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[punkernikel]

Anyone else have a card that you know is good, but every time you use it, it doesn't work, and every time your opponent uses it, you get crushed?

For me, it's not even close, it's Swindler - if I avoid it, I lose.  If I buy it, I still lose as my opponent hits copper EVERY TIME and I hit not-copper EVERY TIME.  It's almost gotten to the point where I will exit a Goko game when I see it, I'm just that bad with it.

Gardens is a close second.  That chug.....chug.......chug as I try to outrun the Gardens race buying other green and slow to a complete stop.

[Witherweaver]

Anyone else have a card that you know is good, but every time you use it, it doesn't work, and every time your opponent uses it, you get crushed?

For me, it's not even close, it's Swindler - if I avoid it, I lose.  If I buy it, I still lose as my opponent hits copper EVERY TIME and I hit not-copper EVERY TIME.  It's almost gotten to the point where I will exit a Goko game when I see it, I'm just that bad with it.

Gardens is a close second.  That chug.....chug.......chug as I try to outrun the Gardens race buying other green and slow to a complete stop.

Smugglers.  Every time.

[A Drowned Kernel]

I have cards that I buy even though I know they're not good. Bishop is a big trap card for me. And P-Stone. I always try to make P-Stone work. P-Stone never works.

[punkernikel]

IGG was an enigma to me for a very long time.  I still don't like it, but I can at least see it coming now...

[liopoil]

Possession for me. I don't have a problem with the card, but I'm not sure I've ever won a game on Goko with it on the board.

[KingZog3]

Anyone else have a card that you know is good, but every time you use it, it doesn't work, and every time your opponent uses it, you get crushed?

For me, it's not even close, it's Swindler - if I avoid it, I lose.  If I buy it, I still lose as my opponent hits copper EVERY TIME and I hit not-copper EVERY TIME.  It's almost gotten to the point where I will exit a Goko game when I see it, I'm just that bad with it.

Gardens is a close second.  That chug.....chug.......chug as I try to outrun the Gardens race buying other green and slow to a complete stop.

Don't buy green to outrace Gardens. Make a deck to buy Provinces to out race Gardens.

Swindler is swingy, and it feels like you never hit his coppers. But play enough games and it'll feel a bit better. Still sucks though when hit an Estate.

For me it's Minion. Hands down it's just not fun. I've had my only 3 Minions in my deck discarded and then I pick up a bunch of VP. Or I have a bunch of VP and it doesn't get discarded.

[Awaclus]

Well, I still suck at Goons games. The card is strong enough to work even when I go for it (which is basically every time because I don't know when to ignore it either), but usually my opponent plays the strategy a lot better.

And I probably get lucky with Mercenary about as often as my opponents do, but it feels like I've been crushed by a Mercenary hitting my Mercenary hand a million times.

[Breezy D]

It's not quite my kriptonite but if rats is on the board, I have a hard time not buying them if there's even a hint of benefit.

[LastFootnote]

I have cards that I buy even though I know they're not good. Bishop is a big trap card for me. And P-Stone. I always try to make P-Stone work. P-Stone never works.

We should play some games sometime. I use P-Stone frequently and it almost always works.

[liopoil]

I have cards that I buy even though I know they're not good. Bishop is a big trap card for me. And P-Stone. I always try to make P-Stone work. P-Stone never works.

We should play some games sometime. I use P-Stone frequently and it almost always works.

well, you usually play with multiple potion cards when you play with potion cards, right?

[LastFootnote]

I have cards that I buy even though I know they're not good. Bishop is a big trap card for me. And P-Stone. I always try to make P-Stone work. P-Stone never works.

We should play some games sometime. I use P-Stone frequently and it almost always works.

well, you usually play with multiple potion cards when you play with potion cards, right?

Correctamundo.

[Grujah]

Rebuild.

I suck at playing it.

[LastFootnote]

I think my krypnonite cards are Wharf and King's Court. I am pretty terrible at big engines compared to most players of my level.

[Beyond Awesome]

Hmm, this is hard. Let me think. I guess I avoid Bishop a lot unless Fortress is out, so I sometimes lose by underestimating it. I never liked how the card helps your opponent thin as well. I do have an addiction to SP, but I usually know when to refrain from buying it, but sometimes I can't help it even when I know it is the weaker strategy on the board.

