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Author Topic: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article  (Read 32174 times)

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werothegreat

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Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« on: September 26, 2016, 07:57:44 pm »
+2


I'm challenging the members of this board to write an article about Pearl Diver.  Preferably taken seriously.  Sure, it's a weak card, but I'd like to see what you guys can come up with.
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2016, 08:16:37 pm »
+5

I guess there's not much to be said about the Pearl Diver effect, apart from that it's nice with Mystic and Vassal (any more?).

Most of its use comes from it being a cheap cantrip - you can pick up a bunch of them when you have Goons/Merchant Guild in play or easily increase your action density for cards that care about that eg Throne Room, Vassal, Scrying Pool, Vineyards, Conspirator, Peddler etc.

Otherwise you'll generally pick them up with $2 or even $3 or $4 if there's nothing better you want. Can be an easy pile to empty for the sake of 3-piling or Cities or to disrupt your opponent's Poachers.

(Obviously not an article, just the thoughts that would go into one.)
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2016, 08:21:38 pm »
+1

You're on.
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JW

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2016, 08:41:05 pm »
+1

I guess there's not much to be said about the Pearl Diver effect, apart from that it's nice with Mystic and Vassal (any more?).

Lookout and Native Village.
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Chris is me

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2016, 08:42:43 pm »
+3

I'll give it a shot. Basically, it becomes an article on when a cantrip is better than nothing.
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2016, 08:52:34 pm »
+1

I guess there's not much to be said about the Pearl Diver effect, apart from that it's nice with Mystic and Vassal (any more?).

Lookout and Native Village.

Sentry.

Edit: Not really.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 05:23:08 pm by Jimmmmm »
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2016, 09:07:49 pm »
0

Proc is decent with this.
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Titandrake

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2016, 12:14:40 am »
+2

I decided the article I wrote was really dumb, so I removed it.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 02:38:50 am by Titandrake »
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2016, 04:39:33 am »
0

I guess there's not much to be said about the Pearl Diver effect, apart from that it's nice with Mystic and Vassal (any more?).

Most of its use comes from it being a cheap cantrip - you can pick up a bunch of them when you have Goons/Merchant Guild in play or easily increase your action density for cards that care about that eg Throne Room, Vassal, Scrying Pool, Vineyards, Conspirator, Peddler etc.

Otherwise you'll generally pick them up with $2 or even $3 or $4 if there's nothing better you want. Can be an easy pile to empty for the sake of 3-piling or Cities or to disrupt your opponent's Poachers.

(Obviously not an article, just the thoughts that would go into one.)
Re: Cheap cantrip

Any token placer loves cheap cantrips: Pathfinding, Teacher, Lost Arts, Training, etc.
Cheap cantrips can also be useful for faux +Actions like Golem, Herald, TR, etc.

But in that case PD is no better than Great Hall, its spying action isn't really helpful.
You can occasionally save a card from missing the reshuffle, but other than that, it's pretty mundane.
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Sparafucile

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2016, 05:09:04 am »
+5

    Not particularly strong on it's own - often not worth wasting a buy on unless
       1) You have to pick up a 2 cost card and you don't want an estate or
       2) there's a specific synergy you are looking for with another card

    Source of +Buy amplifies the synergies, as you can aquire pearl divers quickly on 4 coin hands.  In general, much stronger when Gainers and +buy is available.  Picking up 2 pearl divers on 4 money can be a good bet if there is any card that remotely synergizes with it.

    What most people think of first:  drawing from bottom of deck.

    That key card that happened to be at the bottom of your deck will no longer miss the shuffle.  Yay.
    On a 2/5 split, it cuts in half the chance that your 5 card misses the first shuffle!  (from about 10% to about 5%)

    This bottom draw can also force discard from bottom of the deck with certain cards  (suppose you find your tunnel down there for e.g.)

