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[() | (_) ^/]

Title says it all.

This list will be different for each of us.  Share yours.  Bonus points if you put a little description/detail after the card name.

I'm looking for cards that you rarely buy BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GENERALLY POWER CARDS, but when you do you have a TON of fun with them.  Cards that you probably buy a little more often than you should because it's so fun to make them work even though they aren't a power card.

Again, you can make a simple list, but like I mentioned above -- bonus points if you mention why.



===========================

I'm not asking for cards that you rarely buy but are powerful in some situations and then they win you the game.  Every card has its moment, so I'm not really looking for a list of bad cards.

For an example of what I'm NOT asking for:
Mandarin -- I can't stand Mandarin.  Even when I find a way to make it work (like I did yesterday against... umm... I can't remember who (maybe chwhite?), but it involved using disappearing villages and Watchtower for draw, so Mandarin's half-Ghost-Ship component was effectively neutered), I still don't really have "fun" with it.  It is just such an annoying/dull card to me, even when I force it down my gullet to make it work.

[() | (_) ^/]

I'll start:
Adventurer -- The most fun that I have this card is when I'm using it for draw in an engine.  Eat your heart out, Venture; you can't do this.

Coppersmith -- Nuff said.  If you didn't have fun winning with Coppersmith, I question your humanity.

Tribute -- Rarely do you think "I NEED THIS CARD."  But when I can line up the things I want (Scrying Pool, Thief, ORACLE!!!, etc.), I really really enjoy using Tribute.  Sometimes I even use it looking for the +$4!

Explorer -- This was the card that I was thinking about when I decided to make this list.  I absolutely adore finding uses for Explorer.  It gets such a bad rap (deservedly!), but winning with multiple Explorers in your deck is quite satisfying.

Outpost -- Everytime I see this on the board, I spend about 10-20 seconds thinking of some justification for buying it. 

Philosopher's Stone -- LOVE this one.  I go for this more often than I probably should, it just feels great to buy a Colony with it.

Harvest -- It's just a ton of fun to use, and makes you feel like the success kid meme when you get +$4.

Diadem -- The day when I was first to win a Tournament and I figured out that this was a better prize for my deck at that particular time than any of the other prizes?  That was a glorious day!

Stash -- I enjoy the Chancellor-Stash combo, but I also love finding other uses for it.  I think it pairs decently with anything that gives you fast cycling, like
a stack of Warehouses or other such things.

[I have no idea of the power levels of DA cards, so none are in my list.]

[werothegreat]

Well, I think it's a power card, but no one else seems to agree with me.



PIRATE SHIP

AVAST YE MATEYS AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED ARRRRRR

[Jimmmmm]

Counting House and picking up 14 Coppers.

[Davio]

Workshop - In a non-Gardens game, you might not pick this up fearing terminal collision. But it can be so handy when there are a lot of non-terminals of $4-. An overlooked card by middle tier players.

[Jimmmmm]

Curse!

[chwhite]

Mandarin -- I can't stand Mandarin.  Even when I find a way to make it work (like I did yesterday against... umm... I can't remember who (maybe chwhite?), but it involved using disappearing villages and Watchtower for draw, so Mandarin's half-Ghost-Ship component was effectively neutered), I still don't really have "fun" with it.  It is just such an annoying/dull card to me, even when I force it down my gullet to make it work.

That was indeed against me.  I actually think Mandarin can almost be fun with a select number of 5(/5/5...)/2 openings (Apprentice, Hunting Party, Mint?), but I mostly agree on that card.

...

Anyway, the three cards that immediately come to mind (two of which you mentioned already) are Coppersmith, Outpost, and Transmute.

[Jiriki]

Bought my first Coppersmith yesterday out of 1600 iso games, and won.

[brokoli]

Nobody said scout yet ?

[DG]

Transmute

[jonts26]

Nobody said scout yet ?

It has to be useful at least some of the time to qualify.

[philosophyguy]

Explorer because it's such an unconventional Silver-gaining strategy. I like the twist of making it stand up to other $5 cards.

