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[Beyond Awesome]

Now that all sets are out, I figured it is time to once more analyze the expansions, and decide which ones we like best. You can use any criteria you choose. With that said, let the games begin!

From what I consider weakest to best.

10. Promos--Not really a set, but these 5 cards are nice to have. Now, if only Goko would actually make it possible to get them.
9. Alchemy--This set makes long games. And, getting $2P on a familiar board is often game over. Also, a lot of people hate Possession, and I think that card turns off casual players which isn't good for the game.
8. Guilds--I like this set, don't get me wrong. I also probably don't have enough experience with it. But, it just seems to add cards to fill up plot holes more than anything else. I do like the cards in the set and the concept of coin tokens, but I feel it adds the least amount of value out of all the expansions.
7. Cornucopia--I love HoP. One of my favorite cards of all time. This set has a lot of amazing cards, but Tournament really brings this set down in my eyes. It is just too swingy of a card.
6. Intrigue--It has some of my favorite cards. But, I feel Torturer chains and Minions are too harsh for the more casual gamer. Me personally, I don't mind those cards. But, as a standalone, I think those two cards should have been exchanged for two lesser attacks, or at least one of them should have been exchanged. It also has Saboteur which a lot of casual players hate as well.
5. Hinterlands--I like a lot of the cards, and I think the set adds a lot of strategy, but it seems to be lacking something that other expansions seem to have.
4. Dark Ages--Despite what Donald X. says, I think this expansion adds the most strategy to the game. It has two of the most powerful cards, Cultist and Rebuild. It also seems to have more dud cards. Graverobber and Rogue rarely shine. Procession requires the right board. There are just too many cards that's usage are limited to speciality boards. I do think this expansion goes all out. I love Shelters. I love Spoils. I like the idea of upgrading into new cards. Lots of cool concepts. However, I think this set is not casual friendly at all. This is the last Dominion expansion I would show to someone getting into the game.
3. Seaside--Durations are awesome. Sadly, this set offers little strategic value. I means, yes, you have Embargo and Ambassador, but is it really that hard to figure out when to buy Wharf and Fishing Village and Sea Hag. By the way, Fishing Village is my second favorite card in the game.
2. Prosperity--I love King's Court. It's my favorite card. I think the treasure theme is overdone. Loan and Royal Seal are kind of boring cards. But, Colonies and other concepts make this what I consider the best expansion.
1. Dominion--Yes, the base game gets the first rank. Now, that I have become much better at this game, I realize BM is usually the best strategy to go with. But, this introduced me to the game and got me hooked. I think this serves as an excellent starting point for most people. It really simplifies things and introduces the concept of Dominion well. I played many base games before moving and on and discovering other expansions. Since this started the whole thing and was a success, I give base Dominion first place.

And, for the record, I am not a casual player, but I did take into consideration how a more casual person may view and experience this game when ranking it. If I were to go from a pure strategic perspective DA would get first place.

[scott_pilgrim]

After ranking them, it looks like my main criteria for ranking them were: how interesting are the decisions that must be made because of the expansion?, and how much does the expansion encourage engines?

My list:

10. Promos - I guess if these count, I put them last because I don't really like any of them.  Black Market is high variance, Walled Village just feels like a $4 vanilla village, Stash can do some cool things but mostly feels like a $5 silver, Envoy seems anti-fun, since you discard your best card, and I don't like Governor.

9. Base - By itself, the base set is pretty much dominated by big money, which is no fun.  There are a few really weak cards (Spy, Thief, Adventurer) that just don't add much, and none of the cards jump out as interesting, or even fun.  Maybe with the exception of Chapel, just because it helps engine-building.

8. Intrigue - The set contains Minion, Courtyard, Swindler, and Saboteur, all of which I hate (Courtyard because it so strongly encourages BM, Minion because it's a single-card strategy, Swindler and Saboteur because of high variance), and I'm not really fond of either of its main themes.  Choice isn't really that interesting because, well, I make choices when I choose what to buy.  And I also make choices when I play cards, in deciding an order to play them in, and things like choosing what to Embargo, what to throne, etc.  Putting explicit choices on cards doesn't really add much to the game.  Dual-types are all right I guess, but none of them do anything outstandingly fun or interesting with that.  They're just normal cards that make me say "hey I get 2 more victory points" at the end of the game.

7. Hinterlands - Overall, the set feels kind of awkward and clunky.  The on-gain effects generally feel to me like I'm buying two completely unrelated cards when I buy a card.  I buy Inn to improve my next few turns by shuffling actions into my deck, and then hey now I've got this "+2 cards, +2 actions, discard two cards" card in my deck.  This isn't really a problem for most people, but to me it just feels inelegant.  Also, it has JoaT, Fool's Gold, and Duchess, none of which I like.

6. Alchemy - This is probably higher than most people will have it.  Sure, it has two of my most hated cards (Familiar and Possession), but it also has a few cards that can be pretty fun - University, Alchemist, Scrying Pool, Vineyard, Golem, Apprentice.  The concept of potion is interesting as well.  I think Alchemy is better when played mixed with only one or two other sets.

5. Prosperity - This is probably lower than most people will have it.  Colonies can be fun and encourage engine-building, but they can also just make it "first player to Platinum wins".  (I used the word "can", I know this doesn't usually happen, and it depends on the board.)  My problem with prosperity is that a lot of the cards have this sort of problem.  Getting a Grand Market makes it so much easier to get more of them, and you can win the split pretty fast because of a good draw.  There's also Mountebank, so that's not fun.  But overall, I like Prosperity, enough to put it in the top half; it has King's Court, Worker's Village, Peddler, Monument.  It really encourages engines, which I like a lot.

4. Guilds - It's hard to rank this one because I haven't played it much, but I really like both themes.  Coin tokens puzzle me (which is a good thing), and unlike with Hinterlands on-gain effects, the overpay effects in Guilds feel connected to the cards they come on.  Soothsayer is by far my favorite junking attack.  Giving a benefit to the other player makes it so interesting.

3. Seaside - Durations are fun.  Wharf and Fishing Village just lead to so many engine possibilities (although Wharf is great for BM as well).  Embargo is interesting, Caravan is fun, Tactician can lead to some very unique strategies that we probably couldn't get anywhere close to without durations.  There are Ghost Ship, Ambassador, and Sea Hag, but really I don't mind any of those too much.  On the other hand, Treasure Map...

2. Cornucopia - Before Dark Ages came out, this was my favorite set.  It also contains my favorite card, Fairgrounds.  I really, really like the diversity theme.  Playing a board in a way that makes use of as many different cards as possible means sometimes you actually want to get that Scout in your deck, or want to spend $6 on Adventurer.  Menagerie is loads of fun (there's just something ridiculously satisfying about drawing a Menagerie hand), and I love all of Fairgrounds, Harvest, Jester, and Horn of Plenty.  I despise Tournament, but I otherwise love this set.

1. Dark Ages - Dark Ages is fantastic.  It has two of my three favorite cards (Rats and Mystic), Procession, Fortress, Poor House, Hunting Grounds.  What's not to love?  Oh yeah, there's Rebuild.  People complain about Rebuild, and I agree that it's insanely strong, but, if anything, that just makes it add more to the game.  A Dominion game with Rebuild in the kingdom feels completely different from a Dominion game without Rebuild in the kingdom, and I think that's a good thing.  I really, really like almost every card in Dark Ages, and when you play a game of DA mixed with only one or two other sets, you'll find an epic combo in almost every game.  Pure DA games are like "which killer combo is faster than the others?"

I'm interested to see other people's rankings, because I get the impression that Prosperity is generally loved and Alchemy generally hated, but I've never really felt that strongly about either of those two sets.

[SCSN]

I'm ranking the expansions solely based on how much I like them.

1. Dark Ages - The greatest expansion ever conceived and the primary reason I've played over 3000 games since iso went down. So many awesome combinations and interesting cards! My favorites are listed here.

2. Alchemy - One of the most creative expansions. I love Apprentice, Scrying Pool, Apothecary, Alchemist, Golem and Possession. While Transmute and Herbalist are silly, Vineyards is possibly my favorite card in the entire game.

3. Cornucopia - I love all the cards. Fairgrounds, Menagerie and Hamlet are particular favorites.

4. Seaside - Duration is a very cool concept that has been implemented well. All sorts of great cards and I just love double-Tactician.

5. Guilds - Some very interesting cards (Candlestick Maker, Stone Mason, Plaza, Herald, Merchant Guild), and I really love the idea of coin tokens and overspending. Unfortunately, I think not even half the potential these mechanics bring has been realized, so even though I like the set alot, I still find it somewhat disappointing.

6. Promos - I love Black Market, the others leave me indifferent.

7. Hinterlands - I hate FG and IGG and love Border Village, Highway, Haggler and Stables. The rest is kinda boring.

8. Prosperity - This has lots of cards I love, but I absolutely detest Colonies. I have no feel for them in terms of how much to build, when to green, etc. That itself wouldn't be a problem if only they offered in return lots of interesting nuances (like, say, Fairgrounds and Vineyards do), but none of that--all they do is needlessly prolong the game. Goons, KC, Worker's Village and Watchtower save this one from being last (and, well, even Colonies aren't as boring as Base...).

9. Intrigue - The only thing intriguing about this set is the baffling mismatch between its contents and its name.

10. Base - If I have trouble getting to sleep, I play a Base-only game. I time-out well before T4.

[Tables]

Hm, sounds interesting. I'll rate based on the set of cards as a whole, and not just an average over all the cards alone (exception: Promos) and will exclude cost-size balance (which would penalise small sets)

9: Cornucopia
8: Intrigue
7: Promos
6: Base
5: Dark Ages
4: Hinterlands
3: Prosperity
2: Alchemy
1: Seaside

?: Guilds

And the reasons for them:

9: Cornucopia - this is the only expansion that suffers from power creep, I feel. Whether intentional or not, around half the cards are power cards for their cost, which is something I dislike. I don't mind a few cards being powerful, that makes the game fun in my opinion, but when half the set are that good, it's not much fun.

8: Intrigue - Has some of the more annoying attacks, and nothing special enough to push it up from here.

7: Promos - Black Market is quirky but fun. Governor is a lot of fun. The other three are forgettable, but hey 2/5 being good is enough to push it up to here.

6: Base - Basic and a few notable cards, but otherwise, not exciting enough compared to all the other expansions. If I were factoring in this having basic cards, it (and Intrigue) would rise up like 3-4 places each.

5: Dark Ages - There's some real gems in this set, but I found a lot of the set to be reasonably forgettable. Not bad, per say, just not that many of the cards really jump to mind when I think of the set. I like the mechanics and stuff, but the rest of the expansions are just better.

4: Hinterlands - Kind of the opposite of Dark Ages. Some very memorable, and cool, cards in this set, but then you also have Ill-Gotten Gains and Jack of All Trades, which I dislike a lot. I like the mechanics and I especially like the attacks in the set, but those two black sheep stop it going higher.

3: Prosperity - Engine expansion whoo! Prosperity games tend to be a lot of fun, and involve building up bigger, better and often more fun decks. Those are good things. Okay, not all of the cards are good for this - there's a lot of kingdom treasures in there, but even a decent number of those are good for engines (Loan, Quarry, sometimes Talisman etc.). Not sure whether to factor in Colony/Platinum but I guess so. I have a love/hate relationship with those. I enjoy them, but they tend to make things a little more swingy, due to just how good Platinum is if you can get one early.

2: Alchemy - Engine expansion whoo! I'd have liked if there were a few more cards with potion costs, but this expansion is generally fun. I don't really get why people dislike it so much, probably because Possession, but that card is fine. Also Familiar I guess, but then you have the majority of the rest of the potion cards either being great for engines, or encouraging engines. And engines are what makes Dominion fun.

1: Seaside - My favourite expansion and it has been for a while. Durations are a lot of fun, and the set itself is very thematic. There's a few cards I dislike, such as Ghost Ship and Sea Hag, but they aren't enough to overcome my status quo bias of putting this first love of this expansion.

?: Guilds - Not enough experience with this, unfortunately. I expect it to be above middle, perhaps next to Hinterlands on an unknown side.

