Editing Cantrip

[[Image:Harbinger.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Harbinger]], a cantrip card.]]

'''Cantrip''' is the common colloquial term for any Dominion [[Action]] card which offers +1 Action and +1 Card. It is essentially self-replacing (not taking up space in your hand or taking up an action) and will usually offer some side benefit, such as the [[topdeck]]ing effect {{Card|Harbinger}} offers or the additional [[Favor]] of {{Card|Underling}}.

In the narrowest definition, a cantrip offers exactly +Card and +1 Action, and no extra amount of +Card, +Actions, or +{{Cost}}. In a broader sense, the term cantrips encompasses all those cards that also fall into another category, such as [[non-terminal draw]] (if the card draws more than one card), [[village (card category)|village]] (if it provides more than +1 Action), or [[Peddler variant]] (if it also offers +{{Cost}}). 

== Strategy ==
In most cases, cantrips are seen as cards that cannot harm the deck, since you receive a benefit by playing them and doing so does not prevent or delay you from drawing other cards in your deck.  There are a few exceptions.

Discard attacks like {{Card|Militia}} or {{Card|Goons}} which require the player to make a choice of which cards to discard are more powerful against hands containing a few cantrips.  This is because the player discarding does not know which cards are going to be drawn by the cantrips, so the chance of making a sub-optimal choice is greater.

Similarly, although cantrips don't "take up space" in your deck on your turn since you can draw right past them, there may be cards you want to have in your hand ''between'' turns—[[Reaction|Reactions]] to protect you from an opponent's [[Attack]], {{Card|Province}} to block an opponent's {{Card|Tournament}}, etc. Filling your deck with cantrips will make it less likely that you have in hand the card you need when it's ''not'' your turn. (Cards other than cantrips have this property as well, of course; but it's easier to lose sight of the fact with cantrips since they don't have this property ''on'' your turn.)

Like any other Action card, a cantrip can be drawn [[dead]]—i.e., drawn by a [[terminal]] Action card without sufficient +Actions to be able to play the cantrip after you draw it—and thus can harm a [[Big Money]] deck that depends on [[terminal draw]] without [[villages]].

Cantrips may also be less useful with draw-up-to-X cards like {{Card|Library}}, {{Card|Watchtower}}, and {{Card|Jack of all Trades}}.  Although cantrips do not outright harm the deck in these cases, they under-perform other cards which do not draw cards (and which typically offer more benefits in compensation for the lack of draw).

== List of Cantrip Cards ==
Cards in ''italics'' have been [[removed]]. Cards with an asterisk (*) were added in the second edition. 

* [[Base set]]: {{card|Harbinger}}*, {{card|Sentry}}*
* [[Intrigue]]: {{card|Mill}}*, {{Card|Pawn}}
* [[Alchemy]]: {{Card|Familiar}}
* [[Hinterlands]]: {{Card|Highway}}, {{Card|Scheme}}, {{card|Trail}}*, {{card|Wheelwright}}*
* [[Dark Ages]]: {{Card|Cartographer}}, {{Card|Market Square}}, {{Card|Sage}}, {{Card|Urchin}}, {{Card|Sir Bailey}}
* [[Guilds]]: {{Card|Herald}}
* [[Adventures]]: {{Card|Page}}, {{Card|Ratcatcher}}, {{Card|Guide}}
* [[Empires]]: {{Card|Settlers}}, {{Card|Groundskeeper}}
* [[Nocturne]]: {{Card|Secret Cave}}, {{card|Pixie}}
* [[Renaissance]]: {{card|Border Guard}}
* {{Set|Menagerie}}: {{card|Sanctuary}}, {{Way|Way of the Pig}}
* [[Allies]]: {{card|Town Crier}}, {{card|Blacksmith}}, {{card|Old Map}}, {{card|Underling}}, {{card|Innkeeper}}, {{card|Miller}}, {{card|Hill Fort}}, {{card|Sorcerer}}, {{card|Sorceress}}, {{card|Swap}} 

{{Card|Enchantress}} causes the first Action each other player plays on their turn to ''become'' a cantrip.

