Dominion Strategy Forum
Archive => Archive => Dominion: Adventures Previews => Topic started by: theschizm on May 18, 2015, 11:18:05 am
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I just recently got Dominion Adventures, and the first two games were a lot of fun! Reserve cards, travelers and events were a whole lot of fun! I do have a question about the recommended set Prince of Orange:
Amulet, Dungeon, Haunted Woods, Page, Swamp Hag,
Caravan, Fishing Village, Merchant Ship, Tactician, Treasure Map,
Mission
I was wondering about Mission's place in this set. I know the card is quite situational, but it doesn't seem like this set particularly shows its strengths. I assume that its purpose is to activate duration cards in the extra no-buying turn, but it seems to me that you're just as likely to make your main-turn duration cards fizzle in worthlessness. I would rather their effects on my next real turn! And this at a cost of 4, precluding me from buying something like a Caravan!
"Then don't buy Mission when you have duration cards out," you could rightly say. But with 8 of the 10 kingdom cards being durations, that's unlikely. Is Mission included here for those rare cases where you have lots of duration cards in your deck but just didn't happen to get any during your main turn? I can see Mission shining more if there were any non-buy gaining besides Treasure Map, or more trashing besides Amulet, or non-duration attacks.
Please show me where I'm wrong-headed on this! Mission, like Outpost, just doesn't seem like something I'd usually want to buy instead of something that will actually add to my deck.
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Mission is great for:
- Faster early trashing with Amulet
- Seeding durations, especially Tactician, as you mentioned, though it's not always the best option, true
- Getting through the Page series quickly
- Treasure Map, assuming you have Tactician, Haunted Woods, and/or Dungeon to help line them up.
It's important to understand that you don't always need to get Mission--if it was handy one or two times early on, it did its job. In some games Mission is more powerful than that, but here it's likely just a tool to help you get going.
While we did a lot of testing on the recommended sets, they aren't super-meticulously designed (maybe they are, but I doubt it). They are 'random sets' that happen to have some interesting interactions in the grand scheme of things that show off what makes Adventures cards neat. I wouldn't think of them as any kind of canon.
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I think one of the problems with Mission here is that there's no guarantee that you'll have a good hand next time for Mission. Most of the durations essentially lose half of their effectiveness if played on the extra turn - just a waste. I don't want to spend an early buy on a speculative "maybe it won't be so bad!" instead of something that will definitively add to my deck. Maybe I'll draw Tactician on my Mission turn and it'll rock! Or maybe I'll draw some Caravans or treasure that I won't be able to use very well.
We still enjoyed the set - I was lucky enough to open with Tactician and Page, and ended up with the Champion giving me non-terminal Merchant Ships which were a thing of beauty. Neither of us went for any of the attacks, due to Champion's existence. My wife opened with Treasure Map and Dungeon but got really rotten luck with not being able to buy another Treasure Map for several turns. Ignoring Mission was a minor letdown, since the previous game had the much more substantial and fun Save and Pathfinding. (My wife's Pathfound Candlestick Makers were fearsome!)
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I could see some scenarios where it could provide significant utility. I don't really know if those scenarios are a place you expect this kingdom to get you in.
General basic idea:
Your opponent has a Haunted Woods in play. You have a large hand with Tactician and several treasures. Instead of having to discard your treasures to make use of Tactician, you can play them, buy Mission (plus more things), put your Tactician on top of your deck with the Haunted Woods effect, and then play Tactician on the Mission turn.
You might be able to expand this with other durations. Interacting with the Mission turn.
PPE: Also, I agree with everything jsh said. I especially think extra cycling for the Page line could be a significant effect.
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Ah, because we ignored Haunted Woods, I didn't think about Mission being such a good counter/response to that! I think that might be its best use here - that is, if you haven't gotten a Champion. That makes a lot of sense!
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Ah, because we ignored Haunted Woods, I didn't think about Mission being such a good counter/response to that! I think that might be its best use here - that is, if you haven't gotten a Champion. That makes a lot of sense!
Of course, Haunted Woods slows down the Champion progression significantly. Mission may or may not be enough reason to ignore HW.
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JSH and Deadlock make good points. I also think that the existence of Champion should not be a reason to ignore attacks. You're probably not going to have one out before turn 11, and that's if you're lucky. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure how strong Swamp Hag and Haunted Woods are here particularly, but they would certainly slow your opponent down. And if there were very strong attacks like Mountebank or Witch, you should never ignore these, especially not just because of Champion.
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When i played this board, I bought mission twice on early turns where I was tracking my deck and knew I would have tactician in my next hand. In that case it was essentially making up for the fact that I was getting tactician late in the shuffle. If i remember correctly, I never went double tactician here because of the forced treasure gaining in the eage line. So mission is stopping you from sacrificing a turn and that is huge. Haunted woods is also a big deal here for the extra card draw even if the attack doesn't hit in the second half of the game.