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[werothegreat]

(WIP)

I must confess, when I first saw Stonemason, I wasn't really impressed.  I thought that, like with Masterpiece, this would only ever be worth overpaying for, and then it would become a dead card in your deck.  But my opinion of it has changed for the better, and while it's certainly not a power card, it's certainly not a bad one, either.

What does it do?

When played, Stonemason trashes a card from your hand, then gives you two new cards each independently costing less than the trashed card.  When bought, Stonemason comes with two Action cards each independently costing exactly however much you overpaid (if you overpaid for it).  Let's look at each of these separately.

Trashing is generally a good idea - it's telling that even a Gardens deck, which lives on bloat, can benefit from some Chapel-ing.  However, good trashers either trash extensively (like Chapel), or give you a good benefit with the trashing (like Death Cart), or a choice between trashing and benefit (like Steward).  Trashers like Develop (which Donald X has stated spent some time with Stonemason's overpay) are generally not thought of much because Develop is slow, trashing one thing at a time, and giving a benefit that is highly dependent on the kingdom.  To this end, we can roughly categorize trashers into early-game and late-game groups.  The "good" trashers tend to be ones you want as soon as possible.  Stonemason, were it not paired with its overpay, would be firmly in the late-game category.  It's quite a bit more flexible than Develop, as it doesn't have the "exactly" restriction.  However, unlike Develop, you generally will not want to trash Estates with Stonemason, as you'll be getting at best two Coppers (barring Poor House in the kingdom).  Trashing Coppers is fine, as you gain nothing in return, but again, one at a time trashing for the simple sake of trashing is not "good."  Upgrade, another one-at-a-time trasher is good because it is a cantrip.  Remodel is good because it can actually improve cards, rather than just vanishing them.  But in the late game, Stonemason shines.  Stonemasoning a Gold into two Duchies is almost as good as Remodeling a Gold into a Province - you get the same amount of points, just two "useless" cards instead of one, which, if you're not shuffling anytime soon, makes no difference.  There may be other cases where you would want to Stonemason a Gold into two engine parts or something similar, but that will be dependent on the Kingdom.  Stonemason is also decent as a Curse trasher, as it does not require you to gain something in the Curse's place.

The overpay option gives you a reason to buy Stonemason before the late game.  The opportunity cost of buying trashers like Develop or Trade Route is negated here, as he simply tags along as a consolation prize with your engine parts.  If you have a Village and Terminal draw card of the same cost in the kingdom, pick up one of each with Stonemason.  Then use him to slowly trash Coppers until you're ready to start greening.

The overpay option can also ameliorate a poor opening split; if you open 5/2 on a board with key $3s, like Ambassador, you can use Stonemason to still pick up two of them (and then Ambassador your Stonemason to your opponent).

Bear in mind that when overpaying for Stonemason, you're gaining three cards on a single buy.  If all players are using Stonemason to build an engine, expect a quick three-pile ending.  You can even use this to your advantage by buying out the Stonemasons and some other cheap piles once you know you're in the lead.  Or focus fire on the Stonemason pile - Stonemason something into two more Stonemasons, then overpay on Stonemason to gain two extra Stonemasons.  Empty pile!

Also remember that each Stonemason overpay does come with a Stonemason.  If you don't have some way to use, sift out or get rid of the Stonemason, you may want to think twice about getting one, overpay regardless, especially since Stonemason can't really do much with another Stonemason (unless you're going for an all out Gardens game).

Are there any cards with particular interest in Stonemason?

Yes!  Border Village is spectacular with Stonemason - overpay by $6, and you get two Villages and two $5s!  Plus this mediocre trasher!  It's quite a deal.  Then in the end game you can crack open those Border Villages into Duchies!  If you manage to pick up some Hunting Grounds, you can turn them into three Duchies.  Likewise Feodum can be turned into five Silvers.  In a similar vein, any Gold-gainer (Market Square, Tunnel, Soothsayer) goes well with Stonemason, as they give you plenty of fodder for turning into Duchies.

Peddler is an interesting case - its cost makes it likewise good for trashing, but be careful when getting them - if you play more than 3 Actions, you can't overpay to gain them.