Philosopher's Stone is fun when it's useful primarily because it's such a radically different strategy. Normally you aim for deck control and some level of consistency in card value. With Phil Stone, you aim for giant decks and usually high variance (because you fill your deck with cheap stuff and Phil Stone is worth a lot).

Workshop, outside of a Gardens rush, is fun because it's hard to build a good deck with lots of <$5 components, especially when your gainer is a terminal action. Seeing skillful Workshop play really demonstrates a great understanding of how Dominion works, and I like seeing that!

Navigator is fun because its top-deck effect is all-or-nothing, and so it risks being quite high variance. In a situation that can take advantage of that variance, or mitigate it in other ways, it's fun to see how the deck plays out. This is one of the terminal Silvers that I have the hardest times using effectively on my own, so seeing others do so is cool.

[() | (_) ^/]

...

Navigator is fun because its top-deck effect is all-or-nothing, and so it risks being quite high variance. In a situation that can take advantage of that variance, or mitigate it in other ways, it's fun to see how the deck plays out. This is one of the terminal Silvers that I have the hardest times using effectively on my own, so seeing others do so is cool.

Agreed!  Navigator was one of the candidates that I would put on my list.  But, like Mandarin, it just isn't fun for me -- even when I do make it work.

[LastFootnote]

I think Navigator is fun, and I open with it a decent amount of the time.

I enjoy winning with Scout, Counting House, Mine, Rebuild, and many others. I want to like Mandarin, but I still don't understand it properly. Count seems to eclipse it so thoroughly.

[Piemaster]

Outpost for me.  Most of the time it feels like a complete waste of a card, but when you get it working with something like a Hunting Party or Menagerie engine it almost feels like you're cheating.

[DWetzel]

Treasure Map is my guilty pleasure.  If there are enablers on the board, I will be all over that every time (and cackle when my opponent gets mad at my "luck").

If there aren't enablers?  Meh, I might give it a shot anyway.

[hsiale]

I have just been given 4 Oracles thanks to my opponent's Swindler. So I had to make them work and this was fun.

(hsiale draws: a Silver, a Copper, a King's Court, an Oracle, and a Worker's Village.)

— hsiale's turn 14 —
hsiale plays a Worker's Village.
... drawing 1 card and getting +2 actions and +1 buy.
hsiale plays a King's Court.
... and plays an Oracle.
... ... hsiale draws and reveals 2 Caravans.
... ... hsiale puts them back on the deck.
... ... doochie draws and reveals a Swindler and a Gold.
... ... hsiale makes doochie discard them.
... ... drawing 2 cards.
... and plays the Oracle again.
... ... (hsiale reshuffles.)
... ... hsiale draws and reveals a King's Court and a Caravan.
... ... hsiale puts them back on the deck.
... ... doochie draws and reveals a Copper and a Worker's Village.
... ... hsiale makes doochie put them back on the deck.
... ... drawing 2 cards.
... and plays the Oracle a third time.
... ... hsiale draws and reveals an Estate and a Caravan.
... ... hsiale discards them.
... ... doochie draws and reveals a Copper and a Worker's Village.
... ... hsiale makes doochie discard them.
... ... drawing 2 cards.
hsiale plays a King's Court.
... and plays a Caravan.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... and plays the Caravan again.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
... and plays the Caravan a third time.
... ... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
hsiale plays a Caravan.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
hsiale plays a Caravan.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
hsiale plays an Oracle.
... hsiale draws and reveals a Baron and a Province.
... hsiale discards them.
... doochie draws and reveals a Crossroads and a Copper.
... hsiale makes doochie discard them.
... drawing 2 cards.
hsiale plays a Crossroads.
... hsiale reveals a Province, 5 Silvers, 2 Coppers, and 2 Oracles.
... drawing 1 card and getting +3 actions.
hsiale plays an Oracle.
... hsiale draws and reveals a Baron and a Copper.
... hsiale discards them.
... doochie draws and reveals a Baron and a Silver.
... hsiale makes doochie discard them.
... (hsiale reshuffles.)
... drawing 2 cards.
hsiale plays a Caravan.
... drawing 1 card and getting +1 action.
hsiale plays an Oracle.
... hsiale draws and reveals a Baron and a Province.
... hsiale puts them back on the deck.
... doochie draws and reveals 2 Inns.
... hsiale makes doochie discard them.
... drawing 2 cards.
hsiale plays a Swindler.
... getting +$2.
... doochie turns up a Swindler and trashes it.
... replacing doochie's Swindler with an Oracle.
hsiale plays a Baron.
... getting +1 buy.
... discarding an Estate.
... getting +$4.
hsiale plays 5 Silvers and 3 Coppers.
hsiale buys a Province.
hsiale buys a Province.
hsiale buys a Fishing Village.
(hsiale reshuffles.)

