TL;DR don't ever buy Leprechaun unless you're playing the most reliable engine ever.I find that Leprechaun is still pretty good if you only manage to play it every other turn, and most deck-drawing engines will manage that on average. A better tl;dr is that you should have a use for the Golds you get, not only the Wishes. And don't just play it if you're not getting the Wish, unless you have been super careful about Hex tracking.
TL;DR don't ever buy Leprechaun unless you're playing the most reliable engine ever.
TL;DR don't ever buy Leprechaun unless you're playing the most reliable engine ever.
I don't think you can talk about Leprechaun without talking about durations. You have to be careful with non-drawing durations, earlier in the game they can ramp up the number of actions you have in play and let you get a Wish early. They can be a liability later on though as they are basically giving you less room to work with to find and play your Leprechaun. Card drawing durations can provide a lot of reliability to a Leprechaun deck in my experience and Haven/Gear are useful to save up Leprechauns that miss.
I also disagree with your breakdown of the hexes a little, obviously all the hexes can be okay to get depending on the timing but Greed should definitely be in the "want to avoid" section. It's adding a stop card, which is pretty bad. Like if I've opened Leprechaun for some reason I'm much happier to see Locusts than Greed (unless Locusts hits my other opening buy). I don't think it matters too much though because you shouldn't really be playing Leprechaun for hexes very often.
Also maybe give a special shout out to poverty if you're drawing your deck? I've had opponents discarding their entire hands on a few occasions.
Opening Lep is a fine way to get Golds early, as the Hexes are often fine. You generally have better things to be doing, but sometimes you want early economy without wasting time on buying and building up to it.
The main thing is to just keep track of what you're doing, and not just throw down cards without thinking.
A nice thing to look out for are Throne Room variants - while you can't normally play multiple Leprechauns in a turn for multiple Wishes, Throne Room can! Though not Royal Carriage. And maybe stay away from Prince. And Golem and Ghost.
Is it worth mentioning Storyteller here, or other ways of "cheating" the Wish gain?
Is it worth mentioning Storyteller here, or other ways of "cheating" the Wish gain?
Good article on the mechanics of Lep. But I feel like an entire separate article could be written on how to build a deck that can reliably play 7 or more Actions per turn, with at least 1 of them being (an effectively useless) terminal, while managing an influx of Gold. That's in essence all I care about when I see Lep in the kingdom.
A nice thing to look out for are Throne Room variants - while you can't normally play multiple Leprechauns in a turn for multiple Wishes, Throne Room can! Though not Royal Carriage.Now you've got me thinking about this, however, I realise that having played a Leprechaun and got Hexed, you can call a Royal Carriage for a Gold and a Wish if it becomes your seventh card in play.
A nice thing to look out for are Throne Room variants - while you can't normally play multiple Leprechauns in a turn for multiple Wishes, Throne Room can! Though not Royal Carriage.Now you've got me thinking about this, however, I realise that having played a Leprechaun and got Hexed, you can call a Royal Carriage for a Gold and a Wish if it becomes your seventh card in play.
I'm definitely down to modify the article per criticisms, but I do want to keep it on the shorter side. I want to avoid something long and drawn out and full of edge cases.
However, you have to make sure it's your 7th card. This requires careful planning - if you want to play more Actions after, you have to get in at least one village first. Prioritize sifting and draw to get to your Leprechaun in time. If he's already in hand, it's okay to get some terminals down to fulfill the 7th card condition. The main thing is to just keep track of what you're doing, and not just throw down cards without thinking.
Leprechaun costs $3 and gains you Gold. What a deal! But unless you’re careful, the Leprecaun will also play a prank on you. Just going by the Hexes previewed today, your Gold might come with a Copper on your deck, or you’ll have to trash a $3-$4 card, or maybe all your Silvers and Golds will be Coppers this turn. Is it worth it? I guess that depends.
If you are careful, you’ll gain a Wish instead of receiving a Hex. And a Wish is pretty sweet, I tell you what. It’s a one-use ticket to gain any card costing $6 or less directly to your hand. Sometimes that will be a Gold, but often there’s something you’d rather have that fits the moment just perfectly. Maybe you’ve got a hand full of Victory cards and need a Shepherd to sort them out. Perhaps you already have one Idol in hand and want another one to give out some Curses. Lots of options there.
Getting that Wish isn’t trivial, though. You have to have exactly 7 cards in play when you play your Leprechaun. This will normally include the Leprechaun itself. It also includes any Duration cards that are still in play from previous turns. It’s something to shoot for in your Leprechaun games, assuming you think you can get that Wish in time to draw it before the game ends.
Good article on the mechanics of Lep. But I feel like an entire separate article could be written on how to build a deck that can reliably play 7 or more Actions per turn, with at least 1 of them being (an effectively useless) terminal, while managing an influx of Gold. That's in essence all I care about when I see Lep in the kingdom.
Its more than this though. You not only have to consistently play more than 7 cards a turn (well, have in play) , you have to consistently be able to play the leprechaun after 6. A lot of "strong" engines that play more than 7 cards a turn dont hit this bar.
I actually had a Villa/Lep game recently. The problem is you still have to generate $4 to get the Villa, and then you're usually above your 6 cards played limit.Good article on the mechanics of Lep. But I feel like an entire separate article could be written on how to build a deck that can reliably play 7 or more Actions per turn, with at least 1 of them being (an effectively useless) terminal, while managing an influx of Gold. That's in essence all I care about when I see Lep in the kingdom.
Its more than this though. You not only have to consistently play more than 7 cards a turn (well, have in play) , you have to consistently be able to play the leprechaun after 6. A lot of "strong" engines that play more than 7 cards a turn dont hit this bar.
How effective is buying a Villa mid-turn? I'd expect it would make getting the leper out as 7th a lot easier.