Dominion: Intrigue

Mining Village is best thought of as a one-shot Conspirator/Grand Market.  Its ability makes it one of the best $4 openers: by trashing it, you can slingshot to $5, $6, or possibly even $7 much faster than you otherwise would be able to with a Silver.  But to use it effectively, you have to commit to trashing it quickly; otherwise, you’ve used a critical opening buy on a useless card.

In the midgame, Mining Village is one of the most useful $4 non-terminals; it’s good to stock up on them so you can cash them in all at once for a mega-turn to end the game.

The fact that Mining Village provides +Actions is really just a bonus.  For pure Actions, you’re better off with the other special Villages (Native, Worker’s, Fishing), since Mining Village’s special ability isn’t as helpful in an Action-oriented strategy (if you’re trashing the Mining Villages, you can’t count on them for Actions).  But it’s a good foundation for a +Actions/+Cards chain if you remember to start scrapping them for cash near the end of the game.

Works with:

• Bridge (save up the Mining Villages until you can draw enough Bridges together, then trash them all for a game-ending turn)
• “Mega-turn” strategies in general
• Ironworks/Workshop for grabbing Mining Villages
• +Buy
• Good terminals, including +Cards
• Conspirator
• Grand Market
• Sets where you need to get to $6 as quickly as possible

Conflicts with:

• The other slingshot $4 cards (Baron, Moneylender)
• Throne Room/King’s Court (since the benefit doesn’t get doubled/tripled)
• Good $3/$4 cards that you’d form your strategy around