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[4est]

WDC #221: I Am Forever in Your Debt

Rising Sun is still a few months away, but we already know we'll be revisiting a mechanic not seen since Empires.

Here's this week's challenge:

Design a card or landscape that costs and/or interacts with Debt.

Other rules and suggestions:

• Your submission must have a Debt symbol () somewhere on the card, either as a cost (such as Engineer, Overlord, or Triumph) or as an interaction within its text (such as Capital, Tax, or Mountain Pass).
• Costs with both and are allowed (e.g. Fortune, Wedding).
• Your submission may contain multiple cards (e.g. a split pile or a non-Supply pile), though for judging sake, let's try to keep things to no more than 2 total card-shaped-things per submission.
• You may use any other official expansion mechanics.
• Make sure your card has a compelling reason to cost (or interact with) Debt. Remember how Debt affects things like openings, buys, costs/cost reduction, gains (a la Workshop), etc.
• As always with my contests: Don't make me squint. Eliminate unnecessary words and complexity where possible.

Judgment Details:

• Entries and revisions must be submitted by 5:00 PM CT (11:00 PM UTC) on Sunday, June 16. I'll try to have results posted by Tuesday, June 18.
• Entries will be judged on ingenuity, balance, simplicity, and appropriate use of the Debt mechanic.

Have fun! I'm excited to see your designs!


Entries:
Impoverished Village by JW
Central Bank by grep
Stock Exchange by faust
Mad Scientist by BryGuy
Gangster and Kingpin by HorazVitae
Expansive by grrgrrgrr
Industrialist by infangthief
Incomplete Cathedral by valb_7k
Labor and Slum by fika monster
Archduke by segura
Usurer by emtzalex
Tinkerer by LTaco
Royal Engineer by Udzu
Desperado by NoMoreFun

[JW]

Impoverished Village 

Action
+1 Card and +2 Actions
If you have less than 10 , you may take 3 for +2 Cards.

[grep]

__

Central Bank
D6 - Project
At start of your turn, take 1 Debt.
Your Victory cards are also Treasures, when you play them, +$1.


Clarification: for already playable Victory-(Action|Treasure) cards, it's extra $1. For example, Farm gives $3, and Nobles give +$1 in addition to +2 Actions or +3 Cards.

Upd: reduced price, text clarification

[faust]

Stock Exchange - 5D
Project

At the start of your turn, if you have Debt, +2 Cards, +1 Action.

[BryGuy]

                                                     

                                                     

Mad Scientist • 4Debt P • Action
+1 Card
+1 Villager
Choose two different:
discard a card for +1 Action;
or +1 Card and trash a Hand card;
or discard a Gold for +1 Buy and +P;
or discard a Treasure for +$1.

The debt allows you to gain this card when your potion comes available even if you don't have enough coin as well. Debt with potion cost is something i plan to test now.

                                                     

[HorazVitae]

Gangster
Gain a Card costing up to $4. Then take Kingpin. If another player had it, take Debt until you have 1 more than him.
-
When you discard this, other than during Clean-up, play it, but the card may cost $1 more and is gained into your hand instead.
5@(Debt) Cost Night - Reaction

Kingpin
At the start of your turn, choose one:
Each other player gains a curse;
Discard a card to draw a card.
State

Its a non-terminal workshop that makes you the biggest fish in the game, if you are willing to be the one with the most debt, although someone might be taking over before you can use your power. You can protect it somewhat by buying more gangsters, because that increases the amount of debt others have to take but it might be a constant tug of war. If you have a gangster in your starting hand while you are the kingpin, so you can discard it for the benefit of your plans.

The only thing i am a tad unsure about is whether to price it at 5 or 6 debt. i tend to struggle with proper debt costing.

EDIT: Put it at 5D.

[grrgrrgrr]

Expansive (Trait)
Expansive cards cost @3 more. When you play an Expansive card, +$1.

I was on the fence whether I should go for above or this, but I ultimately went with above.

Insured (Trait)
You can buy Insured cards by taking @ instead of paying $.

[infangthief]

Industrialist
4-debt Night

Choose two different options: +1 Coffers; +1 Villager; gain a Horse.
Take 3-debt, then gain a non-Victory card costing up to $1 per @1 you have.

[HorazVitae]

Stock Exchange - 5D
Project

At the start of your turn, if you have Debt, +2 Cards, +1 Action.

correct me if i am wrong, but isn't this just a one-off that doesn't do much else than gimp you with needless debt in kingdoms where you don't have any other debt cost? Since you can't buy projects more than once.

[faust]

Stock Exchange - 5D
Project

At the start of your turn, if you have Debt, +2 Cards, +1 Action.

correct me if i am wrong, but isn't this just a one-off that doesn't do much else than gimp you with needless debt in kingdoms where you don't have any other debt cost? Since you can't buy projects more than once.

Yes, in many cases this will just work as a one-shot, and that's how it is costed: A bit more expensive than Expedition because the effect is a bit better.

However you can benefit for multiple turns if you don't pay off the Debt and instead use those turns to trash/remodel/gain cards and accept that you won't be buying things. Effectively, the project gives each consecutive turn a choice of "get this one-shot effect again" versus buying other stuff.

[HorazVitae]

Hmm, maybe i am just bothered by the fact that it could just be a one-shot for one turn if you have no cards in the kingdom that want to do stuff that makes it worthwile to not buy any cards for more than one round. In those games it'd just be a -1coin token, +2actions and +1card for next turn for $4, once, which doesn't gel with the project archetype for me. Although to get the effect you envision, an event wouldn't suffice so i guess there is not really a different solution.

