With the intent to generate productive discussion, I will comprehensively discuss the cards I ranked significantly different from the community. The threshold is 11 ranks different. I'll start with the card the community ranked significantly higher than I did. In case Qvist is keeping me honest, my personal rankings here might differ slightly from the ones I submitted, but I haven't changed them since the $5 cards list began.
Baker - Community:45 - Personal:69
Each year, I think that Baker is overrated and sure to drop in the community rankings. This year is no different. If we ignore the starting coin token on startup (which I believe we're supposed to), I'm never excited to see Baker in the kingdom. The only games I've played where Baker is a key card is when it's the best target for +card from Pathfinding or Teacher. I believe Baker is one of the weakest Peddler+ variants; I ranked it lower than Artificer, Market, and Emporium and stand by my decision.
Jester - Community:42 - Personal:63
I'm surprised by the community's high ranking of Jester. Jester is a fine card, I suppose, but it often has a ton of competition as terminal payload. As a junker, it's clearly weaker than the other $5 junkers - usually junking with Copper. As a gainer, it can be good, but it's really inconsistent. It feels so bad to reveal a card that has piled or an ambiguous card like Silver. Jester is better with more players, and maybe I'm ranking it lower than it deserves due to variance.
Distant Lands- Community:36 - Personal:57
I was really shocked that Distant Lands was rated so highly. In my experience, this card looks better than it is. Some games end on piles, and Distant Lands are generally useless on these boards. Other boards are gain-limited, and by the time you dip into non-Province VP, the guaranteed 3 VP from the Duchy is often more attractive than the potential 4 VP from Distant Lands. There are certainly boards where Distant Lands will make the difference, but even on these boards it isn't super important to win the split. Certainly, Triumph and Groundskeeper are stronger alternative VP than Distant Lands.
Archive- Community:50 - Personal:68
Yeah, I underrated Archive. It's a strong card and might even rise in the rankings next year. It isn't as generally useful as Laboratory (obviously), but it can be even better on boards with limited trashing. Cool card.
Ghost Ship - Community:14 - Personal:28
Yeah, Ghost Ship has a brutal attack, but terminal +2 cards is so weak. The Ghost Ship attack has quite a few counters (Guide is the best) and mitigaters (Herald, Enchantress, Chariot Race, etc..). Also, the Ghost Ship attack doesn't stack with the other handsize attacks. Those other handsize attacks, without exception, provide better payload; so Ghost Ship tends to be skippable on those boards. I haven't played a non-Governor game where Ghost Ship was a super star in a long while. All that said, Ghost Ship is a strong card, but overrated by the community, IMO.
Horn of Plenty - Community:28 - Personal:39
The allure of the Horn of Plenty megaturn is strong, it seems. Sometimes it works, and it feels great (to the person who pulls it off). But I expect that in fewer than 20% of the kingdoms with Horn of Plenty are HoP megaturn strategies optimal. The HoP megaturn requires a lot of overdraw and consistency, which isn't always present. And sometimes there's stronger payload. And, sure, Horn of Plenty is a fine card as a non-terminal gainer of $5+ cards, but it isn't a top 30 $5 card for that. For all that, it's a unique and powerful card.
And now, the larger list of cards I ranked significantly higher than the community.
Stables - Community:29 - Personal:18
I think I was off on this. I rated Stables adjacent to Laboratory, which I can't defend at this point. Stables is super good in games where it doesn't make sense to trash Copper (or it does make sense to Silver flood, or something), but it becomes a liability fast in games with strong trashing (though it's still often worth picking up, especially before you've finished trashing).
Trade - Community:62 - Personal:50
The community is coming around, but Trade is great. Compare it to Embassy. When Trade is on the board, any decent terminal draw BM becomes really fast and reliable. So, I think Trade is a better indicator of a strong BM strategy than Embassy. And Trade is also usually better for engines than Embassy. The Silvers aren't always great in an engine, but if Trade is the only way to trash Estates, it surely pays off. Trade is even stronger in games with junk (Witch + Trade is usually dominant, for example).
Treasure Trove - Community:53 - Personal:40
I probably overrated Treasure Trove. It's great in BM and slogs and often a good one-of in some engines, but it can be a dead card on some engine boards.
Ball - Community:73 - Personal:60
I like the gainer events. They can work around on-buy penalties. Ball is great with spammable $4's (like Advisor or Caravan) and fantastic with cost reduction.
Festival - Community:58 - Personal:42
I believe I overrated Festival, though the community might have slightly underrated it. On paper, Festival is comparable with Bandit Camp and Bazaar, but in practice that lack if draw makes a big difference. So, Fesitval rarely competes with other villages in the same game, but acts as payload amplification - you plan to play it after drawing before your terminal payload. And the non-terminal $2 and +buy is sometimes good enough payload if the engine enablers are strong enough. And, sometimes, Festival is the only way to play additional actions, and you have to go for it even though you might prefer a vanilla Village.
Emporium - Community:76 - Personal:56
This one is tough. Maybe I've mostly played in kingdoms where it's easy to pick up Patricians? Or maybe my memory is biased towards those games? In my limited experience, I believe Emporium has been a more impactful card than Baker. But maybe it belongs lower because it isn't available in some games...
Windfall - Community:75 - Personal:51
This one is hard to evaluate. It's usually worth buying Windfall in a game where you can activate the condition. And activating the condition is pretty manageable when you only need $5 in your deck. Compare with, say, Merchant Guild. Merchant Guild is best in a draw-your-deck engine. It gives +buy and smooths buys, but it's so much slower than Windfall. Windfall keeps your terminal space free for draw and attacks. I dunno. I think they have similar power level.
And, the big three:
Storyteller - Community:48 - Personal:20
I do believe I overrated Storyteller a little bit, but boy is it stronger than the community gives it credit for. My whole strategy changes sometimes when Storyteller is on the board. The amount of draw it can produce is massive. If there's a way to ensure that you start your hand with a Storyteller (e.g. Gear, Save, Scheme, Count, etc...), you can gain Silver and Gold without limit and draw your deck with ease. Storyteller is also good early to cycle through Coppers to see your buys faster (especially important with trashers and travellers). And Storyteller is good in single-terminal money decks that just want to play that key terminal (e.g. a junker or Haggler) as frequently as possible and buy a Province, too. Then, there are the cute tricks you can pull off with playing kingdom treaures during your action phase (e.g Coin of the Realm, Treasure Trove). Storyteller is a great card.
Seaway - Community:71 - Personal:41
Seaway is great. Extra buys give a lot of pile control. Seaway is barely even a cost; I'm willing to overpay once for the cards that are good Seaway targets (and there are a LOT of good Seaway targets - like any of the $4 villages). Plus, it works around on-buy restrictions like Ball. Woefully underrated.
Triumph - Community:46 - Personal:16
Ya'all goofed. Triumph is the real deal. On boards with Triumph and additional gains, it's often incorrect to buy Province. You can generate an obscene amount of points from Triumph buys; ignore it at your own peril. Yeah, Triumph is pretty weak in games without additional gains, but those are rare. And it's pretty trivial for Triumph to be a better buy than Duchy (e.g. Play Bandit, buy Triumph). And you can buy it earlier in the game with the intent to trash the Estate: sustainable (while Estates last)! The only sad thing about Triumph is that the games where Triumph could generate the most points are most likely to end on 3-piles, so Triumph will have only a minor impact.
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Topic: The Dominion Cards Lists 2016 Edition: $5 Cards (Read 104490 times)