Stonemason is great on a Potion board - you can get a lot more out of your Potion each shuffle by using Stonemason to pick up two Alchemists/Familiars/Scrying Pools/Golems.  Then, once you're done with the Potion, turn it into two Silvers!  Or Estates, depending on how far along into the game you are.  Speaking of Potion cards, Vineyard is Stonemason's best friend.  Every time you buy Stonemason, your Vineyards go up a point.

Stonemason interacts interestingly with cost-caring trashers like Apprentice and Bishop.  Instead of feeding a card to the cost-caring trasher, feed it to the Stonemason, which will give two additional cards of slightly lower cost - in the short term this means a net gain of "cost" for your Bishop or Apprentice to feed on, but in the long run will have diminishing returns. 

In a similar vein, Stonemason can be decent with Gardens.  Every time you trash with Stonemason, you're adding an extra card to your deck (as long as you're not trashing $0 cards), and every time you buy (and overpay for) one, you're adding three cards.  That can snowball quite nicely.

Finally, bear in mind that Stonemason's gain can get around other buy restrictions.  Played a Contraband and your opponent named Journeyman?  Well, I'll just overpay on Stonemason by $5 and get two of them.  Have Coppers in play?  Overpay on Stonemason by $6 and get two Grand Markets.

Is there a counter to Stonemason?

I'm not sure that's really a valid question.  If your opponent is using Stonemason to quickly build an engine, you should probably should have been mirroring that engine (unless your opponent just has no idea what they're doing).  If their engine is already up and running and you just noticed Stonemason was on the board, it's probably too late for you.  Stonemason, like I said, isn't really a power card when played, and is not an Attack, so there isn't really anything to counter per se.  Just get your engine up faster, and use all the usual Attacks to slow down your opponent.  If your opponent isn't fielding much money per turn, they won't be able to overpay on Stonemason, so discard and Cursing Attacks will be your friend here. 

If you are mirroring, make sure you get good Stonemason overpays first - make sure you get the better of engine part splits.  If you're playing a board that's likely to end in 3 empty piles, keep track of pile sizes and of how many Stonemasons are left - if it's a Vineyards game, you don't want your opponent to get the better of the Action card split!

Synergies:
*Engines with similar-costed parts
*Boards lacking +Buy
*Border Village
*Gold-gainers
*Potion boards
*Vineyards
*Actions with on-buy restrictions

Anti-synergies:
*Big Money
*Better trashing and +Buy

[ftl]

Ooh, this should be good!

Expect a lot of comments/criticism, because stonemason is such a tough card.

One major thing you should talk about is the potential for the Stonemason pile to empty almost instantly. It's almost trivial for an engine to get, say, eight stonemasons in one turn to empty the stonemason pile (play a stonemason, trashing a silver for two stonemasons; With $8 and two buys, buy two stonemasons, overpaying by $2 for each of them and gaining four bonus stonemasons. Bam - most of the pile gone.) Whenever Stonemason is out on the board, you have to be aware for the potential for three-pile ending even when it looks like piles aren't that close to being gone.

[werothegreat]

Ooh, this should be good!

Expect a lot of comments/criticism, because stonemason is such a tough card.

I've come to expect that on every article.

One major thing you should talk about is the potential for the Stonemason pile to empty almost instantly. It's almost trivial for an engine to get, say, eight stonemasons in one turn to empty the stonemason pile (play a stonemason, trashing a silver for two stonemasons; With $8 and two buys, buy two stonemasons, overpaying by $2 for each of them and gaining four bonus stonemasons. Bam - most of the pile gone.) Whenever Stonemason is out on the board, you have to be aware for the potential for three-pile ending even when it looks like piles aren't that close to being gone.

Good point!  Let me add that.

[sudgy]

THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY POSTING ARTICLES

[eHalcyon]

In the "counters" section, I'm not sure about that advice of mirroring the opponent.  Unless that was your plan from the start, it's often a bad idea to switch gears and try to follow someone.  They'll have a head start, and if you're just copying them without knowing why, well, you're in for a bad time.  I'm probably just misreading though, and you mean to say that if there were engine components available then you should have been doing that from the start.

