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Author Topic: Favorite Expansions in 2018  (Read 37512 times)

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Commodore Chuckles

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Favorite Expansions in 2018
« on: January 27, 2018, 04:15:26 pm »
+3

So, every year we have a new thread where we rank all the expansions favorite to least-favorite. Here's my list:

1. Empires
Hands-down my favorite. Expands the game strategy in all the right ways. My only real complaint is that I don't like some of the Landmarks, but this would be an awesome set even if it didn't have the Landmarks at all, so that's not really a point against it.

2. Intrigue, 2nd Edition
The new cards are great, and the others are classic cards that continue to be interesting.

3. Adventures
My feelings about the Reserve cards are somewhat mixed. Cards flying in and out of your deck like this feels sort of un-Dominionish. Still, I overall like them, and the set has no duds.

4. Dark Ages
This one has really grown on me. The subtle interactions between the cards are very cool, and the Shelters and Ruins are awesome. The main thing dragging the set down is a few really stupid cards (Rebuild, Urchin, Cultist.)

5. Seaside
This set is very under appreciated, I think. The main complaint seems to be that the set has "power creep" or is "boring." Wharf and Fishing Village are powerful, but their presence still makes the game interesting, as opposed to Rebuild and Urchin, which are overpowered in a way that makes the game less interesting. And Tactician and Native Village remain some of the most interesting cards in the game, in my opinion. Also, for such an early set, this one has surprisingly few duds. The main one that sticks out is Navigator, but I'm starting to have a bit more respect for even that card. And yeah, I guess Pearl Diver is pretty worthless.

6. Prosperity
The Gilded Age set: A lot of cool, powerful cards but also a lot of duds. Ironically considering the set's theme, a lot of the duds are the kingdom treasures.

7. Nocturne
Some mechanics just aren't my cup of tea, I'm afraid. I'm actually starting to like the Hexes a bit more: it's interesting how they can stack, and the mechanic allows interesting attacks that often do nothing (particularly Bad Omens.) I still don't really like the Boons, though, but it might simply be because a lot of the Boon cards are pretty boring. There are also a lot of retreads: Pooka is like Spice Merchant, Secret Cave is very similar to Mill. Still, I'd be lying if I said this set doesn't have some really, really cool cards.

8. Guilds
The Guilded Age Set. The coin tokens and overpay are neat and well-utilized.

9. Hinterlands
This set, not Seaside, is the true "boring" set. The "on-gain" theme is weak (and is a mechanic that appears in plenty of other sets), a lot of the cards are retreads, others are big duds, and some are just not that interesting. I'm glad it exists, but there are so many other, better expansions.

10. Cornucopia
You can count me as one who doesn't share in the Cornucopia hype. I like it, but most of the cards just don't grab me that much.

11. Alchemy
What else is there to say that hasn't been said a million times? I share everybody else's complaints with this set.

12. Base, 2nd Edition
It's great that I won't ever have to see Chancellor's ugly mug again, but this is still the most boring set in the game, which is fine, because it's supposed to be simple. There is one dubious thing about the new cards: did we really need TWO new Peddlers in a set that already had Market?
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weesh

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2018, 05:16:41 pm »
0

intrigue is that good?

the only reason intrigue was competing with prosperity and seaside on my "next buy" list is because after 200 unsleeved games, i'm in the market for more basic supply cards.

 
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crj

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2018, 06:32:15 pm »
+1

[Empires]
My only real complaint is that I don't like some of the Landmarks, but this would be an awesome set even if it didn't have the Landmarks at all, so that's not really a point against it.
[Dark Ages]
The main thing dragging the set down is a few really stupid cards (Rebuild, Urchin, Cultist.)
If I understand you correctly, in the case of Empires you forgive some bits you dislike because of the bits you do like, but in the case of Dark Ages you feel the bits you dislike count against the set. Isn't that inconsistent?
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Commodore Chuckles

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2018, 07:16:37 pm »
+2

[Empires]
My only real complaint is that I don't like some of the Landmarks, but this would be an awesome set even if it didn't have the Landmarks at all, so that's not really a point against it.
[Dark Ages]
The main thing dragging the set down is a few really stupid cards (Rebuild, Urchin, Cultist.)
If I understand you correctly, in the case of Empires you forgive some bits you dislike because of the bits you do like, but in the case of Dark Ages you feel the bits you dislike count against the set. Isn't that inconsistent?

