Now I added Median and Mode. Both values don't take the isotropic rank into account.
 | #26 Develop (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 24.30 / Median: 25 / Mode: 26 / Standard Deviation: 2.5
Highest Rank(s): #16 (1x), #19 (1x), #20 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #26 (13x)
Develop is the worst $3 card. There is no doubt about that. Nearly the half of all players ranked it last and the deviation is pretty low for 26 cards. Only the top 3 cards have a lower deviation.
A good trasher mostly has to be a good start buy. Develop can only trash one copper at a time without benefit. You get a Silver for a trashed Estate, which can put on top of your deck. That's at least really nice. Later in the game you get 2 cards for trashing one. This is something you only want if there are a lot of really good cards in the supply and most important in a specific price range. Because you have to gain a card which cost exactly one more and one less than the trashed card. Those cases are so rare. In the end of the game you want victory cards. So you can trash a $4 card for a Duchy and a Silver. But you have to put both cards on top of your deck. That is something you don't want if you're going for Provinces or Colonies. Developing a Silver in a Estate and Silk Road can be really nice for example. But you have to put them on your deck, really nasty. So it totally fails in being a good trasher. It only shines if there are a lot of good cards in a specific price range.
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 | #25 Chancellor (Base) Weighted Average: 22.97 / Median: 24 / Mode: 25 / Standard Deviation: 2.9
Highest Rank(s): #14 (1x), #18 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #26 (5x)
Chancellor is more than one point better than Develop, but still is second last. Its deviation shows: It's no surprise. It got #25 8 times. A few outliners can't let it get a better rank.
Being in the Base Set, most players (like me) didn't got the use of Chancellor at first. Yes, it costs $3 like Silver and gives also 2 coins, but it costs an action for what? To put your deck into your discard pile? Why do I want to do that? You can get your recently buyed great cards faster! Yeah, that sounds great. But those great cards are mostly terminals and then Chancellor becomes a dead card. I think it would be a better card if it wasn't terminal. So it's only good for rare scenarios like Stash or Counting House. And if you want to get your recently buyed cards earlier, use cards that put these cards on top of your deck.
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 | #24 Woodcutter (Base) Weighted Average: 22.39 / Median: 23 / Mode: 21 / Standard Deviation: 3.0
Highest Rank(s): #11 (1x), #19 (3x) / Lowest Rank(s): #25 (5x), #26 (2x)
Another card from the base set. It has a small lead over Chancellor. It got #21 7 times, but that's just coincidence and doesn't make the card better because only 4 players ranked it higher than #21. Its deviation is still low and shows the concensus on that card.
It mostly fails the Silver test as its only use is its +Buy. So, you only buy it if you really need that +Buy for setting up your engine and there's no other card that provides that. You can use it very well for a Gardens or Silk Road rush, but beside of that, there's not really much to say about that simple card.
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 | #23 Fortune Teller (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 21.05 / Median: 22 / Mode: 24 / Standard Deviation: 4.2
Highest Rank(s): #11 (1x), #14 (1x), #15 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #26 (4x)
As there is no Attack card for $2, look at the worst attack in the game. Maybe because of that, it's the card with the third most last places. And as it is an Attack Card, several players gave it a mid-level rank. That may explain its clearly higher deviation compared to the previous cards. Its mode still is bad, 5 times it got #24.
In games with trashers you want your Estates in hand and get rid of them, especially with Lookout Fortune Teller is bad. If you've trashed them, Fortune Teller just cycles through your deck, so your opponent mostly profits from your attack. In Tournament and Tunnel (with assistance of Inn, Young Witch or Vault) games you help your opponent even more. And in all other occasions there are mostly cards that soft counter top-decked victory cards or get profit from them by discarding. If those cases all don't exist, Fortune Teller might be a good buy, but those cases are very rare too. It gets better in the end game, but in the end game mostly you don't waste your buy for a Fortune Teller. And in comparism to Rabble which can be very nasty, Fortune Teller doesn't even get more benefit if you play two or more in one turn.
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 | #22 Workshop (Base) Weighted Average: 20.58 / Median: 22 / Mode: 23 / Standard Deviation: 3.7
Highest Rank(s): #13 (1x), #14 (3x) / Lowest Rank(s): #25 (2x), #26 (1x)
And there's already the third card from the base set with only one card left to come. It is just a little bit higher than Fortune Teller, but that may result from a lot of players that seem to love it. Surprisingly for me it got 8 times higher than #20. 5 times it got #23.
