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Weekly Design Contest #207: Vanilla on the Side

The title indicates what this contest is about, but the details are a little nuanced.  Your task is to design something* that does not provide any Vanilla effects, but includes gaining (or exchanging for) a non-Supply card that only provides Vanilla effects.  Examples of official cards that meet the criteria for the contest are Marauder, Pillage, Hermit, Sleigh, and Demand.

Contest Guidelines:

• *For your main entry almost anything goes, including kingdom cards, landscapes, and all mechanics up to and including Plunder.  It just can’t be a non-supply card itself and it can’t include Vanilla effects, namely +1 Card, +1 Action, +1 Buy, and +$1.
• There are some effects that are similar to Vanilla effects, but are not Vanilla themselves.  For example “... put card(s) into your hand,” and “you may play an Action card…” are not Vanilla.  But you need a good reason to use that instead of a Vanilla effect (see Throne Room, Will-O’-Wisp, and Imp wording).
• The main entry needs to do something besides just gain the non-Supply card.  This disqualifies Ride and Stampede.
• The non-Supply card’s only benefit should be Vanilla effects.  You could use an existing non-Supply card that meets the requirements (i.e. Spoils, Madman, and Horse).  Just make sure your main entry is different enough from existing things that use that non-Supply card.  Or you could make your own; just let me know how many cards are in the non-Supply pile. Don’t worry if your non-Supply card has the same effect as someone else’s, especially if it is simple.
• The non-Supply card can use various types, such as Action, Treasure, Night, Duration, and even Victory.  Some types, such as Attack, must be attached to a non-Vanilla effect, so they can’t be used.  Reactions could go either way: a non-Suply card like Trail would be OK, but Moat would not (Attack protection is not Vanilla).
• The non-Supply card can include drawbacks.  Most notably this is returning itself to its pile.  Your non-Supply card is not required to do that.  Also, it’s OK if the drawback could be a benefit in some rare interaction (i.e. infinite gains for Collection), just make sure that interaction does not apply to your main entry or the non-supply card itself.
• The non-Supply card can involve a condition (such as Madman’s draw varying with the number of cards in your hand).  It could also involve choices.  Just make sure that the only benefits are Vanilla effects.
• Your entry must contain both card text and a mock-up.  If you don’t do this, I may not judge the card.  You don’t need to add card art, but I want to see the text fit on a card.  I recommend using this mock-up tool.  If you use one of the official non-Supply cards, you don’t need to include card text or a mock-up for that.
• If you have any questions, let me know, and I will post my reply here.

• Would cellar be okay as the effect on the primary card?
  

  I’m assuming you’re excluding the +1 Action at the start.  If that’s the case,“draw that many” is not Vanilla, so that effect is safe for the primary card.
  

• Could your card be allowed if it gains non-vanilla non-supply cards?
  
  For example
  “Gain a Horse. If you have an odd number of cards in play, gain an imp”
  Where imp is not vanilla.
  
  Not my real entry.
  

  Yes, that works. As long as the main card could gain a Vanilla non-Supply card (unconditionally, conditionally, or optionally), the main card can gain other non-Supply cards that are non-Vanilla.
  

• can we have +Coffer, +Villager or +favors?
  

  Those can all be part of the main entry, but they cannot be part of the non-Supply card on the side.
  

Judgment Details:

• The contest will close roughly a week and two days from today.  A little extra time because of the holidays and to get me to my long weekend for New Years for judging.
• I will judge entries based on balance, wording/mechanics, simplicity, creativity, and how fun the entry is to play with.

Entries:

• Bee Keeper with H-Bee (and Clover Honey) by BryGuy
• Cryptid Hunter with Bigfoot by Cutepelican126
• Horse Lord with Horse by NoMoreFun
• Saddle with Horse by JW
• Portorosso with Seafolk by emtzalex
• Fruit Market with Coster by grep
• Gambling Hall with Gambler (and Drunkard) by RovingBear
• Cannibalism with Horse by Will(ow|iam)
• Artifact Dealer with Forgery by 4est
• Magi Workshop with Spoils and Horse by anordinaryman

[BryGuy]

Here is my card:
Bee Keeper • $5 • Action
Reveal a Hand with no H-Bee to play an H-Bee from its pile (leaving it there) three times choosing a different option each time. Otherwise trash an H-Bee from your Hand to play it four times.
-
Heirloom: Clover Honey


Here are cards i'm borrowing from Reddits's Lobster_Phil
H-Bee • $1* • Action - Cursed
Choose one: +1 Card; or +1 Action; or +1 Buy; or +$1
-
-1VP
In game using this all Curses become H-Bee.
(Not in the Supply)

Clover Honey • $2 • Treasure - Heirloom
$2
Reveal an H-Bee from your Hand for +1 Buy; otherwise gain an H-Bee.

