Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[schadd]

previews seem to have simmered down a tad.


menagerie, the card that, like scrying pool, tends to have a sort of deck that you want to get with it but generally you'll just buy a bunch of them regardless.


menagerie is a fun card, though, unlike scrying pool. it makes things happen fast, and it makes them happen kinda difficutlty. it's fun to have a deck where you bought a vault for some reason and then, post-draw, you can discard 6 differently named cards and then draw them back up with two menageries.


i did that here.


-is menagerie superfun?
-what is menagerie's favorite card other than all of them, especially action cards
-when do you open with menagerie?

[Seprix]

-is menagerie superfun? yes
-what is menagerie's favorite card other than all of them, especially action cards? menagerie's favorite card is all of them except scout
-when do you open with menagerie? Ghost Ship 5/2?

[Chris is me]

opening menagerie / something is just fine sometimes

- if you don't want 1 (or 2) silver in your deck ever (limited trashing, strong economy from 4s) you might as well get it
- shelter games it's slightly better to open it than normal
- gains are kind of scarce so why not use early ones on menageries you know you'll want later?

people seem to think it's a waste to buy a menagerie if you can't count on it triggering the big draw for awhile, but it's only as bad as the opportunity cost of not getting a silver, which sometimes isn't a big deal. its pretty much worth it even if it only ever triggers once or twice, I mean cantrips aren't bad

[Davio]

Coppers are Menagerie's worst enemies.
Warehouse is Menagerie's friend.

Randomly hitting unique hands with many duplicates in your deck is super fun.

I love this card and I love foolishly going out of my way to try to activate it.

[mameluke]

Menagerie loves non-terminals that discard one or more cards from your hand to get rid of the pesky duplicate Coppers and Estates. So, Oasis is fine, but something like Warehouse, Hamlet or Inn is even better. Or Artificer -- discard three and gain a new Menagerie right on top of your deck. Vault and Storeroom are also very good, but you'll need to draw them with a Village in hand (or, you know, Prince a Storeroom).

You can also pull off fun tricks with cards that let you put those Coppers into play, like Storyteller and Black Market. I assume Villa will also be crazy -- if you're planning on buying a Villa, leave an unplayed Menagerie in your hand for when you plan to return to your Action phase.

[singletee]

Menagerie is pretty fun and IMO pretty underrated. It was ranked 9th among $3-costs in Qvist's 2015 rankings. I had it 5th. It's just tremendously strong on most engine boards. One of my favorites games of Dominion I've played was one where I built a Menagerie engine with no sifting and Mine as the only trasher. (It was a Shelter kingdom IIRC.)

Menagerie's favorite cards are non-terminal trashers (Forager, Lookout, Spice Merchant) and discarding villages (Hamlet and Plaza). It also likes Festival, Warehouse, etc, etc... Okay let's just list things it doesn't like. Fool's Gold I guess.

You can use it for a Horn of Plenty megaturn but you need a discard-from-hand sifter (Plaza, Warehouse, Oasis...).

opening menagerie / something is just fine sometimes

- if you don't want 1 (or 2) silver in your deck ever (limited trashing, strong economy from 4s) you might as well get it
- shelter games it's slightly better to open it than normal
- gains are kind of scarce so why not use early ones on menageries you know you'll want later?

people seem to think it's a waste to buy a menagerie if you can't count on it triggering the big draw for awhile, but it's only as bad as the opportunity cost of not getting a silver, which sometimes isn't a big deal. its pretty much worth it even if it only ever triggers once or twice, I mean cantrips aren't bad

This. But usually you want one Silver in a Menagerie engine.

[ConMan]

Menagerie/Hamlet is an engine in search of a payload. If the payload is one that likes to discard cards from a big hand (say, Vault) then there's your strategy right there.

Of course, there's also the holy grail - successfully playing KC-Menagerie for the megadraw. I think I pulled it off in Androminion once, how many people have managed it online?

[Infthitbox]

Menagerie badly wants non-treasure economy. Most engines do, but Menagerie more than most because having several copies of a treasure in your deck cripples the draw, unless you also have discard and can carefully plan it to pick up your duplicate treasures at the very end. Of course, if you're playing a Platinum/Colony game, one of each basic treasure buys exactly one Colony, but that's rarely what you're after. Having some actions as your economy allows you (with the help of a village) to stack your economy up without fear of crippling the draw.

[singletee]

Menagerie decks generally have problems greening, since the duplicate VP cards can't be played out of your hand and break your Menageries. There are several ways around this:

1. Discard green cards with your sifters.
2. Buy more +Card actions before greening so you can get through your deck even if your Menageries miss.
3. Buy all your green cards in a single turn.
4. Get a small lead and pile out for the win.
5. Use Bishop, Monument, or Goons to collect VP without (permanently) adding VP cards to your deck.
6. Buy Action-VP cards that can be played out of your hand, like Great Hall, Island, Distant Lands, and Nobles.
7. Castles

[J Reggie]

7. Castles

Woah, I hadn't thought of this, but Menagerie could be one of the stronger Castle synergies!

[schadd]

7. Castles

Woah, I hadn't thought of this, but Menagerie could be one of the stronger Castle synergies!

fairgrounds

[luser]

7. Castles

Woah, I hadn't thought of this, but Menagerie could be one of the stronger Castle synergies!

fairgrounds

That isnt much synergy as by the time you get enough castles oponent will likely empty fairgrounds.

[Witherweaver]

Coppers are Menagerie's worst enemies.
Warehouse is Menagerie's friend.

Randomly hitting unique hands with many duplicates in your deck is super fun.

I love this card and I love foolishly going out of my way to try to activate it.

Draw Province, Province, Menagerie, Silver, Copper.  Opponent plays Bishop, trash Province!

[E.Honda]

Coppers are Menagerie's worst enemies.
Warehouse is Menagerie's friend.

Randomly hitting unique hands with many duplicates in your deck is super fun.

I love this card and I love foolishly going out of my way to try to activate it.

Draw Province, Province, Menagerie, Silver, Copper.  Opponent plays Bishop, trash Province!

This needs insanity Wolf

[markusin]

Coppers are Menagerie's worst enemies.
Warehouse is Menagerie's friend.

Randomly hitting unique hands with many duplicates in your deck is super fun.

I love this card and I love foolishly going out of my way to try to activate it.

Draw Province, Province, Menagerie, Silver, Copper.  Opponent plays Bishop, trash Province!

This needs insanity Wolf

Nah, Insanity Wolf would be this with the Menagerie in hand replaced by a Gold or something. Gotta preemptively reduce those duplicates!

[McGarnacle]

Artificer/Menagerie is nice. With Menagerie, you really need discarders is you want to play multiple +3 cards Menageries (my record is 5 in a turn).