I managed to draw and play every card in my deck except the second Baron (and both Barons were in my deck due to my opponent Swindling my Trader and Caravan).

[brokoli]

Definitely Develop for me. Mandarin too.
Maybe rats, but they are useful enough often.

Harvest -- It's just a ton of fun to use, and makes you feel like the success kid meme when you get +$4.

... which happens more often than people give credit for.

[PitzerMike]

Yeah I definitely was expecting Outpost in this list.

For me personally it's definitely Develop. Something about top-decked villages just always makes me smile.

[andwilk]

Mine is Explorer.  I find myself finding uses for it more and more these days and winning more often than not.  It's great in Big Money games as it's better than a terminal Silver since it actually adds the Silver to your deck and sometimes even a Gold.  I also played a game earlier today where I started to draw my whole deck and used it to gain an extra Gold every turn to steadily increase my buying power (Colony game).  I was especially proud of that game because I went out of my way to buy the Province and Explorer on the same turn just so I could do this.

[brokoli]

Mine is Explorer.

No, mine is not explorer. Both let you gain treasures in hand but mine trash a card also.

[AJD]

For me personally it's definitely Develop. Something about top-decked villages just always makes me smile.

Oh man, I played two awesome Develop games today. One had Chapel and Forge, so you could Chapel out the little cards and focus your Develops on the path up to Province; the other had Scrying Pool, Horn of Plenty, and no +buy, so the Develops focused on clearing out the Coppers and Estates and picking up a few engine components.

[Eevee]

explorer bureaucrat noble brigand, except i buy them quite often. jack in an engine. vineyards.

[brokoli]

For me personally it's definitely Develop. Something about top-decked villages just always makes me smile.

Oh man, I played two awesome Develop games today. One had Chapel and Forge, so you could Chapel out the little cards and focus your Develops on the path up to Province; the other had Scrying Pool, Horn of Plenty, and no +buy, so the Develops focused on clearing out the Coppers and Estates and picking up a few engine components.

Played a rat game yesterday, develop each time trashed a rat an gained a bazaar and menagerie on top of deck. Awesome.

[Kahryl]

Develop

Black Market

Scheme

I just can't help using these guys even when the board makes no sense for them.

[Asklepios]

Oracle for me.  Most of the time it feels like a complete waste of a card, but when you get it working with something like a Hunting Party or Menagerie engine it almost feels like you're cheating.

Oracle is a great card, IMHO. As broadly functional as Smithy or Courtyard, certainly.

I'd question using it with Hunting Party or Menagerie though. In fact, those two choices look pretty nombo to me.

My own choice is Develop. Games where it works just feel so incredibly elegant. Games where it doesn't turn into a cludgy morass of self destruction.

[() | (_) ^/]

Oracle for me.  Most of the time it feels like a complete waste of a card, but when you get it working with something like a Hunting Party or Menagerie engine it almost feels like you're cheating.

Oracle is a great card, IMHO. As broadly functional as Smithy or Courtyard, certainly.

I'd question using it with Hunting Party or Menagerie though. In fact, those two choices look pretty nombo to me.

My own choice is Develop. Games where it works just feel so incredibly elegant. Games where it doesn't turn into a cludgy morass of self destruction.

I agree.  Oracle is really creeping up on my list of power-cards these days.  The deck-inspection attack combined with additional cycling can make it pretty powerful in the early game.  I think Oracle is strong in the same sort of way that Swindler is: it is a huge early-game weapon.  It also makes it a little bit more reasonable to open terminal-terminal.

