Mountebank, like any other curser, is one of those few cards that you would actually open Feast for. Unlike any other curser, it doesn't quickly lose its value. Mountebank is one of those cards that the more times you play it, the less amount of times it gets effective. Because, the more times you play it, the more curses your opponent gets, the more likely it is he will have a curse in his hand to discard. Lets say your opponents deck consisted of: 8 Coppers, 3 Estates, 2 Mountebanks, 1 Silver, and 1 Curse. Now imagine that you played Mountebank. There are 17 cards in his deck, five of which he has in his hand. The probability of him having a curse in his hand is 0.38. Not so bad. Now lets add some curses and coppers. His deck is now 9 Coppers, 2 Curses, 3 Estates, 2 Mountebanks, and 1 Silver. There are now 19 cards in his deck, and with 5 in the hand, the probability has increased to .6. Do it again, and it increases to .8. So you see, the more it is played, the less effect it has. So, for the curses to run out, you will have to either have perfect luck, or wait a bit for the decks to fatten. Thus, in many Mountebank games, instead of going quickly like games with Witch, the curses slowly trickle out and might not even empty at all by the time the game is over.
Coppers?Many of the decisions made when playing with Mountebank revolves around whether or not you want the extra coppers. In games with cards that don't care about coppers, such as Loan, Counting House, Cache, PhilStone, and Gardens, the coppres might not matter as much, and may, in fact, be beneficial. In these types of games, if the curses are gone, when given the choice on whether to discard a Curse or not, do not discard the curse. The copper isn't harmful.
In games where the copper would not be beneficial, such as with heavy trashing, Mountebank is still somewhat of an attack, and shoud be avoided, but remember, in junking games, Copper is a card which can be quite helpful, and whose aid is not to be despised.
Copper provides one more thing: Bigger Decks. A good counter to any Mountebank strat is Gardens. You get a bloated deck, can greatly increase the value of Gardens, you get an abunance of Coppers, and you get a pre-depleted pile: Curses. What is not to like?
Playing with MountebankWhat is the point of a curser?
To get curses into your opponents deck.
Why is this so hard to do with Mountebank?
Bcause of the easy avoiding of the attack. Just discard a curse.
So how can I get the curses into my opponents deck?
You should play Mountebank more. Like this:
1) More in general. There are many ways to do this, some enablers include Inn, Scheme, and some good cyclers like Warehouse. It is also easier to do with Hunting Party. A very good way to ensure playing Mountebank alomst consistently each turn is to buy one, and load up on Hunting Parties. The Hunting Parties skip over the junk, and will almost reliaby get a Mountebank into your hand every turn.
2) More per turn. If you can play Mountebank at least twice in one turn, it is highly likely that the second will suceed. So how can you play it more than once per turn? This is alot harder. One of the obvious answers is KC/TR, and if you can get to KC early in the game, great. TR is different. It only costs 4. Easy to get to. So buy it often, buy some Mountebanks, and you are pretty home free.
Another answer is some Villages. And maybe some +Cards. Like Tactician. If you can play a Tactician earlier in the game, and play at least two or three Mountebanks, you are likely to get some junk in his deck, which will not only start to waste the curses, but make his Tacticians (or Villages) less likley to synergize with his Mountebanks.
Mountebank is the card that, IMO, slows games down the most. The onslaught of junk, the duration of the emptying of piles, and the ability to junk even after the curses are gone make it so. This card, along with Ambassador, Torturer, and Possession are one of the few cards that can make people quit Dominion.
Works with:
Tactician
Cyclers
Scheme
Inn
Throne Room/King's Court
Villages
Itself
Counting House
Loan
Heavy trashing
PhilStone
Gardens
Conflicts with:
Ambassador (duh)
Masquerade (duh)
Other strategies you want to play but are ruined by this card.
Hand-Size Reducers
Edit: Oh, yeah, Trader.