[ragingduckd]

9: Cornucopia - this is the only expansion that suffers from power creep, I feel. Whether intentional or not, around half the cards are power cards for their cost, which is something I dislike.

Definitely. Followers at $0 is way too cheap. It should be at least $2 or $3.

[Witherweaver]

I was actually thinking about bringing this topic up, but based solely on theme and not the actual mechanics and strategy. I think Dark Ages and Seaside rank highest for cool ideas of theme and consistency.  Squires becomes Knights, Hermits go crazy and become Madmen, Knights fight in a battle and kill each other, Urchin grows up to become a Mercenary, and of course, the functionality of Rats is perfect for the card idea.  Mystic is good too.  Though beyond those two I'm not sure how the others would rank.  Intrigue is pretty good, Alchemy seems alright, Prosperity and Cornucopia are probably lower.  I'm not sure if the base set really counts.

The list by theme may be something like:


9: Promos (no real theme, they're just promos.)

8: Cornucopia (I guess the theme is the Autumn harvest and fair.  It kind of works, but there isn't as much "wow that card does exactly what it conceptually should do" as some others.  Tournament is a neat idea and works as it should.  You win a tournament, you get notoriety.. maybe you're awarded land, or spoils, or you give your favor to the most beautiful princess, etc.  Fortune teller makes some sense.  Fairgrounds do too, I guess.. the more different tents and shows and things you have, the more prosperous your fair is.  But a lot of the other cards feel like the effect is there for the functionality theme.  What does Horse Traders have to do with trading horses?  What does Menagerie have to do with.. menageries?  Why is there a young witch at the fair.. and why can you Remake things there?  Why is the Jester giving out copies of stuff?)

7: Guilds (Mostly good, though sometimes it kind of feels like the functionality is put on the card for the sake of the functionality instead of what makes most sense for the card name.  We had a big discussion on if Butcher really made sense in what he's doing. Why does Candlestick maker give a buy and a coin token?  Why does Baker give a coin token?  Maybe it's because they trade their goods.  Why does Advisor give you bad advice?  Herald is great, though.  "Hey, this guy is coming whether you like it or not".  And stonemason and doctor make sense.)

6: Prosperity (The theme is wealth and everything bigger, which I guess makes some sense.  The cards are thematically appropriate in a kingdom that has grown large.  A forge, a bank, a quarry, some hooligans (goons), a grand market, a counting house, a mint, etc.  But overall I don't feel a lot of "wow that card does exactly what the concept should be doing".)

5. Alchemy (Everything seems pretty solid, but some things seem like Guilds where it's more of "this effect has to go somewhere."  Why do alchemists draw cards?  Why do apprentices trash them?  But University, Possession, Golem, Familiar fit pretty will with their functionality)

4: Hinterlands (This seems solid.  Lots of trading and traveling stuff.  Why isn't Scheme in Intrigue? )


*. Base (I might include Base here if I counted the general thematic idea of Dominion, which I think is brilliant.  Build a Kingdom.  You start with some land and sources of income (it may be more appropriate to see treasure as the source of that treasure since you don't lose it when you spend it).  You build villages, libraries, laboratories, chapels, moats, workshops, woodcutters, maybe some gardens, and you recruit people to live and work there---moneylenders, chancellors, spies, thieves, maybe an adventurer if you're feeling lucky.  And sometimes you get a witch infestation.  And your kingdom grows and prospers and you acquire more estates, duchies and provinces.)

3. Intrigue (Maybe this is a personal bias, but I think it's pretty cool.  There is a new slew of kingdom appointees (barons, nobles, dukes, scouts, stewards, the coppersmith, maybe the swindler (which I see as someone like Littlefinger)) as well as their darker underground counterparts (torturer, conspirator, saboteur, minion, even a harem).  The functionality is really good too.. Swindler does exactly what it should do, as does Saboteur.  Steward is a useful guy that keeps things ordered and keeps the kingdom functioning.  I like that Harem gives you money and VP. And when a Torturer chain is up and running you do really feel like you're being tortured.  And Masquerade is one of my favorite cards.  The idea is solid.. everyone dances around and things get mixed up, but you never know who you're dancing with until you look under the mask.  And maybe this big ball is just a cover to get some political intrigue done.. invite your opposing kingdoms to the ball only to trick them into leaving with the junk you didn't want).  The only big miss is that Scheme isn't in this set.

2. Seaside (Maybe this is the easiest one to make functionally consistent.  I mean, everything is about the sea.  But everything fits.  Well, maybe Treasury doesn't actually have anything to do, since it seems to be the kingdom's treasury and not some treasure you found buried (like from your treasure map!).  But otherwise, the cutpurse is hanging around the docks ready to nab the coin of anyone arriving from the ship.  The lighthouse watches the tower and protects you from incoming attacks, and the lookout protects your ship as it travels to new and uncharted territories.  The tactician spends some time going over his maps and forming a strategy, but once he does you're in a much more powerful position.  You can make a little outpost on a distant shore; the supplies are limited but you can still build a little bit.  Smugglers work thematically correct, as does Perl Diver, Embargo, Haven.  Ambassador is cool, too.  We sail to a new land; why not gift the natives with some nice copper and estates to show our "good will"?  And of course there are ghost ships, pirate ships and sea hags.  You can even bury your riches on a remote Island so no one can get them. (And, I guess, your estates?  Maybe you bury the deed to the estate.)  Maybe Caravan should be in Hinterlands, but I guess it's here for the duration part.

1. Dark Ages (The reasons I mentioned above.  The Knights concept is cool.  It's like a real battle.. if one kingdom has all the knights he'll trample over the other kingdom's army.  If both kingdoms have knights then the first part of the battle is a knight charge where they all kill each other, and then you're left in the same place as if neither of you had knights in the first place.  Plus, Rats is great; it's function is exactly perfect.  Hermit becoming a Madman if he doesn't go to town and get some interaction with the real world, a Squire becoming a Knight (or diverging from his path and becoming a Marauder), an Urchin growing up on the tough streets and living a life as a Mercenary.  Oh,  yeah, and when your cultist is done doing your dirty work you can sacrifice him to the altar.

[jsh357]

I'm not ranking the promos.  I'm cool with all of them except Governor (see the Hinterlands blurb and put it on the list with IGG, Jack and FG).  Black Market's one of my favorite cards.

9. Base - I started playing Dominion with all expansions (Cornucopia had come out) so I didn't realize what playing Base only games was like until that month isotropic was down and I had to play on Board Game Arena.  Wow, it's pretty light on variety to say the least.  Several cards I like, but a lot of them don't do much until you add expansions.  For the record I don't dislike any of the sets as a whole, I just have nitpicks.

8. Hinterlands - This set has FG, Jack and IGG.  I don't dislike any of those cards, but I have to admit all three of them can turn boards in to formulaic games that get very ho-hum once you know how to play them.  I feel like these cards weren't playtested on the same level as a lot of them, and they drag the set down in my estimation.

7. Intrigue - This set has some mean cards in it, which I don't mind but everyone else I play with moans about every single game they come up.  My wife won't even play games with Torturer or Saboteur.  I realize this is possibly a stupid reason to hate on an expansion, but I have to put Intrigue low on the list because of it.  There are a lot of interesting and powerful cards here, but the less drama the better.

6. Guilds - It's new so I may be underestimating Guilds, but I'm left feeling a little underwhelmed.  It's probably because this expansion had to follow Dark Ages, which was enormous and added so much to the game.  Tokens and overpaying are cool, but they are limited to so few cards I can't help wishing this were a large expansion.

5. Dark Ages - I'm probably ranking this lower than most players would.  I like the set, I like the enormous nature of it.  Love shelters, love trashing.  As a relatively good Dominion player, I want to call it my favorite.  However, I've noticed this set is just not a crowd pleaser.  When I play with people IRL, they get confused by the cards or aren't interested in them.  Maybe there's something to that argument.  The expansion drags games out a lot even for me.  Fortunately, Dark Ages games are the slowest Dominion gets in my experience.  I think pushing it any farther would be a very bad thing.  Oh, and there's Rebuild, which has joined the unholy trio alongside Governor and Tournament in "cards I dread seeing"

4. Prosperity - Colonies make the game deeper without overcomplicating it for newer players.  The power cards feel powerful but balanced.  Victory point tokens are a cool addition.  Most of the additions in this set are things I like.   It feels a bit dry compared to my top three, but it's a solid expansion I recommend to everyone who gets the game.

3. Alchemy - I love the love it or hate it set.  Scrying Pool games are interesting, Golem is my wife's favorite card, love Apprentice to death, love people falling for Alchemist traps.  Possession makes for some fun shenanigans IRL.  I have an irrational love for this expansion, I realize.

2. Seaside - Probably the easiest expansion to recommend.  Durations are simple to learn, getting players in the mindset of preparing for next turn helps them improve.  Ambassador is one of the most complex cards in the game, but you'd never know it looking at it.  If I have any complaint it's that Ghost Ship and Sea Hag are pretty mean, but they fit the theme well too.  There's just something fun about having a bunch of orange cards ready to go for next turn.

1. Cornucopia - Hands-down my favorite gameplay theme in the expansions.  Menagerie is a card of beauty, something I almost always go for when it's available.  Horn of Plenty is one of the most satisfying decks to run.  The only card I don't like is Tournament (and I really really don't like it) but in fairness it seems a little less powerful since DA and Guilds came around.  Lots of powerful cards that mix in well with other sets.  Variety is the spice of Dominion anyway, so an expansion based around it just makes sense.

[liopoil]

for me, in terms of most fun to play with:

1. Prosperity
2. Dark Ages
3. Guilds
4. Cornucopia
5. Seaside
6. Hinterlands
7. Intrigue
8. Alchemy
9. Base

[markusin]

I'm not sure on what criteria I should rank these cards on. I'll just try to rank them by my favourites, but that's proven to be a challenge as well. I'll mention now that I'm not that much of an pure engine fanatic, and my favourite kinds of decks are ones that merge big money with engine.

10. Promos
9. Hinterlands
8. Prosperity
7. Alchemy
6. Seaside
5. Guilds
4. Base
3. Cornucopia
2. Intrigue
1. Dark Ages

10. Promos: I find most of these cards to be pretty stale, with the exception of Black Market. Funny story, there were a few IRL base only games where we used the blank cards as Black Markets, based solely on my description of the card. I forgot about the detail that it gives +2$ though. Playing as essentially a Ruined Market didn't stop it from being purchased though.

9. Hinterlands: I like the idea of on-gain effects, and you have cards like Haggler and Border Village can really give you a power trip as you gain all those cards. However, I have a hard time immersing myself into the world of Hinterlands. Actually, I really don't understand the world of Hinterlands much at all. I just know what's in there.

8. Prosperity: This really takes Dominion to another level. Overpowered Platinum, nasty Goons, shiny Grand Markets, and the King's Court itself. The cards don't tend to be too fancy, but they're solid. This set has the problem where getting the strong cards before your opponents often results in an unshakeable lead.
 
7. Alchemy: I'd probably put this one rank lower if I played with this set IRL. I imagine things get really slow. This set is full of things that look broken but usually aren't, like Alchemist, Scrying Pool, Golem, University, Apprentice, and Possession. But their cost and slowness brings their power to a fairly balanced level, so that's cool. Apothecary ain't too shabby either.

6. Seaside: This set is very solid in terms of the strength of the cards in it. Pirate Ship, Treasure Map, and Treasury are the only cards that really make me roll my eyes when I see them. One criticism I have to give it is how slow the powerful attackers make the game. games where Sea Hags, Ambassadors, and Ghost Ships duke it out can get dreadful. Luckily, you have cards like Wharf, Lookout, and Tactician that give you a way out.

5. Guilds: The coin tokens are another thing that can give you such a power trip, and many of the cards use it. This expansion does a lot to boost and help optimize the many familiar strategies with the transformation of spending power to coin tokens. The set also adds a few new, coin token specific strategies. The overpay mechanic turned out to be something that isn't too hard to wrap your head around either. Still, I can't help but feel that the set is a bit lacking on its own.