The thing is that Empires has great cards even without the Landmarks, whereas Dark Ages has bad (in my opinion) cards taking up places where better cards could be.

Also, sheesh, I wasn't expecting people to put my opinion under a microscope. Maybe I worded the OP wrong, but this wasn't supposed to be an authoritative list of best to worst, it's just my personal favorite to least favorite, and I don't care if your list is completely different than mine.
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LastFootnote

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2018, 07:47:25 pm »
+1

intrigue is that good?

the only reason intrigue was competing with prosperity and seaside on my "next buy" list is because after 200 unsleeved games, i'm in the market for more basic supply cards.

Intrigue Second Edition doesn’t include the basic supply cards. Just buy the Base Cards product.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2018, 07:54:04 pm »
0

We don't have a new thread for this every year.

Seaside is the most commonly recommended expansion, so there is not a wide perception of it being boring.

Fake news!

Empires
Base 2
Cornucopia
Nocturne
Guilds
Adventures
Prosperity
Seaside
Dark Ages
Intrigue 2
Hinterlands
Base 1
Alchemy
Intrigue 1
« Last Edit: January 27, 2018, 07:56:40 pm by jsh357 »
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2018, 07:55:41 pm »
+9

Also, sheesh, I wasn't expecting people to put my opinion under a microscope. Maybe I worded the OP wrong, but this wasn't supposed to be an authoritative list of best to worst, it's just my personal favorite to least favorite, and I don't care if your list is completely different than mine.
You sound new to fds. Everything posted here gets put under a microscope, knitpicked, edge-cased, commented on, and otherwise picked apart until the horse is not only dead, but tarred, feathered, hanged, electrocuted, burned, and then drawn and quartered and fed to the blue dogs.

My list:
1 Adventures (my favorite)
2 Dark Ages  (I just don't play with Rebuild, at least not the official version)
3 Seaside
4-5 Guilds & Cornucopia  (minus Tournament)
6-8 Intrigue (2e of course), Prosperity & Empires
9-10 Hinterlands & Base (and even these are still great, just not as interesting as the others)
11 Alchemy (Alchemy and Nocturne are the only sets I don't own IRL, and the only card from Alchemy I'd want to use IRL is Apprentice.)

I haven't played with Nocturne enough to rank it among the others, but on first impressions I think it'll be at the level of Guilds and Cornucopia.
I got (1e) Intrigue before getting the Base game, and it was only after getting several other expansions that I finally got the base game (soon before 2e came out).

EDIT: I realized I forgot to rank Prosperity the first time. Added it tied with Intrigue & Empires.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2018, 06:49:40 pm by LibraryAdventurer »
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werothegreat

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2018, 08:03:53 pm »
+13

It's spelled "nitpicked".
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2018, 08:06:32 pm »
0

Intrigue Second Edition doesn’t include the basic supply cards. Just buy the Base Cards product.

Really?
(checks)
Why?

---

most fav at top, criteria is a ratio of enjoyment to complication added

empires/adventures
dark ages/nocturne
base
guilds
cornucopia/hinterlands
« Last Edit: January 27, 2018, 08:10:59 pm by weesh »
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werothegreat

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2018, 08:34:05 pm »
0

Intrigue Second Edition doesn’t include the basic supply cards. Just buy the Base Cards product.

Really?
(checks)
Why?

Because there is now a Base Cards product.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2018, 08:50:14 pm »
+6

This is like picking my favorite child.  I just can't do it.  But I definitely can pick out my least favorite child expansion.  Alchemy, I don't even kinda like you.  (except for Apprentice.  That card is sweet)
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crj

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #11 on: January 27, 2018, 09:19:02 pm »
+1

Personally, I feel people forget just how good first-edition Base was. OK, so we've all played it into the ground by now, but that doesn't mean it's objectively become worse.

