Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: SirPeebles on January 09, 2013, 04:41:10 pm

Title: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 09, 2013, 04:41:10 pm
... at least not on iso.  I just looked at my Council Room stats, and in my ~750 games on iso, Fortune Teller is the only card I've never purchased (aside from the prizes and archivist).  So, what am I missing out on?
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: brokoli on January 09, 2013, 04:42:58 pm
That's a huge mistake. IMO Fortune teller is now the most underrated card of the game  :( >:(
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: HiveMindEmulator on January 09, 2013, 04:43:39 pm
An attack. Just by being an attack, Fortune Teller is relevant. If you can build an engine, and your opponent opts not to, then adding one Fortune Teller does a lot of good. It's like one less card for them every turn, and skipping any major card in a deck that doesn't shuffle that often can be huge.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: heron on January 09, 2013, 05:27:17 pm
I buy fortune teller about one fifth of the time. It's just a terminal silver with a little bonus.

Contraband, on the other hand, has the same buy rate as curse does for me.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Cuzz on January 09, 2013, 05:31:26 pm
It's not a bad opener and can keep your opponent from getting to $5 early if there's no good trashing. Almost Cutpurseish.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Jerk of All trades on January 09, 2013, 06:49:20 pm
It's a great card to introduce some luck into a game.  Like if your opponent opens 2-5 on a mountebank/witch board and you have 3-4, at that point you are at such a disadvantage that getting a FT to hopefully discard their curser a couple times so you can catch up.  however you can also just end up cycling their deck faster, speeding them up.  Not a great option, but if they start mountebank haven, it's time to throw up some hail marys.

It's also a semi-usefull choice any combos that enjoy actions with +$ on them.  minion+ villages, double tactician,  hamlet + library, etc.

Just avoid it if they have nobles or harems (or tunnel + lookout/hamlet/warehouse/vault)
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Robz888 on January 09, 2013, 06:55:53 pm
For a long, long time I had never gained a Diadem or bought a Transmute. But that's long over now.

Fortune Teller is okay, basically. It's beaten out by just about any other Attack card (except like Thief or Pirate Ship or something). But if there aren't any other attacks on the board, it's quite a bit better than not having one.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Davio on January 10, 2013, 02:52:39 am
Fortune Teller is a weird card because it can be good early, possibly denying a $5 hand, and late, when you're greening and it forces some extra cycling. During the midgame it's actual helpful for your opponent as he's building his deck and wants to cycle his good cards. Estates may already be gone.

So a weird card, but I sometimes buy it when I have actions to spare.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Obi Wan Bonogi on January 10, 2013, 03:12:31 am
I gain it ~60%! 
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Awaclus on January 10, 2013, 10:37:04 am
It's a fine opener in Potion games, if the power $3s, Warehouse and Chapel aren't there. Especially if the potion card in the kingdom is a Familiar.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: HiveMindEmulator on January 10, 2013, 12:03:13 pm
I gain it ~60%!

I used to think it was bad until Obi Wan completely pwned me with it!
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Stealth Tomato on January 10, 2013, 12:25:47 pm
It's not a bad opener and can keep your opponent from getting to $5 early if there's no good trashing. Almost Cutpurseish.

The problem is that speeding up the opponent's reshuffles, especially early, is a Bad Thing™.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Jerk of All trades on January 10, 2013, 12:26:13 pm
I gain it ~60%!

I used to think it was bad until Obi Wan completely pwned me with it!

I'm pretty sure the same thing happened to me.  I went silver/silver on a colony board with nothing going for it, and cried as he discarded my first gold like 3 shuffles in a row and he got platinum way before me.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 10, 2013, 12:49:33 pm
Hmm, I suppose that in addition to think of it like Cutpurse, you could think of it as repeating the attack portion of Spy over and over until you successfully leave "junk" on top.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: jonts26 on January 10, 2013, 01:03:31 pm
I recently played a minion/fortune teller game which was just brutal. On a good turn you can play FT, Minion, FT giving the guy a 3 card hand this turn and a 3 card hand even if he is able to minion this one away.

