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« on: February 01, 2018, 08:48:47 pm »
Here are my favorites. Not necessarily in order of power, but just how much enjoyment I find in each set. To me, how fun the set is comes largely from the amount of variety they bring to the table, and how many different approaches you have to playing the game. So this list is just my personal preference. I recently had a friend I play with ask me what should be the next expansion to buy after he has Base and Seaside, and I had to explain that it depends on how much depth and complexity you are looking for - versus something just fun and easy to teach to other new players.
1. Adventures This was a close call between Adventures and Empires, but for me, Adventures gets the nod for all the new mechanics it brought to the game. Events are great, and overall, the Adventures Events are much stronger than the Empires Events. The Travelers, and all the various ways to modify kingdom cards with tokens just adds so much variety. And bringing back duration cards with some really strong ones was just a nice bonus.
2. Empires When I first played Empires, I was afraid it might be too much, and that Donald had finally jumped the shark. But the more I played it (both in real life and online), I really began to like the whole set, and it has grown on me immensely. With all the nifty mechanics and options, I doubted that some of my friends and family would get into it for a casual fun game night, but to my surprise they all seem to really love it once they began to understand the options. I simply love most of the Landmarks - to me they are even a bigger change to the game than Duration cards or Events because they alter the basic scoring rules for each game. Some people may not like that, but I think it was a stroke of genius. Most of the events are fairly weak, but as we know a couple of them are awesomely powerful. Victory points are far more fun in Empires than they are in Prosperity because of the large variety of ways you can gain them, and it makes for much more thoughtful and tactical games.
3. Nocturne So far I don't see it as strong as the top 2, but the huge variety of new mechanics and card types is just plain fun. It is the only physical set I do not own yet, so I have yet to see whether more casual players will enjoy it, but I think they will like all the themes. The night cards are really interesting. Some of the spirits haven't grabbed me as much, but overall I really enjoy seeing Nocturne cards pop up in random games.
4. Dark Ages This is a set I often recommend as maybe the 3rd set to buy. Part of the reason is just that you get more bang for the buck with so many different kingdom cards. Also, Dark Ages focus on trashing is a great way to teach newer players the value of trashing those coppers and estates. One of our friends had a real problem trashing coppers, but after I made her play a few games with Dark Ages, the light bulb turned on. Shelters aren't as fun as Heirlooms, but were still a nice change to the basic estates, and Ruins were a good alternative to Curses. Just a lot of great cards in this set, and huge variety for one box.
5. Seaside Ranking favorites after the top 4 gets a little difficult, but I'm going to go with Seaside for the impact of the Duration cards. To me Duration cards were the first really big game changing mechanic, and those Fishing Village, Wharf, Tactician and Outpost cards are still fun to play today even with all of the recent mechanics and complexity.
6. Hinterlands So part of me wants to rank Prosperity next, but last year we visited family who had just bought their first 2 expansions. Based on Amazon reviews they purchased Prosperity and Hinterlands. In spite of the really powerful cards in Prosperity, they often found the kingdoms just had too many treasure cards, and not enough options in how to play the game, so they preferred Hinterlands. It made me rethink the 2 sets. I have always liked Hinterlands with the Border Village, Haggler, Highway, Stables, and other sifting cards, but at home it didn't make it to the table as often. But overall, I think it is just a slight bit more fun than the average Prosperity game...tough call since the best Prosperity games with KC, Goons, Grand Market etc. can be simply awesome, and I don't have an issue with people placing Prosperity higher on the list.
7. Prosperity I think I said most of it in the last comments. A great set, and one of the first 3 or 4 expansions I would recommend for new players. The great cards in the set still play great with all of the new sets.
8. Cornucopia OK, maybe I'm letting my wife influence me here since this is her favorite set. We have played a HUGE number of IRL games with Cornucopia cards. I know it can get swingy, and I personally think Tournament is overrated since it is often a dead card after opponents purchase Provinces...but you have to admit, the Prizes are just fun! Hunting Party and Horn of Plenty are not only fun but just incredibly powerful. If this was a full sized set I would probably rank it above Dark Ages, but the small sets don't offer much variety unless you mix them with other sets (which of course is the way to go).
9. Base We had really stopped playing the base entirely unless we were introducing Dominion to new players. The new cards really did perk the set up a lot (although I do miss the loss of a buy that disappeared with Woodcutter). Overall though, this is the fundamental set of prototype cards that you need to have if you want to get people into Dominion, and some of them are still fun. I still love the original Village, Smithy, Witch cards that were just simple and straight forward. And it makes a good combo with one of the newer sets if you want to tone down the overall complexity of the game.
10. Alchemy I'm sure I'm bucking the trend here, but I have never hated Alchemy, and it contains some really powerful and fun cards. Scrying Pool is awesome, but as someone else said it can really slow down the game. I personally like Alchemist a lot as a core engine card if the game is not too fast and you have time to acquire them. University is great only if you have 5 cost cards from other sets to acquire. And Vineyards can at times produce some really scary scores. Overall one of the strongest engine expansions. Like all the small sets it suffers from not having enough variety unless played with other sets, and if only some of the cards are potion cards you really have to consider whether the cost is worth it. I do sort of wish there were a few more potion cards...maybe a promo some day?
11. Intrigue The new cards were a big help for Intrigue, but somehow this set has just never grabbed me as much as the others. Sure I like Bridge and Nobles, and Lurker and Replace were very interesting additions, but overall we just rarely ever reach for this set at home.
12. Guilds If it were a larger set I probably would rank it above Intrigue. I enjoy the coin token cards, and Stone Mason can certainly be fun (or even a massive Advisor engine), but it just is another set that rarely gets played much in our house. Not bad, but there are just other expansions that are much more fun.
13. Promos Not sure these even belong in a ranking of expansions, but I guess I would have to place them last. But among them are Governor which is one of my all time favorite cards, and Sauna/Avanto which is quickly becoming a household favorite for IRL games, and of course Black Market which is another major game changer. I own all the promo cards, and other than these 3 we rarely play the others...and I often forget to include some in games. I do enjoy online games which include them though. Not a big fan of Envoy, although it certainly can be powerful.
