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Dominion General Discussion / Project: Three-Sentence Overviews of Every Card
« on: April 03, 2012, 09:41:12 pm »
So, I reread the Three-Sentence Overview for Hinterlands (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=947.msg14427), and thought it would be nice to have an overview for every card that could be used as an introduction to the deeper strategies involved.
However, I'm not insane enough to type one up for every card, so why not let other people do it?
The rules are simple. Name a card, copy-paste it's card effect, and post a 3-sentence overview of it. I'll try to edit them in as they come. Although you are free to do a card that has already been done, try not to. I want every card to have an overview first.
EDIT: Oh god that was a lot of replies fast. Alright, time to start organizing.
---BASE---
Chapel
$2 Action
Trash up to 4 cards from your hand.
Very strong, but you need to pick it up turn 1 or 2 for the best effect. Trash as much as you can early on, then slow down. Not as useful if your deck is mostly money.
Cellar
$2 Action
+1 Action
Discard any number of cards.
+1 Card per card discarded.
A mediocre sifter, but hey, what are you expecting at $2. It becomes more powerful when you can increase your handsize (e.g. laboratory, tactician, +cards/+actions engines), but conversely is weakened in the face of handsize reduction attacks. Like all sifters it becomes less useful if you can directly trash the junk in your deck.
Moat
$2 Action – Reaction
+2 Cards
When another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.
Consider the damage you do to your own deck by buying this card before you get it to stop attacks -- +2 cards is a very weak effect to waste a terminal action on. You probably want to bother with this only against the most powerful of attacks. However, this card becomes better in a multiplayer game, as more attacks will hit you between your turns and one Moat can stop them all.
Chancellor
Action - $3
+$2
You may immediately put your deck in your discard pile
Not quite as useless as most beginners suppose, but its cycling power is too weak and unreliable to be worth a buy most of the time. Chancellor/Stash, however, is an elite combo in Province games without hand reduction. Does not trigger Tunnels, but can lead to very impressive Inn purchases, and is frequently used in "perfect shuffle luck" solitaire puzzles.
Gardens
Victory - $4
Worth 1 VP for every 10 cards in your deck (rounded down).
A powerful alternative to Provinces. However, make sure the board is right. Only buy it if you have a very good enabler to quickly end the game.
Witch
Action - $5
+2 Cards
Each other player gains a Curse.
The best 5 coin card.
Kills your opponent's deck hard.
Curses are the best.
Adventurer
Action - $6
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal 2 Treasure cards. Put those Treasure cards in your hand and discard the other revealed cards.
Best when you have a good reason to trash a lot of your coppers. Can help a deck clogged with green or curses, and sometimes good against discard attacks. Often a trap, because you have to pass up a potential gold to get one.
---INTRIGUE---
Masquerade
Action - $3
+2 Cards
Each player passes a card in their hand to the player on their left. You may trash a card from your hand.
A strong Big Money card and unstoppable attack of sorts. One of the few ways to beat Curse-giving Attacks. Play a Militia, Goons, or Margrave before this, if you can.
Baron
Action - $4
+1 Buy
You may discard an Estate card. If you do, +$4. Otherwise, gain an Estate card.
Helps to get an early Gold or Fiver.
If you don't draw it with an Estate, you're very unlucky.
The +Buy is also nice.
Duke
Victory - $5
Worth 1 Victory Point per Duchy you have.
Deceptively strong in most Province games. Buy Duchies at every opportunity while gaining Coppers if you can. Swindler, Thief, and Saboteur hurt more than usual.
Minion
Action--Attack - $5
+1 Action
Choose one: +$2; or discard your hand, +4 Cards; and each other player with at least 5 cards in hand discards his hand and draws 4 cards.
Works best with more copies of itself, and other non-terminals that provide virtual coin. Semi-resistant to cursing but hurt by excess Coppers and Silvers. Ignore at your own peril.
---SEASIDE---
Embargo
+$2
Trash this card. Put an Embargo token on top of a Supply pile.
When a player buys a card, he gains a Curse card per Embargo token on that pile.
A nice combination of early-game control and one-shot virtual money to get to a Gold or $5 card quickly. Buy this when you're nearly positive about what your opponent is going for and block stacks accordingly, even a common buy such as Silver. Although taking a single Curse is less of a big deal than hyped up to be, players will hesitate, giving you some control of the game's flow.
---ALCHEMY---
Transmute
Action - $P
Trash a card from your hand.
If it is an...
Action card, gain a Duchy.
Treasure card, gain a Transmute.
Victory card, gain a Gold.
Turning Estates into Gold looks awesome, but the awkward Potion cost make this one of the worst trashers. You can't get it early, you're likely wasting the rest of your cash to get this, and turning Coppers into Transmutes is almost always horrible. However, it is useful as a consolation prize in slow Familiar games, where even just clearing Curses and grabbing Duchies makes a difference, and is very occasionally worth a buy in other curse or Alchemy-heavy sets.
