| #48 =0 Counting House (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 46.57 ▼0.79 / Median: 48 ▼2 / Mode: 48 ▼2 / Standard Deviation: 2.8 ▼0.3 Highest Rank(s): #33 (1x), #38 (1x), #40 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (34x)
Counting House is the card with the second lowest deviation. With only two times above #40, there's no doubt, this is the worst card of all $5s. More than the half of all players rated it last.
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 ▼2 Saboteur (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 43.70 ▼0.61 / Median: 45 ▼1 / Mode: 45 ▲3 / Standard Deviation: 7.5 ▼2.2 Highest Rank(s): #8 (1x), #16 (1x), #23 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (6x)
Saboteur has a 2.9 point lead over Counting House. It didn't lose many points, but nevertheless it loses 2 ranks and is now second last. It was 12 times on #45 and has some really big outliers from newer players, because the unweighted ranking lists it at #45. This may also be the reason for the big drop in the deviation.
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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| #46 ▲1 Stash (Promo) Weighted Average: 43.29 ▲0.89 / Median: 44 ▲2 / Mode: 45 ▲1 / Standard Deviation: 4.7 ▼1.0 Highest Rank(s): #24 (1x), #30 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (5x)
Stash is this time nearly one point better, but still in the bottom 3. The deviation is really low as it was above #30 only one time and 5 times last. In the unweighted ranking it is one rank lower.
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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| #45 ▲1 Explorer (Seaside) Weighted Average: 42.55 ▲1.23 / Median: 43 ▲2 / Mode: 42 ▲5 / Standard Deviation: 3.8 ▼0.5 Highest Rank(s): #29 (1x), #36 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (5x)
Explorer even went up more than one point. Its deviation is still very low (with only one outlier), although it lost a little bit of consensus. In the unweighted ranking it is one rank lower.
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. So, it's pretty decent with alternate Victory cards and you want it in thin decks where you can draw it with a Province with high probability. Explorer/Chapel is therefore a #70 ▼5 opening. And I forgot to mention, it's nearly useless in Colony games.
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| #44 ▼1 Contraband (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 42.34 ▼0.92 / Median: 43 ▼0.5 / Mode: 44 ▲4 / Standard Deviation: 3.9 ▲2.2 Highest Rank(s): #28 (1x), #33 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (8x), #48 (1x)
Contraband dropped nearly one point and one rank, but gained a lot of consensus. It was last only once, but on the other side 8 times on #47.
The next treasure card in this list. 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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| #43 ▲1 Cache (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 41.13 ▲1.42 / Median: 42 ▲2 / Mode: 45 =0 / Standard Deviation: 5.0 ▲0.4 Highest Rank(s): #18 (1x), #30 (1x), #33 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (2x), #48 (1x)
With a really big outlier, Cache is still very consistent in the ranks. It has a solid lead of over 1 point over Contraband now.
The third treasure card already in this list. 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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| #42 ▼1 Mine (Base) Weighted Average: 40.66 ▼1.00 / Median: 41 ▼1 / Mode: 42 =0 / Standard Deviation: 6.2 ▲0.1 Highest Rank(s): #11 (1x), #23 (1x), #29 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (6x), #48 (1x)
With exactly one point less than last time, Mine is the next card in this list. This time it has its first last place. It has one really big outlier and would be on #41 in the unweighted ranking.
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 #110 opening. PS: Don't confuse Mine with Mint.
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| #41 ▲1 Mandarin (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 40.65 ▲0.17 / Median: 40 ▲1 / Mode: 39 ▲6 / Standard Deviation: 5.1 ▲0.6 Highest Rank(s): #18 (1x), #29 (1x), #31 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (3x), #48 (2x)
Mandarin has still 2 last places. And it was one of the closest battles against Mine, only 0.01 points made the difference. It would be behind Mine in the unweighted ranking.
Mandarin is again a cheap Gold, but you need an action to play it. What makes it better than the last 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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| #40 =0 Outpost (Seaside) Weighted Average: 40.25 ▼0.92 / Median: 40 ▼1 / Mode: 40 ▲8 / Standard Deviation: 7.3 ▲1.3 Highest Rank(s): #14 (2x), #21 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #48 (5x)
Outpost was even 5 times last, but has pretty high ranks on the other side. It lost a little bit in deviation, but is still high. It is on #39 in the unweighted ranking.
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 =0 Harvest (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 40.22 ▼2.33 / Median: 40 ▼2 / Mode: 39 ▼1 / Standard Deviation: 5.9 ▼1.3 Highest Rank(s): #12 (1x), #28 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #47 (7x), #48 (1x)
Harvest stayed were it was, but is still one of the big losers. It lost over 2 points and it was a close battle with Outpost which Harvest won with 0.03 points. Also the deviation raised significantly. It has a big outlier on #12 and lost the battle against Outpost in the unweighted ranking.
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 and even trigger an unwanted reshuffle. 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. Harvest has also a nice synergy with Tunnel.
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| #38 =0 Tribute (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 37.8 ▼0.11 / Median: 38 ▲0.5 / Mode: 37 ▲3 / Standard Deviation: 6.2 ▼0.9 Highest Rank(s): #15 (1x), #22 (1x), #25 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #46 (5x), #48 (1x)
We're leaving the really bad cards and making a jump of 2.4 points. Tribute is the last card with a last place. The stats are similar to last time, but it lost a little bit of consensus. It is on #37 in the unweighted ranking.
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 =0 Royal Seal (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 37.63 ▼2.53 / Median: 38 ▼2.5 / Mode: 44 ▼12 / Standard Deviation: 5.9 ▲0.3 Highest Rank(s): #19 (1x), #23 (1x), #24 (1x) / Lowest Rank(s): #46 (1x), #47 (2x)
Royal Seal is the next treasure card and another loser. It doesn't lose a rank, but 2.5 points. It was very close between RS and Tribute, in the unweighted ranking RS loses and ranks on #38.
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 =0 Mint (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 34.72 ▼0.45 / Median: 36 ▼1 / Mode: 36 ▼1 / Standard Deviation: 6.7 ▲1.4 Highest Rank(s): #19 (1x), #20 (2x) / Lowest Rank(s): #43 (2x), #45 (1x), #46 (1x)
Mint is in "Nowhere Land". It has a huge lead over Royal Seal, but there's another big gap to the following middle ranked cards. It gained a lot of consensus, so it's maybe properly ranked.
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 #5 ▼3 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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