Mandarin
Mandarin | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Hinterlands |
Illustrator(s) | Lynell Ingram |
Card text | |
+ Put a card from your hand onto your deck. When you gain this, put all Treasures you have in play onto your deck in any order. |
Mandarin is an Action card from Hinterlands. Mandarin gives + and requires you to place a card on top of your deck, which can be a benefit or a detriment depending on the situation. Likewise, the on-gain effect of placing all Treasures on your deck may or may not be helpful. As such, Mandarin is a very situational card. The on gain effect also allows for potentially unique openings, as you can get numerous Mandarins and another card before the first shuffle.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When you gain this, you put all of your Treasures from play on top of your deck in any order.
- You do not have to show this order to other players.
- You have to put all of your Treasures on top; you cannot leave some out.
- You only put Treasures from play on top of your deck, not unplayed Treasures from your hand.
- This does not stop you from having the you got from playing those Treasures; for example, if you have +1 Buy and play four Golds and buy a Mandarin, you put the Golds on top of your deck, and still have left to spend.
Other Rules clarifications
- Note that Mandarin's on-gain effect can remove from play Treasures that have while-in-play abilities, canceling their effects. For example, if you have a Quarry in play and then buy a Mandarin, Action card costs will no longer be reduced for any subsequent buys you may make on that turn.
Strategy Article
Mandarin isn't a great card. But it's not so bad either. It's just highly situational. Saving a card for next turn might be helpful, but it slows down your deck cycling on average, which is bad in the early game. And the on-gain effect really slows down your deck. Still, the ability can be useful. You might consider buying a Mandarin if it makes it likely to get a Gold or Province next turn, depending on the stage of the game. And in strong engines that only need a card or two to kick off, Mandarin can really give you some consistency.
Openings: It's often tempting to look at the strange potential openings you can create with Mandarin. However, a // opening is often weaker than it seems at first. This is because it's not much different than opening / and then shuffling your gained cards right away to be played a turn sooner - consider that your opponent might get a // opening, if we're counting the third turn. There are a few very strong / openings however.
- Hunting Party-Mandarin: Mandarin is a great addition to a HP deck anyway as you generally don't need all your HPs, so you can save one for later and can usually kick off your engine with just a single HP.
- Mint — The trouble with mint openings is that you generally have no income at all unless there is an especially strong card. Mandarin solves this problem by providing some to get you started.
- Inn - Inn solves the reshuffle problem. By buying a Mandarin followed by an Inn, you get to immediately shuffle those cards into your deck and play them. This turns the // opening into a true / opening which is a significant boost.
Finally, there is one other trick which can be performed with Mandarin and Horn of Plenty. With a hand of Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Horn of Plenty, you can play the and use the Horn of Plenty to gain a Mandarin. All 5 treasures will be placed on top of your deck and you'll still have to buy a Colony. You can repeat this as long as there are Mandarins left in the supply. This also works with replacing the Platinum with any treasure which produces at least allowing you to gain a Province every turn.
Synergies/Combos
- Combo: Capital and Mandarin
- Combo: Horn of Plenty and Mandarin
- Hunting Party
- Inn and Mint (on a / opening)
- Strong / engine components, such as Native Village
- Treasures with +buy, such as Fortune, Capital, Counterfeit, or Charm, let you repeat the same 5 treasures, plus another buy.
Antisynergies
- Lack of a strong combo
- Discard attacks
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
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+. Put a card from your hand on top of your deck. When you gain this, put all Treasures you have in play on top of your deck in any order. |
Hinterlands 1st Edition | October 2011 | ||
+. Put a card from your hand onto your deck. When you gain this, put all Treasures you have in play onto your deck in any order. |
Hinterlands 2nd Edition | December 2016 |
Other language versions
Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
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Czech | Mandarín | ||||
Dutch | Mandarijn | ||||
Finnish | Mandariini | ||||
French | Mandarin | ||||
German | Mandarin | + Lege eine Karte aus deiner Hand zurück auf deinen Nachziehstapel. Wenn du den Mandarin nimmst, lege alle Geldkarten, die du im Spiel hast, in beliebiger Reihenfolge zurück auf deinen Nachziehstapel. |
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Italian | Mandarino | ||||
Japanese | 官吏 (pron. kanri, lit. government official) | +。 手札1枚を山札の上に置く。これを獲得するとき、場の財宝カードをすべて好きな順番で山札の上に置く。 | |||
Russian | Мандарин (pron. mandarin) | ||||
Spanish | Mandarín |
Trivia
Preview
The when-gain ability is also cute when you want a Province but don't have . Play just a Gold and a Silver, keeping any superfluous Copper in hand; buy a Mandarin, see if you do better next turn. And there are tricks it can do with special Treasures.
Secret History