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[Schneau]

There are some strategies that need or want +Buy to work well, and some that do not. I think it would make a very interesting article to look at when it is important to prioritize getting at least some sort of +Buy in your deck, and when it's not at all helpful. This can be an important decision to make, especially if the only source of +Buy is cheap and something you wouldn't otherwise want, like Herbalist or Woodcutter. I don't have the time to give the article the thought it deserves, but here are some of my initial thoughts if anyone wants to run with them:

You likely want some +Buy in your deck if one of these conditions is met:
- If you expect to often produce more than $8 (or $11 in Colony games) while being able to play a +Buy card.
- If you want a lot of cheap components, especially costing $2 and $3, but also $4.
- If you want a bloated deck for a specific strategy (Gardens, Philosopher's Stone, maybe Counting House)
- A lot of alt-VP decks want +Buy. These definitely include Silk Road, Vineyard, Goons, maybe Duke, and maybe Fairgrounds (along with Gardens which was mentioned earlier).
- Cost reducers often need +Buy to be used effectively. These include Bridge, Highway, Quarry, and Peddler.
- If you want cheap Potion-cost cards, especially along with cheap non-Potion cards, +Buy can help get multiple cards per turn. Examples include Vineyard, Transmute, Apothecary, Scrying Pool, and maybe University.
- In general, rush, engine, and combo decks often need +Buy.

There are times when you definitely don't need +Buy. I would guess that most straight Big Money strategies fall into this category, as well as most slogs. Are there other times when you definitely don't need +Buy?

Anyway, thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

[DG]

Buys can be important to control of a 3 pile ending. If you know you have more buys/gains than your opponent then you can push piles down to a point where you can empty them but your opponent can't.

There are some specific cards that like extra buys. Apprentices are best used to trash high and buy high, so that can be aided by extra buys. Goons can score from each extra buy. Traders can convert purchased coppers into silvers. Watchtowers can trash curses/ruins bought with extra buys.

[dondon151]

A distinction needs to be made between having limited +buy (usually non-drawing terminals or +buy cards that you don't want to spam, like Council Room) and having virtually limitless +buy (e.g., Market Square, Worker's Village, other non-terminal +buy) in engines.

When you have limited +buy, generally you'd want to build your deck up to consistently produce some threshold of $, such as $16 for double Province or $13 for Province + $5 card that keeps the deck running. Often you can't get more than 2 buys per turn, so those thresholds are important to reach.

When your +buy is spammable, that really opens the door for possible 3-pile endings, and in the build-up phase you don't really care if your $ values are exact because you'll tend to be buying lots of different cards often. In the end you should still watch out for overbuilding your economy if, for example, you're only aiming for double Province or double Colony turns.