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Author Topic: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 6/6)  (Read 157401 times)

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Qvist

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The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 6/6)
« on: April 13, 2013, 12:53:55 pm »
+25

Here is the video link:


#61 Counting House (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 3.2% ▲0.2pp / Median: 1.7% ▲1.7pp / Standard Deviation: 6.1% ▼0.1pp
Highest Value(s): 30.5% (1x), 21.3% (1x), 16.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (23x)

Counting House is on the last rank again. It's the card with the third lowest deviation in this list and was voted last 23 times.

All $5s are really strong cards, but some shine more often than other ones. Counting House is one that shines very rarely. The best use may be countering Mountebank. With massive Copper in your deck, you have a high probability to get many Coppers in hand even if you're only half through the deck. Then you can easily buy a Province or a Colony with the use of this card only. It also has some really nice synergies with Coppersmith (make all Coppers worth a Silver) and Chancellor (discard all Coppers and put them in hand). But then you need a village to play Counting House and one of these cards in one turn and the probabilities to draw these 3 cards together are low in a deck full of Copper. The better alternative and only real combo is Golem. Buy many Golems and only one Counting House. The Golem will always find the Counting House and discard all other cards. With a Golem in hand, you are now guaranteed to get all Coppers. Instead you can buy many Warehouses, cycle through your deck discarding all cards right before the reshuffle and then play your Counting House. And now there's Beggar which makes it wasy to get a lot of Coppers, but I haven't tried this yet. It has some other nice synergies, but are very difficult to pull off. For a Bank you need additional buys to be worth it. With no real supporters, this card is mostly not worth the effort.
#60 Saboteur (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 6.8% ▼2.3pp / Median: 6.7% ▲0.3pp / Standard Deviation: 11.6% ▲4.3pp
Highest Value(s): 81.4% (1x), 21.3% (1x), 16.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (9x)

Saboteur lost clearly points, but is still on the same rank as last time, and now with a much higher consensus. With 9 last places it deserves this low rank even though there is one really big outlier.

Saboteur is the worst $5 attack. Why? There are similar reasons like why Thief is bad. It trashes cards from your opponents deck without immediate benefit to you, so it's only destructive. And if you aren't able to play Saboteur in each turn at least one time, your opponent can catch up easily when he just continues and ignores it or re-buys the trashed card if it was essential. Another downside is that the opponent can pick up replacement cards that sometimes aren't that worse or you might even give your opponent the opportunity to pick up Victory cards in the end game. But, on the other side, it can lead to big outbursts if you play 1-2 Saboteurs each turn or if you can even play King's Court with it. In games with no mats and chips you are then able to trash the whole deck and all points from your opponent and can easily finish and win. But these cases are so rare, Saboteur is still a bad card for itself.
#59 Stash (Promo) Weighted Average: 9.1% ▼0.9pp / Median: 6.5% ▼2.0pp / Standard Deviation: 12.4% ▼2.4pp
Highest Value(s): 81.7% (1x), 29.8% (1x), 25.5% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (6x)

Stash is clearly a bad card too with 6 votes on last place. It lost a bit in consensus, but some part comes apparently mainly from that big outlier above 80%.

You need 4 Stashes to get a Province after the reshuffle for sure and in Colony games it's almost useless. But a sure Province that you can get only after a reshuffle needs you to trigger the reshuffle as often as possible. This means you need supporter cards too. The most obvious ones are Golem (with max. one other action) or a few Chancellors. Now with Scavenger, there exists even a more powerful combo for a guaranteed Province each turn in a deck with 4 Stashes and 2 Scavengers. But still these are rare edge cases that makes Stash not worth $2 more than Silver. Especially at the crucial $5 price point you probably find stronger cards than Stash, although if you have $5 and want a Silver anyway, you can pick up a Stash unhesitatingly probably every time.
#58 Contraband (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 11.9% ▼0.1pp / Median: 8.3% ▼2.3pp / Standard Deviation: 17.1% ▼6.5pp
Highest Value(s): 93.2% (1x), 55.0% (1x), 53.2% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (4x)

Contraband has nearly the same amount of points, but dropped one rank. You might notice that really high deviation for a low ranked card which is to myself really not explainable. It has though one really high outlier above 90% and some votes around 50% which led to this deviation. Still it's a bad card which got 4 last ranks. In the unweighted ranking it would be still one rank higher on its old rank.

The second treasure card in a row in this list. Contraband can be very trappy. Buying it as an opener on 5/2 can be a nice early Gold and the +Buy is very important for finding a substitution for the prohibited card. If there are many good cheap engine pieces on the board and you want Gold and a card with +Buy anyway this can be very good. But most of the times you embargo yourself. And in the late game this is a dead card because everybody knows you want that Province. If you buy it, buy only one, because two or more can really shut you down. And beware of Venture + Contraband!
#57 Harvest (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 12.4% ▼4.1pp / Median: 10.6% ▼6.4pp / Standard Deviation: 9.8% ▲2.8pp
Highest Value(s): 51.7% (1x), 45.0% (1x), 28.3% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (3x)

Now we come to bigger changes. Harvest lost 5 ranks and 4pp and got more agreement on the same time. It was voted 3 times last with only one rank close above 50%. It would be even one more rank lower in the unweighted list.

Harvest is very swingy. In games with very few different cards and a coherent strategy, this is mostly a Silver and rarely a Gold and really no good card. And it can discard all your good cards you wanted to play in the next turn and even trigger an unwanted reshuffle. In games with many attacks, especially Cursers, Harvest can really be a better card. You can then make your Curses to money without having them in hand and Harvest can easily be worth $4. In a thin deck with a lot of engine pieces where you don't care about actions Harvest can also be a nice source of virtual money. Harvest has also a nice synergy with Tunnel. But other than that you rarely want to spend $5 for Harvest.
#56 Cache (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 13.8% ▼0.8pp / Median: 11.7% ▼1.1pp / Standard Deviation: 10.1% ▲0.6pp
Highest Value(s): 55.0% (1x), 40.0% (1x), 30.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 3.3% (3x), 1.7% (2x)

Cache is on the same rank as last time and has only lost a little bit in points. It is the first card with no last rank, but still has 5 votes below 5% and only one vote close above 50%.

The third treasure card so close together. Cache performs differently in different kind of decks. In engine decks with few money (Scrying Pool etc) it's just horrible. In Big Money decks, it's most of the time superior than just a Silver (but only a little bit, similarly to Stash). But it only shines in big decks (Gardens) with many green cards (Silk Road), simply said in decks where Copper isn't a so bad card after all. Also nice is Cache in combination with Trader for a Gold and 2 Silvers for only $5. And Cache is like Silver not very good in Colony games.
#55 Mine (Base) Weighted Average: 14.1% ▼1.5pp / Median: 13.3% ▼1.6pp / Standard Deviation: 8.1% ▲5.1pp
Highest Value(s): 44.1% (1x), 29.8% (1x), 27.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 1.7% (2x), 0% (1x)

Mine is also on the same rank as before and has a pretty high consensus too, the fifth lowest deviation in this list. It has one last rank and no vote above 50% and only one vote above 40%. It would be one rank higher in the unweighted ranking.

Mine is one of the first trash-for-benefit card you probably got to know. It has the disadvantage of being limited to treasures, so you cannot trash them later into victory cards. But it has the advantage to get the new card immediately in hand. But Mine is still slow. A Moneylender doesn't get you a card, but is at least worth a Silver in the turn you played it, whereas Mine is only worth a Copper. But in the long term Mine can be better. The more often you play the new treasure card, the more Mine was profitable. So, if you want Mine, you want it early. It gets so much better in Colony games. First, Colony games last longer and you will probably see your treasure card more often and Mine is a Silver if you trash Gold for Platinum. For a 5/2 opening Mine/Fool's Gold is a pretty decent #108 ▲2 opening. PS: Don't confuse Mine with Mint.
#54 Outpost (Seaside) Weighted Average: 14.4% ▼2.1pp / Median: 13.3% ▼3.7pp / Standard Deviation: 9.9% ▲5.7pp
Highest Value(s): 45.8% (1x), 36.7% (1x), 36.2% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 1.7% (1x), 0% (2x)

Outpost is one rank worse than last time with 2pp less than last time. It got a huge boost in consensus on the other side. It has even 2 last ranks. In the unweighted ranking it would be even one more rank worse.

Outpost seems so nice for getting extra turns. But you only get a 3-card hand. It's like you Militia'd yourself, even worse, you cannot choose the 3 cards you want to keep. If you really need a +Buy, Outpost can fulfill this need. But even in those cases it's not better than a Workshop. If you want to use it to attack multiple times per turn, it can work, but still it is another terminal in your deck that can collide. It really can shine, in cases when you can guarantee a good card in your next hand. Treasury, Alchemist and Scheme are probably the best combos. Another case where your 3-card hand isn't that bad, may be with Minion, but this isn't very reliable either, because one of your 3 cards has to be one of your Minions. Another combo is Double Tactician/Outpost where you can get 8 cards. Generally it's pretty good with Duration cards, especially Wharf, Caravan and Haven. You can also get Outpost if you have high action density, but in most other cases you better ignore Outpost.
#53 Explorer (Seaside) Weighted Average: 14.7% ▲3.1pp / Median: 12.8% ▲2.2pp / Standard Deviation: 12.4% ▼4.4pp
Highest Value(s): 61.7% (1x), 48.3% (1x), 46.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 1.7% (1x), 0% (2x)

Explorer is 5 ranks higher than last time and 3pp better. But it has also a much higher deviation. It still has 2 last ranks on one side and 3 votes above 40% on the other.

The problem with Explorer is: When you already have 2-3 Provinces and you have $5, you want a Duchy most of the times. When you have one or none, it only nets you a Silver in hand most of the times and then there are still other cards that are better getting you Provinces than just a Silver-generating machine. If you compare it to Jack of All Trades, it's better in the Silver-getting, but just worse on all the other parts. So, it's pretty decent with alternate Victory cards, especially Duke, and you want it in thin decks where you can draw it with a Province with high probability. Explorer/Chapel is therefore a #68 ▲2 opening. And I forgot to mention, it's nearly useless in Colony games.
#52 Tribute (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 15.5% ▼6.2pp / Median: 16.7% ▼4.6pp / Standard Deviation: 11.0% ▲2.2pp
Highest Value(s): 59.3% (1x), 36.7% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 0% (3x)

Tribute lost only one rank - but what's much worse - it lost over 6pp. This may come from the 3 last votes it got. It would be one rank higher in the unweighted ranking.