Even now, I hanker after a real Village, a real Smithy, a real Laboratory, a real Witch once in a while. (-8

Also: Chapel!
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dz

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2018, 09:45:27 pm »
+2

Listing my favorite expansion is just too hard. So I'll just list my favorite card per expansion:

Dominion: Sentry

Intrigue: Masquerade

Seaside: Tactician

Alchemy: Scrying Pool (yes the attack is a waste of time but otherwise it's still fun)

Prosperity: Grand Market

Cornucopia: Tournament (sorry Tournament haters)

Hinterlands: IGG (sorry IGG haters)

Dark Ages: Counterfeit

Guilds: Baker

Adventures: Transmogrify

Empires: Villa

Nocturne: Devil's Workshop
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #13 on: January 31, 2018, 05:56:45 pm »
0

Oh. It's not really possible. I'm a prosperity-guy though - I just love all the VP-cards and KC made me love Dominion more than any other game in the world. With the rest I can't choose. Alchemy and Dark Ages is somewhat worse than the others, but hey, I still love them as well, at least playing with them online.

Empires is a little bit extra good also, but when it comes to the cards it's more due too novelty than that it is outstanding in other ways compared to the whole I think.

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2018, 03:11:31 am »
+1

Personally, I feel people forget just how good first-edition Base was. OK, so we've all played it into the ground by now, but that doesn't mean it's objectively become worse.

Don't forget that this is the only "expansion" that won the SdJ award.
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Aleimon Thimble

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #15 on: February 01, 2018, 03:36:53 am »
0

Sure. :)

1.   (1) Adventures: It balances old and new mechanics, it offers casual and expert players countless hours of fun with Travellers, Events, Reserve cards, Duration cards that are actually interesting (the ones in Seaside aren’t), but also more vanilla cards such as Lost City. Of course, it’s also the expansion that I played the most with IRL, since it came out when my Dominion enthusiasm peaked. To be fair, though, it’s a close call with number 2 on the list.
2.   (2) Prosperity: Adventures may be my personal favorite, but Prosperity is more or less the ultimate expansion to Dominion. The Base set offers the basic outline for Dominion, one of the best games ever, but Prosperity is what really puts it over the top. More points, stronger cards, better decks, lots and lots of options.
3.   (5) Dominion Base (2nd edition): The Base game was already pretty amazing, but Donald really put the icing on the cake by deleting the six worst cards from it. Probably the best idea in Dominion history after publishing the game in the first place. These days, Dominion doesn’t even need expansions anymore to be a balanced game that can keep someone occupied for years.
4.   (7) Empires: I didn’t like a lot of the mechanics at first, but I’ve grown to appreciate them. The Debt mechanic isn’t so bad once you start to understand the rationale behind it, and the split piles offer some interesting player interactions. Of course, the large number of scoring options is the best thing about Empires, and most of the Landmarks are just awesome. The only downside is that most of the Events suck, they’re either too weak or too strong. Empires would have been better without the Events.
5.   (3) Guilds: This one remains my favorite small expansion. The mechanics are cool, the cards are pretty amazing, and Herald remains my favorite card to this day. The small size is really its only downside.
6.   (-) Nocturne: It still seems a bit on the complicated side with all the extra piles and card rules, and especially IRL I can imagine setting it up takes a lot of time and table space. But online it works just fine and it has a bunch of cool mechanics.
7.   (8 ) Cornucopia: Although this expansion lacks a clear identity or anything that really sets it apart (‘diversity’ doesn’t really count), it does contain a number of very cool cards, including Horn of Plenty and Tournament. Yes, Tournament has the player imbalance, but I don’t think it’s such a high-luck card as people claim it is.
8.   (4) Dark Ages: It’s a fine set, but it didn’t stand the test of time as well as I thought it would. It used to be one of my favorites but it’s now in the bottom half. I guess it says more about the upper half though. I still like the theme and overall feel.
9.   (6) Hinterlands: It’s more or less the ‘little bit of everything’ expansion. It flirted with being another standalone, and I think it would have been better than Intrigue at this role, although frankly Dominion doesn’t need that anymore with such an amazing Base set.
10.   (11) Alchemy: It rose two places from the bottom of the list (not counting Nocturne). Honestly Alchemy is pretty hard to rank, some of its individual cards are really awesome and the Potion mechanic is okay, but it does suffer from a couple of design flaws. Possession is just a disaster of course, probably the worst card in existence gameplay-wise, and Transmute is just useless. But then it has amazing stuff like Apothecary, Golem and University on the other side of the spectrum, which is Alchemy’s saving grace.
11.   (9) Intrigue (2nd Edition): It’s not a standalone anymore, and for good reason. Intrigue is just not nearly as good as the Base set in my opinion, especially now that the Base set has ditched its useless cards. I played Intrigue before Base, and it’s telling that I liked Dominion, but didn’t love it for the first couple of years. The update didn’t do it wonders either, ditching awesome cards such as Coppersmith and to a lesser extent Saboteur.
12.   (10) Seaside: Clearly the worst set. Its Duration cards are bland and unbalanced, its Attacks are highly frustrating and slow the game down by a lot, and it lacks anything cool that sets it apart from the other sets. The only reason ever to buy this would be for completion’s sake.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #16 on: February 01, 2018, 08:14:08 am »
0

