Coin token
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# In the endgame it can be essential to buy multiple cards in one turn | # In the endgame it can be essential to buy multiple cards in one turn | ||
− | Because coin tokens are slightly better then coins, they are also slightly more expensive. This is not actually a law of the universe but Donald made sure they are. However, for most of your spending power coins is just as good as coin tokens. You want to spend it anyway! So you should try to have the bulk of your money be cheap-ass plain old coins, while only a few in the form of tokens provide you with all the flexibility you want. That is something all of these cards have in common: the first one you buy is the best. The second one is probably also ok, after that you need a good reason to go on. Off course this reason could exist, but that's card specific. | + | Because coin tokens are slightly better then coins, they are also slightly more expensive. This is not actually a law of the universe but [[Donald X|Donald]] made sure they are. However, for most of your spending power coins is just as good as coin tokens. You want to spend it anyway! So you should try to have the bulk of your money be cheap-ass plain old coins, while only a few in the form of tokens provide you with all the flexibility you want. That is something all of these cards have in common: the first one you buy is the best. The second one is probably also ok, after that you need a good reason to go on. Off course this reason could exist, but that's card specific. |
===Mass Baker=== | ===Mass Baker=== |
Revision as of 11:35, 7 April 2015
Coin tokens can be gained through certain cards in Guilds. They act as a source of + that can be saved up from one turn to another until the player wants to spend them. They are represented by small metal tokens that are identical in appearance to Pirate Ship and Trade Route tokens, which can be added to the pool of 25 provided by Guilds if necessary.
Contents |
Coin token cards
- Candlestick Maker, which grants +1 Action and +1 Buy in addition to the Coin token
- Plaza, a village that can optionally discard a Treasure for a Coin token
- Baker, a Peddler variant that gives Coin tokens instead of
- Butcher, which gives two Coin tokens, and allows you to trade in Coin tokens to Remodel other cards
- Merchant Guild, a terminal +Buy that grants a Coin token whenever a card is bought
Official Rules
- Some cards in Dominion: Guilds give players Coin tokens. Coin tokens always come from the supply of tokens, not from another player. In a player's Buy Phase, before buying any cards, that player may spend any number of Coin tokens; each Coin token spent gives that player +. Spent tokens are returned to the supply of tokens. Coin tokens are not component-limited; players may use a substitute if they run out. They are the same tokens that come with Dominion: Seaside and Dominion: Prosperity, but abilities that give players Coin tokens cannot be used to put them on Pirate Ship mats or the Trade Route mat. They can only be spent in a Buy Phase; they cannot be spent when buying a card via the promotional card Black Market.
Basic Strategy
Original post by Polk5440
Coin tokens can be:
- Treated as virtual coin.
- Used for smoothing.
- Hoarded for big buys later.
Virtual Money
If you are playing an engine that produces X tokens every turn (on average), it's like you are producing in virtual money every turn (on average) in addition to whatever else your deck does. You can count on your overall buying power increasing by that much every turn thanks to Coin tokens. Your deck can usually buy a or a , but also produces a Coin token a turn? Then count on being able to buy a or a . Take that into consideration when making your buys.
Smoothing
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the same thing as losing your turn? Is getting a hand that produces only as good as one that produces ? Consider saving a few tokens to make up the difference! How many tokens you need to have on hand depends on how critical the gaps are, how many tokens your deck produces, how many you plan on using every turn for virtual money.Hoarding
Maybe the goal is to produce a large number of Coin tokens and go for one big megaturn (don't forget you need buys!) which ends the game. In this type of strategy, Coin tokens to some extent function as a delayed Bridge or Horn of Plenty turn. When to pull the trigger and make those buys depends heavily on what you expect your opponent to do, too.
Pitfalls
Your goal should be to spend all your Coin tokens by the end of the game. If you are not hoarding and you find your Coin token total creeping up, 6, 8, 11, 15,... then you shouldn't be so stingy! Buy better stuff! You need to be treating more of your tokens as virtual money and bumping up your purchases to the next level.
