Sorry for the delay. I was ill a few days ago. But now the lists continue.
| #48 Counting House (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 45.78 / Median: 46 / Mode: 46 / Standard Deviation: 2.5 Highest Rank(s): #37 (1x), #41 (1x), #42 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (6x)
Counting House is the card with the lowest deviation. With only one rank above #40, there's no doubt, this is the worst card of all $5s. But comparing it to the other last cards, it has really few last places (6, as many as on #46).
All $5s are really strong cards, but some shine more often than other ones. Counting House is one that shines very rarely. The best use may be countering Mountebank. With massive Copper in your deck, you have a high probability to get many Coppers in hand even if you're only half through the deck. Then you can easily buy a Province or a Colony with the use of this card only. It also has some really nice synergies with Coppersmith (make all Coppers worth a Silver) and Chancellor (discard all Coppers and put them in hand). But then you need a village to play Counting House and one of these cards in one turn and the probabilities to draw these 3 cards together are low in a deck full of Copper. The better alternative and only real combo is Golem. Buy many Golems and only one Counting House. The Golem will always find the Counting House and discard all other cards. With a Golem in hand, you are now guaranteed to get all Coppers. Instead you can buy many Warehouses, cycle through your deck discarding all cards right before the reshuffle and then play your Counting House. It has some other nice synergies, but are very difficult to pull off. For a Bank you need additional buys to be worth it. With no real supporters, this card is mostly not worth the effort.
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| #47 Stash (Promo) Weighted Average: 44.18 / Median: 46 / Mode: 46 / Standard Deviation: 3.7 Highest Rank(s): #35 (1x), #36 (1x), #37 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (5x)
Stash has already a 1.6 point lead over Counting House, but the stats are only slightly better. It was 4 times over #40 and only has one last rank less. It has the fourth least deviation.
You need 4 Stashes to get a Province after the reshuffle for sure and in Colony games it's almost useless. But a sure Province that you can get only after a reshuffle needs you to trigger the reshuffle as often as possible. This means you need supporter cards too. The most obvious ones are Golem (with max. one other action) or a few Chancellors, but sifters or other good cyclers can work too. But if the cyclers are good, you probably want more of them and Stashes are losing their value. In all other cases, you probably find stronger cards than Stash, although if you have $5 and want a Silver anyway, you can pick up a Stash unhesitatingly most of the times.
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| #46 Explorer (Seaside) Weighted Average: 43.78 / Median: 45 / Mode: 47 / Standard Deviation: 3.3 Highest Rank(s): #35 (1x), #38 (1x), #40 (4x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (3x)
Explorer is slightly better although it has only two ranks above #40 and an even worse mode of 47 (6x). But it has only 3 last places and a better median. With the third least deviation its rank seems deserved.
The problem with Explorer is: When you already have 2-3 Provinces and you have $5, you want a Duchy most of the times. When you have one or none, it only nets you a Silver in hand most of the times and then there are still other cards that are better getting you Provinces than just a Silver-generating machine. If you compare it to Jack of All Trades, it's better in the Silver-getting, but just worse on all the other parts. You want it in thin decks where you can draw it with a Province with high probability. Explorer/Chapel is therefore a #65 opening. And I forgot to mention, it's nearly useless in Colony games.
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| #45 Saboteur (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 43.09 / Median: 44 / Mode: 48 / Standard Deviation: 5.3 Highest Rank(s): #30 (1x), #33 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (4x)
Here is a card that has a mode of 48; so its most frequent rank is last. But it's last still only 4 times and was 7 times above #40. This shows the higher deviation, although it's still the ninth least deviation of the $5 cards.
Saboteur is the worst $5 attack. Why? There are similar reasons like Thief is bad. It trashes cards from your opponents deck without immediate benefit to you, so it's only destructive. And if you aren't able to play Saboteur in each turn at least one time, your opponent can catch up easily when he just continues and ignores it or re-buys the trashed card if it was essential. But, on the other side, it can lead to big outbursts if you play 1-2 Saboteurs each turn or if you can even play King's Court with it. In games with no mats and chips you are then able to trash the whole deck and all points from your opponent and can easily finish and win. But these cases are so rare, Saboteur is still a bad card for itself.
