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[Davio]

So I started with 5/2 as first player in a Province game and the kingdom offered (key cards are made bold, partially interesting cards are underlined):

Bank, Cartographer, Conspirator, Explorer, Farming Village, Farmland, Nobles, Pirate Ship, Stash, and Talisman.

When inspecting a kingdom, you have to look at any sources of +Buys. This kingdom offers none.
Is there trashing? Only involuntary with Pirate Ship.

So then we look at engine possibilities. Something with Conspirator? Possibly, but without trashing it's not that great and slow to get working.
Pirate Ship? Could be pretty nice in this money game, but without trashing I have doubts about it. Pirate Ship is also not one of my greatest cards, I like defending to it a lot better than just playing it.

Having gone through the motions of analyzing this kingdom on the usual key points I come to the conclusion that something Big Money-esque is probably pretty good here. So I open... Explorer!?!?!

Explorer is a card that I've come to love in these sorts of kingdoms, it's like an instant Jack without the trashing and without the card draw. Hmm, that actually sounds not so great. I'm not picking it up because I have some plans with Provinces. If I can get an Explorer and a Province together, great, but what I really want are the Silvers. Explorer's kind of like a Silver-only Workshop that doesn't need to wait a reshuffle for you to play the gained Silver.

With the help of my 1 Cartographer, I played Explorer a total of 6 times. The funny thing about Explorer is that you can't say: "Well, you would've gotten a Province if instead it would have been a Silver" about it, because it basically IS a Silver!

My opponent, a lvl 40+, went with the (what I thought) convoluted Conspirator engine.

What's your option here?
- Explorer
- Cartographer
- Pirate Ship
- Conspirator engine

[Asklepios]

I admit, I would have opened with Cartographer, then swung towards Cartographers and Conspirators, perhaps using Farmland to turn Silvers to Cartographers or duchies later on. I'm not sure that approach is any better than big money, of course

You make a compelling case for Explorer though. Its definitely not a weak option.

[MasterAir]

Don't most conspirators work for nobles?  I like nobles, perhaps a little too much, they aren't an engine on their own, but the flexibility to be a smithy or a weak village means they probably turbocharge conspirators.  Does farming village skip nobles?  It would be a pain if it did.

I'm probably very wrong, but that's what I'd have thought.

Explorer first up seems like an ok move, might well win in this case.

[WanderingWinder]

I would have opened Explorer, no question. It's going to be hard to get that conspirator chain going, and even if you can, will it really be more reliable or faster than the money? Without extra buys, there's no way of taking advantage of the potentially enormous turns a conspirator engine can possibly get you.

[theory]

If you open Explorer, are you now vulnerable to a Pirate Ship counter from P2?

[DStu]

If you open Explorer, are you now vulnerable to a Pirate Ship counter from P2?

Didn't got the PS/Loan over 25% against BM-Explorer.
Maybe one can include Cartographer to improve this, but without trashing and without +buys it seems to slow to set up.

[Davio]

I would have opened Explorer, no question. It's going to be hard to get that conspirator chain going, and even if you can, will it really be more reliable or faster than the money? Without extra buys, there's no way of taking advantage of the potentially enormous turns a conspirator engine can possibly get you.

These were my thoughts too. I don't have anything particular against Conspirator engines, I just thought they would be too slow on this board, especially with:
- No +Buy
- No trashing
- Cards that facilitate the engine all cost $4+

I know you're an Explorer-fan too, WW. In fact, it seems in most of your games I've seen on your YT channel you like to keep it simple if you can. This kingdom is probably a good example for doing just that.


About Pirate Ship: Again, I did think about it, but I thought: If my opponent wants to go for them, I'll just let him go for it. I'm going with BM-Explorer(+Carto) and don't worry too much about being PS'd.

When simulating, do make sure you always start 5/2 and go first and your opponent starts with either 5/2 or 4/3 (didn't know that at the time).

[WanderingWinder]

If you open Explorer, are you now vulnerable to a Pirate Ship counter from P2?

