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[XnFM]

This is something that's been bugging me for . . . well the last few weeks at least. Up until fairly recently I've always used Mine to upgrade the worst basic treasure card in my hand (I'd turn my Coppers into Silvers, and if I had no Coppers, then I'd turn my Silvers into Golds). But I played a Colony game not too long ago and randomly decided to try Mining my bigger value monies and it seemed to work pretty well. Which leads to my question: is there a right way to mine?

Right now I'm inclined to say that it depends on the game type (Colony/Province). Because Silvers aren't bad in Province games (especially when they're replacing a Copper), you want to Mine your small money in a Province game. Whereas in Colony games things tend to hinge more on Gold and Platinum, so you want to Mine your bigger monies.

Is there a strictly (or even generally) better way to play Mine?

[AJD]

Well so I think it depends a lot on what else is on the board. If Colony is on the board you probably want to Mine your bigger treasures sooner because there's a larger gain from Mining Gold to Platinum than Copper to Silver, so your want to max out each one as soon as you can. Similarly, if your opponent is using Militia, it's better to Mine your Silver to Gold before your Copper to Silver, because getting hit by Militia when you have two Golds and two Coppers in hand is a lot better than getting hit when you have four Silvers.

On the other hand—for the same reason—if you're using Envoy, you want to mine your Coppers first because your opponent will be choosing what you discard, so it's better to draw a bunch of Silver than some Copper and some Gold. If Grand Market is on the board you'll want to Mine your Coppers first. And sort of in the generic non-Platinum case, I tend to prefer to Mine Coppers first, since delaying gaining Gold means delaying the time when you draw Mine with no treasures you want to Mine, but I'm not sure if that's actually a sensible strategy.

[Jimmmmm]

I think AJD is pretty much spot on. My default would be to prioritise mining Coppers into Silvers unless there is a good reason not to. In a Colony game (in which I would say Mine is much better than it normally is), you generally want Platinums ASAP.
Another good use for Mine is in a Potion game. Converting a Silver into a Potion can be nice for sneaking a Possession or continuing your run of Alchemists, and of course if you have a Potion you don't want to use, you can always mine it into a Gold.

[DG]

I'd say mine low when

- you're afraid of drawing a mine with only top value treasures
- your big treasures will be attacked (spy, thief)
- copper can be attacked (cutpurse, swindler)
- you're drawing consistently big hands than can deliver vp with low variability silver

and mine high when

- you want variable hands, which is most of the time
- your hand size is being attacked (militia)
- you can sift your cards and discard the rubbish (warehouse)
- there is platinum in the supply
- you can trash out bad treasures or trash for benefit (apprentice)

[LastFootnote]

When you play Mine, unless you're going Gold-to-Platinum, you're only getting a $1 boost this turn, which is pretty poor compared to many terminal Action cards. The ability to trash a single Copper and gain a single Silver is also pretty underwhelming. For one thing, it's way too slow at trashing Copper even if you buy a Mine in your initial shuffle. All you have to show for it is a bunch of Silvers, which are generally not hard to come by. You can buy multiple Mines, but you're eating up terminal actions that could be better spent.

However, the ability to trash a Silver for a Gold is much more desirable because Gold is hard to come by. With both a Mine and your buys, you can accumulate Gold pretty quickly.

What I prefer to do, when the board allows it, is to use a faster Copper-trashing card to trash my Copper (Moneylender, Steward, Trading Post, Upgrade, Loan, Spice Merchant, Lookout, Masquerade, Ambassador, Forge, Mint, Remake, etc.) and then use Mine on my other Treasure cards.

[play2draw]

I'd say mine low when

- you're afraid of drawing a mine with only top value treasures
- your big treasures will be attacked (spy, thief)
- copper can be attacked (cutpurse, swindler)
- you're drawing consistently big hands than can deliver vp with low variability silver

Also, it may be preferable to mine low if there are strong $4 cards you want to grab en masse, but not so many good $5 cards. If you bought a Mine, chances are there weren't many great $5's anyway. Still, I think in most games it's preferable to Mine high.

[blackb]

If you bought a Mine, chances are there weren't many great $5's anyway.

Yeah, i agree on this.

Mine is not very powerfull in most sets. It gets better with platinum and than you want to mine high.

[Fangz]

Don't forget about the factor of having treasures in the kingdom, like Harems and so on.

[DG]

If you bought a Mine, chances are there weren't many great $5's anyway.

Or cryptically, some very good ones.