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[Jack Rudd]

It's the only Alchemy card that does not explicitly mention Potion!

How useful is its Treasure-topdecking ability?
When should you get it?
What is the most you've ever paid for it?

[jonts26]

Mediocre card. But sometime you end up having to pay $11 for it just to get the +buy.

[Accatitippi]

I'm not sure I use the topdecking part well. I find I only ever use it on Potion, sometimes Venture, and occasionally big treasures in the last turns of the game to ensure a three pile next turn.
An Engine doesn't want treasures in its starting hand, and bm doesn't need +Buy that badly, and a terminaksl copper is not worth the terminal spot, no matter how cool recycling Platina is.
Some alt-vps kinda like erbalist, though.

[yuma]

I have used top decking with decent success with Quarry and Counterfeit.

[Titandrake]

The topdecking isn't really a thing you use well or not. If you get it with a good treasure, cool. Otherwise, oh well. The only time you specifically want to consider it is Potion in the early game to get Potion cards faster.

By the time you have Golds/Plats, there's almost always a better terminal to buy that's better than topdecking 1 Treasure.

[Seprix]

Herbalist is probably amazing to have if you're playing a Treasure Trove BM game. More money! It's also a consideration for if you want more Potions, all the time. Otherwise, pretty meh.

[AJD]

Is the Philosopher's Stone combo still a thing?

[Davio]

It's a very cheap +Buy card and that's about it.

But you rarely need such a card from the get go and that's why you might end up paying $11 for it.

[-Stef-]

Only morons would pay $11 for this. It costs $2! The other thing morons might do is topdeck a copper to protect against Masquerade, although I can't find that log right now.

And yes, the Philosopher's Stone combo is still a thing, but don't overestimate it. It loses to a decent engine, but shines if you can mix in some junkers and your opponents deck isn't going anywhere either.

[Davio]

The Phil Stone combo is pretty decent, but not really fast, it's like a steam engine, just keeps chugging along.
The cool thing is that a lot of attacks don't hurt that much, you can take discards and junk pretty well.

[ConMan]

Anyone used this to maintain a Coin of the Realm engine? It looks like a weak but not completely horrendous option in some circumstances.

[AdrianHealey]

Anyone used this to maintain a Coin of the Realm engine? It looks like a weak but not completely horrendous option in some circumstances.

How can you? CotR immediately goes to your tavern mat.

Or do you mean after you call it? I guess that might work.

[ConMan]

Anyone used this to maintain a Coin of the Realm engine? It looks like a weak but not completely horrendous option in some circumstances.

How can you? CotR immediately goes to your tavern mat.

Or do you mean after you call it? I guess that might work.

Yeah. So turn N, play CotR. Turn N+1, play Herbalist, call CotR, play engine, use Herbalist to top-deck CotR. Potentially with 2 CotR and either 2 Herbalists or 1 Herbalist and good draw you could manage to get a decent cycle going. I think that if there's a good +Cards on the board but no other Village I'd give it a shot, but I don't expect it to be the kind of thing you'd immediately spot as an engine component if there's anything vaguely more useful out there.

[ced]

Herbalist is probably amazing to have if you're playing a Treasure Trove BM game. More money! It's also a consideration for if you want more Potions, all the time. Otherwise, pretty meh.

It seems good with Relic too. You want to be playing Relic each turn to slow down their cycle speed, and Herbalist helps set that up. Probably not a good enough reason alone to buy Herbalist (especially not in engines), but something to consider.