One big piece of Stonemason that you missed is how it interacts with Potion.  You can overpay by Potion which means that with just one Potion you can still get two Potion cards per shuffle via SM's overpay.  This is probably best with Scrying Pool -- you only need $4P to get two SPs, and then SM is another action card that SP can draw.  As a bonus, SM can slowly trash away Copper, further enabling SPs.

[sudgy]

One big piece of Stonemason that you missed is how it interacts with Potion.  You can overpay by Potion which means that with just one Potion you can still get two Potion cards per shuffle via SM's overpay.  This is probably best with Scrying Pool -- you only need $4P to get two SPs, and then SM is another action card that SP can draw.  As a bonus, SM can slowly trash away Copper, further enabling SPs.

Stonemason is great on a Potion board - you can get a lot more out of your Potion each shuffle by using Stonemason to pick up two Alchemists/Familiars/Scrying Pools/Golems.  Then, once you're done with the Potion, turn it into two Silvers!  Or Estates, depending on how far along into the game you are.

[eHalcyon]

One big piece of Stonemason that you missed is how it interacts with Potion.  You can overpay by Potion which means that with just one Potion you can still get two Potion cards per shuffle via SM's overpay.  This is probably best with Scrying Pool -- you only need $4P to get two SPs, and then SM is another action card that SP can draw.  As a bonus, SM can slowly trash away Copper, further enabling SPs.

Stonemason is great on a Potion board - you can get a lot more out of your Potion each shuffle by using Stonemason to pick up two Alchemists/Familiars/Scrying Pools/Golems.  Then, once you're done with the Potion, turn it into two Silvers!  Or Estates, depending on how far along into the game you are.

Oops.  I swear I did read it, but it just somehow slipped my mind by the time I got to the end. 

[ftl]

Yeah, it's sort of hard to 'counter' stonemason, because it's a support card for an engine strategy - "countering stonemason" would read pretty much the same as "countering an engine". I guess with a little more worry than usual about three-pile endings.

Something like "since Stonemason is a support card for an engine, there isn't any way to 'counter Stonemason' in particular. Play as you would against any engine, while keeping in mind the potential for surprise three-piles. A [[Big Money]] or [[Rush]] deck likely does not need to do anything different against a Stonemason engine than against any other engine. [[Slog]] decks need to keep the potential for three-piling in mind and remember to buy green early enough that the engine player can't snatch the game away. When playing an engine-vs-engine mirror, remember that Stonemason can easily help win splits of a key card - don't give your opponent the opportunity for a triple-village turn to get a 7-3 village advantage!"

Are those things true? Is there anything in particular a BM or Rush deck should do differently when faced with stonemasons?

[DG]

Stonemasons are a difficult card. Sometimes the overpay is worth it just to collect a lot of action cards, however the stonemason itself becomes part of the deck and you need to know what to do with it. Clipping out copper can sometimes just lose tempo for little benefit. If your opponent is giving you junk then the stonemason might have more purpose, both gaining good cards and clipping out the bad ones. Like many other trashers, large hand size gives the stonemason better card play choices.

Stonemasons open up more choices for your spending, as you have the option of buying cards at your income point or a stone mason with two cheaper cards. These extra options obviously need extra planning. There is a danger in buying too many cheap cards with stonemasons since the masons could then clog the deck, and you can only trash the cheap cards with a stonemason for even cheaper cards. (Trashing high value cards with a stonemason can be much more productive). Having more than one action card in the kingdom with the same price can give you options when gaining cards with the stonemason.

I think you can stress even more the effect stonemason has with potion cost cards. This is a major combination that can dominate a kingdom.

Stonemason can also empty piles quickly when played to gain two cards. Estates can be particularly vulnerable. You need to be alert for assorted vp trickery such as trashing farmland for duchies, colonies for provinces, and so on.

Peddlers also combine well with stonemasons.

[werothegreat]

Peddlers also combine well with stonemasons.

Only if you play exactly 3 Actions.

[SirPeebles]

Peddlers also combine well with stonemasons.

Only if you play exactly 3 Actions.

Not only then.  During your Action phase you can Stonemason a Peddler into two of any card but Province, Platinum/Colony, and Potion costs.

