WDC #212: Three's CompanyCommentary & ResultsThanks everyone for the submissions, and it was actually really tough to choose a winner between many really great ideas. Let's get to it, OPs are linked, shortlisted entries are bolded.
Wardens by silverspawnWhew, okay starting off with a mixed pile. A Knights variant, and I actually like the idea of a mixed pile that's not all Attacks. The terminal +1 Card on all of them is a little awkward, and the other issue is, without Village support, most of the "per Warden in play" effects will be tough to get much from. I'd love to see a bit more variance in the baseline effect; the trashing theme is cool and works nicely for a $3 cost, but do they all need to be +1 Card?
Grackle Nest by BryGuy Treasure-Victory card that can thin Coppers and nab other Treasures into Exile. You can take them out as payload if you want, or leave them for some VP. Rarely will this be worth more than Estate which makes me wonder if that part is worth it? It's also just a bit wordy for my taste.
Stonecutter by D782802859Moat but with a fun little on-gain. You get in on some of Farrier's fun, but it's immediate instead of next turn. This will be very sad on boards without gainers where there's not a good way to make use of the effect. I like it overall though.
Vase Merchant by grrgrrgrrA terminal Silver that can draw a card if you play a Village first. And hey, you get a pile of 40 Villages, to make your Vase Merchants a bunch of poor man's Conspirator. The bottom effect of course is the interesting part of the card and now all of a sudden Silver gainers look much better. I'm assuming Silvers retain their Treasure type, correct? It's a fun idea, though the sheer number of Villages makes me a little nervous that it may remove some of the interesting parts of Village splits and pile control that come up in many games with more limited numbers of Villages.
Factory Town by JWA next-time cantrip Duration that generates Villagers if you buy expensive cards. I actually like this quite a bit more than Taskmaster, since it's much less wordy, it's not a stop card, and it feels a bit fairer to trigger--the Villager is almost as good as an extra Action at the start of turn anyway, though you have to get back around to playing and activating in each turn if you want to keep the same effect.
Silver Saddle by LibraryAdventurerA Project that lets you return Silvers and Golds for a Lab effect. It's a fun bonus effect to decide between payload vs. draw, and will be especially fun with Silver gainers. I wouldn't mind simplifying to just affect Silvers. Not much else to say, but I like it.
Butler by Augie279A sort of half-Vassal that plays from top of deck, or from your hand if that fails for a Merchant Camp effect. It's a Copper if you don't have an Action in hand either, but that scenario should be pretty rare outside of the early game. It's nice that there's a little bit of unpredictability a la Vassal or Herald, however I think this will usually be significantly stronger than both Vassal and Merchant Camp since you basically get both of their potential benefits without too much downside. It may be a little strong, but definitely worth testing at $3.
Rebels by czzzz A terminal sifter with a mandatory discard and Vault effect if you discard Actions. It's a weird one to be sure and I'm not sure what kinds of decks would want this. Discarding down to 3 each time you play it hurts quite a bit, and $1 per Action feels like not quite enough to be worth it. The +Buy seems like it could just be automatic.
Patisserie by NoMoreFunBaker variant that only gives Coffers if you didn't spend Coffers. Super simple, and feels sufficiently different from Baker and other Peddler variants to be worth existing. It will play a little more like Caravan Guard in a way, but without the Duration downside. I like the decisions they'll create: playing a line of 3 Patisseries will make you want to not spend Coffers this turn, but you gotta spend 'em sometime, right?
Coinery by grepA terminal Silver gainer that can draw if you have other $3s in hand. The Silver flood helps the draw get more potent as the game goes on. Engines usually won't want the Silvers which limits Coinery's appeal but it should be a solid money-enabler on weaker boards. With the right set up though, the unbounded draw is tempting if you can get a Kingdom with lots of non-terminal $3s.
Scientist by anordinarymanA cheap Lab with a Contraband penalty. Early and midgame, there's may be enough other good cards available there to not be hurt too much by the restriction and take the extra draw, but eventually it will become a problem. It's smart to keep the Contrband effect just to the first play. The self trash option feels a bit tacked on and unnecessary.
