Category Archives: Individual Card Analysis

The Secret History of Dark Ages

The “Secret Histories” are a series of articles by Donald X. Vaccarino, detailing the evolution and development of a particular expansion. Previous “Secret Histories” can be found here; the forum discussion topic for this is here. When I showed Dominion … Continue reading

Posted in Dark Ages | 3 Comments

Seaside: Wharf

This is a guest article synthesized from articles by Epoch and WanderingWinder in the forum. Wharf is, bar none, the best card-drawer in the game. And on some level, that’s all you need to know.  Card drawing is valuable.  Wharf … Continue reading

Posted in Seaside | 25 Comments

Dark Ages cards revealed!

The community is discussing these new cards in the Dark Ages Preview subforum. You can see images of most of the cards here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/1.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/2.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/3.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/4.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/5.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/6.jpeg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20240121/dark_ages/7.jpeg Altar $6 Trash a card from your hand. Gain a … Continue reading

Posted in Dark Ages | 61 Comments

Intrigue: Masquerade

This is a revised version of a guest article by jonts26, incorporating analysis from DG and jomini, and originally posted in the forum. Introduction I love Masquerade. But not because it’s awesome. Well, it is awesome, but that’s not why … Continue reading

Posted in Intrigue | Tagged | 12 Comments

Prosperity: Contraband

This is a revised version of a guest article by WanderingWinder, originally posted on the forum. Contraband needs options. For example, if you play a standard Big Money-esque game, where all you want is Gold and Provinces, Contraband is very … Continue reading

Posted in Prosperity | Tagged | 19 Comments

Dominion: Mine

This is a revised version of a guest article by greatexpectations, incorporating additional analysis from LastFootnote, originally posted on the forum. A Favorite Card of Mine Let’s be honest here: Mine is probably most famous for being the card everyone … Continue reading

Posted in Dominion | Tagged | 13 Comments

Alchemy: Transmute

This is a revised version of a guest article by chwhite, originally posted in the forum. Is there any card more unloved than Mr. Transmute, with his sad eyes and mountain man beard, futilely trying to turn lead (Estates) into … Continue reading

Posted in Alchemy | Tagged | 26 Comments

Intrigue: Courtyard

Appearances can be deceiving.  Courtyard looks (and is priced as) a gimped Smithy, effectively only drawing 2 cards instead of 3.  In reality, the top-decking effect makes Courtyard a far stronger card than Smithy, at least when you aren’t actually … Continue reading

Posted in Intrigue | Tagged | 14 Comments

Seaside: Tactician

Tactician highlights the general Dominion principle that one good thing is usually better than two mediocre things.  There are two very different ways to play Tactician: Single Tactician, which is how you’d normally think of the card, and Double Tactician, … Continue reading

Posted in Seaside | Tagged | 26 Comments

Intrigue: Torturer

I had a game in which one of my friends stood up, enraged, and went into the other room to calm down. This card was the reason. Don’t let it happen to you! The secret to happiness is, do not … Continue reading

Posted in Intrigue | Tagged | 49 Comments