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[Jack Rudd]

Imagine how good at trash-for-benefit this guy will be when he graduates to a real job!

How does this card compare to other TfB cards?
What particular synergies does it have?
What's the highest-cost card you have ever Apprenticed?

[J Reggie]

What's the highest-cost card you have ever Apprenticed?

Well, on a Possession turn, either a Province or a Colony. I know I've Apprenticed Peddlers before as well.

Synergies include Fortress, Rats, Market Square, and other Gold-gainers. Apprentice is really fun when it's good.

[werothegreat]

I want to try Apprentice with Treasure Trove.  I mean, I also want to try Bishop and Salvager with Treasure Trove, but I think the card draw would deal with the dump of Treasures in your deck better.

[pacovf]

Apprentice + market square doesn't sound so good? What's the deal, you trash a gold and discard a market square to replace it. That's three (different) cards in hand that lead to drawing 6 cards, so just as good as three labs. That doesn't sound so hot. Is it good because the market square and the gold can be redrawn, while the labs can't?

[Chris is me]

I remember one game Apprenticing a Province so I could buy two Colony to win the game. That felt really good.

Apprentice / Market Square is really good. Most boards don't have Lab. You don't NEED all 3 cards in hand at the same time to pull it off - doesn't have to be a 1:1 replacement or whatever.

[JW]

Apprentice + market square doesn't sound so good? What's the deal, you trash a gold and discard a market square to replace it. That's three (different) cards in hand that lead to drawing 6 cards, so just as good as three labs. That doesn't sound so hot. Is it good because the market square and the gold can be redrawn, while the labs can't?

Apprentice-Market Square is strong. E.g., see this old thread: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8331.msg251044#msg251044

[eHalcyon]

What's the highest-cost card you have ever Apprenticed?

Well, on a Possession turn, either a Province or a Colony. I know I've Apprenticed Peddlers before as well.

It can be worth doing outside of Possession too.  It's not a guaranteed mill like with Salvager or Remodel, but with +8/11 cards, chances are you'll be able to replace that Province or Colony pretty easily.  Depending on the deck, you may be able to do even more.

[markusin]

Apprentice + market square doesn't sound so good? What's the deal, you trash a gold and discard a market square to replace it. That's three (different) cards in hand that lead to drawing 6 cards, so just as good as three labs. That doesn't sound so hot. Is it good because the market square and the gold can be redrawn, while the labs can't?

Apprentice-Market Square is strong. E.g., see this old thread: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8331.msg251044#msg251044

The thing is, you can discard multiple Market Squares per Apprentice trash, so your number of Golds can multiply, then you redraw the Market Squares and get to play them for buys.

I've played a game with these 3 cards myself. It's very strong.

[singletee]

Soothsayer can provide good Apprentice fodder, as can Haggler and Mint, especially in Colony games. Mint can also be Apprentice fodder.

[Accatitippi]

I've used Bandit camp/trader to provide Apprentice fodder once. Revealing traders to some Bandit camps to keep the monster growing.
Iirc it didn't work out, but only because I screwed up the end game.
As the only draw in the kingdom it makes you do the weirdest things.

[Accatitippi]

Has anybody ever taken advantage of the two-cards-for-one-potion special offer?
I'm pretty sure I have never used it. Possession games, I guess.

During my first game with Apprentice, I kept buying Potions as fodder because I didn't want to trash anything useful with it.
The human mind is an amazing machine.

[Aleimon Thimble]

Has anybody ever taken advantage of the two-cards-for-one-potion special offer?
I'm pretty sure I have never used it. Possession games, I guess.

Familiar, after the Curses run out.

[drsteelhammer]

Yeah Familiar and Possession are the only ones I can think of.

[amoffett11]

I had a league game yesterday where my opponent and I were playing a mirror, the only difference being is that I got an Apprentice.  I ended up winning running away.  Early on you can just trash your estates, but later you can trash a card costing 4 or 5, even if it's something you still want in your deck, to guarantee a strong turn.  Hopefully if you have some kind of +Buy in you deck, you can make up the difference and get that trashed card back. 

Apprentice is my favourite Alchemy card, I always look for a way to add one or two to my deck.  And Apprentice Market Square is definitely a thing.  Wait until your deck gets really thin, and then start going for Gold.  Your first Gold turn you could get 12-15 (or more!) Gold in hand and a few buys, depending on how many Market Squares and Apprentices you get.  It's not quite Hermit Market Square, but its close. 

[Haddock]

Yeah Familiar and Possession are the only ones I can think of.

University occasionally.  But only really to go for a forced win.

