(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/0/09/The_Swamp%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #1 ▲1 The Swamp's Gift Weighted Average: 85.6% ▲1.7pp / Unweighted Average: 85.5% / Median: 90.9% ▲9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 14.4% The top three Boons are very close in the rankings, but for me (and the voters) this is the Boon that moves the needle the most. Popping a first-shuffle Pixie for two Wisps can provide a huge head start and I always take notice if Druid has Swamp’s Gift. Non-terminal draw is quite good, you know. Seeing it move to the top of the list, despite fewer first-place votes than the third-ranked Boon, makes me happy. Interestingly, the stats aren’t as favorable to these little flying Spirits: Swamp’s Gift ranks 6th in impact per extra Wisp gained. Maybe the low marginal benefit of the 3rd and 4th Wisp is dragging down the average gain advantage metric? |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/4/44/The_Earth%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #2 ▲1 The Earth's Gift Weighted Average: 84.4% ▲10.5pp / Unweighted Average: 81.8% / Median: 81.8% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 12.0% I was surprised to see this jump to rank 2, but hey, gains are good! Finding this with an early Blessed Village can provide a nice complementary engine piece. With a Pixie, this can add two components or something useful and a replacement Pixie. This Boon occasionally answers late-game prayers, providing a desperate player with a timely point or two. It certainly passes the “Boons you might track” test. It ranks just above Swamp’s gift in the stats. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/2/2e/The_Flame%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #3 ▼2 The Flame's Gift Weighted Average: 82.7% ▼12.0pp / Unweighted Average: 86.1% / Median: 90.9% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 17.5% Last year’s top Boon tumbles to number three, despite receiving more first place votes (6) than Swamp (4) or Earth (2). Trashing is good, yes, but weak and/or unpredictable trashing much less so. Getting Flame’s gift with a Pixie or Blessed Village early is great, of course. Flame on a Druid merely turns it into a mid-grade Trade Route. Nevertheless, trashing is trashing, and you’ll almost always be happy to see this Boon. Somewhat astonishingly, the stats have this ranked an 8th. Perhaps what this is really telling us is that excessive receipts of this Boon might be misguided or a sign of desperation. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/4/42/The_Forest%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #4 ▲1 The Forest's Gift Weighted Average: 70.8% ▲8.3pp / Unweighted Average: 70.9% / Median: 72.7% ▲9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 21.3% Despite a weighted average over 14 percentage points behind Earth’s Gift, it has a lot in common with the second-ranked Boon: it can provide a late-game points swing and deserves to be tracked on a single-gain board. It suffers in that comparison from not always being as relevant early. Another intriguing difference from Earth’s Gift: this Boon received twice as many first-place votes. Maybe those voters are on to something: this is the top-ranked Boon in the stats. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/7/70/The_River%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #5 ▼1 The River's Gift Weighted Average: 66.8% ▼1.5pp / Unweighted Average: 64.8% / Median: 63.6% ▼9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 15.5% River’s Gift is only a few percentage points behind Forest’s Gift but over 17 ahead of the next Boon. In fact, it’s the last Boon with a weighted score above 50%. It provides a little bit of Duration-like draw. Weird edge-cases aside, you’re never sad to see this one. The stats have this 4th, on par with Earth’s gift. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/3/31/The_Field%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #6 =0 The Field's Gift Weighted Average: 49.7% ▼8.2pp / Unweighted Average: 50.9% / Median: 54.5% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 23.9% Field’s Gift retains its spot in the ranking, but the gap between it and the fifth-ranked boon has widened from about 4.5 percentage points last year to 17 (as noted above). It can be a village if received at the right time and therefore might merit tracking in a desperate situation. It turns Druid into a Candlestick Maker variant. The stats sandwich this boon between Flame’s Gift and Swamp’s Gift. