One-shot

Revision as of 14:55, 31 May 2022

Embargo, a one-shot card.

One-shots are cards which trash themselves, or otherwise remove themselves from your custody, when you play them. For some cards this self-trashing is a limitation to prevent you from getting multiple uses out of an otherwise powerful card; for a few, however, it's a feature to prevent the card from cluttering up your deck once you've gotten use out of it.

List of one-shot cards

Cards in italics have been removed.

Mandatory one-shots

These cards always remove themselves from your deck when you play them, whether by being trashed, set aside, or returned to their piles, or merely remaining in play.

• Dominion: Feast
• Seaside: Embargo, Island, Treasure Map
• Dark Ages: Madman, Pillage, Spoils
• Adventures: Champion, Distant Lands, Hireling
• Nocturne: Changeling, Wish
• Renaissance: Acting Troupe, Experiment
• Menagerie: Horse
• Promo: Prince is strictly speaking optional as a one-shot, since it has no effect (and thus returns to your discard pile) if an Action isn't set aside with it, but it has no non–one-shot use.

Optional or potential one-shots

• Intrigue
  • Mining Village can optionally trash itself for when you play it
• Prosperity
  • Investment can optionally trash itself for +  when you play it.
• Cornucopia
  • Horn of Plenty trashes itself if you use it to gain a Victory card
• Dark Ages
  • Death Cart can trash itself or another Action card
  • Knights trash themselves if they trash another Knight
• Adventures
  • Travellers, such as Hero, can exchange themselves for another card when discarded from play
  • Raze trashes another card or itself for its effect
  • Wine Merchant moves to your Tavern mat and costs a penalty to discard it from there; it functions as a one-shot if you don't save to get it back
• Empires
  • Engineer can optionally trash itself to gain an additional card
  • Encampment returns to its pile if you do not reveal a Gold or Plunder
  • Small Castle can trash another Castle or itself for its effect
  • Farmers' Market only trashes itself if there are 4  or more on its pile
• Nocturne
  • Pixie can optionally trash itself to receive a Boon twice
  • Tragic Hero trashes itself if you have 8 or more cards in hand
• Menagerie
  • Stockpile exiles itself when played, and so it acts as a one-shot if you don't gain another Stockpile after playing it.
  • Way of the Horse allows you to use any Action as a one-shot source of non-terminal draw.
  • Way of the Butterfly allows you to return an Action card to the supply and exchange it for a better one.
• Allies
  • Acolyte optionally trashes itself to gain another Augur

Other conditional self-trashers

These cards don't self-trash when you play them, but may do so at another time if certain conditions are met.

• Hinterlands: Fool's Gold—this has a one-shot Reaction effect.
• Dark Ages: Hermit—this trashes itself if you don't buy a card on the turn when you play it
• Dark Ages: Urchin—you may trash this if you play another Attack while this is in play

Trivia

Donald X. Vaccarino has written that Intrigue was originally intended to have a one-shot theme, but he abandoned the concept.