Adventures
Empires
Prosperity
Seaside
Nocturne
Corn/Guilds
Base 2
Dark Ages
Hinterlands
Intrigue 2
Alchemy

Maybe seaside is too high. More words on this later.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #17 on: February 01, 2018, 12:27:05 pm »
0

For what it's worth, I'll rank the expansions. I will not rank the ones I have not played.

1. Adventures- adds the most to the game imo and just gives you so many options on a given turn.

2. Intrigue 2e- this is a close second for me. Fixing this set was such a good idea.

3. Prosperity- yes it's good, but I see this as the real power creep expansion (instead of Seaside), and kind of over rated. What it does well, it does really well, but it has a lot of duds. 

4. Dark Ages- it's probably only in this position on my list because I haven't played many games with it.

5. Base set 2e- same as Intrigue 2e, remove the boring, introduce new cards that are actually fun.

6. Seaside- I give this set props for introducing some of the best mechanics in the game, durations, mats, and tokens. I do see it's flaws though, and for everything Seaside does right, I feel it does something wrong. I just like the things it does right more than I hate what it does wrong.

7. Hinterlands- good set that doesn't really have a standout card or cards imo. I feel strongly that each set should have a big powerful game warping card or two, and I don't feel that Hinterlands has one. Kind of like the opposite of Seaside in that the good is really good but the bad is really bad. I just feel like Hinterlands is kinda meh.

8. Guilds- again, have not played much with Guilds, would probably go up with more play, but what I have played I feel was not as good as other sets.

9. Alchemy- everyone has already pointed out the problems with Alchemy, you don't need to read it again.

Unranked (because I haven't played them)

Empires- I could have gotten this for my birthday last year, instead I got Stone Age. I think I made the wrong decision. (Stone Age is good, don't think I'm knocking it,  its just that everything I've seen says Empires is better)

Nocturne- I'm excited to try the heirlooms, and see how the night phase and cards change the game, but thus far, I have not been able to try it.

Cornucopia- sounds good, for a small set. Just have not played it at all, so I'm not gonna comment on it.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2018, 12:39:26 pm by MatthewCA »
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2018, 07:15:17 pm »
0

My ranking of expansions (which should be yours too, because otherwise you have no reason to care):

1. Nocturne
2. Base
3. Adventures
4. Hinterlands
5. Empires
6. Seaside
7. Dark Ages
8. Guilds
9. Prosperity
10. Intrigue
11. Cornucopia
12. Alchemy
13. Promos

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #19 on: February 01, 2018, 08:48:47 pm »
+1

Here are my favorites.  Not necessarily in order of power, but just how much enjoyment I find in each set.  To me, how fun the set is comes largely from the amount of variety they bring to the table, and how many different approaches you have to playing the game.  So this list is just my personal preference.  I recently had a friend I play with ask me what should be the next expansion to buy after he has Base and Seaside, and I had to explain that it depends on how much depth and complexity you are looking for - versus something just fun and easy to teach to other new players.

