| #22 Death Cart (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 58.9% / Median: 55.8% / Standard Deviation: 23.1% Highest Value(s): 98.1% (1x), 96.2% (1x), 88.5% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.2% (1x), 19.2% (1x), 17.3% (1x)
After all the cards close together we're making now a jump of nearly 6pp and there's the third best Dark Ages card in this list. Of course it has still high deviation. It was voted 8 times above 80% and would be one rank higher in the unweighted ranking.
A terminal $5 is very powerful and even with the possibility of an one-shot it's often a more powerful version of Feast. When you buy it, you gain 2 Ruins, but often that's no real disadvantage because they are great targets for Death Cart. Death Cart is therefore also a good "defense" against Marauder or Cultist. Death Cart loves +Buy because that helps picking up cheap targets for Death Cart like Vagrant for example and mitigates the effect of overpaying by a lot when you get $5. In engines that draw most of the deck (and has +Buy), it can serve a similar function to Baron, so you don't need (that much) Golds.
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| #21 Gardens (Base) Weighted Average: 59.2% ▼3.6pp / Median: 59.5% ▼4.8pp / Standard Deviation: 15.5% ▲3.0pp Highest Value(s): 82.7% (2x), 81.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 30.8% (2x), 19.0% (1x)
Alternative victory cards are really hard to rank, so this time Gardens is 5 ranks lower with a small lead over Death Cart of 0.3pp. The deviation is now way lower as it has no big outliers and has only one vote below 30%. In the unweighted ranking it would be below Death Cart.
Gardens is another card from the base set, introduced us to alternative victory cards. The Gardens rush is still a very good strategy on many boards and there are a lot of supporting cards for it. Gardens is on non-trashing boards easily worth a Duchy and can be worth even more. The Ironworks/Gardens rush is well known and one of the best existing combos. Gardens gets even better in cursing games or other slogs where 3-piling gets faster and is harder to get to $8. But you could even transition out of an engine to Gardens, so Gardens is interesting basically on every board and is only weak in Big Money.
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| #20 Horse Traders (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 59.3% ▲4.0pp / Median: 61.5% ▲4.4pp / Standard Deviation: 16.5% ▲0.2pp Highest Value(s): 90.4% (1x), 86.5% (1x), 83.3% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 28.8% (1x), 26.9% (2x)
Horse Traders has a tiny lead over Gardens of 0.1pp and is on the same rank as last year. But it has way more points than last year as it is 4pp better. The deviation is nearly the same and it has only 3 votes below 30%. In the unweighted ranking it would be even 2 ranks higher.
Horse Traders is one of the few Reaction cards that is useful on many boards. Yes, it is still situational, but the situations occur very often. It's geat against discarding attacks, restoring the hand size - especially against Minion for a hand of 6 cards. Especially with weak attacks this card is good, because the benefit from Horse Traders is bigger for the opponent than the benefit for yourself playing a weak attack. But, the action part is very useful too. It's useful in decks full of green cards and curses, so it's a good supporting card for Gardens or Silk Road rushes, or buying Dukes. And it's a good addition to Hunting Party, a good starter for getting $5 early or early Grand Markets and so on... many possibilities. Still, as it is a Reaction card, it's very situational and skippable when there are stronger terminals on the board.
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| #19 Envoy (Promo) Weighted Average: 60.6% ▼4.5pp / Median: 59.6% ▼4.7pp / Standard Deviation: 21.0% ▼5.8pp Highest Value(s): 92.3% (1x), 90.5% (1x), 90.4% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 23.1% (1x), 15.4% (1x), 0% (1x)
Envoy is 5 ranks worse than last time, but what's even more striking is it's huge drop in consensus. In the unweighted ranking it would be even one rank lower.
Envoy is maybe THE Big Money card. In a deck full of silver and an Envoy in hand, you're almost guaranteed a Province. In a Envoy Big Money deck you don't necessarily need Gold, as it will get discarded from your opponent either way. Smithy is draws 3 cards, of course this is stronger in BM games for drawing 4 cards. In engine games this is usually worse, as your opponent will discard your key card. But if you have a deck with a density of high quality, Envoy can be a very good addition too as you may draw the discarded card later again if you can draw your whole deck.
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| #18 Smithy (Base) Weighted Average: 60.8% ▼1.7pp / Median: 59.6% ▼4.7pp / Standard Deviation: 15.9% ▼0.3pp Highest Value(s): 90.4% (1x), 88.5% (1x), 86.5% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 33.3% (1x), 23.1% (1x), 19.2% (1x)
Smithy lost a little bit of points too and one rank; it's this time above Envoy, but it was close only a difference of 0.2pp. It was voted below 40% only 5 times. In the unweighted ranking it would be one rank lower.
This is maybe the simplest card when you're learning Dominion. It has so few text, but is yet very powerful. It introduced us to the card drawing mechanism, the key card for Big Money and engines. In the base set Double-Smithy was still good, but the value dropped down. BM-Smithy is still the way to go on many boards, and if you need a card drawer for a good working engine, Smithy is still a good pick.
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| #17 Worker's Village (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 62.3% ▲1.5pp / Median: 59.6% ▲0.1pp / Standard Deviation: 16.8% ▼2.2pp Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 98.1% (1x), 90.4% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 35.7% (1x), 34.6% (1x), 26.2% (1x)
Worker's Village is one rank higher than last time as has some really high votes; it was even voted first and second. Also it has only 3 votes below 40%. In the unweighted ranking it would be one rank higher.
