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[Schneau]

Grand Market and Quarry

This all-Prosperity combo is probably the most potent of many variants of the Quarry+Market combo. The reason is two-fold: 1) Grand Market is one of the strongest cards in the game, and 2) Grand Market is difficult to buy early in most games, but Quarry gives you a fast-track method of grabbing a bunch.

This combo is pretty simple: Buy 2 or 3 Quarries, then start buying Grand Markets. Quarry reduces the price of Grand Markets, and Grand Market supplies the +Buys that go so well with playing Quarry. This snowballs quickly, so that you can buy 2 or 3 Grand Markets per turn. Once the Grand Markets run out, you are well positioned to either grab multiple Provinces or Colonies per turn, or buy out some cheap Action piles for a quick 3-pile ending when you are up.

This combo works decently with other Market variants, with the non-terminal +Buy being key - so look for cards like Market, Festival, Market Square, or even Pawn. With these lesser combos, it is necessary that you have other Actions you wish to stockpile - things like Conspirator, Peddler, City, and Laboratory make good targets.

[RD]

If it isn't too far off topic, I've found Royal Seal a surprisingly potent GM enabler, great for winning the split. Of course being able to topdeck GMs is fantastic, but even topdecking money provides a great little speed boost. And since Silver is more useful than usual you have no reservations about buying more Royal Seals with your Royal Seals, allowing the card to define your deck much more than it typically would. (There is probably a broader category of strategies that start with Royal Seal-BM or a variant thereof, and use it as a base to load up on $6-7 cards; but I've had no luck mapping that category out.)

I'm sure that either of these combos would go nicely with TfB once the Treasure's job is done and it's starting to get in the way of your Grand Markets.

[shark_bait]

This Combo also benefits greatly from +Draw.  The extra hand-size really helps in lining up the quarries.  Obviously you also want some villages as terminal draw with a deck full of GM's isn't that good.  But the initial draw really helps at getting the GM train going.  Masquerade is exceptionally good as it provides both draw and trashing, the two best ways to start this packaged into a single card!

[Schneau]

This Combo also benefits greatly from +Draw.  The extra hand-size really helps in lining up the quarries.  Obviously you also want some villages as terminal draw with a deck full of GM's isn't that good.  But the initial draw really helps at getting the GM train going.  Masquerade is exceptionally good as it provides both draw and trashing, the two best ways to start this packaged into a single card!

Good point. I'd imagine Courtyard would also be a good addition, allowing the putback of non-lined-up Quarries as well as being < $4 for opening possibilities.

[RichardNixon]

For more Prosperity goodness add a vault if you whiff at $5 or need to lean on copper at an early turn. Vault autobuys GM if you discard your copper and helps you find quarries too.

[Titandrake]

Just so we're clear, this isn't just a cool interaction. It's actually very very strong. Think of it like Treasure Map in a sense. Two Quarries in one hand is a Grand Market. The difference is that one Quarry isn't dead by itself, you can add terminals to help line it up, and once you get the 1st GM you can snowball the advantage with more Grand Markets instead of relying on the 4 Gold to carry you through to the end.

If you see Quarry and Grand Market, you need to have a very good reason to not go for it.

[Schneau]

Just so we're clear, this isn't just a cool interaction. It's actually very very strong. Think of it like Treasure Map in a sense. Two Quarries in one hand is a Grand Market. The difference is that one Quarry isn't dead by itself, you can add terminals to help line it up, and once you get the 1st GM you can snowball the advantage with more Grand Markets instead of relying on the 4 Gold to carry you through to the end.

If you see Quarry and Grand Market, you need to have a very good reason to not go for it.

Oh yeah, definitely. I did not mean to imply that this was just cute. This combo is legit and probably it or some variation will dominate all games with Quarry and Grand Market.

[RD]

For more Prosperity goodness add a vault if you whiff at $5 or need to lean on copper at an early turn. Vault autobuys GM if you discard your copper and helps you find quarries too.

Vault/GM is a power combo in its own right but I think it actually gets weaker with Quarry out, as the opponent's "discard 2, draw 1" opportunity can be unusually strong here. He probably won't hesitate to discard Coppers that he didn't want to play anyhow. It "helps him find Quarries" just as effectively as it does for you, and it's even better for helping him find his Grand Markets. The ability to automatically buy a GM is Vault's main draw, and a potent one it is, but the easier it is to buy them without Vault the less valuable that starts to look.

[lespeutere]

Haven is a nice little helper, as well, as you should be able to buy 2 quarries and 2 havens on your first 4 turns.

[verikt]

Most games I've seen with quarry gm end up piling out.

[Morgrim7]

Bridge is nice with GM too.

[enquerencia]

Most games I've seen with quarry gm end up piling out.

Yeah, the trick I think is to know when to start grabbing vp.  Because if you just Quarry/GM/Trash, etc., you can easily get distracted into trying to set up 33 pt turns and then your opponent buys one colony and empties three cheap piles (or two if GM is already empty, and if it's 3p, it probably is) in one turn and you're toast.  This happens to me frequently and now when I see GM on the board I always have to check myself.