    Scouting Party
    Navigator
    Survivors

    Combos with cards that interact with top of deck without drawing first:

    Mystic
    Scrying Pool
    Lookout
    Native Village
    Loan
    Rebuild
    Adventurer
    Library

    for Rebuild, pearl diver can be used to find victory cards, or to find weak non-victory cards(like copper) that you want to skip.
    For loan, pearl diver can be used to find money worth trashing, or put victory cards on top of deck that you want to skip.
    Lookout is amplified greatly by perl diver.   As a deck thins, lookout becomes more risky to play - but with a pearl diver, the risk can be completely negated.
    Allows you to have much better control over what is on the native village matt.   Playing several pearl divers can give you almost perfect native village matt control if you always draw from the bottom.  (until you find the card that you want on the matt)


    Don't overlook the interactions that occur because of the card being a cheap, cantrip, action card.   Other 2 cost can trips would also fill the following roles - like Pawn for example.  But if it's the only cheap cantrip on the board, don't forget about these uses:

    As a cheap card

    3 pile ending rush (without compromising effective deck density) - especially with Stonemason
    Gainable via Workshop, Hermit, Engineer etc ... You may not want to buy a pearl diver - but if u can gain them for almost free, their power might be worth it.

    As a cantrip

    use with throne room variants for mock village on decks without source of +2 action

    As a cheap cantrip

    is a Prince Target
    ok fodder for Sacrifice as a mock village
    as an alternative to estate when u have to gain a card costing exactly 2.  (e.g. develop, butcher)
    Can be combined with inheritance to add estates to your deck without compromising draw power
    useful with Advance event to get expensive actions
    as a cheap cantrip when plus buy available, combos well with teacher, PathFinding - becomes  cheap lab with a +Card token on them
    negate Enchantress -  instead of wasting a more expensive action


    As a cheap cantrip Action

    lots of cheap can trips are great for Scrying Pool, City Quarter, Vineyard, Herald
    with +buy, can be used to meet action quota - e.g. pedder, conspirator
    Good young Witch Counter when pearl diver is the bane card and you can purchase a lot of them with +buy
    If you have +buy, it can be effective to:  Scoring points with Arena, Colonade, Obelisk, Triumphal Arc, Tower


    As a Deck Filler

    To guard against trashing attacks  (e.g. guard against knights, Pirate ship)
    To make your deck bigger (e.g. gardens)


    Strong With:

    Mystic
    Scrying pool
    City Quarater
    Lookout
    Herald (with +buy)
    PathFinding
    Teacher (for lots of cheap labs, or lots of +buy, or lots of villages)
    Vineyard
    Advance, especially with +Buy
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 05:25:56 am by Sparafucile »
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DG

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2016, 09:16:35 am »
+3

This is still relevant: is it better than nothing?
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Davio

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2016, 09:32:41 am »
+2

This is still relevant: is it better than nothing?
Upvoted.

While they seem innocent (they are just placeholders in your hand), cheap cantrips can actually be hurtful.
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2016, 09:33:36 am »
0

This is still relevant: is it better than nothing?
Upvoted.

While they seem innocent (they are just placeholders in your hand), cheap cantrips can actually be hurtful.

I am already taking this into account for my 'article', but I appreciate the useful tips!
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iguanaiguana

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2016, 10:38:08 am »
+1

I decided the article I wrote was really dumb, so I removed it.

Read it, thought it was fun, refreshed and it was gone : /
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2016, 11:06:23 am »
+1

Sentry.

Sentry draws first, so doesn't combo with Pearl Diver's topdeck effect!
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2016, 11:09:13 am »
+1

Pearl Diver

Pearl Diver is a sad sad Dominion card that is sometimes not even better than nothing. It is one of the worst $2 cost Dominion cards in the entire game. I will explain why.

Using Pearl Diver

Pearl Diver simply draws a card and looks at the bottom card of your deck. If it is a good card, you will top deck it. Otherwise, you will leave it on the bottom most of the time. To put simply, Pearl Diver slightly mitigates bad shuffle luck, and only sometimes. That’s it.

