I’ve mulled this over the last week and have recently put thought to keyboard about what possibilities lay in store for future Doomtown expansions. One aspect of the game that Jordan Caldwell had discussed quite thoroughly in one article was about structure. It covered how players should typically build their deck in accordance with choosing two or three values and base their play strategy around those builds. This encourages players to optimize their hand ranks in shootouts by maximizing their odds of revealing either a Full House, 4-of-a-Kind or 5-of-a-Kind.
Now such is a good strategy in the current play environment, but to encourage more variety and creativity in deck builds may require new sets that outright shift the meta landscape into something that deconstructs traditional 2-3 Value builds. Now, some cards already exist that can chip at individual cards or give bonuses for revealing a non traditional hand(This’ll Hurt, Sight Beyond Sight, Comin’ Up Roses, etcetera). However, these cards are either circumstantial or require very specific deck builds to be maximally efficient.
What I propose for future expansions is to play on the very theme of structure and to do it in two ways: Punish your opponent’s structure and encourage non-traditional structure builds. Comin’ Up Roses is a nice start, but there is even more potential if the designers play their cards right- so-to-speak. Perhaps create something that aces cards in your opponent’s draw hand after the shootout or grants you control points if your draw hand reveals a flush of a particular suit.
The idea opens up a whole new window to deck building styles without changing any of the game’s fundamentals or adding new card types. In the long term, doing this can also prevent stagnation of the card pool as traditional structures can make a comeback in future sets.I’d like to get everyone else’s opinions on this.