Alternatively, just try some of the recommended sets of ten. A lot of those can be fun. I particularly like the Intrigue + Alchemy "Pools, Tools and Fools"
we have all of the recommended sets of ten over on the wiki, including sets which pull from expansions that came out after alchemy.
Witch > Mountebank, especially head to head
As a small expansion, using only Alchemy cards is not going to be especially fun (you can do it once or twice, but... that's about it). The rule recommendation is that if you use a card with Potions in it's cost*, then you use between 3-5 of them. Personally I'd say that's a little high, 2-4 is probably better, but for your first games go ahead and try using 4 or 5 potion cards, plus maybe one of the others (or both).
*I think it's this, it might actually be if you use any Alchemy cards, use 3-5 Alchemy cards. Note there are 10 cards with potion costs, and 2 without.
I thought I saw you mentioning this method of card choosing in an old thread. Could you explain how you choose your kingdom cards? Thanks!When I first got Dark Ages, I played Dark-Ages-only games, then I went down to 5 Dark Ages cards and 5 other cards, now I mostly just mix them in.
Same. we typically do either 3 or 4 cards from 3 sets to build our kingdoms. We rotate through so that each set sees about the same number of plays in an evening, though popular sets may see an extra outing than an unpopular one.
warrior297
Hey Warrior - sorry to be slow on the response.
Typically, we will shuffle the randomizer decks for the sets (we keep them separate), and then draw off the top X cards. Typically, we will choose 4 cards from Prosperity, Seaside, DA, or Hinterlands with 3 from each of the other 2 chosen sets. THis is, of course, subject to whim - if we feel like playing a particular set, we are more likely to draw 4 from it. We do a sort of "soft veto" where if we really don't feel like playing with a particular card, we reserve the option to skip it and grab the next card in the blue deck. An example is if Sea Hag shows up on a very sloggy board for the last game of the night - that isn't how we want to end the evening, so we might replace her. After the kingdom is built, we return the blue cards to the bottom of their randomizer deck. So, no single card is likely to appear more than once or maybe twice in a night.
This weekend, we used the set generator that was just created by Onigame. It was fun and definitely created some very interesting sets (I submitted one of them to Theory for the design contest). However, it seemed that there were definitely some cards that were preferred over others. I think Familiar and Haggler were in at least 3 or 4 of the 8 or so games we played.
Anyway - that's how we do it, and it seems to work out well. I suggested the use of Onigame's generator to take a look at potentially using cards from more than three boards at once, but it turns out that it tends to clump them anyway!
Wow! That seems very cool! Maybe I will try that. You use 3 expansions at a time, right?
Yep, almost always 3. It isn't a hard-and-fast rule, though. When DA first came out, after we had played all of the recommended sets and several DA-only sets, we were still DA-intensive, so there were several nights of half DA, half something else boards.
If you have any ideas of ways to mix it up, I am open to suggestions!
I thought I saw you mentioning this method of card choosing in an old thread. Could you explain how you choose your kingdom cards? Thanks!When I first got Dark Ages, I played Dark-Ages-only games, then I went down to 5 Dark Ages cards and 5 other cards, now I mostly just mix them in.
Same. we typically do either 3 or 4 cards from 3 sets to build our kingdoms. We rotate through so that each set sees about the same number of plays in an evening, though popular sets may see an extra outing than an unpopular one.
warrior297
Hey Warrior - sorry to be slow on the response.
Typically, we will shuffle the randomizer decks for the sets (we keep them separate), and then draw off the top X cards. Typically, we will choose 4 cards from Prosperity, Seaside, DA, or Hinterlands with 3 from each of the other 2 chosen sets. THis is, of course, subject to whim - if we feel like playing a particular set, we are more likely to draw 4 from it. We do a sort of "soft veto" where if we really don't feel like playing with a particular card, we reserve the option to skip it and grab the next card in the blue deck. An example is if Sea Hag shows up on a very sloggy board for the last game of the night - that isn't how we want to end the evening, so we might replace her. After the kingdom is built, we return the blue cards to the bottom of their randomizer deck. So, no single card is likely to appear more than once or maybe twice in a night.
This weekend, we used the set generator that was just created by Onigame. It was fun and definitely created some very interesting sets (I submitted one of them to Theory for the design contest). However, it seemed that there were definitely some cards that were preferred over others. I think Familiar and Haggler were in at least 3 or 4 of the 8 or so games we played.
Anyway - that's how we do it, and it seems to work out well. I suggested the use of Onigame's generator to take a look at potentially using cards from more than three boards at once, but it turns out that it tends to clump them anyway!
When I started playing DA only, there was always some whacky combo in the kingdom. Sometimes it would give me headaches just resolving all the actions played (in real-life Dominion that is).
For me personally it was just too much at once to properly evaluate the power of the new cards.
Then we started to do completely random setups usually ending up with 1 or 2 cards from DA. That works much better for me, now i finally get to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the new cards when they come up in an otherwise somewhat familiar setup. Now I really love the DA cards because they enable some sort of engine in almost every game.
I'm at the mix-em-in stage.
Any favorite sets/cards?
warrior297
Well, given that I tend to play on Goko more often than not, I play with whatever is thrown at me. But, when I do play in person, I try to make a well-rounded kingdom, with a Village and draw and +Buy and whatnot. As for favorite cards (I'm assuming from Dark Ages): Rebuild is fun, as are the Knights, and I really enjoy throwing Fortress, Rats and Death Cart in with each other. Count and Altar are awesome, and there's just something satisfying about pulling off a Cultist chain. And you have to do at least one Graverobber game.
As for a set, try a game with Bishop, Rats, Wandering Minstrel.
I'm at the mix-em-in stage.
I thought I saw you mentioning this method of card choosing in an old thread. Could you explain how you choose your kingdom cards? Thanks!When I first got Dark Ages, I played Dark-Ages-only games, then I went down to 5 Dark Ages cards and 5 other cards, now I mostly just mix them in.
Same. we typically do either 3 or 4 cards from 3 sets to build our kingdoms. We rotate through so that each set sees about the same number of plays in an evening, though popular sets may see an extra outing than an unpopular one.
I disagree that young witch is usually bad.Also know which cursers are better. If young witch, mountebank and witch are all out, don't buy a young witch at four, and pass up the witch for a mountebank at five.
I disagree with this. Young Witch will often be the correct opening (if the Bane is weak) because getting curses in your opponent's deck fast is important. Whether to open YW will be depend highly on what the Bane is. The Mountebank vs. Witch question isn't clear-cut either, since the Witch player can often win the curse split because of the built in moat on Mountebank. I don't know what the general conclusion on Witch vs. Mountebank is, but I'm sure it isn't "always buy Mountebank".
Yes, good points here too. I have to admit that I have fallen into the camp of thinking that Yw is bad just because it usually is. But if the bane is completely undesirable, then it definitely gets stronger.
IMO, it has more effect on the game than any other 4-cost.
Well, first of all, I think you're taking level a bit too seriously if your primary goal is to level up.
I have a question about the "when you trash this" clause. Let's use Cultist for example which says "when you trash this, +3 cards" and let's say someone plays a knight, trashing your Cultist. Do you still get the +3 cards even though "you" didn't trash the Cultist? Or do you not get the extra cards because your opponent trashed the card? Thanks.
warrior297
The Knight doesn't trash your Cultist. You trash your Cultist. The Knight just tells you to. So, yes, you get the +3 cards.
You're including Poor House with the $2's, right?
Right.
I thought this was going to be a request for an article about how to gain understanding of the card, Expand.
