What the heck, I'll try my hand here.
ForagerSo you may have heard of freeganism, which encourages the eating of discarded food; perhaps you've even read Kim Stanley Robinson's
Science in the Capitol trilogy, which includes explorations of freeganism and urban foraging in an environmental catastrophe.* Or maybe you were a dumpster diver yourself in college. None of this is really related to Forager the card, but the theme is there: Forager allows you to profit from other people's castoffs.
There are only a few non-terminal trashers. Apprentice, Junk Dealer, Counterfeit, and Upgrade are all at the $5 price point, making them unlikely openers. Lookout, at $3, gives you no benefit other than trashing and cycling, and can cause you to trash and cycle cards you would rather have kept, and Loan, at $3, can also fail to bad luck (or poor planning). Rebuild is a one-card engine in a class of its own. Forager plays quite differently from any of these, because it gives you a benefit--but that benefit is shared with your opponents, making it tricky to play.
When should I buy it?Like other trashers, Forager shines in engine games; it's not uncommon to see a Forager/Forager opening when a good engine is available. It also shines against junking attacks, turning the junk into extra cash. In both cases, because it is non-terminal, it's a relatively safe buy. It's usable in Big Money with terminal cash, but not as great--or as necessary--with terminal draw.
When should I play it?Early and often if you want the most mileage out of it.
What should I trash with it?Now we come to the tricky portion. Like City, Forager can "level up" as the game goes on--and just like City, the leveling is equal for everyone. It's not worth any money until at least one Treasure, probably Copper, has been trashed with it. And if you trash a Copper now, your opponent can trash an Estate next turn and get a free $1 from your trashed Copper. Each trash of a new Treasure with Forager is a bit of a gamble... if your opponent is also going after Foragers. If you're the only one going after Foragers, though, you can get away with trashing higher-power Treasures--just be aware that your opponent is $3 away from picking up his/her own Forager.
If you're going to use multiple Foragers on a turn, and you're planning to "level up" the Foragers this turn--for instance, by trashing a Silver--make sure the Silver is the first thing you trash, to get the extra cash.
What doesn't work with Forager?Playing Forager decreases your hand size by two, which means that in the absence of at least some drawing, you'll never play more than three per turn, and what's left over isn't very much. If there's better trashing available, Forager may not be of great use; in a very thin deck Forager becomes a dead card. If Forager is your main trashing and you are planning to get +Buy elsewhere, don't be afraid to clear out your deck, then trash Foragers away as well.
Forager works with:
Engines in general
Fortress (
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130701/log.50635cc651c3843e7939ece8.1372685537098.txt)
Kingdom Treasures or Spoils
Opponents' junking attacks
Cards that will cause Treasures other than Copper to be trashed (Counterfeit, Governor, Mine, Spice Merchant, etc.)
Tactician, Wharf, or other source of large hand size
Forager works poorly with:
Opponents' Foragers
Alternate-VP and other slogs
Opponents' hand-reduction attacks
*It also includes a scene where the freegan-sympathetic character breaks into his own workplace at NSF.