This is my first attempt at an article; suggested by
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=4982.0 EDIT: There wasn't actually a suggestion for an Explorer article, but I thought there was. So, here is the article anyways!
Feedback encouraged!
ExplorerExplorer really has two different abilities: the first is that it can gain a Silver, the second is that it can gain a Gold. Of course, the second ability is strictly better than the first, which is why it’s a conditional benefit. But even when you get it with a Province, it’s basically just +$3, right? Wrong. A straight +$3 card would probably cost $5 (
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=4914.msg116206#msg116206). So, if Explorer is only +$3 at the best of times, it looks pretty silly at $5. The power of Explorer is that it gives you $2-3 every time you go through your deck. And, the money is in hand, which just makes it awesome! You get the benefit right away!
Comparing Explorer to other cardsThere are two cards which seem quite obvious as comparisons for Explorer. The first is Mine. Mine is the only other card (I think) which gains you cards
In Hand. Similarly, Mine adds $1 to your deck every time you go through it (without extra treasures, that is) while Explorer adds $2 or $3. The other difference being that while Explorer adds extra cards to your deck, Mine only replaces cards, which means that in a long enough game you'd see your Mine more than you'd see your Explorer. But, Mine runs out of useful things to do (when you run out of Copper or Silver in your deck) before Explorer which is good until the Gold and Silver both run out.Another reason that Mine really is an apt comparison for Explorer is because neither of them are particularly great $5s. What makes these cards weaker? The simple fact that getting a whole pile of money won’t be competitive most of the time. On most boards, some sort of engine should be able to dance all over Big Money and that’s exactly what all your treasure leads to. You generally don’t want much treasure in an engine if you can avoid it, and while Mine just refines what you have, Explorer adds cards to your deck.
The other comparison for Explorer is Tournament. This is because both want you to match them with a Province. However, they play very differently because of the difference between Gold and Prizes. That being said, ideas from Tournament do carry over to Explorer, particularly deck drawing and the value of trashing, as will be discussed below.
Types of Explorer DecksHowever, Explorer’s role, and the type of deck you stick it in, really depends on which of its abilities you use it for most of the time. The most basic ability of Explorer is to gain Silver. This ability is generally looked down upon simply because Silver isn’t really that great (
http://dominionstrategy.com/2011/01/17/beyond-silver/). Silver gets you to $5/$6 and then your $5s and Golds get you to Provinces. And in a Colony game, Silver doesn’t get you very far at all. Unless...
The Alt-VP approachIn most alt-VP strategies, money is good. Even Silver! Even if you never get a Province, you need some money to keep your strategy going. You’re filling your deck with green and so you need to add some money to actually keep buying your Green. But you want to use your buys on your alt-VP and the Silver is unlikely to run out. So, use Explorer to gain Silver instead of buying it! Since you get in your hand, there's not a downside to having the Explorer this turn, because the Explorer means you get to both gain and play the Silver. With the extra Silver from a few Explorers, you can keep your Gardens/Silk Road/Duke/Feodum strategy going strong.
The Big Money approachAnother case where boatloads of money is a good thing is Big Money. Just play your Explorers for Silver and when you get lucky, get a Gold. Just as with alt-VP, the power of gaining Silver outside the buy phase helps you green. Worth mentioning here is the opening of Explorer/Chapel. Get rid of your deck, get some Silver, get a Province and get a whole pile of Gold. But, this is just a special case of the next case which is....
The Engine ApproachFinally, we have the very strange case of Explorer in an engine of some sort. Just like Tournament, Explorer is at its best when you can get it with a Province. So, you want to set up some good drawing or trashing. But won’t the Gold just clog up the engine? Yes, but without virtual coin, you might need Gold in your engine. However, Explorer is a little too slow to set that up. But there are other reasons you might want some Gold in your engine. You may have a fragile engine which needs Gold to help it green, as it sputters and turns into a weak deck. The Gold can help you transition to a sort of BM deck as you finish. As a specific example, consider a TfB engine. These decks rely on having good cards to trash, but if the game goes on long enough you may run out of appealing targets, or your deck may only have $8. In particular, Apprentice says hi. Not only does it love to trash Gold, but it also helps you pair the Gold with an Explorer.A little Explorer can get you a Gold every turn which your TfB can use to keep you in the game.
The other case of an Explorer engine is the general case of Explorer-Chapel. In many Chapel openings, it's possible for your engine to accelerate ahead of your cash flow. You find yourself drawing your deck with 3 Buys, 5 extra Actions and hardly any money. Solution: Buy an Explorer! It builds the money into your engine! You gain money on your action phase so you can keep buying Engine parts or Provinces, and it's in hand, so you added +$2 or +$3 to your current turn! And if you keep drawing your deck, you're gaining nothing but Gold! It's spectacular!
And a final note on that automatic engine-creation card: King's Court. Setting up KC-Explorer is not a great move on its own, because playing it decreases the chance that future KCs will hit useful stuff. That being said, if you're drawing your deck, the 3 Golds probably won't totally knock out your engine and will help you to deal with the green you're adding. Or, if you have TfBs, adding 18 in value to your deck is just spectacular.
AttacksAs always, something needs to be said about what attacks do to the card. The damage of Cursers depends on what you're trying to do. If you're relying on matching with a Province, you're going to have a bad time if there's Curses in the game. But if it's a slog where your deck is full of Curses and you can't seem to hit $6 no matter what you do, you may want the Silver from Explorer. This really applies to any case where the pace of the game is just knocked down, which can also happen if there's too many Militias or Minions flying around. Hand size decreasers only hurt as much as they hurt the type of deck you're building, because Explorer probably isn't really the key card, but rather a helper. If you're trying for some sort of Explorer/Warehouse combo, a Militia hurts because it hurts Warehouse. Alternatively, a Library engine can easily withstand Militia. Probably the most damaging attacks for Explorer are Thief, Pirate Ship and Noble Brigand because of all that money you have. With them you definitely have to think carefully about buying Explorer.
A fun note about Possession: If a player possesses an Explorer, the Possessing player gains the treasure, but not in hand. So, the primary value of Explorer (gaining in hand) is lost.
Works with:Most Alt-VP (Gardens, Silk Road, Feodum, Duke)
Big Money
TfB engines
Big draw engines which need treasure
Trashing
Non-terminal draw
Sifters
Conflicts with:Opponents' cursers (sometimes)
Faster strategies
Colonies
Most engines
Cards which provide +$
Menagerie/Harvest/Fairgrounds
Handsize attacks (Sometimes)