| #23 ▲1 Shanty Town (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 38.3% ▲3.2pp / Unweighted Average: 38.4% / Median: 36.4% ▲4.1pp / Standard Deviation: 23.1%
Shanty Town is over 3pp higher and one rank better. It was voted 12 times below 10% and 9 times above 75%.
Shanty Town is a very problematic village. If you want villages you have many terminals and want to build an engine. Shanty Town is bad as it only gives you +2 Actions and is actually a Necropolis. And if you have multiple Shanty Towns in hand and no terminals, it's even worse. The best use is to minimize bad draw luck, when you have many terminals, but have the bad luck to not draw them with your village. Then you have a second shot to draw them with your +2 Cards. And if you have 2 Shanty Towns and 1 terminal in hand, it's not bad after all. Play your first Shanty Town, then your terminal and then you can play the second one and hopefully draw more terminals. But the raw benefit is in this case the same as you would get out of a "normal" Village. And sometimes it's a neat addition to a deck with very few terminals, then Shanty Town serves like a Laboratory for you.
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| #22 Masterpiece (Guilds) Weighted Average: 38.6% / Unweighted Average: 39.2% / Median: 33.3% / Standard Deviation: 27.5%
Masterpiece is the first of the two new Guilds cards. It has the highest deviation in this list, with having 5 last ranks and being voted 23 times below 10% on one hand and having 3 first ranks and being voted 17 times above 75% on the other hand.
Masterpiece is the new shiny BM card. Beside the obvious mega-powerful Feodum combo, it's still very useful on BM boards. As the on-play effect is only a Copper, it's a bad card on its own and a great target for Swindler, so you really have to evaluate the overpay effect. You really don't buy it for $3 or $4 as a Silver is the better option. For $5 it's pretty similar to Cache as you get 3 cards with a value of $5 together, but Cache isn't a really strong card either. But with $6 or more Masterpiece really starts to shine. 3 Silvers and a Copper vs. a Gold is often a tough call and depends heavily on your deck, but we all know since Jack of All Trades that silver flood can be a very powerful strategy. If hit $7 or more early in the game and there aren't strong terminals that you still like to play regularly, Masterpiece a great buy.
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| #21 =0 Lookout (Seaside) Weighted Average: 41.5% ▲1.1pp / Unweighted Average: 42.7% / Median: 42.4% ▲5.7pp / Standard Deviation: 23.0%
We're making a jump of nearly 3pp and there's a card which stayed where it was and also has a similar average value.
The positive part is: It's a non-terminal trasher which is of course very powerful. It can trash a card which is even not in your hand. It also counters top-deck-attacks, especially Sea Hag, very well. And with the support of "spying" cards you are guaranteed trashing a bad card. All this is similar to Loan. But Loan can only trash the first card. With Lookout you can even choose between three cards. But in the late game, it's a dead card in your hand, because it becomes dangerous. Who doesn't fear drawing 3 Provinces or even Colonies and having to trash one? The fear isn't justified mostly, but you have to keep that in mind. But like Loan, Lookout has also the problem of having tough competition as there were strong $3 trashers released lately.
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| #20 ▼2 Storeroom (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 43.4% ▼7.6pp / Unweighted Average: 45.0% / Median: 45.5% ▼6.1pp / Standard Deviation: 21.5%
Storeroom is the next big Dark Ages loser. It lost 2 ranks and over 7pps. It was voted 17 times below 20% and 10 times above 75%.
Storeroom is generally a weak card, but can shine in a handful of situations. It is more like an upgraded Secret Chamber, than an upgraded Cellar. Its discarding makes it one of the best Tunnel enablers, and it comboes well with Tactician, Scrying Pool and in draw-up-to-X engines or Menagerie. But it works especially well with important treasure cards. Almost every Potion cost card synergizes well with it and Storeroom+Philosopher's Stone might be the best one as it is similar to Herbalist+Philosopher's Stone. But the buy and cycling is also great with Fool's Gold, Quarry and decent with Ill-Gotten-Gains. It also guarantees to get to $4 for sure in games without discarding attacks which is great with Gardens. But in most other games this card isn't worth picking up.
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| #19 ▲1 Oasis (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 43.7% ▲1.4pp / Unweighted Average: 45.2% / Median: 45.5% ▲0.5pp / Standard Deviation: 20.3%
Oasis is again one rank higher than last year with 17 votes below 20% and only 9 voted above 75%.