So i made this card after finding this Heirloom on reddit. I made some changes to Clover Honey and H-Bee. For practical purposes, i only print one copy of H-Bee as reference. I changed the village effect on the first line of Bee Keeper to comply with this contest's rules, which then necessitated it costing $1 more.

[Cutepelican126]

My submission is Cryptid Hunter with the non-supply pile Bigfoot. Cryptid hunter is a useful treasure player and trasher, but there is no super easy way to trigger the buy portion. In a nice engine with good action payload it can be pretty easy to do so and put a nice action into your hand. The downside of course is in the late game you'll be spending coins on things other than victory cards, but if Bigfoot is an important part of your engine doing so may be necessary to fuel it. This is weird so if it has problems or is trash someone tell me. Bigfoot pile has 10 cards

[NoMoreFun]

Horse Lord
Action - $5
You may play an Action from your hand twice. If you didn't, Gain 2 Horses.

EDIT: Mock up below, produced after contest closure

[JW]

Saddle
$5
Treasure - Duration
Gain a Horse.
At the start of your next turn, you may play an Action from your hand twice

[silverspawn]

Would cellar be okay as the effect on the primary card?

[emtzalex]

My Submission:

Portorosso • $5 • Action +2 Villagers If you have exactly two Seafolk in play, remove a token from your Villagers mat and gain a Gold to your hand. Otherwise, gain a Seafolk to your hand.	Seafolk • $1* • Action +1 Card +1 Action You may return this to its pile. (This is not in the Supply.)

My submission is Portorosso with the non-Supply card Seafolk. Portorosso is an alt-village, providing Villagers instead of Actions, and gaining a card to your hand instead of giving +1 Card. Normally, a player will gain Seafolk, an optionally one-shot cantrip. This means that (absent another source of +Actions), players will have to spend one of the Villagers (or forego drawing a card), even if they don't play any other Action cards that turn. If that's all a player wants, they can always elect to return their Seafolk to its piles (unless they have some other strategic reason not to). However, if you can collide 2 Seafolk with your Portorosso (or just collide 3 Portorossos), you can instead gain a Gold to your hand.

[grep]

 

Fruit Market
Action - $4
+1 Action
+$1 per Buy you have
You may buy a Coster

Coster
Action - $1*
+1 Card
+1 Action
+1 Buy
(This is not in the Supply)

You can only buy one Coster when you play Fruit Market. The Coster pile has 5 cards per player.

[anordinaryman]

Could your card be allowed if it gains non-vanilla non-supply cards?

For example
“Gain a Horse. If you have an odd number of cards in play, gain an imp”
Where imp is not vanilla.

Not my real entry.

[RovingBear]

My submission is Gambling hall wich may gain you a Gambler, otherwise you will get a Drunkard. Hope the use of the Journey token is all right with your guidelines.
There are 10 of each Gambler and Drunkard.

[Will(ow|iam)]

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

[4est]

Artifact Dealer Action You may play a Treasure from your hand to gain a cheaper Action card than it. You may play it. When you gain this, gain a Forgery. Forgery Treasure (This is not in the Supply).

Artifact Dealer is a big Workshop that can gain and play Actions, but you'll have to pay up first by lining it up with an expensive Treasure. Thankfully, each one junks you with a Forgery, which is just a big Copper. Your Butchers and Apprentices might enjoy munching those Forgeries too.

There are 10 Forgeries.

*Edit: Clarified wording, thanks Ethan for the suggestion.

[Ethan]

It is a bit unclear what it's cheaper to. I suggest rewording as "You may play a Treasure from your hand to gain a cheaper Action card than it".

[fika monster]

Weekly Design Contest #207: Vanilla on the Side

can we have +Coffer, +Villager or +favors?

[anordinaryman]

OLD submission, newest version is now in this post

Magi Workshop | Night | $4
If you have no Action cards in play, gain a Ghost.
If you have no treasures in play, gain a Spoils.
If you have less than 8 cards in play, gain a Horse.
If you have at least 3 copies of an Action card in play, gain an Imp.