4. Base: Hey, This is what got me into Dominion in the first place. This set has some of the best cards, but also a lot of the worst cards. For such simplicity, the Base set just feels comfortable and familiar. Dominion games would start feeling empty without such classics as the Throne Room, the Militia, the Laboratory, the Witch, and the Chapel.

3. Cornucopia: The variety theme really works for me. I'm not so sure how good Tournament is for the game, but the other cards give you so much to do, and you have cards that reward you for the variety. There's also Hunting Party, which is just the magical card you always wanted in an engine. I do agree that the set has a high concentration of power cards. Things just get crazy in a Cornucopia heavy game.

2. Intrigue: Gosh, I'm starting to realize just how many of my favourite cards are in this set. I'd find myself really missing cards like Wishing Well, Upgrade, Bridge, Minion, Duke, the Dual-VP cards, and even Shanty Town if I had to stop playing Intrigue. Also, my all around favourite Dominion card, Steward, is in this set. It still has the same problem as the base set, where there are Witch Tier cards mixed with Scout Tier cards. There tends to be better synergy amonst the cards in this set, weak though some of them may be.

1. Dark Ages: I remember looking at the Dark Ages previews and thinking that this was going to be the best expansion. This expansion offers so many different strategies to try and so many combos/nombos to discover. The winning strategies are a lot less obvious than usual in Dark Ages. Overall, there's lots of fun to be had with powerful one-shots, Knight wars, Procession card climbs, Altar sacrifices, and more. Shelters are cool too, and help balance some of the power cards like Ambassador, Hunting Party, and most importantly Rebuild. I like how game warping Rebuild is though. It's the largest set, so it has an unfair advantage. The notable negatives of Dark Ages are the casual player unfriendliness, partly due to cards that actively hurt you when used incorrectly (Rats, Procession, Death Cart, Poor House, Wandering Minstrel) as due to cards that are highly situational.

[dondon151]

What does Menagerie have to do with.. menageries?

I think that Menagerie is one of the most thematic cards in the game.

[Mic Qsenoch]

What does Menagerie have to do with.. menageries?

I think that Menagerie is one of the most thematic cards in the game.

They've got a picture of a Menagerie right there on the card and everything!

[Archetype]

What does Menagerie have to do with.. menageries?

I think that Menagerie is one of the most thematic cards in the game.

Right behind Wharf!

[Witherweaver]

What does Menagerie have to do with.. menageries?

I think that Menagerie is one of the most thematic cards in the game.

Right behind Wharf!

I meant the effect of Menagerie.  I guess a menagerie is better if there are more varied and exotic creatures in it.. I mean no one wants to go see five copies of a house cat.  But why drawing cards?  Maybe it brings people to your kingdom, or something.

Wharf can maybe be justified.  You build a wharf and ships can dock there and bring food, supplies, people, exotic goods, etc.  So you get stuff, hence drawing cards.  And the ships keep coming, so it lasts another turn.  Or something.

Edit: Okay actually, maybe I can see Menagerie.  Like a Courtyard brings bunch of people to it, and that translates to drawing cards.  I guess a Menagerie can do that, too, but only if the menagerie is worth traveling to look at.

[Beyond Awesome]

5. Guilds: The coin tokens are another thing that can give you such a power trip, and many of the cards use it. This expansion does a lot to boost and help optimize the many familiar strategies with the transformation of spending power to coin tokens. The set also adds a few new, coin token specific strategies. The overpay mechanic turned out to be something that isn't too hard to wrap your head around either. Still, I can't help but feel that the set is a bit lacking on its own.

I agree. I feel after it was known Guilds would be postponed for the base cards, I think they should have tried to make it into a larger set. There seems to be more room for overpaying and coin tokens. Also, Donald X. said he wanted to do another Duration set. More Duration cards would have fit in well because coin tokens are sort of like Durations themselves and affect the next turn. Also, Taxman affects your next turn, so I kind of wish this expansion had more cards to better explore its themes. And, hey, more Duration cards would have been nice.

[Davio]

1. Cornucopia, even though I loathe Tournament, I love Menagerie, HoP and Fairgrounds
2. Prosperity, King's Court makes even the most improbable engines possible.
3. Seaside, Durations are fun!
4. Hinterlands, the first expansion that really took me out of my comfort zone
5. Dark Ages, see Hinterlands, but it was the second
6. Intrigue, it has some cute cards
7. Base, the one that started it all
8. Guilds, yes, this low, mostly because it disappointed me, the mechanics are cute, but it's just too little value for money
9. Alchemy, mostly because of Familiar and Possession and the resolve time of Scrying Pool
10. Promos, meh, they're not really an expension

[LastFootnote]

1. Hinterlands: I much prefer a larger deck with sifting to a huge draw-your-entire-deck-every-turn engine. I'm more of a tactical player (when I'm on the ball), so I appreciate the opportunism of on-gain abilities.
2. Dark Ages: So many cool combos.
3. Guilds: I'm still getting the hang of these cards, but I do love the two mechanics. Maybe in the months to come this'll slide down the list a bit.
4. Intrigue: Mostly I just like how well these cards jive with Hinterlands.
5. Alchemy: Now that I'm playing games with 5 Alchemy cards at a time, I'm really getting into Alchemy again. It's nice to buy Transmute and Philosopher's Stone and have it pay off.
6. Seaside: Maybe I'm just a bit sick of Ambassador games, Sea Hag games, and Ambassador/Sea Hag games. Seaside is still a great set. Well, they all are, really.
7. Prosperity: I've never understood why so many people are enamored with this set in general, and with playing Colony games in particular. I really like the Kingdom Treasure cards, but they take too much of a backseat to the power Actions.
8. Cornucopia: I'm really bad with Cornucopia cards. Like, abysmally bad. Playing Cornucopia games is an exercise in frustration for me.
9. Base Set: Still some great cards here, but they're vanilla by design.

[AJD]

5. Alchemy (Everything seems pretty solid, but some things seem like Guilds where it's more of "this effect has to go somewhere."  Why do alchemists draw cards?  Why do apprentices trash them?  But University, Possession, Golem, Familiar fit pretty will with their functionality)

Apprentice is the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Remember how Mickey Mouse trashes a broom, only to end up with multiple brooms. Replace "broom" with "card" and you get what Apprentice does.

[WanderingWinder]

5. Alchemy (Everything seems pretty solid, but some things seem like Guilds where it's more of "this effect has to go somewhere."  Why do alchemists draw cards?  Why do apprentices trash them?  But University, Possession, Golem, Familiar fit pretty will with their functionality)

Apprentice is the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Remember how Mickey Mouse trashes a broom, only to end up with multiple brooms. Replace "broom" with "card" and you get what Apprentice does.

Apprentice is David Bronstein?

For the four of you who get the reference, thanks.

[TrojH]

Call it a cop-out if you want, but my rankings would be as follows:

Base = Intrigue = Seaside = Alchemy = Prosperity = Cornucopia = Hinterlands = Dark Ages = Guilds = Promos

I think it would be a serious blow to the game if any of these sets were removed. I love them all.

[Dsell]

Call it a cop-out if you want, but my rankings would be as follows:

Base = Intrigue = Seaside = Alchemy = Prosperity = Cornucopia = Hinterlands = Dark Ages = Guilds = Promos

I think it would be a serious blow to the game if any of these sets were removed. I love them all.

To be fair, it probably wouldn't be a serious blow if the promos were removed. I like them a lot but would any of us really be saying "Hmmmm, something is missing" if we didn't have them?

[StrongRhino]

Call it a cop-out if you want, but my rankings would be as follows:

Base = Intrigue = Seaside = Alchemy = Prosperity = Cornucopia = Hinterlands = Dark Ages = Guilds = Promos

I think it would be a serious blow to the game if any of these sets were removed. I love them all.

To be fair, it probably wouldn't be a serious blow if the promos were removed. I like them a lot but would any of us really be saying "Hmmmm, something is missing" if we didn't have them?

Gotta agree with him. I don't have any on Goko, and I don't feel any loss (though that may be because I don't own them or play on iso enough to see them much.

[NoMoreFun]

As a Goko freeloader (I'm not going to pay for a service that disconnects 20% of the time and makes me look bad for it), I've been playing a disproportionately high amount of base only games, and it most definitely seems to be the worst set.

Looking at the list of cards, so many names of "bad" cards pop up:

Moat
Chancellor
Woodcutter
Workshop
Bureaucrat
Feast
Spy
Thief
Adventurer

All of those are regularly ridiculed here on the forums, and they make up about 1/3 of the set. Other than Militia, Witch and Chapel, none of the cards really stand out as being excellent. There's also very few "Johnny"/"Timmy" cards. Festival/Library and Throne Room are the only ones that seem to jump out.

In fact, Witch and Chapel just seem to dominate every game they're in. The only cards that can do anything about curses once they enter your deck are Chapel and Remodel (which is pretty bad at it). The best way to stop Witch is to buy a Witch. BM-Witch mirrors aren't necessarily boring or lacking in strategic depth, but they don't seem very much in the spirit of the game (which involves each player carving out their own strategy).

The presence of ANY other set just seems to make every game so much more fun. I enjoy awful terminal only Ghost Ship+Sea Hag kingdoms more than even the most reasonable base set kingdoms.

I'm not sure which order to put the other sets in, but Dark Ages and Seaside would probably come at the top.

[Piemaster]

9: Cornucopia - this is the only expansion that suffers from power creep, I feel. Whether intentional or not, around half the cards are power cards for their cost, which is something I dislike. I don't mind a few cards being powerful, that makes the game fun in my opinion, but when half the set are that good, it's not much fun.

....

1: Seaside - My favourite expansion and it has been for a while. Durations are a lot of fun, and the set itself is very thematic. There's a few cards I dislike, such as Ghost Ship and Sea Hag, but they aren't enough to overcome my status quo bias of putting this first love of this expansion.

I find this list curious, because to me Seaside is the expansion which has the most power creep.  Using Qvist's rankings, Seaside has:

- 2 of the top 3 of the $3 cards (Ambassador, Fishing Village)
- The most powerful $4 card (Sea Hag)
- The 3rd best $5 card (Wharf)
- Several other cards such as Lighthouse, Warehouse and Caravan, that are very strong even if they don't get listed in the 'best of the best' category.

Now you could argue over whether Cornucopia has more or less power cards than this, but I'm intrigued that you use it as the sole justification for putting Cornucopia in last place, yet never even mention it while putting Seaside in first.

[Awaclus]

1: Seaside - I hate Lighthouse, and I'm not really a fan of Smugglers either, but I absolutely love every other card in Seaside. Especially Pearl Diver, Ambassador, Cutpurse and Sea Hag.
2: Guilds - Maybe I'm overrating it because it's new, but there are just many interesting cards in it and I don't particularly dislike any of the cards. And there's Merchant Guild.
3: Dark Ages - There is a number of cards I don't really have a strong opinion on, but all of the cards I have an opinion on, I like. Especially Cultist, Sage and Knights.
4: Intrigue - I used to dislike Intrigue, but it's been really growing on me. I still don't really like any of the Victory cards in it, and the Victory cards are kind of the point, but all the other cards are quite cool. Baron, Bridge and Swindler are the highlights for me.
5: Base - It's difficult to say how much I like the cards after being so familiar with them for so long. I don't know. Fun things are fun and base is base.
6: Hinterlands - Used to be my favorite, but I don't really like Embassy and Fool's Gold. And they are so powerful, too. There's still Ill-Gotten Gains, Border Village, Oracle, Jack of all Trades and other cards that I like a lot, but lately, I've gotten very uncomfortable with Embassy and FG and they both are cards that I often have to buy.
7: Alchemy - I like Potion a lot, but Familiar is the only card in the set that I really like. Apprentice is fine too, but the rest isn't too interesting.
8: Promos - Envoy and Walled Village are nice, but I don't like the rest a lot. And there are only five cards, too.
9: Cornucopia - I like Fortune Teller, but it's often weak so I won't end up buying it very often. Hamlet is cool. Maybe Horse Traders, too, but the others are cards that I'd rather not play with.
10: Base cards
11: Prosperity - Lots of cards that I dislike (including Colony and Platinum), lots of cards that I don't really care about, and King's Court. And King's Court isn't enough to save it. I got Prosperity IRL just for completeness's sake, not going to get it on Goko.