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/0/01/The_Sun%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #7 =0 The Sun's Gift Weighted Average: 45.6% ▲1.6pp / Unweighted Average: 43.0% / Median: 45.5% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 15.7% At this point in the list I think it’s fair to ask how many people reading this could tell me, without looking, what Sun’s Gift does. And what does that tell us about this particular boon? It's unremarkable, occasionally useful and largely inoffensive. The stats seem to agree: it ranks 10th on that list. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/f/f5/The_Sea%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #8 =0 The Sea's Gift Weighted Average: 43.2% ▲9.7pp / Unweighted Average: 43.0% / Median: 45.5% ▲9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 12.2% The other drawing Boon, Sea’s Gift often feels inferior to its freshwater cousin. It can be awkward to receive it as part of a terminal action (e.g. with Druid, Tracker, Bard, own Sacred Grove) or with Idol because you might trigger a bad shuffle or draw something dead. Nevertheless, the stats rate it higher than River’s Gift. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/0/05/The_Wind%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #9 =0 The Wind's Gift Weighted Average: 30.0% ▼2.9pp / Unweighted Average: 32.1% / Median: 27.3% ▼9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 17.8% In certain decks, if received at the right time, Wind’s Gift provides some useful sifting. When received at the wrong time, it can feel like a Hex: it might trigger a shuffle or even reduce hand size. I see you nodding. We’ve all been there. Now here’s shocker: the stats suggest this is the second strongest Boon on a per-receipt basis. Look, I’m just as skeptical as you are, but three of the top four Boons in the stats provide card draw, so maybe it’s not as crazy as it might seem. Its highest vote? One person voted it fifth. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/c/c5/The_Mountain%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #10 ▲1 The Mountain's Gift Weighted Average: 20.7% ▲7.9pp / Unweighted Average: 17.0% / Median: 9.1% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 15.2% Mountain’s Gift has recovered a little from the backlash it got last year, where it finished dead last. This year it received three last-place votes, the second-most. I wonder where it would rank if the Silver gain was optional (I suspect a little higher); similarly, I wonder how different the gain rates would be (I suspect not that different). I guess people just don’t like having gross yellow cards foisted on them without their consent. The stats are slightly more favorable to Mountain’s Gift than the voters, ranking it 9th, just behind Flame’s Gift. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/d/d2/The_Sky%27s_GiftDigital.jpg) | #11 ▼1 The Sky's Gift Weighted Average: 17.5% ▼6.6pp / Unweighted Average: 20.6% / Median: 18.2% =0.0pp / Standard Deviation: 14.3% It’s rare for the trade offered by this Boon to be a good value. If it’s early, you may not want to add a stop card over adding a more effective piece; later in the game, the value of three cards in your hand will hopefully exceed that of adding a Gold. Nevertheless, if the stars align, this boon can be good. And hey, I finally have a mnemonic device to remember what this one does. |
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/a/a2/The_Moon%27s_Gift.jpg) | #12 =0 The Moon's Gift Weighted Average: 2.9% ▼13.4pp / Unweighted Average: 4.2% / Median: 0.0% ▼9.1pp / Standard Deviation: 7.3% In another setting, if I called something “The Harbinger of Boons”, you might think that good things were about to happen. In this setting, we all know better. |
TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
It only increases handsize if the second card is cheap. Why is it better?
TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
It only increases handsize if the second card is cheap. Why is it better?
I suspect Awaclus means: "Trashing a card is like gaining a lab" so The Flame's Gift is like gaining a lab, whereas The Swamp's Gift is gaining a Wisp. To have Swamp higher than Flame is like saying Wisp is better than Lab.
TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
It only increases handsize if the second card is cheap. Why is it better?
I suspect Awaclus means: "Trashing a card is like gaining a lab" so The Flame's Gift is like gaining a lab, whereas The Swamp's Gift is gaining a Wisp. To have Swamp higher than Flame is like saying Wisp is better than Lab.
This might be an excellent opportunity for Awaclus and others to reflect on all the ways in which trashing a card is not equivalent to gaining a Laboratory.
