The Masked Carnie

Managed to play a 4-player game with Buffalo Tribe, and it seems while I was well-intentioned, it still didn't scale right for the benefit you get.  I really wanted to have an Apprentice + Twilight Sparkle combo engine going, but the existence of Buffalo Tribe was just too good.  +1 Action +3 cards +3 money for 5 just totally outweighs whatever I'd get out of, well, anything.  I've now changed it so that it scales up 2 each time.  1's across the board for a 2-player game is fine for 3 (we kind of already have cards like that), 2 cards/money is ok at 5 (but still powerful).  7-cost is currently the highest in existence, just below Province.  If 1/3/3 is too powerful for 7, I'll have to do some fundamental scrapping. EDIT: Nevermind, Discord is just fine as-is.  He does a very good job at emptying supply piles, and I don't want to make that easy to do.

Every time I look at Pinkie Pie, I don't want anything to do with her.  I'm sure I'd want to do her justice and actually make her useful if I considered her best pony, so I should accommodate for those other players who'd think that way.  Every card should be useful in some way, even if a joke.  I think Pinkie Pie would very much approve of this card.  It's got a lot of power, but it lets her be everyone else's best friend, too.  Once you got use out of her, the next player gets to use her, too.  They'll probably want to use her since they have her, and the cycle will just keep on going.  There is just so much good that can come from this card.  For those of you who like abuse, you can also combo her with Possession, especially in 2-player games.

Minor update this time.  I've updated 2 cards and learned a little about a 3rd.  As usual, the full list of cards can be found here.   Applejack and Braeburn both received cost reductions.  I've noticed that Applejack actually ends up being very useless except early in the game when you're trying to build the fundamentals of your deck.  It could work if you're doing a Gardens-style deck, since you're just as fine getting Coppers as you are Provinces.  They'd have to name Copper, Estate, and Gardens itself to keep you from powering out Gardens, in which case you just a lot of power to get Provinces.  In most cases though, it ends up being more trouble than its worth.  At 5 cost, you have to either get lucky or build up to it.  At 4, you're guaranteed to be able to get her to help get you started.  Given that it's pretty much worse than Market in practice, this cost reduction seems ok. Braeburn got a cost reduction because the similarity to Crossroa

I figured since I want people to be able to play with this set, I definitely ought to put in an FAQ.  Everything that came up in playtesting and more is in here. 

I haven't updated this in a very long time, I'm pretty sure nobody would care to watch this, so it makes the perfect storage spot for my newest piece.  Behold, Dominion now has ponies!  This set has gone through numerous revisions through playtesting.  The latest version of the set will always appear right here. I'm also looking for help on the template graphics.  The friendship mechanic is supposed to warrant a pink template, but the program I use doesn't allow for that.   I'd also want Derpy's template to be a combination of blue, pink, and orange.  If you feel you can accomplish this, please let me know.

I've got so much going on in my life right now, it's pretty much official.  This blog is only for when: * I'm bored. * I'm in a writing mood. * I'm in a gaming mood. * I have an idea of something worth writing. This is understandably very rare, but whatever.  I just can't abandon it.  I'd like to use this irony to lead into the idea I just had: the role of trashing in deckbuilding card games.  When I first started playing this genre and I saw Chapel, I just couldn't comprehend how a card like this could be good.  I mean, you spend so much time trying to build up your deck.  You want cards, right?  It took a long time, but I eventually discovered just how powerful trashing is.  I hope I'll enlighten you a bit on the concept here.

Ah, how good it feels to be in the arena again.  I finally got a new PC after morally abandoning Xbox Live.  I immediately loaded up Monday Night Combat, leveled up enough in Blitz to make a custom class, then set out to look for online games to get my feet wet again.  How depressing it was to find out it was completely abandoned...  Well, that meant my next option was to check out Super Monday Night Combat.  I already had watched a bunch of videos from Sunny Dove on YouTube, but it only helped me understand some basic principles.  I've been at it for over a week, so here's a little overview from an old MNC great.

Some of my friends know I'm a decent fan of David Sirlin.  I think his book Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion is required reading for people who want to seriously compete.  It's taken a while, but I've convinced my local game store to get Yomi & Puzzle Strike from him.  I spent a good amount of time over the past weekend playing both games with some friends there, and I have to say they're both very interesting.  Yomi is just as good as I expected, while Puzzle Strike still kind of eludes me as to exactly what it really expects us to do (I know how it works, but the issue is finding how to play it well ).

So, I got into an old argument with a Gamestop employee about downloadable content.  Specifically, it was about the not-so-downloadable kind that you have to buy to unlock from the disc.  At first, this sounds like a really bad idea.  The idea of DLC, at least to the consumer, is that you initially bought a complete game, and the company later creates new stuff to plug into it.  So, why are they now making DLC right on the game disc itself, making you pay to access it, and is it right?

I just acquired this game yesterday, since I got an extra shift that could help justify the cost.  This is an absolutely beautiful game, and I only wish I had known about its original incarnation.  It's fortunate that this can work in a standalone game by itself, but I really wish I could have what I'm missing.