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Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Let's Discuss ... => Topic started by: werothegreat on February 11, 2019, 02:22:18 pm

Title: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: werothegreat on February 11, 2019, 02:22:18 pm
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/d/dd/Scepter.jpg)

I dub thee... Dame Anna.  Oh, and you too, I suppose.

* How does this compare to Royal Carriage?
* How many of these do you want?
* Under what conditions (besides the trivial of no Actions in play) do you go for the +(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/3/3d/Coin2.png/16px-Coin2.png)?
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: Jack Rudd on February 11, 2019, 03:05:44 pm
You get the $2 when you really need the $2 and none of the actions are worth replaying. (+Actions is obviously irrelevant, and if you've drawn your deck, so is +Card; this can make quite a few actions worthless.)
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: Awaclus on February 11, 2019, 07:02:25 pm
1) They're roughly the same strength, but they each have slightly different tricks they can do in different situations.
2) As many as your draw can handle.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: crj on February 11, 2019, 08:19:36 pm
As I see it, the key difference is timing. Royal Carriage lets you repeat an Action's benefit at once, but you have to have it in your hand when you play the action; with Scepter you have to wait until your Buy phase to repeat the Action's benefit, but you also don't have to have it in hand until then.

The pros and cons are fairly clear if you consider Smithy as a target. When you play Smithy, you can then play a Scepter that it draws, but it's too late to play any actions the second Scepter drew.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: werothegreat on February 11, 2019, 09:09:00 pm
As I see it, the key difference is timing. Royal Carriage lets you repeat an Action's benefit at once, but you have to have it in your hand when you play the action

I believe you mean on your Tavern mat?
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: aku_chi on February 11, 2019, 09:50:56 pm
I don't have a full bead on Scepter, but I know for sure that it's weaker than Royal Carriage.  One of the best things about Throne Room variants is that they can help you draw your deck and amplify your payload.  In most cases, Scepter only does one of those things.  Even though it's slightly better at amplifying payload, that doesn't make up for it's (usual) inability to help you draw your deck.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: Chris is me on February 12, 2019, 09:20:09 am
Scepter is way weaker than Royal Carriage, but there's some cool stuff it can do that RC can't, and in the occasional game where it's useful or important it can really make the difference. There's a huge combo with Sculptor and any cost reduction for those who want to find it, but even just using it to play more Monuments or Wild Hunts or Bridges can be devastating if you're the person who sees it first.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: crj on February 12, 2019, 10:47:29 am
I believe you mean on your Tavern mat?
Well, yes. But if you play it one turn and call it the next then you're trading off increased flexibility against the Duration-like limitation of only getting to play it every other turn?
Title: Re: Let's Discuss Renaissance Cards: Scepter
Post by: Gubump on June 17, 2019, 03:32:47 pm
Scepter is way weaker than Royal Carriage, but there's some cool stuff it can do that RC can't, and in the occasional game where it's useful or important it can really make the difference. There's a huge combo with Sculptor and any cost reduction for those who want to find it, but even just using it to play more Monuments or Wild Hunts or Bridges can be devastating if you're the person who sees it first.

RC also doesn't have a broken combo with Scholar.