Puppet Strings by faustA Treasure-Attack that forces players to play a card from their hand (which may or may not be helpful to them) or discard down to 3. I like cards that let you play Actions outside of the Action phase, and it's interesting that this one does it for both the player and opponent. Giving out free plays of terminal draw and gainers isn't ideal, but Puppet Strings puts a limit on what players can really accomplish on someone else's turn, especially in the face of multiple attacks. A weird card to be sure, but it's an intriguing one.
Judge by J410An Ironmonger variant with Village, Smithy, or +1 Card, +$1 options. To be honest, this feels too weak. None of the options are mindblowing for a $3 cost, and the unreliability makes it hard to trust Judge in most decks (similar to why Tribute from Intrigue 1e was a tough sell). Flipping Curses is especially bad, at least with Ironmonger you still get a cantrip and can discard the Curse. Consider tinkering with the type benefits (the Treasure option could be +$2 couldn't it?) or granting it another base effect.
Granary by EthanI was hoping we'd see some $3 Projects, I always liked these--they're little utility cards that are never gamebreaking but typically nice to have. Granary continues in that realm, with a little Haven effect that lets you hold onto a card between hands. The turn after you get it reduces your handsize initially at the start of your turn which hurts a bit, but every turn after that, you can always as a baseline just set aside the card you set aside last time. This does run the risk of this just becoming, "I spend $3 to Exile an Estate for this game." I wonder about making you set aside at the start of your Buy phase instead, which would let you save things you didn't get to play, though that might get a bit too powerful for $3.
Anchor by fika monsterAnother Project, this one lets you bottom deck anything you gain for the rest of the game, sort of like-an-every turn Bury. While bottom-decking isn't as nice as top-decking, this is still a solid utility power for turn-setup and playing your gains sooner, totally worth spending $3 on for most boards. It has some similarities to Star Chart, another $3 Project that you pretty much always pick up at some point, but the utility here make this one feel much more engaging and and the flavor makes it more memorable, you get the tactile feeling of "anchoring" your gain at the bottom of the deck, similar to Bury, I love it. My only concern is this getting too strong with multiple gains--a simple "Once per turn" clause should fix it easily. Very nicely done!
Bribe by GubumpA Treasure that does the Favors option of Broker, and can give you more Favors as an Overpay. Obviously a $3 non-terminal trasher will get bought regardless, but this one has a very wide range of desirability depending on what the Ally is. If it's something you want a ton of Favors for, the Overpay could come into play and/or buying multiple copies, but if it's something you don't really care about, the Overpay may not get used at all. I do like that the on-play further encourages you to get more for the Overpay effect.
Coral by TiagoWelcome to the forums! Coral is a next time Duration that's a terminal Silver on play and gains a Horse when gaining a Victory card. The easiest comparison is Search, another next time terminal Silver that which costs less and gains a Loot vs. a Horse. Yes, this isn't a one-shot, but it usually takes awhile to activate, still comparable. I think +$3 is a nice middle ground to test out for a $3-cost. You could also try upping duration effect to gaining 2 Horses.
Ark by LTacoA Project that grants the start of turn ability of trashing three differently named cards in exchange for a powerful draw to X (usually will be a whopping +6 Cards after trashing). The trash requirement will be tricky to pull off in many cases since you need more than just Copper-Estate, and you have to have the junk in your hand at the start of turn. Apart from obvious interactions like Curses, Shelters, Heirlooms, Ruins, Fortress, Trail, etc. Ark will tempt players to potentially trash better cards things like Silvers or Actions alongside junk to activate it. My biggest worry is that on boards where it's tough to activate, it just kinda sits there.
Stashing by Will(ow|iam)The only Event submission! I was actually expecting a lot more Events. In games with Stashing, Silvers you buy can go on the bottom of your deck instead. Nice in the opening for ensuring you hit $5 on turn 3, and there's a few other tricks you can pull. Delve still feels like the more interesting "Silver does a different thing this game" Event, but I think this is still different enough to have a place on many boards.
Honorable Mentions: Stonecutter by D782802859, Silver Saddle by LibraryAdventurer, Puppet Strings by faust, Coinery by grep
Runner Up: Patisserie by NoMoreFun
WINNER: Anchor by fika monster Congrats to fika monster and thanks everyone for participating!
Author
Topic: Weekly Design Contest #212: Three's Company (Read 2353 times)