Barbarian

Barbarian
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Attack
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Allies
Illustrator(s)	Julien Delval
Card text
+ Each other player trashes the top card of their deck. If it costs or more they gain a cheaper card sharing a type with it; otherwise they gain a Curse.

Barbarian is an Action–Attack card from Allies. It is a trashing attack and sometimes junking attack similar to Locusts: it trashes opponents' cards and replaces them with cheaper ones. If the trashed card is cheap enough, the replacement is a Curse; otherwise it must be of the same type as the trashed card.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• For example, if a player trashes Contract to this, they could gain a Royal Galley, as they share the Duration type, or a Silver, as they share the Treasure type, or a Sycophant, as they share the Liaison type.
• If the trashed card costs or more, they have to gain a cheaper card if they can; if there are no cheaper cards that share a type, they simply fail to gain a card.
• The attack hits each other player in turn order, starting with the player to your left; this can be important.

Other rules clarifications

• Cards that cost only cost more than another card if both the and amounts are larger, or one is larger and one the same. For example, a Barbarian that trashes your Alchemist means you can gain either an Apothecary or an Underling. However, a Barbarian that trashes your Underling means you can't gain an Apothecary.
• Unlike Locusts, which checks whether the trashed card is Copper or Estate, Barbarian checks the cost of the trashed card (ignoring and ). This leads to several differences:
  • If Locusts trashes nothing, the player gains nothing. If Barbarian trashes nothing, the player gains a Curse (similar to Giant).
  • If Locusts trashes a card costing or less (such as Bauble or Curse), the player gains a cheaper card sharing a type if possible (Copper is cheaper than Bauble, while there's nothing cheaper than Curse). If Barbarian trashes a Bauble, the player gains a Curse.
  • If Locusts trashes a Apothecary or Engineer, the player gains a cheaper card sharing a type if possible. Barbarian will give out Curse in both scenarios.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+ Each other player trashes the top card of their deck. If it costs or more they gain a cheaper card sharing a type with it; otherwise they gain a Curse.	Allies	March 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
German	Barbar			+ Jeder Mitspieler entsorgt die oberste Karte seines Nachziehstapels. Kostet sie oder mehr, nimmt er eine billigere Karte, die mit der entsorgten Karte mindestens 1 Kartentyp gemeinsam hat; ansonsten nimmt er einen Fluch.

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

An outtake from Dark Ages! Some guys from dominionstrategy.com briefly playtested Dark Ages (theory, rrenaud, and Captain Frisk, hey guys), and were aghast at how easy it was to lose a Duchy. I decided to scale back the quantity of Duchy-trashing, and took this card out. It was the same except it gave out a Ruins instead of a Curse. Well, I always liked it, and here it is at last. It also tried out for the Clashes pile, but I preferred it as its own pile.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion: Allies

Previous outtake

For a long time there was an attack which in its best form was "+, they trash the top card of their deck and gain a cheaper card that shares a type with it, or a Ruins if they can't." I liked it. Eventually I decided though that there was enough hatred of trashing attacks out there that I should just stick with the Knights (plus Rogue, but it's only a fractional attack).

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dark Ages cards

Donald X.'s opinion

People hating trashing attacks got Barbarian to come out in Allies instead of Dark Ages. There are also people hungry for those cards though, and they can't play with them if I don't make them. And Barbarian, man. It's not a card to be scared of.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2022

I Workshop a Action. Barbarian turns that into a ; a 2nd play of Barbarian turns the into nothing (no Action this game). One play of Workshop dealt with two plays of Barbarian. To fight Barbarian, you have to be gaining stuff faster than they're trashing it... and this is very doable, as Barbarian takes so long to eat cards.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Reddit, 2022