Finally caught up!
RESULTS
| JW | Hungry Foal - Action, 
+1 Action
Choose one: you may trash a card costing  from your hand for +1 Card; or trash this for +3 Cards. Timid Steed - Action Reaction, 
+3 Cards
-
At the start of your turn, you may discard a Treasure to play this from your hand. | Copper trasher or double Experiment on top of Smithy or start-of-turn Stables.
+: Hungry Foal's trashing can make interesting choices if the deck will later use Timid Steed, while the self trash helps with its otherwise narrow functionality. TS continues the draw function of the pile; being permanent, it's more interesting than 5 more HFs. The Smithy or Stables choice is interesting; one increases hand size more, but the other is non-terminal.
-: the interest of how much to trash with HF can be dampened a bit if you have to also gain the other 4 to get to TS. The Stables function of TS can be unreliable, needing 2 starting hand cards to connect, so the flexibility is not as free as may be liked.
Overall: mechanically sound and mildly interesting. With trash and draw in one pile, its presence will point strategies toward engines, rather like Sauna/Avanto but probably less swingy. |
| BryGuy | Fish pile Action - Reaction
In 2 or 3 player games, this pile starts with three copies; otherwise this starts with four copies of Red Fish, Green Fish, Small Fish, and More Fish. Red Fish - Action Reaction Fish, 
+1 Card
+ 
+1 Buy
+1 Villager
Return this to the bottom of the Fish pile.
-
When anyone plays a Fish, you may discard this to gain two Fish. Green Fish - Action Reaction Fish,
+2 Cards
+1 Villager
Return this to the bottom of the Fish pile.
-
When anyone plays a Fish, you may discard this to gain two Fish. Small Fish - Action Reaction Fish,
+1 Buy
+ 
+2 Villagers
Return this to the bottom of the Fish pile.
-
When anyone plays a Fish, you may discard this to gain two Fish. More Fish - Action Reaction Fish,
+1 Card
+1 Villager
Trash a card from your hand to gain a Fish.
Return this to the bottom of the Fish pile.
-
When anyone plays a Fish, you may discard this to gain two Fish. | Self-rotating pile of cheap one-shots that can react to one played to gain more of themselves.
+: some neat novelties. Villagers make the payout consistent with each one, especially Small Fish. Returning to the bottom of the pile is a simple and effective way to have the pile rotate, and likely mix up the order at the same time. They can support almost any deck strategy, yet the decision between play a Fish or discard it to keep a supply of Fish in the deck makes playing with them a bit more interesting than deck support cards like Market.
-: The order of the pile could be improved, as Red Fish is the least useful of the four early.
Overall: this pile adds a bit of everything to an engine deck, spread out across 4 different cards so they can be cheaper. I get a similar feeling as I do with Market, that it's there and always useable but not the exciting strategy centrepiece of the game. This is a bit more fun than Market with the interactive nature of split piles. So, also mechanically sound and mildly interesting. |
| faust |   | Hand preserve over Clean-up on top of game-lengthening Reaction, each with discarding synergy.
+: Wagon is new and interesting in taking Journey's hand keeping purely as card control. The mandatory discard helps to balance out what could be too easy a way to hold green. It's a brilliant top card for a Reaction bottom card, helping Reactions to be in hand between turns. Surveyor's on-play effect is suitably niche to fit a potent Reaction, yet potentially exciting and synergistic.
-: I see two issues with the Reaction in 3+ player games. One is when two players react at once; if player 1 triggers endgame and players 2 and 3 react at once, play continues to player 3's turn and so player 2's Surveyor ends up doing nothing. The other is the potential for payoff to backfire; player 1 ends the game, player 3 reacts, but player 2 gets more VP on their extra turn than 3 does, which may be enough to put them ahead. With very few windows in which to use it, there may be no opportunity to control this.
Overall: I really like Wagon, if it's not too strong, but the Reaction on Surveyor I think could give more definite self benefit. |
| majiponi | Sir Craftsman - Action Attack Knight Reaction,
Each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, trashes one of them costing from to  , and discards the rest. If a Knight is trashed by this, trash this.
-
When one of your cards is trashed, you may discard this to gain a card costing up to . | 11th Knight that can replace an attacked card with a , or react to a self thinning trash.
+: The Reaction being a soft counter to the other Knights is good. A Market Square variant that can build engines is also nice.
