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| #11 Hermit (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 60.5% / Median: 64.5% / Standard Deviation: 20.3% Highest Value(s): 96.8% (1x), 90.3% (3x) / Lowest Value(s): 22.6% (2x), 19.4% (1x), 16.1% (1x)
The upper third starts with the next Dark Ages card. It has a high deviation like most of the Dark Ages cards in this list and has even a second rank. Hermit had 11 votes below average.
Some call it already "Jack-of-all-Trades light". Trashing from your discard pile is great, especially in cursing games and therefore even better than JaoT's trashing ability. It can also gain Silver, but also more Hermits or whatever you want for $3 less, the gaining is therefore even more flexible. On the other side it cannot defend against discarding attacks or top-decking attacks like Jack can. But it can transform into a Madmen. a double-your-handsize village which is great on boards with +Buy and also not so great on boards with discarding attacks. So, alltogether it's a very versatile card.
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| #10 Market Square (Dark Ages) Weighted Average: 62.1% / Median: 67.7% / Standard Deviation: 18.4% Highest Value(s): 93.5% (2x), 87.1% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 32.3% (2x), 25.8% (1x), 20.0% (1x)
And here's the best placed Dark Ages card and it has the lowest deviation of all Dark Ages cards in this list with only 4 votes in the lower third and 12 votes in the lower half.
Market Square is 2 ranks above Tunnel, the other Gold gaining card costing $3. The Gold gaining is even easier to activate on average than with Tunnel and it's a cantrip, so it doesn't hurt if you don't draw it with a trashing card. Market Square + Masquerade is great because you can convert Coppers into Golds and you can still play Market Square for the cantrip +buy if you want to. Speaking of cantrip +Buy. On every board where you want +Buy, a cantrip +Buy alone is even reason enough gaining one Market Square. And Market Square is great as a defense against trashing attacks like Swindler or Knights.
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| #9 Scheme (Hinterlands) Weighted Average: 64.9% ▼3.5pp / Median: 64.5% ▼7.5pp / Standard Deviation: 14.0% ▲0.4pp Highest Value(s): 90.3% (1x), 88.0% (1x), 83.9% (3x) / Lowest Value(s): 36.0% (1x), 32.3% (1x), 25.8% (1x)
Scheme lost one rank to last year and also a decent amount of points. It was voted below average 9 times.
Scheme is a cantrip and mostly don't hurt in your deck as long as you don't draw it dead. But how big is the benefit? If you're building an engine around a key card (like Hunting Party), Scheme is very handy as you can be sure to have that card in hand nearly every turn. With +Buy you could even buy more Schemes to add to your engine. Even with a simpler strategy, but a strong attack, Scheme is very nice, as is basically replaces the second copy of that strong attack card and you eliminate the possibility of colliding. As Double Ambassador is already a strong opening, on those boards you really want to open Ambassador/Scheme and you can later use the Scheme to top deck another card if you want to, so it's no surprise that Ambassador/Scheme is on #70 ▼27 of the best openings. Be aware of Minion, as Minion could completely destroy your top-decking. Scrying Pool + Scheme is good, Golem + Scheme + strong attack is strong and King's Court + Scheme is just crazy. On the other hand, in big money games or with very thin decks, Scheme is not worth a buy and you better buy a Silver.
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| #8 Watchtower (Prosperity) Weighted Average: 69.4% ▲10.5pp / Median: 74.2% ▲14.2pp / Standard Deviation: 14.9% ▲1.3pp Highest Value(s): 96.8% (1x), 96.0% (1x), 93.5% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 45.2% (1x), 44.0% (1x), 6.7% (1x)
We're crossing a gap of nearly 5pp and there's Watchtower, this year's winner. It only went up 2 ranks, but is over 10pp better than last year. It even gained consensus and has only 4 votes below average with one big outlier. In the unweighted ranking it would even be one rank higher.
Watchtower is the best of the 3 Reaction cards close together. Watchtower is very versatile what makes it a great card. At first it can draw up to 6 cards what makes it a worse Library and is great in Hamlet, Fishing Village, Festival or other decks where the non-terminals draw equal or less cards than you discard. Then it is even an Smithy equivalent. Even if two Watchtowers collide you can use the Reaction part from the second Watchtower for the card you buy. You can put your new card on top of your deck and have it in your hand in the next turn. But Watchtower is even a better defense card. The strongest attacks are Cursing and Discarding Attacks. You can trash the gained Curses immediately and can draw to a more than full hand after discarding. And, with one of the discarding attacks it combos too: Goons / Watchtower is great as you can buy additional Coppers or Curses for VPs and can trash them immediately without clogging up. And now with Dark Ages it got a big boost. With a gainer you can trigger all the on-trash effects on gain. This allows crazy stuff like playing a Goons and a Familiar turn 3 with Squire or gain a Fortress with Workshop and put it directly into your hand or remodel into a Cultist just to trash it and draw 3 cards.