Don't feel like you have to use your Coin tokens for their intended purpose. The Coin token you start Baker games with does not have to be spent on the opening. The two Coin tokens you get from Butcher do not have to be spent on Remodeling right now. You can spend 0, 1, or even 3 or more, instead! The Coin token you get from Candlestick Maker does not have to be saved. Sometimes you need to suck it up and treat your CM as a Copper this turn. Think about what your overall strategy is and how Coin tokens fit into that -- don't think about where the Coin tokens came from.
You don't need to trash a card with Butcher in order to bank two coin tokens. Also, you can gain the same card you trash with Butcher without using any coin tokens (e.g. Province). Use this to your advantage.
When someone buys Possession, that is a good time to spend all of your coin tokens!
Intermediate Strategy
Original article by -Stef-
A coin token is worth slightly more then a coin, because you don't necessarily have to spend it at the end of your turn. For most of these cards you can imagine a variant that gives coins in stead of coin tokens, and you'd just have a slightly worse card. How much worse? That greatly depends on the kingdom, the game, your turn. The important thing to remember is this: most of the time you want to spend your money. You can use it to buy better cards, which in a turn or two will generate you even more money. So the most common case is that a coin token is exactly the same as a coin. If you don't spend it, it's sort of in your savings account, except you get a zero percent interest rate. Surely investing in your deck is better then that. There are off course exceptions, and that's where coin tokens get interesting:
- + could be better then + . Sometimes you really want a more expensive card to kick-start your deck.
- could be the same as . If there are no kingdom cards that cost , your coin goes to waste but your coin token doesn't.
- In the endgame it can be essential to buy multiple cards in one turn
Because coin tokens are slightly better then coins, they are also slightly more expensive. This is not actually a law of the universe but Donald made sure they are. However, for most of your spending power coins is just as good as coin tokens. You want to spend it anyway! So you should try to have the bulk of your money be cheap-ass plain old coins, while only a few in the form of tokens provide you with all the flexibility you want. That is something all of these cards have in common: the first one you buy is the best. The second one is probably also ok, after that you need a good reason to go on. Off course this reason could exist, but that's card specific.
Mass Baker
This is just not a good strategy. The idea is to load up on a huge amount of coin tokens before you ever start to buy green cards, and then be totally unstoppable in the endgame. Although it is better then greening much too early, it's also far from optimal. You will lose to someone who starts the same but then mixes it up with cards that make more money. Spending on something that makes each turn is simply a bad ratio. Even something as simple as Gold + Laboratory (and that's really mediocre payload for a running engine) already has a much better payoff rate.
The only good reason to get more then a 2nd Baker is if they're for free. Maybe University gains them for you, maybe you Remake some Fortresses. A reasonable reason to get more is if you really like the cantrips (Scrying Pool engine).
Mass Candlestick Makers
This is very comparable to the mass Baker argument. But now the cost is not in buying the card ( is very cheap) but in drawing it. Even in a double Tactician deck this doesn't really work out. Reasons to go on after the first two could be Vineyards, Gardens, or again Scrying Pool. But if that's not what you're going for - don't let the sweetness of your first Candlestick Maker lure you into buying a 3rd one, even if you have just to spare.
Mass Plaza
Plaza is a village and sometimes you just want those. Maybe you can cheat (draw-to-X) and then Plaza is a really good card for (in those decks the coin equivalent Bazaar costs ). If not, there is a reasonable chance mixing up Plaza's with other villages is actually best.
Mass Butcher
This requires overdrawing your deck and a lot of extra actions. It's really rare that I take 3 or more Butchers. It's much more common that you want to maximize the usage of the first one or two you have.
Mass Merchant Guild
Don't go beyond your second Guild unless you think you can pull off the megaturn. You don't just need to be able to buy the 3rd, 4th and 5th Merchant Guild, you also need to draw them and have the spare actions to play them. Sometimes you can and then it's very powerful.
Endgame
Near the end of the game the value of coin tokens all of a sudden can go up very quickly. Buying a single Province may be losing while buying zero now and two next turn is winning. The tactical decisions involved can be very complicated, but in general it's something that is underestimated. Don't spend coin tokens near the end to get some extra components, unless you really know what you're doing. Feel free to buy extra Coppers with Merchant Guild in play.
Trivia
Secret History