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[Eggplantation]

What card do you really appreciate the existence of? Cards that make you go, "Man, Don really nailed it with this one", or "Dang this card is soo cool/fun/hilarious/exciting/thematic that I can hardly contain myself!". There are soo many great cards in Dominion. So which ones grab your fancy and sit on your imortal podium of preference?

For me, one of these cards is Minion.
It's just great, Donald was definitely having a good day that day. I am by no means a expert on it, as I have only played with it once or twice. One of these times was the other day, and it was really fun. I think it adds some unique gameplay, and is very satisfying when you minion shuffle your way to eight coins to claim the province, whilst sifting through your deck and slashing an arm or leg off your opponent's hand size.

I searched the forums and saw that a favourite card list had been done before, however this is slightly different. Favourite cards are a definite for discussion, but throw others in to that you think improve Dominion!

[scott_pilgrim]

Torturer, while probably not one of my top ten favorites, I find to be the closest card to what you're going for I think.  In general I like it when board games make you pick between the lesser of two evils; Torturer is like a card that makes you do that by itself.  Of course Dominion is a game about building up, so if every card was Torturer it would be silly.  But having one card that makes opponents make negative decisions like that is pretty cool.

Soothsayer is also a good one (although I haven't played many games with it).  I think Soothsayer is probably the most interesting junking attack since it gives the opponent a pretty sizable plus when you play it, but still generally not enough to compensate for the curse.

Of course, I also really appreciate the existence of my favorite cards (Fairgrounds, Rats, Mystic), but those are for the same reasons that make them favorites, which I don't really think is as much of what you're getting at.  If you made a list of all of the cards ranked according to my favorites, and then another list with all of the cards ranked according to how much I appreciate their existence (as you put it), I think Torturer and Soothsayer would be the two cards which have the biggest difference between how much higher they are on the latter list than on the former list.

[Davio]

Embargo: Changes the whole dynamic of the game
City: Does that too, so much fun to activate your own Cities during your turn

[Watno]

Are you joking?
Minion is the dominion card I like least by far. It's so annoying amd swingy. You can have your hand of 5 awesome cards replaced by 4 crap cards, and that is the most frustrating thing that can happen.

[Mr Anderson]

Cultist, because it is so much fun to chain around five Cultists in one turn, even if the Ruins pile already ran out.

[andwilk]

Horn of Plenty- It's a unique card as it's a zero-cost treasure so it acts more like a non-terminal gainer.  One of my favorite things in this game is pulling of an HoP megaturn.  I have a soft spot for gainers and specialized treasures and this card combines the two!

[UmbrageOfSnow]

Are you joking?
Minion is the dominion card I like least by far. It's so annoying amd swingy. You can have your hand of 5 awesome cards replaced by 4 crap cards, and that is the most frustrating thing that can happen.

That doesn't make the game any swingier though!  Your probability of having crap cards replaced by awesome and vice-versa is exactly the same as it is to draw crappy versus awesome cards in your deck anyway.  Minion's actual attack is basically just "discard one at random, and cycle your deck a bit"!  You never get to play the cards you drew, the probability is exactly the same as just having drawn 4 cards instead of 5 and cycling some from the bottom of your deck.

Any swinginess is purely psychological, the cards average out.

[UmbrageOfSnow]

Tactician: Can work with so many different cards, encourages complex turns, very different/fun turns.

Throne Room: Changes how you look at all the other cards in any setup it is in.  I actually "appreciate" throne room more than King's Court, because it's less powerful and cheaper.  You can get it earlier, have more of them if you were feeling risky, and it isn't necessarily the most powerful/best idea, just one of many options.

Secret Chamber: A reaction that doesn't directly counter many attacks but always gives you a benefit, works so neatly against some attacks, really gets you thinking about counters to different attacks and provides much more interesting decisions.

Duke: Of the alternate VP cards, this is my favorite, they all encourage different styles of play, and maybe this is just me, but I think of Duke as being something that is more often close-to-as-viable-as provinces, so it isn't clear whether or not you should go for it, or whether you should go for provinces or fight over Duchies or what.

All the other alternate VP cards: Same logic as Duke.

Rats!: So thematic, so different and kind of fun.  Takes one of the cooler but stupid bits of Transmute and makes it interesting and not stupid (often enough anyway.)

[DG]

Treasure Maps.

[Watno]

Are you joking?
Minion is the dominion card I like least by far. It's so annoying amd swingy. You can have your hand of 5 awesome cards replaced by 4 crap cards, and that is the most frustrating thing that can happen.

That doesn't make the game any swingier though!  Your probability of having crap cards replaced by awesome and vice-versa is exactly the same as it is to draw crappy versus awesome cards in your deck anyway.  Minion's actual attack is basically just "discard one at random, and cycle your deck a bit"!  You never get to play the cards you drew, the probability is exactly the same as just having drawn 4 cards instead of 5 and cycling some from the bottom of your deck.