1.  Adventures  This was a close call between Adventures and Empires, but for me, Adventures gets the nod for all the new mechanics it brought to the game.  Events are great, and overall, the Adventures Events are much stronger than the Empires Events.  The Travelers, and all the various ways to modify kingdom cards with tokens just adds so much variety.  And bringing back duration cards with some really strong ones was just a nice bonus.

2.  Empires  When I first played Empires, I was afraid it might be too much, and that Donald had finally jumped the shark.  But the more I played it (both in real life and online), I really began to like the whole set, and it has grown on me immensely.  With all the nifty mechanics and options, I doubted that some of my friends and family would get into it for a casual fun game night, but to my surprise they all seem to really love it once they began to understand the options.  I simply love most of the Landmarks - to me they are even a bigger change to the game than Duration cards or Events because they alter the basic scoring rules for each game.  Some people may not like that, but I think it was a stroke of genius.  Most of the events are fairly weak, but as we know a couple of them are awesomely powerful.  Victory points are far more fun in Empires than they are in Prosperity because of the large variety of ways you can gain them, and it makes for much more thoughtful and tactical games.

3.  Nocturne  So far I don't see it as strong as the top 2, but the huge variety of new mechanics and card types is just plain fun.  It is the only physical set I do not own yet, so I have yet to see whether more casual players will enjoy it, but I think they will like all the themes.  The night cards are really interesting.  Some of the spirits haven't grabbed me as much, but overall I really enjoy seeing Nocturne cards pop up in random games.

4.  Dark Ages  This is a set I often recommend as maybe the 3rd set to buy.  Part of the reason is just that you get more bang for the buck with so many different kingdom cards.  Also, Dark Ages focus on trashing is a great way to teach newer players the value of trashing those coppers and estates.  One of our friends had a real problem trashing coppers, but after I made her play a few games with Dark Ages, the light bulb turned on.  Shelters aren't as fun as Heirlooms, but were still a nice change to the basic estates, and Ruins were a good alternative to Curses.  Just a lot of great cards in this set, and huge variety for one box.

5.  Seaside  Ranking favorites after the top 4 gets a little difficult, but I'm going to go with Seaside for the impact of the Duration cards.  To me Duration cards were the first really big game changing mechanic, and those Fishing Village, Wharf, Tactician and Outpost cards are still fun to play today even with all of the recent mechanics and complexity.

6.  Hinterlands  So part of me wants to rank Prosperity next, but last year we visited family who had just bought their first 2 expansions.  Based on Amazon reviews they purchased Prosperity and Hinterlands.  In spite of the really powerful cards in Prosperity, they often found the kingdoms just had too many treasure cards, and not enough options in how to play the game, so they preferred Hinterlands.  It made me rethink the 2 sets.  I have always liked Hinterlands with the Border Village, Haggler, Highway, Stables, and other sifting cards, but at home it didn't make it to the table as often.  But overall, I think it is just a slight bit more fun than the average Prosperity game...tough call since the best Prosperity games with KC, Goons, Grand Market etc. can be simply awesome, and I don't have an issue with people placing Prosperity higher on the list.

7.  Prosperity  I think I said most of it in the last comments.  A great set, and one of the first 3 or 4 expansions I would recommend for new players.  The great cards in the set still play great with all of the new sets.

8.  Cornucopia  OK, maybe I'm letting my wife influence me here since this is her favorite set.  We have played a HUGE number of IRL games with Cornucopia cards.  I know it can get swingy, and I personally think Tournament is overrated since it is often a dead card after opponents purchase Provinces...but you have to admit, the Prizes are just fun!  Hunting Party and Horn of Plenty are not only fun but just incredibly powerful.  If this was a full sized set I would probably rank it above Dark Ages, but the small sets don't offer much variety unless you mix them with other sets (which of course is the way to go).

9.  Base  We had really stopped playing the base entirely unless we were introducing Dominion to new players.  The new cards really did perk the set up a lot (although I do miss the loss of a buy that disappeared with Woodcutter).  Overall though, this is the fundamental set of prototype cards that you need to have if you want to get people into Dominion, and some of them are still fun.  I still love the original Village, Smithy, Witch cards that were just simple and straight forward.  And it makes a good combo with one of the newer sets if you want to tone down the overall complexity of the game.