Any [[Village (card category)|village]] that draws a card can be considered a cantrip. For a list of villages, see [[Village (card category)#List of villages|here]]. Any card that non-terminally draws multiple cards can be considered a cantrip. For a list of those cards, see [[Non-terminal draw|List of non-terminal draw cards|here]]. Any [[Peddler variant]] is also a cantrip, for a list, see [[Peddler variant|List of Peddler variants|here]]. Some can cards can act as non-terminal draw, as a village, or as a Peddler variant under specific circumstances, but act as a simple cantrip otherwise:

* {{card|Merchant}}
* {{Card|Ironmonger}}
* {{Card|Wishing Well}}
* {{card|Sea Chart}}
* {{Card|Apothecary}} 
* {{Card|Scrying Pool}}
* {{Card|Menagerie}}
* {{Card|Vagrant}}
* {{Card|Magpie}}
* {{Card|Storyteller}}
* {{card|Patrician}}
* {{card|Will-o'-Wisp}}
* {{card|Seer}}
* {{card|Battle Plan}}
* {{Card|Sauna}}

* {{card|Archive}} and {{Card|Caravan}} are non-terminal draw cards for which part of the draw is delayed, making them act as a cantrip on the turn they are played.

=== Removed cards ===
* ''{{Card|Spy}}''
* ''{{Card|Great Hall}}''
* ''{{Card|Pearl Diver}}''


==== Fringe cases ====
* {{Card|Vassal}} can act like a cantrip if the top card of your deck is a non-terminal Action.
* {{Card|Ironworks}} becomes a cantrip if it is used to gain an Action–[[Victory]] card.
* {{Card|Mystic}} is a cantrip if you can guess what card is on top of your deck.
* {{Card|Spice Merchant}} is a [[trasher|Copper trasher]] with a net effect resembling a cantrip: ''after'' you trash a [[card|Copper]] from your hand, it can give you +''2'' Cards and +1 Action, leaving you with the same handsize and action count you had before you played it.
* {{Card|Forum}}, {{Card|Fugitive}}, and {{Card|Secret Passage}} draw more than 1 card, but maintain handsize. The same also applies to {{Card|Tide Pools}} if its entire effect over both turns is considered. 
* {{Card|Raze}} acts as a [[sifter|sifting]] cantrip if you trash a card costing more than {{Cost|0}}.
* {{Card|Mountain Village}} is a cantrip if the discard pile is empty. If there are cards in the discard pile, Mountain Village resembles a cantrip in that it doesn't reduce your handsize, but unlike a typical cantrip it doesn't help you cycle your deck.
* {{Card|Goatherd}} is a cantrip if the player to your right trashed at least one card during their previous turn.
* {{card|Groom}} is a cantrip if used to gain a Victory card.
* {{card|Royal Galley}} draws and doesn't give +Action, but does itself play an Action from your hand.

=== Handsize-decreasing cantrips ===

These cards provide +1 Card, +1 Action, but mandatorily decrease handsize by trashing, discarding, or setting aside a card from the hand.

* {{Card|Upgrade}}
* {{Card|Haven}}
* {{Card|Oasis}}
* {{Card|Rats}}
* {{Card|Junk Dealer}}
* {{card|Modify}}—can be a cantrip depending on player choice.

==Trivia==
The name "cantrip" is a [http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Cantrip slang term] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering Magic: The Gathering] card game, where it describes a spell that draws a replacement spell on casting. Magic borrowed the term from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons Dungeons and Dragons], which ultimately derived it from the misty depths of Scottish etymology.

Some players refer to Cantrips as 'invisible' cards, based on them replacing themselves into your hand with no net negatives.
Donald X has referred to Cantrips as 'free' cards. [http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5130.msg129792#msg129792]

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[[Category:Terminality]]