You must ask yourself: How many $3 or $4 cards do I want in my deck. With Gardens in the supply, you may answer "as many I can get". Silver, Gardens, Estates and more Workshops are all good cards. But in all other situations you want $5 cards and Gold. And in comparism to Ironworks where you at least get benefit and isn't terminal if you gain action cards, it's a "wasted" action. The only cards that you want as many you can get may be Tournament, Caravan, Conspirator and any Village + card drawer (Envoy/Smithy). But for all you have to spend your action and you have to be sure there isn't another terminal action you want to play too.
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 | #21 Oracle (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 18.33 / Median: 20 / Mode: 20 / Standard Deviation: 4.8
Highest Rank(s): #9 (1x), #10 (1x), #11 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #26 (3x)
Here's the second Hinterlands card and the second attack in the list. But we made a big jump and have left the really bad $3 cards and reached the mostly bad cards. Only 2 cards have a higher deviation. That may result from little experience as it is a relatively new card or really little consensus. It got #20 6 times, but it has 3 last places too, many for a #21 ranked card.
At least you can use the spy effect for yourself before you draw 2 cards, so you have two chances for your 2 cards which is neat. But you draw still only 2 cards what is still not very good if you use it in an engine. If you use it as a Big Money addition and there's no better card drawer in the supply, this may worth a buy as you still have the additional attack part. The problem with the attack is - like Spy - the little damage you do with messing up the top cards. 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 have in hand, but you don't know that. And if you choose to put them back on top, he may even choose the order, another help for him. 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.
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 | #20 Smugglers (Seaside) Weighted Average: 18.09 / Median: 17.5 / Mode: 19 / Standard Deviation: 4.3
Highest Rank(s): #7 (1x), #10 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #24 (1x), #25 (2x)
It's only a little bit higher than Oracle, but it's Median shows it deserves to be ranked higher. 7 times it got #19 and only another 7 times it got #20 or lower.
With Smugglers the luck factor is high too. If your opponent has bought a card which you don't want, it's a dead card, especially later in the game where he buys only Provinces. And with Smugglers in your deck, you have to commit to the strategy of your opponent and mostly don't get better than him. Smuggle a Gold early or smuggle an additional Duchy in the late game is really nice, but with a supply with many terminals, you rather buy the good terminals and money instead of wasting your action for getting another Silver or another terminal you won't be able to play. But if there are many cantrips and you're going to build a neat engine, Smugglers can be a good buy. And if you're not going first you can compensate this disadvantage. Kings Courting a Smugglers can also be very strong in a good running engine. We can say, Smugglers is very board-dependant and can be a very good buy on some boards, especially if you're not going first.
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 | #19 Shanty Town (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 17.31 / Median: 17.5 / Mode: 12 / Standard Deviation: 4.4
Highest Rank(s): #10 (1x), #11 (1x), #12 (4x) / Lowest Rank(s): #24 (2x), #25 (1x)
Shanty Town has a really high mode, but that's just coincidence as most of the ranks are way lower than #12. It's median is the same as Smugglers and it's the first card where the unweighted average would have caused a change in order. It would have been a little bit lower than Smugglers. Instead it got a little bit lower than the next card, that was really close. And it is the first card of 5 that are really close together.
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 worse than Native Village for example. If you want the +2 Cards for a Big Money strategy, the +2 Actions are wasted. 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.
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 | #18 Wishing Well (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 17.28 / Median: 18 / Mode: 19 / Standard Deviation: 4.0
Highest Rank(s): #9 (1x), #10 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #22 (3x), #25 (1x)
It was very close. But WW managed to beat Shanty Town. The median is even lower than Smugglers and Shanty Town, but the concencus is higher as only one player ranked it really low and many players gave it a relative high rank. Not many players ranked it on the same rank, it got #19 4 times.
Wishing Well is a very interesting card, but of course very luck-dependant. Ok, it can never hurt, but in most of the decks it's just a cantrip and you may have better bought a Silver. Another problem is that you have to guess the second card, so that cards like Spy, Lookout that seem to synergize don't work. But Cartographer for example works really well. Then it can be a guaranteed cheap Laboratory. And in some decks you only buy a few different cards, so you can maximize your probability. And if you're really good with card counting, this is really a good card if there are few cards left in your draw pile.
