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[J410]

With overpay, you can pay more for a card to get an extra effect.
With overplay, you can supercharge a card as you play it!

The contest this week is: Design a card that uses the overplay mechanic

Overplay can happen through either spending extra actions to play the card, or by playing multiple copies of the same card at the same time, as defined by the card.

Action-overplay FAQ:

• Spend extra actions as you play the card, before following its instructions.
• You can only overplay actions if the card has an action-overplay effect ('per action overplayed')

Card-overplay FAQ:

• As you play the card, slide any number of extra copies of the card under the played card to make a stack.
• This does not cost any extra actions and you only follow the instructions of the top card.
• You can only put extra copies of the card in play if the card has an overplay effect ('per card overplayed').
• For other cards that care: these extra cards are considered played from hand and in-play and are discarded with the top card (similar to throne room).

Here are two examples:

$4 Action - Scaling remodel Trash a card from your hand. You may gain a card costing up to $2 more per action overplayed.	$2 Treasure - Fools gold (alternative) +$1 +$4 per card overplayed
A remodel variant that is weaker if played normally, a remodel if played using two actions and much stronger beyond that. Can upgrade copper to province using 5 actions.	Fools gold using the overplay mechanic (without reaction), though it requires playing all your copies at the same time.

Contest rules:

• Make sure the card states whether to use extra copies of the same card or actions for overplay (feel free to use a better wording for your card).
• While this mechanic is primarily for regular cards, feel free to use it on card-shaped objects if you can get it to work.
• Additional mechanics are fair game.
• Submit your card within a week from now (see post date). There will be a 24h warning.

Judging criteria include: fun, simplicity, balance, scalability and most importantly, use the mechanic in an interesting way.
This is my first contest run on this forums, I'll do it as good as I can but might miss some things (and this post might get some edits). If you have any questions, please let me know.

[Ethan]

Trait - Aligned
When you play an Aligned card, follow its instructions, then +2 Cards per card overplayed.

Turn your extra copies of Aligned card into Labs.

[BryGuy]

Prospector/Panner • Randomizer
For four or less players, this pile starts with one more copy than players; otherwise use five copies. All Prospectors are on top.

Prospector • $4 • Action
+2 Cards
+3 Actions
Discard a card.
Overplay: Per Action, +2 Cards and discard three cards.

Panner • $6 • Action
+4 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
Discard two cards.
Overplay: Per Action, +1 Card and +$1

So it took a while to come up with this. The idea is that these both can filter your deck to increase the odds of collision. While the first is loaded with actions, the overplay is not great, so you must really think about using it. The second has a much better overplay, but it needs action support. 

[NoMoreFun]

I'm a bit confused by the "additional copies" thing - taking the interpretation of "spending multiple actions to play a card".

Dog Breeder
Action - $5
+3 Cards
Overplay: +1 Card per Action

So it's a Smithy that you can spend extra actions on to draw more cards.

[J410]

I'm a bit confused by the "additional copies" thing

I've updated the top post with a longer explanation (and split between action and card overplay), hope that helps to reduce the confusion.

[Will(ow|iam)]

Eager
Trait
When you play an Eager card, you may overplay 1 Card to follow its instructions twice.

[J410]

This is your 24h warning. Get your entries in while you still can!

[J410]

The contest is closed, but if you manage to get your submission in before judging (in about 6 hours), I will still happily accept it.

[J410]

So let the judging begin. First the cards themselves:

Trait - Aligned When you play an Aligned card, follow its instructions, then +2 Cards per card overplayed.	You can play additional copies of Aligned cards as labs. Simple and works on any card, even treasures (except cards that are already a lab(+)). Having the +cards after following any instructions makes it very kind to cards like Menagerie, Poor House and Tactician, though remodelers would prefer it the other way around. Rating: 8/10
Prospector/Panner • Randomizer For four or less players, this pile starts with one more copy than players; otherwise use five copies. All Prospectors are on top. Prospector • $4 • Action +2 Cards +3 Actions Discard a card. Overplay: Per Action, +2 Cards and discard three cards. Panner • $6 • Action +4 Card +1 Action +1 Buy Discard two cards. Overplay: Per Action, +1 Card and +$1	Both cards sift a lot, with the top card also functioning as double village and the bottom card as lab with +buy. Both cards are very strong (compare to e.g. Fugitive, Inn, Sibyl), even without the overplay option. They do seem balance-able, so I will try to ignore it for the rest of the judging. I do like the overplay options, and I'd be quite excited to see a more balanced version in a kingdom. Rating: 8/10
Dog Breeder Action - $5 +3 Cards Overplay: +1 Card per Action	Simple and sleek Smithy+ at $5. Will be fun to play with in kingdoms with villages, but I expect it to be too weak otherwise (but that might be true for more cards with this mechanic). Maybe a villager on-gain spices that up a bit, or maybe too much, I don't know. There's also the minigame of guessing whether to use all your remaining actions or not, which is really neat for such a simple card. Rating: 8/10
Eager Trait When you play an Eager card, you may overplay 1 Card to follow its instructions twice.	Turns any pile into a throne room... Except that it only works on copies of the card itself. So in the end, you can play two copies without spending an action twice, while already having the second card in play on the first execution of the instructions (which matters for cards like Souk). It'll be weird to have this as your only village. Rating: 8/10

I made a ranked all the cards for each of the judging categories, listed here from least to most important, and within each category from best to worst (don't read too much into the color coding):
Scalability (does the card behave nicely with no/small/large overplay): Aligned, Prospector/Panner, Dog Breeder, Eager
Simplicity: Dog Breeder, Aligned, Eager, Prospector/Panner
Balance: Aligned, Eager, Dog Breeder, Prospector/Panner
Fun (excited to see in the game): Prospector/Panner, Eager, Aligned, Dog Breeder
Interesting use of mechanic: Prospector/Panner, Eager, Aligned, Dog Breeder
The ratings listed above are the (rounded) weighed averages of these categories. A close call, but there can only be one winner...

Winner: Aligned by Ethan
Runner up: Prospector/Panner by BryGuy