The card name is a play on the story "gift of the magi", because it tends to give you gifts you don't really need. If you have few actions, why get a Ghost? Or, if you've loaded up on copies of the same action card, those Imps are just going to draw dead. The Spoils drawback is a little subtler: if you aren't using money your deck might not want it. The Horses is sort of like the whole point of Horses is so you can put a lot of other cards in play, so if you are able to do that, well this card stops giving you horses. Also, early on if you just play normal turns this card will just gain A Horse and be like a weak Caravan.

None of these gaining cards are optional. If you fit the criteria, you get the card.

In weak decks, it can be pretty strong, as you just skip to night phase and gain a ghost, horse, and spoils. In middle-to-strong decks it loses a lot of power. Though it can transition to being an imp gainer (my favorite non-supply pile). I also love Ghosts a lot, and wanted there to be more ways to gain them.

Always open to feedback. I attempted to order the clauses from easiest to check to hardest. (super easy to see if you have no actions or treasure in play, a little complicated to count total cards, and most complicated to check if you have at least three copies of a given action card)

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

I feel that this is kinda weak. It's rare to want to trash an action or treasure that costs $3 or more, so this becomes like a weaker ride. I think you can include the ability to trash victory cards and it becomes better.

[segura]

I think that this is obviously too strong. You open Magi Workshop and Silver and basically got a cantrip Ghost gainer in T3/4/5.

[Will(ow|iam)]

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

I feel that this is kinda weak. It's rare to want to trash an action or treasure that costs $3 or more, so this becomes like a weaker ride. I think you can include the ability to trash victory cards and it becomes better.

Sometimes I want to trash a silver or another horse. Maybe it could be fine with +buy. Trashing an estate for 2 horses in the open feels busted.

[BryGuy]

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

I feel that this is kinda weak. It's rare to want to trash an action or treasure that costs $3 or more, so this becomes like a weaker ride. I think you can include the ability to trash victory cards and it becomes better.

Sometimes I want to trash a silver or another horse. Maybe it could be fine with +buy. Trashing an estate for 2 horses in the open feels busted.

How about:
"Once per turn, you may trash a card from your Hand, if it costs at least $3, +1 Horse per $1 it costs; otherwise, +1 Horse."

[Will(ow|iam)]

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

I feel that this is kinda weak. It's rare to want to trash an action or treasure that costs $3 or more, so this becomes like a weaker ride. I think you can include the ability to trash victory cards and it becomes better.

Sometimes I want to trash a silver or another horse. Maybe it could be fine with +buy. Trashing an estate for 2 horses in the open feels busted.

How about:
"Once per turn, you may trash a card, if it costs at least $3, +1 Horse per $1 it costs; otherwise, +1 Horse."

Feels too complicated. Maybe make it cost $5 and let it trash estates?

[segura]

Oh yeah it's an event I forgot to add that in the mockup

I feel that this is kinda weak. It's rare to want to trash an action or treasure that costs $3 or more, so this becomes like a weaker ride. I think you can include the ability to trash victory cards and it becomes better.

Sometimes I want to trash a silver or another horse. Maybe it could be fine with +buy. Trashing an estate for 2 horses in the open feels busted.

How about:
"Once per turn, you may trash a card from your Hand, if it costs at least $3, +1 Horse per $1 it costs; otherwise, +1 Horse."

That is strictly better than Ride.

[anordinaryman]

Updated Entry

Magi Workshop | Night | $4
If you have no treasures in play, gain a Spoils.
If you have less than 8 cards in play, gain a Horse.
If you have no cards costing $2 or less in play, gain a Will-o'-Wisp.
If you have at least 3 copies of an Action card in play, gain an Imp.
 

The change I made is that this no longer gains Ghosts, as that is probably too strong in the opening. Now it can gain Will-o'-Wisps, but only if you don't really want them (when you don't have cards it will draw in play -- including Will-o'-Wisps). In the opening it could be worth getting this and then on T3/4/5 not playing anything to gain a Spoils, Horse, and a Will-o'-Wisp, at the cost of not doing much with your turn.

Thanks to segura for pointing out the original Ghost gaining was probably too strong in the opening.

[SignError]

24 hour warning

Please check that your entry is listed in the OP.