In general, FT isn't a power attack, but played consistently it's very strong, and it certainly is quite beneficial in a good draw/cycle engine.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 11, 2013, 08:27:23 am
Well, I finally bought one.  I used it as my terminal Silver in a Hunting Party deck.  It was nice for consistently giving my opponent a dead card.  Unfortunately Tournament was on the board, so I was worried it was would just hand him his Province each turn.  Luckily for me, he didn't gain a prize until right near the end, and I won the game.

The other terminal Silver option was Jester.  I decided not to go with Jester since I didn't want to flood my own deck with unique engine pieces.  Also, the $5 I would have spent went towards an additional Hunting Party, after opening Silver/Fortune Teller.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: pingpongsam on January 11, 2013, 10:37:08 am
Terrible Card in Crossroads, Harem and/or Nobles game. More effective in other alt-VP games, e.g. Gardens, Silk Road. It is a double edged sword in that it can speed up your opponent's deck cycling so is bad in say Tactician, wharf, KC, goons, etc. etc. games. However, for flushing cards out of his deck and into his discard it is wonderful. To properly wield the sword you must A) correctly analyze the kingdom and B) basically be mindful of your opponent's deck as well because sometime it is best not to play the card while at other times it is the smartest play in the whole game (like when you know with near certainty his attack cards are upcoming and all his VP are discarded).

Personally, I enjoy playing Fortune Teller, If I'm reading CR correctly than I pick it up 40% of the time it is available.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: WanderingWinder on January 11, 2013, 06:36:37 pm
Well, I finally bought one.  I used it as my terminal Silver in a Hunting Party deck.  It was nice for consistently giving my opponent a dead card.  Unfortunately Tournament was on the board, so I was worried it was would just hand him his Province each turn.  Luckily for me, he didn't gain a prize until right near the end, and I won the game.

The other terminal Silver option was Jester.  I decided not to go with Jester since I didn't want to flood my own deck with unique engine pieces.  Also, the $5 I would have spent went towards an additional Hunting Party, after opening Silver/Fortune Teller.
I think I would have gone for tournament + HP
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 11, 2013, 06:49:26 pm
Well, I finally bought one.  I used it as my terminal Silver in a Hunting Party deck.  It was nice for consistently giving my opponent a dead card.  Unfortunately Tournament was on the board, so I was worried it was would just hand him his Province each turn.  Luckily for me, he didn't gain a prize until right near the end, and I won the game.

The other terminal Silver option was Jester.  I decided not to go with Jester since I didn't want to flood my own deck with unique engine pieces.  Also, the $5 I would have spent went towards an additional Hunting Party, after opening Silver/Fortune Teller.
I think I would have gone for tournament + HP

I suppose I was worried that the draw off of Tournament could trigger an unwanted reshuffle.  So would Followers or Trusty Steed, for that matter.  Although I imagine that Princess might be a nice prize for Hunting Party.  Also, I guess I would want to play Tournament as soon as I draw it (or as soon as a Province is available) rather than waiting until after my Hunting Parties have finished.  That would avoid my worry regarding the reshuffle.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: jotheonah on January 11, 2013, 11:14:28 pm
Things I recently learned about Fortune Teller:

1) Pairing it with Jester sounds cute but is actually kind of pointless and self-defeating.
2) If your opponent plays it a lot you can grab some Native Villages and strategically "Island" your green.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: zahlman on January 12, 2013, 09:07:39 pm
1) Pairing it with Jester sounds cute but is actually kind of pointless and self-defeating.

Please elaborate.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: eHalcyon on January 12, 2013, 09:08:56 pm
1) Pairing it with Jester sounds cute but is actually kind of pointless and self-defeating.

Please elaborate.

jo probably means that the Jester will get rid of the Victory/Curse card you just top-decked, thus undoing the FT attack.  It's probably still worth it to give the curse though!
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: jonts26 on January 12, 2013, 09:12:07 pm
1) Pairing it with Jester sounds cute but is actually kind of pointless and self-defeating.