[Seprix]

Apprentice is an excellent card. If you have a way to get high cost cards like Gold or +buy, you can go far with Apprentice. Sometimes, I end up trashing a Province, just to get a guaranteed Province turn. It can be okay with Apprentice to mill Provinces if you're ahead enough.

[luser]

I had a league game yesterday where my opponent and I were playing a mirror, the only difference being is that I got an Apprentice.  I ended up winning running away.  Early on you can just trash your estates, but later you can trash a card costing 4 or 5, even if it's something you still want in your deck, to guarantee a strong turn.  Hopefully if you have some kind of +Buy in you deck, you can make up the difference and get that trashed card back. 

Apprentice is my favourite Alchemy card, I always look for a way to add one or two to my deck.  And Apprentice Market Square is definitely a thing.  Wait until your deck gets really thin, and then start going for Gold.  Your first Gold turn you could get 12-15 (or more!) Gold in hand and a few buys, depending on how many Market Squares and Apprentices you get.  It's not quite Hermit Market Square, but its close.

Thats wrong, thin deck is luxury that you couldnt afford with apprentice/market square unless you opened with strong trasher. You will fall behind by several turn versus opponent that  primarily builds deck. While apprenticing estates is nice by trashing coppers you lose tempo. A priority is gaining apprentices, so most of time its correct to trash gold for draw as first and gain apprentice than to trash copper and reveal market square, buy market square. Copper trashing will come later once you have 3+ apprentices and already got big turns.

[amoffett11]

Thats wrong, thin deck is luxury that you couldnt afford with apprentice/market square unless you opened with strong trasher. You will fall behind by several turn versus opponent that  primarily builds deck. While apprenticing estates is nice by trashing coppers you lose tempo. A priority is gaining apprentices, so most of time its correct to trash gold for draw as first and gain apprentice than to trash copper and reveal market square, buy market square. Copper trashing will come later once you have 3+ apprentices and already got big turns.

Ya, I wasn't suggesting that you get thin using the Apprentice, like you said, there's hopefully another way to trash your coppers.  You'd never want to spend $5 to buy a card that trashes one copper a turn.  If you can get a thin deck though, say with a Remake, once your coppers are gone you can apprentice your trasher, get two or three gold, and you're off to the races. 

[Chris is me]

Thats wrong, thin deck is luxury that you couldnt afford with apprentice/market square unless you opened with strong trasher. You will fall behind by several turn versus opponent that  primarily builds deck. While apprenticing estates is nice by trashing coppers you lose tempo. A priority is gaining apprentices, so most of time its correct to trash gold for draw as first and gain apprentice than to trash copper and reveal market square, buy market square. Copper trashing will come later once you have 3+ apprentices and already got big turns.

Ya, I wasn't suggesting that you get thin using the Apprentice, like you said, there's hopefully another way to trash your coppers.  You'd never want to spend $5 to buy a card that trashes one copper a turn.  If you can get a thin deck though, say with a Remake, once your coppers are gone you can apprentice your trasher, get two or three gold, and you're off to the races.

While there are better options for trashing Copper, I've totally been willing to spend $5 on a card that just trashes Copper. Upgrade, Junk Dealer, etc. I'll sometimes buy 2-3 Apprentice and use some of them for general thinning while using others for draw depending on what my deck looks like at the time. Nonterminal "trash a Copper" isn't so bad.

[JThorne]

Nonterminal "trash a Copper" isn't so bad.

Not bad at all. It's worth every bit of the $2 I paid for that Raze. And since it can trash itself when I'm done, it's even better than Apprentice (if all I'm using it for is trashing copper.) Just to put it in perspective. If you're going to buy Apprentice, have big plans for it.

[DG]

One mistake that I used to see with apprentice was not preparing a deck, trashing out the junk, before using the apprentice on big cards. People would trash a high cost card, draw many bad cards, and be lucky to buy the high cost card back. I guess people are smarter than that nowadays.

[Seprix]

One mistake that I used to see with apprentice was not preparing a deck, trashing out the junk, before using the apprentice on big cards. People would trash a high cost card, draw many bad cards, and be lucky to buy the high cost card back. I guess people are smarter than that nowadays.

I think I overtrash with Apprentice sometimes, actually. I know, that's a good problem to have, but it's not really when there's no gains or buys to run an Apprentice BM deck. I end up getting 3 Apprentices, which may be too many?

I would be interested in knowing about building 'optimal' Apprentice BM deck with no buys or gains.

[wachsmuth]

Weirdest draw I ever used with this was Treasure Maps. Bought or gained 8 Treasure Maps that game if I recall correctly.