Optional card ban: Podesta of Venice

[Kenny Michael-Otton]

So without a doubt, Podesta of Venice is the most broken card in the game and it's not even close. I wrote a thread about this on BGG a few months back, but after just playing a game where I won the game on T1 just by the fact that I could buy Podesta, I am inspired to write it again.

No other card in the game is anywhere close to Podesta in terms of power. He turns games into non-events singlehandedly.

Is it at all possible to get a toggleable ban for this menace from Venice?

[Thalack]

Implementation wise it wouldn't be too difficult assuming ION Games give their approval for this. However while I agree it is a powerful card, I haven't seen any other comments like this. I am also a bit hesitant too just add game options as I feel it can be a slipperly slope. I will see if I can add some card specific statistics though and am also curious about other players opinions on this.

[BajsKorviKaffet]

Seems a bit hyperbolic. I have beaten the card several times (attack his concessions, take advantage of the fact that he is cycling through the deck and freeing up cards for you..And dont forget about the bishops ).

Not to say its not a good card of course, its a great card. But so are the Jihad cards, I've had many games with a quick Holy Victory that was literally unstoppable! Thats a much bigger problem imo

[selwyth]

It's really bad if Podesta is there Turn 1 in a 2-player game (same with some of the Jihad cards).

A better fix would be a variant that allows some sort of players "deleting" a card or two from the market before we start Turn 1 (the First Player Variant that became the official rule is kinda laughable, especially when the first player ends up being purple), but I'm happy to wait for the official rules to catch up to that.

[LordChambers]

...a variant that allows some sort of players "deleting" a card or two from the market before we start Turn 1

I agree something must be done to make the 1v1 arena format fair. The potential for a game to spawn a market which hands a victory to the start player seems quite high.

[prancingPWNy]

The chance of the market flop strongly favoring one player over another is there, but in my opinion it isn't "high." My honest estimate of "turn order win" experiences in this game is maybe 2-5% of games. There are so many ways to mitigate and exploit your position in this game. It isn't 100% deterministic though. Embrace the chaos.

Podesta is strong but it is far from a win button.

[JTHEJACKAL]

Podesta is really strong. If it is #1 or #2 spot at the start of the game there’s have to be something really strong to not take it for me.
A lot of the other “free” power cards like the ones with fortifications are East/west cards and therefore more susceptible to bishop/behead.

Crazy strong.