---PROSPERITY---
Goons
Action – Attack $6
+1 Buy; +$2
Each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.
While this is in play, when you buy a card, +1 VP token.
If you can, buy it. If you can, play it. Spend your time thinking about other cards.
Bank
Treasure - $7
When you play this, it's worth $1 per Treasure card you have in play (counting this).
Takes the right setup to be helpful. In a normal $5-card hand, it's not usually worth more than Gold, and sometimes worth less. In a large hand, it can be worth a ton, but that's usually only really useful if you have +buy to take advantage of it.
Forge
Action - $7
Trash any number of cards from your hand. Gain a card with cost exactly equal to the total cost in coins of the trashed cards.
Relatively weak as a mass trasher because of its high price, and relatively weak as a Remodel variant because of its inflexibility. It can be very powerful, though, in games with large handsize so you can pick and choose what to trash to get the target value you need. Keep in mind ways to achieve your target value: if you want to Forge $8 for Provinces, it helps to plan in advance by having a lot of $4 cards, or a lot of $5s and $3s.
King’s Court
Action - $7
You may choose an Action card in your hand. Play it three times.
Is it considered rude to buy this card? I have no problem with other players resigning when I buy a few of these. This is in spite of saying things like "Good lord, I can't believe I got one on turn 3!"
---CORNUCOPIA---
Remake
Action - $4
Do this twice: Trash a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly 1 treasure more than the trashed card.
An elite early trasher, since it trims as fast as Steward but also gives you valuable $3 cards (Silver at the very least) for your Estates. If there are useful engine parts at $3, Fishing Village or Menagerie for instance, it will build your deck even faster than Chapel. Like most trashers, less useful in BM games and in the late game, but moves like $4 Action --> Duchy can be life-saving.
Hunting Party
Action - $5
+1 Card; +1 Action.
Reveal your hand. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a card that isn’t a duplicate of one in your hand. Put it into your hand and discard the rest.
Despite coming from the variety themed expansion, does better with less variety. Best strategy is to amass Hunting Parties with silver, a single Gold and one other source of +$2 or more. Hold off on Duchies an extra turn or two.
---HINTERLANDS---
See link.
---PROMO---
---BASE CARDS---
Technically it's coming out soon, so I'll leave these in.
Gold
Treasure - $6
Worth $3
Very good at giving you enough coin to by provinces. You need two of these plus either a silver or two copper. Even when building an engine, don't forget to get Gold.
Province
Victory - $8
6 Victory Points
Victory points are how you win the game. Second sentence. Third sentence.
However, I'm not insane enough to type one up for every card, so why not let other people do it?
The rules are simple. Name a card, copy-paste it's card effect, and post a 3-sentence overview of it. I'll try to edit them in as they come. Although you are free to do a card that has already been done, try not to. I want every card to have an overview first.
EDIT: Oh god that was a lot of replies fast. Alright, time to start organizing.
---BASE---
Chapel
$2 Action
Trash up to 4 cards from your hand.
Very strong, but you need to pick it up turn 1 or 2 for the best effect. Trash as much as you can early on, then slow down. Not as useful if your deck is mostly money.
Cellar
$2 Action
+1 Action
Discard any number of cards.
+1 Card per card discarded.
A mediocre sifter, but hey, what are you expecting at $2. It becomes more powerful when you can increase your handsize (e.g. laboratory, tactician, +cards/+actions engines), but conversely is weakened in the face of handsize reduction attacks. Like all sifters it becomes less useful if you can directly trash the junk in your deck.
Moat
$2 Action – Reaction
+2 Cards
When another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.
Consider the damage you do to your own deck by buying this card before you get it to stop attacks -- +2 cards is a very weak effect to waste a terminal action on. You probably want to bother with this only against the most powerful of attacks. However, this card becomes better in a multiplayer game, as more attacks will hit you between your turns and one Moat can stop them all.
Chancellor
Action - $3
+$2
You may immediately put your deck in your discard pile
Not quite as useless as most beginners suppose, but its cycling power is too weak and unreliable to be worth a buy most of the time. Chancellor/Stash, however, is an elite combo in Province games without hand reduction. Does not trigger Tunnels, but can lead to very impressive Inn purchases, and is frequently used in "perfect shuffle luck" solitaire puzzles.
Gardens
Victory - $4
Worth 1 VP for every 10 cards in your deck (rounded down).
A powerful alternative to Provinces. However, make sure the board is right. Only buy it if you have a very good enabler to quickly end the game.
Witch
Action - $5
+2 Cards
Each other player gains a Curse.
The best 5 coin card.
Kills your opponent's deck hard.
Curses are the best.
Adventurer
Action - $6
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal 2 Treasure cards. Put those Treasure cards in your hand and discard the other revealed cards.