TIL Will-o'Wisp is better than Lab.
It only increases handsize if the second card is cheap. Why is it better?
I suspect Awaclus means: "Trashing a card is like gaining a lab" so The Flame's Gift is like gaining a lab, whereas The Swamp's Gift is gaining a Wisp. To have Swamp higher than Flame is like saying Wisp is better than Lab.
This might be an excellent opportunity for Awaclus and others to reflect on all the ways in which trashing a card is not equivalent to gaining a Laboratory.
There's more than that. Even if trashing a card is 100% like gaining a lab, The Flame's Gift can miss if you don't have a card to trash when you get it.
But indeed there are other differences. Trashing an Estate is like gaining a lab but also losing a (http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/9/92/VP.png/16px-VP.png) token. Trashing a Copper is like gaining a lab but also taking your -(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/f/f7/Coin1.png/16px-Coin1.png) token. So both are slightly worse than gaining a lab.
On the other hand, trashing a Copper/Estate also has an advantage over gaining a lab. Say you have trashed 3 Coppers and 3 Estates and bought 1 Mountebank this game. Your next hand WILL contain the Mountebank. Say you have bought 1 Mountebank and 6 labs this game. Your next hand could still be dead.
Even so, I think his overall point is correct... trashing a card from your hand should, as a whole, be stronger than gaining a Will-o'-Wisp.
You can draw two labs with a lab; what's the trash a card equivalent?On a board where both trashing and Labs are available, is the equivalent not drawing a Lab instead of an Estate, because you trashed the Estate?
The trashing the card is like gaining a lab adage is stifled insofar as labs can stack while trashed cards don't. You can draw two labs with a lab; what's the trash a card equivalent?
Will-o-wisps are better than labs, because you can draw two will-o-wisps with a will-o-wisp, but you can't draw two labs with a will-o-wisp.
Will-o-wisps are better than labs, because you can draw two will-o-wisps with a will-o-wisp, but you can't draw two labs with a will-o-wisp.
Really the main problem with flame's gift is that sometimes you don't have a card to trash, or you need those coppers right now to hit a price point, or you just discarded the card you wanted to trash to lost in the woods. In you decline to trash you're not gaining those labs.
The problem with ranking Boons is how card-dependent they are. Sky's Gift is way better on Bard or Idol (which you play at the end of your turn, but before your Treasures) than on Blessed Village (when you buy Blessed Village, you probably don't have enough cards left to discard, and you don't want it at the start of your turn). Forest and Field are clearly the best on Sacred Grove. Gainers are extra good with Tracker. And Druid favors those you want to get regularly (Flame/Swamp).
I do not think WoW is better than lab. Not even close. In fact I'm pretty sure it is strictly worse.
That was a joke my friends. More will-o-wisp facts: Will-o-wisp is better than lab because if the top card of your deck is something crappy (like a will-o-wisp), will-o-wisp will clear it out for you, and if it's something good (like a lab), will-o-wisp will save it for your next turn for increased reliability.
I do not think WoW is better than lab. Not even close. In fact I'm pretty sure it is strictly worse.
I'm not saying otherwise - though I do think that the +$1 exception on Sacred Grove should have been avoided. It just makes ranking them a difficult exercise.The problem with ranking Boons is how card-dependent they are. Sky's Gift is way better on Bard or Idol (which you play at the end of your turn, but before your Treasures) than on Blessed Village (when you buy Blessed Village, you probably don't have enough cards left to discard, and you don't want it at the start of your turn). Forest and Field are clearly the best on Sacred Grove. Gainers are extra good with Tracker. And Druid favors those you want to get regularly (Flame/Swamp).
I'd say the fact that boons vary wildly in power between cards is a testament to good design.
Will-o-wisps are better than labs, because you can draw two will-o-wisps with a will-o-wisp, but you can't draw two labs with a will-o-wisp.