Preview – Second City Market (A Line in the Sand)

Last week we previewed Coastal Lane, a rather economically efficient Port. Then we found out that, hey, economically focused Markets and Ports are kind of a thing this set. So, let’s see … we’ve previewed a Port … whatever shall we preview this week?

ALitS_Final-16

Not just a Market, but a Market that can fetch a Port. It’s almost like somebody plans these things!

Somewhat interesting to me is that, unlike the standard pitch for Markets and Ports, this one is not immediately about economic advantage. By itself, it’s a 1-4-1, which is standard. When you use its ability, you’ve effectively paid one more to get whatever juicy Port/Market it is you want out of your deck. But even the most efficient Ports/Markets only produce one gold over standard (Marketplace, Kobune Port, Coastal Lane, and a few more specific things like Exotic or Wandering Market). By the time you add in the extra 1G for the Second City Market, that efficient Holding is just a standard one.

Instead it seems like you might be shooting for deck thinning. It’s a 1G Holding, and then later when you’ve got a few extra Gold, you can trade it in for something bigger. And because you’ll have one of those economically efficient Holdings in your deck (does Markets/Ports ever get played out of something other than Crane or Mantis?), you won’t be paying anything above the normal 3-4-3 cost.

Well, until they make some Port or Market that produces an extra ~5G because you’re playing with a bunch of Ports/Markets, and then you can just always get your crazy gold producer quickly every game. But they’d never do that.

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