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[shark_bait]

Mystic

Far sights await you
Knowing the future is key
Reclaim what you know

Mystic – Action $5

+1 Action
+$2
Name a card. Reveal the top card of your deck. If it’s the named card, put it into your hand.

This is really quite a simple card.  When guessing correctly, it is a cantrip card that gives +$2.  It is really that simple.  The fun in this card is making sure to get that extra +Card.  We are already Familiar (pun intended) with the text portion as we saw that in Wishing Well way back in intrigue.  By correctly guessing, or should I say knowing, the top card of your deck, you may place it in your hand.  I say knowing, because that is where the true power of Mystic comes from.  The key different between Mystic and Wishing Well is the lack of +Card in the simple text.  With Wishing Well, you are forced to draw the top card of your deck before you guess.  This means that you must know more than just the top card of your deck.  You must know the top of your deck to a depth of at least 2 cards.  This distinction greatly affects the ability to use Wishing Wells text with certainty.  Wishing Well therefore only combos with Navigator (needs village), Cartographer, Apothecary, Wandering Minstrel (kinda) and yes I’m really saying this, SCOUT!   Mystic lacks the initial +Card meaning that you can combo it with so many more things.  These include the following and are sorted in terms of how the combo works.

Cantrip Actions

$2 -Pearl Diver
$2 -Vagrant
$2P - Apothecary
$3 - Lookout
$3 - Wishing Well
$4 - Spy
$4 - Ironmonger   
$4 - Wandering Minstrel
$4 - Scout
$5 - Mystic
$5 - Cartographer
$4 - Tournament Prize (countered)
$0* - Bag of Gold

The cantrip action group is the bread and butter of making Mystic shine.  The only synergy required is having both of these cards in your hands at the same time and voila, you just made Mystic a card that grants +Action, +Card and +$2.  The real power comes from all of the cheap cantrip actions that are available.  It is easy to get a slew of these in your deck with your Mystics.  In that way, you will almost always have the required cards in hand to successfully pull off the combo.  It is worth noting that things like Cartographer, Scout and Apothecary can set up consecutive successful Mystic plays.  You can therefore have a greater density of Mystics and still pull off the combo fairly regularly.  Notice that Mystic can actually combo with itself!  If you guess wrong with the first one and have another in hand, you will be guaranteed to get the bonus for the second play.  It is not perfect, but think of it as starting with $4 virtual money and only 4 cards in hand.  I would say that $4 virtual money is well worth the cost of having 1 less card.



Village Support Required

$0 - Survivors
$2 - Courtyard
$2 - Duchess
$3 - Develop
$4 - Armory
$4 - Scavenger
$4 - Navigator
$5 - Graverobber
$5 - Count
$5 – Mandarin

This section is quite explanatory.  The benefit is the same in that you can get the top card of your deck, but the ability to pull it off just became more difficult.  You must have surplus action available because these cards are terminal and you must be able to play your Mystic afterwards.  That being said, if there are good opportunities for +action, making use of Mystic with any of these cards can yield great benefits.

Protection from Attacks

Ghost Ship
Scrying Pool
Rabble
Bureaucrat
Sea Hag
Fortune Teller
Oracle

There are a number of attacks that mess with the top of your deck.  These can be quite irksome and any way to diminish there effect is a good thing.  Mystic will to a certain extent lesson the damage from these attacks making your next hand a little bit better.

Reactions

Beggar
Watchtower
Secret Chamber
Fool's Gold

There are a few reactions that impact the top of your deck.  Beggar and Secret Chamber can be played in response to an opponent’s attack.  Both will allow you to start off your turn by grabbing for free the top card of your deck.  With Watchtower, you can place cards gained mid-turn on top of your deck and then draw them with mystic.

Other Synergy

Minion - Cantrip source of +Coin (you probably want to buy the Minions first though)
Conspirator - Works in conjunction as both a source of +Coin and an activator
Village/Draw Up To - The benefit is guaranteed as you will just draw up to X amount of cards anyways making it more economical.