10.  Alchemy  I'm sure I'm bucking the trend here, but I have never hated Alchemy, and it contains some really powerful and fun cards.  Scrying Pool is awesome, but as someone else said it can really slow down the game.  I personally like Alchemist a lot as a core engine card if the game is not too fast and you have time to acquire them.  University is great only if you have 5 cost cards from other sets to acquire.  And Vineyards can at times produce some really scary scores.  Overall one of the strongest engine expansions.  Like all the small sets it suffers from not having enough variety unless played with other sets, and if only some of the cards are potion cards you really have to consider whether the cost is worth it.  I do sort of wish there were a few more potion cards...maybe a promo some day?

11.  Intrigue  The new cards were a big help for Intrigue, but somehow this set has just never grabbed me as much as the others.  Sure I like Bridge and Nobles, and Lurker and Replace were very interesting additions, but overall we just rarely ever reach for this set at home.

12.  Guilds  If it were a larger set I probably would rank it above Intrigue.  I enjoy the coin token cards, and Stone Mason can certainly be fun (or even a massive Advisor engine), but it just is another set that rarely gets played much in our house.  Not bad, but there are just other expansions that are much more fun.

13.  Promos  Not sure these even belong in a ranking of expansions, but I guess I would have to place them last.  But among them are Governor which is one of my all time favorite cards, and Sauna/Avanto which is quickly becoming a household favorite for IRL games, and of course Black Market which is another major game changer.  I own all the promo cards, and other than these 3 we rarely play the others...and I often forget to include some in games.  I do enjoy online games which include them though.  Not a big fan of Envoy, although it certainly can be powerful.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2018, 08:55:04 pm by 7string »
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J Reggie

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2018, 04:47:19 pm »
0

Adventures: I love all the new mechanics it adds, and Miser is my favorite card of all time.

Empires: Really changes how we think about winning a game. Lots of really well-designed cards.

Nocturne: Night and Heirlooms are so cool, and once we got out of previews week where literally every game has them, Boons and Hexes have become really cool too. I would have liked to see another traveller in this set, though; I think it would have fit the theme.

Everything else: Besides the Big Box (Base, Prosperity, Alchemy), I got all the sets at the same time, so they kind of blur together. Lots of cool cards and mechanics in here, but nothing as interesting as the three most recent sets.

brokoli

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #21 on: February 09, 2018, 08:36:35 pm »
+2

Here is how I rank the expansions nowadays. My main criterias are :
- Creativity : expansions with cards that creates weird or counter-intuitives strategies that actually works will be ranked higher. Alt-Vp things and Trash-for-benefit are especially nice about creativity.
- Mechanic elegance : I tend to prefer simple things that works elegantly to more complicated things that involve more stuff. That's why I like Duration, Reserve and Night cards more than Split piles or Fates.
- Balance : Sometimes you know you are going to buy a card, at first glance, even without seeing the others. The edge cases are too uncommon. I usually like average/situationnal cards way more than must-buys.
- Tactical / on turn decision : A (very little) downside in Dominion (which is still my all time favorite game) is the predominance of strategy over tactic. Sometimes everything is scripted from turn 1. So, cards that adds touch of tactical decisions in the game get my preference.

So here is the list :

1. Cornucopia : My love for cornucopia is a bit irrationnal. But this little set is very solid. With the exception of tournament, I like every single card in it. Menagerie and Horn of plenty are easily in my top 5. The variety theme works very well for me, and brings lot of fun to the game.

2. Adventures : The +card/action/coin/buy tokens (+plan and ferry) are in my opinion one of the funniest things in dominion. The reserve mechanic is great too, it mitigates shuffle luck in a nice way. Those travellers are a little bit overpowered and inelegant, but I still like the Peasant line. Some cards are a little bit too similar too earlier cards, but i don't consider that in my ranking, because the release order says nothing about the inherent qualities of an expansion.

3. Dark Ages : It's a shame we have cultist and Rebuild (and Knights that turns almost every game into a knight battle) because the rest of the cards is absolutely awesome. Procession and Rats are two examples of how dominion can be fun and very complex at the same time. This is clearly one of the best expansions about creativity.

