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Author Topic: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events  (Read 4143 times)

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crlundy

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The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« on: February 25, 2019, 12:46:32 pm »
+11

These lists are usually hotly contested, and I don't expect this to be an exception. After all, debate over the futile art of ranking is why we're all here. I will say some things, and you will let me know where I went wrong. That's the fun to be had.

The Events have been scattered throughout the other 2018 lists, and are discussed there by better players than me, go see for yourself. I included the stats on this list, for the first time since 2015 I'll have you know, but interpretting those will largely be an exercise for the reader. Instead I'll keep it brief, and hopefully entertaining, while trying to not rehash things already said in the other lists, and event-ually make puns (sorry, non-native English speakers).

#34 =0 Annex (Empires) Weighted Average: 6.18% ▲2.02pp / Unweighted Average: 7.43% / Median: 3.03% ▲3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 16.36%

8 of the bottom 10 Events are from Empires, yikes. Although this one is not being annexed to the top of the list, less than half the voters this year placed it in last place, and its weighted average increased 50%! Annex has to celebrate these little victories in life because it's so decidedly last place.
#33 =0 Raid (Adventures) Weighted Average: 11.61% ▼0.30pp / Unweighted Average: 15.67% / Median: 9.09% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 19.59%

Here's one of those 2 lowly-ranked Adventures Events. Attack Events could have been explored more, why does no one else like Attacks? Anyway, pairing the attack with Silver gaining wasn't doing it any favors. It got one vote for 1st, but I don't think that was serious.
#32 ▼1 Ritual (Empires) Weighted Average: 13.60% ▼2.58pp / Unweighted Average: 17.03% / Median: 12.12% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 16.86%

This transforms one of your cards into a Curse, in exchange for some VP. You have to trash a good card for it to be worth it, but then you wonder, why am I paying my hard-played money to turn one of my good cards into a Curse? Most people's wealth of points comes from VP cards, and if you thinking buying this will make you ritual be sorely mistaken.
#31 ▼1 Tax (Empires) Weighted Average: 14.12% ▼2.11pp / Unweighted Average: 16.51% / Median: 11.54% ▲2.45pp / Standard Deviation: 19.92%

Shoot, I need to file my taxes.

Anyway, this Event is fine, the setup makes games spicy but people complain too much about how taxing it is.
#30 ▲2 Banquet (Empires) Weighted Average: 14.83% ▼2.14pp / Unweighted Average: 17.89% / Median: 12.12% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 19.94%

This serves up the same experience as Cache, because the penalty there was so beloved. Put them together with Tower, though, and watch out.

Is the theme of this that you munch on Copper?
#29 =0 Quest (Adventures) Weighted Average: 16.38% ▼2.56pp / Unweighted Average: 17.62% / Median: 12.12% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 16.37%

The other bottom 10 Adventures Event is Quest. It gives you alternate ways to pay for a Gold, but they're often harder than just rustling up $6. And isn't buying Treasures passé anyway?
#28 ▼1 Conquest (Empires) Weighted Average: 24.66% ▼4.04pp / Unweighted Average: 26.56% / Median: 21.21% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 21.06%

Speaking of buying Treasures being passé, here's Conquest. 2 Silvers for $6, you tell me how much of a bargain that is. It comes with free VP though, and that is cute when it stacks. Without combos, you're just hoping the 2VP makes a difference.

This is the first Event on this list to not receive a vote for last place.
#27 ▲1 Wedding (Empires) Weighted Average: 24.84% ▼1.66pp / Unweighted Average: 30.63% / Median: 21.21% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 20.58%

Speaking of speaking of buying Treasures… These Events are all down here for a reason, folks. For Wedding, the VP isn't free or stackable. The marriage of coin and debt costs is the gimmick here, so when you need to open Gold, I propose buying Wedding.
#26 ▼2 Salt the Earth (Empires) Weighted Average: 34.18% ▼0.01pp / Unweighted Average: 33.61% / Median: 27.27% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 19.82%

There is a big jump in weighted average, signaling that we are now in a new tier of Events. Salt the Earth's standard deviation shrank, and weighted average is essentially unchanged. So there's a strong consensus around this one, and that consensus is that Salt the Earth is the 26th best Event in Dominion.
#25 ▲1 Windfall (Empires) Weighted Average: 37.01% ▲4.11pp / Unweighted Average: 36.27% / Median: 33.33% ▲6.06pp / Standard Deviation: 19.05%

How is it that Windfall and Swashbuckler both feel so difficult to pull off?? I think I have a Schrödinger discard pile that is always both empty and full.
#24 ▲1 Pilgrimage (Adventures) Weighted Average: 37.65% ▲4.64pp / Unweighted Average: 38.27% / Median: 33.33% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 19.74%

This went up one rank because someone realized they could set up their Giant with it. Jokes aside, gaining 3 pricey cards can sometimes be worth the journey there and back.

