I've been meaning to finish this Graverobber article for quite some time now. The arrival of the 2014 Dominion Cards List was the push that got me to finish it. There is already a (werothe)great Graverobber article
right here. Nevertheless, I decided to post this article of mine because:
1) We're more or less past the "ooh! Shiny Dark Ages cards" phase (and currently in the "Ohh! Shiny Guilds cards" phase). Despite this, I feel that a lot of players have trouble using this card effectively. With the newest edition of the card rankings coming up, I'd like to spur some discussion on it as people start their rankings.
2) My article takes a more skeptical approach than werothegreat's article.
3) This is my first Dominion article and I'm looking for feedback. Comments and criticism on both the writing style and the content of the article itself are welcome.
Alright then...
Graverobber Graverobber is a card that requires a good deal of skill to use properly. Not only is it tricky to know when it’s worth getting, but it’s also really important to know at what point in the game to pick up Graverobber should you decide to get it. It’s like the big guy in your typical fighting game: slow and awkward to use, but only needs a few precision strikes to achieve victory. This article aims to outline the considerations you should make when deciding whether or not your deck can use some Graverobbers.
The Worth of Graverobber’s abilitiesThere are mainly three ways that Graverobber can prove useful:
1) Turning Action cards into VP cards:The first thing that will come to most people’s minds when looking at Graverobber is “How can I use it to gain Provinces”. While it’s by no means a one-trick pony, trashing Action cards for Provinces is definitely a powerful ability that can make the difference between winning and losing. You almost certainly want to have the potential of pulling this off if you do decide to get Graverobber.
Engines with lots of $5 cost Action cards that can reliably draw themselves tend to accept Graverobbers most readily. Such decks will find the Graverobber in your deck almost immediately. They are also more likely to have Action cards that can be sacrificed for Provinces. Often, such decks prefer getting a sudden surge of VP cards towards the end of the game instead of accumulating them gradually, and Graverobber helps towards this objective. In powerful engines, you ideally want to use Graverobber to end the game on a win before you need to lose time gaining cards back from the trash.
However, engines that are less reliable are more at risk of stalling once you add stop cards like Graverobber to it for this purpose. If you end up with Graverobber and a drawing card as the only Action cards in your hand early in your turn, you’ll be faced with the dilemma of either playing your drawing Action card and hoping your turn picks up or trashing the Action card with Graverobber and stopping your turn dead to gain a Province. Weaker decks might benefit more by gaining an engine component over Graverobber to simply buy Provinces.
There is inherently more risk of Graverobber not colliding with any good Action cards to trash in a deck that doesn’t draw much at all. However, those decks tend to be much more content with turns where you simply trash a $5 Action card (say, Mint,) to gain a Province. The 1-Province-a-turn payoff is relatively better in non-engine heavy decks that are just rushing to empty out the Provinces before too many more reshuffles pass. It’s worth weighting risk vs. reward before you make a firm decision about including Graverobber to your not-so-ideal-engine deck.
In rare cases, you might use Graverobber to trash action cards for VP cards besides Provinces. Having actions that can be turned into Duchies can help mitigate the loss of not being able to gain a Province with Graverobber, though it’s still not as good as having bought a Duchy instead. Most of the time, gaining alt-VP with Graverobber is just going to be too slow, too risky, and too costly. One exception is with gaining colonies with Peddlers, but note that you can’t gain Peddlers back from the trash without cost reduction. Also, $3+ action card->Fairgrounds is conceivably useful.
2) Turning Action cards into non-VP cardsRarely do you want to pursue a strategy that heavily relies on Graverobber expanding actions for other actions. It’s bound to be very slow. Unlike the other members of the remodel family, Graverobber is very weak in the early game, where action density tends to be very low (and there isn’t much wondrous stuff in the trash). Trashing a $3 Action card for a Grand Market can be nice, but chances are you’ll still miss that $3 Action if you spend a gain on it. It's better when on-trash effects come into play, but lining it up with the right cards for on-trash benefits may be harder than connecting Treasure Maps.
Trashing actions for non-VP cards is best used in the mid-game to trash early game cards that have outlived their usefulness into ones you want in the near future. Early game trashers are prime targets.
3) Gaining cards from the trashThe potential to gain cards from the trash is rather significant. The gained cards are even top-decked. This is great when you’re gaining action cards from trash, as you’ll be happy to see them very soon. It’s rather awkward to set things up so that you play the gained action on the same turn though. Every play that gains a card from the trash is one that wasn’t used to expand an action card into a VP card. Gained VP cards, however, would usually be better off in your discard pile, where a Rogue would put them. In the middle of the road is the gaining of Treasure cards. Gaining Gold on top of the deck is less ideal for engines, but Gold is a powerful card in its own right. Graverobber might not be able to trash it for benefit, but there are other cards that can, like Remodel, Apprentice, Counterfeit, Stonemason, etc.