[dondon151]

I think Gold gainers should deserve more than a passing mention. You already pointed out the combo between Gold and Stonemason, so naturally cards like Market Square and Tunnel are a good fit, as are Soothsayer and Explorer when the conditions are right.

Grand Market is also a synergy that merits a mention, at least within the article.

[SirPeebles]

In addition to Grand Market, it seems to me that Stonemason can also be nice with Contraband, particularly when there are key Actions you want.  In general, Stonemason can help you get around buy restrictions on actions.  I haven't particularly tried this out though.

[werothegreat]

Made a couple changes.

[soulnet]

Both in the overpaying and in the playing (other than trashing a 0-cost), Stonemason adds a lot of value (in terms of the cost of the cards) to the deck. If you overpay by X, you are paying X+2 and getting 2X+2 of value into your deck. If you trash an X-cost and get two (X-1)-costs, you are getting an additional X-2 value to your deck. My point of course being that Stonemason can be great for scaling TfB, especially Apprentice, which will consistently give you the big handsize you need to keep the thing going, but it can also be good to produce some Bishop or Salvager fodder.

Also Stonemason+Fortress is nice if there are nice 3s, which I think is not an edge case, but also not usually great.

I would add that Stonemason is nice for Cornucopia cards (especially Menagerie and Fairgrounds, maybe Horn of Plenty), as it can quickly provide variety. Both effects can also be nice for those spammable cheap cards like Hamlet and Caravan. Caravan, again, also provides the large handsizes you need to be able to trash efficiently with Stonemason.

I think it is worth to notice the worse think about Stonemason: It usually does not self-synergize, trashing a Stonemason with another Stonemason is rarely a good idea. Except Gardens, when its great, because it provides a nice pseudo-+buy, and then turns into 2 nice Coppers.

[florrat]

Nice article!

THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY POSTING ARTICLES

How are there people who upvote this post, while not upvoting the article 

[werothegreat]

Both in the overpaying and in the playing (other than trashing a 0-cost), Stonemason adds a lot of value (in terms of the cost of the cards) to the deck. If you overpay by X, you are paying X+2 and getting 2X+2 of value into your deck. If you trash an X-cost and get two (X-1)-costs, you are getting an additional X-2 value to your deck. My point of course being that Stonemason can be great for scaling TfB, especially Apprentice, which will consistently give you the big handsize you need to keep the thing going, but it can also be good to produce some Bishop or Salvager fodder.

Interesting analysis.

Also Stonemason+Fortress is nice if there are nice 3s, which I think is not an edge case, but also not usually great.

I would add that Stonemason is nice for Cornucopia cards (especially Menagerie and Fairgrounds, maybe Horn of Plenty), as it can quickly provide variety. Both effects can also be nice for those spammable cheap cards like Hamlet and Caravan. Caravan, again, also provides the large handsizes you need to be able to trash efficiently with Stonemason.

I think it is worth to notice the worse think about Stonemason: It usually does not self-synergize, trashing a Stonemason with another Stonemason is rarely a good idea. Except Gardens, when its great, because it provides a nice pseudo-+buy, and then turns into 2 nice Coppers.

I think we established at some point that it's best if articles don't have exhaustive lists of their interactions with other cards.  I could see Fortress, maybe a non-self-synergy caution, but Hamlet and Caravan both fit under engine parts.

[soulnet]

Both in the overpaying and in the playing (other than trashing a 0-cost), Stonemason adds a lot of value (in terms of the cost of the cards) to the deck. If you overpay by X, you are paying X+2 and getting 2X+2 of value into your deck. If you trash an X-cost and get two (X-1)-costs, you are getting an additional X-2 value to your deck. My point of course being that Stonemason can be great for scaling TfB, especially Apprentice, which will consistently give you the big handsize you need to keep the thing going, but it can also be good to produce some Bishop or Salvager fodder.

Interesting analysis.

Thanks. If you think about including that, I forgot to mention the another important thing about Apprentice: Being non-terminal, it makes it easier to play along with the terminal Stonemason. The other two need an engine with quite a few Actions to spare.