[Tables]

9: Cornucopia - this is the only expansion that suffers from power creep, I feel. Whether intentional or not, around half the cards are power cards for their cost, which is something I dislike. I don't mind a few cards being powerful, that makes the game fun in my opinion, but when half the set are that good, it's not much fun.

....

1: Seaside - My favourite expansion and it has been for a while. Durations are a lot of fun, and the set itself is very thematic. There's a few cards I dislike, such as Ghost Ship and Sea Hag, but they aren't enough to overcome my status quo bias of putting this first love of this expansion.

I find this list curious, because to me Seaside is the expansion which has the most power creep.  Using Qvist's rankings, Seaside has:

- 2 of the top 3 of the $3 cards (Ambassador, Fishing Village)
- The most powerful $4 card (Sea Hag)
- The 3rd best $5 card (Wharf)
- Several other cards such as Lighthouse, Warehouse and Caravan, that are very strong even if they don't get listed in the 'best of the best' category.

Now you could argue over whether Cornucopia has more or less power cards than this, but I'm intrigued that you use it as the sole justification for putting Cornucopia in last place, yet never even mention it while putting Seaside in first.

You just listed four cards out of 26 that are right at the top, compared to:
Hamlet is the #2 $2 card
Menagerie is around #4-5 on the $3's
Remake, Tournament, Young Witch are the #3-5 $4 cards
Hunting Party is about #4-5 on the $5's

That's 6 cards out of 13 that are right at the top of their price brackets. Almost every expansion has some top level cards, some middling cards, and some low cards. Cornucopia just happens to have way too many top level cards. Even including the other three cards you named, it's 7/26, or barely over a quarter of the cards, in the top quarter of cards. Without that, it's 4/26 in the top 10%, which is a little high, but not really significantly so.

It also helps that cards like Wharf and Ambassador are fun and powerful, while cards like Tournament and Hunting Party are the extremely boring kind of powerful. And I don't know if you've played Hunting Party in real life, let me tell you, the whole digging for cards is not fun.

[Just a Rube]

9: Cornucopia - this is the only expansion that suffers from power creep, I feel. Whether intentional or not, around half the cards are power cards for their cost, which is something I dislike. I don't mind a few cards being powerful, that makes the game fun in my opinion, but when half the set are that good, it's not much fun.

....

1: Seaside - My favourite expansion and it has been for a while. Durations are a lot of fun, and the set itself is very thematic. There's a few cards I dislike, such as Ghost Ship and Sea Hag, but they aren't enough to overcome my status quo bias of putting this first love of this expansion.

I find this list curious, because to me Seaside is the expansion which has the most power creep.  Using Qvist's rankings, Seaside has:

- 2 of the top 3 of the $3 cards (Ambassador, Fishing Village)
- The most powerful $4 card (Sea Hag)
- The 3rd best $5 card (Wharf)
- Several other cards such as Lighthouse, Warehouse and Caravan, that are very strong even if they don't get listed in the 'best of the best' category.

Now you could argue over whether Cornucopia has more or less power cards than this, but I'm intrigued that you use it as the sole justification for putting Cornucopia in last place, yet never even mention it while putting Seaside in first.

I actually did some calculations about Qvist rankings at one point recently. I looked at cards in top and bottom quintile of each list. This was before the $6+ list came out, and I excluded Alchemy and Promo cards entirely (treated them as if they didn't exist for purposes of calculating the quintiles).

When you subtracted the "bad" cards from the "strong" cards using this formula, I was surprised to discover that they all almost (i.e. within 1) exactly cancelled out except for two of the expansions. Yes, Seaside has Wharf, Sea Hag, etc., but it also has cards like Treasure Map and Pearl Diver. Likewise, Intrigue (home of Scout, Saboteur, etc.) has a reputation for being weak, but it also has cards like Masquerade and Swindler.

The 2 exceptions:

Cornucopia had 6 cards in the top quintile, and only 2 in the bottom quintile. When you remember that it's only a 13 card set...

Base. Base has a reputation for being somewhat underpowered, and the community ratings seem to bear that out. 9 (!) cards from Base were in the bottom quintile, while only 3 made it into the top quintile (Militia was the 3rd).

So to summarize; Base cards, while often important, tend to be weak on average, while Cornucopia cards tend to be very strong on average. Now with numbers!

Edit: Should note I rounded up on the sizes of my quintiles.

[Piemaster]

You just listed four cards out of 26 that are right at the top, compared to:
Hamlet is the #2 $2 card
Menagerie is around #4-5 on the $3's
Remake, Tournament, Young Witch are the #3-5 $4 cards
Hunting Party is about #4-5 on the $5's

That's 6 cards out of 13 that are right at the top of their price brackets. Almost every expansion has some top level cards, some middling cards, and some low cards. Cornucopia just happens to have way too many top level cards. Even including the other three cards you named, it's 7/26, or barely over a quarter of the cards, in the top quarter of cards. Without that, it's 4/26 in the top 10%, which is a little high, but not really significantly so.

It also helps that cards like Wharf and Ambassador are fun and powerful, while cards like Tournament and Hunting Party are the extremely boring kind of powerful. And I don't know if you've played Hunting Party in real life, let me tell you, the whole digging for cards is not fun.

In addition to the ones I mentioned, Ghost Ship, Tactician, Salvager and Warehouse are also in the top 25%

If you think that Seaside cards are more fun, then that's a perfectly valid reason to rank it higher.  Just seemed weird that you ranked Cornucopia dead last solely because of it's power then don't even mention it for Seaside.

[werothegreat]

Hmmmm.

9) Base - Sure, it's the one that hooked us all in, and it has a few key cards, like Throne Room, but having played with the expansions it's just so blah now.  I like it when Base cards pepper my kingdoms, but not when they're the entire kingdom, which is something I really can only say about Base (or maybe Alchemy - 8 Potion cards would be kind of intense).

Intrigue - Again, some really solid cards, and definitely more interesting than Base, but Base and Intrigue together, to me, form the actual "base" of Dominion - these are the key, solid cards.  There's nothing wrong with Intrigue, it's just that the other expansions are so much more interesting.

7) Seaside - I swear I'm not just going in order.  Bear in mind that from here on out, they're really, really close.  I do love Seaside, I just love the other sets more.  Durations are amazing (more, Donald X!), but this really is the last set to be affected by any sort of power creep or just Donald X in general getting better at rounding out cards.

6) Alchemy - I'm definitely not on the Alchemy hate bandwagon - some great cards here, definitely - but again, the best is yet to come.

5) Cornucopia - Told you I wasn't going in order!  Great set, great theme.

4) Guilds - I really like my experience with Guilds so far - I like what it adds, and I love how it affects the overall strategy of the game.  I predict that several of these will become household names, either for their uniqueness (Stonemason, Baker) or their power (Journeyman, Masterpiece, Merchant Guild).

3/2/1) I just can't pick between these - Hinterlands, Prosperity and Dark Ages are my favorite expansions.  Since I've shoved the Base Cards with the pretty pictures into Hinterlands, I oftentimes will just bring these three sets when playing Dominion IRL.  Lately I've also brought Guilds just to keep trying new things with it, but if these were the three only available sets of Dominion, I would still be quite satisfied.  Prosperity for the feeling of so much money (mwahahaha), Dark Ages for the fantastic combos and card interactions (Rats and Death Cart forever!), and Hinterlands as the most solid set in Dominion. 

[Awaclus]

Intrigue

I hate it when this happens.

[UmbrageOfSnow]

  Base Set
  Promos
  Intrigue
  Cornucopia
  Seaside
  Guilds
  Hinterlands
  Alchemy
  Prosperity
  Dark Ages

[eHalcyon]

Intrigue

I hate it when this happens.

8)

[Tables]

You just listed four cards out of 26 that are right at the top, compared to:
Hamlet is the #2 $2 card
Menagerie is around #4-5 on the $3's
Remake, Tournament, Young Witch are the #3-5 $4 cards
Hunting Party is about #4-5 on the $5's

That's 6 cards out of 13 that are right at the top of their price brackets. Almost every expansion has some top level cards, some middling cards, and some low cards. Cornucopia just happens to have way too many top level cards. Even including the other three cards you named, it's 7/26, or barely over a quarter of the cards, in the top quarter of cards. Without that, it's 4/26 in the top 10%, which is a little high, but not really significantly so.

It also helps that cards like Wharf and Ambassador are fun and powerful, while cards like Tournament and Hunting Party are the extremely boring kind of powerful. And I don't know if you've played Hunting Party in real life, let me tell you, the whole digging for cards is not fun.

In addition to the ones I mentioned, Ghost Ship, Tactician, Salvager and Warehouse are also in the top 25%

If you think that Seaside cards are more fun, then that's a perfectly valid reason to rank it higher.  Just seemed weird that you ranked Cornucopia dead last solely because of it's power then don't even mention it for Seaside.

It wasn't soley because of power. I guess there's a fine line between 'powerful so it's fun' and 'unfun because of power' which Seaside stays behind, while Cornucopia crosses. I also find a lot of Seaside's strong cards are very fun - Wharf and Fishing Village make for great engines, Tactician leads to exciting double turns, Ambassador games tend to be interesting and exciting, Salvager leads to some fun plays etc.. With Cornucopia, any fun you might have from Remake and Menagerie is more than cancelled out by Tournament and Hunting Party, two of my least favourite cards in the whole of Dominion.

[brokoli]

I'll never understand why people put Cornucopia so low only because of tournament... hey, it's 1/13 of the set...
So for me :

9. Alchemy : I'm not an Alchemy hater but overall, this is the expansion I like the least because I don't like Familiar so much (even if still more than Mountebank and Witch), I hate alchemist (I don't see how it can be interesting), Philosopher's stone is weird, and Transmute is a bad designed card in my opinion. Otherwise, I love Apprentice and Vineyard.

8. Base : Not as awesome as the expansions.

7. Prosperity : At first I liked it a lot, now not so much. I don't enjoy the brutality of Mountebank and Goons games, and most of the other cards are unexciting. Like in every other sets, there are cards I have a particular love for (Forge being number 1), but overall still less than the other sets.

6. Intrigue : I have love and Hate cards. I think Seaside should have been a better expansion for first, but still a great expansion.

5. Dark Ages : I'm still discovering the expansion, so its position might change. But I think overall I like the cards from Seaside and Guilds a little bit more, even if the subtleties of a few DA cards (like Rogue or procession) is awesome.

4. Seaside : There are some of the most interesting cards of the game in this expansion (Embargo, Tactician). And yes, durations are fun.

3. Guilds : Coin tokens and overpaying are two new excellent mechanics. Some funky and subtle cards, I think like Hinterlands, I'll like the expansion better the more I'll play with.

2. Hinterlands  : This expansion is fascinating. At first, I was a little skeptical about some cards (like... Duchess. What is the point ?), but really now I love what they add to the game. Yes, even IGG. Yes, even Jack sometimes. And duchess. I also love Develop. I played a bunch of games where I though it was a stupidly weak card, but now I love the tricks I can do with it. There is so much subtlety in this expansion. Incredible.

1. Cornucopia  : With no doubt, my favourite expansion. Excepting tournament, everything is perfect. Jester, FT and Young witch are the example of the "good" attacks (I mean, interesting AND enjoyable). Remake is one of the most interesting trashers. Fairgrounds change the dynamic of the game...

[GwinnR]

I do something like that in the german forums. Just like Qvists rankings, not with the strenght but how you like the cards.

Without Dark Ages and Guilds this is the result (from liked to uliked):

1. Cornucopia
2. Hinterlands
3. Base
4. Prosperty
5. Intrique
6. Seaside
7. Promo
8. Alchemy

[For the germans here...this is the thread of which i spoke: http://forum.dominionblog.de/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2000]

[StrongRhino]

10: Base Cards- 5%- Seriously Donald? The only visble strategy here is BM. And what's up with potion? There isn't any potion cost in the set???

9: Base- 30%- Yeah it's what started us off, and it's nice and all, but too many weak cards. Pretty bland.