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 | #17 Great Hall (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 16.75 / Median: 16.5 / Mode: 13 / Standard Deviation: 4.5
Highest Rank(s): #10 (2x), #11 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #25 (2x), #26 (1x)
It's the third card from Intrigue in a row. I mentioned earlier, that cards that are very good opening buys and bad later in the game are very difficult to rank and therefore have a high deviation. The same applies to victory cards. You will see that nearly all victory cards have high deviation. Great Hall is no exception. It got a lot of low ranks, it even got last one time. The mode here has little significance again as it got #13 only 4 times.
There is not much to say to Great Hall beside how difficult it is to rank. It's an Estate that don't hurt your deck, so that's really nice. And you can buy it early if you have an additional buy and $3 left and don't need another Silver. It also supports Silk Road strategies nicely. You can even use Throne Room or King's Court with it for additional benefit if you're really desperate. It can enable Conspirator chains and other rare cases where another cantrip is useful. The best combo might be with Ironworks where you can pick it up and get a cantrip bonus. But it's never a card you use for your strategy, instead you buy it if you have $3 left and don't need more money, then you're glad to pick another VP.
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 | #16 Oasis (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 16.35 / Median: 15.5 / Mode: 15 / Standard Deviation: 3.3
Highest Rank(s): #10 (1x), #12 (3x) / Lowest Rank(s): #22 (2x), #23 (2x)
Within those 5 cards that are very close together Oasis is second but it was very close. As a middle-ranked card it has a surprising low deviation and it got #15 8 times.
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 each strategy, especially if there's no heavy trashing possible. If there are hand-size reducing attacks on the board, Oasis is of course rarely a good buy.
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 | #15 Black Market (Promo) Weighted Average: 16.29 / Median: 15 / Mode: 13 / Standard Deviation: 4.8
Highest Rank(s): #7 (1x), #8 (1x), #9 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #23 (1x), #24 (1x), #26 (1x)
Here's your first promo with a very high spread of ranks. It got #13 4 times, but even got last once. Like Oracle it has the third highest deviation.
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 Trading Post. 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? Either 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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 | #14 Trade Route (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 15.38 / Median: 15 / Mode: 17 / Standard Deviation: 4.3
Highest Rank(s): #7 (1x), #8 (1x), #9 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #21 (1x), #22 (1x), #23 (1x)
As there are no $2s in Prosperity, here is your first card from that expansion. It got #17 4 times and has a very wide range of ranks. Why?
It's not a very good trasher as a opening buy as you don't get enough benefit until the end of the game (beside the buy). It's better if there are additional victory cards in the supply, especially action/victory cards like Island or Nobles that get bought earlier, but still, as a trasher it's no good opening buy. Buying green cards earlier just to get more benefit is rarely a good decision as your opponent may buy Trade Routes too and get the same benefit without clogging up his own deck. Mostly you buy it if it's the only source of +Buy and you really need that +Buy and later in the game where you're going green and it's really a neck-and-neck-race, so Trade Routes are now worth $3, $4 or even more. Then they can be really powerful. So, some of you may have ranked it as opener, the other players may have ranked it as strong card in the later game.
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 | #13 Loan (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 14.22 / Median: 13 / Mode: 12 / Standard Deviation: 5.2
Highest Rank(s): #7 (1x), #8 (4x) / Lowest Rank(s): #23 (2x), #25 (1x)
Here's the next Prosperity card and the next trasher. It got #12 4 times, but it has the highest deviation of all $3 cards. What may be the reason?
Really, I don't know. For me it's a mediocre card or even better. Just like Lookout you can trash without spending an action, that's always great. It also gives at least one coin which is no big deal, but is still better than Trade Route. The biggest problem is the luck factor as it may find every time your only Silver in your deck which you even can't play in your next turn (and may discard all your good terminals at the same time) and it's limited to treasure cards and therefore basically to Copper. So it has advantages and disadvantages and some may evaluate the advantages higher while others seem to do it vice versa.
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 | #12 Village (Base) Weighted Average: 14.10 / Median: 13.5 / Mode: 18 / Standard Deviation: 4.6
Highest Rank(s): #6 (2x), #7 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #20 (2x), #22 (2x)
That's the best $3 card from the base set and the last card before the big gap to the good $3 cards. It was close but it got higher than Loan by 0.12 points. It is the first card that got #6, but has still a lot of low ranks. It was #18 5 times.
It seems many had problems ranking the vanilla village. 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. The low ranks may come from Big Money players and the high ranks from engine builders. Am I right?
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Topic: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.1: $3 cards (Read 63953 times)