[PSGarak]

I wonder if it's worth having a section on Stonemason openers. Stonemason's on-pay makes for some odd openings, but I suspect that the good openings are vastly outnumbered by the merely humorous (3xAmbassador, lol). One general point, though, is that in a game with clutch $3's like Ambassador or Fishing Village or Urchin, Stonemason lets a 5/2 opening still grab two of them.

[Warfreak2]

Stonemason/Feodum is cool. You can add five Silvers to your deck by trashing a Feodum.

[werothegreat]

Alright, I think this article is good.  Any objections before I put it up on the wiki?

[Awaclus]

I would like a little more emphasis on the fact that two Coppers are (usually) worse than one Estate. I see a lot of people on Goko trashing Estates with Stonemason. But the current version is fine, too.

EDIT: And Gardens, you should mention that Stonemason is good with Gardens. It might be obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

[eHalcyon]

I would like a little more emphasis on the fact that two Coppers are (usually) worse than one Estate. I see a lot of people on Goko trashing Estates with Stonemason. But the current version is fine, too.

EDIT: And Gardens, you should mention that Stonemason is good with Gardens. It might be obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

Are two coppers actually worse?  I don't have much basis to think either way, but it seems like a wash to me.

[Awaclus]

I would like a little more emphasis on the fact that two Coppers are (usually) worse than one Estate. I see a lot of people on Goko trashing Estates with Stonemason. But the current version is fine, too.

EDIT: And Gardens, you should mention that Stonemason is good with Gardens. It might be obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

Are two coppers actually worse?  I don't have much basis to think either way, but it seems like a wash to me.

As long as your average buying power per turn is bigger than $5, yeah (for BM games, for engines two stop cards are obviously worse than one stop card).

[werothegreat]

I would like a little more emphasis on the fact that two Coppers are (usually) worse than one Estate. I see a lot of people on Goko trashing Estates with Stonemason. But the current version is fine, too.

EDIT: And Gardens, you should mention that Stonemason is good with Gardens. It might be obvious, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

I would like to think my readership is intelligent enough for me to not need to highlight each and every thing, especially given most of my readers are you guys anyway.

[terminalCopper]

Trading an estate for two coppers is very similar to trading a VP Chip for a silver: Total $ is increased by 2, number of cards by 1, victory points decreases by 1.
Early on, a silver is better, later on, the VP chip. But the difference is never huge (c'mon, egde-case me!).

[Awaclus]

Trading an estate for two coppers is very similar to trading a VP Chip for a silver: Total $ is increased by 2, number of cards by 1, victory points decreases by 1.
Early on, a silver is better, later on, the VP chip. But the difference is never huge (c'mon, egde-case me!).

This isn't quite correct since a Silver brings your average $ in a 5-card hand closer to $10 which is a good thing if you're going for Provinces, a Copper brings your average $ in a 5-card hand closer to $5 which is a bad thing if it's already over $5 (and even if it isn't over $5 yet, if it's going to be over $5 in the future, Copper will slow that process down). Now, the difference between two Coppers and a single dead card isn't that big in a game with nothing but money and Stonemason (why would anyone build that deck is beyond me), but it gets bigger and bigger (in the favor of the dead card) the more you have important cards in your deck that you want to play again as soon as possible.

[terminalCopper]

Trading an estate for 2 coppers brings me closer to an average of 10$.

From the economical point of view (ignoring VP), trading an estate for estate+silver is like gaining a silver, which brings you closer to an average of 10$, right?
 And estate + silver has the same average value as copper + copper (variance is different, though).

[Awaclus]

Trading an estate for 2 coppers brings me closer to an average of 10$

...if your average amount of money is low.

[Warfreak2]

Mathematically, in a deck with E Estates, C Coppers and S Silvers, the money density goes from (C+2S)/(E+C+S) to (C+2S+2)/(E+C+S+1), which is the same as adding a Silver.

However, why you care about money density in a deck with Stonemason is quite beyond me. Normally Stonemason is for building an engine, in which case what you care about isn't money density, but action density, number of stop cards, and total spending power. Estate->2*Copper only helps the last one, a little, normally it's done at a stage in the game where it's barely relevant, and at a cost to the two more important factors.