8: Hinterlands- 45%- There are cards I really hate, like IGG, FG, plus stuff like like Duchess that makes you want to cry. I really only like Tunnel and Silk Roads here. I do hate to put it this low, but something has to be down here.

7: Cornucopia- 50%- Tournament is horrible. Why? Just why? Fortune Teller is boring, Jester is annoying and kind of swingy. There are some cards I like, like horse traders, but again, I can't rank all the sets high.

6: Intruige- 60%- I genuinely like a lot of cards here, like Bridge, Conspirator, Baron, and Steward. I really dislike Swindler and Torturer. Pretty average for me.

5: Prosperity- 65%- Many cards I like, like Peddler, and Bishop, as well as stuff like Watchtower, Loan, and Venture. Dislike the snowball nature of GM, and dislike Mountebank, but otherwise is fine.

4: Alchemy- 75%- I really hate Familiar, but all the other cards (even Herbalist and Transmute) range from nice to awesome. Potions are fun for me, Golem is crazy awesome, Apprentice is fun, SP is so satisfying, and Vineyards is pretty cool. PStone is also very interesting as well.

3: Guilds- 85%- Overpay and coin tokens are really fun and cool, escpecially overpay (Acheivement Unclocked!) but the other cards leave something to desire.

2: Dark Ages- 90%- So much awesome. The only card I really dislike is Cultist. Rats is so satisfying to win with, the upgrades are useful, and it's fun doing on-trash ability shenanigans. Shelters and Ruins add a lot. Poor House is cool, as are Spoils. Counterfeit, JD, and Forager are good and interesting trashers. Knights are cool as well. I think this expansion adds the most to the game.

1: Seaside- 95%- Love durations, Sea Hag fixes the problem of 5 cursers, everyone can open. Island, NV and Haven are cool, even Pirate Ship has its virtues. TM is swingy, but with support can be strategic, Treasury is nice, as is Explorer. Even the lowly Pearl Diver isn't that bad. So much good, and very little mediocre makes this my favorite.

[Piemaster]

Here is my list.  Just going to deal in proper sets/expansions, not getting into promos and stuff.

9. Base - I loved it at the time, but it really looks dated now.  Too many really bad and uninteresting cards.  Still, it does a job and does it well.

8. Alchemy - I don't dislike Alchemy as much as some people, but it does seem a bit out of sync with the rest of the game somehow.  I don't like the idea of having to 'doctor' my sets and kingdoms to accommodate the clunky potion mechanic, even though I do like a lot of the cards.

7. Guilds - I haven't played enough Guilds to give an accurate assessment yet, but it seems I am not as enthralled as most people.  It has some nice mechanics in it, but due to the small size of the set they are not really fleshed out very well.  It would have been better to make this a larger expansion I think.

6. Hinterlands - Pretty good, I guess, I like a lot of the cards in Hinterlands.  There are some rather bland ones I dislike though, such as Duchess, Inn and Farmland and the mechanics in there don't excite me all that much.  This could have traded with Guilds and been the smaller set.

5. Intrigue - I like Intrigue quite a lot and thought it was the perfect follow-up to the original.  The cards are a lot more interesting than base and many of them are still favourites of mine.

4. Dark Ages - Dark Ages is a kind of crazy madness that I enjoy playing with a lot.  I don't think I would want to play a Kingdom of pure DA, but sprinkled in amongst other expansions it works well and facilitates some very interesting interactions.

3. Prosperity - I'm not as high on Prosperity as most people, but it does contain some iconic and wickedly fun cards (such as Kings Court, Goons and Grand Market) even if the Colony/Platinum thing doesn't add as much to the game as I hoped.

2. Cornucopia - I love Cornucopia!  It panders to a playing style that I really like and encourages you to use cards that you habitually ignore.It has some very powerful cards, and I don't hate Tournament as much as most people.  Only falls down due to being only 13 cards

1. Seaside - The traditional favourite.  I like the duration cards and many of the cards in here are truly iconic ones.  Plus this is the only set where I feel the theme strongly comes through in the cards.  It was a close-run thing between this and Cornucopia, but in the end I gave the nod to the larger and more fully-explored set.

[brokoli]

There are some rather bland ones I dislike though, such as Duchess, Inn and Farmland and the mechanics in there don't excite me all that much.

Bland ? I would say subtle.
Duchess is a $2 card, and those cards are not game-changer, obviously. But I think duchess is a particularly interesting one, I think.
Farmland is another really interesting card, that 2VP potential lead changes the dynamic of the game.
And Inn is wonderful for tactical engine plays...

[Piemaster]

There are some rather bland ones I dislike though, such as Duchess, Inn and Farmland and the mechanics in there don't excite me all that much.

Bland ? I would say subtle.
Duchess is a $2 card, and those cards are not game-changer, obviously. But I think duchess is a particularly interesting one, I think.
Farmland is another really interesting card, that 2VP potential lead changes the dynamic of the game.
And Inn is wonderful for tactical engine plays...

You're right, there's nothing wrong with these cards.  I don't think there is really a bad card in the game, so it's all relative really.  Hinterlands just contains some of the cards that interest me least.

[GeronimoRex]

I'd have a really hard time ranking them... Haven't played Guilds at all, so it's not on this list:

9. Promo Cards -- I'm a rare person that really likes Governor (it's a fun card that benefits everyone and speeds the game up as long as no one spams it), but none of the Promos are essential.

8. Base Set -- too many boring cards. I feel like 1/3 of this set could disappear and no one would miss it.

7. Alchemy -- I really like Alchemy--we started with the Big Box set and so we have played a lot of Alchemy games. Games with 3 or more Alchemy cards are often great games with some interesting nuances. But with totally random sets, too many kingdoms end up with 1-2 Alchemy cards, making the need for Potions annoying. If limited amounts of Alchemy cards played better with other sets, or if there were more cards, I'd rank it higher. For instance, if Alchemy/Cornucopia were combined into a single large set, almost all with Potion costs, I'd rank it higher (e.g. Tournament would be less frustrating/swingy if it required a Potion buy to slow down acquisition).

6. Intrigue -- As much as I like some of the cards, especially the Action-Victory cards, there are too many forgettable cards. Would have loved to see more Action-Victory or Treasure-Victory or other alt-Victory cards in other sets.

5. Prosperity -- Lots of really fun cards, but the big money focus isn't as much fun to play as the more nuanced strategies present in some of the other expansions. I do like the difference Colony/Platinum can make to a kingdom and to replay value. Playing the same kingdom with and without Colony/Platinum makes for two radically different games that require totally rethought strategy. Simple change, huge implications.

4. Hinterlands -- On gain effects are awesome and are a great strategic element. But after gain, lots of the cards don't excite me.

3. Dark Ages -- So many fun cards. So many complicated interactions. The complexity is great for long-term value, but is harder to involve new players and can immensely slow down the game. And having more Kingdom cards than any other set makes it an awesome value. Probably more value for your money in the Dark Ages box than in any other Dominion set.

2. Seaside -- Duration is awesome. Theme is consistent, and virtually every card is fun. Many of the best game-changing cards are here: Embargo, Lookout, Native Village, Island, Tactician...

1. Cornucopia -- I know the cards are powerful. It's a small set, so that's okay. It will never be played standalone. And, as someone else mentioned, I love that there are several cards that encourage diversity -- it helps every card in a Kingdom to be considered as part of a viable strategy. I think some of the strategies encouraged by Cornucopia are some of the most complex strategies and some of the most rewarding. Interactions between Cornucopia and Dark Ages can be particularly crazy and fun.

[Robz888]

A "gut feelings" list.

10. Promos
9. Base
8. Cornucopia
7. Guilds
6. Seaside
5. Dark Ages
4. Alchemy
3. Prosperity
2. Intrigue
1. Hinterlands

[mail-mi]

10. Promos
9. Base
8. Intrigue
7. Alchemy
6. Guilds (only've played 1 game with it so far)
5. Cornucopia
4. Hinterlands
3. Prosperity
2. Seaside
1. Dark Ages

[greatexpectations]

10. meh
9. meh
8. meh
7. meh
6. meh
5. meh
4. meh
3. meh
2. meh
1. Cornucopia

[Fragasnap]

By my personal preference. If I like having it on the table, it gets a high rating. Starting with number 8:

8.    Dominion- Lots of staples here, but unfortunately, most of the set is dominated by Big Money and far too many cards are huge duds. I would miss the staple vanilla cards, but the set really doesn't stand up very well on its own, particularly with the level of analysis that this board has provided. Mechanically great, but outmoded-- practically by design.
Love:         Smithy
Hate:     Adventurer

7.     Alchemy- I have nothing against the mechanic and am not one to spit on it by virtue of how few cards in this odd theme there are, but a number of cards are extremely swingy and fiddly so I look down on the entire set. I enjoy the level of strategic commitment required for many of the cards in this set. It makes for some really interesting analysis of some boards since the strategies using them diverge from the norm. This really could have stood being expanded to a full set to milk all the flavor out of it and I would have loved it-- in fact, I want to love it even as it is, but it is just too lacking.
Love:     Apprentice
Hate:       Familiar

6.      Guilds- The new mechanic is very effective and doesn't lead to the boring certainty I feared at the outset. I am very disappointed in the Attacks in this set, being swingy and lackluster. The off-theme cards are particularly offending in this set due to it being small. Really, the biggest disappointment is easily that the set is not bigger than it is because the mechanics in it could definitely gone a lot further.
Love:         Doctor
Hate:     Soothsayer

5. Cornucopia- The cards that are so loathed in this expansion are fun to play with (and while one in particular can be swingy, I don't think it is as bad as most people make it out to be) and the theme as a whole encourages interesting deck composition. That particular one card strategy gets pretty old pretty fast, but otherwise the rest of the set is fun to play with. I'm rarely unhappy for a game to be generated with these cards.
Love: Horn of Plenty
Hate:         Jester

4.    Intrigue- I like the alternate VP and Village-type in this set particularly, but a lot of the set still seems rough around the edges. It always felt as though most Kingdom cards either dominates games or are completely negligible. At the same time, the set has a lot of really cool cards that I struggle to imagine Dominion without. Even better that Base cards are included.
Love:          Baron
Hate:           Pawn

3.   Dark Ages- Really wish some of the themes were carried further and some of those cards piles were used more. Despite being the most flavorful and professional in appearance, a lot of the cards were actually pretty mediocre, but when a card stands out here it is an excessively memorable card. In some ways, this set feels like a loose cannon with the amount of stuff in it, yet it somehow manages to hold together just enough to make a great expansion.
Love:    Graverobber
Hate:         Armory

2.     Seaside- Wow the theme of this one is awesome and surprisingly consistent-- maybe because the mechanic stands out so much from almost every other mechanic in the game. The attacks are a bit on the powerful side, but are incredibly memorable so I forgive that. So many people have heaped so much praise on to this one, that I can't really add more to it. This is simply a great expansion.
Love:        Embargo
Hate:          Wharf

Hey look, I put last place second up so that you can wonder what it is for a second!

9. Prosperity- The more I play with it, the less I like it. Very few things in the set feel cohesive. Expensive cards often lead to swingier games that are decided by luck just as often as skill. I love the Reaction card of this set and might miss a few others, but otherwise would be perfectly happy without this expansion.
Love:     Watchtower
Hate:       Platinum

1. Hinterlands- Lots of in set combos, lots of cards with very kingdom dependent power levels that very rarely feel particularly out of hand. The theme is also pretty good, even if it sometimes feels somewhat tacked-on, flavor wise. Often, this set makes me feel clever for playing the cards right, especially with its in-theme cards. What's more, most of the cards are always useful somewhere, and even the generally powerful ones require some amount of the finese.
Love: Border Village
And to be honest, I really don't dislike any cards from this set all that much.

As a Goko freeloader (I'm not going to pay for a service that disconnects 20% of the time and makes me look bad for it), I've been playing a disproportionately high amount of base only games, and it most definitely seems to be the worst set.

I have to say, as a Goko freeloader (who doesn't actually play Goko, but has before), playing with only one set many times in a row always makes me feel rather jaded against that set.

[scott_pilgrim]

Really, the biggest disappointment is easily that the set is not bigger than it is

Dude, it would be really hard to make a set that is bigger than it is.