Tribute is another swingy card and even depends on the opponents' deck. You can really bad luck, revealing the same card. Then Tribute is really bad. In action-heavy decks you get +4 actions what you only want if there isn't another village around (but then you probably don't want many action cards). All other combinations can really be nice, e.g. in BM games, giving you $4 most of the times and later in the game +cards). It only really shines in games with dual-type cards. Hitting a Harem and a Nobles and getting +4 Cards, +2 Actions and $2 with only one card is excellent. But the unreliableness still is Tribute's biggest problem. Forming your strategy around it not only depends on you, your opponent has to cooperate.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 06:08:45 pm by Qvist »
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2013, 12:54:44 pm »
+9

Here's the video link:


#51 Mandarin (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 16.0% ▲0.4pp / Median: 13.3% ▼3.7pp / Standard Deviation: 9.3% ▲1.6pp
Highest Value(s): 40.0% (1x), 35.0% (1x), 34.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 3.3% (2x), 2.1% (1x), 1.7% (1x)

Mandarin is 3 ranks higher than last time, but with similar points. It has also pretty low deviation with no vote above 40% and on the other side no vote on the last rank. It would be one rank lower on the unweighted list.

Mandarin is another cheap Gold, but you need an action to play it. What makes it better than the last cheap Gold-alternatives? The drawback of this card is to put back a card on your deck. But this can be also very nice, because you can prepare your next turn just like Courtyard does it. So, if you have more money than you need or you have colliding terminals, just put back a card. But with colliding terminals, the other card might be even stronger and you want to play that this turn. The on-buy effect can also be very nice. With a 5/2 opening you can buy the wanted stronger card next turn too and get an additional Mandarin. Mandarin/Hunting Party or Mandarin/Mint are very nice openings and it's not that bad in Double-Tactician games. In the late game where you miss $8 or $11 you can just play one Platinum or two Golds, buy the Mandarin and have a higher chance to reach it in the next turn. That can be very effective. And there is also the hard to setup Golden Deck which you can build with Horn of Plenty. But, still it's a cheap Gold and there are many better alternatives on the board most of the times.
#50 Royal Seal (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 20.0% ▼2.1pp / Median: 18.3% ▼3.0pp / Standard Deviation: 16.3% ▼3.8pp
Highest Value(s): 96.6% (1x), 59.6% (1x), 40.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 3.3% (1x), 1.7% (2x)

Now we're making a bigger jump of 4pp and come to the even another treasure card. It's on the same rank as last year, but still lost around 2pp. It has the second highest deviation in this list so far, but that's mainly because one outlier seems to really love this card.

I don't know if there's much to say about Royal Seal. It's another Silver with bonus card. You probably want it early in the game, as it will accelerate your strategy. It's strictly superior to Silver. So if you want a Silver anyway and have $5, you can pick it up unhesitatingly. But still it's very expensive for a $5 card and there are better cards for the same cost around most of the times.
#49 Mystic (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 27.9% / Median: 25.0% / Standard Deviation: 15.4%
Highest Value(s): 76.7% (1x), 53.4% (1x), 53.3% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 6.7% (1x), 1.7% (2x)

And now we're making an even bigger jump of nearly 8pp out of the bad cards range. And this is the first Dark Ages card. It has no last rank and 5 ranks above average. In the unweighted list it would be one rank higher.

Mystic is a Conspirator and Wishing Well mixup. As it's non-terminal, it's really no bad card and hurts rarely in a deck, but unless you haven't any helper cards that let you guess the top card of your deck, it's like a Minion without Attack option. With 2 Mystics in hand you can at least draw one card. Mystic is good with Chapel or in other thin decks where your deck will contain not much other cards than Mystics. It's also good on any board that offers no terminal draw which you want for Big Money or for an engine. So it can be also a great addition in a Scrying Pool engine for example because all you want is the non-terminal money. And finally you can now profit from all the cards that you wished Wishing Well could combo with. You can now profit from opponents' Spies, Scrying Pools, Duchesses or sort of negate Fortune Teller, Ghost Ship, Bureaucrat, Rabble and other top-decking attacks. And of course it combos with Apothecary, Cartographer (and maybe also Wishing Well itself) and other cards which let you arrange the top of the deck. But still with any strong attack or strong terminal draw, Mystic is way to slow and not the way to go.
#48 Mint (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 28.3% ▲0.1pp / Median: 23.3% ▼2.2pp / Standard Deviation: 15.3% ▼1.0pp
Highest Value(s): 70.0% (2x), 66.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 10.0% (1x), 5.0% (1x), 3.3% (2x)

Close before Mystic is Mint. It's on the same rank as last time with also basically the same points. It has 5 votes above average and no last rank. In the unweighted ranking it would be below Mystic.

Mint can duplicate a treasure card in hand. The problem still is, you need that Gold or Platinum in hand, so you really need to draw most of your deck with a good engine or need a small deck to accomplish this regularly. In the first case you probably don't want Mint because you don't want to many treasure cards. But for the latter case, Mint itself helps. Most of the time you buy Mint just to trash most of your Coppers. It really depends if you want Mint with your opening buy as you are now left with only 2 coppers, having no buying power. The only opening which is really powerful is Mint/Fool's Gold, currently #4 ▲1 of all openings, because you have a small deck and get 2 Fool's Gold per turn most of the times. Again: Beware, don't confuse Mint with Mine.
#47 Graverobber (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 29.0% / Median: 30.0% / Standard Deviation: 19.1%
Highest Value(s): 86.7% (1x), 80.0% (1x), 75.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 10.0% (3x), 6.7% (2x)

Here's the second Dark Ages card. It has the highest deviation in this list so far. This shows the 4 votes above average which were all above 70%.

Graverobber can either get a card out of the trash or is an Expand for Action cards. Both options are heavily depending on the board which may result in this higher deviation. An Expand for $5 can be really strong, especially if have loaded up on many (non-terminal) $5s like Treasury, Stables, Laboratory or City to name a few. It works especially well with Upgrade as it gets Action cards in the trash which we can get back with Graverobber and Highway because we could potentially get Provinces out of the trash. If Graverobber is the only trash-for-benefit card on the board the "getting cards out of the trash" option is often really slow, but with others as the before mentioned Upgrade it can be really strong. Another nice combo is Border Village+Graverobber as we can trash Border Village for a Province and can later get even 2 cards with Graverobber where the second card doesn't even need to be in the trash. It can also be used in a draw engine where you use Pillage as strong attack to get the Pillage you just played right back. Graverobber is highly board dependant and therefore hard to rank. We'll see how the rank of this card might change in the future.
#46 Rogue (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 32.9% / Median: 30.0% / Standard Deviation: 18.3%
Highest Value(s): 70.0% (2x), 68.3% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 6.7% (1x), 5.0% (1x), 3.3% (1x)

We're crossing a gap of 4pp and there's the next Dark Ages card. It hasn't such high ranks like Graverobber, but it has 8 above average votes. But still there are 3 votes below 10%.

Rogue is a Graverobber and Knights hybrid. Like all trashing attacks, it can be really powerful if you can play them every turn, maybe even multiples. It has the huge advantage over Saboteur that it gives you at least a benefit of +$2. You can even get the cards you trashed back which can be huge especially if you're using Highways to trash your opponents' Provinces. But the more cards you gain the more it slows you down as you probably won't see the Rogue as often what is a similar problem like the one that Thief has. Probably the biggest downside is that you can't choose between gaining and attacking. In a 2-player game it probably won't slow your opponent so down because you need 2 Rogues per turn to attack once. If it's a 2-player mirror match, luck might be a big factor. One opponent may even never be able to attack and is just busy getting his trashed cards back. In a multiplayer game it's probably even worse as you won't be able to attack very often. The getting cards back from the trash may be very useful on the other side when there are trash-for-benefit cards on the board because of reasons said before with Graverobber. So, all-in-all a weak attack with a heavily board-dependant gaining ability.
#45 Treasury (Seaside) Weighted Average: 36.3% ▼2.5pp / Median: 35.0% ▼3.3pp / Standard Deviation: 13.6% ▼0.4pp
Highest Value(s): 76.7% (1x), 71.7% (1x), 66.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 20.0% (2x), 14.9% (1x), 1.7% (1x)

Treasury lost 2 ranks in comparism to last year. It has 7 above average votes and only 2 votes below 20% with one of the being on second last.

Treasury is really no bad card. You often gladly pick up a cantrip card that gives you money. Especially the top-decking ability is really nice if you get it early in the game as you guarantees you one coin more per turn for quite a while. Treasury/Chapel is therefore even better than Market/Chapel on #24 ▲3 of the best openings. With 2-3 Treasuries you can keep buying good cards every turn. Treasury also comboes well with Outpost. But still, Treasuries alone are very slow, too slow on most boards. They're therefore better in Colony games and in all other games that tend to be slow. Beware of discarding attacks if you have more than 3 Treasuries. Treasury is especially good in greenless games like with Bishop/Goons or when you don't buy victory cards and and only gain them with let's say Expand. You can then keep top-decking them even until the late game and trash them with Expand too.
#44 Inn (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 37.5% ▼6.2pp / Median: 38.3% ▼6.4pp / Standard Deviation: 14.9% ▲1.1pp
Highest Value(s): 69.0% (1x), 68.3% (1x), 66.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 13.3% (3x)

Inn has lost a lot, 4 ranks and over 6pp. It was voted 12 times above average, but only 3 times over 60%. On the other side it has 7 votes under 20%.

Inn's main effect is pretty simple. It's a Young Witch with no attack effect, but +2 Actions instead. So it's a village that doesn't increase handsize, but has a filter effect. This is nice but not great. You more often want the money of a Bazaar than the filter effect of Inn, but on boards with no trashing but strong draw you still might prefer an Inn. More important is its on-gain effect. Shuffling action cards into the draw pile is great when you time it right, especially when there are (nearly) no cards in the draw pile. Decks with high action density love Inn, so you can prepare a Scrying Pool mega-draw or a King's Court-Bridge mega turn for example. If you manage to have enough money and at least an extra-buy with your actions, you can buy a Inn from the extra-buy and won't see your bought victory cards so fast, especially in combination with Chancellor. Even if you don't necessarily have a high action density and miss $8, buy a Inn for getting all your nice actions in the next turn.
#43 Library (Base) Weighted Average: 38.4% ▲1.2pp / Median: 38.3% ▲2.1pp / Standard Deviation: 14.7% ▲1.0pp
Highest Value(s): 75.0% (1x), 73.3% (1x), 71.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 15.0% (1x), 11.7% (1x), 10.6% (1x)

Library is one rank better than last time. It has 12 above average votes and was voted 4 times above 60% and 4 times below 20%.

It's best use may be countering discarding attacks as it may even set other actions aside and therefore increase the probability to draw treasures. But it's also very useful for engines with villages that don't increase your handsize, like Fishing Village, Festival or Hamlet. And even in Big Money it is a stronger (but more expensive alternative) than Smithy as you won't draw Libraries/Smithies dead.
#42 Council Room (Base) Weighted Average: 40.2% ▲4.4pp / Median: 38.3% ▲4.3pp / Standard Deviation: 17.8% ▼5.5pp
Highest Value(s): 91.5% (1x), 86.7% (1x), 83.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 15.0% (1x), 13.3% (1x), 11.7% (1x)

Council Room is 3 ranks higher than last time with over 4pp better than last time. But on the other side it has much more disagreement. The deviation is 5.5pp higher than last time. It has some really high votes, it was voted 14 times above average, 7 of them even above 60%. On the other side it has still 4 votes below 20%.

