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[Dingan]

I think it's funny that Ruined Market is the best Ruin, yet the +Buy token is generally regarded as the worst token.

(Mwuahahaha.. they call me The Resurrecter)

[Beyond Awesome]

Actually, I would say on average +Buy token is better than +$ token. I mean, it's a nice boost to economy but gains are how you win the game.

[Jimmmmm]

Actually, I would say on average +Buy token is better than +$ token. I mean, it's a nice boost to economy but gains are how you win the game.

Worker's Village costs $4, Bazaar costs $5. Checkmate.

[ThetaSigma12]

Actually, I would say on average +Buy token is better than +$ token. I mean, it's a nice boost to economy but gains are how you win the game.

Worker's Village costs $4, Bazaar costs $5. Checkmate.

Poacher costs , Market costs . Checkmate.

[mail-mi]

Actually, I would say on average +Buy token is better than +$ token. I mean, it's a nice boost to economy but gains are how you win the game.

Worker's Village costs $4, Bazaar costs $5. Checkmate.

Poacher costs , Market costs . Checkmate.

Bad comparison. Poacher costs $4 and has a drawback, market square costs $3 with a reaction. Checkmate.

[Jimmmmm]

Actually, I would say on average +Buy token is better than +$ token. I mean, it's a nice boost to economy but gains are how you win the game.

Worker's Village costs $4, Bazaar costs $5. Checkmate.

Poacher costs , Market costs . Checkmate.

Um...

[aku_chi]

I think it's funny that Ruined Market is the best Ruin, yet the +Buy token is generally regarded as the worst token.

Well, first let's discuss why Ruined Village and Ruined Library are bad.  Every action card has an inherent -1 action, -1 card associated with it: hence, a cantrip is a do-nothing action.  An action card that only provides +1 action or +1 card is almost always worse than neutral.  A Ruined Village doesn't increase your action count, and a Ruined Library doesn't increase your handsize.  Whereas, the other Ruins offer a trade off: a poor effect for -1 action, -1 card.  Usually the effect isn't worth it, but in rare cases it might be.  Ruined Library has an additional penalty (when compared with the +card effect in general), in that terminal draw is less valuable than non-terminal draw.

So, why was Ruined Market rated higher than Abandoned Mine?

This is mostly a consequence of how people choose to evaluate the Ruins.  If you evaluate the Ruins by which you're most likely to buy, Ruined Market comes out on top (then there's a 4-way tie for last, I guess).  If you evaluate them by which you're least sad to receive (or most likely to play), Abandoned Mine is almost certainly better.  If you evaluate them by which you'd prefer to trash last... it's a bit ambiguous.

This is because +buy has more variable value than coin.  In most games, the +buy from Ruined Market is nearly worthless, because there are plenty of good sources of alternate gains, or there isn't much opportunity to buy more than one card.  In a rare few games, +buy is so valuable that even Ruined Market might be worth playing/buying.  In all games, an extra coin is meh.  You can (almost) always buy Silver, which dominates Abandoned Mine.

There is another factor, I believe.  People might overrate Ruined Market for the same reason that they overestimate how many kingdoms support an engine.  I'm not entirely sure why this is.  Perhaps people enjoy engines more, so those games are more salient.  Perhaps people ban cards or skip kingdoms that aren't engine-friendly.  Perhaps there is some signalling or groupthink involved: all the "cool" Dominion players talk about engines, so I'll think about everything (even, oddly, Ruins) in an engine context.

[JW]

This is because +buy has more variable value than coin.  In most games, the +buy from Ruined Market is nearly worthless, because there are plenty of good sources of alternate gains, or there isn't much opportunity to buy more than one card.  In a rare few games, +buy is so valuable that even Ruined Market might be worth playing/buying.  In all games, an extra coin is meh.  You can (almost) always buy Silver, which dominates Abandoned Mine.

Great post! Even Copper dominates Abandoned Mine (throne-effects and the like aside), since Copper doesn't use an Action.

[schadd]

$1 < 1 buy < a lot of buys < a lot of money

[Chris is me]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

[Aleimon Thimble]

You guys make me so sad. For a second I thought the 2016 lists were in already.

[Mr Anderson]

I think the +buy token is worth less than the +Coin one because you want to put the tokens on piles you have many cards of and you don't necessarily need more than 4 buys in many cases. +8 coins and +1 buy is better than +8 buys and +1 coin.
You need only a few extra buys, and you won't get more than a couple of Ruined Markets.

[Jimmmmm]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

[Limetime]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

Dame anna?

[Jimmmmm]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

Dame anna?

Buying her on turn 1 surely never guarantees you'll ever actually play her.

[Limetime]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

Dame anna?

Buying her on turn 1 surely never guarantees you'll ever actually play her.

Ruined market is bad most of the time in turn. 1 even if it is the olny +buy.
It slows down building by two~ turns.

[Jimmmmm]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

Dame anna?

Buying her on turn 1 surely never guarantees you'll ever actually play her.

Ruined market is bad most of the time in turn. 1 even if it is the olny +buy.
It slows down building by two~ turns.

Of course. My statement stands though.

[Chris is me]

Basically, Ruined Market is the only Ruin that you might go "oh man, I'm so glad I have this now". The rest are just "how slightly better than a Curse is this card".

Ruined Market is probably the only card that can virtually win you the game on turn 1.

Dame anna?

Buying her on turn 1 surely never guarantees you'll ever actually play her.

Ruined market is bad most of the time in turn. 1 even if it is the olny +buy.
It slows down building by two~ turns.

The point isn't that Ruined Market starts doing workfor you the second you get it - it's that if the 1 copy on top of the pile is the only +Buy on the entire board, sometimes that wins you the game right there just by immediately buying it.