[WanderingWinder]

Really, the biggest disappointment is easily that the set is not bigger than it is

Dude, it would be really hard to make a set that is bigger than it is.

I want a set that's well-sized. Well, big compared to a small set, small compared to a big set, and average compared to sets of the same size as itself.

[Jimmmmm]

I love King's Court. It's my favorite card.

+1 just for this.

[brokoli]

Actually, I think all small sets should have been larger.
I like the love/hate idea (I'll say "dislike" because hate is too harsh). For me :

Base
Love : Library
Dislike : Witch

Intrigue
Love : Baron (but Duke, Coppersmith and Saboteur are close)
Dislike : Minion

Seaside
Love : Tactician / Island
Dislike : Ghost ship

Alchemy
Love : Apprentice
Dislike : Alchemist

Prosperity
Love : Forge
Dislike : Mountebank

Cornucopia
Love : Menagerie / Horn of Plenty
Dislike : Tournament

Hinterlands
Love : Tunnel / Farmland / Inn
Dislike : Jack / Margrave

Dark Ages
Love : Knights
Dislike : Urchin-Mercenary

Guildes
Love : Stonemason / Candlestick maker / Merchant guild / Butcher (yep, after more games I'll know)
Dislike : Doctor

[LastFootnote]

Seems fun.

Set	{Like / Dislike}
Base	{Library / Feast}
Intrigue	{Masquerade / Minion}
Seaside	{Navigator / the fact that the set has 2 cheap junking attacks}
Prosperity	{Counting House / Goons}
Cornucopia	{Jester / Hunting Party}
Hinterlands	{Trader / Fool's Gold in a 2-player game}
Guilds	{Butcher / none yet}
Dark Ages	{Procession in Dark Ages heavy games / Rebuild, especially without Shelters}
Alchemy	{Philosopher's Stone / Scrying Pool}
Promos	{Stash / Governor}

[Robz888]

Love: Everything.
Dislike: Black Market.

[Awaclus]

Me too!

Base
Love: Witch | Hate: Spy

Intrigue
Love: Steward | Hate: Nobles

Seaside:
Love: Pearl Diver | Hate: Lighthouse

Alchemy:
Love: Apprentice | Hate: Vineyards

Prosperity:
Love: King's Court | Hate: Colony

Cornucopia:
Love: Fortune Teller | Hate: Horn of Plenty

Hinterlands:
Love: Ill-Gotten Gains | Hate: Embassy

Dark Ages:
Love: Cultist | Hate: Rebuild

Guilds:
Love: Merchant Guild | Hate: Doctor?

Promo:
Love: Envoy | Hate: Governor


And actually, after rethinking this, I would probably put Hinterlands above Base and Intrigue, after all. Or above Base at least.

[jsh357]

Set   {Cake / No Cake}
Base   {Chapel / Militia}
Intrigue   {Courtyard / Tribute}
Seaside   {Tactician / Merchant Ship}
Alchemy   {Apprentice / Familiar}
Prosperity   {Watchtower / Forge}
Cornucopia   {Menagerie / Followers}
Hinterlands   {Tunnel / Margrave}
Dark Ages   {Band of Misfits / Rebuild}
Guilds   {Baker / Nothing really}
Promos   {Black Market / Governor}

[AJD]

Okay, this game I'll play:

Set {Like / Dislike}

Dominion {Chapel / Remodel}
Promo {Black Market / Envoy}
Intrigue {Conspirator / Saboteur}
Seaside {Fishing Village / Ghost Ship}
Alchemy {Apothecary / Transmute}
Prosperity {Forge / Contraband}
Cornucopia {Menagerie / Harvest}
Hinterlands {Highway / Mandarin}
Dark Ages {Rebuild / Marauder}
Guilds {Candlestick Maker / Taxman}

I thought about putting Advisor for least favorite in Guilds (like Envoy and Contraband above, actually), but I actually haven't yet played a game in which anyone has gained it so I feel like I don't have any basis for judging it.

[AJD]

So I guess now we should each play a game consisting of our ten favorites, and another consisting of our ten unfavorites?

[Beyond Awesome]

Like/Dislike

Dominion: Witch/Adventurer
Intrigue: Nobles/Scout
Seaside: Fishing Village/Pearl Diver
Alchemy: University/Transmute
Prosperity: King's Court/Contraband
Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty/nothing (I don't actually mind Tournament games)
Hinterlands: Haggler/Develop
Dark Ages: Shelters/Procession
Guilds: Butcher/nothing
Promo: Envoy/nothing

[heron]

Ooooh, this looks fun!

Like/Dislike

Dominion: Remodel/Feast
Intrigue: Coppersmith/Scout
Seaside: Explorer/Smugglers
Alchemy: Apothecary/Alchemist
Prosperity: Hoard/Contraband
Cornucopia: Young Witch/Tournament
Hinterlands: Oracle/Margrave
Dark Ages: Counterfeit/Count
Guilds: Merchant Guild/Candlestick Maker
Promo: Walled Village/Envoy
Base: Curse/Estate

Explorer is my favorite card, Margrave is my least favorite; Seaside is my favorite expansion, Dominion is my least favorite.

[markusin]

I really wanted something like this. Here goes:

Set {Yeah!/Boo!}

Promo {Black Market/Governor}
Base Set {Laboratory/Spy}
Intrigue {Steward/Swindler}
Seaside {Lookout/Native Village}
Alchemy {Apothecary/Familiar}
Prosperity {Bank/Peddler}
Cornucopia {Horn Of Plenty/Farming Village (Well, it's my least favourite anyway)}
Hinterlands {Highway/Scheme}
Dark Ages {Mystic/Urchin-Mercenary}
Guilds {Stonemason/Soothsayer}

[liopoil]

Like/Dislike

Dominion: Chapel/Moat
Intrigue: Conspirator/minion
Seaside: Tactician/lighthouse
Alchemy: Scrying Pool/alchemist
Prosperity: King's Court/Goons
Cornucopia: Menagerie/Young Witch
Hinterlands: Border Village/Fool's gold
Dark Ages: Rats/Rebuild
Guilds: Plaza/Journeyman
Promo: Black Market/Envoy
Base: Estate/Gold

[scott_pilgrim]

Favorite/Least Favorite (writing it as like/dislike makes it sound like I'm neutral to all other cards in the set...)

Base: Chapel/Thief
Intrigue: Torturer/Minion
Seaside: Wharf/Treasure Map
Alchemy: Apprentice/Familiar
Prosperity: King's Court/Mountebank
Cornucopia: Fairgrounds/Tournament
Hinterlands: Crossroads/Fool's Gold
Dark Ages: Rats/Feodum
Guilds: Soothsayer/Taxman
Promos: Walled Village (I don't really like any Promos)/Black Market

My kingdom of favorites would certainly be an engine game.  It's got Rats/Apprentice which is fun but easily overshadowed by everything else.
My kingdom of least favorites looks horrible.

[NoMoreFun]

Base: Library/Thief
Intrigue: Ironworks/Scout or Wishing Well
Seaside: Haven/Navigator
Alchemy: Apothecary/Possession
Prosperity: Watchtower/Goons
Cornucopia: Jester/Tournament
Hinterlands: Trader/IGG
Dark Ages: Scavenger/Fortress
Guilds: Stonemason/Herald
Promos: Governor/Walled Village

[StrongRhino]

Set: High/Low

Base: Throne Room/Spy
Intrigue: Conspirator/Swindler
Seaside: Caravan/Embargo
Alchemy: Golem/Familiar
Prosperity: Bishop/Mountebank
Cornucopia: Horse Traders/Tournament
Hinterlands: Highway/IGG
Dark Ages: Hermit/Cultist
Guilds: Stonemason/Soothsayer

[Powerman]

Wow, it's amazing how many people hate attacks.  Best part of Dominion, IMO.  Well, good attacks are.


Base
Love: Moneylender | Hate: Spy

Intrigue
Love: Torturer / Minion | Hate: Nobles / Pawn

Seaside:
Love: Caravan / Ambassador | Hate: Native Village

Alchemy:
Love: Scrying Pool | Hate: Golem

Prosperity:
Love: Watchtower | Hate: Talisman

Cornucopia:
Love: Menagerie | Hate: Harvest / Hamlet

Hinterlands:
Love: Stables / Develop | Hate: Silk Road

Dark Ages:
Love: Procession | Hate: Death Cart

Guilds:
Love: Herald | Hate: Taxman

Promo:
Love: Black Market | Hate: The Rest.

Hinterlands far above all other expansion.  Then Dark Ages.  Then meh.
[/quote]

[scott_pilgrim]

Wow, it's amazing how many people hate attacks.  Best part of Dominion, IMO.  Well, good attacks are.

I like attacks in theory, but the problem is that a lot of the attacks that actually exist are just frustratingly strong.  I went through Qvist's lists and counted, and it turns out that out of 31 attacks, 16 are in the top quartile of their price group (17/32 if you count IGG).  I think it makes sense that generally people would dislike strong cards, so it's not surprising that they end up hating attacks.  Plus, a lot of strong cards are a fun strong, like Fishing Village or Wharf or King's Court, but attack cards tend to not be a fun strong.  They tend to be "I got my attack faster than you, so you can just sit there and watch me play now."  At least if you get KC before I do, then maybe I can get my own KC later and have some fun with it even if I know I'm going to lose.  But usually attacks aren't particularly fun for the player playing them, and they're a lot less fun for the player getting hit by them.

Interestingly, 8 out of 31 are in the bottom quartile (which is a lot because 16 are in the top quartile; only 7/31 are in the middle 50%).  Is it really that much harder to judge the strength of an attack card than it is to judge the strength of an arbitrary card in general?

[JacquesTheBard]

Base: Chapel/Feast
Intrigue: Bridge/Shanty Town
Seaside: Wharf/Embargo
Prosperity: Quarry (tied with King's Court)/Trade Route
Alchemy: Scrying Pool/Familiar
Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty/Harvest (I actually kinda like tournament).
Hinterlands: Scheme/Ill-Gotten Gains
Dark Ages: Band of Misfits/nothing (in a 35 card set. Dark Ages is awesome)
Guilds: never played, but Stonecutter and Herald look insanely fun.

As for the expansions in general, that's tricky. I mainly play IRL, and the sets I like best aren't necessarily the ones my family members like best.

9. Intrigue. Most "dud" cards of any set. Great cards for every strategy. Ironworks for rushes, bridge for megaturns, Duke for slogs, and courtyard for Big Money. But there's also a lot of cards that I just don't get, which seldom contribute to a good deck. I've already complained about shanty town, and of course secret chamber and scout are deservedly mocked. So yeah, a lot of nonexciting cards.

8. Base. Oddly enough, the likely favorite of my brother, who has a soft spot for quiet, situational cards like Bureaucrat or Adventurer. Some cards are staples of dominion. The first village, the first drawer, the first market, etc. Witch and Militia are still excellent attacks, and chapel is an all-time favorite. Still, a lot of the crazy explosiveness of Dominion is missing. In base, a "megaturn" is 2 provinces, and the closest thing to a legitimate "combo" is Council Room/Militia. Not to mention, Feast isn't super interesting, and Thief is a joke as always. Aside from the cards that went on to have variations, like lab and village and witch, the rest is pretty unimpressive. Still, it has chapel, which is probably my favorite card.

7. Guilds. May be great, and some of the cards look like they could be favorites, but I have no right to rank it highly until I actually play it.

6. Alchemy. As an engine junkie, this ought to be my favorite expansion. The odd thing is, while some cards here are fantastic engine enablers, others have a lot of prohibitive tricks here and there. Golem's too expensive, Alchemist is slow, etc. University, oddly enough, often creates a situation where you don't have enough actions to play your own terminals, especially if there are no good non-terminal actions to pick up on university plays. And familiar, awful familiar, adds far too much luck to the all-important curse war. That said, Scrying Pool is the best engine drawer of all time. When alchemy cards shine, they REALLY shine, but you always have to do a little juggling to fit them in.