Council Room is really strong per se, but don't underestimate the extra card for your opponent! If he draws a Gold or the much needed village for his own Council Room, he may even profit more from your play than you do. It really only shines on boards with discard attacks like Militia or Goons. With such cards you take back the profit from your opponent and have a really big hand and even a +Buy. Its drawing power and +Buy makes it a good opener combined with Fool's Gold (#167 ▼52).
« Last Edit: April 17, 2013, 12:21:06 am by Qvist »
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 12:55:20 pm »
+9

Video link:

#41 Pillage (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 44.6% / Median: 41.7% / Standard Deviation: 24.6%
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 91.7% (1x), 86.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 5.0% (1x), 1.7% (2x)

Pillage is the next Dark Ages card and has the highest deviation in this list. On one side it has 7 votes above 70% on the other side with 7 votes below 20%. It's over 4pp better than Council Room and would be one rank higher in the unweighted list.

Pillage is a very nasty very strong attack. Discarding key cards from opponents' hands is very strong and can be devastating if your opponent draws KC + only one Action card. But it being a one-shot makes it hard to rank. You don't want to buy it too late as you need one shuffle to Attack and another shuffle to use the 2 Spoils which are one-shots themselves. Picking it up in Big Money games in mid-game when you don't necessarily need more Silver, it's often probably better picking up a Pillage to slow your opponent down as you will definitely profit from the 2 Spoils. But it's probably best in engines where you draw most of your deck where you have at least $13 so that you can buy Province and another Pillage. Attacking each turn is really annoying and strong and as the Spoils themselves already give you $6 it's not that hard to accomplish. Especially with University it's good as you can just re-gain it each turn. But I think we need more time to evaluate it correctly.
#40 Market (Base) Weighted Average: 45.1% ▲3.5pp / Median: 42.6% ▲2.2pp / Standard Deviation: 15.5% ▼0.7pp
Highest Value(s): 81.7% (1x), 73.3% (1x), 70.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.7% (1x), 19.1% (1x), 15.0% (1x)

Market is one rank higher and 3.5pp better than last time. Market has only 2 votes above 70% and only 2 votes below 20%. In the unweighted ranking it would be one rank lower.

Market is a nice addition to most of the decks, but it is no super strong card. You want it most of the times because of the cantrip +Buy as an addition to your main strategy, because +Buy cantrips are rare and essential for an engine because you may already have stronger terminal cards. And it is also superior to Silver in all but Big Money games as you draw a card and get an additional $1. The non-terminal +Buys is very important in some combos too, like a Highway+Market chain. Market usually is no good opener, but Market/Chapel is strong and is on #41 ▲6 of the best openings.
#39 Trading Post (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 45.2% ▲0.2pp / Median: 43.3% ▲2.9pp / Standard Deviation: 19.6% ▼0.4pp
Highest Value(s): 86.7% (1x), 86.4% (1x), 83.3% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 18.3% (2x) 16.7% (1x)

Trading Post was voted 10 times above 80%, but still only a 0.1pp lead over Market as it still had a lot of low votes. It's one rank lower than last time.

Trading Post is another card in the category "Good opener, but bad afterwards" like Chapel. No surprise the deviation is still high; it's really hard to evaluate. It costs $5 and is only an important opener in about 1-(5/6)^2 ~ 30% of all 2-player games. But with 8 openings in the Top 50 of all openings (with Trading Post/Haven on #13 ▼4 and Trading Post/Lighthouse on #23 ▼2), that still shows its strength. If you compare its ability with Mine as a opener: It can trash 2 instead of one card and it can trash all card types and isn't limited to treasures. It's especially strong in Torturer games as you can trash the Curse right away. But Trading Post has fiercer competition in the $5 list, so its downside of getting weak soon was taken more into account by all of you.
#38 Band of Misfits (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 45.9% / Median: 43.3% / Standard Deviation: 22.0%
Highest Value(s): 91.7% (1x), 88.3% (1x), 86.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.7% (2x), 10.0% (1x), 6.7% (1x)

Band of Misfits is another Dark Ages card and another one with really high deviation. It was vpted 8 times above 70% and would be 3 ranks higher in the unweighted list.

Band of Misfits heavily depends from the board, even more than cards like Throne Room. It's probably THE most board dependant and THE average card. On boards with a lot of $5 cards it's basically useless. But it can also be very strong. Especially with cards that are strong, but only a limited period of time or need specific other cards in hand, especially Ambassador or cards like Sea Hag, Throne Room, Moneylender and Conspirator, Band of Misfits is a great card. Its flexibility is great, especially when you can play it as a cantrip or a village in "worst" case, but on boards with power $5s Band of Misfits can be really a trap card. Keep also the downside in mind that you can't copy cards that aren't in the supply anymore what can be problematic with $4 cards like Caravan which piles tend to deplete. Also keep in mind that it only copies the on-play part and can't copy reactions.
#37 Venture (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 47.4% ▼2.5pp / Median: 48.3% ▼2.8pp / Standard Deviation: 17.2% ▼1.7pp
Highest Value(s): 83.3% (1x), 78.3% (1x), 76.6% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 20.0% (2x), 11.9% (1x), 5.0% (1x)

Venture keeps falling in this list. Once as honorable mention in theory's Top 5 Non-Attack $5 list, it dropped last time already 8 ranks and this time another 4 ranks. It's this time now below average and would be even one rank worse in the unweighted list.

Venture is very similar to the "+1 Card, +1 Action, +$1, +Bonus" cards like Market, Treasury or Highway. It draws a card, gives $1 and doesn't cost an action. What is the +Bonus of Venture? Being a Treasure Card, it can't be drawn dead. And it has a Filter effect finding another Treasure Card. So you're guaranteed $2 when playing a Venture (ignoring edge cases like Potion and Horn of Plenty), making it another "Almost Strictly Superior to Silver $5 Treasure Card". The filter effect allows you to go green earlier, because you can discard the green cards with Ventures. This effect reminds of Adventurer (and the name of course). While an Adventurer in a Copper-free deck gets you to at least $4 and Venture only to $3, Venture is still superior, because it's $1 cheaper and doesn't cost an action and is also chainable. Ventures are great if you have multiples and as few other Treasure Cards as possible. If you manage that, they are even superior to Gold. I like to add, that the multiple Ventures stacking effect is no additional bonus, just the result of the two above mentioned bonuses (Multiple Markets in a thin deck would have the same effect). Venture/Chapel is the #63 ▲2 best opening.
#36 Knights (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 47.6% / Median: 46.7% / Standard Deviation: 23.8%
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 89.8% (1x), 85.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 15.5% (1x), 8.3% (1x), 5.0% (1x)

The next Dark Ages card in this list with a small lead over Venture of 0.2pp. Knights has the second highest deviation in this list with 4 votes above 80% and 3 votes below 20%.

Many already said about Rogue applies also to the Knights. This is the highest rated trashing attack, but is still only average. They only hit cards costing between $3 and $6 and your opponent can choose if you hit two possible targets, 2 big downsides, but unlike Rogue at least they can attack every time you play them. Another downside, especially in multiplayer games is that it gets trashed if another Knight is trashed, but this makes it also an interesting pickup purely for defense. The different bonuses are probably responsible for the high deviation and it's what makes this card either ignorable or very strong. We look deeper into the different Knights another time, but if you get Dame Anna early or can get Sir Michael who can double attack, this can make a big difference. But when Sir Martin is the one on top, you don't want to be the one who opens the way to stronger Knights for other players. Like very trashing attack this card is very strong if you can guarantee to play at least one Knight every turn and can be devastating in thin decks as you are basically guaranteed to hit good cards and is ignorable in other cases.
#35 Merchant Ship (Seaside) Weighted Average: 48.6% ▼3.0pp / Median: 48.3% ▼0.6pp / Standard Deviation: 18.1% ▼2.0pp
Highest Value(s): 89.4% (1x), 83.3% (1x), 78.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.7% (2x), 19.1% (1x), 5.0% (1x)

After a big jump of 10 ranks better, it now falls again 4 ranks: Merchant Ship. It's 3pp worse than last time and was voted 6 times above 70%. It would be even 2 more ranks worse in the unweighted list.

Merchant Ship is a very simple card. Still it is ranked very differently. While Harvest is a not guaranteed $4, this now is a guaranteed $4, just split over two turns. It's good for Big Money games as it increases the probability to have $8 early as you only need $6 in hand in the following turn. And if you manage to play one each turn, this is basically $4 every turn. The probability of colliding Merchant Ships is also lower because of the Duration effect. In comparism to many other $5s, where you either don't get guaranteed $4 or guaranteed $3, this card can be really strong. But there are still many (especially terminal) $5s that are superior.
#34 City (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 48.7% ▲1.1pp / Median: 48.3% ▼2.8pp / Standard Deviation: 16.3% ▲2.3pp
Highest Value(s): 89.4% (1x), 83.3% (1x), 78.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 21.7% (2x), 19.1% (1x), 5.0% (1x)

City has only a lead of 0.1pp over Merchant Ship and stays on the same rank. But it's about 1pp better and has a pretty low deviation for a middle ranked card.

City is also highly dependant from the board. On many boards you just spend $5 for a mediocre $3 Village. But with Cursers where the Curses are likely going out, this can be very strong and especially in multiplayer Cities are very strong. When activated, a Level 2 City is already a combined Laboratory and Village, so basically a ~$6 card. A Level 3 City is a combined Laboratory, Market and Village and would normally cost ~9$. In non-cursing games this is often a trap card. If one player goes for Cities to run this pile out, he's just buying Villages and doesn't build up his economy. Then you do much better not buying any City and try to end the game as fast as you can. In longer lasting games (especially Colony games) Cities are much stronger, but you really have to consider, if you really want so many Villages. Als already said, in 3+ player games any pile can deplete faster and Cities are therefore much stronger. And if you have won the City Split and have Level 3 Cities, you have to just be sure that you don't lose on a 3-pile ending. But as many of us only play 2 player games, this wasn't taken that much into account.
#33 Counterfeit (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 49.1% / Median: 51.7% / Standard Deviation: 22.0%
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 86.7% (1x), 83.1% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 15.0% (1x), 11.7% (1x), 1.7% (1x)

And the next Dark Ages card in this list. And of course it has really high deviation. It was even voted second last, but also on #5 once. In the unweighted list it would be 3 ranks higher.

