Non-Attack interaction

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Council Room, a non-attack interaction card.

Dominion is occasionally caricatured as "multi-player solitaire", in that in some circumstances it is possible for each player to independently build their own deck, with no direct interaction between different players' strategies and deck compositions. This tendency is mitigated, however, by the presence of cards that affect players other than their owners; this arguably makes the game more fun and strategic by keeping each player involved even during other players' turns. Attack cards are interactive in this way, but also tend to delay the game and are unpopular with some players; for this reason Donald X. Vaccarino thought it important to include non-Attack cards that cause interaction between players as well. At an early stage of development non-Attack interaction was the theme of the "War" expansion that eventually was revised into Dark Ages; it ended up being a subtheme of Prosperity, an expansion with relatively few Attack cards. But some such cards are present in each expansion.

A few non-Attack interactive cards—most commonly MasqueradeMasquerade.jpg, TributeTribute.jpg, and PossessionPossession.jpg—are occasionally mistaken for Attacks by new players, who expect to be able to use Reaction cards like MoatMoat.jpg to respond to them and are disappointed to learn that they can't. However, unlike Attack cards, using these cards on average neither benefits nor hurts the players they target, in the absence of very particular combos.

Contents

Non-Attack interactive cards

Cards that give a small benefit to other players

Cards whose effect depends on another player's deck, turn, or hand

Cards that allow another player to make a decision

Cards that depend on a shared resource that all players can affect

Other interactive effects

  • MasqueradeMasquerade.jpg swaps cards about between all players' hands.
  • EmbargoEmbargo.jpg tokens affect all players equally once placed.

Fringe cases

  • The Reaction cards MoatMoat.jpg, Secret ChamberSecret Chamber.jpg, Horse TradersHorse Traders.jpg, BeggarBeggar.jpg, Caravan GuardCaravan Guard.jpg are interactive, but only in the presence of Attacks.
  • Other Reaction cards (WatchtowerWatchtower.jpg, TunnelTunnel.jpg, TraderTrader.jpg, Market SquareMarket Square.jpg), as well as many other cards, have effects that can be triggered on other players' turns by some Attacks or other interactive cards.
  • Ill-Gotten GainsIll-Gotten Gains.jpg and RaidRaid.jpg are interactive and aren't technically Attacks, but they fill the same function as Attacks do.
  • RogueRogue.jpg is an Attack, but its gaining effect depends on the shared resource of the Trash in the same way Graverobber does.
  • SoothsayerSoothsayer.jpg is an Attack, but also gives its victims a short-term benefit like Council Room and Governor.


Attacks Attack immunityCurserDeck inspection attackDeck order attackHandsize attackJunking attackTrashing attackTurn-worsening attack
Buy/Money +BuyCost-reducerDisappearing moneyOverpayPeddler variantTerminal silverVirtual coinVirtual +Buy
Cycling Deck discarderDeck inspectorDiggingDiscard for benefitSifter
Terminality CantripNon-terminalNon-terminal drawSoft terminalTerminalTerminal drawThrone Room variantVillageConditional non-terminal
Other Alt-VPBasic cardsDuration drawCommand variantGainerLuck-basedNon-Attack interactionOne-shotRemodelerSplit pileTop deckerTrasherVanillaExtra turn
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