Does anyone else think Pilgrimage should be spelled with 2 Ms?
#23 ▼1 Scouting Party (Adventures) Weighted Average: 38.42% ▼5.36pp / Unweighted Average: 40.31% / Median: 39.39% ▲3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 16.91%

I thought parties were supposed to be fun, but the forced discarding here really kills the mood. Cheap Events with +Buy should in theory be easy to pick up, but you will think twice about this one.

Combos with Scout: draw all the Victory cards, so that your Scouting Party looks at 5 good cards that it can't keep all of.
#22 ▼2 Advance (Empires) Weighted Average: 38.99% ▼8.77pp / Unweighted Average: 40.37% / Median: 39.39% ▼6.06pp / Standard Deviation: 16.15%

Hey, some games you start with a Necropolis, and that's pretty cool. But this Event doesn't advance in rank this year. In the $0–$2 Cards List, Scouting Party was rated higher than Advance, fun fact.
#21 ▼2 Trade (Adventures) Weighted Average: 42.26% ▼6.77pp / Unweighted Average: 42.83% / Median: 39.39% ▼12.13pp / Standard Deviation: 17.65%

The trade-off here for trashing is that you're not thining, and the junk gets replaced by other stop cards. Not loading up on Silver is one of the tricks of the trade here. But it's not a trick this Trade knows.
#20 ▼2 Delve (Empires) Weighted Average: 42.75% ▼6.67pp / Unweighted Average: 46.38% / Median: 39.39% ▼9.09pp / Standard Deviation: 23.28%

I heard you like Silver, so now it costs $1 and 1 Buy less! Wait you don't like Silver?

Don't underestimate Delve with Tower, though.
#19 ▼4 Expedition (Adventures) Weighted Average: 46.44% ▼7.76pp / Unweighted Average: 48.50% / Median: 48.48% ▼3.04pp / Standard Deviation: 16.17%

Expedition is one of the biggest losers. Which would be good if it were on NBC. Instead it's here, and it's expeditiously making room above for some heretofore underappreciated Events.
#18 ▲3 Seaway (Adventures) Weighted Average: 47.10% ▲2.81pp / Unweighted Average: 48.10% / Median: 48.48% ▲6.06pp / Standard Deviation: 17.67%

This Event is finally starting to see way more appreciation. People don't like spending $5 on a $4, but +Buy is good (and too often undervalued). When you need Buys like water, Seaway is there for you. Thinking Seaway should be top 10 like the other vanilla bonus token Events doesn't hold water, but it's good to see it float up a few ranks.
#17 ▲6 Ball (Adventures) Weighted Average: 47.77% ▲6.71pp / Unweighted Average: 44.60% / Median: 45.45% ▲9.09pp / Standard Deviation: 16.78%

Ball is the big winner among the Events this year, up 6 places. I think people again bawled about "wasting" a $5 on some $4s, but they're staying on the ball with $4s being good.
#16 =0 Training (Adventures) Weighted Average: 53.54% ▲2.22pp / Unweighted Average: 56.18% / Median: 57.58% ▲2.02pp / Standard Deviation: 16.52%

Hey, way to go us, we were right on the money with this ranking last year.
#15 ▼1 Travelling Fair (Adventures) Weighted Average: 61.49% ▲4.14pp / Unweighted Average: 58.64% / Median: 60.61% ▲4.09pp / Standard Deviation: 16.84%

Travelling Fair seems to be the culprit of many degenerate combos, most recently with Priest. Despite this, it traveled down one spot this year and that seems fair.
#14 ▲3 Mission (Adventures) Weighted Average: 63.78% ▲12.45pp / Unweighted Average: 58.59% / Median: 57.58% ▲15.16pp / Standard Deviation: 21.23%

Sometimes you hit $8 on a Mission turn, and you're sad. Sometimes you're Attacking your opponent twice as often. Make it your mission to get the most out of your extra turns.
#13 ▼1 Borrow (Adventures) Weighted Average: 64.41% ▲4.28pp / Unweighted Average: 62.44% / Median: 68.18% ▲13.63pp / Standard Deviation: 21.96%

Horrible art, good Event. Very cleverly designed. It is the first Event on this list to get a vote for 1st (besides that one for Raid).
#12 ▲1 Triump (Empires) Weighted Average: 66.59% ▲7.60pp / Unweighted Average: 61.41% / Median: 62.50% ▼4.17pp / Standard Deviation: 24.55%

Extra gains put the tri-oomph in this Event. The combos are not uncommon, and when they're present, yee haw.
#11 ▼1 Summon (Promo) Weighted Average: 68.52% ▲4.06pp / Unweighted Average: 62.69% / Median: 63.64% ▼3.03pp / Standard Deviation: 21.15%

Anytime is a good time for butterflies. This is another $5-for-a-$4 Event, but it is a powerhouse. It summons up much of the experience of Prince, minus all of the drawbacks.
#10 ▲1 Plan (Adventures) Weighted Average: 69.12% ▲7.04pp / Unweighted Average: 67.15% / Median: 69.70% ▲12.12pp / Standard Deviation: 12.88%