Counterfeit is a Throne Room for Treasures combined with a Trash-for-Benefit card. It's a way better Moneylender as it gives also $3 for trashing Coppers, but gives also a +Buy, doesn't cost an Action and isn't limited to Coppers. It's therefore a very strong opener and strong in the end game when you can trash Golds that you don't need anymore which is still stronger than Salvager which costs an Action an can trash Golds only for $6 while Counterfeit gives $7. The best combo may be Counterfeit+Spoils. This gives you $7 for a card that you had to trash anyway. The biggest problem is that it costs $5 and not $4 what most of those comparable cards cost.
#32 Junk Dealer (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 49.5% / Median: 53.3% / Standard Deviation: 18.7%
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 81.7% (1x), 76.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 16.7% (1x), 10.0% (1x), 8.3% (1x)

A little bit higher rank is another Dark Ages card. Junk Dealer has much more agreement though.

The obvious comparism to Junk Dealer is Upgrade. Both are cantrip trashers. While Upgrade gets you a potential extra card, Junk Dealer gives you $1. What's better really depends on the board. Unless you want those free Poor Houses, Junk Dealer is way better than Upgrade in trashing Coppers because the $1 extra helps you a lot in not losing the tempo. Trashing Shelters depends on if there are spammable $2 cards like Hamlet that you need and with Estates it's similar although Silvers are rarely a bad choice. Later in the game Junk Dealers are probably a dead card while Upgrade could still trash $4s into Duchies or themselves into Gold. You rated Upgrade higher, we'll see if this stays like that.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2013, 09:40:03 pm by Qvist »
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2013, 12:55:46 pm »
+9

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#31 Cartographer (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 50.2% ▲7.1pp / Median: 50.0% ▲7.4pp / Standard Deviation: 18.3% ▼2.3pp
Highest Value(s): 88.3% (1x), 83.3% (1x), 80.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 23.4% (1x), 18.3% (1x), 8.5% (1x)

We're now crossing the 50% line. Cartographer lost 7 ranks last time. This time it goes up 5 ranks with more than 7pp better. It was voted 9 times above 70%.

Cartographer is useful in all decks (maybe except Big Money decks). It reminds of Navigator, but hasn't the problems of being terminal and you can choose for each card separately to discard or to put back. It also draws a card, although you often wish to top-deck first and draw afterwards. Basically it is a 4 times more powerful Spy (except the attack). You can also compare it to Warehouse. While Warehouse only makes this turn better, you can use Cartographer to either prepare your next turn (mitigating draw luck) or to prepare the cards you want to draw with either a second Cartographer or any other card that draws cards. So it combos very nice with many cards, especially cards that draw and are non-terminal, like Wishing Well and most importantly Scrying Pool and is also not bad against strong top-decking attacks like Ghost Ship or Rabble (although you draw one card first). It's also decent in slogs where you can cycle through your deck faster and can connect your good cards much more easily. With all the good points, Cartographer is still no good card for itself and has a high opportunity cost, it's just an addition to your deck and makes your deck stronger and more stable and is nearly never a dominating card on the board.
#30 Horn of Plenty (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 50.5% ▲3.4pp / Median: 46.7% ▼0.1pp / Standard Deviation: 19.6% ▼2.2pp
Highest Value(s): 91.7% (1x), 81.7% (1x), 80.9% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 19.1% (1x), 17.0% (1x), 6.7% (1x)

Horn of Plenty is a little bit better than Cartographer and 3 ranks higher as last time with over 3pp better. It was voted 12 times above 70%. It would be 3 ranks lower in the unweighted ranking, so newer players definitely undervalue it.

Horn of Plenty is one of the cards that are very hard to master. On average boards it's similar to Ironworks and often too slow. But if you can build a decent engine with several different cards involved (and that is the hardest part), then HoP is very powerful. With one Horn of Plenty and a good engine the game can end in 3 turns. Turn 1: Gain another HoP, Turn 2: Gain another 2 HoPs, Turn 3: Gain 4 Provinces from the HoPs and buy at least the 5th Province with the rest of your money: Basically "Game Over". The problem is to build such an engine and prepare the Mega Turn before the opponent gets a too big Province lead. But even without a megaturn, Horn of Plenty is very useful, something that's often ignored. It has a high opportunity cost, but a non-terminal gainer, that can't even be drawn dead can make a difference in an engine game where engine pieces are not that expensive.
#29 Jester (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 51.6% ▼1.1pp / Median: 48.3% ▼7.0pp / Standard Deviation: 18.5% ▲0.1pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 88.3% (1x), 78.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 23.4% (1x), 18.3% (1x), 10.0% (1x)

Jester is 2 ranks worse than last time. It's the first card in this list which was voted on the first rank, but was also voted on 10% on the other side. It was voted 9 times above 70%.

Jester is a very swingy attack. You can deal out Curses, you can spam Coppers. But mainly it's a card which gains you good card, especially if your opponent and you are going for the same strategy. If not, you have a really hard decision if you want that action card in your deck or give your opponent another free card. If you have a good running engine with any spying attack (like Scrying Pool), Jester is very good. And in 3+ player games Jester is even stronger, because you can gain multiple good cards per turn. The main reason this attack is ranked that low, may be that you all take 2 player games into account where it's very swingy. Jester/Chapel is the #62 ▼13 best opening.
#28 Festival (Base) Weighted Average: 53.8% ▼1.6pp / Median: 58.3% ▲0.9pp / Standard Deviation: 16.2% ▼1.6pp
Highest Value(s): 85.1% (1x), 85.0% (1x), 80.9% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 26.7% (3x), 25.0% (1x)

Festival is 4 ranks lower than last time. It has a pretty low deviation for a middle ranked card. The high agreement is proven by the fact that it's the first card in this list with no vote below 20% and only 5 votes below 30%. It has 3 votes above 80%. It would be 3 ranks higher in the unweighted ranking - so newer players overrate it.

Festival is a simple card and is like a combined Village and (Grand) Market without the draw. The lack of draw is really the only but big downside of this card. Still it is good in any engine, giving the money and actions you need and if you have "draw up to ..." cards like Watchtower or Library, it's really great. In any Non-Big-Money game Festival is superior to Silver.
#27 Rabble (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 54.3% ▲4.9pp / Median: 55.0% ▲8.2pp / Standard Deviation: 17.2% ▼3.8pp
Highest Value(s): 85.0% (1x), 78.0% (1x), 76.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 10.0% (2x), 8.3% (1x)

Rablle is 4 ranks higher than last time with nearly 5pp better. It was voted 3 times below 20%, but all 3 votes were big outliers. In the unweighted rating it would be one rank lower.

The attack of one Rabble may even be worse than a Fortune Teller, as it can't guarantee to hit. It's not a very good opener, especially with good trashers, but gets stronger and stronger in the late game. Rabble is stronger the more you play in one turn. If you build up a (Village-Smithy-like) engine and need good drawing power, Rabble is the way to go, because if your opponent goes green too early, he gets bad hands regularly pretty soon and you may crush him. Your Rabbles can hit him even stronger than any other discarding attack, because he has at best only 2 good cards in hand. But beware of Farming Village, which is a very effective counter. And if you don't need the drawing power, you can skip over Rabble, because one Rabble isn't that strong per se.
#26 Rebuild (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 54.8% / Median: 51.7% / Standard Deviation: 22.2%
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (2x), 91.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 25.0% (3x), 11.7% (2x)

Here's the fifth best Dark Ages card in this list. It has also a pretty high deviation with 7 votes above 80% and 3 votes above 90%.

I'm interested to hear your opinions on this card. I don't want to say to much personal opinions in this series, but I expect it to be much higher the next time because it's a card which seems not so strong at first glance, but honestly is. The big advantage of this card is that you can get guaranteed Victory Points and don't care that much about attacks. Rebuild lets you expand victory that aren't even in your hand and give also an additional action. Especially in non-Shelter games you can easily get 3 Provinces out of your starting Estates. If your opponent keeps on building you can easily deplete the Provinces if you trash them into more Provinces. Alternatively you could first try to deplete Duchies and then trash them for Provinces. That prevents your opponent with an good engine to catch up by buying Duchies while he fears buying Provinces because of depleting the pile too fast. Junking Attacks are still good against it as you won't draw Rebuilds that often anymore, but the effect isn't so bad anymore as you can just buy Estates and expand them later. Discarding Attacks can prevent you from buying Duchies, but might even help you as you can discard Victory cards from your hand which you would otherwise not have been able to expand. Also Rebuild combos with a lot of cards. In a deck full of Tunnels you get one Gold per Tunnel in your deck and you only need your starting Estates to get some of those. In a similar way Feoda are great as you can trash those for Silver and just get a new Feodum. Rebuild profits a lot from sifters as you don't need a big hand size, so Cellar, Warehouse and Wandering Winstrel will work well. Farmland is another Victory card which is nice. If you're lucky to have $6 just buy a Farmland to profit from the remodel functionality and then you can use Rebuild to remodel Farmland itself. Also, Victory card gainers like Baron and Count work well and also Trade Route will go up in value very fast while you profit from a thinner deck. But be careful, if a Rebuild strategy doesn't work out because another strategy is faster and you are behind in points you often have lost because you probably haven't enough money to buy Provinces to catch up.
#25 Highway (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 55.4% ▲2.1pp / Median: 56.7% ▲1.4pp / Standard Deviation: 16.2% ▼2.3pp
Highest Value(s): 91.5% (1x), 83.3% (1x), 80.9% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 23.7% (1x), 21.3% (2x)

Highway is 2pp better than last time, but still one rank worse. It has also no cards below 20% and would be 3 ranks higher in the unweighted ranking.

Highway is highly dependant for supporter cards to make it useful. One vanilla Highway is really bad and even worse than Market or Treasury, it's just a Peddler, so basically only worth $4. It seems similar to Bridge, but in fact it isn't. You can use it as a cantrip Bridge, but most of the times this isn't worth it, because you need +Buy and either need a small deck to play multiples or big drawing power what also means you need villages. So that is really slow. The only real combo is Highway/Market in a small deck. But you can do things with Highway what would be very difficult with Bridge. It cab combo nice with trash-for-benefit cards, so you can at best replace Coppers with Provinces. Its best use may to use it with cards with fixed cost in the card text like Saboteur, Smugglers, Feast, Ironworks, Horn of Plenty, Altar etc to gain (or trash) Provinces with these cards. So while it can be worse than Market or Highway it can - unlike those cards - really shine in some situations. As Highway is good in small decks, Highway/Chapel is a #45 ▼7pp opening.
#24 Count (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 55.4% / Median: 58.3% / Standard Deviation: 23.6%
Highest Value(s): 95.0% (1x), 86.7% (1x), 85.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 13.6% (1x), 8.3% (1x), 0% (1x)

It was really close between Highway and Count for rank #24. Count is the fourth best rated Dark Ages card. It has the third highest deviation in this list as it has 8 votes above 80%, but still some really low votes. Yeah, it was even voted last. In the unweighted ranking it would be 3 ranks better.