I won't disqualify anyone, but there are a few entries that are missing a mockup, or that aren't following the main prompt of Vanilla on the Side.  Also, some entries are missing the number of cards in the custom non-Supply pile, but I'll make a guess.  Those details will play into judging, but can be offset by doing well in other areas.


Contest is closed

I’ll get judging done over the next couple of days.

[SignError]

I'll try to have the final judgment finished tomorrow, but for now, here is the individual feedback and finalist list.

Bee Keeper with H-Bee (and Clover Honey) by BryGuy:

This one kind of misses the mark of the contest.  Bee Keeper is non-Vanilla and H-Bee is Vanilla, but Bee Keeper doesn't ever gain H-Bee.  Instead Clover Honey does, but it has Vanilla +$2.  H-Bee replacing Curses seems like something better done as an expansion mechanic instead of having "in games using this" on a non-Supply card.  And I think that means H-Bee is in the Supply like Curses would be, so it's no longer a non-Supply card.

The H-Bee trashing option on Bee Keeper returns the trashed H-Bee to play, so you don't actually get rid of it.  So especially as the game progresses, it will be easier to collide Bee Keeper with H-Bee, to great benefit.  I'm not a fan of the non H-Bee route saying you can play a Supply H-Bee, but dictating that you pick different option, although something is necessary because otherwise Bee Keeper is strictly better than Laboratory.  My solution would be to simplify things by removing the play H-Bee from supply fallback and playing the trashed H-Bee 4 times "leaving it there."  Then you have a flexible Pooka that works with the Bee Clover Heirloom instead of against it like Cursed Gold.

Cryptid Hunter with Bigfoot by Cutepelican126:

There's a lot going on with Cryptid Hunter.  At it's core it's like a terminal Loan that can't hit itself, plays your good Treasures instead of discarding them, and becomes non-terminal once you have Gold or some other semi-expensive Treasure; which are all good things.  Like Loan it needs to say "Discard the other cards" or give some other instructions.  I don't really like it allowing you to buy non-Supply cards, but I guess Black Market allows something like that.  You don't need "immediately," although that reveals some of the confusion players could have.

Bigfoot is a Peddler that gives extra draw when you buy a card.  Normally you wouldn't be able to play the drawn cards, but Cryptid Hunter gets around that.  Most of the official on-buy triggers have been removed in an errata, but the usual replacement "gain a card in your Buy phase" doesn't work here, and that's Bigfoot and Cryptid Hunter's main gimmick.  I really do like Cryptid Hunter's Loan functionality.  Maybe remove the buying interactions and pair it with a $4 cost Treasure non-Supply pile.

Horse Lord with Horse by NoMoreFun:

Strictly better than Throne Room, so that deserves the $5 cost.  Yet playing it as the Horse gain option seems sad considering it's the same benefit as the $2 cost Sleigh.  However, thinking of it another way, a Kingdom with Horse Lord always has a Throne Room variant and a Horse gainer, which is a very valuable combo.  Putting it into perspective, a hand with Horse and the Throne Room variant provides a similar benefit as a hand with Horse and Lost City.  My initial thought is still that this is a little weak, but it does what this contest requires and is perfectly reasonable.

Finalist

Saddle with Horse by JW:

On the same page as Horse Lord, but this is exceptionally weak.  Putting it into perspective, Rope is like a combined Market and Junk Dealer, with the added benefit that the trashing is optional.  And yet it can cost $4, because those effects are spread across two turns.  Similarly, Saddle does the job of a bad Supplies and a non-terminal Throne Room, spread across two turns, so there's no way it deserves the $5 price, even taking the Horse + Throne Room combo into consideration.  Alternatively you could increase the power.  putting the contest rules aside I might make it a Silver variant on the turn you play it and call it good.

Portorosso with Seafolk by emtzalex:

I love this one.  Getting Villagers is a clear substitute for +Actions, and gaining a cantrip to your hand is a neat way to get around the +Cards restriction.  It reminds me of the cantrip Villager card mentioned in the Renaissance Secret History.  That would have probably needed to cost $5, but would be boring.  The interaction with Seafolk and Gold gaining is a nice way to make it more interesting and let it do other things. I don't particularly like the wording for removing Villagers from the mat.  You can get around this by giving +1 Villager unconditionally and +1 Villager alongside the Seafolk gain.  If you need to trim power, it would simplify things to not get Villagers with the Gold and 2 Villagers with the Seafolk.