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| #44 Cache (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 42.55 / Median: 44 / Mode: 45 / Standard Deviation: 5.4 Highest Rank(s): #20 (1x), #36 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (1x), #48 (2x)
With a really big outlier, Cache is still very consistent in the ranks: Again 7 times above #40, but only 2 last places.
Cache performs differently in different kind of decks. In engine decks with few money (Scrying Pool etc) it's just horrible. In Big Money decks, it's most of the time superior than just a Silver (like Stash, see above). But it only shines in big decks (Gardens) with many green cards (Silk Road), simply said in decks where Copper isn't a so bad card after all. Also nice is Cache in combination with Trader for a Gold and 2 Silvers for only $5. And Cache is like Silver not very good in Colony games.
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| #43 Contraband (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 41.42 / Median: 42.5 / Mode: 48 / Standard Deviation: 6.1 Highest Rank(s): #23 (1x), #29 (1x), #30 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (1x), #48 (4x)
Contraband already has a few outliers, it was 9 times above #40. Just like Saboteur the mode is 48 with 4 times being last. But some higher places made it possible not being in the worst 5, so the deviation got up to 6.1
Another treasure card and another cheap Gold treasure card. Contraband can be very trappy. Buying it can be a nice early Gold and the +Buy is very important for finding a substitution for the prohibited card. If there are many good cards on the board and you want Gold and a card with +Buy anyway this can be very good. But most of the times you embargo yourself. And in the late game this is a dead card because everybody knows you want that Province. If you buy it, buy only one, because two or more can really shut you down. And beware of Venture + Contraband!
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| #42 Mandarin (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 40.82 / Median: 41 / Mode: 45 / Standard Deviation: 5.7 Highest Rank(s): #27 (1x), #31 (1x), #32 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (3x), #48 (2x)
Mandarin has still 2 last places, so there are only 4 last places left. With one almost the half of all players ranking it above #40, it's the last card with an average worse than 40.
Mandarin is again a cheap Gold, but you need an action to play it. What makes it better than the last two cheap Gold-alternatives? The drawback of this card is to put back a card on your deck. But this can be also very nice, because you can prepare your next turn just like Courtyard does it. So, if you have more money than you need or you have colliding terminals, just put back a card. But with colliding terminals, the other card is mostly stronger and you want to play that this turn. The on-buy effect can also be very nice. With a 5/2 opening you can buy the wanted stronger card next turn too and get an additional Mandarin. Mandarin/Hunting Party or Mandarin/Mint are very nice openings and it's not that bad in Double-Tactician games. In the late game where you miss $8 or $11 you can just play one Platinum or two Golds, buy the Mandarin and have a higher chance to reach it in the next turn. That can be very effective. But, still it's a cheap Gold and there are many better alternatives on the board most of the times.
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| #41 Mine (Base) Weighted Average: 39.66 / Median: 40 / Mode: 42 / Standard Deviation: 6.3 Highest Rank(s): #23 (1x), #24 (1x), #25 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #46 (3x), #47 (1x)
Mine is the first card with no last place and it is the first card with 3 times above #30.
Mine is one of the first trash-for-benefit card you probably got to know. It has the disadvantage of being limited to treasures, so you cannot trash them later into victory cards. But it has the advantage to get the new card immediately in hand. But Mine is still slow. A Moneylender doesn't get you a card, but is at least worth a Silver in the turn you played it, whereas Mine is only worth a Copper. But in the long term Mine can be better. The more often you play the new treasure card, the more Mine was profitable. So, if you want Mine, you want it early. It gets so much better in Colony games. First, Colony games last longer and you will probably see your treasure card more often and Mine is a Silver if you trash Gold for Platinum. For a 5/2 opening Mine/Fool's Gold is a pretty decent opening. PS: Don't confuse Mine with Mint.
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| #40 Outpost (Seaside) Weighted Average: 39.33 / Median: 39 / Mode: 48 / Standard Deviation: 8.6 Highest Rank(s): #11 (1x), #21 (1x), #24 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (4x)
Outpost is the last card with last ranks and it even was last 4 times, so that the mode is 48 again. It's the first card with a pretty high deviation (13th) with one really big outlier and 4 values above #30.