Trashing

Like any card that works best when it works with another card, trashing can be very useful.  By removing the extra fluff from your deck, you will ensure you draw the cards together and use them to their fullest potential.  Mystic works best with Moderate to Heavy trashing.  These include things like:

Chapel
Steward
Remake
Count
Ambassador

Conclusion

As you can clearly see, there are many instances where Mystic can be used with certainty.  It is obviously at its best when it gets the +Card with certainty.  But remember that you will not always know the top of your deck when you play Mystic.  When that is the case you must find the right balance between what you need the most and what is the most probable.  If you are trying to get up to a crucial money level because you absolutely need to get there this turn, guess for what you need.  If you just want to cycle your deck, guess for the most probable.  Always remember to keep track of your deck when playing with Mystic.  As you get closer and closer to a reshuffle, if you have been keeping track of what cards you've seen, you can greatly increase your odds of successfully drawing a card from Mystic.

[werothegreat]

Mystic is useful when you Scheme more than 5 cards onto your deck for next turn.

[DG]

Fool's gold can be added to your reactions section. Conspirators are well supported by mystics, not least because they are different prices and can be put together as coin generators in any sort of deck. Mystics can also fit into minion decks and many other existing engines that could use a minion/conspirator type card.

I suppose that mystics can also have a navigator style problem where you might be forced to reshuffle your deck just to get your 2 coins. I can't see many situations where that would stop you buying the mystic though.

Mystics can also be used to 'test' the top card of the deck before playing other cards, such as a venture or loan.

[SirPeebles]

Mystic can also snag the prize from a countered Tournament.

Edit:  And for that matter, the Gold from your Bag of Gold.

[werothegreat]

Mystic can also snag the prize from a countered Tournament.

Edit:  And for that matter, the Gold from your Bag of Gold.

KC-KC-Bag of Gold-Mystic=Colony

[ftl]

To be fair, KC-KC-[anything reasonable] = colony.

[GendoIkari]

Mystic is useful when you Scheme more than 5 cards onto your deck for next turn.

Once you're Scheming more than 5 cards onto your deck for next turn, it's a pretty fair bet that you have a deck that will draw itself whether you guess Mystic correctly or not.

[Lhurgoyf]

This article looks good, but is far from finished. So far it only covers the combos that help guess the top card correctly. What's missing is references to other combos such as Minion and Conspirator. Also how it benefits from what kind of trashing (I think the same as most action decks, i.e. heavy trashing).

And please send your text through an automated spellcheck.

I really like the part that enlists all the combos to get the +card with Mystic.

[shark_bait]

This article looks good, but is far from finished. So far it only covers the combos that help guess the top card correctly. What's missing is references to other combos such as Minion and Conspirator. Also how it benefits from what kind of trashing (I think the same as most action decks, i.e. heavy trashing).

And please send your text through an automated spellcheck.

I really like the part that enlists all the combos to get the +card with Mystic.

You are right, there is a lot more to consider.  My primary focus on this article, which I think it very clear, is showing how to use the bonus part of Mystic.  I completely left out other interactions because I saw those interactions as more relevant to the other cards in the interaction.  Take Minion for example.  Minion is the star of this show, Mystic only serves as a Cantrip source of +Coin.  Other cards like Market, Conspirator, Peddler, etc. all serve that function as well.  In the case of conspirator, it only serves as a Cantrip action to help activate the conspirators.  This is a good thing, but again, Conspirator does the bulk of the work and paying $5 for a cantrip action means that it will take you awhile to get your chain going.  I can definitely add a section here, but I those types of combos are unique to Mystic.  They are merely replaceable synergies with another card.

In terms of trashing, I think all that's really necessary is saying that heavy trashing means you have a greater chance of getting your components together.

I will make these additions in the near future.

EDIT - I did the spell check... and I always seem to misspell that word!  That shouldn't happen because I'm a scientist!  I should know how to spell that word!  And now I'm sure most people could guess what word I had spelled wrong 

EDITv2 - Please continue posting more ideas.  I will try to concisely add any further topics worthy of a mention.