[Lekkit]

Smugglers.

[qmech]

Mercenary. Nothing else even comes close.  There must be something I don't understand about that card: I always think "the attack is painful, but at least my opponent will have to stop playing it eventually", but it seems to go on longer than I ever thought possible.  I also constantly get stuck with 3 card hands including a Mercenary, which is just terrible.

[ashersky]

Hunting.  Party.  Die.

[Joseph2302]

It's not quite my kriptonite but if rats is on the board, I have a hard time not buying them if there's even a hint of benefit.

I find rats hard too.. sometimes I go for them, and there's literally nothing good for them (and I mess up and get a deck of all rats, and lose), and sometimes they're good but I don't use them (in fear of the previous situation occurring)

[markusin]

"This looks like a job for Taxman."

I think that almost every time I see Taxman on the board.

[SirPeebles]

Governor

[hvb]

Kings Court and Golem.

Honourable Mentions: Haggler, Conspirator

[theblankman]

Advisor.  I never know quite when to buy it and when to ignore it, and I'm not good enough at tracking my opponent's deck to know when it's better to deny another Advisor vs denying immediate value (like big treasure or other non-drawing actions). 

Honorable mention to Governor, still figuring that one out, but slowly getting better with it. 

Dishonorable mention to Cultist   Doesn't kill my ability to win, just the fun.  Who wants to be on either end of an early lopsided Ruin split, slogging to the end of a game whose outcome was more or less determined six turns ago? 

[WheresMyElephant]

Island. I must have played hundreds of games with it, but I don't think I've ever bought it as an opener (and as a non-opener, rarely) and been truly confident that it was the right play. I know the pros and cons but I have no real way to weigh them. I just rely on a vague estimate of its general power level compared to other $4s, and I tweak this very little depending on the board because I don't know where to start, even though good play would be very board-dependent. About the only thing I know is that it's a lousy way to hit $5, if that's key.

[Emeric]

Possession for me. I don't have a problem with the card, but I'm not sure I've ever won a game on Goko with it on the board.

http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140426/log.5096f6e2e4b09734a37d595b.1398546864512.txt
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140329/log.50a434fee4b0addfc4f42fe9.1396108385032.txt
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20130627/log.511531d9e4b05d0fdbb66248.1372359898573.txt
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20130623/log.513e257ce4b05fa06a316daa.1372021708543.txt
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20130505/log.50af2563e4b0c5dcbb3dfd5d.1367789300964.txt
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20130504/log.5163198ce4b0ad9d0694acf9.1367680534322.txt

[Davio]

Mercenary. Nothing else even comes close.  There must be something I don't understand about that card: I always think "the attack is painful, but at least my opponent will have to stop playing it eventually", but it seems to go on longer than I ever thought possible.  I also constantly get stuck with 3 card hands including a Mercenary, which is just terrible.

Well, you start with 10 crappy cards, so you can play it 5 times to trash all of your starting cards.
And 5 times is a lot, say from turn 5 onwards and then every other turn until turn 15 (obv gets more if your deck gets smaller).

[shark_bait]

I hate to say this because I know how powerful this card is are and how it changes the game.  But Vineyards man, they just get me every single time. 

[terminalCopper]

Mercenary. Nothing else even comes close.  There must be something I don't understand about that card: I always think "the attack is painful, but at least my opponent will have to stop playing it eventually", but it seems to go on longer than I ever thought possible.  I also constantly get stuck with 3 card hands including a Mercenary, which is just terrible.

Well, you start with 10 crappy cards, so you can play it 5 times to trash all of your starting cards.

Once your deck is running, you can also trash silvers and remaining urchins. In general, no matter how strong your cards are, there will usually be cards worth less than average, and trashing these cards is usually good.

[StrongRhino]

I cannot do Vineyards. I never know when to go for them, when not to, how to go for them.

[KingZog3]

I cannot do Vineyards. I never know when to go for them, when not to, how to go for them.

Honestly Vineyards are worth it so much of the time. Almost any decent +buy makes them worth it. As soon as there's cantrips then Vineyard will either be competitive or better than Provinces.

[jamfamsam]

I have a very difficult time playing with Scavenger well.

Develop and Apothecary are both difficult cards for me to play also.