4. Hinterlands : I feel Hinterlands is little bit underrated. Overall it has a great balance : very few overpowered cards. There are maybe too many underpowered cards but in my opinion it matters less than the overpowered ones. It's also one of the very few sets that aren't too engine-friendly. Cards in this set are interesting and adds lot of subtle decisions.

5. Intrigue : With very simple ideas, this expansion brings the game to new thinking paths. Think about it : Conspirator, Baron, bridge, Duke, Coppersmith (still lives in my heart) all needs very different kinds of decks to work at there best. The 2nd edition is not particularly needed, especially considering we miss coppersmith, but still adds interesting cards.

6. Seaside : One of the most simple expansions, still with very different interesting concepts in it. Durations are very well designeed.

7. Base : Simplicity again. I would rank the 1st edition much lower though. The 2nd edition is almost perfect.

8. Guilds : I like a lot of the cards there too. Overpay is a nice mechanic but not enough used and not in the best way IMO. For example Herald would be fine without overpay. But coin tokens is a good mechanic.

9. Empires : On one side, I love Empires. Really. I feel bad it is so low on the list. The concepts are very, very interesting. But on the other side, I feel a lot of the cards ends up being uselessly complicated. Especially split piles. I like Fortune but not so much Gladiator. I like settlers but often don't have the opportunity to but a bustling village. Catapult/Rock is fun thematically but doesn't work that well in practice. Same for gathering. The events are not as elegant and interesting as in adventures.
I'm divided about landmarks : sometimes the game is very weird because of them, other times, they do add depth (and alternate paths of victory) to the game.
But I like the debt cards a lot : it's always hard to find the right moment to buy them.

10. Nocturne : I may rank it higher in the future but right now i'm simply not fond enough of neither boons nor hexes. That's randomness at it's most uninteresting way. And non-supply cards are just a little bit too much of design complexity for my taste. The rest is fine, Night cards are fun and Heirlooms add variety to the opening hands in a subtle way.

11. Alchemy : It's a fun engine expansion. My only problem is the overall balance and how attacks are devastating. But I still like possession.

12. Prosperity : Same here, Prosperity is the least balanced set in my opinion. Too much power-creep ruins the fun. I still enjoy Prosperity a lot, it's just that I like the rest more.

13. Promos : Again, we have too powerful cards. I learned to like governor though. Also, Prince and Summon are very fun.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2018, 08:37:47 pm by brokoli »
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Amac

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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #22 on: February 12, 2018, 07:00:35 am »
0

I still have to play beyond Guilds, so this is it for me:

1. Seaside: Clearly the best expansion for me. The duration mechanic is a really interesting mechanic, especially on 'easy-to-understand' cards. Sure, there are some misses, but I like cheaper and easy-to-play cards
2. Dark Ages: Shelter mechanic is really good, most of the cards are fine too, nothing too complex overall. There are some miss cards, hurting a little more than Seaside overall
3. Prosperity: Gears towards engine-building and I feel kingdom treasures are pretty interesting. I only dislike the 7-cost actions except for Forge.
4. Cornucopia: Many people do not like the 'different cards'-concept, but I honestly do. Tournament, Menagerie, these type of cards are really distinguishing and interesting in general
5. Base: Solid set. Nothing more to say
6. Hinterlands: Another solid set, but you expect an expansion to have more 'oomph'
7. Intrigue: Too many real 'miss' cards alongside a few very nice and fun-to-play cards.
8. Guilds: I do not see many special cards in here
9. Alchemy: Potion mech just does not work
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #23 on: February 12, 2018, 07:42:30 am »
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1. Cornucopia : My love for cornucopia is a bit irrationnal. But this little set is very solid. With the exception of tournament, I like every single card in it. Menagerie and Horn of plenty are easily in my top 5. The variety theme works very well for me, and brings lot of fun to the game.
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Re: Favorite Expansions in 2018
« Reply #24 on: February 12, 2018, 10:51:33 am »
+3

My favorite is Basetriguesidechemritopinterarkagildsenturiresurnomos.
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