At first I read it as "+1 Action $1", basically a Copper. But it's much better as you get money out of your victory cards or curses, like Vault or Secret Chamber do. It's limited to one card, but it is a cantrip. It's not a very strong card, but it is a very nice addition to many strategies, especially if there's no heavy trashing possible and is especially good on cursing boards or on boards with early greening. If there are hand-size reducing attacks on the board, Oasis is on the other side rarely a good buy. It synergizes well with "draw up to" cards like Jack of All Trades.
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| #18 ▲4 Black Market (Promo) Weighted Average: 45.3% ▲8.3pp / Unweighted Average: 45.9% / Median: 42.4% ▲6.4pp / Standard Deviation: 25.3%
Black Market is a big winner this year. It is 4 ranks higher and over 8pp better. But it has still a high deviation, the fourth highest in this list as it was voted last 5 times and 7 times first. :O
It's hated by many players as it has a very high luck factor. You may draw in turn 3 the only curse-giving attack in the game, but you may also draw Treasure Map, Fool's Gold and Peddler. Or you draw 3 potion cost cards when you don't have a Potion in play or even in your deck. Playing your treasures in the buy phase can lead to many confusing rules questions, but can also lead to the well-known Tactician + Black Market combo where you can discard your hand in a Tactician turn with another Tactician after you've played all your treasures with Black Market. Many Cornucopia cards also benefit from the diversity you add to your deck by buying many cards from Black Market. The most famous combo may be Fairgrounds + Black Market where Fairgrounds can easily be worth 6VP but even 8VP or more are possible. But also cards like Harvest or Menagerie benefit from such diverse decks you can get from Black Market. So when do you really want to buy a Black Market when there's no Fairgrounds or Tactician in the supply? On weak boards it might worth it or you know there are many good attacks in the Black Market pile and don't want your opponent get them or you don't want to win at all costs and just have fun playing with it and your friends and rely on your luck.
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| #17 ▼4 Tunnel (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 47.0% ▼11.8pp / Unweighted Average: 50.8% / Median: 54.6% ▼5.4pp / Standard Deviation: 21.3%
Tunnel is the next big loser in this list. It lost 4 ranks and nearly 12 percentage points. That's a lot. It would be still 2 ranks higher in the unweighted list.
Tunnels 2VP for only $3 is already very good. You have to pay $2 more for getting one point more. And the Reaction part is really strong. Mostly there is at least one card on the board which can trigger it. It combos great with Vault, Embassy, Warehouse, Cartographer, Storeroom, Young Witch and such. Tunnel can be one of the rare scenarios when buying a victory card as an opening buy can be really good (beside Island). It's also a great defense card against Discarding Attacks like Militia, Goons or Margrave or even Minion. On boards with many discarding synergies, you mostly can observe a rush for Tunnels. And then not only the Tunnels can deplete, the Gold pile can too. But still it's very situational. If there's no action which can discard, Tunnel is nice in the late game if you miss $5, but no game changer.
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| #16 Doctor (Guilds) Weighted Average: 48.8% / Unweighted Average: 49.7% / Median: 51.5% / Standard Deviation: 26.6%
Doctor is the better rated Guilds card and the card with the second highest deviation in this list.
Doctor is a cross between Chapel and Lookout. It can trash as fast as Chapel but behaves similar as Lookout. What makes the card strong is that you can trash immediately 2 cards on a 5/2 opening and maybe even play it on turn 2 again to trash again, what makes it incredibly fast. Another advantage is that it trashes cards that are not in your hand, so you can trash up to 3 cards and still buy something what can be very powerful. But this can also be a disadvantage when you are down to 5 cards, as you can't trash the last couple of bad cards. Another disadvantage is that you have to name the card you want to trash what makes it weak with Shelters and against Looter attacks and also very swingy after the first few shuffles. Of course another disadvantage in comparism to Lookout is that it is terminal. You can also pick up Doctor mid-game with a huge overpay and as long as you don't use your Coppers to overpay for it, it can be a very powerful move. All the advantages and disadvantages made it end up in the middle of this list.
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| #15 ▼1 Oracle (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 49.4% ▼4.3pp / Unweighted Average: 47.5% / Median: 48.5% ▼3.1pp / Standard Deviation: 21.8%
Oracle lost over 4pp and one rank. It would be 2 ranks lower in the unweighted list.