I wouldn't have expected a Vanilla cantrip would end up in the contest, but the interactions with Portorosso are really interesting.  The "return to pile" clause is a little bit of a grey area.  As I mentioned in the contest guidelines, being a one-shot is usually a clear downside, but if it is optional, it can only be a benefit.  In this case the benefit is clear; you can control whether you get Seafolk or Gold from further Portorosso plays.  More subtly, maybe you want to empty the Seafolk pile (I'm assuming a pile of 10) or there are Vineyards or something.  It's something minor, but one way you could change it is by forcing a return to pile at the start of Clean-up. It has the benefit of being thematic; all the Seafolk return to the sea at the end of the turn. But aside from the contest prompt, I prefer the version with the optional return to allow more interactions.

Finalist

Fruit Market with Coster by grep:

Fruit Market provides +1 Action and +$1 per X, which are Vanilla effects against the contest rules. As mentioned earlier I don't particularly like letting cards buy from non-Supply piles.  And varying the non-Supply pile size with the number of players is unprecedented.  Fruit Market gives me Miser vibes.  It starts exceptionally weak, but the more you play it and the more Costers you get, the better it becomes.  It's also non-Terminal, so it can grow exponentially.  It seems like a strong source of payload once you're overdrawing your deck, probably shutting out other payload.  With overdraw and assuming no other +Buy, 3 Fruit Markets gaining Costers each turn make $3 the first turn after gained, then $12 the next turn, then $21 the next turn.  You're probably adding more Fruit Markets as you go.  That assumes the other player doesn't go for it so there are enough Costers to gain, but this is obviously too good to ignore.  Of course, with other sources of +Buy things can get even crazier, so I don't think there's a way to make this "+$1 per Buy you have" idea work. Merchant Guild fills a similar space, but it costs $5, is terminal, the payload is delayed, and you actually have to use the Buys.

Gambling Hall with Gambler (and Drunkard) by RovingBear:

Starting with Gambler, I was wondering if "turn your Journey token over" should count as Vanilla.  In the context of Gambler it's fine because it can only give Vanilla bonuses, and even if Ranger is around, that's still only a Vanilla bonus.  But Gambling Hall also uses the Journey token, for non-Vanilla effects.  Aside from that Gambler being a double Lab at the start of the turn if you set up the Journey token correctly, while also providing payload when you flip it around, is probably too good.

For being the lesser prize of Gambling Hall, Drunkard is still quite good.  At worst it's a cantrip that can set up the Journey token and give payload next turn.  Maybe you even save the +Action or +Card for next turn if you don't need it now.  But "choose the other 2" has tracking issues to avoid, just like how the Secret History for WotChameleon mentions it added "this turn" to avoid tracking issues.  Maybe just fix which bonus you get which bonus you get which turn.

Gambling Hall's "you may play an Action you gained this turn" also has tracking issues.  If you gain the card to hand or you use Harbinger to put a card onto your deck, you may no longer know where the card you gained is.  Take that away, and it's probably still OK, especially given how strong Drunkard and especially Gambler are.  There's definitely an interesting idea here, but it needs some polishing.

Cannibalism with Horse by Will(ow|iam):

A simple effect that meets the contest prompt.  Aptly named, as trashing a Horse to gain 3 is a cheap way to add draw to the next cycle, although drawing and not playing the Horse on the current turn is a decent opportunity cost, unless you already are drawing the deck, and then the Horses may not be that valuable.  Regarding some of the discussion, I agree that it's a little weak. +1 Buy would be a nice solution, except for the contest prompt.  Letting it trash Estates is far too powerful in the opening.  Even if it cost $4, that would be too automatic.  But at $5 you no longer want to trash Horse or Silver to it.  Maybe with a Gold gainer and source of +Buy it could be a nice source of draw.  The balancing on this one needs work.

Artifact Dealer with Forgery by 4est:

Artifact Dealer is an Action gainer comparable to Wheelwright and Hill Fort.  The effect of gaining and playing is strong, but you have to collide with an expensive Treasure.  The part about playing a Treasure to do something else could be a little confusing.  Do you still get the effect of the Treasure? (Yes, but it's not worded like any official Dominion card, so the confusion is justified.)  "If you do" wording like Conclave could help.  Either way, Artifact Dealer needs to say whether the gaining happens before or after the Treasure playing (see Kiln, Landing Party and Inspiring).