Count is also a card which is really hard to grasp at first glance. The 9 different options are not so poweful for a card costing $5, but its flexibility makes it good. The $3 coin option let you have either a Horse Traders effect without +Buy or a Mandarin or let you gain a Copper. If you use Count as virtual money in an engine, then the Mandarin effect is probably best as you can put a village or another card you don't need back and safe for next turn. If you use Count in alt VP games, gaining a Copper is not really a disadvantage. The discarding option is probably the weakest although you can choose it if you really don't need those 2 cards or have a Tunnel in hand. If you open 5/2 the trash your hand option can be really powerful and is similar to a 5/2 with Trading Post. Keep in mind that putting back a Copper is mostly worse than gaining a Copper if you want to trash starting cards with it. But mostly you want to safe a card for next turn if you want to choose that option. Discarding two cards is here mostly the weakest option too unless you really want to use Count to only trash 2 cards and discard 2 cards. Gaining Duchies is of course really powerful with Duke, Silk Road, Ill-Gotten-Gains or Rebuild and can pretty strong in the end game when Duchy dancing. Although a terminal Gold seems to be more powerful, think it through! If you end up buying a Duchy anyways you wasted 2$. So, all in all not a particular power card, but can be very good on a 5/2, in Alt-VP games - especially Duke and in most end game scenarios.
#23 Catacombs (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 55.7% / Median: 58.3% / Standard Deviation: 17.0%
Highest Value(s): 80.0% (1x), 78.3% (1x), 76.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 28.3% (1x), 18.3% (1x), 13.3% (1x)

Catacombs is the third best Dark Ages card in this list. It has a pretty low deviation for a Dark Ages card with no votes above 80% and only 2 lower votes. It would be 4 ranks lower in the unweighted ranking.

Catacombs is no complicated card. It combines the strengths of Smithy and Oracle into one card, making it a very good card drawer for Big Money as well as for engines and is therefore a very good and solid card overall. The on-trash effect is a very nice bonus. You probably won't trigger it by yourself as often as you can't get a Duchy out of it and there really needs to be good targets for this to be worth for any trash-for-benefit card. But it can be really nice with Procession as you will draw 6 cards and get another Procession for free. But most of the times it's just a really good defense against trashing attacks like Knights or Swindler especially if you can replace it with a Smithy instead.
#22 Bazaar (Seaside) Weighted Average: 56.4% ▲3.2pp / Median: 56.7% ▲3.5pp / Standard Deviation: 13.4% ▲0.2pp
Highest Value(s): 85.0% (1x), 81.7% (1x), 78.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 30.0% (1x), 27.7% (1x), 19.1% (1x)

Bazaar is one rank better than last time and has a really low deviation. The last card with a lower deviation on this list was Mandarin on #51. It has only 2 votes velow 30%, but no extraordinary high votes; it was only voted above 80% twice. It would be 2 ranks lower in the unweighted ranking.

Bazaar is a village with an additional coin. At first glance a village for $5 looks really expensive. But if you see it as Cantrip Money + Bonus card like Market the additional Action is really one of the best bonuses. Especially in engines virtual money is pretty handy and more Bazaars help you to get easily even more Bazaars. Not much more to say about this vanilla card. Uncommon for a Village, Bazaar has a very high opening with Bazaar/Chapel on #22 ▲9.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2013, 03:12:01 pm by Qvist »
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2013, 12:55:54 pm »
+9

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#21 Duke (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 57.0% ▼2.8pp / Median: 58.3% ▲0.9pp / Standard Deviation: 21.3% ▼1.6pp
Highest Value(s): 95.0% (1x), 93.3% (1x), 90.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 18.3% (2x), 14.9% (1x)

After that big jump last time of 14 ranks better, it loses only one rank. It has a really high deviation - the highest deviation of a Non-Dark Ages card in this list so far, with only one card higher than it to come. You can see this on the 10 votes above 80%, but still 3 votes below 20%. It would be 2 ranks lower in the unweighted ranking.

Duke can be played similar to Silk Road and Gardens Rushes as you need to get the Duchies and Dukes as fast as you can. So you need similar good supporter cards which help getting $5 even if you're already greening, like Vault, Hoard, Duchess, Horse Traders and Silver-gainers in general to just name a few. Duke can be very strong as it can easily be worth 6-8 VP if your opponent doesn't deny your strategy and is better than Province in those cases. 3-piling isn't that hard afterwards as there are 2 piles already gone. The problem is to realize when a board is a good Duke board. With good attacks (Curser and Handsize-Reducer) and especially Swindler or Knights as Counter, you really have to be careful and want to ignore Dukes. What makes Duke strong is that you have to consider it in every game and can be a nice Plan B if you're behind in a mirror game and don't want to contest Provinces anymore. Why? 5 Provinces are worth the same as 5 Duchies and 3 Dukes, so that's only 3 cards more, but each of them costs way less. Your opponent has then the tough decision if you can outrace you with Provinces or if he has to contest you on Duchies (and Dukes).
#20 Bandit Camp (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 59.6% / Median: 65.0% / Standard Deviation: 17.4%
Highest Value(s): 88.1% (1x), 83.3% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 26.7% (2x), 25.0% (1x)

Bandit Camp is the second best Dark Ages card with a solid lead over Duke of 2.6pp. It has 5 votes above 80%. It would be one rank higher in the unweighted ranking.

The obvious comparism to Bandit Camp is Bazaar which was rated 2 ranks lower. You get one-shot Golds instead of $1. Which one is better? Of course it depends... While Bazaar is an obvious Engine Card, Bandit Camp can be very good incorporated in a money-ish approach. The Spoils ramp your economy fast for early Golds or Provinces. But Bandit Camp is also especially good with +Buys as you won't waste money from the Spoils. And with trashing in draw engines where you draw your whole deck, you probably want to play your Spoils each time to keep your deck thin. So the Spoils make you draw engine more unreliable. But if you are still able to draw your deck, then Bandit Camp effectively gives you $3 instead of $1 and is way better than Bazaar. But if your engines falls apart, it's hard to get it back running.
#19 Upgrade (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 60.9% ▲9.2pp / Median: 61.7% ▲14.9pp / Standard Deviation: 17.8% ▲0.6pp
Highest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 91.7% (1x), 86.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 25.0% (1x), 23.3% (1x), 20.7% (1x)

Upgrade is a winner of this list. It's 5 ranks, over 9pp in the weighted average and even nearly 15pp in Median better. In the unweighted ranking it's even one more rank better.

Non-terminal trashers or trash-for-benefit-cards are really strong. No surprise that Upgrade costs $5 so you can't open with it most of the times. With Upgrade you can trash your Coppers and Curses or turning your Estates into Silver without spending an action and keep playing all your other valuable action cards. This may also its best use - just be sure that there's no Poor House. Spamming Upgrades and upgrading all other cards slowly to better cards seems nice, but is very slow. But Upgrading an Upgrade into an early Grand Market can be very strong. I like to add, that Upgrade is indeed a cantrip, that doesn't hurt your deck early on. But like Lookout, if you have a deck with a high quality density later on, this may be a dead card in your hand, when you don't want to trash a card from your hand. With Dark Ages there's now Junk Dealer - a comparable card. Like already said Junk Dealer is better at the start, but you can use the trash-for benefit effect later to get Duchies what's really good with Rats or Fortress on the board. It's still no surprise Upgrade has some very high ranked openings, the best being Upgrade/Chapel on #8 ▲8 or Upgrade/Courtyard on #70 ▼22.
#18 Stables (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 60.9% ▲0.4pp / Median: 60.0% ▼1.7pp / Standard Deviation: 15.9% ▲0.5pp
Highest Value(s): 88.3% (1x), 86.7% (1x), 85.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 25.0% (1x), 23.3% (2x)

Stables has only 0.04pp better than Upgrade and can stay on the same rank as last year. Its rating is also nearly the same and it has a good consensus.

When you try to evaluate Stables, the comparism to Laboratory is very obvious. Both give you an action and a hand with one card more. In games with no trashing a few Stables can even be stronger, because you get an additional Warehouse-like cycling effect. Just discard your Coppers and you'll see your valuable cards more often. If you buy Stables and don't play Big Money, then your action density increases and the chances that you draw no treasure cards with Stables in hand increases too. Then Stables may be a dead card in hand. Especially in cursing games Stables is weaker. And even if your only treasure card is a Gold it highly depends on your deck if you really want to discard the Gold for 3 new cards. But a few Stables, Silvers and a +Buy card like Horse Traders can make a pretty good Hunting-Party-like deck. An early Stables is great and superior to Laboratory on a board with no trashing, but with more Action Cards, Victory Cards or Curses, Stables is getting weaker, so just don't buy too many. Just compare a hand of 5 Laboratories and 5 Stables. Stables/Chapel is on #61 of the best openings.
#17 Haggler (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 63.0% ▲0.7pp / Median: 63.3% ▼0.5pp / Standard Deviation: 15.3% ▲0.7pp
Highest Value(s): 88.3% (1x), 86.7% (1x), 85.1% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 38.3% (1x), 30.0% (1x), 28.3% (1x)

Haggler is over 2pp better and stays also on the same rank. It was voted 7 times above 80% and only 3 times below 40% and 14 times below average.

Haggler is very good for building up engines with multiple components. It adds the Border Village effect to any card you wish and also gives $2, so you can be pretty sure to get two good cards if you play Haggler. And in the middle to end game you can use it as a pseudo Hoard to get a Gold for a Province or even a Platinum on Colony boards. With Haggler you don't necessarily need +Buys early, you even have to beware that you don't use your additional buy for a low-cost card, so you have to get an additional Copper. It is a good starter for any good engine, for example Hunting Party, so you can get one more Hunting Party for every Province bought. But with discarding attacks and Cursers where you can get bad hands really often, Haggler isn't that good as you have to pick up a Copper or other cards you probably don't want. Similar is true with Potion cost cards as they have a lower coin value. Haggler/Chapel is the #53 ▲31 best opening.
#16 Laboratory (Base) Weighted Average: 65.4% ▲0.8pp / Median: 68.1% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 13.7% ▲0.1pp
Highest Value(s): 91.7% (2x), 90.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 43.3% (1x), 29.8% (1x), 26.7% (1x)

Laboratory is the next card in the row which stays on the same rank. It was voted 2 times above 90% and 7 times above 80%. It was voted below 50% only 5 times.

Unlike Stables, like mentioned before, Laboratory is a good card in nearly every deck. It increases the hand size by one which is a often underrated benefit. And if you have multiple Laboratories in your deck you have a consistent Village+Smithy engine in your deck where it isn't possible to draw dead. So, it's a engine on its own and you best begin early to build it. Therefore it's no surprise Laboratory/Chapel is on #32 ▼13 in the openings list.
#15 Embassy (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 68.1% ▼2.2pp / Median: 72.3% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 17.2% ▲1.2pp
Highest Value(s): 91.7% (1x), 91.5% (1x), 90.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 31.7% (2x), 6.8% (1x)

Embassy has a solid lead over Laboratory, but with over 2pp worse than last time it's 1 rank worse, although it was pretty close. It was still voted 8 times below 50% with one pretty big outlier, so it has still a high deviation, but the consensus is a little bit higher.

