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Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Let's Discuss ... => Topic started by: BraydonM on March 18, 2022, 12:48:16 am

Title: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: BraydonM on March 18, 2022, 12:48:16 am
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/4/4b/Sycophant.jpg/200px-Sycophant.jpg)
Let's discuss Sycophant, with 23 possible allies it's 23 cards in one! Which one will it be this time? A trasher that trashes itself? A way to get coins awarded on every buy phase? Or is it a Victory point card?
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/b/b9/Peaceful_Cult.jpg/320px-Peaceful_Cult.jpg)(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/0/03/League_of_Bankers.jpg/320px-League_of_Bankers.jpg)(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/a/a4/Plateau_Shepherds.jpg/320px-Plateau_Shepherds.jpg)


One Ally that makes me run a copy of this without trashing is Circle of Witches.
(http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/images/thumb/5/58/Circle_of_Witches.jpg/320px-Circle_of_Witches.jpg)
Buying a single copy of Sycophant will allow you to curse the opponent once which is certainly worse than having a Sycophant in their deck. This is one ally where I might be more inclined to take a Sycophant without trashing on the board.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: Wizard_Amul on March 18, 2022, 02:05:18 am
It was only a friendly game, but I did have it work out decently for me in one game so far…I was going for League of Bankers, and I think Exorcist was the only trashing in the kingdom. Arena was also there, so I had a small benefit for not playing or trashing Sycophant. I picked it up when I hit 2 a couple times early on, and getting 4 favors and a wisp out of it was good. There was also Underling, so it wasn’t the only source of favors. Going forward, anytime I really want several favors (League of Bankers, Island Folk, etc.) and there is any easy way to trash them, I think I will consider Sycophant. I think it’s risky to go for if you can’t trash it—often not being able to play it for a useful effect hurts it’s usefulness quite a bit. Compare it to Lackeys, which has a better on-play effect.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 02:24:29 am
Way of the Chameleon would turn Sycophant into a non-terminal sifter, like a less flexible Cellar

It's also nice with cards like Village Green and Tunnel, and of course, draw-to-X or Minion
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: BraydonM on March 18, 2022, 02:46:16 am
Quote from: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 02:24:29 am
Way of the Chameleon would turn Sycophant into a non-terminal sifter, like a less flexible Cellar

It's also nice with cards like Village Green and Tunnel, and of course, draw-to-X or Minion
Good points but minion only draws to 4 so you would have to discard everything else to play it after minion. Could be quite good if you played it from an opening hand of 5 I suppose but it’s probably unreliable.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 03:14:19 am
Quote from: BraydonM on March 18, 2022, 02:46:16 am
Quote from: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 02:24:29 am
Way of the Chameleon would turn Sycophant into a non-terminal sifter, like a less flexible Cellar

It's also nice with cards like Village Green and Tunnel, and of course, draw-to-X or Minion
Good points but minion only draws to 4 so you would have to discard everything else to play it after minion. Could be quite good if you played it from an opening hand of 5 I suppose but it’s probably unreliable.

Well, you could play it after Minion, but I meant playing Sycophant then Minion, so you get the +$3 plus a new hand of 4 cards
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: vidicate on March 18, 2022, 03:21:25 am
Quote from: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 03:14:19 am
Quote from: BraydonM on March 18, 2022, 02:46:16 am
Quote from: mxdata on March 18, 2022, 02:24:29 am
Way of the Chameleon would turn Sycophant into a non-terminal sifter, like a less flexible Cellar

It's also nice with cards like Village Green and Tunnel, and of course, draw-to-X or Minion
Good points but minion only draws to 4 so you would have to discard everything else to play it after minion. Could be quite good if you played it from an opening hand of 5 I suppose but it’s probably unreliable.

Well, you could play it after Minion, but I meant playing Sycophant then Minion, so you get the +$3 plus a new hand of 4 cards

Yeah at first glance it sounded good for Minion. But then I realized that in a typical Minion engine (which likes a lot of Action-money — disappearing or cantrip) you’ll probably play the Sycophant as only the first and/or last Action in the chain. It doesn’t work at any other point. But not terrible, I suppose.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: faust on March 18, 2022, 04:31:41 am
The effect of Sycophant is good in most situations where the effect of Artificer is good. So mostly overdraw engines like Scrying Pool or City Quarter, but also draw-to-X (for X > 4).

Of course unlike Artificer, Sycophant also requires +Buy.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: Lotoreo on March 18, 2022, 08:27:17 am
I had one game with sycophant and swap, which was not technically trashing, but a very very useful interaction. I think almost all allies are good with it then.
Title: Re: Let's Discuss - Sycophant
Post by: vidicate on March 20, 2022, 01:28:23 pm
If City-state is your Ally, then Sycophant can be a makeshift Borrow (need a spare buy).
If Architects’ Guild is your Ally, well you just have a sad nombo. (Either gain a Copper/Poor House on the front end, or save 2¢ on the Sycophant on the back end. Yippee.)