[SirPeebles]

You are right, there is a lot more to consider.  My primary focus on this article, which I think it very clear, is showing how to use the bonus part of Mystic.  I completely left out other interactions because I saw those interactions as more relevant to the other cards in the interaction.  Take Minion for example.  Minion is the star of this show, Mystic only serves as a Cantrip source of +Coin.  Other cards like Market, Conspirator, Peddler, etc. all serve that function as well.  In the case of conspirator, it only serves as a Cantrip action to help activate the conspirators.  This is a good thing, but again, Conspirator does the bulk of the work and paying $5 for a cantrip action means that it will take you awhile to get your chain going.  I can definitely add a section here, but I those types of combos are unique to Mystic.  They are merely replaceable synergies with another card.

I agree that it's mostly the other cards doing the work, but it could still be worth mentioning that Mystic is a good source of virtual money.  You could in one paragraph list cards like Minion and Tactician, as well as cards like Library and Watchtower, all of which benefit even when you do not get the Mystic draw bonus.

Or perhaps mention that Mystic *doesn't* work so well with Minion since it also costs $5 causing competition for Minions.  Or maybe it is good after the Minions are out precisely because your Minion density is large enough to make "Minion" a reasonable guess for the draw.

[ftl]

It's probably pretty good for a Minion deck for the same reason that Festival and Market are - it's a pretty good nonterminal source of cash. If you draw it in hand with a Minion, you play Mystic and then Minion, same as if you'd drawn two Minions (and maybe better if you guess right!) .

It's unnecessary if you're going for a single-province Minion engine with no competition, but if there's competition and you split the Minions 5-5, or if for whatever reason you're going for a double-province Minion deck, you'd get Mystics when the Minions are out.

[ednever]

Also worth talking about what a mystic is worth on isolation - ie without specific support/combos.

As you do say, mystic can always combo with itself. So at the very least you could think of mystic as:

+1 action, +$2, +1/2 card

There are a lot of 5$ cards that are:
+1 action, +1$, +1 card, +something else (market, treasury, bazaar, etc)

How dies mystic compare with those cards?
It trades +1/2 a card and the "something else" for +1$
In general I think $2 is worth more than one card (hense why it's usually a good idea to keep buying silver through the game if you only have $3), so the question is, how much is that "something else" worth?

Another way to look at it is to compare to Festival

1 less action,
Same $s
+1/2 more cards
1 less buy

Here you are trading an action and a buy for half a card. Mystic seems to be better for a bm deck - where buy and actions are less needed, but significantly weaker fit engines.

At least that helps me understand it's relative value as a starting point before considering combinations.

Ed

[DG]

There are some ways to get better performance from your minion and conspirator decks from superior 'guessing' strategies with the mystic. That probably deserves an article of its own though.

[KingsSkort]

Also worth talking about what a mystic is worth on isolation - ie without specific support/combos.

As you do say, mystic can always combo with itself. So at the very least you could think of mystic as:

+1 action, +$2, +1/2 card

There are a lot of 5$ cards that are:
+1 action, +1$, +1 card, +something else (market, treasury, bazaar, etc)

How dies mystic compare with those cards?
It trades +1/2 a card and the "something else" for +1$
In general I think $2 is worth more than one card (hense why it's usually a good idea to keep buying silver through the game if you only have $3), so the question is, how much is that "something else" worth?

Another way to look at it is to compare to Festival

1 less action,
Same $s
+1/2 more cards
1 less buy

Here you are trading an action and a buy for half a card. Mystic seems to be better for a bm deck - where buy and actions are less needed, but significantly weaker fit engines.

At least that helps me understand it's relative value as a starting point before considering combinations.

Ed

+1/2 card seems too high. You get a guaranteed +1 card when you have 2 mystics in one hand, but you aren't guaranteed +1 card when they don't collide. On the other hand, you have some chance of just guessing the right card.

[ednever]

Also worth talking about what a mystic is worth on isolation - ie without specific support/combos.