Embassy is a great Big Money card. An early Embassy is so good that your opponent gets a Silver for free. The mix of a terminal drawer and a Warehouse-like filter makes it that powerful. Yes, basically it's only +2 cards, but every time you play it, you can choose the best 6 cards out of 9 cards. Similiar to Envoy: If you have 5/2 and have the luck to draw it on turn 3, you may draw it in turn 4 and 5 again and will probably have already a huge lead, due to quick cycling. But it is also good in engines if you can guarantee to draw it with an action card. So just like Wharf it combos well with Fishing Village, it only misses the +Buy.
#14 Vault (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 68.1% ▼1.1pp / Median: 73.3% ▲1.0pp / Standard Deviation: 17.5% ▼0.7pp
Highest Value(s): 90.0% (1x), 87.2% (1x), 85.1% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 28.8% (1x), 21.7% (1x), 16.7% (1x)

Vault is basically tied with Embassy as it's only 0.02pp better. So it switched places with Embassy and is one rank better than last time although it lost over 1pp. It got no vote above 90%, but 14 votes above 80% on the other side. It was voted 8 times below average.

The +2 Cards that make the difference between Secret Chamber and Vault are very important to make Vault a good card and Secret Chamber a weak one. With every play of Vault you are guaranteed a Gold or even better - a Grand Market. And if you have a Gold in hand or draw one you can buy a Province for sure. This makes Vault a great counter to cursing attacks and is still great after you've gone green. No surprise your opponent has the chance to make his hand better too, because this effect is very strong. This effect makes it also a good card for Duke. Like Secret Chamber it's also good if you can draw your whole deck for example with Scrying Pool, discard all actions for a lot of money, just to draw all actions again with another Scrying Pool. Similar to this, it's great in Double Tactician decks. Another combo is Vault/Tunnel and with Tunnel you could even profit from your opponents' Vaults. The downside of this card is that it's very vulnerable to discarding attacks. Although it shines in big decks with a lot of junk the #12 ▼1 opening Vault/Chapel shows its strength if you are able to play it every turn.
#13 Margrave (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 72.8% ▲1.1pp / Median: 74.5% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 13.2% ▲0.2pp
Highest Value(s): 90.0% (1x), 87.9% (1x), 87.2% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 38.3% (1x), 36.7% (1x), 35.0% (1x)

After a big jump of nearly 5pp we're now above 70%. Margrave stays on the same rank and got slightly better ratings. It was voted 14 times above 80%, but no voted above 90% too. It got also only 4 votes below average.

Terminal drawers with +Buy are very strong as they tend to let you have many money in hand, more than you often need for a Province. Council Room has the drawback of give your opponent another card, but Wharf is still to come in this list. Margrave gives you an additional discard attack. The discard attack itself is not as strong as Militia's or Goons' discard attack because your opponent may draw a card first. But the discard attack is still very strong. It's just like you play Council Room+Militia or Governor+Militia. Margrave is another good Big Money card. With $11 you can buy an additional Silver to your Province. And terminal draw and +Buy is all Fool's Gold needs. No surprise Margrave/Fool's Gold is the best opening on #96 ▲39. It's also a good addition to your engine, but you have to be careful to add not too many Margraves to your engine, because every time you play a Margrave your opponent has another chance to draw a hand like 2 Golds and a Silver to buy a Province himself.
#12 Apprentice (Alchemy) Weighted Average: 74.8% ▲2.1pp / Median: 75.8% ▲3.5pp / Standard Deviation: 13.3% ▲1.3pp
Highest Value(s): 98.3% (1x), 95.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 51.1% (1x), 45.0% (1x), 36.7% (1x)

Apprentice is also on the same rank as last time. It was voted 5 times above 90% with one vote being on second place. And with only 2 votes below average makes this a clear better card than every other card before.

Although you can use an early Apprentice to trash your Coppers, Apprentice epitomizes (just like Salvager) Trash-for-Benefit cards; because the benefit is huge. If you don't hesitate to trash e.g. a Gold to get 6! cards and draw at least a card with +Buy or a Gainer you can really fasten the game. With Apprentice+Hoard or Apprentice+Haggler you can buy a Province nearly every turn. It combos also nice with Border Village. And as being one of the strongest Trash-for-Benefit cards, I especially mention the danger in Possession games. Your opponent won't hesitate to trash a Province or even a Colony for drawing nearly your whole deck. And now with Dark Ages TfB is even more interesting. You could now trash Rats for +5 Cards or Fortress for +4 Cards without losing anything or Catacombs with no real loss on the right board, and so on so forth.
« Last Edit: May 22, 2013, 08:41:09 am by Qvist »
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2013, 12:56:08 pm »
+9

Video link:

#11 Tactician (Seaside) Weighted Average: 79.5% =0pp / Median: 81.7% ▲0.8pp / Standard Deviation: 12.3% ▲0.6pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 98.3% (1x), 93.6% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 53.3% (1x), 53.2% (1x), 43.3% (1x)

We're making another big jump of nearly 5pp and are now nearly in the 80% range. Tactician stays where it was. It is the second card with a first rank. It has only one vote below average and only 7 votes below 60%.

Tactician makes use of the phrase "One big turn is better than 2 mediocre ones". So in a deck in that you can't guarantee a Province each turn, with Tactician it's still very likely to get 2 Provinces each 2 turns. This applies especially to cards that take profit of big hand sizes like Forge, Bank or Tournament+Province. It's also great to get key cards like King's Court early or as a defense against discarding attacks (0/8 is definitely better than 3/3). And in combination with Black Market or Action cards that let you gain virtual money like Vault/Secret Chamber, Baron or a bunch of Festivals/Conspirators/Grand Markets you can even setup a Double Tactician strategy. You can play your second Tactician in your Tactician turn and still have enough money to buy something and get another 10 card hand in the next hand.
#10 Ghost Ship (Seaside) Weighted Average: 81.4% ▼1.0pp / Median: 85.0% ▼0.1pp / Standard Deviation: 12.3% ▼0.1pp
Highest Value(s): 97.9% (2x), 94.8% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 51.1% (1x), 46.7% (1x), 44.7% (1x)

After going up 2 ranks last time, it went back 2 ranks again. Ghost Ship has 2 votes below average and 11 votes above 90%.

Ghost Ship is very strong because it's a discard attack in which you don't have to discard, you have to top deck. So this messes up this turn and the next turn. You have then to choose to get 2 mediocre turns or a bad turn and hopefully a better next turn if you aren't getting "ghostshipped" again. This results in really slow games in which it takes long until you reshuffle and see the newly bought cards the first time. The difference to all other strong attack cards is you don't want to play as many as you can in one turn, you just want to constantly play it each turn. That's the reason why Ghost Ship with Schemes can be devastating. If there are no good defense cards / counters, you are in a soft pin you aren't likely to get out soon. So in comparism to Torturer and Minion a single play is stronger. Ghost Ship/Chapel is the #30 ▼7 best opening.
#9 Minion (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 82.8% ▲1.3pp / Median: 86.7% ▲3.7pp / Standard Deviation: 10.2% ▼0.7pp
Highest Value(s): 96.7% (1x), 95.0% (2x) / Lowest Value(s): 56.7% (2x), 55.0% (1x)

Minion is the 5th best $5 Attack Card and stays on the same rank. It's the first card with no votes below average and got only 6 votes below 70%. It was voted above 90% 10 times. It would be even 2 ranks higher in the unweighted list.

Minion's discard attack can hit even stronger than any other discard attack. You have one card more than with Militia, but against Minion you cannot choose which card to keep. The non-terminal $2 is great in every engine and the discard option helps you to cycle faster. Those two benefits make it a self-working engine. If you win the Minion split, you can play the first Minions in your hand to get $2 and the last one to get the next 4 cards, then just proceed. And every non-terminal card with virtual coins and/or a non-terminal trasher fit very well in a Minion deck. Yes, there has to be some requirements: You are playing a 2-player game and have a thin deck and don't play with Colony, ... to name the major issues. But then a Minion deck is super strong. Minion/Chapel is the #16 ▼3 best opening.
#8 Torturer (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 83.4% ▲3.4pp / Median: 85.0% ▲2.0pp / Standard Deviation: 9.3% ▲1.2pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 98.3% (1x), 96.7% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 61.7% (2x), 60.0% (1x)

Torturer is the 4th best $5 Attack Card and is 2 ranks and over 3pp better than last time. It was voted first once and has no vote below 60% and only 6 votes below 70%. In the unweighted ranking it would be 3 ranks higher.

A single Torturer is not that great. You can choose to take a Curse in hand or discard. Taking the Curse in hand is not that great as getting it onto your discard pile or even on top. If you have a Forge or a Jack of All Trades in hand, a Curse in hand doesn't hurt you that much. In all other cases it's just a Militia-like discarding attack. But multiple Torturers can really torture you, especially because you have a choice, but still are between the devil and the deep blue sea. So Torturer highly depends from Villages; especially with Border Villages, Fishing Villages or Crossroads a Torturer Chain is definitely the way to go. The first one that gets this set up is likely to win. When the Curses are gone, Torturers are no danger anymore. But the Curse split is likely highly in your favor and you already have a good running engine to maybe pick a few more treasures and then go green. Only with direct Cursers you may still skip them, because until you've set up this chain, there are few Curses left. Necropolis makes going for Torturers maybe a little bit more viable. Torturer/Chapel is a #57 ▲12 opening and Torturer/Crossroads is at #83 ▲8.
#7 Cultist (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 85.0% / Median: 88.3% / Standard Deviation: 14.3%
Highest Value(s): 98.3% (1x), 96.7% (4x) / Lowest Value(s): 49.2% (1x), 48.3% (1x), 43.3% (1x)

Cultist is the best Dark Ages card and the 3rd best $5 Attack Card. It was voted 3 times below average, but got 16 votes over 90%, so over a third of all votes.

Cultist is the Looter pendant to Witch. As Ruins are not as bad as Curses it has the benefit of getting sort of +1 Action which can only be used to play more Cultists. So you are able to play multiple Cultists in a turn and therefore junk harder than Witch. In a chapeled down thin deck it can be devastating to get like 4 Ruins in a turn and can totally shut you down. And even if the Ruins are gone around 4 Cultists give you really good draw and allow you to get a lot of money in hand. The second benefit is that it can be trashed for +3 cards what can be really strong with Procession for example or any trash for benefit card. Still it's not enough to be stronger than Witch.
#6 Governor (Promo) Weighted Average: 85.1% ▲0.9pp / Median: 87.8% ▲0.6pp / Standard Deviation: 20.6% ▼3.4pp
Highest Value(s): 96.7% (4x) / Lowest Value(s): 23.3% (1x), 3.4% (1x), 0% (1x)

Governor is still on the same rank. But, wow, what a high deviation, especially for such a high ranked card. It has two and a half really big outliers and 4 votes below 50%. In the unweighted ranking it's 3 ranks lower.