-: if there's no reliable way to get it in hand between turns, it might just end up being another Knight. The fun defend moments will be few.
Overall: fans of the Knights can make and add variants quite easily. This one nicely fits the combative game they create, and this will be how it works most of the time. I remain not a fan of the Knights, preferring to be allowed to create a meaningful deck, but I can't overlook the opinion of the intended audience. |
| 4est |  
  | Colourful, flavour-focused pile with new rotate methods and some variety synergy.
+: The novel ways of rotating the pile create different strategies; one player gets a Stag and the rest are rotated away for a time. This might create an interesting late game.
-: Raccoon and Fox are an anti-synergy, Raccoon reversing some trashing and making draw to X worse with increasing hand size. I don't think Fox is so strong to need this nerf, considering how late it comes; the next turn will usually draw one card and the mandatory trash may even hurt, so the Duration aspect is a slight nerf.
Overall: unless Fox is the only trashing or Wolf's attack is on average devastating, the pile seems quite skippable with Raccoon and Stag being weak starts. The interest I feel is largely in the flavour, and long term that will wear off. |
| silverspawn |   | Pile of two deck inspectors that can draw or give  .
+: Visionary is a kind and likeable Border Guard variant with the flexibility to strategically choose the . They will likely empty. Prophet is draw that can be built around, with a Reaction that is likely to be in hand but calls for draw control or a lot of sifting to work; unpleasant discards from Visionary or Prophet have some compensation.
-: they will both take some time to resolve.
Overall: with the flexibility of draw or payload with some skill involved to make the desired outcome happen, I see this pile being a very nice play experience. One could argue it could be two separate piles of 10, but it does have a meaningful if not essential interaction. |
| grep | Sepulcher - Night Reaction,
Trash a card from your hand. +1 Villager per type it has.
-
When you gain a card, you may reveal this from your hand to put that card into your hand. Haunted Mill - Action Looter,
+2 Cards
You may gain a Ruins for +3 Cards. | Villager tfb on top of terminal draw that gains tfb fodder.
+: Sepulcher trashing from hand at Night balances its power, limiting its usefulness on Coppers. The Reaction on a Night card is neat; it means gaining trash fodder straight to hand is very easy, a bit like buying or Workshop-ing Villagers directly.
-: the Reaction was "too much" for Donald to put on Sleigh, according to its Secret History, so it may be too strong. Certainly Sepulcher looks a lot stronger than Sleigh. HM gets more strong uses the more players there are, rather than stay the same.
Overall: an obvious synergy that feels rather strong. Sepulcher could be fun if balanced, but HM isn't really. |
| NoMoreFun | Headhunter - Night,
Gain a Horse.
Put this anywhere in any supply pile.
______
When you gain this, gain a card from the same pile (that doesn't come with another). Employer - Action Duration Reaction,
At the start of your next turn, +1 Buy and + .
_______
When any player gains a second card on their turns, you may play this from your hand. | Multiple gain enabler on top of payload that reacts to a second gain.
+: Headhunter being a Night makes putting it on top of the Provinces/Colonies/influential kingdom pile less trivial, potentially creating interesting strategic changes for all players. Employer adds +Buy and makes double Province/Colony turns always possible, adding a challenge of how deep down to put Hs. H will initially gain a second copy of itself, helping them to empty out. E can elegantly react to itself.
-: with a bonus turn giver, H probably becomes overly dominant. Sometimes in 2-player it will be obvious when the opponent must gain one or two Provinces/Colonies, and putting a H just below will feel cruel.
Overall: an innovative and clever pile that has a love-it-or-hate-it feel depending on the kingdom. E is nice, but I fear H may spoil things more often than add fun. |
| RovingBear | Explorer - Action Reaction,
+2 Actions
Reveal the top card of your deck. If it is a Victory card, +2 Cards.
_
When any player buys a Victory card costing at least , you may discard this for +2 Cards. Fountain of Youth - Victory,
1
_
If this is the first time you gained Fountain of Youth this turn, +2 Cards and return to your Action phase. | Village that draws with Victories on top of 1 Cavalry minus +Buy.
+: FoY might make an interesting late game buy, the draw enabling a Province as well.
-: Explorer's draw is unreliable, so unless it's the only Village they will unlikely empty. The on-buy Reaction could be on-gain. Technically an E could endlessly react to discard and draw itself, but I don't think that's particularly meaningful yet.