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| #7 Warehouse (Seaside) Weighted Average: 70.8% ▼5.5pp / Median: 74.2% ▼1.8pp / Standard Deviation: 17.0% ▼8.6pp Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 96.0% (1x), 92.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 38.7% (1x), 29.0% (1x), 6.5% (1x)
Warehouse is on the same rank as last year, but lost a lot of points. But it even lost more consensus with some big outliers in the lower range. It was voted 6 times below average and would be one rank lower in the unweighted ranking.
Warehouse is the better Cellar, it is a very useful deck sifter. You can draw 3 cards and discard the most useless ones. It's also a card that works fine with Tunnel and of course with any Attack (Sea Hag / Warehouse is better than Sea Hag / Silver on #102 ▼4) as it is non-terminal and can draw your terminals more often. It's also great if you want cards together that gain strength when they collide, like Fool's Gold or Treasure Map. Because you have one card less in hand after you played it, it synergizes with "draw up to" cards (JaoT/Warehouse is better than JaoT/Silver on #82 ▲44) And you can even play it if your hand is good and discard the useless cards on top of your deck (which are coincidental there or from any Attack like Rabble). It loses power on boards with discard attacks, but with cursing attacks it's great. It's a great addition to any deck which isn't a terminal draw Big Money deck.
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| #6 Steward (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 79.5% ▲1.1pp / Median: 83.9% ▲3.9pp / Standard Deviation: 15.3% ▼5.4pp Highest Value(s): 96.8% (1x), 93.5% (1x), 90.3% (5x) / Lowest Value(s): 35.5% (1x), 32.0% (1x), 19.4% (1x)
Now we're making a big jump of over 8pp to the top cards. Steward lost a rank, but still has a higher ranking than last time.
Steward's strength is its flexibility. It's one of the rare trashers that are good openers and still good later in the game, in this case for $2 or 2 cards. It leads to very difficult decisions (Steward and 4 Coppers: Trashing or Gold?) but either decision is strong. And it is also rare for a non-attack card that is terminal to say about: "It is usually a good buy" (even though it's the opening buy) Tournament / Steward is currently the best Steward opening at #39 ▲1.
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| #5 Swindler (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 80.9% ▲2.9pp / Median: 84.0% ▲4.0pp / Standard Deviation: 15.7% ▼2.1pp Highest Value(s): 100% (1x), 96.8% (3x) / Lowest Value(s): 35.5% (1x), 32.3% (1x), 16.7% (1x)
Swindler is one rank higher than last year and now in the Top 5. It was voted on the first rank once and on the other side 3 times below average.
Swindler is the third $3 Attack and this time it is a good one. It's a great opening buy and can turn the Coppers of the opponents into Curses (Swindler + Chapel is around #81 and Tournament + Swindler on #109). Later in the game it can turn the new good $5 cards into Duchies. With special cards on the board, the punishing can even be worse, like swindling the only Potion into a Treasure Map or Coppersmith or vice versa, turning the Sea Hag into a Potion. But it's highly luck-dependant. Both players may open Swindler and one can turn the other Swindler into a Chancellor. Or you hit 3 Coppers and turn them into Curses and your opponent hit 3 Estates and turn them into ... Estates. Bad luck! With Dark Ages, Swindler is even more luck-dependant, hitting an Overgrown Estate let your opponent draw a card and trash it without replacement. Of course you can decrease bad luck by adding a Spy-like attack, but most of the time it's not worth it. Beware with Peddler on board. Trashing a Province and turning into a Peddler, great. Hitting a Peddler when the Peddlers are out, bad! And beware in the end game. Hitting a Curse when the Curses are out is suboptimal, but hitting a Province and giving your opponent the last Province, can win or lose you the game.
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| #4 Menagerie (Cornucopia) Weighted Average: 85.8% ▲2.5pp / Median: 87.1% ▲3.1pp / Standard Deviation: 8.8% ▲2.6pp Highest Value(s): 96.8% (2x), 96.0% (1x) / Lowest Value(s): 64.0% (2x), 58.1% (1x), 54.8% (1x)
Menagerie is the last card in this list that didn't have a first rank. But it has a better rating than last year and much more agreement. It has the third lost deviation in this list. It is also the first card with no rank below average.