[terminalCopper]

... which is the same as adding a Silver.

Exactly. And as we know, some decks like silver, some don't.

[soulnet]

However, why you care about money density in a deck with Stonemason is quite beyond me. Normally Stonemason is for building an engine, in which case what you care about isn't money density, but action density, number of stop cards, and total spending power. Estate->2*Copper only helps the last one, a little, normally it's done at a stage in the game where it's barely relevant, and at a cost to the two more important factors.

Well, Terminal-Draw+BM is quite capable of spiking an early $8, and getting SM+two golds seems like the optimal move.

[achmed_sender]

However, why you care about money density in a deck with Stonemason is quite beyond me. Normally Stonemason is for building an engine, in which case what you care about isn't money density, but action density, number of stop cards, and total spending power. Estate->2*Copper only helps the last one, a little, normally it's done at a stage in the game where it's barely relevant, and at a cost to the two more important factors.

Well, Terminal-Draw+BM is quite capable of spiking an early $8, and getting SM+two golds seems like the optimal move.

The on-gain is only able to gain actions...

[werothegreat]

Given that Stonemason is no-way-in-hell a BM card, there is no reason, short of Gardens, to want to trash Estates for Coppers.  So this discussion is rather moot.  I'm putting up the article.

[terminalCopper]

Given that Stonemason is no-way-in-hell a BM card, there is no reason, short of Gardens, to want to trash Estates for Coppers. 

It's often a wrong move, but sometimes, mostly at the beginning, you want to increase your money density even if you plan to build an engine, don't you?

[werothegreat]

And I think Gardens is a nombo with Stonemason - Stonemason wants engine decks, not slog decks, and turning Estates into two Coppers is trading 1 VP for 1/10 VP per Gardens you have, to a max of 8/10 (12/10 in 3-4 player), and how often are you going to get all the Gardens?  Trashing your Estate is a net loss in terms of VP for a very marginal deck improvement.

[werothegreat]

Given that Stonemason is no-way-in-hell a BM card, there is no reason, short of Gardens, to want to trash Estates for Coppers. 

It's often a wrong move, but sometimes, mostly at the beginning, you want to increase your money density even if you plan to build an engine, don't you?

In hand, an Estate and a Silver is the same as two Coppers, yes.  However, the Silver is better for your deck because you now have a higher maximum coin yield (given a five card hand).  Five Coppers is worse than four Coppers and a Silver.

[eHalcyon]

Trading an estate for two coppers is very similar to trading a VP Chip for a silver: Total $ is increased by 2, number of cards by 1, victory points decreases by 1.
Early on, a silver is better, later on, the VP chip. But the difference is never huge (c'mon, egde-case me!).

Not that similar.  First case is trading one really bad card for two pretty bad cards.  Second case is trading something usually inconsequential for one decent card (depending on your strategy).  The impact on the deck is pretty different for all four.  My intuition says that it's a wash between 1 Estate and 2 Coppers, but I'm still not certain.  Having a Silver is usually better than having a VP chip.  Consider Monument vs. Explorer.  Both give terminal +$2, Monument gives +1VP while Explorer gives you a Silver.  OK, sometimes it gives you Gold/+$3 instead, but that's rare -- it's mostly a Silver gainer.

And I think Gardens is a nombo with Stonemason - Stonemason wants engine decks, not slog decks, and turning Estates into two Coppers is trading 1 VP for 1/10 VP per Gardens you have, to a max of 8/10 (12/10 in 3-4 player), and how often are you going to get all the Gardens?  Trashing your Estate is a net loss in terms of VP for a very marginal deck improvement.

For Gardens at least, the deck improvement can be pretty significant.  Copper is great to have when your target is just $4.  Also, it's a bit of a trap to think purely in fractional VP, because that's not how the game is scored.  If that extra card pushes you over the threshold, it's worth it.  Since you can't be certain whether or not that'll be the case at the end of the game, you have to make the judgement call and the improvement in the deck probably makes it a good move.

