Editing Grotto

{{Infobox Card
 |name = {{PAGENAME}}
 |cost = 2
 |type1 = Action
 |type2 = Duration
 |illustrator = Matt Jordan
 |text = '''+1 Action'''<br>Set aside up to 4 cards from your hand face down (on this). At the start of your next turn, discard them, then draw as many.
}}

'''{{PAGENAME}}''' is an [[Action]]-[[Duration]] card from {{Set|Plunder}}. It is like a Duration version of {{card|Cellar}}: you choose cards from your hand to discard on one turn, and then draw the same number of cards on your next turn.

== FAQ ==
=== Official FAQ ===
* For example you could [[set aside]] 3 cards from your hand, and at the start of your next turn, [[discard]] those 3 cards, then [[draw]] 3 cards.

=== Other rules clarifications ===
* If you set aside 0 cards, Grotto won't stay in play for your next turn.

== Strategy ==
This card tends to be dramatically stronger than its non-duration counterpart, Cellar, which is generally agreed-upon to be a weak card. There are several reasons this card is stronger: a key one is that concentrating two turns into one powerful turn tends to yield greater benefit than having two moderately strong turns. In a sense this card is also analogous to a weaker {{Card|Tactician}} that has the benefit of allowing you to fine-tune how much you sacrifice now for a later benefit.

In most circumstances, it is best to set aside your entire hand with this card, giving you a 9-card following turn, which, early game, usually guarantees buying power of {{Cost|6}} or more. This can be good if there is a key card in this price range that you want to buy early. Usually, leaving one or two cards will result in too weak of a turn to be useful, while it will take away considerably from the chance of reaching a high price point on the next turn. However, late game you may end up with some circumstances where you can buy a {{Card|Province}} with three cards and then use this card to set aside only one; although these circumstances may be uncommon in most games, the flexibility that this sort of move is possible is an added benefit.

More than Cellar, this card has an added benefit of helping to make deck-drawing engines more reliable. Once your engine has drawn most or all of your deck, you can use this card to set aside four cards, ensuring that you start with 9 cards on the next turn. This hugely increases the chance of drawing the right cards to start your engine, and can make the engine more resilient in the late game. For this strategy, you need to buy exactly two of these cards, and you play a new one on the turn the old one is discarded. This strategy is in some respects an analogue of Double Tactician, but it is significantly less risky and requires much less set-up, both because this card is cheap and because it doesn't demand you to discard your entire hand, so it does not require action-based {{Cost}}. The sifting effect and large hand sizes that this scenario sets up can sometimes make an engine strategy viable in the scenario where trashing would otherwise be too weak to allow construction of a good engine.

This card synergizes with discard-for-benefit cards. {{Card|Village Green}} is a particularly good combo, as it is useful in engines on its own. {{Card|Trail}} is almost as good, a cantrip that has a similar benefit when discarded. {{Card|Faithful Hound}} combines to provide extra draw, which, although modest, is being added to a draw-heavy turn for strong results. {{Card|Tunnel}} is yet another good combo, and a card that tends to work well in engines with strong draw, transitioning in late game to a gold-dense deck. Yet another discard-for-benefit card is {{Card|Weaver}}, which when combined with this card is useful for gaining cards for building an engine.

Another strong combo with this card is {{Card|Library}}: play Grotto, set aside all cards except Library (3 cards, possibly including another Grotto and/or Library, if you drew them), then use Library to draw a hand of 7 cards with no actions, and enjoy an 8 card starting hand on the following turn. This strategy works well when only buying Grotto and Library and no other actions, and it has the added benefit of both cards being able to be purchased on a {{Cost|5}}/{{Cost|2}} split.

This card's strength is reduced by handsize attacks, but not as much as most sifters, especially in a strong engine with two Grottos with one played each turn. When played in isolation, unlike Cellar which is completely crippled by handsize attacks, this card can still produce a slight buffer against these attacks, sacrificing a weak 3-card turn for guaranteeing +2 cards that are immune to handsize attacks, because they are not drawn until the start of your next turn. However in an engine where Grotto is played with discarding 4 cards each turn, each turn gets a +4 card benefit which is usually enough to start off the engine, and the handsize attack usually just results in some harmless sifting, discarding a few cards unnecessary to start the engine, and they will often be drawn anyway during the next turn. The presence of discard-for-benefit cards only strengthens the resistance of this card to handsize attacks.

This card also provides some defense against junking attacks, especially in the case where good trashing is not available. Like both Cellar and Tactician, in a [[slog]], it can set up relatively functional turns that might not otherwise be possible.

The main scenario in which this card is weaker is in the absence of +Buy, especially in the absence of junking attacks. Without +Buy it can be hard to capitalize on the added coin that tends to result from 9-card turns, and in that scenario this card ends up taking up valuable hand space and preventing a good turn on a draw that might have been able to buy a province if only it had a {{Card|Silver}}.

== Versions ==
===English versions===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Print !! Digital !! Text !! Release !! Date 
|-
| {{CardLangVersionImage}} || {{CardLangVersionImage|d=1}} || '''+1 Action'''<br>Set aside up to 4 cards from your hand face down (on this). At the start of your next turn, discard them, then draw as many. || Plunder || December 2022
|}

===Other language versions===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Language !! Name !! Print !! Digital !! Text !! Notes
|-
!Dutch 
| Spelonk<br>(lit. ''Mountain hollow'') || {{CardLangVersionImage|Dutch}} || {{CardLangVersionImage|Dutch|d=1}} || '''+1 Actie'''<br>Leg ten hoogste 4 kaarten uit je hand opzij (op deze kaart).<br>Aan het begin van je volgende beurt:<br>leg deze opzijgelegde kaarten af en trek hetzelfde aantal. || (2023)
|-
!German 
| Grotte || {{CardLangVersionImage|German}} || {{CardLangVersionImage|German|d=1}} || style="padding:0px 15px;"| '''+1 Aktion'''<br>Lege bis zu 4 deiner Handkarten verdeckt zur Seite (auf diese Karte).<br>Zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges lege sie ab, ziehe dann gleich viele. ||
|}

== Trivia ==
{{OfficialArt}}

=== Secret History ===
{{Quote|Text= 
This started as an Action, turned into a Treasure, then back to an Action. It originally had no limit, and was secretly powerful. And one version had you draw before discarding, so you couldn't draw the cards you were storing (when it was an unlimited giant pile of junk).
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21589.msg899073#msg899073 The Secret History of Plunder]
}}
=== Relevant outtake ===
{{Quote|Text= 
Cantrip, set aside a card, may take it back at the start of a future turn. Overlapped too much with {{Card|Cage}} / Grotto. 
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
 |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=21589.msg899073#msg899073 The Secret History of Plunder]
}}
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