Why is Pearl Diver so bad then, if it at least is a cantrip? Pearl Diver’s use often does not outweigh the cost it takes to get one. Getting nothing can be better than Pearl Diver.

Suppose an opponent plays a discard attack on you, and you have Pearl Diver and some other cards in hand. You can take a gamble and hope to draw a card with Pearl Diver, or discard it. If you did not have Pearl Diver, you would have known what card you would have drawn anyways with the Diver, making a more effective choice as to what to discard instead. In those cases, having a Pearl Diver is worse than nothing.

Comparables

Ignoring Chapel, $2 cost cards in Dominion generally have some sort of use, even when they are poor. Haven sets aside a card for next turn. Pawn provides flexibility with +buy. Raze trashes and cycles at the same time. Even lowly Herbalist provides a much needed +buy sometimes, and maybe you topdeck a Fortune. Heck, you might put a copper on top to help block Masquerade!

Pearl Diver has none of these edgecase uses with its ability. There is nothing in the entire game that makes Pearl Diver's ability all that desirable.

On the bright side

Not to say Pearl diver does not have its uses. Cheap cantrips are a boon for Teacher engines, and Pearl Diver is certainly not the worst card in the $2 category for this. Pearl Diver is also an action card, which can boost Vineyards and help piledrive Peddlers, as well as activate Heralds and Scrying Pools. However, this is more of an effect of Pearl Diver being a cheap cantrip or just being an Action card more than it is for Pearl Diver’s ability.

To put this entire article into a sentence: Only pick up a Pearl Diver when it helps another strategy along.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 11:22:28 am by Seprix »
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AdrianHealey

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #16 on: September 27, 2016, 11:18:44 am »
+3

I never buy a pearl driver, the time it takes to resolve the card just isn't worth it
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #17 on: September 27, 2016, 11:21:00 am »
0

That is as close to an 'article' as I can get with Pearl Diver.
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #18 on: September 27, 2016, 11:24:03 am »
0

I thought of something edgecasey.

Suppose you want to protect your Stash against a Thief play, so you bottomdeck it for next turn, and then draw it back up with Pearl Diver.

It's probably average with Vassal too, since it will just hit that nice Action card that was on bottom instead.

This is the kind of lame crap not worth discussing in articles. Stuff that never happens.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 11:25:58 am by Seprix »
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Chris is me

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #19 on: September 27, 2016, 12:02:25 pm »
+2

In the spirit of competition I'll bang out a short article today or tomorrow, even though Seprix wrote one that is probably pretty good anyway. Then you'all have two arbitrary options to bicker about with no real differences. Election joke goes here.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2016, 12:13:00 pm by Chris is me »
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Polk5440

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2016, 12:06:29 pm »
0

Pearl Diver does not need a dedicated article.
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Chris is me

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2016, 12:12:38 pm »
+2

Pearl Diver does not need a dedicated article.

Every wiki page could use some content! No reason to just not take information we have and put it there.
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Aleimon Thimble

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2016, 01:54:32 pm »
0

Pearl Diver does not need a dedicated article.

Every wiki page could use some content! No reason to just not take information we have and put it there.

This is why I have been turning the 'Let's talk about...' pages from Adventures into Wiki pages. Although I kinda got sick of it halfway through the Events. I should really finish it someday.
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Seprix

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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #23 on: September 27, 2016, 01:57:34 pm »
0

In the spirit of competition I'll bang out a short article today or tomorrow, even though Seprix wrote one that is probably pretty good anyway. Then you'all have two arbitrary options to bicker about with no real differences. Election joke goes here.

Other than editing out 'a sad sad Dominion card' for Wiki standards, mine is probably fine, but I'll like to see your project.

We should write shit on all the cards with no articles.
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Re: Challenge: Write a Pearl Diver article
« Reply #24 on: September 27, 2016, 02:31:40 pm »
+1

If pearl diver was a food, what sort of food would it be?
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