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[Karelia]

Skulk is a four drop that gives you a free gold when you buy/gain(as per the official ruling) it so you're getting 10 total cost-value out of two cards that you only have to pay 4 for; the attack isn't even that bad to boot. I feel like there has to be something I'm missing about Skulk since there's no obvious downside to it. Is the card potentially mis-printed (Think of the rumor behind MTG card Rancor) at a lower cost than intended or is it really intended to be this unbalanced?

[GendoIkari]

You are understanding the rules/card correctly. What you are missing is that Skulk is a terminal action that has a very weak effect when you play it. Having too many of them in your deck will make it harder to actually play the good cards and buy better cards. As a very simple example, if you draw a hand of 5 Golds, then you can buy a Province or a Colony. If you have a hand of 5 Skulks instead, then you can't do anything at all this turn.

In other words, while the free Gold is nice, the Skulk itself acts almost similarly to how Curse would act in your deck, clocking up your ability to draw and play better cards.

As for "$10 value that you only have to pay $4 for", you are missing the fact that Skulk is NOT worth $4 as a card. It's only $4 because it comes with a free Gold. Skulk without the bottom part would be weak even if it cost or . In fact, while you can't just add up the costs of different cards like that to get a total value, if you could, then you would see that Skulk has been determined to actually be worth -, not .

[pubby]

In addition to what GendoIkari said, Gold is not always a card worth having in your deck. Buying lots of treasures is known as "Big Money", and that strategy rarely wins these days.

[LastFootnote]

In addition to what GendoIkari said, Gold is not always a card worth having in your deck. Buying lots of treasures is known as "Big Money", and that strategy rarely wins these days.

I'd say that's a bit misleading. Opening Skulk is pretty common at the level I play. It's not like buying Skulk means you're pursuing a money strategy.

[faust]

I think a major problem is that the two things you get are a bit at odds. Decks that want Skulk are usually engines that need some extra +Buy or have some free terminal space that can be used for attacking, decks that want Gold are usually more money-ish. When you buy a Skulk, often you either want the Gold and suffer the Skulk that comes with it, or vice versa.

An exception is trash for benefit, where Skulk is absolutely amazing just for getting $10 total value for $4, and you don't care much what the cards actually do.

[hhelibebcnofnena]

I think a major problem is that the two things you get are a bit at odds. Decks that want Skulk are usually engines that need some extra +Buy or have some free terminal space that can be used for attacking, decks that want Gold are usually more money-ish.

I feel like there are certainly engine games I've played where Gold was still my primary payload. Sometimes the engine payload isn't good enough, or it's terminal without villages on the board.

[GendoIkari]

The same questions can be asked about Border Village. You get worth of value for only ! Well no, you actually get += worth of value for , which is still nice. But Border Village isn't close to strong enough to be a card in terms of what it does when you play it. It only costs because of the free card you get when you buy it. And with Border Village, it would be weaker if it cost less, because paying for a + a Village is better than paying for a + a Village.

[Cuzz]

The same questions can be asked about Border Village. You get worth of value for only ! Well no, you actually get += worth of value for , which is still nice. But Border Village isn't close to strong enough to be a card in terms of what it does when you play it. It only costs because of the free card you get when you buy it. And with Border Village, it would be weaker if it cost less, because paying for a + a Village is better than paying for a + a Village.

This also works for cache in reverse. You get $6+$0+$0=$6 worth of value for only $5!

[Cuzz]

I think a major problem is that the two things you get are a bit at odds. Decks that want Skulk are usually engines that need some extra +Buy or have some free terminal space that can be used for attacking, decks that want Gold are usually more money-ish.

I feel like there are certainly engine games I've played where Gold was still my primary payload. Sometimes the engine payload isn't good enough, or it's terminal without villages on the board.

Sometimes it’s also just nice to get a gold in your deck before the first shuffle, even if you have little interest in treasure payload in the long run. It can be the best way to hit $5 ASAP on some boards.