Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Let's Discuss ... => Topic started by: Seprix on May 22, 2016, 03:46:58 pm

Title: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Seprix on May 22, 2016, 03:46:58 pm
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/7/7a/Procession.jpg) (http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Procession)
Procession
"Procession, without a doubt."
                           -Brokoli, when asked what the highest skill card in Dominion was
Why is Procession widely considered one of the highest skill cards in Dominion? After reading through opinions and thinking myself, I have come to three reasons:

I think most people who have ever played Dominion have underrated Procession when they first saw it, because it trashes the card you 'Throned' afterwards. The Develop/Remake/Upgrade effect is a lot stronger than people give it credit for, and it is the lack of understanding with this mechanic that weakens Procession for a lot of beginners. I mean, why trash a card you don't want trashed? I've gotten over trashing Coppers and Estates but man, it's just so much harder to let go of your nice Smithy.

Procession is also a strong card because it handily helps quicken 3-piles while accelerating your engine as a Throne variant normally does. This makes Procession an incredibly viable engine piece, and reading Titandrake's shiny new article about Beatdowns vs. Control only increases this perception for me.

It is often difficult to dissect when the best time to go for Procession is, or even to get it at all, which is my absolute biggest reason. It's not always intuitive to go out and buy tons of Spies to Process into Upgrades to then Process further into something else to get quick points and end it all on a 3-pile. Procession is likely the number one card that separates a good player from a great one, and the sooner you can master it, the better.

Long story short, Procession is fantastic but also tricky.

Oh, and you can Process Feast for 3 $5 cards.

for more reading on Procession: DG's Article [2012] (https://dominionstrategy.com/2012/10/29/dark-ages-procession/)
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Jack Rudd on May 22, 2016, 04:10:32 pm
Good Procession targets: Fortress, Island, Feast, Rats, Distant Lands, and other things with on-trash benefits or which the Procession loses track of.

There are also good situational things, like Moneylender with the last two Coppers in your deck in hand.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Joseph2302 on May 22, 2016, 06:48:01 pm
Quote from: Jack Rudd on May 22, 2016, 04:10:32 pm
Good Procession targets: Fortress, Island, Feast, Rats, Distant Lands, and other things with on-trash benefits or which the Procession loses track of.

There are also good situational things, like Moneylender with the last two Coppers in your deck in hand.
Why is procession of rats good? It gives you 2 more rats, which is usually bad.
Also, processing Distant Lands isn't great either, you could have just played it normally for the same effect.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Seprix on May 22, 2016, 06:52:03 pm
Quote from: Joseph2302 on May 22, 2016, 06:48:01 pm
Quote from: Jack Rudd on May 22, 2016, 04:10:32 pm
Good Procession targets: Fortress, Island, Feast, Rats, Distant Lands, and other things with on-trash benefits or which the Procession loses track of.

There are also good situational things, like Moneylender with the last two Coppers in your deck in hand.
Why is procession of rats good? It gives you 2 more rats, which is usually bad.
Also, processing Distant Lands isn't great either, you could have just played it normally for the same effect.

Processing Distant Lands is fantastic if there is a $6 Action out there.

I semi-agree with you on Rats in a vacuum. It depends on the scenario though.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: J Reggie on May 22, 2016, 10:15:01 pm
Quote from: Seprix on May 22, 2016, 06:52:03 pm
Processing Distant Lands is fantastic if there is a $6 Action

Unless, of course, it's Adventurer.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Jack Rudd on May 23, 2016, 07:55:52 am
Quote from: Joseph2302 on May 22, 2016, 06:48:01 pm
Quote from: Jack Rudd on May 22, 2016, 04:10:32 pm
Good Procession targets: Fortress, Island, Feast, Rats, Distant Lands, and other things with on-trash benefits or which the Procession loses track of.

There are also good situational things, like Moneylender with the last two Coppers in your deck in hand.
Why is procession of rats good? It gives you 2 more rats, which is usually bad.
Assuming two cards in hand you want to trash: Procession of Rats gives you +2 Actions, +2 Cards, and replaces one Rats and two junk with two Rats and a $5 card. Overall, that's probably in your favour. I'll accept that it varies with the junk and the $5 card.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: drsteelhammer on May 23, 2016, 09:08:08 am
Procession interacts weirdly with Reserve cards. The throne effect is almost worthless, but processing a guide or transmogrify is not too bad and procession acts as a gainer.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Limetime on May 23, 2016, 09:11:12 am
Quote from: drsteelhammer on May 23, 2016, 09:08:08 am
Procession interacts weirdly with Reserve cards. The throne effect is almost worthless, but processing a guide or transmogrify is not too bad and procession acts as a gainer.