As you do say, mystic can always combo with itself. So at the very least you could think of mystic as:

+1 action, +$2, +1/2 card

There are a lot of 5$ cards that are:
+1 action, +1$, +1 card, +something else (market, treasury, bazaar, etc)

How dies mystic compare with those cards?
It trades +1/2 a card and the "something else" for +1$
In general I think $2 is worth more than one card (hense why it's usually a good idea to keep buying silver through the game if you only have $3), so the question is, how much is that "something else" worth?

Another way to look at it is to compare to Festival

1 less action,
Same $s
+1/2 more cards
1 less buy

Here you are trading an action and a buy for half a card. Mystic seems to be better for a bm deck - where buy and actions are less needed, but significantly weaker fit engines.

At least that helps me understand it's relative value as a starting point before considering combinations.

Ed

+1/2 card seems too high. You get a guaranteed +1 card when you have 2 mystics in one hand, but you aren't guaranteed +1 card when they don't collide. On the other hand, you have some chance of just guessing the right card.

If you don't have two in hand, and it's turn 10, you have about 7 copper and 13 other cards. Even without other knowledge, that's about a 1/3rd of a card per play. Combine that with a double mystic where you would have a 100% of 1 card, and a 1/9 of 2 cards.

So I guess you are right. A little less than 1/2 a card on average.

Ed

[eHalcyon]

When DA was first leaked, I thought the best comparison for Mystic was with Silver+ cards.  Even though it's an action, it is very similar to a Silver with a Wishing Well bonus.

[SirPeebles]

When DA was first leaked, I thought the best comparison for Mystic was with Silver+ cards.  Even though it's an action, it is very similar to a Silver with a Wishing Well bonus.

I feel the same way.  Before spending $5 on a Mystic, you should make sure you have a reason for expecting it to be better than just Silver.  However, as the above article explains in the depth, the Wishing Well bonus is significantly nicer on Mystic due to the lack of +1 card.  I'm reminded of Donald's secret history for Highway  "All those tricks that you come up with for Bridge that you never actually pull off, you can pull off with Highway." That's sort of how Mystic makes me think of all those almost combos with Wishing Well. 

[Ninja'd by Donald in his secret history of Mystic...]

Still, if Card X gives you knowledge of the top of your deck, then Card X + Mystic will give you +$2 and replaces Card X.  So unless Card X is doing more than just enabling Mystic, this is more of a nombo and you're better off with Silver.

[Schneau]

When DA was first leaked, I thought the best comparison for Mystic was with Silver+ cards.  Even though it's an action, it is very similar to a Silver with a Wishing Well bonus.

Still, if Card X gives you knowledge of the top of your deck, then Card X + Mystic will give you +$2 and replaces Card X.  So unless Card X is doing more than just enabling Mystic, this is more of a nombo and you're better off with Silver.

I think this is an important point to make that the article doesn't. If you play a Scout (without hitting and Victory cards) to enable 1 Mystic, in total you're going to end up with $2 and 4 cards in your hand with an Action to spend. That's equivalent to having a Silver in your hand (plus some knowledge of the top of your deck). But, it's usually not worth buying a $5 card (Mystic) and a $4 card (Scout) to get the effect of a Silver. If you'll have more Victory cards than normal this may be worthwhile to use Scout better, but otherwise is a nombo. More generally, you need to get a decent benefit from your topdeck-seer to make it worth trying to combo. Otherwise, you are losing out on a large opportunity cost that you could have used to get something else.

You briefly touch on it at the end of the article, but I think you need to put more emphasis on what to do when you don't know what the top card of your deck is. Sometimes you should wish for the most likely card, and sometimes you should wish for the card that would help you most. Don't wish for a Copper if it would take you from $6 to $7 with no $7 cards on the board - wish for a Silver or something else more useful. This type of thing is discussed in the Wishing Well article, and would be good to reconsider here.

Finally, guided's first comment on that same Wishing Well article is interesting to consider, and something like it might be worth including in this article.

