As to the 3 Estates and Marauder in your deck, you still have a good chance of hitting that $6, mostly because those probably aren’t the only cards in your deck, and if you didn’t buy any Silvers or money generating action cards (Asside from Marauder which is providing the Spoils) I find that a bit strange. You could also save the spoils and use 2 of them to get a Gold. The previous post on this site says “Don’t play everything!” which can also apply to Spoils.

Not sure exactly what section of the article you’re asking about, but the author often refers to Spoils as “Gold” and I’m pretty confident that’s what has you confused.

I’d guess the biggest danger is that you’re reducing the availability of Ruins that YOU could buy later. You know, if the endgame comes and then you realize the rest of the Ruins pile is all one type, maybe you’re screwed. But I think this is avoidable with a little care. A vanilla Marauder game has up to 23 uniques (17+Spoils+5 Ruins). You can get the full effect with only 2 different Ruins, so lowering the pile a little probably won’t kill you.

Granted, “vanilla” games are a little more rare nowadays, and if it’s possible to get up to 25 uniques then this analysis will change. Even still, getting all 5 types of Ruins seems a very unreliable plan (in 2P), especially against a savvy opponent. I think I’d rather take my chances with a less junky deck that only gets up to 20 uniques.

Who’s played Fairgrounds/Marauder? This sounds really fun.