I think the Triumph discussion is going nowhere, so I was not going to reply, but...
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who mentioned distant lands, and I didn't actually say anything about mid-game. I'm just saying the point total compares favorably in many games. I'm not even saying that it is better than distant lands (although I'm not sure that it isn't) I was just comparing it to an alt VP that is considered very good.
I do occasionally like to buy it mid game though, if I have tons of gains in a turn via Ironworks, magpie, etc. But usually I agree with you that it isn't worth it to sacrifice your next turn by having debt.
1) Distant Lands is good because you buy it midgame and get it out, deck staying stable. Any comparison with DL has to consider that or it's just silly. 2) Gazbag and Aku_chi also compared to it, so stop feeling alone. But Aku_chi brought it up to mostly agree with me.
Okay, it is fairly rare in a standard engine deck that you gain only 1 (other) card and then buy Triumph, sure. It’s not something you just casually do all the time. That is a really narrow case provided only for example to show how little Triumph has to do to be better than the gold-standard of non-Province VP, and isn’t itself a strategy. What it does show is that just getting a couple of gains allows you the flexibility of either scoring while building, or threatening a megaturn later, or both, which is very powerful.
Beyond that, if you can’t see the utility of Triumph, and you’re still stuck after looking up a couple of streams or YouTube videos where it clearly changes the pace of the game, I don’t know what else to tell you. It’s like arguing that the sky is blue.
If you go back you'll see that I do see uses for Triumph. I was simply saying that I don't see the use for it midgame after a turn with a couple of gains, and gave several reasons. So far nobody has addressed that, except Aku_chi and Chappy7 (and now you) mostly agreeing with me that you don't usually stop midgame to buy Triumph.
As I've said before, comparing it to buying Duchy only makes sense if you're actually greening, because otherwise you wouldn't buy Duchy. When you're greening and you would consider Duchy, it's because you can't afford Province.
How often in those cases did you gain several cards earlier in the turn? If you gained 1 card and have $5, buying Duchy or Triumph is the same. If you have less than $5, Triumph is "strictly better" (because you can still buy it), but it means having debt for next potential Province turn. So Triumph is only good if you gained 2 cards and you have $5 but not $8. With less than $5, it's a judgment call.