The different options make it difficult to play. And depending on what you choose it can a really bad card or a great one. That may also explain the high deviation. Like Council Room, the +1 card may pretty huge for your opponent if you choose +3 cards. And if you even choose that multiple times in a row, you give your opponent a great hand too. So either do that only if you a) play a discard attack afterwards, b) can end that game in a mega turn or c) possess your opponent afterwards. In all these 3 cases Governor is really powerful. The remodel effect is bad in the early game, you're helping your opponent even more for letting him trash his Coppers or get a Silver for an Estate, you can use it in the end game to remodel your treasure card in respective Victory card. The best option without above mentioned supporting cards may be the Gold gaining. The Silver can be really bad for your opponent in a Colony game or if he builds a deck with high action density. And you can pick up Governors over Golds because you can get Golds with Governor later. That leads to a state where Governor can combo with itself. Gain many Governors, choose the gain Gold option every time. With many Governors and Gold in your deck use a few Governors for +3 cards and the rest to remodel your Gold into Provinces in a mega turn. Its power in a thin deck shows the rank #3 =0 in the best openings for Governor/Chapel.
#5 Ill-Gotten Gains (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 85.9% ▼3.6pp / Median: 91.5% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 21.4% ▼12.3pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 98.3% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 28.3% (1x), 12.8% (1x), 5.0% (1x)

Ill-Gotten-Gains is no attack per se, but we could call it the third best $5 attack card instead of Cultist. It went down one rank and has only a small lead over Governor. What's most notable is that it has a really high deviation with some really low votes. In the unweighted ranking it would 3 ranks worse.

I remember reading Ill-Gotten-Gains the first time and it seemed not that strong. You have only a one-shot curser to get a better Copper? But that's not like it is. A Ill-Gotten-Gains Rush is really strong. Just buy Ill-Gotten-Gains every time you get to $5. The optional extra Copper make that possible. With a 5/2 opening it's even possible to deal out a Curse before the opponent's first reshuffle, especially for the first player. When the IGGs are gone, the Curses are usually gone too, so you just have to empty the Duchy pile to win the game and IGGs give enough money to accomplish exactly this. Often you are even able to pick up a Province in between. But you have to be sure to hit your opponent. While these Curses are nearly unstoppable, not even with Moat or Lighthouse (making IGG even stronger), with Trader or Ambassador on the board the Curse pile won't be empty if you empty the IGG pile and your opponent may have enough time to pick up enough Provinces before you empty 2 piles. The same applies with other Cursers on the board. But in all other cases when IGG is on the board, a IGG rush is probably the dominant strategy. Ill-Gotten Gains / Courtyard is the 115th best opening. It has the highest per gain win rate of all kingdom cards (1.21), even higher than Grand Market or any alternative victory card.
#4 Hunting Party (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 90.5% ▲1.1pp / Median: 91.7% ▲0.2pp / Standard Deviation: 7.2% ▼0.9pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 97.9% (1x), 96.7% (4x) / Lowest Value(s): 74.5% (1x), 71.7% (1x), 63.3% (1x)

Hunting Party has a slightly better rating than last time and is a rank better. It has a really low deviation, the fourth lowest - only one voted it below the upper third. It was voted on the first rank once and 15 times it was voted on 95% or higher.

After Stables and Laboratory, Hunting Party is the best non-terminal hand-size increasing $5 card. The advantage is the even better filter effect than Stables to get the cards in hand you really need. It's also an engine on its own, just have one Gold and at least a Silver and a good terminal action which gives you at least $2, like Goons, Monument, Horse Traders, Haggler or Baron. With at least 5-6 Hunting Parties you are almost guaranteed a Province each turn because you only have few different cards in your deck and get those all in hand. Going green doesn't hurt you much (only Duchies) and with Cursers you only need a Hunting Party more to filter Curses. It's not strictly better than Laboratory if there are no different cards left in your deck, but that mostly occurs only if you already have a very strong deck or you have a heavily trimmed deck what you don't need when you go for Hunting Parties. The only thing you have to watch out in such a deck is when to trigger the reshuffle so you get at least a Hunting Party in the next hand again. With Dark Ages it got a little bit worse. Shelters hurt a Hunting Party deck a lot and Ruins from Looters also hurt a lot more than Curses. Hunting Party/Chapel is the #11 ▲11 best opening.
#3 Wharf (Seaside) Weighted Average: 95.3% ▲0.7pp / Median: 95.7% =0pp / Standard Deviation: 4.5% ▼0.2pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (6x) / Lowest Value(s): 88.3% (1x), 85.0% (1x), 70.2% (1x)

Wharf is the best non-attack $5 card. There is no doubt, it has the lowest deviation in this list, was voted below 85% only one time, was voted first 6 times and has a lead over Hunting Party of nearly 5pp.

+2 Cards are mostly weak. The benefit you get in this turn is pretty weak too. But the duration effect of +2 Cards without playing an action is like 2 Caravans or if you played 2 Laboratories at the start of your next turn. And Laboratory is already a #16 Card of the same cost. If you have 2 Wharves and you play them alternating each turn, you start each turn with 7 cards and basically each Wharf is a Council Room without the drawback of giving your opponent an additional card. And as already mentioned the +Buy for a terminal draw is really nice too, you need it with so many cards in hand. You can use Wharf for Big Money with less probability of colliding (because of the duration effect) or you can build an engine. In combination with Fishing Village you are almost guaranteed big hands (like you're playing Double Tactician) and even have enough Actions left for Attacks. No matter if you're going Big Money or build a engine with it, Wharf is so strong that those games are over very quick. Wharf's draw and +Buy is also good for Fool's Gold, making Wharf/Fool's Gold the #14 ▼2 best opening. Wharf/Chapel is "only" on #60 ▼14.
#2 Witch (Base) Weighted Average: 97.0% ▲0.3pp / Median: 98.3% ▲0.4pp / Standard Deviation: 5.5% ▲3.9pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (13x) / Lowest Value(s): 83.3% (1x), 74.6% (1x), 72.3% (1x)

It was again very close, not as close as last time, but Witch is again only #2. With 13 first places there is no doubt about such a high rank. It was voted below 80% only 2 times and has the second lowest deviation.

Cursers are the strongest cards in the game, I think everyone agrees. There are only 5 guaranteed Cursers, one gives you no benefit and only costs $4, another one is a one-shot and ranked #5 on this list, the third one has Potion in its cost and the fourth is a Prize Card. So Witch is a guaranteed Curser with no drawback and definitely one of the strongest cards in the game. Not only you can curse your opponent, you get 2 additional cards. King's Courting a Witch is basically "Game Over" for your opponent. The defense with Witch on the board is mostly to get it for yourself, faster than your opponent and play it more often. Witch/Chapel is the #5 ▼1 best opening, but it is good with every 5/2 split. It is in the Top 100 14 times, even Witch/nothing is on #82 ▲11.
#1 Mountebank (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 98.3% ▲1.3pp / Median: 100% ▲2.1pp / Standard Deviation: 10.5% ▼1.6pp
Highest Value(s): 100% (31x) / Lowest Value(s): 93.3% (1x), 89.4% (1x), 22.0% (1x)

The decision was close again, but it had a higher lead over Witch this time: 1.3pp. It was clearly voted better with 31 first ranks. It has a really big outlier, but other than that, it was only voted 4 times below 95%.

Witch already is very strong, but Mountebank managed to beat it again. Yes, it cannot deal out curses guaranteed, but dealing out 2 junk cards per play is really strong and if the opponent has a Curse in hand, he is mostly behind in the Curse split anyway. So, it's stronger in the beginning where junk hurts you more. Your deck can get clogged up so fast. Then it may not hit every time in the middle game, but when the Curse pile is empty, you can still deal out Coppers, that's another advantage. While $2 is mostly weaker than +2 cards (especially in Colony games), there's no big difference in Cursing games as your deck has more junk and it's more difficult to get a money average of $1 per card at the start anyway. So, it really depends on the board which card is stronger, but mostly it is Mountebank because it hurts more. Just beware with Trader on the board or you may be giving your opponent 2 Silvers. Another reason for Mountebank being first is the opening list. Mountebank/Chapel is still the overall best opening =0. Mountebank is 14 ▼1 times in the Top 100, 11 of them in the Top 50, with Mountebank/nothing even on #75 ▼11.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 06:08:33 pm by Qvist »
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Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2013, 01:01:37 pm »
+3

Oh thank God.
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Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2013, 01:05:00 pm »
0

I have very few disagreements here. Although even Counting House and Saboteur aren't as dreadful as I once thought (I really don't think they come close to the levels of bad of Adventurer, Scout, Thief, and Transmute), they are still last. I might say that Contraband was better than Harvest, and I would certainly say that Explorer (and possibly Outpost) are better than Tribute. But that's nitpicking. Unless there's some card I'm not thinking of, these all deserve their placement on this list.
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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2013, 01:28:54 pm »
0

No Dark Ages cards here, huh? That's probably legit. I'd expect to see Rogue and Pillage in the second batch, though.
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clb

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2013, 01:31:33 pm »
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Oh thank God.

That Qvist has returned to good health and has posted more list, or that Witch wasn't on the list?
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Qvist

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2013, 01:35:43 pm »
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Oh thank God.

That Qvist has returned to good health and has posted more list, or that Witch wasn't on the list?

Actually I had a relapse (is this the correct word?) and lying here with low fever again.  :(

Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2013, 01:39:58 pm »
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Oh thank God.

That Qvist has returned to good health and has posted more list, or that Witch wasn't on the list?

I was just excited this was finally back!

No Dark Ages cards here, huh? That's probably legit. I'd expect to see Rogue and Pillage in the second batch, though.

Agreed, although at the time I ranked them, I had barely played with them at all, so I may not have even judged them correctly.
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clb

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2013, 01:41:49 pm »
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Oh thank God.

That Qvist has returned to good health and has posted more list, or that Witch wasn't on the list?

Actually I had a relapse (is this the correct word?) and lying here with low fever again.  :(

I am sorry to hear that!
I think relapse is the right word; I usually hear it with chronic illnesses, but I see no reason it wouldn't fit here.
Here's hoping you get better quickly.
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ChocophileBenj

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2013, 02:57:04 pm »
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Yeah, I was wondering about the $5 cards. Too bad you're ill, Qvist, and I truly hope (not only for the ranking of course) it will get better soon. (I was ill a few days ago too and I know what it is like !)

Concerning the rankings :
Yeah, CH and saboteur are the bottom 2 !
I didn't expect contraband to get so low, even though I didn't remember how I ranked it (but not truly high)
Harvest is really low, and it pleases me to see this, as I ranked it very low myself !
And no dark ages cards... I'm not surprised, I didn't notice bad $5 cards from DA, but I wonder where will come :
->pillage : probably low ; too bad it is a one-shot that gives one-shot treasures. But not so low because of the attack -which seems not as powerful as I thought first : it can destroy a turn, as it can just annoy a bit-
->knights : well, they may be everywhere in this ranking, but I expect them in one of the first three parts. Or maybe not.
->junk dealer : below or above upgrade ?
->cultist : probably highly ranked, but... how ?