Any swinginess is purely psychological, the cards average out.

Probability doesn't average out during a single game where you're attacked by Minion like 10 times. The difference ""discard one at random, and cycle your deck a bit" and Minion is that by discarding 1 random card, you can't turn a hand of 5 awesome cards into 4 bad ones (usually).
Without Minion, I'll get to see every card at some point (during my own turn). With Minion, it's possible I'll never see some cards.

Also, although you might skip a bad hand due to Minion sometimes, you would have gotten the good hand you get instead on the next turn anyway. So it doesn'tr make up for the frustration of having a good hand turned into absolutely nothing. I think Donald X once commented that during Minion games he doesn't look at his cards before it's his turn, in order not to be disappointed when he loses them. That illustrates pretty well how frustrating Minion can be imo.

The only other card that can completely wreck your hand is Pillage (and Possession, but that one is hard to get). But with Pillage, you will always loose your best card, and you have to take into account that it might happen when planning your strategy. But with Minion, it's just random. That's why it's swingy.

[brokoli]

Embargo makes almost every game interesting.
Also Thief. Sometimes it's a serious counter to an obvious strategy (like Fool's gold, IGG or Duke).
I love Procession and Develop too, even if I don't played much with procession right now. They can create very strange strategies.
Young witch is always different with the bane, that's cool.
Horn of Plenty and Bridge for megaturn crazyness.
Knights and Saboteur can destroy the game sometimes, but other times they are also great counters that can makes the kingdom very hard to analyze.

Also, Alt-VP cards deserve a special mention. Fairgrounds, Duke and Feodum first, because the strategy to play when these cards are on the board is not always easy. I like a little less Gardens and Silk road because sometimes the rush-strategy is too obvious, but still, I really like what they add to the game otherwise.

And of course, all my favourites (Menagerie, Island, Rats, Inn, Baron, Coppersmith, Outpost...)

[Just a Rube]

I really like the cards that use their mechanics in a cool or thematic way.
So wharf is kinda dull in that respect (sure it's powerful, but generic), but on the other hand, these cards are quite good:

1) Ill-Gotten Gains: I know lots of people hate it, but I love it. It's a perfect example of using the mechanics; you see it and think "$5 for a one-shot curse and a worse silver, no thanks" but then you realize, on-gain means both the IGG and curse piles empty at the same time!

2) City: already been mentioned, but this card is one of the most thematic in Dominion. Starts as a village, grows to be a city.

3) Swindler: another hated card, but so much fun. Yeah it's swingy, but making you adapt to unexpected cards can be fun. One of my favorite games ever involved Swindler, with my $4's kept getting turned into talismans, which I eventually used to drain the Secret Chamber pile the turn before my opponent's unstoppable city stack went off. An example of a trashing attack at it's most fun.

4) Courtyard: technically not designed by Donald, but provides simple, yet somewhat interesting choices even in a Big Money deck.

Edit: bolding

[GeronimoRex]

Peddler -- one of my favorite cards in the game, and with extra buys around, the threat of the Peddler pile being wiped out in one or two turns is essential to keep in mind.

Counting House -- I love this card. It's seldom viable, but when there are supporting cards on the board (e.g. Chapel, Chancellor, Worker's Village, Bank); win or lose, having this work is one of the most satisfying plays in all of Dominion.

Lookout -- I love how helpful this can be in the early game and how risky it can be later.

Bishop -- I appreciate the existence of cards that benefit your opponents -- the option for an opponent to trash a card is friendly, and everyone wins. I enjoy playing Council Room and Governor for similar reasons.

Curses and Ruins would also make my list -- I'm glad there are cards that can junk up the deck. The existence of both makes games much, much richer.

Lots of others, but those are top of mind.

[cluckyb]

Are you joking?
Minion is the dominion card I like least by far. It's so annoying amd swingy. You can have your hand of 5 awesome cards replaced by 4 crap cards, and that is the most frustrating thing that can happen.

That doesn't make the game any swingier though!  Your probability of having crap cards replaced by awesome and vice-versa is exactly the same as it is to draw crappy versus awesome cards in your deck anyway.  Minion's actual attack is basically just "discard one at random, and cycle your deck a bit"!  You never get to play the cards you drew, the probability is exactly the same as just having drawn 4 cards instead of 5 and cycling some from the bottom of your deck.

Any swinginess is purely psychological, the cards average out.

Probability doesn't average out during a single game where you're attacked by Minion like 10 times. The difference ""discard one at random, and cycle your deck a bit" and Minion is that by discarding 1 random card, you can't turn a hand of 5 awesome cards into 4 bad ones (usually).
Without Minion, I'll get to see every card at some point (during my own turn). With Minion, it's possible I'll never see some cards.