And later in the game, it is great for engines in that it helps you find the next piece of your engine.  Well, actually, I should put that in the negative: it lets you avoid the next two cards if they DON'T include the next piece of your engine.

[Piemaster]

Oracle for me.  Most of the time it feels like a complete waste of a card, but when you get it working with something like a Hunting Party or Menagerie engine it almost feels like you're cheating.

Oracle is a great card, IMHO. As broadly functional as Smithy or Courtyard, certainly.

I'd question using it with Hunting Party or Menagerie though. In fact, those two choices look pretty nombo to me.

My own choice is Develop. Games where it works just feel so incredibly elegant. Games where it doesn't turn into a cludgy morass of self destruction.

D'oh!  I meant Outpost but for no reason whatsoever I typed Oracle.  Sorry for wasting your valuable time, I've changed the OP.

[() | (_) ^/]

Oracle for me.  Most of the time it feels like a complete waste of a card, but when you get it working with something like a Hunting Party or Menagerie engine it almost feels like you're cheating.

Oracle is a great card, IMHO. As broadly functional as Smithy or Courtyard, certainly.

I'd question using it with Hunting Party or Menagerie though. In fact, those two choices look pretty nombo to me.

My own choice is Develop. Games where it works just feel so incredibly elegant. Games where it doesn't turn into a cludgy morass of self destruction.

D'oh!  I meant Outpost but for no reason whatsoever I typed Oracle.  Sorry for wasting your valuable time, I've changed the OP.

LOL.  I understand how that can happen, though.

Well, if you meant Outpost, I'll have you consider this thread and its implications for Outpost.  With Fishing Village and Watchtower/Library around, Outpost is just amazing -- effectively giving you two full turns.  Find a way to draw your deck, and you're taking two full turns every turn.  That is some sweet sweet glorious Dominion goodness right there.

[zahlman]

Another vote for Outpost here.

Oh, and Saboteur.

[() | (_) ^/]

Another vote for Outpost here.

Oh, and Saboteur.

I have fun playing Saboteur effectively like I have fun waterboarding innocent people.  Which is to say not at all.

Seriously, I always feel some small pang of guilt.  Especially when the other player realizes what is happening and buys a Sab, just to have me hit it immediately.

[brokoli]

I think saboteur is very fun. But it's useful more often than "rarely", so...

[() | (_) ^/]

I think saboteur is very fun. But it's useful more often than "rarely", so...

I just ranked it last of the $5 cards on Qvist's Extraordinary List of Dominion Science.  I find Harvest more useful more often.  Not even kidding, but also not the best player ever, so there's that to consider.

[werothegreat]

I think saboteur is very fun. But it's useful more often than "rarely", so...

I just ranked it last of the $5 cards on Qvist's Extraordinary List of Dominion Science.  I find Harvest more useful more often.  Not even kidding, but also not the best player ever, so there's that to consider.

I ranked Contraband last, just under Stash.

[() | (_) ^/]

I think saboteur is very fun. But it's useful more often than "rarely", so...

I just ranked it last of the $5 cards on Qvist's Extraordinary List of Dominion Science.  I find Harvest more useful more often.  Not even kidding, but also not the best player ever, so there's that to consider.

I ranked Contraband last, just under Stash.

2nd-to-last and 3rd-to-last respectively.  Craziness.

[zahlman]

Seriously, I always feel some small pang of guilt.  Especially when the other player realizes what is happening and buys [one], just to have me hit it immediately.

That kind of sadism keeps me playing sometimes...

(and quit revealing spoilers! D: )

[jonts26]

Contraband is underrated. I'd rank it as high as 10th from last.

There, I said it.

[() | (_) ^/]

Seriously, I always feel some small pang of guilt.  Especially when the other player realizes what is happening and buys [one], just to have me hit it immediately.

That kind of sadism keeps me playing sometimes...

(and quit revealing spoilers! D: )

Lol, no disrespect intended. 

[werothegreat]

Contraband is underrated. I'd rank it as high as 10th from last.

There, I said it.