If you build an engine, you need villages, draw, money and buys. Fishing Village is good because it is reliable and gives you money. Worker's Village gives you the additional buy - you have it included in your village so you don't need a separate card for that. So this is the best out of the 6 villages because most of the times when this is available an engine is possible. It's also great picking up additional Peddlers in masses and with Goons where you need as many buys as you can get. But when you just need a simple village and don't plan to get more than $8 or $11 respectively, other villages for $4 are probably better. Worker's Village / Ambassador is the #78 best opening.
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| #16 Silk Road (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 62.8% ▼1.1pp / Median: 61.9% ▼2.4pp / Standard Deviation: 20.5% ▲1.6pp Highest Value(s): 98.1% (1x), 96.2% (1x), 90.4% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 25.0% (1x), 23.1% (1x), 9.5% (1x)
Silk Road is again better than Gardens, but lost one rank too and a little bit of points. It's previously high deviation is now better, but still high. It has a lead over Worker's Village of only 0.5pp and in the unweighted ranking it would be below it.
Silk Road plays often similarly to Gardens. You can rush them, with support of Workshop/Ironworks and/or additional buys for double Estates in the end game. Baron and Crossroads are great supporting cards, but Silk Road can work in slogs too. While it's mostly easier to make Gardens worth 3VP than Silk Roads, it's much easier to get Silk Roads to 5VP than Gardens, so it scales much better. Silk Road is especially great with a board with dual-type victory cards like Island, Nobles, Great Halls or Harem. With Dark Ages Silk Road loses a bit of power now because only one of the Shelters is a Victory card.
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| #15 Throne Room (Base) Weighted Average: 64.7% ▲11.0pp / Median: 65.4% ▲15.4pp / Standard Deviation: 18.5% ▲0.8pp Highest Value(s): 97.6% (1x), 96.2% (1x), 94.2% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 36.5% (1x), 23.1% (1x), 13.5% (1x)
Throne Room is probably the winner of this year in this list. It's 8 ranks and 11pp better than last year and even the agreement is slightly higher. It was voted 4 times above 90% and only 5 times below 40%.
As already mentioned in the Procession summary Throne Room for itself basically does nothing and is highly dependant on the other cards on the board, so it's hard to rank. It can be so strong, especially with strong attacks and with terminal card drawers too. But nothing is more depressing than drawing Throne Room with no other action card. So you need a high action density and hope to draw it with that card you really want to double. You can also use it as a pseudo-village if there's no-one available and really need one, if you double a cantrip. Throne Room can really be a game-changer, especially if you have the luck and draw it with the right cards, but it can also be a trap. I don't know why it's rated that much higher, but after Hinterlands, Dark Ages again made the engine stronger.
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| #14 Conspirator (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 64.8% ▲6.0pp / Median: 69.0% ▲11.9pp / Standard Deviation: 19.9% ▼3.0pp Highest Value(s): 94.2% (1x), 92.9% (1x), 90.4% (3x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.2% (1x), 11.5% (1x), 5.8% (1x)
Conspirator is another winner of this list. It's 6pp higher and 5 ranks better than last time. It has a small lead over Throne Room of again 0.1pp. But it also lost consensus.
Conspirator is so strong, but heavily depends on supporting cards that have to be non-terminal. Cheap action cards like Wishing Well, Pearl Diver or Hamlet that you can pick up in masses, especially with additional buys are great with Conspirator. You want thin decks with high action density. With that big support, this is a Grand Market just without the additional buy. In all other cases, you have to skip over Conspirator, because it's just a terminal Silver then.
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| #13 Ironmonger (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 66.2% / Median: 66.0% / Standard Deviation: 20.9% Highest Value(s): 98.1% (1x), 94.2% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 32.7% (1x), 28.8% (1x), 13.5% (1x)
Ironmonger is the second best Dark Ages card in this list. It has only 4 votes below 40% and has five votes above 90%.
Ironmonger is good when the top card is a Victory card because you can discard it and draw a new card, it this case a better Laboratory. If you reveal a Treasure card it's also good, then you have a Peddler. If you reveal an Action, it's mediocre because then it's a Village. This can be neat when there's no village available, but the question is if you can rely on that, probably only with heavy trashing. So mostly Ironmongers are great as long as you don't have too many because revealing themselves only let you have a lot of Actions. But it's best with dual-type cards like Great Hall, Nobles and Harem. Ironmongers are a great addition to most decks that aren't terminal draw Big Money games.
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| #12 Salvager (Seaside) Weighted Average: 71.2% ▼0.9pp / Median: 76.9% ▲3.1pp / Standard Deviation: 18.3% ▼3.0pp Highest Value(s): 90.4% (2x), 88.5% (3x) / Lowest Value(s): 25.0% (1x), 17.3% (1x), 15.4% (1x)
After a jump of 5pp, Salvager is now the first Tier 1 card. It lost 2 ranks, but not that many points. It was only voted 6 times below average with many votes between 80% and 90%.
Salvager is one of the best trash-for-benefit cards. It's not that a great starter, but still a good card to pick up early. Later in the game you generally want to trash your best card, so you can trash a Gold for an easy Province, maybe even for a double Province. Then you have a significant lead and can salvage your Province for another one, accelerating the game, so that your opponent can't come back. So Salvager is one of the first cards in this list, that is useful on most boards.
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