Hope to see the following soon :)
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ftl

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2013, 03:16:05 pm »
+2

I think tribute belongs below outpost. Outpost can be really, really good in engines appropriate for it.
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Mic Qsenoch

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2013, 03:34:19 pm »
+1

My immediate thoughts looking at this list are something like "How can card X be this low, it works great in situation Y!" Which is basically what everyone wants to say when discussing these ranking lists. And I think everyone gets a little shortsighted in these discussions, but it's especially hard with the $5's because some of the niche cards at this price really shine in their niche, but really suck everywhere else. That being said, I'm just going to go ahead and do what I'm saying not to do.

Tribute is almost always okay and can be quite nice anytime you and your opponent are building similar decks. I don't think it belongs this low.
Outpost is of course a monster in some situations, a whole extra turn! I also think it is too low.

I would replace them with Royal Seal (top decking not a big deal), and probably one of the weak DA cards, but I'm not sure which because of limited play (Graverobber or Rogue maybe?).

Now we just wait for brokoli to show up and defend Saboteur/Harvest.
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Alexmf

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2013, 04:01:52 pm »
+1

The $5s are really hard to rank, imo. I mean, even the cards on the last ranks aren't really bad, rather situational.

Concerning the concrete rankings:

CH is certainly not a great $5, but imo worth it not that rarely. I've seen it put to good use in Ambassador games, for example, and the $ generated by it is not that bad when compared to say, Harvest. I don't think it's the worst $5, probably not even in the worst five $5.
I would also have rated Saboteur a bit higher. It can turn games around with a bit of luck, when you're desperate.

I pretty much agree on the rest, although i would have switched the rankings a bit.

Edit: Yay for the rankings going up!
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Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2013, 04:07:22 pm »
+1

The $5s are really hard to rank, imo. I mean, even the cards on the last ranks aren't really bad, rather situational.

Concerning the concrete rankings:

CH is certainly not a great $5, but imo worth it not that rarely. I've seen it put to good use in Ambassador games, for example, and the $ generated by it is not that bad when compared to say, Harvest. I don't think it's the worst $5, probably not even in the worst five $5.
I would also have rated Saboteur a bit higher. It can turn games around with a bit of luck, when you're desperate.

I pretty much agree on the rest, although i would have switched the rankings a bit.

Edit: Yay for the rankings going up!

But then which cards would you say are worse? I agree Counting House and Saboteur have their uses, every card has its uses, but which cards have fewer uses?
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Alexmf

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2013, 04:30:45 pm »
+1

The $5s are really hard to rank, imo. I mean, even the cards on the last ranks aren't really bad, rather situational.

Concerning the concrete rankings:

CH is certainly not a great $5, but imo worth it not that rarely. I've seen it put to good use in Ambassador games, for example, and the $ generated by it is not that bad when compared to say, Harvest. I don't think it's the worst $5, probably not even in the worst five $5.
I would also have rated Saboteur a bit higher. It can turn games around with a bit of luck, when you're desperate.

I pretty much agree on the rest, although i would have switched the rankings a bit.

Edit: Yay for the rankings going up!

But then which cards would you say are worse? I agree Counting House and Saboteur have their uses, every card has its uses, but which cards have fewer uses?

Well, I don't really know the DA cards, so can't comment on them.
But I can see myself rating Harvest (imo the worst $5), Mine, Contraband, Cache and Stash below CH and Saboteur. Maybe Explorer too, but I probably underestimate that card.
I think that CH and Saboteur more often have a dramatic impact on the game than those other cards I mentioned, and that often CH and Saboteur are disregarded prematurely (this does not make them "good" $5's in most cases anyway, and I'm pretty sure both belong to the worst ten $5 cards overall).
 
In fact, I would rate Tribute below CH and Saboteur as well. That may, however, be a personal issue, as I just dislike buying and using this unstable card which relies so much on luck. You don't know what you will get, you can't choose anything, and usually options range from  +4 Actions over +4 Cards to $4 (all of which sometimes great, sometimes horrible). You can even be so unlucky as to draw two same cards. Such a random effect is not what I want when I play a card, especially a $5 card.
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ftl

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2013, 04:47:17 pm »
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Tribute is almost always okay and can be quite nice anytime you and your opponent are building similar decks.

Well, Tribute just seems really bad whenever your opponent is building an engine. +4 actions is sort of not very good - unless you're using it as your primary source of actions, but if you're doing that then suddenly if it doesn't give you actions you're screwed. And it's very common for people to build action engines, so Tribute ends up sitting there as an unreliable, expensive village.
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Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2013, 04:56:16 pm »
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The $5s are really hard to rank, imo. I mean, even the cards on the last ranks aren't really bad, rather situational.

Concerning the concrete rankings:

CH is certainly not a great $5, but imo worth it not that rarely. I've seen it put to good use in Ambassador games, for example, and the $ generated by it is not that bad when compared to say, Harvest. I don't think it's the worst $5, probably not even in the worst five $5.
I would also have rated Saboteur a bit higher. It can turn games around with a bit of luck, when you're desperate.

I pretty much agree on the rest, although i would have switched the rankings a bit.

Edit: Yay for the rankings going up!

But then which cards would you say are worse? I agree Counting House and Saboteur have their uses, every card has its uses, but which cards have fewer uses?

Well, I don't really know the DA cards, so can't comment on them.
But I can see myself rating Harvest (imo the worst $5), Mine, Contraband, Cache and Stash below CH and Saboteur. Maybe Explorer too, but I probably underestimate that card.
I think that CH and Saboteur more often have a dramatic impact on the game than those other cards I mentioned, and that often CH and Saboteur are disregarded prematurely (this does not make them "good" $5's in most cases anyway, and I'm pretty sure both belong to the worst ten $5 cards overall).
 
In fact, I would rate Tribute below CH and Saboteur as well. That may, however, be a personal issue, as I just dislike buying and using this unstable card which relies so much on luck. You don't know what you will get, you can't choose anything, and usually options range from  +4 Actions over +4 Cards to $4 (all of which sometimes great, sometimes horrible). You can even be so unlucky as to draw two same cards. Such a random effect is not what I want when I play a card, especially a $5 card.

Okay, well  don't totally disagree with you. Counting House's best cases are actually pretty good. What's Harvest's best case?

I do think Mine, Contraband, and Cache beat out CH and Saboteur, though. I resort to the former more frequently, and they can make a difference in certain games.

Tribute is a really weird card. I don't think I'm a very good judge of it.

You know, maybe Harvest is the worst $5 card. I can't think of the last time I've bought it.
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WanderingWinder

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2013, 05:26:27 pm »
+4

Yeah, I've come around to thinking this recently. I do think harvest is the worst $5 card, which is really weird, because it isn't really bad. In fact, it's usually not even the card you'd swindle a $5 into most in most cases - even if we wouldn't allow duchy.

But you know, I'm pretty sure I'd put royal seal very close after it, because it's also just not all that useful. I mean, it's always fine, virtually never worse than silver, but... I mean, you can look at stash similarly to it, and which one is better? Usually RS is a tiny tiny bit better, but the problem is that in those few cases where stash is better, it's incredibly powerful.

So if I made a list today, I think it would probably be Harvest, Rogue, Royal Seal, Graverobber, Counting House, Stash, Pillage, Mine, Saboteur, Tribute, Cache, Outpost, Explorer, etc. or something thereabouts. I really don't have a good feel for Dark Ages though.

Tribute, the problem is, well, where is it good? I mean, it's really good if they are swimming in Harems, but how often is that? And so, ok, 4 cards is magnificent for $5, but it won't do that often (and it comes with the drawback of skipping two of their dead cards - already I am not sure that this is better than Council Room); 2 cards and $2 is really good for money, but you usually have a better payload in anything resembling an engine. 2 cards and 2 actions is obviously really really good, but again, they don't often have so much green. 2 Actions and $2 is worse than festival by a buy, and that's okay, but nothing super special. 4 actions is great if you have a draw-to-X card. But I mean, it is village village necropolis, or NVx3, picking up the third and starting with an empty mat. And well, if you have lots of terminals this is good, but the terminal density you'd need for this, you are going to have big chances at very dead hands. And the problem with counting on it for actions isn't so much that it's unreliable (though that can indeed be vexing) as it is that, well, in order for it to be reliable, they have a big action density. And if they have big action density, they probably have a different village to support, and getting that and something else on 5 is almost always going to be better than this. Add in that sometimes it's going to be terminal silver, occasionally moat-without-reaction, and (albeit rarely) necropolis, and that it does nothing for you at all on curses (and hovel), and it's pretty bad, even while very often it gives you a benefit that would be too strong to put on a $5.

Harvest... terminal gold-ish for 5 is actually not that good. And usually when it is, you are building a draw-your-deck engine, and this has the unfortunate property of not producing any money when your whole deck is drawn.

Counting House has so many nice things going for it, almost all of which are about 20% too complicated to actually work and be worth it. But it's an enormous counter to mountebank, and it has some nice marginal uses, particularly with high-sifting engines. Also not terrible in grind-to-a-halt kinds of games - goons and inn come to mind. But with some sifting, buy, village, can often be worth the cost. But very rarely by very much, and there's usually something a bit better.

Contraband can actually be excellent when you need +buy, and really almost anytime that there are lots of options you wouldn't mind. Especially if you can T4B it later. Okay, it's not too often, but it can really shine, oh maybe 15-20% of the time?

Cache is excellent for slogs. Really really great - except after long, you are buying green instead. And it's okay for big money. Just usually, you wish there was something better to do for $5. Of course, it also combos really nicely with trader and has a mild but in-a-pinch useful watchtower ticket.

Robz888

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #22 on: April 13, 2013, 05:57:04 pm »
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Its kind of interesting how bad all the $5 Treasure Cards are. Ill-Gotten Gains is the star, and Horn of Plenty is pretty good. I think Counterfeit is pretty mediocre, and the rest are deserving of very low ranks.

But yeah, I'm just realizing that I'm coming around on Harvest being the worst, too, so I second what WW said.
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WanderingWinder

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #23 on: April 13, 2013, 06:01:48 pm »
+2

At the same time, virtually none of these wouldn't be game-warping at $4, and there aren't so many that would be actually powerful at $6. Shows you how good Donald and his playtesters/developers were at pricing these, the most important price point.

Indeed probably the biggest pricing mistake when it comes to the 5s is that Adventurer isn't one.

Qvist

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Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2013 Edition: $5 cards (Part 1/6)
« Reply #24 on: April 13, 2013, 06:03:35 pm »
+5

I think Counterfeit is pretty mediocre

I disagree, I think it's amazing.
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