Contraband is only worth it if there's no other source of +Buy, and it's tricky to handle at the best of times.  Just keep saying "no Province for you" or "no Gold for you."  In one of my recorded games, I was ahead in points, and there was one Province left, so I said "no Duchy for you," and he took the bait of the Province, losing.

But like any card, if you can pull it off, good for you.  *thumbs up*

[jonts26]

Contraband is underrated. I'd rank it as high as 10th from last.

There, I said it.

Contraband is only worth it if there's no other source of +Buy, and it's tricky to handle at the best of times. 

False. Contraband is good as long as you have options and you don't really care too much what gets blocked. You often either get rid of it or just not play it when you need to start greening, but it helps a lot of engines rev up.

[PitzerMike]

I think saboteur is very fun. But it's useful more often than "rarely", so...

I just ranked it last of the $5 cards on Qvist's Extraordinary List of Dominion Science.  I find Harvest more useful more often.  Not even kidding, but also not the best player ever, so there's that to consider.

Wait, the ranking is already on?
When is the deadline?

[theory]

Do you not see the top sticky in this forum?  ;-)

[PitzerMike]

Do you not see the top sticky in this forum?  ;-)

Woah thanks. This might sound silly, but I usually don't pay attention to stickies.
In most boards they're just always the same all year long.

[jonts26]

Do you not see the top sticky in this forum?  ;-)

Woah thanks. This might sound silly, but I usually don't pay attention to stickies.
In most boards they're just always the same all year long.

This isn't most forums.

[Fabian]

Stickies are less visible than regular threads on every forum I've ever visited. If people disagree I'd be kinda surprised.

[brokoli]

I don't understand why so many people feel bad when playing saboteur. It's much less devastating than a witch, a mountebank or even a ghost ship...
Really, Sab is fun even if swingy. And very underrated.

[Axxle]

I don't understand why so many people feel bad when playing saboteur. It's much less devastating than a witch, a mountebank or even a ghost ship...
Really, Sab is fun even if swingy. And very underrated.

Sab takes away the things you've already bought (unlike cursers which give you something).  It feels much more malicious.  It's why Possession is also hated (and sometimes Masq and Swindler).  In every other case (I can think of at the moment) what's yours is yours as soon as you buy it unless you decide to trash it later.

[() | (_) ^/]

I don't understand why so many people feel bad when playing saboteur. It's much less devastating than a witch, a mountebank or even a ghost ship...
Really, Sab is fun even if swingy. And very underrated.

Sab takes away the things you've already bought (unlike cursers which give you something).  It feels much more malicious.  It's why Possession is also hated (and sometimes Masq and Swindler).  In every other case (I can think of at the moment) what's yours is yours as soon as you buy it unless you decide to trash it later.

Also, I rarely play Sab without having a plan to pin or at least play multiple instances of it per turn.  So I only use it when it is devastating, not just when it is helpful.

A flaw in my strategy?  Probably.

[andwilk]

Mine is Explorer.

No, mine is not explorer. Both let you gain treasures in hand but mine trash a card also.

As soon as I typed that I saw the double meaning there but decided to leave it and see how long it took someone to comment on it.

[dondon151]

I like trying to make Wharf work.

[Piemaster]

Stickies are less visible than regular threads on every forum I've ever visited. If people disagree I'd be kinda surprised.

Totally agree with that.  On nearly every forum I visit I miss 'important announcements' because they are posted among a bunch of stickies that I always ignore after my first few days on the forum.

[Titandrake]

Develop!
Develop is the best card.
Develop Estates into Villages! Or Develops!
Develop $5 cost into Border Village + $4 cost!
Develop $4 cost to set up previous line!
Develop two $3 costs into Treasure Maps on top!

I like Develop. It is developy. (Also just being a trasher in general is surprisingly useful on some boards.)

[Axxle]

Develop $7 cost cards into Province and Gold is one of my favorite things.

[DWetzel]

Develop $7 cost cards into Province and Gold is one of my favorite things.

That's well behind develop Province into Platinum + Bank for me.  But yes, it's fun.  Best is King's Court IMO -- "bah, who needs it?"