Plan has done nothing but climb the ranks of this list over the years, and enters the top 10 for the first time. 8 of the top 10 Events are from Adventures, the mirror image of the bottom 10. Donald X. used the best ideas for Adventures, he didn't plan on needing more.
#9 ▼2 Alms (Adventures) Weighted Average: 71.25% ▼3.25pp / Unweighted Average: 68.46% / Median: 72.73% ▼4.19pp / Standard Deviation: 23.00%

This almsmost could have fallen out of the top 10, but it begged for the chance to stay.
#8 ▲1 Dominate (Empires) Weighted Average: 72.81% ▼0.19pp / Unweighted Average: 74.12% / Median: 78.79% ▼6.06pp / Standard Deviation: 18.19%

Dominate moves up a rank while all its stats got worse, math is weird. 15VP is good, I hear VP is how you win. It's fun to see the unconditional instruction "gain a Province".
#7 ▼3 Lost Arts (Adventures) Weighted Average: 75.27% ▼6.14pp / Unweighted Average: 76.71% / Median: 84.85% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 23.07%

Lost Arts lost 3 places this year. Playing only one Action per turn is one of Dominion's biggest restrictions, and this does good work to get around that. There's not much of an art to choosing the pile; pick the one you want to spam a lot of.

It got one vote for last, which is interesting as it's probably not the confused voter/troll (I assume they were the last place vote for Donate).
#6 ▲2 Save (Adventures) Weighted Average: 76.42% ▲2.78pp / Unweighted Average: 71.79% / Median: 75.76% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 25.16%

All the other Events that give +1 Buy landed outside the top 10, save this one. It's often hard to see how much Save is helping you, so it's good to see it get some recognition. Keeping a Victory card out of your deck can really save your shuffle.
#5 ▲1 Inheritance (Adventures) Weighted Average: 77.33% ▼2.50pp / Unweighted Average: 74.43% / Median: 80.77% ▼7.11pp / Standard Deviation: 21.39%

The top 5 Events are either pretty cheap, or very expensive. There is value in cheap things you can buy early and get more use out of, but also in expensive things that do something crazy powerful. You're rarely opening Inheritance, but it's so exotic and inherently strong that you are usually working extra hard to spike $7.
#4 ▼2 Pathfinding (Adventures) Weighted Average: 77.75% ▼6.59pp / Unweighted Average: 79.29% / Median: 81.82% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 16.88%

Pathfinding's path found its way out of 2nd place, and not just into 3rd, but into 4th. Less than 2.5pp separates this from 7th, it's a close race.
#3 ▲2 Bonfire (Adventures) Weighted Average: 79.15% ▲0.98pp / Unweighted Average: 78.06% / Median: 78.79% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 13.43%

Trashing is good, who knew? Clearly we didn't last year, what ever were we thinking having Bonfire at #5. Once I Bonfired my Champion because of Wolf Den, that was cute. But usually you're just burning currency; it's a fire festival.
#2 ▲1 Ferry (Adventures) Weighted Average: 85.95% ▲4.24pp / Unweighted Average: 83.72% / Median: 87.88% ▲6.06pp / Standard Deviation: 15.32%

Ferry's rise on the Best $3 Cards List was matched here, as it sailed into 2nd place. And with a fairly sizeable lead over Bonfire.
#1 =0 Donate (Empires) Weighted Average: 94.56% ▼2.07pp / Unweighted Average: 93.47% / Median: 100% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 19.93%

Much like last place, first place is far away from the pack. 26 out of 32 people voted Donate first. It's as close as you come to a must-buy card; you donate want to skip it.

I Project that the next list will be posted several hours from now, but in the meantime you can discuss these Events.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2019, 01:21:01 pm by crlundy »
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ospond

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2019, 04:13:09 pm »
+1

I found some errors in the differences from last year (at http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18185.0):

- Bonfire should be +2, not +3

- Lost Arts should be -3, not -4

« Last Edit: February 26, 2019, 09:53:13 pm by ospond »
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crlundy

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2019, 01:19:59 pm »
+1

I found some errors in the differences from last year (at http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=18185.0):

- Bonfire should be +2, not +3

- Lost Arts should be -3, not -4

Good catches, thank you! I checked that the changes netted to 0, but did not account for having counterbalancing errors.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2019, 01:21:39 pm by crlundy »
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Chappy7

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2019, 04:14:42 pm »
+2

So many puns.  Well done
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crlundy

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2019, 08:52:15 pm »
0

So many puns.  Well done

Thank you! It was a risk since many don't like puns, but it's good to know the effort was appreciated. :)
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Chappy7

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2018 Edition: Events
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2019, 08:54:07 pm »
+1

So many puns.  Well done

Thank you! It was a risk since many don't like puns, but it's good to know the effort was appreciated. :)

That last pun was a bit of a struggle though...haha
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