Taxman.
I like this card. I really want this card to be good. But I'm pretty certain it's not. I haven't played many games where I picked up Taxman yet, certainly not enough for an article, but I've thought about it a bit and I figure I should put stream of consciousness stuff out here, to at least start a conversation.
Why is Taxman underwhelming?Fundamentally, Taxman does almost nothing for you on your own turn. The immediate comparison is to Cutpurse. While Taxman gains you a Silver on top and trashes a Copper, Cutpurse gives you the +$2 right then, and that's a lot stronger, especially because Taxman hurts your hand, now. Because of this, a Taxman opening is, at least, pretty bad. But the point of Taxman is to upgrade your Treasures into better ones, so you want Taxman early to give a better shot of colliding with your Treasures. It's a card you both want and don't want early, and that makes it awkward to ever justify picking up; by the time you'd want it, you probably have $5+ and there's something better.
What are good situations to buy Taxman?Underwhelming cards need underwhelming boards. Something slow, with not much going on. Something that lets you pick up Taxman in the opening, to give you time to buy Treasures worth Taxmanning and use the treasure you gain. Discarding a Copper is good and all, but it's really not worth it, not for a $4 Action. You want to be hitting Silvers as much as you can, especially because hitting a Silver discard is so strong. It's almost a Militia.
Quantity MattersTo me, Taxman compares most closely with Noble Brigand. Both act as ways to counter primarily money based strategies, both are very underwhelming the turn you play them, and both need many plays in order to be useful. So, if you do want Taxman, my guess is you don't want just 1 or 2. You want something like 4 or 5, something that lets you play Taxman every turn. Playing an attack every turn hurts no matter what that attack is, and given that Taxman slows down your shuffles, you probably need to have lots of copies, rather than 1 copy + an engine, to make it work nicely.
The "Next Turn" CounterJust a small note; Taxman makes your current turn worse for your next turn being better. So it might be a decent counter to discard attacks. Topdeck something good, make your current turn awful. My guess is that this "counter" is actually awful, but food for thought.
Kingdom Treasure InteractionsIt's worth thinking through what Kingdom Treasures could work well with Taxman. Potion could help; Taxman gives a way to get a Potion, now, if you really need it. Quarry doesn't feel synergistic.
Loan is interesting in that you can trash Coppers, then Taxman the Loan into a Gold, but Loan also discards the treasure you topdeck with Taxman, so it's an overall wash.
Hoard? Well, maybe. But you aren't Taxmanning those Gold you're gaining, so eh, not the best.
Harem? Seems pretty nice actually, just as a way to get VP now.
Plat? Mine is better with Plat out, Taxman is also better, not much else to say.
Talisman? Actually, Talisman gives a way to get lots of Taxmen/Silver, and then you can turn Talisman into a Gold when you don't need it. Might be worth exploring. (Speaking of which, Explorer/Taxman? Probably the best 2-terminal-in-deck-that-probably-has-no-villages combo yet, besides Chancellor/Counting House.)
Masterpiece. Again, an interesting combo. Overpay, get lots of Silvers, turn the Masterpiece into Gold. Again, this is all assuming Taxman on $3 cost is the ideal play for Taxman.
Venture. The card that inspired all of these musings. Taxman + Venture sounds very interesting. Taxman increases your average treasure quality, it gives a way to gain more Ventures than usual, and you can play Venture to hit your topdecked treasure, so Taxman doesn't kill your current turn as horribly. So mini-challenge: try playing, or simulating, Taxman-Venture, tell me what you get.
The tl;drTaxman is pretty bad.
If you never buy Taxman, you probably aren't missing much.
If you do buy it, make sure you can play it every turn, or it's likely a waste.
Even in the niche it fills, it's still not very strong.
But it's worth thinking about.
And when someone wins with their Taxman-Market Square-Venture engine, just remember, that it didn't come out of the blue, and you could have seen it coming.
Until then,
stay bald, everyone.