[DrFlux]

I agree with both of these comments. However, one addition: people underestimate the effect of getting bad cards out of your next hand. Unless I'm trying to continue an action chain, or its very late game, I would wish for a copper with $6 already, even if there is no $7 on the board. Why? Well, say I have the following left in my deck

5 coppers
1 gold
1 silver
1 smithy
2 estates

I would say that a 50% chance of getting a copper out of my NEXT hand is better than a 10% chance of getting a province rather than a gold this turn (and the silver/gold wouldn't be available that next turn). Of course, each situation varies, but if you have no extra buys, I find its often better to err on the side of just improving your next hand.

On the other hand, if you already have extra actions/buys, by all means shoot for the moon and wish for an envoy/smithy, etc.

When DA was first leaked, I thought the best comparison for Mystic was with Silver+ cards.  Even though it's an action, it is very similar to a Silver with a Wishing Well bonus.

Still, if Card X gives you knowledge of the top of your deck, then Card X + Mystic will give you +$2 and replaces Card X.  So unless Card X is doing more than just enabling Mystic, this is more of a nombo and you're better off with Silver.

I think this is an important point to make that the article doesn't. If you play a Scout (without hitting and Victory cards) to enable 1 Mystic, in total you're going to end up with $2 and 4 cards in your hand with an Action to spend. That's equivalent to having a Silver in your hand (plus some knowledge of the top of your deck). But, it's usually not worth buying a $5 card (Mystic) and a $4 card (Scout) to get the effect of a Silver. If you'll have more Victory cards than normal this may be worthwhile to use Scout better, but otherwise is a nombo. More generally, you need to get a decent benefit from your topdeck-seer to make it worth trying to combo. Otherwise, you are losing out on a large opportunity cost that you could have used to get something else.

You briefly touch on it at the end of the article, but I think you need to put more emphasis on what to do when you don't know what the top card of your deck is. Sometimes you should wish for the most likely card, and sometimes you should wish for the card that would help you most. Don't wish for a Copper if it would take you from $6 to $7 with no $7 cards on the board - wish for a Silver or something else more useful. This type of thing is discussed in the Wishing Well article, and would be good to reconsider here.

Finally, guided's first comment on that same Wishing Well article is interesting to consider, and something like it might be worth including in this article.

[achmed_sender]

There are a few synergies: Library (Draw to X in general): get $2 and redraw if you didn't figure out
Double Tactican/Minion and all strategies that love vitual $
Maybe also nice with TR/KC, 4$/6$ and at least +1 card ( and also mysic self-synergies)

[werothegreat]

Mystic does well with cheap deck-inspectors, particularly Vagrant and Pearl Diver.  If you always bring a card up from the bottom, Pearl Diver guarantees Mystic will be a cantrip.

[dondon151]

Mystic does well with cheap deck-inspectors, particularly Vagrant and Pearl Diver.  If you always bring a card up from the bottom, Pearl Diver guarantees Mystic will be a cantrip.

Is Mystic's effect (essentially activated Conspirator) worth $7 and 2 buys?

[WheresMyElephant]

Mystic does well with cheap deck-inspectors, particularly Vagrant and Pearl Diver.  If you always bring a card up from the bottom, Pearl Diver guarantees Mystic will be a cantrip.

Is Mystic's effect (essentially activated Conspirator) worth $7 and 2 buys?

It seems better than buying Village+Conspirator for $7 and 2 buys, and people do that.

[dondon151]

I don't think that's a proper analogy. Once you've activated one Conspirator, you've activated all of them, whereas with Mystic, you have to inspect for each one to guarantee the draw.

[LastFootnote]

I don't think that's a proper analogy. Once you've activated one Conspirator, you've activated all of them, whereas with Mystic, you have to inspect for each one to guarantee the draw.

But on the other hand, Mystic and Pearl Diver both give you side benefits that aren't contingent on the combo. Even when you put them together, you've got flexibility. You don't have to bring up the bottom card of your deck if you'd rather wish for something you really need at the moment.