Forgery is an expensive Copper that comes with Artifact Dealer.  It's a really simple effect, but it makes sense to enable you to do something with Artifact Dealer before you have Gold.  You still have to collide the Artifact Dealer with the Forgery, which could require some luck mid-game.  Silver could also be an enabler if there are spamable $2 Actions in the Kingdom.  Forgery is also a deterrent for gaining and playing the entire Artifact Dealer pile, unless this will be your last turn.  I kind of wish it did something other than Vanilla Copper.  One way to solve both issues is by having Artifact Dealer discard a Treasure instead of playing it, and then giving Forgery a when-discard Reaction (like maybe "when you discard this, other than in Clean-up, +1 Card").  But these are really minor opinions, and Artifact Dealer is overall a very solid concept.

Finalist

Magi Workshop with Spoils and Horse by anordinaryman:

I agree that the previous version gaining Ghosts was too strong.  In fact, maybe even monolithic.  Because Horse and Spoils disappear, you can continue gaining Ghost, Horse, and Spoils each play.  Ghost is guaranteed to hit Horse, for a duration +4 Cards.  And once the Ghosts run out, other Actions can safely join in.

The Will-o'-Wisp condition seems too restrictive.  You can't have Copper in play, and once you start playing the Will-o'-Wisps, it will be impossible to get more.  So especially in the early game, you have to look at it as skip your Buy phase to get a Spoils, a Will-o'-Wisp, and a Horse.  That's better than using Devil's Workshop to get a Gold.  But unlike Devil's Workshop, you have to be committed because playing your Coppers to buy something means you only get a Horse.  My intuition is that this version will be weak due to the limitations you have to play around.  It has to cost $4 because it might be too good as a double open.  And it's already fairly wordy, so adding something else is out of the question.  Maybe change some of the conditions to be easier; although I get that's the card's inspiration.  But draw is strong, so maybe it could be worth it?

Finalist

[SignError]

Alright, now let's investigate the Finalists in a few different kingdoms. Randomly generated with 9 official cards (excluding 1st edition removals) and up to 2 landscapes.

Kingdom 1

Merchant Camp, Enchantress, Acting Troupe, Landing Party, Recruiter, Haunted Woods, Guild Master, Cursed Village, Crown, Fellowship of Scribes, Way of the Chameleon, Fountain.

A lot of good things here, but no gainers or +Buy is a big limitation.  In particular Fountain is shut down, especially if you trash Coppers with Recruiter.  So this will probably be a Province rush using Recruiter, Haunted Woods, and Gold.  There will be little room to use anything else.  Interestingly, all the Finalists add extra gains, but no extra Buys.

Horse Lord competes directly with Crown.  Horse Lord helps you cycle through your deck to your key cards or provides Recruiter fuel, while Crown paired with Gold is most of a Province.  I kind of prefer Horse Lord to keep getting to my Haunted Woods, and you have the option of topdecking Horse to counter the opponent's Haunted Woods.  That said, it may be tricky to find a time to buy Crown or Horse Lord here when Recruiter, Haunted Woods, and Gold take precedence.

Portorosso's Villagers get overshadowed by Recruiter unless you have more than a couple Action cards, and you probably won't have time to accumulate lots of Action cards.  Likewise, you won't have time to get multiple copies of Portorosso, and you probably can't wait for 2 Seafolk to collide with your Portorosso.

Artifact Dealer allowing an extra Action gain could be decently strong.  You still have to collide it with Forgery or Gold, but Recruiter can help with that.  When paired with Forgery I probably gain and play Enchantress, and with Gold I probably gain and play Haunted Woods, unless it's my last turn.  I don't think I would get Artifact Dealer before Gold, but I probably get it before Haunted Woods.  It can also gain fuel to feed to Recruiter and support more Action cards, which is useful if the game goes into Duchy dancing.

Magi Workshop hurts your ability to get Recruiter, which is the main thing to be doing turn 3 and 4.  There isn't a lot of draw midgame, so it is easy to get the Horse, but Imps probably won't be gained.  Will-o'-Wisps are useful but have a high opportunity cost given how good Coppers are here, and that hinders Spoils gaining too.  I just don't see Magi Workshop working here.

Kingdom 2

Poor House, Supplies, Guardian, Wizards, Ghost Town, Clashes, Remake, Blessed Village, Displace, Family of Inventors Desperation, Commerce.

