Editing Main Page/Did You Know/Archive

== Former Did You Know ==
=== 2019 ===
* May:
[[File:Seer.jpg|150px]]
At first '''[[Seer]]''' got you cards costing {{Cost|2}} or less, but that was too strong early on. Then {{Cost|2}} or {{Cost|3}}, then {{Cost|2}}-{{Cost|4}}.
<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=19203.0 ''The Secret History of Dominion: Renaissance'']
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=== 2018 ===
* July:
[[File:Villa.jpg|150px]]
Originally '''[[Villa]]''' just gave +1 Buy when you bought it. One day I thought of having a card that let you play an Action when you bought it, and after a few quick iterations it landed here, as the Village you buy to help out that same turn. For a while it was played when you bought it, but that has some tricky interactions, which were resolved by putting it into your hand instead, and giving you +1 Action to play it with.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=15660.0 ''The Secret History of the Empires Cards'']
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=== 2016 ===
* April:
[[File:Summon.jpg|250px|right]]
Altenburger, the German publisher, wanted a [[promo]]. I said, how about an [[Event]]? They said great. The Event actually promotes [[Adventures]], the set with Events. A first for our promos.

Playtester Matt Engel, aka LastFootnote, is a big designer of homemade cards. I said, do you want to make this promo? He said meh. A bad day. He did end up making '''[[Summon]]''' and trying to sell me on its virtues. It all worked out.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=153.msg538787#msg538787 'The Secret History of the Dominion Promos']
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* January:
[[File:Lost_Arts.jpg|250px|right]]
'''[[Lost Arts]]''' was initially a [[one-shot]] Kingdom card. An early star of the set. Initially the [[Adventures tokens|tokens]] weren't counter-limited; you could get multiple +1 Action tokens and +{{Cost|1}} tokens and -{{Cost|2}} cost tokens. I lowered it down to just two and then just one. You get the experience with one and I don't need to cost the cards for crazier situations.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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=== 2015 ===
* November:
[[File:Hireling.jpg|100px|right]]
What about a [[Duration]] card that never goes away? I playtested a version of '''[[Hireling]]''' in [[Alchemy]]. It seemed fine but needed a playmat so it didn't happen (I did {{Card|Alchemist}} instead). Here it was going to go on the [[Tavern mat]], but [http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?action=profile;u=81 Matthew] pointed out it could just be a Duration card. It started out conservatively costing {{Cost|7}}.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* October:
[[File:Raze.jpg|100px|right]]
For a while we tried a card in the {{Card|Apprentice}} / {{Card|Salvager}} family that gave you a mix of +1's of your choice for trashing a card. It was cwazy, today's word of the day. I dropped +Cards from it and it was still cwazy. We kept giving it chances but I also tried some alternatives. '''[[Raze]]''' copied the earlier {{Card|Disciple}} but based on the size of the trashed card. The mix of +1's thing let you trash itself, so I put that on Raze, and I liked everything about Raze so it got the slot.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* September:
[[File:Relic.jpg|100px|right]]
Somewhat late in the going, I tried to steer a few of the remaining slots towards particular card names. '''[[Relic]]''' started out as a [[treasure]] that gave you a bonus based on the [[card type|card types]] you had in play. First it just counted types, but that went too far; then it cared about specific types: it attacked if you had an [[Attack]] in play, gave +{{Cost|1}} if you had a [[Duration]] card, and gave +1 Buy if you had a [[Reserve]] card or [[Reaction]] card. The varying functionality was cute, but quick, what did it do again? Only the Attack part was memorable. While I like the idea of needing a dude to wield the Relic, I ended up simplifying it down to just always attacking. Then it could be a Treasure - Attack, so it is.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* August:
[[File:Swamp Hag.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Swamp Hag]]''' was one of the first cards in [[Adventures]]. The attack was always the same, except for precise phrasing vs. things like {{Card|Outpost}}. At first it gave +{{Cost|1}} on both turns, then +1 Card; now it's +{{Cost|3}} next turn.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* July:
[[File:Giant.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Giant]]''' came about because I wanted a card called Giant. Some kind of slow [[attack]]. I already had the [[Adventures tokens|Journey token]] so I used it to make an attack that only hits every other time. At first it didn't do anything on the face down turn, but I eventually nudged it up. Giants don't have a flavor tie-in with {{Card|Curse|Curses}}, but it gives them out just to make sure that the attack doesn't miss.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* June:
[[File:Caravan_Guard.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Caravan Guard]]''' came out of looking specifically to see if I'd missed some corner of possibilities for [[Duration|Durations]]. This is a Duration that's a round faster if you get [[Attack|attacked]]. The phrasing was an issue; what if you play it on someone else's turn and have a +{{Cost|1}} [[Adventures tokens|token]] on the pile? I decided that playing the card was just way simpler than simulating playing it, and in the end it got some explanatory text.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* May:
[[File:Royal_Carriage.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Royal Carriage]]''' was a [[Dark Ages]] outtake. We always liked it, but it needed a mat. It has a mat [[Adventures|here]] and well that's pretty much the story. I briefly had a bad wording that could let you go infinite, and fixing it made it even more like the Dark Ages version.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=13082.0 The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures]
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* April:
[[File:Adventures.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Adventures]]''', the newest expansion for Dominion, releases this month!  Head over to the [http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?board=64.0 forums] to check out the cards that have been previewed so far, and stay tuned here as more information is revealed!
* March:
[[File:Bank.jpg|100px|right]]
I stole '''{{Card|Bank|Bank}}''' from [[Alchemy]], where it originally cost {{Cost|4}}{{Cost|P}}. I wanted something else really simple and classic-seeming. It had been a good fit for Alchemy, since it counts Potions even if you don't end up spending them. Alchemy was years off though, years I say, and [[Prosperity]] needed a card now. Then when Alchemy got bumped up, I didn't steal this card back, because it required a little more of the Prosperity rules than I was comfortable with putting out ahead of Prosperity.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5230.0 The Other Secret History of the Prosperity Cards]