But that's not all it does.  Stonemason definitely combos with Gardens for three reasons:
1. It lets you gain 3 cards with a single buy.
2. It increases your deck size on play, acting as pseudo+Buy.
3. It helps you quickly end the game on piles (both with the overpay and with the play effect), which is important for rushes.

Buy Stonemason and get extra X cards.  Crack those open into other things.  Turn Silvers into Estates, Estates into Coppers.  You can probably end the game on Stonemasons, Estates and Gardens pretty quickly.

[werothegreat]

Consider Monument vs. Explorer.  Both give terminal +$2, Monument gives +1VP while Explorer gives you a Silver.  OK, sometimes it gives you Gold/+$3 instead, but that's rare -- it's mostly a Silver gainer.

You know, I don't really ever think of Explorer.  I mean, I'm aware of its existence in that I know all of the cards in Seaside and Explorer is one of them, but I never really think about it.  I think about Scout because it's so bad, and really about almost every other Dominion card...  but I always am sort of surprised when I look at Explorer and read what it does.

[ednever]

Thought I would share this Stonemason turn:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130918/log.516d0e09e4b082c74d7aacc1.1379538889026.txt

I was worried that I made the wrong call ignoring Soothsayer, but the Foragers kept it reasonably at bay. And then the last turn made me very happy:

ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Forager, Advisor, Stonemason
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   places cards in hand: Forager, Stonemason
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: King's Court, King's Court, King's Court
pt6776   discards King's Court
ednever   places cards in hand: King's Court, King's Court
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Forager, Hamlet, Advisor
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   places cards in hand: Forager, Hamlet
ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Market
ednever   draws Market
ednever   plays Market
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   draws Advisor
ednever   plays Market
ednever   draws King's Court
ednever   plays King's Court

-> At this point I realized I could do something fun...

ednever   plays Stonemason
ednever   trashes King's Court
ednever   gains Pillage
ednever   gains Soothsayer

-> Nothing better than gaining a card and then playing it the same turn for a surprise attack. Actually there is...

ednever   plays Stonemason
ednever   trashes Forager
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   plays Stonemason
ednever   trashes Forager
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Advisor
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   reveals: Hamlet, Pillage
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   places cards in hand: Hamlet, Pillage
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Hamlet, Hamlet, Soothsayer
pt6776   discards Soothsayer
ednever   places cards in hand: Hamlet, Hamlet
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Hamlet
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   reveals: Soothsayer, Advisor
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   places cards in hand: Hamlet, Soothsayer

-> ...gaining a card and then playing it three times on the same turn.

ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Soothsayer
ednever   gains Gold
pt6776   gains Curse
pt6776   draws Silver
ednever   plays Soothsayer
ednever   gains Gold
pt6776   gains Curse
pt6776   draws Hamlet
ednever   plays Soothsayer
ednever   gains Gold
pt6776   gains Curse
pt6776   draws Gold

-> ...Followed by playing the other card three times to discard 3 cards with Pillage...

ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Pillage
ednever   trashes Pillage
pt6776   reveals Copper, Advisor, Forager, Soothsayer, Advisor, Silver, Hamlet, Gold
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   gains Spoils
ednever   gains Spoils
ednever   plays Pillage
ednever   trashes Pillage
pt6776   reveals Copper, Advisor, Forager, Soothsayer, Silver, Hamlet, Gold
pt6776   discards Advisor
ednever   gains Spoils
ednever   gains Spoils
ednever   plays Pillage
ednever   trashes Pillage
pt6776   reveals Copper, Forager, Soothsayer, Silver, Hamlet, Gold
pt6776   discards Hamlet
ednever   gains Spoils
ednever   gains Spoils

-> And then drawing the 3 gold and 3 Spoils that I just gained with the cards I gained earlier...

ednever   plays King's Court
ednever   plays Market
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Market
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Market
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Hamlet
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Hamlet
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Hamlet
ednever   draws Advisor
ednever   plays Advisor
ednever   reveals: Gold, Gold, Gold
pt6776   discards Gold
ednever   places cards in hand: Gold, Gold
ednever   plays Hamlet
ednever   draws Spoils
ednever   plays Hamlet
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   draws Gold
ednever   plays 4 Gold
ednever   plays Spoils
ednever   plays Spoils
ednever   plays Spoils
ednever   plays Spoils
ednever   plays Spoils
ednever   plays Spoils