Some brutal attacks that can be countered by Guardian.  Early access to Gold with Desperation + Commerce, but Remake, Battle Plan, and Student are probably higher priorities.  Poor House is normally bad for Remake, but Family of Inventors can disable the gain.  While there are multiple gains, there is still no +Buy (I swear I'm doing this randomly). Lich when-trash is only useful if you use Family of Inventors on the Wizards.  Displace alternating between Territory and Province could be a good source of VP, although that can be disrupted with Family of Inventors. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Family of Inventors interactions.)

Horse Lord can use Horses from Supplies or double Battle Plan or Displace.  It's mostly an expensive Throne Room with a dud consolidation here, which can still be nice.

Portorosso has some cheaper alternatives for Villages. Villagers are usually good dud insurance, but there's no terminal draw, and Ghost Town can also help avoid duds.  Gold could be nice here with Displace, but I kind of like the Province & Territory combo, and either way, Family of inventors can ruin things.

Artifact Dealer is quite nice here.  Gold can be made cheaper by Family of Inventors, but not Forgery.  Blessed Village is a good target, as well as Battle Plan and Warlord (if it is cheap enough).  Limited draw means the two card combo is a downside, but early trashing with Student and/or Remake can help.

Magi Workshop might pair nicely with Student.  You could get your draw from Will-o'-Wisps, Horses, and eventually Imps.  Except for Overlord, which locks you out of the Imp requirement.  You can counter with Guardian, but that locks you out of Will-o’-Wisp gaining next turn.  I think Battle Plan and control of the Clashes is more important early on.

Kingdom 3

Hermit, Villa, Trail, Mastermind, Livery, First Mate, Crypt, Apprentice, Wayfarer, Way of the Sheep.

A kingdom with strong draw, trashing, and +Buy.  No Attacks or alt-VP, so you have to move quickly.  Hermit has no extra cards costing up to $3, so I might skip it in favor of Apprentice, especially with the Trail combo.  Livery is nice payload paired with Villa. The next cycle Villas’ +Buys can get Trails played as WotSheep. And Crypt can help keep Coppers away.  The only thing missing is a solid opening buy, although there’s always Silver, and on 4/3 maybe you open Trail and trigger an early reshuffle.

Livery is a powerhouse Horse gainer, and Mastermind makes exceptional use of those Horses, so I think Horse Lord gets edged out here.

Villa diminishes the value of Villagers, and Livery is better payload than Gold, so I don’t think Portorosso has a place here.

Artifact Dealer paired with Forgery isn’t that great here.  Trail already plays itself, and it can’t play Villa (which has the same timing as Siren, while Artifact Dealer has the same timing as Spell Scroll), although you can still play the Villa later.  Artifact Dealer paired with Gold has far more options, but you have to get the Gold separately.  Still, the kingdom has a lot of draw, so I think there’s room to play with Artifact Dealer here.

While there is no alternative $4 opener to compete with Magi Workshop, I think I want to do everything possible to afford either Apprentice or Livery turn 3 or 4.  Plus draw from Will-o’-Wisp and Imp gets edged out here.  Crypt removing Coppers from play can enable the Will-o’-Wisp and Spoils gain, so picking this up in the mid-late game could provide a slight benefit, although I think just getting another Livery probably outscales that.

Kingdom 4

Squire, Bauble, Taskmaster, Enchantress, Swamp Shacks, Fortune Hunter, Livery, Crew, Possession, Architects’ Guild.

No trashing, but it’s still possible to build a deck that can draw itself and play Possession each turn (thank goodness it’s only one Possession per turn now).  Possession shuts off Taskmaster, eats up Enchantress draw, and uses previously gained Horses.  But on a Possessed turn the opponent doesn’t actually gain cards, so Favors can’t be used up, and Livery can’t gain Horses for anyone.  The question is if you can get enough Provinces before a Possession opponent can set up.

Once again, Horse Lord must compete with Livery, although this time Livery isn’t as good as before with the lack of exceptional $4 gains.  If you think the opponent may Possess you soon, using the Horse gain option isn’t great.

Possession messes with Portorosso’s Villagers and existing Seafolk.  However, Seafolk and Gold gained on a Possessed turn go directly to their discard, making a Portorosso a Necropolis on a Possessed turn.  Especially when paired with only a couple of Crew, this could be a decent but expensive defense against Possession.  Possession aside, Also, Squire is a cheap alternative Village, and a Livery Horse can provide the draw needed to get to your Crew.