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* January:
[[File:Caravan.jpg|100px|right]]
For a long time, '''[[Caravan]]''' actually set a card aside when playing it, and then drew that card next turn. That way was a little more flavorful, but the published version is slightly simpler.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=117.0 The Secret History of the Seaside Cards]
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=== 2014 ===
* December:
[[File:Farmland.jpg|100px|right]]
Originally '''[[Farmland]]''' triggered on gaining it. This can cause some confusing chaining - buy Farmland, trash a card costing {{Cost|4}}, gain a Farmland, trash another card costing {{Cost|4}}, gain a Farmland. I might have left it as when-gain anyway, just to have everything be when-gain (possibly also limiting what you could gain to non-Farmland), but {{Card|Noble Brigand}} had to be when-buy, so there wasn't a sufficient benefit to having this be when-gain. So the less confusing when-buy prevailed.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=909.0 The Secret History of the Hinterlands Cards]
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* November:
[[File:Merchant Guild.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Merchant Guild]]''' started out thinking it could cost {{Cost|4}}, like {{Card|Bridge}}. As it turned out, it could not.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8557 The Secret History of the Guild Cards]
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* June:
[[File:Prince.jpg|100px|right]]
Jay wanted a Dominion promo sometime. No rush. I eventually got around to it. I wanted something that felt like a promo; something exotic. I tried out a few ideas I had in the file; '''[[Prince]]''', the one that played a card every turn, was easily the highlight. So I worked on that one. It was an old idea, predating the original game being published. Back then I had decided maybe I would someday do it as a unique card, to get around the issue of using Prince on Prince; then I made unique cards for Tournament but didn't do it there. There were other ways to solve the problems though; as usual it just took lots of tiny text.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=153.0 The Secret History of the Dominion Promos]
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* January:
[[File:Counterfeit.jpg|100px|right]]
I tried out a {{Card|Throne Room|Throne}} for treasures in [[Prosperity]]. It seemed like a classic thing, but it wasn't as popular as I'd hoped, so I dropped it. I rescued it here as '''[[Counterfeit]]''' by having it trash the treasure you Throne, which makes it double as a way to get rid of Coppers, and hey I threw in +{{Cost|1}} and +1 Buy for good measure. Theory of dominionstrategy.com suggested the name.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=4318.0 The Secret History of the Dark Ages Cards]
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=== 2013 ===
* December:
[[File:Masquerade.jpg|100px|right]]
'''[[Masquerade]]''' debuted in the 3rd set, moved to the 5th set, and finally ended up here. I wanted another interactive card and Dale wanted another card that cost {{Cost|3}}. This was both so in it went. The premise of the card is the pass-left ability, and the rest of the card struggles to make that part good enough. You draw two cards first so that you're more likely to have a bad card to pass; you can trash a card afterwards so you can cope with getting passed a bad card. This card can hurt you, but isn't an attack. It would just be too confusing figuring out what Moat did to it if it were an attack.<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=116.0 The Secret History of the Intrigue Cards]
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* November:
[[File:Gardens.jpg|100px|right]]
Originally the main set had a different special victory card. I swapped this in, taking it from the 6th expansion, because this one was less narrow - there are more "tables" (sets of 10 kingdom cards) that make '''{{Card|Gardens}}''' a viable strategy. At one point Valerie put this on a list of cards she thought could leave the main set, but I defended it and she didn't fight it.
<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=115.0 The Secret History of the Dominion Cards]</cite></div>
* October:
[[File:Thief.jpg|100px|right]]
'''{{Card|Thief}}''' is the only card that Valerie and Dale changed (other than non-functional wording changes). Which is of course just the way I would have wanted things - I mean who wouldn't? They had no compulsion to make changes for the sake of changing things; they complained about a few weak/confusing cards that just left, and everything else but Thief ended up the way I made it. Anyway Thief originally revealed the top 2 cards, then put the untrashed ones back. Valerie didn't like how, if you got hit with Thief and your top 2 cards were non-Treasures, then subsequent Thieves would also get nothing. Also there was the issue of remembering the order to put the cards back. So they changed it from reveal to reveal-then-discard. I was initially skeptical but in the end I think it was a good change.
<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=115.0 The Secret History of the Dominion Cards]</cite></div>
* January:
[[File:Market.jpg|100px|right]]
'''{{Card|Market}}''' started out with a mere "+1 Buy" on that first evening of Dominion, and gradually accumulated the rest of the +'s over a couple evenings. If I left it at that you might think the first version was cheaper than {{Cost|5}}, but no, it was {{Cost|5}}. Before playing that first game, I had no idea what card costs should be, and my guesses were not always in the ballpark. Drawing Market meant you had fewer cards in hand to actually spend on that buy, so it obviously needed some money to go with it; and then there was another card that gave you a free coin, and I merged them.
<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=115.0 The Secret History of the Dominion Cards]</cite></div>
=== 2012 ===
* November:
[[File:Witch.jpg|100px|right]]
In the very first game of Dominion, '''{{Card|Witch|Witch}}''' cost 3 but didn't draw you cards. It quickly shot up to 5, then gained the penalty of "pay one coin." That's how much people hated Witch. It stayed like that until around when development started. When I started doing more testing of the main set cards (as opposed to expansions), it was obvious that Witch was weak. First it lost the penalty, then gained +1 Card, then +2 Cards. It costs 5; there is some tough competition there.
<div class="templatequotecite">&#8212;[[Donald X. Vaccarino]], <cite>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=115.0 The Secret History of the Dominion Cards]</cite></div>

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