[valb_7k]

Incomplete Cathedral @5
At the start of your turn, trash a card from your hand. You may take @2 to gain a card costing up to $2 more than it.

[faust]

Incomplete Cathedral @5
At the start of your turn, trash a card from your hand. You may take @2 to gain a card costing up to $2 more than it.

How is an incomplete Cathedral better than a complete one? Also, Cathedral is a Project, so flavor-wise you're starting the process to build a cathedral, I suppose. Here, you start the process of... building an incomplete cathedral? Very confusing.

Cathedral is already a mandatory opening buy most of the time, and this will be even more so. The ability to turn all your Estates into useful $4s is just insane. It could cost 8D or more and still be worth it.

[valb_7k]

It being incomplete adds the construction flavour present in many Remodelers. I guess it's bigger than a normal Cathedral, which is why it's better, and also why it remains incomplete (inspiration for the theme was the Sagrada Famailia [although now that I look it up it's not actually a Cathedral]).

[fika monster]

My submission is Both an action card, and a Thematic non supply card (ala horse)

The normal action card:
Labour

Labour
$4, Action

+3 Cards
You may play a Slum from your hand. If you didn't, gain a Slum

The thematic non supply card:
Slum

Slum
$1, Action - Duration

+1 Action.
You may take 1 Debt to get +1 Action. If you did, at the start of your next turn, repeat this ability.
-
When you gain or trash this, play it.
(This is not in the Supply)
(This is not in the supply)

FAQ:
There are 6 Slum  cards per player. So 2 player theres 12, 3 player 18, etc.
If you gain a labour card during another players turn, you still have to play it. You may take a debt to ensure Actions at the start of your actual next turn.

[segura]

Archduke • 8D
+1 Card
+1 Action
Gain a Duchy
-----------------
When you gain this, put your hand onto your deck.

[emtzalex]

My Submission:

Usurer • {4+} • Action Trash a Treasure from your hand (or reveal you can't). Choose one: +$2; or -{2} per $1 the trashed card costs. Overpay: gain a card costing $1 per {2} you overpaid.

Usurer is a mandatory Treasure trasher that can function either as a terminal Silver or a trash-for-benefit card (provided you have enough Debt to remove from trashing a Treasure). Early on it's weaker than Moneylender, paying you $2 instead of $3. Later, it can trash more expensive cards, or (in rare cases) provide $ when you have no Treasures.

While the base cost is 4 Debt, there is also an overpay mechanic, allowing you to "borrow" to gain another card, but at the (usurious) rate of 2 Debt per $1 the card costs. Of course, you can (potentially) use the Usurer's ability to pay down the debt, but (depending on various factors around deck size, hitting shuffles, etc.) that may or may not happen soon enough.

More interesting (to me) is the Overpay's impact on the endgame (particularly, the Penultimate Province Rule). If you take the second-to-last Province (or Colony) in a game, rather than worrying your opponent might be able to buy the last one on the following turn, you know for a fact they will be able to (using Usurer's overpay function, and not having to worry about the massive debt they will incur). Thus, the PPR becomes a strict rule, along with other impacts on endgame strategy. I know a lot of people will hate this about the card, but I like effects that function as rule changes (like Shaman), and I think this is an interesting one. Plus, you can always not play with a card / put it on your banned list.

[segura]

Put me on the hater list. If you can convert an extra Buy into a Province and nobody will buy the sixth, the game will often and in a green slog. Does not sound like fun to me.

[faust]

My Submission:

Usurer • {4+} • Action - Night Trash a Treasure from your hand (or reveal you can't). Choose one: +$2; or -{2} per $1 the trashed card costs. Overpay: gain a card costing $1 per {2} you overpaid.

Your mockup has only the action type but the text version says Action - Night.

[emtzalex]

My Submission:

Usurer • {4+} • Action - Night Trash a Treasure from your hand (or reveal you can't). Choose one: +$2; or -{2} per $1 the trashed card costs. Overpay: gain a card costing $1 per {2} you overpaid.

Your mockup has only the action type but the text version says Action - Night.

Fixed. Thank you!

[LTaco]

FAQ:
Cost reduction does not affect the debt cost of Victory cards.

[silverspawn]

Can't you just get a few Tinkerers and then use them go gain all the Provinces? Which requires no other cards and wins the game more quickly than most engines?

Like-

Turn 1: buy Tinkerer
Turn 2: buy Tinkerer (you now have 1 debt)
Turn 3: buy Tinkerer (you now have ~2-4 debt)
Turn 4: buy Province (works if you drew 5+ coppers across Turns 3 and 4) (you now have 8 debt)
Turn 5+: play any Tinkerer you draw and don't pay off debt

Should get 4 Provinces in 7-9 turns

[JW]

Can't you just get a few Tinkerers and then use them go gain all the Provinces? Which requires no other cards and wins the game more quickly than most engines?

Like-

Turn 1: buy Tinkerer
Turn 2: buy Tinkerer (you now have 1 debt)
Turn 3: buy Tinkerer (you now have ~2-4 debt)
Turn 4: buy Province (works if you drew 5+ coppers across Turns 3 and 4) (you now have 8 debt)
Turn 5+: play any Tinkerer you draw and don't pay off debt

Should get 4 Provinces in 7-9 turns

No, because Province costs Debt not Coins in tinkerer games.

[4est]

24 hours

[Udzu]

__

Royal Engineer (1 Debt - Event)
Gain a card costing up to $5. Take 1 Debt per $1 it costs.