Editing Combo: Donate and Market Square

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{{Infobox CardEventCombo
|name1 = Market Square
|name2 = Donate

|set1 = Empires
|set2 = Dark Ages
|type = Rush
}}

'''{{Card|Market Square}} and {{Event|Donate}}''' is a very strong combo that allows you to trim down to a deck of only Market Squares and {{Card|Gold|Golds}}.

== How it works ==
* Turns 1-3 (ideally): buy Market Square.
* After turn 3: Donate everything except the Market Squares. In response to the trashing, discard the Market Squares, getting one Gold each; your deck will now be 3x Market Squares, 3x Golds.
* Turn 4: Repay your debt.
* Turn 5: Whatever is appropriate to the rest of the board - buy Gold, buy Province, buy Platinum, or start building an engine.

Note that on turns 4 and 5, you are guaranteed to have $9 available, since if you only draw two of the Golds you can just play a Market Square first.

== Details ==

The combo requires drawing at least {{Coin|3}} in your first few turns.  There is a 16.67% chance that you open {{Split|5|2}} or {{Split|2|5}}, and in those cases with strong early {{Cost|5}} cards, it is probably best to open those instead.  Assuming you got a {{Split|4|3}} or {{Split|3|4}} opening and bought 2 Market Squares, there is an 8.33% chance of having only {{Coin|2}} on turn 3, delaying the combo.  But there is also a 56.82% chance of a hand with at least one Market Square and at least {{Coin|3}}, meaning you could buy a third Market Square and Donate all on the same turn.

Alternatively, you could wait until turn 4, hoping to get at least one Market Square and at least {{Coin|3}}, allowing you to buy a fourth Market Square and then Donate, resulting in a 4 Gold gain.  Assuming you were able to get 3 Market Squares on turns 1-3, if you didn't draw any Market Squares on turn 3, there is a 97.62% of drawing a Market Square and buying the fourth Market Square and Donate.  But if you drew one Market Square on turn 3, the chances of drawing the other in turn 4 drops to 83.33%, making the fourth Market Square a little riskier.  And of course, this is not possible if you already drew both Market Squares on turn 3, so in that case, you should stick with the turn 3 Donate.

In a [[mirror (strategy)|mirror]] game, it may be beneficial to wait until the turn after your opponent purchases Donate before you purchase your own Donate.  This will allow for 4 or even 5 Market Square & Gold pairs.  Also, you can trash 1 less Estate than your opponent trashed, securing an early lead.

As noted above, a deck consisting of 3 Market Squares and 3 Gold guarantees {{Coin|9}} on the next two turns after buying Donate.  A deck consisting of 4 Market Squares and 4 Gold can still draw the whole deck, but will produce {{Coin|12}}, allowing you to pay off debt and still have {{Coin|4}} with 4 buys.  Decks with 5 or more Market Square & Gold pairs will not always draw the whole deck, but will produce {{Coin|15}}, leaving {{Coin|7}} after debt.

{{Navbox Empires}}
{{Navbox Dark Ages}}
{{Navbox Card combos}}