-> And then end on piles by using the Stonemason a second time...

ednever   buys Stonemason
ednever   overpays for Stonemason with 7 coins
ednever   gains King's Court
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   buys Stonemason
ednever   overpays for Stonemason with 2 coins
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   buys Stonemason
ednever   overpays for Stonemason with 2 coins
ednever   gains Hamlet
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   buys Stonemason
ednever   overpays for Stonemason with 2 coins
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   gains Stonemason
ednever   buys Colony
ednever   gains Colony
ednever   buys Estate
ednever   gains Estate
ednever   buys Estate
ednever   gains Estate
ednever   shuffles deck
ednever   draws Colony, Soothsayer, Market, King's Court, Hamlet


Fun with breaking rocks!

Ed

[mail-mi]

and how often are you going to get all the Gardens? 

I did. Today. On a board with a gainer, Thief, and a buy card. I should'a saved the log.

[sudgy]

ed: that should go on best dominion moments...

[sudgy]

and how often are you going to get all the Gardens? 

I did. Today. On a board with a gainer, Thief, and a buy card. I should'a saved the log.

You mean this game?

[BadAssMutha]

Great article, but I'd add one very important synergy for Stonemason: cost reducers.

We all know that cost reducers work well in games with +buy, and it's no different for the Stonemason's virtual +buy. Using a cost reducer (Bridge, Highway, Quarry) before buying Stonemason can get you a lot more mileage out of the overpay - your cost reducer is basically working triple-duty. Not only do you get the SM for dirt cheap, you can hit your overpay target much easier. Couple this with regular +buy, and you have a nice little combo that can score lots of expensive cards on the cheap. The only thing to look out for with cost reducers (as you mention with Peddler) is that you don't drive your overpay target down to $0, which would render it un-gainable from Stonemason.

Here's a nifty play where I pick up 4 Nobles and 2 Cartographers with my 3 Stonemasons, and it's only Turn 5!

BadAMutha - draws Squire, Squire, Quarry, Quarry, Copper
---------- BadAMutha: turn 5 ----------
BadAMutha - plays Squire
BadAMutha - takes 2 actions
BadAMutha - plays Squire
BadAMutha - takes 2 buys
BadAMutha - plays Quarry
BadAMutha - plays Quarry
BadAMutha - plays Copper
BadAMutha - buys Stonemason
BadAMutha - overpays for Stonemason with 2 coins
BadAMutha - gains Nobles
BadAMutha - gains Nobles
BadAMutha - gains Stonemason
BadAMutha - buys Stonemason
BadAMutha - overpays for Stonemason with 2 coins
BadAMutha - gains Nobles
BadAMutha - gains Nobles
BadAMutha - gains Stonemason
BadAMutha - buys Stonemason
BadAMutha - overpays for Stonemason with 1 coin
BadAMutha - gains Cartographer
BadAMutha - gains Cartographer
BadAMutha - gains Stonemason

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20131015/log.513bdc80e4b0da6e3de056bb.1381862770589.txt

[TheMirrorMan]

Agree especially here with the last post.

Quarry + stonemason especially can be enormously strong - had that happen in one of my games.

Two coins and one quarry can give you two stables via stonemason - it's enormous.

[Puddleglumm]

The Goko bots go bonkers when stonemason and cantrips are on the board. Occasionally they will pull a nifty 3-pile ending, using the stonemasons to trash for VP at the last minute, but often they will just build a deck full of lighthouses and spies. I recommend "Stonemason, All" against bots for your entertainment needs. 

[Julle]

Stonemason is great on a Potion board - you can get a lot more out of your Potion each shuffle by using Stonemason to pick up two Alchemists/Familiars/Scrying Pools/Golems.  Then, once you're done with the Potion, turn it into two Silvers!  Or Estates, depending on how far along into the game you are.  Speaking of Potion cards, Vineyard is Stonemason's best friend.  Every time you buy Stonemason, your Vineyards go up a point.

In addition, in late game you can trash any potion costing card, except transmute, into two vineyards.