One-shot

Embargo, a one-shot card.

One-shots are cards which trash themselves, or otherwise remove themselves from your custody, when you play them. For some cards this self-trashing is a limitation to prevent you from getting multiple uses out of an otherwise powerful card; for a few, however, it's a feature to prevent the card from cluttering up your deck once you've gotten use out of it.

List of one-shot cards

Cards in italics have been removed.

Mandatory one-shots

These cards always remove themselves from your deck when you play them, whether by being trashed, set aside, or returned to their piles, or merely remaining in play.

• Seaside: Island, Treasure Map
• Dark Ages: Madman, Pillage, Spoils
• Adventures: Champion, Distant Lands, Hireling
• Nocturne: Changeling, Wish
• Renaissance: Acting Troupe, Experiment
• Menagerie: Horse, Way of the Horse
• Promo: Prince is strictly speaking optional as a one-shot, since it has no effect (and thus returns to your discard pile) if an Action isn't set aside with it, but it has no non–one-shot use. Similarly, Way of the Butterfly is optional but unuseful when not used as a one-shot.

Conditional one-shots

The cards do not always act as one-shots. Rather they offer the option to get an extra effect (e.g. in the case of Mining Village), or they act as one-shot if certain conditions are met which are sometimes under the control of the user (e.g. in the case of Horn of Plenty), sometimes not (e.g. in the case of Knights).

• Intrigue
  • Mining Village can optionally trash itself for when you play it
• Prosperity
  • Investment can optionally trash itself for +  when you play it.
• Cornucopia
  • Horn of Plenty trashes itself if you use it to gain a Victory card
• Hinterlands
  • Fool's Gold—this has a one-shot Reaction effect.
• Dark Ages
  • Death Cart can trash itself or another Action card
  • Knights trash themselves if they trash another Knight
  • Hermit—this exchanges (previously trashes) itself if you didn't buy a card at one point on the turn when you play it
  • Urchin—you may trash this if you play another Attack while this is in play
• Adventures
  • Travellers, such as Hero, can exchange themselves for another card when discarded from play
  • Raze trashes another card or itself for its effect
• Empires
  • Engineer can optionally trash itself to gain an additional card
  • Encampment returns to its pile if you do not reveal a Gold or Plunder
  • Small Castle can trash another Castle or itself for its effect
  • Farmers' Market only trashes itself if there are 4  or more on its pile
• Nocturne
  • Pixie can optionally trash itself to receive a Boon twice
  • Tragic Hero trashes itself if you have 8 or more cards in hand
• Menagerie
  • Stockpile exiles itself when played. In the early stages of the game it will generally only temporarily be removed from your deck, later it can become a one-shot once the pile runs out.
• Allies
  • Acolyte optionally trashes itself to gain another Augur

Removed

• Dominion: Feast
• Seaside: Embargo

Trivia

Donald X. Vaccarino has written that Intrigue was originally intended to have a one-shot theme, but he abandoned the concept.