solely because of the $5/$2 starts that might feel overly strong with it - and while I wish it didn't have the "discard a card to" that's probably to avoid chains of Golden Flutes becoming too strong (as otherwise the third golden flute would be +1 action, +$1, +2 cards, and the fourth +3 cards)
Overall I feel like it's really close to being an exciting card, but just falls down at the end. I'd rather let it be obscenely good when you chain 4+ personally. Maybe swap the +coin and the +buy around so it starts out better but the super-powerful scaling is just a +$(x-1) dollar, rather than a +(x-1) cards.
Initiate
$5 - Action - Duration - Attack
+1 Card
At the start of Clean-up, you may reveal a Curse from your hand. If you do not, each other player gains a Curse. Otherwise, at the start of your next turn, +1 Action and put this into your hand.
Groundhogosity: 4/5 It's got the looping down, and the idea of learning a lesson from the harm that you do to others. I like it.
Excitement: 2/5 - It's a terminal +1 card. Terminal +1 card just feels wrong. I know it turns into a Hireling if you're stuffed full of curses, but I still don't like it.
Way of the Groundhog
Way
Reveal your hand. If it contains a copy of this, +6 Actions and ignore any further +Actions you get this turn. Otherwise, +$1.
Groundhogosity: 3/5 - +6 actions and ignore and further +actions you get this turn doesn't feel like winter to me. The idea is decent, but the execution doesn't get all the way.
Excitement: 3/5 - The natural way to take advantage of this is to fill your deck with lots of copy of the same terminal (likely a terminal draw card) knowing that if they collide you can get enough actions to play basically all of them. That sounds interesting, though it could get grating if it happened too often. Fortunately any given way will be quite rare, so I don't expect to get tired of it.
Groundhogosity: 3/5: Every turn starts the same, but can turn out different. There's a definite connection there.
Excitement: 4/5: It really rewards building a strong engine and makes things more consistent once you get there. Possibly too much so, but at least it's likely to lead to a swift end of the game. Interestingly it stacks with itself, so if you can afford $10 and two buys you can stack 10 cards up (if you can afford $15 and 3 buys you probably should just be winning). As with all my judgements this is likely to change with play, but at the moment I like it.
Grinder
$5 - Treasure
+$5
This turn, you can't buy cards you don't have copies of in play.
Groundhogosity: 2/5 - I can see what you're going for, but it doesn't feel groundhoggy to me.
Excitement: 1/5 - It's a horrendously nerfed version of Tools; costs one more, maxes out at cost 5, doesn't actually give you +buy so you need to already have that to get meaningful use of the cash flood, and doesn't let you do anything else with the rest of your cash. Tools is a strong $4, but this is an abysmally weak $5.
Uses two State-Ways which are printed on opposite sides to each other (like Deluded-Envious): taking one overrides the other and lets you use the associated way.
Groundhogosity: 5/5 - very groundhog, much day.
Excitement: 2/5 Again, it's a way, and I'm not a great fan of those. It's also another two ways, and a pair of linked states. It's complicated. But for some reason I like it - the secondary ways are powerful enough to feel really useful, and the entryway way is a tactical choice when to use. But it feels like it'll lean rather heavy on the shuffling, and that pulls it back down a bit.
Recur
Action/Duration - $4
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may set aside an Action or Treasure from your hand. Gain a card costing up to $1 more than it. At the start of your next turn, play the set aside card.
Groundhogosity: 1/5 - it's called "Recur" but it doesn't actually recur anything. It just plays the card once, later.
Excitement: 4/5 - it's an intriguing cantrip - delay playing a card in order to get +1 action (if it's an action) and gain a card costing 1 more than the delayed one. I feel like it's probably rather strong, but not so obviously too strong that I wouldn't get some fun out of playing with it.
Omit - $2
Event
+1 Buy
At the end of this Buy phase, set aside your deck and discard pile, and put them into your discard pile at the end of your next turn.
Groundhogosity: 4/5 - it gets you into a perpetual loop that repeats until the game ends.
Excitement: 2/5 - At $2 and 0 buys it means that once someone's hit $10 they can buy a province every turn. That seems too strong, but at least it's interesting - and of course, a precarious engine may fail sometimes as they get a starting hand of all payload.
Vortex
Night - Duration
Set aside any number of non-Duration Actions you have in play, face down (under this). While any remain, at the start of each of your turns, play one of them.
This is gained to your hand (instead of your discard pile).
Groundhogosity: 3/5 - doubling up on things is groundhoggy, but having it be fed out piecemeal less so.
Excitement: 5/5 - I just really like the idea of this - I'm the sort of person who loves Crypt despite knowing it's weak, and this is Crypt but for actions and working as a village, and cheaper. If Crypt weren't so widely considered terrible I'd think this was too good.
My Submission:
 |
Gobbler's Knob • $4 • Victory - Reaction
Worth 1VP per Groundhog you have.
When something causes you to reveal this (using the word “reveal”), gain a Groundhog.
Heirloom: Groundhog |
|
|
 |
Groundhog • $0* • Treasure - Heirloom
Reveal the top card of your deck; you may discard it. Either way, if it is an…
Action card, +1 Villager
Treasure card, +$1
Victory card, +1 Coffers
(This is not in the Supply.) |
Groundhogosity: 3/5 - it's got a solid groundhog theming, but nothing about the mechanics feels groundhoggy to me.
Excitement: 0/5 - the rapidity with which Gobbler's Knob+Groundhogs snowball if you've got any revealing means they'd be a dominant strategy if they serve any purpose at all. Sometimes of course they'll just be a full gamble (which I also dislike). And the fact that it can give +$1 OR +1 coffers as though they're alternatives rather than one being an upgrade of the other just kinda annoys me.
Winner 4est with the delightfully elegant Groundhog.
Honorable Mention Vortex by JW Link was a very close second here - I prefer it as a card, but as an entry for this particular challenge Groundhog edged it out.
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #177: Groundhog Day (Read 4027 times)