A 2 card-drawer with a spy-effect seems so innocent. But sometimes you even prefer it to Smithy which itself is a good $4 card. You can use it very well in Big Money games where the additional attack part comes handy. The problem with the attack is - like Spy - you do little damage with messing up the top cards. But discarding 2 cards to draw the next two helps cycling through your deck in the early game. But you draw still only 2 cards what is still not very good if you use it in an engine. And the luck factor is high and you have to make hard decisions. Do you want to make your opponent discard the Silver and Estate? It really depends on the cards he has in hand, but you don't know that. On the other side, it's great if you can discard two Golds. So, the attack part is weak, mostly you buy it because you need the +2 cards with the minimized draw luck, which is good in Big Money.
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| #14 ▲1 Village (Base) Weighted Average: 52.5% ▲0.3pp / Unweighted Average: 52.1% / Median: 54.6% ▲6.2pp / Standard Deviation: 20.6%
Village is the first above average card. It has nearly the same average value, but is one rank higher.
Vanilla village is very hard to rank. How do you rank a card that does nothing beside giving an additional action? It's a card that is important for all engines, but is useless if "Big Money" is the dominant strategy. It's no exciting card for sure, when there are all other engine components there you're glad to have it. Its ranking greatly reflects the relevance of engines on an average board.
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| #13 ▼3 Market Square (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 57.8% ▼4.3pp / Unweighted Average: 57.8% / Median: 60.6% ▼7.1pp / Standard Deviation: 19.3%
We're making a jump of over 5 percentage points. Market Square clearly isn't the best Dark Ages card in this list anymore. It lost over 4 percentage points and even 3 ranks.
Both gold gaining Reaction cards lost a significant amount of points. The Gold gaining is even easier to activate on average than with Tunnel and it's a cantrip, so it doesn't hurt if you don't draw it with a trashing card. Market Square + Masquerade is great because you can convert Coppers into Golds and you can still play Market Square for the cantrip +buy if you want to. Even more powerful is the amazing Hermit/Market Square combo, and Apprentice/Market Square is also great. Speaking of cantrip +Buy. On every board where you want +Buy, a cantrip +Buy alone is even reason enough gaining one Market Square. And Market Square is great as a defense against trashing attacks like Swindler or Knights.
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| #12 ▼3 Scheme (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 58.2% ▼6.7pp / Unweighted Average: 60.1% / Median: 63.6% ▼0.9pp / Standard Deviation: 19.5%
Just like Market Square, Scheme also lost 3 ranks and even more value, nearly 7 percentage points! It was voted 9 times below 30% and would be one rank higher in the unweighted list.
Scheme is a cantrip and mostly don't hurt in your deck as long as you don't draw it dead. But how big is the benefit? If you're building an engine around a key card (like Hunting Party), Scheme is very handy as you can be sure to have that card in hand nearly every turn. With +Buy you could even buy more Schemes to add to your engine. Even with a simpler strategy, but a strong attack, Scheme is very nice, as is basically replaces the second copy of that strong attack card and you eliminate the possibility of colliding. As Double Ambassador is already a strong opening, on those boards you really want to open Ambassador/Scheme and you can later use the Scheme to top deck another card if you want to. The same applies to other strong attacks like Sea Hag. Be aware of Minion, as Minion could completely destroy your top-decking. Scrying Pool + Scheme is good, Golem + Scheme + strong attack is strong and King's Court + Scheme is just crazy. On the other hand, in big money games or with very thin decks, Scheme is not worth a buy.
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| #11 ▲5 Urchin (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 60.3% ▲9.3pp / Unweighted Average: 58.0% / Median: 60.6% ▲2.5pp / Standard Deviation: 21.8%
Urchin made a big jump of 5 ranks and over 9pp and is a big winner. It was still voted 16 times below 30%.
Urchin is a weak attack. It hurts rarely, only in really thin decks and is in the beginning at best a cantrip Cutpurse, but often worse because you have mostly an Estate/Shelter in hand. Its best use is to use its ability to convert it into a Mercenary. Mercenary itself is a big deal on many boards, especially if it is the only trasher on the board. You often open triple Urchin, just to be able to get one or two Mercenaries as fast as possible. Later in the game you might run out of fodder for Mercenary, but then your deck is usually in a very good shape, so you don't care anymore.
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