Menagerie can be very strong, a double-Laboratory, or only a cantrip. Ok, it only hurts when you draw it dead, but it sill needs enablers like cards that can discard (best: non-terminal like Warehouse or Hamlet) or heavy-trashing (to get rid of your Coppers) to use its full strength. Its best use may be to counter Discarding attacks. After a Militia or Goons attacks, just play Menagerie and you have a 5-card-hand again. Of course it's also good if there are many good cards on the board you want to have, or you buy many good cards out of the Black Market deck, so you can maximize the possibilty to have different cards in the deck. In comparism to Warehouse its not always a good addition to your deck, but when it is, it's so good. You definitely need luck to enable it, but you get different cards so fast and if you get rid of your Coppers, that's often the case.
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| #3 Fishing Village (Seaside) Weighted Average: 92.2% ▲1.1pp / Median: 93.5% ▲1.5pp / Standard Deviation: 8.3% ▼2.1pp Highest Value(s): 100% (4x) / Lowest Value(s): 83.9% (1x), 71.0% (1x), 41.9% (1x)
We're in the Top 3 and there's the next bigger gap of over 6pp. Fishing Village has a better rating than last year, but lost consensus. Still it's the card with the lowest deviation in this list. It has one big outlier in the lower half.
What makes Fishing Village a good village, one of the best in the game? It hasn't 2 of the biggest problems in combination with villages. 1.) A Smithy-Village chain still may lack the money. FV gives money instead of a card. 2.) You draw 2 terminals with no village in hand. FV gives also an additional action in the following turn and therefore a total of 3 actions, minimizing the chances of not being able to play colliding terminals. So, if you're definitely going to build an unstoppable engine, buy as many FVs as you can. FV / Wharf is so much superior than Smithy / Village and FV / Torturer can hurt so much. You only don't want to buy it if you're going BM, because then you have basically a Lighthouse if you don't use the +Actions. Fishing Village / Masquerade is currently the best opening on #62 ▼7.
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| #2 Masquerade (Intrigue) Weighted Average: 93.9% ▼1.3pp / Median: 96.7% ▲0.7pp / Standard Deviation: 9.9% ▼5.1pp Highest Value(s): 100% (9x) / Lowest Value(s): 76.0% (2x), 64.5% (1x), 38.7% (1x)
Masquerade is another time on the second rank. And it lost a little bit in points, but especially it lost in consensus. With 9 votes on the first rank, there's no doubt on its strength.
At first it seems so harmless (at least to me). Even though it is no attack by definition, most of the times it feels like it is one. I cannot desribe the power of Masquerade better than theory did: "By drawing 2 cards, Masquerade combines solid buying power with its deck-thinning, thus allowing you to improve your deck along two axes at once." It's a hard counter to cursing attacks, so you may even choose not to go for the cursing attack with Masquerade on the board. And if you have a discarding attack and play Masquerade afterwards it's even a harder attack, allowing the (in)famous Masquerade pin. It dominates nearly all games; it's great for simple Big Money and it's great in engines too and it's a defense against cursing what do you want more? And Tournament / Masquerade is #8 =0 in the best openings list.
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| #1 Ambassador (Seaside) Weighted Average: 97.5% =0 / Median: 100% =0 / Standard Deviation: 10.2% ▼4.6pp Highest Value(s): 100% (37x) / Lowest Value(s): 68.0% (1x), 54.8% (1x), 51.6% (1x)
Ambassador is the #1 and it has even the same points as last year. It was voted first by so many that there is not much doubt.
Let's start Ambassador war! In some games the ping-pong of Estates of Coppers is so important that you rather risk open Double-Ambassador and colliding two Ambassadors instead of losing the Ambassador war. Some say it's undercosted and the best attack relative to its cost. You can even buy a curse and turn Ambassador into a Curser. If you lose Ambassador war badly, there's no good chance to recover and building a good engine. But beware: Don't forget building up your own economy. Your opponent is flooded with Coppers and Estates. But he can buy good cards too, so don't forget that. But the power is undeniable. Tournament / Ambassador is #2 ▲1, Caravan / Ambassador is #7 =0 and Spice Merchant / Ambassador #20 ▼2 in the openings list with many other good Ambassador openings to come (Double-Ambassador is #48 ▲13 and the best double opening).
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