[MarkowKette]

Provinces.
My win rate is just so much higher when they are not on the board.

no seriously it's Governor to me. I suck with that card.

[Davio]

My Kryptonite card is Bishop, I'm always grateful if an opponent opens with one so I can trash for free, but in the end I'm trying to overcome that 10 VP deficit and that can be pretty difficult.

[prom_vrt]

4 cards that I cannot play well though my opponent sometimes can
- Procession...I don't enjoy trashing my precious action I've played twice. In the presence of ruins, I still can't make use of trashing ruins while my opponent may play it wonderfully.
- Governor...I always fall behind in Governor race, and gained silver a lot clogged my engine.
- Mercenary...When I'm hit with my opponent's Mercenary, I usually discard down to Mercenary, Junk, Junk so that I think attacking my opponent back can be harmful to him. But later on my turn when I play Mercenary, trashing two junks and draw two cards, I draw two actions that cannot be played and have only 2 to spend!!!
- Possession...It seems like a clever opponent has an x-ray eyesight that I'm always possessed on good hands and my turn I always hold horrible hands.

Another disliked card but I know how to use it
- Rebuild...In province game with experienced player it seems like nothing can beat turbo rebuild strategy. I planned to build an engine but he keeps on rebuilding, trashing province for province and I was left with no VPs to gain from my fine-tuned engine. So, I have to use this every time and I think nothing can beat this, even curser is often weaker than this.

[Awaclus]

- Rebuild...In province game with experienced player it seems like nothing can beat turbo rebuild strategy. I planned to build an engine but he keeps on rebuilding, trashing province for province and I was left with no VPs to gain from my fine-tuned engine. So, I have to use this every time and I think nothing can beat this, even curser is often weaker than this.

Usually you want the curser first, then Rebuild. Pure Rebuild should lose against Rebuild/X most of the time, especially if X is a strong card on its own.

[Stealth Tomato]

Island. I must have played hundreds of games with it, but I don't think I've ever bought it as an opener (and as a non-opener, rarely) and been truly confident that it was the right play. I know the pros and cons but I have no real way to weigh them. I just rely on a vague estimate of its general power level compared to other $4s, and I tweak this very little depending on the board because I don't know where to start, even though good play would be very board-dependent. About the only thing I know is that it's a lousy way to hit $5, if that's key.

This is generally the correct way to play Island. It's a horrible opener, and still bad through most of the game except in unusual circumstances.

Vineyard was an absolute killer for me until recently. I just ignored it too much. Herald still gets me from time to time--even against lower-ranked players. Most of the other cards I can think of mostly cause me trouble against the guys ranked higher than me.

On the opposite hand, cards I see misused (or skipped) a lot:
Merchant Guild gets underbought a lot.
Mystic gets overbought a lot.
People in general aren't aggressive enough with TfB. Graverobber should be turning $5s into Provinces and almost nothing else. Forge and Salvager should be aggressively used to turn useful cards into Provinces as well.
Players don't use Mandarin very well as a late-game buy.
Island and Bishop are terrible early-game cards, but I still see them bought a lot in the first few shuffles.
And finally, Duke. A lot of people are really bad at playing it or try to just ignore it. DuchyDuke is tremendously strong on a lot of boards, and can often be bought much earlier than players actually do.

[ConMan]

Procession - I don't know how to use it unless there are specifically Action cards that I know lose their efficacy in late game (Moneylender, Sea Hag) and then something to upgrade them to.

[brokoli]

At first, I thought I had no card I particularly suck at. But after further thinking, in facts there are a few :
City - So often I see a city board and I do the wrong decision : ignore it when it's key, go for it when it's just too slow. And when I go for it, I tend to be too focused on getting cities quickly and I get the first cities too early.
Mint - Watching SCSN's lessons, I realized that I ignore mint too often. It's a card that can sometimes depends a lot on luck and I often prefer to not take the risk to wait for mint. I also undervalue its power at copying treasures.
Doctor - Still fairly new to me but I have no idea when to buy it, whether I should wait for good overpaying or not.
university - Like city, going for university is often a decision that have a big impact on the game. And sometimes the value of university is just too low, but I still go for it…

[werothegreat]

I still overestimate Pirate Ship, even though I buy it less now.