Well procession wine merchant is great.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: mameluke on May 23, 2016, 01:59:38 pm
Procession is good when it is good, the problem is you'd rather have straight Throne most of the time. With no villages, Proc-Proc-Smithy-(some other action) is not as reliable as using Throne, since you end up losing one of the Processions and the other two cards. So it doesn't really do all of those neat tricks.

The best way to look at Procession is as a gainer of expensive cards -- playing some card twice is just a benefit. And you don't really want to Procession those more expensive cards either (unless there's a $6 out that's worth having, but again, that's the end of the line, whereas with Throne you can play all of those expensive actions twice, too, which seems like a huge benefit with Grand Market, Hunting Grounds, etc.). So you'll stop playing the Procession at some point, or just only matching it up with $2s and $3s.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: wachsmuth on May 23, 2016, 02:25:35 pm
Something pretty neat about Procession is that it makes all sorts of weak action cards desirable. Suddenly Navigator, Chancellor, Harvest etc. are something you'll eventually Procession into, or something you can Procession into something better. I enjoy the card because it's one of those that often allows the entire kingdom to see play.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: luser on May 23, 2016, 02:33:54 pm
Quote from: wachsmuth on May 23, 2016, 02:25:35 pm
Something pretty neat about Procession is that it makes all sorts of weak action cards desirable. Suddenly Navigator, Chancellor, Harvest etc. are something you'll eventually Procession into, or something you can Procession into something better. I enjoy the card because it's one of those that often allows the entire kingdom to see play.

Or one of few cases where adventurer can be useful as you could turn it into kings court
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Chris is me on May 23, 2016, 03:37:44 pm
Quote from: wachsmuth on May 23, 2016, 02:25:35 pm
Something pretty neat about Procession is that it makes all sorts of weak action cards desirable. Suddenly Navigator, Chancellor, Harvest etc. are something you'll eventually Procession into, or something you can Procession into something better. I enjoy the card because it's one of those that often allows the entire kingdom to see play.

One of my favorite game's ever, the one where Stef opened Chapel / Scout, eventually Processions the Scout into a much better card. Procession even makes Scout good!
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Seprix on May 23, 2016, 08:50:53 pm
Quote from: Chris is me on May 23, 2016, 03:37:44 pm
Quote from: wachsmuth on May 23, 2016, 02:25:35 pm
Something pretty neat about Procession is that it makes all sorts of weak action cards desirable. Suddenly Navigator, Chancellor, Harvest etc. are something you'll eventually Procession into, or something you can Procession into something better. I enjoy the card because it's one of those that often allows the entire kingdom to see play.

One of my favorite game's ever, the one where Stef opened Chapel / Scout, eventually Processions the Scout into a much better card. Procession even makes Scout good!

Oh wow, I just happened to have that game by Stef in my signature. I didn't even know. I thought it was just funny.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: Beyond Awesome on May 23, 2016, 09:20:46 pm
I'm pretty bad with this card. I sometimes forget it exists on boards it's on. I think I have an aversion to trashing good stuff and haven't quite figured how to play out. Though in grants when I do get it, I sometimes pull off crazy pile endings bit have no clue what I'm doing.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: William Howard Taft on September 15, 2017, 04:33:51 pm
Procession/Squire may be my favorite opening. It's risky, but if you're lucky enough to pair them up immediately after the shuffle you can gain 2 silvers, a $3 action card, an attack card, and then use your $2 to buy another Squire.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Procession
Post by: crj on September 15, 2017, 08:17:43 pm
Procession+Rats I've seen be awesome in a game with good $5s. I particularly remember the game which also had Trading Post: your Procession of Rats can get you one very quickly, and then feeding two Rats to a Trading Post is a really strong move.

Border Village has a synergy with Procession that's in many ways the converse of the Procession+Fortress synergy: Procession of a $5-cost Action gets you a Border Village, plus a replacement copy of that $5-cost Action. Sometimes, a Procession of Border Villages then gets you a $7-cost Action.