Overall: I don't see this pile making much of an impact on most games. FoY could likely go up to 2 for starts. |
| Zoyarox |   | Slow Sanctuary that speeds up with the Reaction - that could also save a card to protect from some hand Attacks - on top of Exile-reversing Attack.
+: Quiet Cove can react to Attacks in fun ways. Seductress is a new Attack.
-: QC can thin the deck non-terminally, but being slow without Attacks will it be worthwhile enough to empty out? S isn't a Reaction (Buried Treasure isn't), but that's minor. Its needing another Night in play feels like an unnecessary nerf; it junks at worst, but only if players thinned beforehand (Coven is the only exception).
Overall: the presence of another Attack in the kingdom will affect the strength of this pile quite strongly. Even then, I have tried making Attacks that junk on opponents trashing, which I didn't think too fun as trashing is fun. Countering Exile might feel similar. |
| LibraryAdventurer | Road Builder - Action Reaction,
Discard up to 2 cards for + each.
-
When a card gives you +Buy, you may play this from your hand.
When you discard this, you may reveal it for +1 Card and +1 Buy. Trade Route - Action Duration,
Now and at the start of next turn: +1 Card and +1 Buy, then discard a card and for the rest of the turn, cards that share a type with the discarded card cost less. | Discarding payload on top of type-specific double-Troll payload, each with +Buy synergy.
+: Road Builder is a terminal on the top of a split pile, but useful early and it can be made non-terminal.
-: discarding from anywhere to react would be nice for extra draw at Clean-up for the next hand, but the rules on Clean-up I don't think let it happen nicely. If the discarding order was mechanically spelled out it could be made to work, but it's a simple dump your hand and everything in play all at once, and being simple that will probably stay as is. So this would need 'other than during Clean-up'. Some people may not like having to remember the discarded card's types for Trade Route, and the terminal +1 Card now on it doesn't feel nice.
Overall: discarding Victories for TRs to become like 2 Bridge Trolls late game is a strong option, but while RB can make decent payload early, emptying them out doesn't seem viable enough. |
| fika monster | Wolverine - Action,
Trash an Action or Treasure from the Supply. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a copy of the trashed card. Play it, then trash it, then discard the rest.
-
Setup: put an Aristocratic Feline in the middle of the kingdom supply piles. Aristocratic Feline - Action Reaction,
+1 Card
+1 Action
+
-
When your trash or reveal this (using the word "reveal"), other than in Clean-up, you may play it. | Deck searcher that trashes its target and accelerates the game. A Peddler with Fortress and Patron properties goes to the middle of each kingdom pile; the Wolverine will grab and find them easily.
+: Felines won't be too intrusive a global change to the game, and may tame Wolverines from trashing the Supply too fast. W can search for the immediately needed card with immaculate reliability, at the balancing cost of losing that card. This is hard to sustain on anything not a Fortress or Feline, but Copper trashing is another use for it.
-: Adventures tokens and Traits might be confusing. Which of your Felines is the Reckless one? Likely they just shouldn't be affected, but how would this be implemented cleanly?
Overall: this has the potential to be good fun. Players can just manually ignore the Traits snag, though it's still inelegant. |
| Snorka |   | Throne that puts deck into discard pile to trash Treasure from it, on top of multiple choice card that can draw from the discard pile.
+: the Reaction is a neat free ability in general - better than Messenger which does it mid turn and potentially after drawing junk - but is made more meaningful with the Treasure trash. Mountain Town isn't stronger than HotMK, which is novel for an Empires style split pile, rather supports and is supported by it.
-: some people could get analysis paralysis with 10 different options on MT.
Overall: HotMK can be high skill with the mandatory Treasure trash; it rewards early but is a risky investment mid to late game if Treasures are the main payload and the discard pile can't be reliably free of them. This will affect how likely HotMK empties. Individually these cards feel like slightly weak s, but together the right player might do well with them and their strong deck control. Quite interesting. |
There are good quality designs here. But I think I can narrow things down:
Shortlist: Hungry Foal/Timid Steed, Fish, Wagon/Surveyor, Sir Craftsman, Visionary/Prophet, Wolverine + Aristocratic Feline, Hall of the Mountain King/Mountain Town
Runner-up: Wolverine + Aristocratic Feline by fika monster
Winner: Visionary/Prophet by silverspawnThere is potential in many of these designs to be made into something great. For now, though, contest 200 awaits!
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #199: Composition in Blue (Read 2057 times)