Reserve

Guide, a Reserve card.

Reserve is a card type introduced in Adventures; cards of this type have tan frames. When played, Reserve cards go onto your Tavern mat, whence they can be called for an additional effect when a certain condition is met. Reserve cards can be saved until you want to use them, or simply be left on your mat if you don't want them in your deck anymore.

Like Duration cards, Reserve cards usually have weak effects, or no effect, on the turn you play them, to make up for strong but delayed effects when you eventually call them. They include variants of several basic card categories: a village, a trasher, a sifter, a gainer, a remodeler, and a Throne Room variant. With ordinary cards of most of these categories, you have to hope that shuffle luck will put them in your hand on the turn when they'll most benefit you; as Reserve cards, they wait on your Tavern mat for you to call them when that turn comes.

List of Reserve cards

Coin of the Realm, Ratcatcher
Guide
Duplicate, Transmogrify
Distant Lands, Royal Carriage, Wine Merchant
Teacher

Miser is not a Reserve card, but makes use of the Tavern mat.

Official Rules

The red player's Tavern mat.

• Adventures has Reserve cards. Reserve cards are tan, and have an ability that puts them on the Tavern mat.
• Each player has their own Tavern mat.
• Most Reserve cards have an ability that "calls" the card. This moves the card into play at a certain time, optionally, and causes it to do something then.
• Playing a Reserve card does the part of the card's text that's above the dividing line, which includes putting it on the Tavern mat; then it sits on the Tavern mat for as many turns as desired, doing nothing; then it is called into play at the time stated below the dividing line, to do whatever it says.
• For example Ratcatcher gives +1 Card +1 Action when played, and goes on the Tavern mat; on some future turn, at the start of the turn, the player can move Ratcatcher into play to trash a card from his hand.
• Calling a card does not repeat the abilities on the card above the dividing line; that part only happens when the card is played. Reserve cards are discarded during Clean-up normally on the turn they are called.
• Two Reserve cards are not called; Distant Lands just stays on the mat, while Wine Merchant has a special condition in order to get it off of the mat.
• Cards on Tavern mats are not in play, but Reserve cards that have been called this turn are in play.
• So, for example, Pilgrimage cannot gain copies of cards on the Tavern mat, but can gain copies of Reserve cards called into play the same turn.
• Cards on Tavern mats are included in decks when scoring at the end.
• Calling Reserve cards is not playing an Action, and does not reduce how many Actions the player may play on his turn; for example, a player could start a turn by calling two Ratcatchers, then continue his turn by playing a Ranger from hand.
• Playing a Reserve card other than Coin of the Realm is playing an Action and does reduce how many more Actions a player may play that turn, like other Actions.

Preparation

• If any Reserve cards are being used, get out the Tavern mats and give one to each player.

Other Rules clarifications

• You can call a Reserve card even if doing so would have no effect. For example, calling a Duplicate when you gain the last card in a pile, or calling a Ratcatcher when you start with no cards in hand (such as due to Torturer).

Trivia

Eric J Carter did the art for the Tavern mat, which depicts the Ratcatcher, Guide and Wine Merchant in a tavern; these cards were all also illustrated by Eric J Carter. The mat was originally called the Castle mat.

In other languages

• Dutch: Reserve
• French: Taverne (lit. tavern)
• German: Reserve
• Russian: Запас (pron. zapas)