5. Hinterlands. Actually a very nice set. The "Power cards" of the set, JoaT and IGG, force BM and slog strategies a little to heavily to be my favorites. However, when I look back over the list, it has some real gems. Fool's Gold is a great alt-treasure, Scheme is one of the most delightful engine cards out there, and the on-gain effects from Border Village and Haggler have created some really fun plays. Dominion would really miss something without Hinterlands.

4. Seaside. Who doesn't like Seaside? Sea Hag is a frustrating curser, Lookout is risky, and I'm never happy to see embargo on board. Aside from that, Seaside is fantastic. The theme is implemented solidly, and fans of explosive dominion strategies tend to be nuts over Wharf and Fishing Village. In all honesty, I think Seaside is the "power" expansion of dominion. Tactician is awesome, Island is unique, and even Treasury has a lot going for it. Ambassador is pretty surprising to people who've only seen base, because in a sense it combines the abilities of Base's two power cards, Witch and Chapel. It junks your opponent and trashes for you-so cool.

3. Dark Ages. This is the most mixed set for me. The combos in here are amazing. It's easily the best expansion for a creative engine builder. However, if your opponents go for simpler strategies, or don't quite get the new cards, they are going to be bored out of their minds. I once had a Knights-Rogues game where I trashed and gained half the contents of everyone else's deck every turn, and neither of them had fun. After a while, neither did I. That's the reason Dark Ages isn't my number one: it creates exactly the kind of boards I like to play, but creates more tension at the table than anything else.

2. Cornucopia. Almost as nuts as Seaside, but without any cards I really hate. The theme is beautiful, and carries a lot of favorites for me. Horn of Plenty is great, and I think Jester might be my favorite attack, especially in Scrying Pool games. It's so rare to get an attack that benefits you more than it hurts your opponent, and Jester's mechanic makes it one of my favorite gainers. It's got good cards in a lot of diverse areas, as well. Good trashing, good villages, good draw, good buy, and one of the most strategically rich cursers in the game. I even like tournament: sometimes, you just want a peddler for $4.

1. Prosperity. Not much of a surprise. I'm a megaturn junkie, and Prosperity was made for such people. Everyone remembers the 6+ staples like Grand Market, Goons, and the legendary King's Court. However, I think some of my favorites in the set are Peddler and Quarry. In any engine with easily added +buy sources like market or worker's village, superfluous buys are quite commonplace. Peddler and Quarry are great cards for giving +buy more oomph, albeit in very different ways. Quarry's kinda funny. It won't make an engine by itself, but if one is already viable, it's exactly what you need. I remember one game with Worker's Village, Wharf, and Quarry that must've ended by turn 8 or something like that. Most importantly, Prosperity is fun to lose, as well as to win. When my brother ground my under with King's Courted Mountebanks in the first game where both were present, I knew I had lost. But then he started looking for ways to use KC on virtual money--and the best source was Mountebank. When the game ended, he had literally emptied the contents of the copper pile into my deck. I wasn't pissed at all-I was laughing. That stuff just doesn't happen outside of Prosperity.

[SirPeebles]

I like attacks in theory, but the problem is that a lot of the attacks that actually exist are just frustratingly strong.

I think a significant part of this is the community's bias towards two player games, which is not what Dominion was designed for.  In a four player game, you can often forego an attack card with less risk.

[scott_pilgrim]

I like attacks in theory, but the problem is that a lot of the attacks that actually exist are just frustratingly strong.

I think a significant part of this is the community's bias towards two player games, which is not what Dominion was designed for.  In a four player game, you can often forego an attack card with less risk.

I hadn't really considered that.  I haven't played much multiplayer, but the Curses and Ruins have a higher ratio of Curse/Ruin-to-player with more players; wouldn't that make junking attacks generally stronger?  Or is it just that in multiplayer, hurting other players isn't as significant, and that's enough to make up for the higher ratio of junk cards?

[ftl]

In 2p, if you ignore the curser and your opponent does not, the curses get split 10-0.
In 3p, if you ignore the curser and your opponents do not, the curses get split 10-5-5
In 4p, if you ignore the curser and your opponents do not, the curses get split 10-7-7-6

So there's progressively less of a penalty compared to your opponents. You get 10 curses either way; it always takes 10 plays of a curser to empty the curse pile, so you'll take 10 of 'em. But in 3 and 4p, those extra curses all get spread out among the players who are cursing each other.

So if multiple opponents are cursing each other, then it's easier to do something else and pull ahead of them, since they'll slow each other down too.

[ftl]

So the cursers can become another case where it helps to be doing something different than your opponents - if you're the only one cursing 3 other players, you'll probably win, but if 3 other players are cursing each other then you don't need to bother with cursing, skip it, and go straight for cards that benefit you.

Also, reactions are much better with more players. In 2p, a big problem with, say, Moat,  is that there's a high chance it'll be in your hand on a turn when your opponent doesn't play an attack, and then you've just got a +2 cards terminal. Whereas in 3 or 4p, you're getting attacked much more often; there's a much higher chance that when you get a Moat in  your hand, it'll do something for you. In 2p, if you use a reaction to avoid taking a curse, that's just postponing the inevitable; you'll get those curses anyway if  you're not giving them out yourself! Whereas in 3p or 4p, the curses will get distributed between your opponents if all you're doing is reacting.

Just using the simulators, a bot that opens Moat/Moat crushes three opponents playing Big Money+Witch, even if it starts as 4th player every time. If two bots play BM+Witch and two play BM+Moat, all four end up pretty close, with BM+Witch having an advantage of barely a few percent. Of course, this is all a greatly simplified situation, but it illustrates the point: with with 4 players, any attack naturally creates a rock-paper-scissors situation - if you're the only one going for the attack, you probably win, but if you're the only one *not* going for the attack and going for the defense against it, you probably win, and there's a middle ground to be had where some players go for the attack and others don't and it can balance out. There's nothing like that in 2p.

[PitzerMike]

Prosperity:
Love: Watchtower | Hate: Talisman

Yay, Watchtower has to be my favorite Dominion card of all time! 

[Davio]

Hold the bandwagon!

Fun/Not Fun (I play for fun, shocking, I know)

Dominion: Market/Adventurer
Intrigue: Bridge/Scout
Seaside: Fishing Village/Ghost Ship
Alchemy: Apprentice/Possession
Prosperity: King's Court/Goons
Cornucopia: Menagerie/Tournament
Hinterlands: Inn/Fool's Gold
Dark Ages: Band of Misfits/Rebuild
Guilds: Herald/Soothsayer
Promo: Black Market/Envoy
Base: Curse/Province (yes, I'm picking Curse over Province for this rare occasion)


Re: Attack cards
The reason I don't like them is that they tend to make the games revolve around getting and playing them as quickly and as often as possible and by doing so, because they're attacks, they hamper your opponent's ability to get to the same cards. Player 1 playing a turn 3 Militia and getting a power $5 can easily cause P2 to miss $5 for that shuffle. Dominion is already a game of early advantages with big ramifications. Attacks just tend to make that early luck more important than 2p solitaire games.

I know Donald likes interaction, but I don't mind playing a 2p solitaire game. Maybe people don't like the actual term "Attack" as it feels very hostile. Perhaps people would respond more positively if the attacks were just labeled (and the cards rethemed to fit) "events" or something. Take Rabble for instance, isn't it nicer to say "One of my agents has caused a little Rabble in your kingdom" than "I'm attacking you with this card?"

Heck, now that I'm thinking about it, you could just make an entirely separate card type for it and limit players to playing one Event card at the start of their turn (unless they play a Village-event of course!) which could either be good for them or bad for their opponents or a bit of both. This keeps the interaction aspect, but limits it as to not keep badgering your opponents to reveal Moat 5 times in one turn as you play your Minion stack.

[ftl]

Badgering people to repeatedly do something is entirely an artifact of the online interface, though. When playing face to face, you just reveal Moat for the first one and say "I moat the rest of them too" and that's that.

[Davio]

Well, it just feels like badgering when you're playing more than Attack per turn which actually hurts.
Consider Torturer, being the first to get a chain going severely hurts your opponent to get a chain of himself going.
He has to accept Curses, harming his economy in the long run, or discard, harming his economy in the short run. Either way, he's screwed. With the simple Witch it's not so bad, as the Curse comes around a little later. You can still get your own Witch the same turn your opponent plays his and 6-4 splits aren't thát insurmountable.

[SirPeebles]

I like attacks in theory, but the problem is that a lot of the attacks that actually exist are just frustratingly strong.

I think a significant part of this is the community's bias towards two player games, which is not what Dominion was designed for.  In a four player game, you can often forego an attack card with less risk.

I hadn't really considered that.  I haven't played much multiplayer, but the Curses and Ruins have a higher ratio of Curse/Ruin-to-player with more players; wouldn't that make junking attacks generally stronger?  Or is it just that in multiplayer, hurting other players isn't as significant, and that's enough to make up for the higher ratio of junk cards?

Curse to players is the wrong ratio to consider.  You want to look at the ratio of curses to opponents.  That is always 10.  In other words, a game of Dominion has enough Curses to support precisely ten plays of Witch, regardless of the number of players.  Now, that can be mixed up a bit if one player reveals Moat or Trader, or if someone Ambassadors a Curse, or someone purchases an Embargoed card, etc.  But in the standard situation, the number of Curses scales such that precisely 10 instances of "each other player gains a Curse" are supported.

ftl did a fine job analyzing why junkers are less essential in multiplayer games.  It works for other attacks as well.  Especially ones which don't stack, like Militia.  If everyone else played a Militia, yours does nothing but give +$2.  Even when they do stack, it's a matter of opportunity cost.  If your opponents are already duking it out with one another, it is often more viable to simply focus on economy and avoid attacks.

Also, I mentioned Ambassador above.  One really, really important facet of Ambassador, which is completely obscured in two player games, is its ability to deplete piles.  Reveal a Village, don't return it, and then pass out the last three Villages to end the game on piles.  Ambassador is crazy that way in multiplayer, yet it rarely is mentioning in conversations here.

[Tables]

A little more general: Cards I like / Cards I dislike. (Least) Favourites in bold. Note that numbers don't necessarily indicate which sets I like or dislike.

Base: Gardens, Throne Room, Library, Chancellor / Witch, Spy

Intrigue: Wishing Well, Bridge, Conspirator, Scout, Duke / Courtyard, Masquerade, Swindler, Saboteur, Minion

Seaside: Embargo, Native Village, Ambassador, Fishing Village, Lookout, Caravan, Island, Salvager, Tactician, Wharf / Sea Hag, Ghost Ship

Alchemy: Apprentice, University, Vineyard, Possession / Familiar

Prosperity: Bishop, Quarry, Worker's Village, City, Goons, King's Court, Peddler / Mountebank, Counting House

Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty, Fairgrounds / Tournament, Young Witch, Hunting Party

Hinterlands: Crossroads, Scheme, Tunnel, Noble Brigand, Cache, Cartographer, Haggler, Inn, Highway, Border Village / Fool's Gold, Jack of all Trades, Ill Gotten Gains

Dark Ages: Market Square, Fortress, Wandering Minstrel, Scavenger, Band of Misfits, Junk Dealer, Count, Altar / Rebuild, Urchin

Guilds: /

Kind of surprising how much I liked in Dark Ages, looking back. Maybe I should re-evaluate it...

[eliegel34]

Call it a cop-out if you want, but my rankings would be as follows:

Base = Intrigue = Seaside = Alchemy = Prosperity = Cornucopia = Hinterlands = Dark Ages = Guilds = Promos

I think it would be a serious blow to the game if any of these sets were removed. I love them all.

To be fair, it probably wouldn't be a serious blow if the promos were removed. I like them a lot but would any of us really be saying "Hmmmm, something is missing" if we didn't have them?

Gotta agree with him. I don't have any on Goko, and I don't feel any loss (though that may be because I don't own them or play on iso enough to see them much.

Funny, I feel the opposite.  I really miss the promos.  I loved Black Market, and those couple Chancellor Stash games that I've played.

[Warfreak2]

I hadn't really considered that.  I haven't played much multiplayer, but the Curses and Ruins have a higher ratio of Curse/Ruin-to-player with more players; wouldn't that make junking attacks generally stronger?