No. Pirate ship is that weak. I actually can't get it to win against BMU, even with the Farming villages (though it's probably possible, I spent about 10 minutes and came up with something very close; oh, and loan will probably push it over the top) in the sims. And yeah, pirate ship isn't played optimally, BUT... it's getting so badly smoked by the explorer going first on 5/2, I don't think it's much concern. On the plus side for Mr. Explorer, the trashing will mean exp and prov collide more often. And there are stashes which are much harder to PS than silvers for when you get $5 but don't need more explorers.

[DStu]

If you open Explorer, are you now vulnerable to a Pirate Ship counter from P2?

No. Pirate ship is that weak. I actually can't get it to win against BMU, even with the Farming villages (though it's probably possible, I spent about 10 minutes and came up with something very close; oh, and loan will probably push it over the top) in the sims. And yeah, pirate ship isn't played optimally, BUT... it's getting so badly smoked by the explorer going first on 5/2, I don't think it's much concern. On the plus side for Mr. Explorer, the trashing will mean exp and prov collide more often. And there are stashes which are much harder to PS than silvers for when you get $5 but don't need more explorers.

It was the Bronze medal match where you lost with Jack against PSs, or?
And if you compare the settings, I remember the game to be pretty close, and there was a Chapel on the board and WV for +buys.  Here not even close the support to the PS that was in this game.

[WanderingWinder]

If you open Explorer, are you now vulnerable to a Pirate Ship counter from P2?

No. Pirate ship is that weak. I actually can't get it to win against BMU, even with the Farming villages (though it's probably possible, I spent about 10 minutes and came up with something very close; oh, and loan will probably push it over the top) in the sims. And yeah, pirate ship isn't played optimally, BUT... it's getting so badly smoked by the explorer going first on 5/2, I don't think it's much concern. On the plus side for Mr. Explorer, the trashing will mean exp and prov collide more often. And there are stashes which are much harder to PS than silvers for when you get $5 but don't need more explorers.

It was the Bronze medal match where you lost with Jack against PSs, or?
And if you compare the settings, I remember the game to be pretty close, and there was a Chapel on the board and WV for +buys.  Here not even close the support to the PS that was in this game.

Yep. Bronze match. This is very different mostly because chapel isn't here, so you can't get nearly as fast and good pressure. Also worker's village is a lot better than farming here, because those extra buys enabled big-time mega-turns (I think he drained the last 4 provinces in one turn... mighta only been 3, but you get the point). So both decks are a lot weaker here, but it's a much bigger deal for the PS... that chapel is huge.

[Davio]

Just a reminder to everyone: Loan isn't in my kingdom.

I don't know whether you were discussing it as a hypothetical aid or if someone got confused with either Bank or Talisman...

[Lekkit]

I tend to like Explorer more than it probably deserves being liked. It's seriously one of my fav 5 openers. I think the card is greatly underrated. It's basically a terminal silver that gains you a silver, and if paired up with a Province, it's a terminal gold that gains you a gold. Not bad. Really not bad in the early stages of a BM-game.

[Fabian]

I have nothing against Explorer either, and I think it's the opening of choice on this board for sure. I don't buy an action chain working here, and I don't buy a Pirate Ship deck working here.

[DStu]

Just a reminder to everyone: Loan isn't in my kingdom.

I don't know whether you were discussing it as a hypothetical aid or if someone got confused with either Bank or Talisman...

It seems like I am responsible...
I actually have no idea where it came from...

[DG]

That's quite an interesting kingdom and I don't think any cards shouldn't be underlined. The bank is an asset for the explorer. The stash could give interesting deck manipulation. Farmland could be certainly be useful. A pirate deck is probably best started through the talisman.

I don't know why the explorer is under rated to the point where it's seen as a surprising play. It's a very straightforward card that does its job.

[Davio]

Well, I think Explorer suffers from the same fate as many of the other unloved cards: There are usually better ones in the kingdom.
And it sits at the oh so crucial $5 point, making it even harder to receive love. It's the antepenultimate $5 card according to our voters.

But with 5/2 it's a great opportunity here.