Outpost seems so nice for getting extra turns. But you only get a 3-card hand. It's like you Militia'd yourself, even worse, you cannot choose the 3 cards you want to keep. If you really need a +Buy Outpost can fulfill this need. But even in those cases it's not better than a Workshop, but it can work in Gardens/Silk Road/Duke games. If you want to use it to attack multiple times per turn, it can work, but still it is another terminal in your deck that can collide. It really can shine, in cases when you can guarantee a good card in your next hand. Treasury, Alchemist and Scheme are probably the best combos. Another case where your 3-card hand isn't that bad, may be with Minion, but this isn't very reliable too, because one of your 3 cards has to be one of your Minions. Another combo is Double Tactician/Outpost where you can get 8 cards. Generally it's pretty good with Duration cards, especially Wharf, Caravan and Haven. In all other cases you better skip Outpost.
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| #39 Harvest (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 37.89 / Median: 38 / Mode: 38 / Standard Deviation: 4.6 Highest Rank(s): #29 (2x), #30 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #43 (2x), #45 (1x), #47 (1x)
Harvest is the next card after a 1.4 point gap and has a really small deviation. With only 9 ranks below #40, it's clearly better ranked than the previous cards.
Harvest is very swingy. In games with very few different cards and a coherent strategy, this is mostly a Silver and rarely a Gold and really no good card. And it can discard all your good cards you wanted to play in the next turn. In games with many attacks, especially Cursers, Harvest can be really a better card. You can then make your Curses to money without having them in hand and Harvest can easily be worth $4. It's therefore not remarkable that the only above-average Councilroom opening is Harvest/Lighthouse. Harvest has also a nice synergy with Tunnel.
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| #38 Tribute (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 37.69 / Median: 38.5 / Mode: 40 / Standard Deviation: 5.3 Highest Rank(s): #26 (1x), #27 (1x), #29 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #43 (2x), #44 (1x)
Tribute hasn't a rank below #44, so it was only one time voted in the bottom 5 and it has only 7 votes below #40. Its deviation is pretty low again.
Tribute is another swingy card and even depends on the opponents' deck. You can really bad luck, revealing the same card. Then Tribute is really bad. In action-heavy decks you get +4 actions what you only want if there isn't another village around (but then you probably don't want many action cards). All other combinations can really be nice, e.g. in BM games, giving you $4 most of the times and later in the game +cards). It only really shines in games with dual-type cards. Hitting a Harem and a Nobles and getting +4 Cards, +2 Actions and $2 with only one card is excellent. But the unreliableness still is Tribute's biggest problem. Forming your strategy around it not only depends on you, your opponent has to cooperate.
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| #37 Royal Seal (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 35.10 / Median: 35.5 / Mode: 32 / Standard Deviation: 6.2 Highest Rank(s): #20 (1x), #21 (1x), #24 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #43 (1x), #44 (2x)
Royal Seal is the first card after a really big gap of 2.6 points. It was 5 times above #30 and 6 times below #40. So, the deviation is still very low.
I don't know if there's much to say about Royal Seal. It's another Silver with bonus card. You probably want it early in the game, as it will accelerate your strategy. It's strictly superior to Silver. So if you want a Silver anyway and have $5, you can pick it up unhesitatingly. But still it's very expensive for a $5 card and there are better cards for the same cost around most of the times.
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| #36 Mint (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 34.27 / Median: 35 / Mode: 35 / Standard Deviation: 8.1 Highest Rank(s): #5 (1x), #23 (1x), #24 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #44 (3x)
Mint is the last card before the biggest gap in this list. Just like Royal Seal, it was 6 times below #40, but was even 8 times above #30 with one really big outlier.
Mint can duplicate a treasure card in hand. The problem still is, you need that Gold or Platinum in hand, so you really need to draw most of your deck with a good engine or need a small deck to accomplish this regularly. In the first case you probably don't want Mint because you don't want to many treasure cards. But for the latter case, Mint itself helps. Most of the time you buy Mint just to trash most of your Coppers. It really depends if you want Mint with your opening buy as you are now left with only 2 coppers, having no buying power. The only opening which is really powerful is Mint/Fool's Gold, currently #2 of all openings, because you have a small deck and get 2 Fool's Gold per turn most of the times. PS: Beware, don't confuse Mint with Mine.
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