Best when you have a good reason to trash a lot of your coppers. Can help a deck clogged with green or curses, and sometimes good against discard attacks. Often a trap, because you have to pass up a potential gold to get one.
---INTRIGUE---
Masquerade
Action - $3
+2 Cards
Each player passes a card in their hand to the player on their left. You may trash a card from your hand.
A strong Big Money card and unstoppable attack of sorts. One of the few ways to beat Curse-giving Attacks. Play a Militia, Goons, or Margrave before this, if you can.
Baron
Action - $4
+1 Buy
You may discard an Estate card. If you do, +$4. Otherwise, gain an Estate card.
Helps to get an early Gold or Fiver.
If you don't draw it with an Estate, you're very unlucky.
The +Buy is also nice.
Duke
Victory - $5
Worth 1 Victory Point per Duchy you have.
Deceptively strong in most Province games. Buy Duchies at every opportunity while gaining Coppers if you can. Swindler, Thief, and Saboteur hurt more than usual.
Minion
Action--Attack - $5
+1 Action
Choose one: +$2; or discard your hand, +4 Cards; and each other player with at least 5 cards in hand discards his hand and draws 4 cards.
Works best with more copies of itself, and other non-terminals that provide virtual coin. Semi-resistant to cursing but hurt by excess Coppers and Silvers. Ignore at your own peril.
---SEASIDE---
Embargo
+$2
Trash this card. Put an Embargo token on top of a Supply pile.
When a player buys a card, he gains a Curse card per Embargo token on that pile.
A nice combination of early-game control and one-shot virtual money to get to a Gold or $5 card quickly. Buy this when you're nearly positive about what your opponent is going for and block stacks accordingly, even a common buy such as Silver. Although taking a single Curse is less of a big deal than hyped up to be, players will hesitate, giving you some control of the game's flow.
---ALCHEMY---
Transmute
Action - $P
Trash a card from your hand.
If it is an...
Action card, gain a Duchy.
Treasure card, gain a Transmute.
Victory card, gain a Gold.
Turning Estates into Gold looks awesome, but the awkward Potion cost make this one of the worst trashers. You can't get it early, you're likely wasting the rest of your cash to get this, and turning Coppers into Transmutes is almost always horrible. However, it is useful as a consolation prize in slow Familiar games, where even just clearing Curses and grabbing Duchies makes a difference, and is very occasionally worth a buy in other curse or Alchemy-heavy sets.
---PROSPERITY---
Goons
Action – Attack $6
+1 Buy; +$2
Each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.
While this is in play, when you buy a card, +1 VP token.
If you can, buy it. If you can, play it. Spend your time thinking about other cards.
Bank
Treasure - $7
When you play this, it's worth $1 per Treasure card you have in play (counting this).
Takes the right setup to be helpful. In a normal $5-card hand, it's not usually worth more than Gold, and sometimes worth less. In a large hand, it can be worth a ton, but that's usually only really useful if you have +buy to take advantage of it.
Forge
Action - $7
Trash any number of cards from your hand. Gain a card with cost exactly equal to the total cost in coins of the trashed cards.
Relatively weak as a mass trasher because of its high price, and relatively weak as a Remodel variant because of its inflexibility. It can be very powerful, though, in games with large handsize so you can pick and choose what to trash to get the target value you need. Keep in mind ways to achieve your target value: if you want to Forge $8 for Provinces, it helps to plan in advance by having a lot of $4 cards, or a lot of $5s and $3s.
King’s Court
Action - $7
You may choose an Action card in your hand. Play it three times.
Is it considered rude to buy this card? I have no problem with other players resigning when I buy a few of these. This is in spite of saying things like "Good lord, I can't believe I got one on turn 3!"
---CORNUCOPIA---
Remake
Action - $4
Do this twice: Trash a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly 1 treasure more than the trashed card.
An elite early trasher, since it trims as fast as Steward but also gives you valuable $3 cards (Silver at the very least) for your Estates. If there are useful engine parts at $3, Fishing Village or Menagerie for instance, it will build your deck even faster than Chapel. Like most trashers, less useful in BM games and in the late game, but moves like $4 Action --> Duchy can be life-saving.
Hunting Party
Action - $5
+1 Card; +1 Action.
Reveal your hand. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a card that isn’t a duplicate of one in your hand. Put it into your hand and discard the rest.
Despite coming from the variety themed expansion, does better with less variety. Best strategy is to amass Hunting Parties with silver, a single Gold and one other source of +$2 or more. Hold off on Duchies an extra turn or two.
---HINTERLANDS---
See link.
---PROMO---
---BASE CARDS---
Technically it's coming out soon, so I'll leave these in.
Gold
Treasure - $6
Worth $3
Very good at giving you enough coin to by provinces. You need two of these plus either a silver or two copper. Even when building an engine, don't forget to get Gold.
Province
Victory - $8
6 Victory Points
Victory points are how you win the game. Second sentence. Third sentence.