This brings up another point in Graverobber’s favour. Graverobber’s ability to gain from the trash is a great way to maintain a source of TfB fodder, even if Graverobber isn’t your primary TfB card. You don’t have to discard a card, or trash a card, or gain a VP card with it, or anything like that to get expensive trash fodder.
Keep a look out for the rare occasions where there are good actions in the trash abnormally early, which turns Graverobber into a super Armory. Knights, Pillage, and Saboteur are cards that can easily create that scenario. Also, don't miss the opportunity to gain a card with a desirable on-gain effect from the trash. This mostly applies to Inn and Border Village. In fact, Border Village/Graverobber is a powerful strategy that lets you gain more Graverobbers as you regain the Border Village from the trash for TfB fodder.
When to Get GraverobberHere are some things you should ask yourself when considering to gain a Graverobber.
1) How often will I see the Graverobber before the end of the game?Like with all action cards, the answer should usually be “at least once”. For Graverobber though, you have to consider that it will usually compete directly with Duchy. If you only see it once, then you want to maximize the chance that it was a better deal than a Duchy on the turn you do see it. Heavy cycling or not, seeing it 2-4 times before the end of the game is a sweet spot for Graverobber. It’s early enough that you get a few good chances to trash an action card into a Province. If you’ll see it 5 or more times before the end of the game, you should ask yourself whether or not it’s too early to get Graverobber. If there’s a high chance that the Graverobber will have something useful to do that early, then you can go for it. This often means that there's already plenty of good stuff in the trash to gain.
2) What’s my action card density?Trashing $5+ cost actions for Provinces is a neat ability. A deck that seeks to use this ability should be set up so that the majority of Graverobber plays will connect with the right cards. This might simply mean you have lots of expensive action cards. Decks with lots of action cards are more likely to have Graverobber find a target and will often find the trashing of one action card less detrimental.
That being said, decks with a lower density of expensive action cards can still work if they are abundant in sifters like Cellar and Warehouse. Sifters also help you find the most expendable action card to trash. Being able to transfer action cards from one hand to the next also adds reliability to your plans despite having a relatively lower number of actions in your deck. Some examples of these include Treasury, Scheme, and Haven.
3) Do I want multiple Graverobbers?You probably do. More Graverobbers means more chances to gain Provinces. Graverobbers also have nice self-synergy. A Graverobber that fizzles can still top-deck an expensive action card for your other Graverobber(s) to trash next turn. And when it looks it you’ve run out of fuel, you can trash a Graverobber with another Graverobber to complete that final push for the Provinces.
What’s even better is playing it with Throne Room and the like. Top-decking an action for a Province with 1 action is rather neat, and so is gaining two Provinces with one action.
4) Are there Colonies?Colony games tend to weaken Graverobber. To be more precise, they weaken the strategies that involve trashing lots of actions for Provinces. Even if Peddler is on the board, you have to remember that Peddlers can’t be gained from the trash without cost reduction, so you have to win the Peddler split first when that's the case.
Like all gainers, Graverobber can still be the card that wins you the Colony game by letting you sneak an extra Province. Also, Graverobber will still be effective if you were mainly going to use it for its trash gaining ability.
ConclusionGraverobber is a rather heavy card in that it needs a lot of support before it can be used effectively, but doesn’t reciprocate much. Once you set up your deck to accept them though, they can deliver a large payload with very few plays. When the late game comes around, remember to re-evaluate them.
Works With- Powerful engines looking for late greening
- High density of expensive action cards
- Cards with on-trash effects
- Lots of cards to gain from the trash
- TfB cards to refuel, including itself
- Cards with on-gain effects (i.e. Border Village)
- Sifters
- Cards that can transfer across hands (Treasury, Scheme, etc.)
Conflicts With- Valuable deck components at the same price
- Decks that lack reliability and/or action density
- A lack of cards to gain from the trash
- Colony Games
Edit:
Oh yeah, here's a sample game:
http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20131203/log.5080bad60cf2ab2c11d065ce.1386120016347.txtUnfortunately, Conqueror Bot's idea of conquest didn't involve getting Mercenary, which could have really hurt my strategy. Nevertheless, I feel that this game does a good job of showing some of Graverobber's potential. I also make the mistake of trying to gain Peddler from the trash on Turn 12.
Edit 2: Added the Works/Conflicts with section and expanded the "What's my action density?" section. Also made a few minor wording edits.
Edit 3:Wording clarifications.