Also, although you might skip a bad hand due to Minion sometimes, you would have gotten the good hand you get instead on the next turn anyway. So it doesn'tr make up for the frustration of having a good hand turned into absolutely nothing. I think Donald X once commented that during Minion games he doesn't look at his cards before it's his turn, in order not to be disappointed when he loses them. That illustrates pretty well how frustrating Minion can be imo.

The only other card that can completely wreck your hand is Pillage (and Possession, but that one is hard to get). But with Pillage, you will always loose your best card, and you have to take into account that it might happen when planning your strategy. But with Minion, it's just random. That's why it's swingy.

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

[Witherweaver]

Minion was probably just a ploy to make more money.  When using it with physical play, you're bound to damage your cards after the 3,456,382,923 daily reshuffles it requires, and you have to buy a new set.  Or you have to buy sleeves.  I bet there was an under-the-table deal with the sleeve manufacturers.

[dondon151]

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

Since when does swingy imply less harsh?

[Watno]

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

Spy and Oracle will never make me loose bad cards, only good ones (except if my opponent doesn't know what i want). It's an informed decison there.
I agree that it wouldn't be as annoying if you ddin't loose the cards from your hand, but you actually do, so I fail to see why this is relevant.

[Witherweaver]

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

Spy and Oracle will never make me loose bad cards, only good ones (except if my opponent doesn't know what i want). It's an informed decison there.
I agree that it wouldn't be as annoying if you ddin't loose the cards from your hand, but you actually do, so I fail to see why this is relevant.

I think there is a psychological tendency to notice extremes and not averages.  So you're really going to remember that time that Minion discarded your KC KC Bridge Bridge Bridge hand and you're not really going to notice the average effect.  Okay that hand was an exaggeration, but you'll probably find yourself thinking "Man, my opponent only plays Minion when I have a good hand!" a lot.

[cluckyb]

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

Spy and Oracle will never make me loose bad cards, only good ones (except if my opponent doesn't know what i want). It's an informed decison there.
I agree that it wouldn't be as annoying if you ddin't loose the cards from your hand, but you actually do, so I fail to see why this is relevant.

My point was just that while yeah Minion can be swingy, the complaint that it destroys your hard is kind of silly. Plenty of other cards hurt your next hand even worse.  Except for the psychological factor of having those cards in your hand (and obvious edge cases around things that topdeck for your next turn), the fact that its destroying your current hand compared to your next one shouldn't matter.

[Watno]

But the point is that Minion is worse than it appears due to you looking at your hand. Sure you can lose a great hand, but you can also lose your best cards due to Spy effects (especially Oracle) and those you *will* lose your best cards whereas Minion can actually help you. So yes, it is swingy, but that actually makes it less harsh than stuff like Spy and Oracle, right?

Spy and Oracle will never make me loose bad cards, only good ones (except if my opponent doesn't know what i want). It's an informed decison there.
I agree that it wouldn't be as annoying if you ddin't loose the cards from your hand, but you actually do, so I fail to see why this is relevant.

My point was just that while yeah Minion can be swingy, the complaint that it destroys your hard is kind of silly. Plenty of other cards hurt your next hand even worse.  Except for the psychological factor of having those cards in your hand (and obvious edge cases around things that topdeck for your next turn), the fact that its destroying your current hand compared to your next one shouldn't matter.

But it's the very point of those cards to discard my good cards, and they will always do it, not only if I get unlucky. You can adjust your strategy to it. Also, you need a lot more of those to potentially have the impact a single Minion can have.

I am aware that it's a psychological thing, but hating a card is a a psychological thing as well.

[mail-mi]

Possesssion Some people hate it, but it adds an interesting dynamic to the game.

[Stealth Tomato]

Highway. The first one isn't much... nor is the second... or the third... but suddenly you have seven and oh CRAP he's upgrading his last three Coppers into Provinces.

It's not spammable like Minion (where it should almost always be the first $5 buy, and immediately starts yielding more copies of itself) or Fool's Gold (where it can be bought with almost any hand), but spamming it can yield impressive results.


I also have an unconditional love for Forge. Early in the game, it's relatively strong trashing. Later, it facilitates tons of different interesting moves (trashing Province for Province, converting extraneous components to useful ones, cannibalizing your deck for green) and introduces interesting opportunity costs (do I trash 2 cards by forging Gold-Copper-Curse, or one by forging Copper-Curse and get a more expensive buy?).

[Voltaire]

The Alt-VP cards, for sure. And shelters - they're a fun change to the early game.

[Awaclus]

Ambassador.

[LastFootnote]

Spy and Oracle will never make me loose bad cards, only good ones (except if my opponent doesn't know what i want). It's an informed decison there.
I agree that it wouldn't be as annoying if you ddin't loose the cards from your hand, but you actually do, so I fail to see why this is relevant.

Watno, I completely agree with you about Minion. The word you're looking for is "lose", though. Not "loose".