Curse to players is the wrong ratio to consider.

I don't think it's wrong to consider it; in multiplayer games, you are probably going to eat more Curses, and that should have some effect on your strategy. But it doesn't make junking attacks stronger, it makes them stranger, in the sense that they're easier to ignore on the condition that the other players don't ignore them.

[Powerman]

Wow, it's amazing how many people hate attacks.  Best part of Dominion, IMO.  Well, good attacks are.

I like attacks in theory, but the problem is that a lot of the attacks that actually exist are just frustratingly strong.  I went through Qvist's lists and counted, and it turns out that out of 31 attacks, 16 are in the top quartile of their price group (17/32 if you count IGG).  I think it makes sense that generally people would dislike strong cards, so it's not surprising that they end up hating attacks.  Plus, a lot of strong cards are a fun strong, like Fishing Village or Wharf or King's Court, but attack cards tend to not be a fun strong.  They tend to be "I got my attack faster than you, so you can just sit there and watch me play now."  At least if you get KC before I do, then maybe I can get my own KC later and have some fun with it even if I know I'm going to lose.  But usually attacks aren't particularly fun for the player playing them, and they're a lot less fun for the player getting hit by them.

Interestingly, 8 out of 31 are in the bottom quartile (which is a lot because 16 are in the top quartile; only 7/31 are in the middle 50%).  Is it really that much harder to judge the strength of an attack card than it is to judge the strength of an arbitrary card in general?

Explorer is Attacks are fine, why do people even complain about Explorer attacks. They can't all be the best $5 worst cards ever.

Sure the cards are "mean" but the New York Yankees have millions of fans, so why not Dominion attack cards?

[Wingnut]

Like / Dislike

Base: Market / Chapel
Intrigue: Torturer / Masquerade or Pawn
Seaside: Ambassador / Embargo
Alchemy: Philosopher's Stone / Golem
Prosperity: Monument / Peddler
Cornucopia: Jester / Hunting Party or Tourament (I hate both of these cards with a passion)
Hinterlands: Margrave / IGG
Dark Ages: Death Cart / Shelters
Guilds: Baker / Stonemason
Promo: Envoy / Stash

Expansion Rankings (not including promo)
9 Cornucopia - I hate Tournament and Hunting Party. I am ambivalent at best about Harvest, Horse Traders and Forutne Teller. With that many cards I dislike or don't care at all about this is an easy choice (especially since the two cards I hate in this set are the two I would ban from all of Dominion if given a chance).
8 Intrigue - Turns too many games into slogs without a lot of great slog cards in the set. Torturer, Minion and Swindler are all fun, until you play an Intrigue only game and have to play with all of them in one set. Even worse is the lack of villages (yes there are 4 potential but Nobles, Shanty Town and Tribute are 3 of those). Also contains the space wasted on Scout.
7 Base - Just too much blah in this set, even with still interesting cards like Market, Witch, Militia and Gardens in the set. Chapel is really weak within the set and makes engine building to easy outside of the set (I also enjoy slogs which Chapel disincentivizes)
6 Alchemy - Potions are annoying but I like almost every card. Pretty mmuch all except Golem which I could never wrap my mind around.
5 Dark Ages - There are no really bad or even super disliked cards for me. That said the mind-warping craziness is a bit to zany for me at times (unless I get a Rats deck working).
4 Prosperity - Everyone likes mega turns. Simple. Most people like VP Chips as well.
3 Guilds - Baker's coin at the beginning is nice as are the coin tokens. Between that and the overpay this set has fun mechanics.
2 Seaside - Durations are great and the attacks in this set are among my favorites in the game.
1 Hinterlands - Instant gratification. On gain is amazing. Is the one later set that sometimes helps BM (balance between BM and engine is good people) and of course there is Silk Road, my favorite of the alt VP green cards.

[scott_pilgrim]

Sure the cards are "mean"

No, they're above average, that's the whole point.

[Jimmmmm]

Hunting Party or Tourament (I hate both of these cards with a passion)

Tournament I understand, but Hunting Party?

[ftl]

A lot of people dislike Hunting Party because it is is strong in a way that deliberately encourages straightforward strategies that you can't add anything to. HP is amazing when you have very little variety in your deck, like the standard HP+X deck with copper, silver, gold, a terminal silver or equivalent, and as many HPs as you can get. And it's fairly difficult to add creativity to this, since every unique card you add makes the HP stack more likely to break down.

[Wingnut]

ftl has it exactly right. Hunting Party + X is just boring and life sucking. Generally I go for anything that isn't that because it is so dull to play, usually to fairly awful results. I see Hunting Party as something dull like Smithy-BM played at a higher level. It just bores me to play it or beats me in humiliating fashion.

[markusin]

A lot of people dislike Hunting Party because it is is strong in a way that deliberately encourages straightforward strategies that you can't add anything to. HP is amazing when you have very little variety in your deck, like the standard HP+X deck with copper, silver, gold, a terminal silver or equivalent, and as many HPs as you can get. And it's fairly difficult to add creativity to this, since every unique card you add makes the HP stack more likely to break down.

Ironic, since it's a Cornucopia card. You realize how much variety hurts Hunting Party when you play with in in Dark Ages heavy kingdoms.

About attacks, I don't think attacks are necessarily bad. You ignore cards like Witch, Mountebank, Minion, ambassador, and Soothsayer at your own peril. A Silver/Silver opening gives you a good chance of getting to $5 reasonably early. Things don't always work out that way though. It's cool when you can ignore the attacks.

However, some attacks are a lot more swingy. Swindler in particular comes to mind. You can have a match where everyone opens with Swindler-X, but then you have one player in a much better than another player for no reason other than luck. You might even lose the Swindler to another Swindler, but then when you buy it back your adversaries have a bunch of Gold or Maybe even Provinces to act as a deterrent. I give the nod to secret chamber for actually being an effective defense against Swindler.

[TrojH]

Favorite/least favorite from each set? Sure, I'll play along. (And unlike my "ranking" of the sets", this one won't be a cop-out. :-D)

Like / Dislike

Base: Gardens / Thief

Intrigue: Upgrade / Wishing Well

Seaside: Treasury / Ghost Ship (Lookout would be a close 2nd worst)

Alchemy: Apprentice / Transmute (Possession would be a close 2nd worst)

Prosperity: Grand Market / Goons

Cornucopia: Jester / Fortune Teller

Hinterlands: Cartographer / Develop

Dark Ages (limited experience, haven't played with all the cards yet): Junk Dealer / Knights

Guilds (again, limited experience and haven't played with all the cards yet): Candlestick Maker / Journeyman

Promos: Governor / Walled Village

[Tables]

Hunting Party or Tourament (I hate both of these cards with a passion)

Tournament I understand, but Hunting Party?

Hunting Party is my most disliked Dominion card. It's one of those cards that sets a baseline strategy in any game that it's in, a bit like Big Money + X, except the baseline is high enough that it's dominant on a good number of boards, and even if it isn't, it'll beat players around my skill level (~30-35 on Iso when I played regularly) probably 80%+ of the time.

[brokoli]

I think just like Jack or Rebuild, Hunting party is a skill-based card even if it dominates many board. The way to play it is very important. Of course, you have to choose the right terminal silver to pair with HP, but not only that. How to play Hunting party in an ambassador board ? How to play it with shelters ? Do I want to trigger a reshuffle now ? etc.

And the best strategy is not always Hunting party + X. I don't have examples in mind, but I have seen several high-level opponents that used Hunting party as a support card, or in a different way.

I also don't understand the develop haters. I think it's one of the most complex dominion card, therefore one of the most interesting.

[LastFootnote]

Perhaps, like Rebuild, Hunting Party needs cards from its own expansion to hold it back. After all, if the other cards want to you go for a variety-heavy deck, shouldn't Hunting Party be less powerful?

Hunting Party is tough to outrace, but then again there are a lot of really powerful cards in Cornucopia, most of the rest of them work together, and Hunting Party works well with at least some of them (Tournament, Horn of Plenty, etc.).

[Awaclus]

Perhaps, like Rebuild, Hunting Party needs cards from its own expansion to hold it back.

No, like Rebuild, Hunting Party needs cards from Rebuild's expansion to hold it back.

[GeronimoRex]

A lot of people dislike Hunting Party because it is is strong in a way that deliberately encourages straightforward strategies that you can't add anything to. HP is amazing when you have very little variety in your deck, like the standard HP+X deck with copper, silver, gold, a terminal silver or equivalent, and as many HPs as you can get. And it's fairly difficult to add creativity to this, since every unique card you add makes the HP stack more likely to break down.

Ironic, since it's a Cornucopia card.

I think Hunting Party can make thematic sense: The hunting party is searching for something new--and it stops searching once it finds something.

Though I agree it would fit the Cornucopia mechanics much better if the functionality were changed to encourage variety: "Reveal your hand. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal a card that is a duplicate of one in your hand; discard it and put any other revealed cards into your hand."

This way, HP would be out searching for uniqueness. Once the party starts duplicating what's at home, they call it a day.

[Warfreak2]

That would be super-powerful. "or a duplicate of a card already revealed" would be a necessary fix.

[dondon151]

HP is not so lame that it's inflexible with other strategies. HP+X is strong, yes, but HP in engines is even better. A card like Rebuild, on the other hand, isn't even good in engines - in fact, I'd say that it's actively bad for engines because you trash lesser Victory cards from the game.

[NoMoreFun]

I think I'd prefer Hunting Party as a $5 Peddler variant. That would mean Tournament would need to be replaced by something different, but that's also something I'd prefer.

[shMerker]

There are $5 peddler variants (Highway, Treasury) already. What would make a hypothetical Hunting Party Peddler variant different in that regard?

And anyway is that card:

+1 Card
+1 Action
+$1
[some additional thing]

Or:

Is it
+1$
+1 Action
[the part of Hunting Party that makes you dig for a unique card]

Or is it something else? Because I don't really see how either of those cards obviates Tournament, especially if they cost more than it.

If I were ranking the expansions right now I think it would be

Prosperity
Seaside
Guilds
Dark Ages
Intrigue
Hinterlands
Cornucopia
Alchemy

I find with Prosperity and Seaside I spend a lot less time explaining how the cards work than with other sets and people get a kick out of the themes. Guilds and Dark Ages are more complex but usually inspire the same excitement so that makes up for it. Intrigue and Hinterlands are both definitely solid and I think I could play and enjoy the game if either one of those was the only set I had (obviously with Base Cards to make the Hinterlands playable). Cornucopia and Alchemy are both fun, but I find that Cornucopia cards are really intimidating and confusing to a lot of players and Alchemy always seems to slow things down a lot. If you forced me at gunpoint to burn an expansion it would be Alchemy for sure.

[Just a Rube]

Or is it something else? Because I don't really see how either of those cards obviates Tournament, especially if they cost more than it.

I think the idea is just that having 2 peddler variants (and Tournament, in addition to everything else, is effectively a peddler early in the game) in a small set would seem redundant; people would complain.

[NoMoreFun]

Is it
+1$
+1 Action
[the part of Hunting Party that makes you dig for a unique card]

That's what I had in mind.

[Asper]

Favourite / Dislike

Base: Chancellor / Moat

Intrigue: Harem / Ironworks

Seaside: Embargo / Merchant Ship Caravan

Alchemy: Philosopher's Stone / Alchemist

Prosperity: Counting House / City

Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty / Managerie

Hinterlands: Farmland / Tunnel

Dark Ages: Poor House / Rebuild!!!

Guilds: Not played yet...

Promos: Walled Village / Governor

Probably some of you will think i switched Fav and Dislike - but i just got a soft spot for weak cards and don't like cards that are game-warpingly strong (besides other preferences).

[Tables]

Oh, hey, and for those who thought it odd that I disliked Cornucopia's power creep but didn't seem to mind or notice it in Seaside, I have a new answer: Seaside is a pretty average expansion power wise, at least if we take WW's rankings as our data. Now I would actually rate Wharf and Sea Hag somewhat higher, which would bump it up a few points, but it would still not be that remarkable. On top of that, the overall expansion isn't too hot power wise - a few stars, just like most expansions, but a big showing in the slightly-below-average section hurts it.