Tunnel pisses me off.  I mean, when there's Embassy or Storeroom on the board, it's a no-brainer, but I've tried to make it work with Oasis and Jack of all Trades, and... and it just doesn't.

[LastFootnote]

I still overestimate Pirate Ship, even though I buy it less now.

Tunnel pisses me off.  I mean, when there's Embassy or Storeroom on the board, it's a no-brainer, but I've tried to make it work with Oasis and Jack of all Trades, and... and it just doesn't.

Tunnel works fine with Oasis; just don't open with Tunnel. Trying to activate Tunnel with an effect that discards a single random card (Jack, Duchess) is a Bad Idea. I guess if you have a ton of that card (Ironmonger), it might be worth trying.

[enfynet]

Torturer.

I've never won a game that had Torturer on the board. I don't like making the decision, and I don't like using it for drawing cards.

[lespeutere]

Anyone else have a card that you know is good, but every time you use it, it doesn't work, and every time your opponent uses it, you get crushed?

For me, it's not even close, it's Swindler - if I avoid it, I lose.  If I buy it, I still lose as my opponent hits copper EVERY TIME and I hit not-copper EVERY TIME.  It's almost gotten to the point where I will exit a Goko game when I see it, I'm just that bad with it.

Gardens is a close second.  That chug.....chug.......chug as I try to outrun the Gardens race buying other green and slow to a complete stop.

As a side note: games where my opponent kept hitting non-coppers were most often worse than those where he hit coppers.

[RTT]

for me its Scrying Pool , i always loose when i play it and when i ignore it i loose aswell often enough.

[luser]

For me it is a jester or thief. I typically lose games looks like
turn 3 hit 4, opponent played jester/thief hitting silver.
turn 5 4 again
turn 6 finally hit 5 and bought that mountebank
turn 8 opponent plays jester/thief again and hits mountebank.

[The 801]

Mercenary. Nothing else even comes close.  There must be something I don't understand about that card: I always think "the attack is painful, but at least my opponent will have to stop playing it eventually", but it seems to go on longer than I ever thought possible.  I also constantly get stuck with 3 card hands including a Mercenary, which is just terrible.

Well, you start with 10 crappy cards, so you can play it 5 times to trash all of your starting cards.
And 5 times is a lot, say from turn 5 onwards and then every other turn until turn 15 (obv gets more if your deck gets smaller).

- Mercenary...When I'm hit with my opponent's Mercenary, I usually discard down to Mercenary, Junk, Junk so that I think attacking my opponent back can be harmful to him. But later on my turn when I play Mercenary, trashing two junks and draw two cards, I draw two actions that cannot be played and have only 2 to spend!!!

It's definitely tempting to ditch all your Urchins to get as many Mercenaries as possible, but that's just plain folly, as you often end up drawing cards that form a dud hand. Like most cards it requires balance to work properly, which is difficult when your deck has been overwhelmed with ruins, but that's often impossible to recover from (don't pin your hopes on Mercenaries to clear a dozen ruins and still give you workable hands in the process).

As for my own kryptonite, I've been lured by Treasure Map on more than one occasion to my own detriment (just like in real life).

[Awaclus]

It's definitely tempting to ditch all your Urchins to get as many Mercenaries as possible, but that's just plain folly, as you often end up drawing cards that form a dud hand. Like most cards it requires balance to work properly, which is difficult when your deck has been overwhelmed with ruins, but that's often impossible to recover from (don't pin your hopes on Mercenaries to clear a dozen ruins and still give you workable hands in the process).

It's not "just plain folly". Depending on the situation, it might or might not be the correct play, and when it isn't, running out of cards to trash while you'd still want to attack is usually the reason.

[The 801]

It's definitely tempting to ditch all your Urchins to get as many Mercenaries as possible, but that's just plain folly, as you often end up drawing cards that form a dud hand. Like most cards it requires balance to work properly, which is difficult when your deck has been overwhelmed with ruins, but that's often impossible to recover from (don't pin your hopes on Mercenaries to clear a dozen ruins and still give you workable hands in the process).

It's not "just plain folly". Depending on the situation, it might or might not be the correct play, and when it isn't, running out of cards to trash while you'd still want to attack is usually the reason.

You're right: I should have specified that ditching all your Urchins (if you've purchased many) for Mercenaries in the early game isn't a good idea. Thanks for calling me out on that one  .