A possessed Artifact Dealer can’t play the Action gained, limiting its effectiveness.  Meanwhile, on your own turn, you could gain Swamp Shack for guaranteed draw.  But the lack of trashing means combo cards like Artifact Dealer / Forgery, and Swamp Shack / Swamp Shack are pretty ineffective.  Swamp shack could be boosted by Taskmaster and Enchantress, but those are already vulnerable to Possession.

Lack of trashing and reusable non-terminal draw, paired with the low cost Squire are great conditions for Magi Workshop.  You delay Livery, but that’s probably fine here, given the lack of spamable $4s.  Bauble can topdeck Horse and later Imp, but never Spoils and Will-o’-Wisp.  Horse and Spoils are vulnerable to Possession, but you probably just don’t get those later in the game.

Kingdom 5

The previous kingdoms were randomly dominated by game-warping cards (Recruiter, Clashes, Livery, and Possession).  So now lets get one final kingdom without any of the cards previously selected.  I was planning on re-rolling any other powerful cards, but I didn’t really get any here.

Settlers, Shanty Town, Marauder, Baron, Wheelwright, Mystic, Mint, Jester, Bank, Barracks, Tireless (on Wheelwright)

Mint is the only trashing, and there’s also not a lot of draw.  Marauder has a chance to shine here.  Tireless makes Wheelwright the target for Jester and Mystic.  Barracks probably gets some use since Ruins don’t play nice with Shanty Town, although Bustling Village might show up later on.  Baron or Ruined Market is +Buy.  Not a lot of draw options.

Horse Lord providing the only guaranteed draw  makes it pretty valuable here.  I probably get it early on to set up for Mint trashing and then transition to Wheelwright + Mystic.

Portorosso’s Villagers work well with all the Ruins.  Seafolk could also be a defense against Jester if you don’t have Wheelwright.  The endgame could just be Gold into Province, but I kind of like Wheelwright + Mystic better.

Artifact Dealer is hurt by the lack of trashing and draw.  Plus there aren’t really any spamable cards costing up to $4.  Wheelwright can more reliably gain $5s, and Jester can gain Wheelwrights if the other player is using them.

The kingdom’s lack of draw and trashing is nice for Magi Workshop, and once again the non-Supply piles are a deterrent for Jester.  It competes with Marauder in the opening, but I value Spoils + Horse + Will-o’-Wisp more than Spoils + maybe a Shanty Town + Ruins to Opponent.  It’s also safe to open with Shanty Town as guaranteed draw.

Results

Magi Workshop with Spoils and Horse by anordinaryman: Honorable Mention

It’s really good when the kingdom lacks reasonable draw or trashing, but that is rare.  Usually there is a $4 card you want to use more in the opening, or a $5 card you want to afford turn 3 or 4.  And other sources of draw don’t have such a high opportunity cost.  My suggestion would be to limit the card to 3 gains, eliminating the Horse gain.  This has a thematic connection to the 3 gifts of the wisemen, and it frees up space to add something like “For the rest of this turn, when you gain a card, set it aside and put it into your hand at end of turn.”  That’s even more wordy, but it doubles down on draw being the benefit of Magi Workshop, and you see the benefit of your sacrificed turn much earlier.

Horse Lord with Horse by NoMoreFun: 3rd Place

Not a lot to say here.  Often I’m paying for a Specialist just for the Throne Room effect, so $5 Throne Rooms are perfectly reasonable. Horse gaining is a nice side hustle.  Draw is powerful, so this is valuable in kingdoms without draw, although that doesn’t make me less sad that I have to pay $5 for it, and I have to be careful that simple big money doesn’t beat out whatever I’m trying to do.

Portorosso with Seafolk by emtzalex: 2nd Place

I really liked the theme of this one, but it just didn’t fit with most of the randomly generated kingdoms.  It goes back to that Renaissance Secret History; cantrip villager at $5 is a hard concept to make work.  Usually there are cheaper alternatives for Villages or better payload than delayed Gold, even when gained to the hand.

Artifact Dealer with Forgery by 4est: Winner

It’s very dependent on the rest of the kingdom, but as a gainer that comes with the territory.  It was able to stay relevant in kingdoms with powerhouse cards like Recruiter and Possession.  I kind of still wish that Forgery did more than just Copper, but it’s in the name, and the interaction with Artifact Dealer is more than enough to keep it interesting.

[4est]

Thanks SignError for the win and the very detailed judging and feedback!

New contest will be posted shortly!