I have ran into more than a few games where I just have problems getting my gold production to an acceptable level. The cards in the tavern are either junk or too expensive and I end up being put into a position where either I start trying to get the junk or the other player starts getting too far ahead.

The past few games I have decided to try turning any initial power cards (the ones that just give you one power each) into writs of coin and for the testing I have done so far, it seems to be really nice.

If the cards fall more in my favor, then I don't worry about those cards right away, but when then RNG gods are frowning on me, it seems to be a great way to get high gold cards quickly. I have been able to use that trick to reliably get 6 and 7 gold cards by turn 3.