[Awaclus]

It's definitely tempting to ditch all your Urchins to get as many Mercenaries as possible, but that's just plain folly, as you often end up drawing cards that form a dud hand. Like most cards it requires balance to work properly, which is difficult when your deck has been overwhelmed with ruins, but that's often impossible to recover from (don't pin your hopes on Mercenaries to clear a dozen ruins and still give you workable hands in the process).

It's not "just plain folly". Depending on the situation, it might or might not be the correct play, and when it isn't, running out of cards to trash while you'd still want to attack is usually the reason.

You're right: I should have specified that ditching all your Urchins (if you've purchased many) for Mercenaries in the early game isn't a good idea. Thanks for calling me out on that one  .

Still, if you have enough junk to last for the entire game, ditching all your Urchins for Mercenaries as early as possible should be a good idea pretty often.

[The 801]

It's definitely tempting to ditch all your Urchins to get as many Mercenaries as possible, but that's just plain folly, as you often end up drawing cards that form a dud hand. Like most cards it requires balance to work properly, which is difficult when your deck has been overwhelmed with ruins, but that's often impossible to recover from (don't pin your hopes on Mercenaries to clear a dozen ruins and still give you workable hands in the process).

It's not "just plain folly". Depending on the situation, it might or might not be the correct play, and when it isn't, running out of cards to trash while you'd still want to attack is usually the reason.

You're right: I should have specified that ditching all your Urchins (if you've purchased many) for Mercenaries in the early game isn't a good idea. Thanks for calling me out on that one  .

Still, if you have enough junk to last for the entire game, ditching all your Urchins for Mercenaries as early as possible should be a good idea pretty often.

It really does depend: if you're trying to get rid of your starting junk and you've consecutively bought 4 Urchins, getting rid of each one would probably not be a good idea (purchasing 4 consecutive Urchins at the start is questionable in and of itself, but not necessarily a bad idea).

The main thing I was trying to convey (in retrospect, rather poorly) is that the impulse to trash junk can cloud better judgement, or at least it has clouded mine in the past. My former Treasure Map fixation may say something about wrestling my own impulses, but I'd be rather arrogant if I assumed that everyone has the same problem.

[Jasoba]

ill disagree! island is sometimes (about 20%) a good opener!
The slower the kingodom the better it gets.
It doesnt rly matter if it collides turn 4 or 5 with a estate, BM + island wins vs BM without it!

ah yeah and for me its fools gold s

[silverspawn]

It doesnt rly matter if it collides turn 4 or 5 with a estate, BM + island wins vs BM without it!

that isn't very relevant unfortunately, and i agree that island is a pretty bad card. you'll only want to open with it if there's nothing going on, or if you can trash hovel with it.

[KingZog3]

It doesnt rly matter if it collides turn 4 or 5 with a estate, BM + island wins vs BM without it!

that isn't very relevant unfortunately, and i agree that island is a pretty bad card. you'll only want to open with it if there's nothing going on, or if you can trash hovel with it.

I don't know about bad. I mean, it usually get's bought for the VP on it, and it can keep your deck clean in the end game. Of course you don't build a strategy on it like Gardens or Silk Road, but it's pretty useful.

[amalloy]

It doesnt rly matter if it collides turn 4 or 5 with a estate, BM + island wins vs BM without it!

that isn't very relevant unfortunately, and i agree that island is a pretty bad card. you'll only want to open with it if there's nothing going on, or if you can trash hovel with it.

I don't know about bad. I mean, it usually get's bought for the VP on it, and it can keep your deck clean in the end game. Of course you don't build a strategy on it like Gardens or Silk Road, but it's pretty useful.

As a vanishing pseudo-trasher, it can be very useful for Cornucopia-oriented decks. Island away your Chapel once you're done trashing so that Hunting Party doesn't draw you that useless card anymore; Island away your Provinces so that your Menagerie engine never spins down. These effects can be powerful enough that Island really is "part of the strategy", and not just an opportune two VPs.

[silverspawn]

stables

[Awaclus]

As a vanishing pseudo-trasher, it can be very useful for Cornucopia-oriented decks. Island away your Chapel once you're done trashing so that Hunting Party doesn't draw you that useless card anymore;

And you don't even have to lose uniques for Fairgrounds! That's synergy right there!