Please elaborate.

jo probably means that the Jester will get rid of the Victory/Curse card you just top-decked, thus undoing the FT attack.  It's probably still worth it to give the curse though!

It's probably going to depend a lot on the game state, but likely, the FT teller attack could be more important during the end game. FT + Jester is just like playing a witch. And curses do a lot more damage when the earlier they get into your deck. Later in the game, after you start greening, taking away a card slot is likely to do more damage.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 12, 2013, 09:19:18 pm
There's some opportunity cost, too.  Giving a curse is nice, but you may have been able to gain a Gold or a Wharf or with some luck a Border Village.  And then hit with a Fortune Teller.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: zahlman on January 12, 2013, 09:25:28 pm
Yeah. Not to mention, you're playing two attacks just for the net effect of cursing, and meanwhile giving the opponent a bunch of cycling (although that might hurt more than it helps if you are cursing...).
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Awaclus on January 12, 2013, 09:39:18 pm
FT + Jester is just like playing a witch.
Except that it discards one Curse/V card from the opponent's current shuffle, so it is slightly weaker than a Witch, attack-wise. EDIT: Edge cases aside, that is.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: dondon151 on January 12, 2013, 09:45:29 pm
Hey, sometimes you care about the points.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: bedlam on January 15, 2013, 04:54:22 am
Fortune Teller is the only card I've never purchased (aside from the prizes and archivist).

Why am I not finding Archivist?
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Davio on January 15, 2013, 05:00:42 am
I wonder if there's a reason why it doesn't work like Rabble...

+2 Coin
Each other player reveals cards from the top of his deck until he reveals a card that is not a Treasure or Action card. He puts it on top and discards the other revealed cards.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: bedlam on January 15, 2013, 05:14:12 am
I wonder if there's a reason why it doesn't work like Rabble...

+2 Coin
Each other player reveals cards from the top of his deck until he reveals a card that is not a Treasure or Action card. He puts it on top and discards the other revealed cards.

Worded this way, cards like Nobles and Harem would be discarded. A fortune teller doesn't always give bad news...
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Davio on January 15, 2013, 05:15:52 am
Well yeah, I understand that it's different, but given the fact that Fortune Teller already isn't that spectacular, something like this might help it.

Would also work with Ruins and Shelters although leaving a Province on top is obviously more devastating than leaving a Shelter so I guess it's so so.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: DStu on January 15, 2013, 05:29:32 am
Fortune Teller is the only card I've never purchased (aside from the prizes and archivist).

Why am I not finding Archivist?

Because it's not an official card.  It was a card winning some design contest here on the forum, and as result ended some weeks on isotropic.

But, because of this, it's in the councilroom statistics (with a total of something lik 2.800 games played)
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Davio on January 15, 2013, 05:41:58 am
A contest organized by me, won by Rinkworks.

Good ol' Dougz happily indulged my request to provide the winner with a surprise: His own card on Iso (for a limited time only)!
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: SirPeebles on January 15, 2013, 07:14:34 am
The only cards which or not Action, Treasure, or Victory are Curse and Hovel.
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: greatexpectations on January 15, 2013, 08:20:17 am
A contest organized by me, won by Rinkworks.

Good ol' Dougz happily indulged my request to provide the winner with a surprise: His own card on Iso (for a limited time only)!

if anyone ever needs, information about archivist can be found on the wiki on the fan cards page (http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Fan_Cards#Design_Contests).
Title: Re: I have never purchased a Fortune Teller.
Post by: Davio on January 15, 2013, 08:33:14 am
A contest organized by me, won by Rinkworks.

Good ol' Dougz happily indulged my request to provide the winner with a surprise: His own card on Iso (for a limited time only)!

if anyone ever needs, information about archivist can be found on the wiki on the fan cards page (http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Fan_Cards#Design_Contests).
OMG, I'M ON DA WIKI!!!  :P ;D