Terminal draw

Revision as of 10:56, 4 October 2017

Smithy, a terminal draw card.

Terminal draw cards—Action cards that increase the number of cards in hand but do not provide +Action—can be a core component of both engine and Big Money strategies. In Big Money games, terminal draw cards can put large numbers of Treasure cards in hand and increase buying power; in engines, when supplied with sufficient villages, terminal draw cards can provide the large handsize necessary to line up cards and execute combos. In both cases terminal draw aids deck cycling, helping new buys get shuffled into the deck sooner.

The chief danger of terminal draw cards is their ability to draw other Action cards dead—i.e., to draw them without sufficient Actions remaining to play them.

Terminals that provide +3 Cards or more are sometimes referred to as Smithy variants, after the simplest vanilla terminal draw card.

List of terminal draw cards

Cards in italics have been removed.

Cards providing +3 cards or more

• Dominion: Council Room, Smithy
• Intrigue: Nobles (optional), Patrol, Torturer
• Prosperity: Rabble
• Hinterlands: Margrave
• Dark Ages: Catacombs, Hunting Grounds
• Guilds: Journeyman
• Adventures: Ranger
• Empires: Royal Blacksmith (if you have 2 or fewer Coppers in hand after drawing), Wild Hunt
• Promo: Envoy, Avanto (if you don't have a Sauna in hand)

Wharf, from Seaside, draws only two cards on the turn when it is played but two more on the next turn as well. Crossroads, from Hinterlands, after the first time played on a turn, is terminal draw if one has Victory cards in hand. Haunted Woods and Hireling, from Adventures, and Enchantress, from Empires, are terminal, but their next turn(s) effect resembles non-terminal draw.

Small draw with filtering

These cards only provide a total of +2 cards, but allow some filtering or sifting to help you draw the cards you want.

• Dominion: Adventurer
• Intrigue: Courtyard
• Hinterlands: Embassy, Oracle
• Empires: Royal Blacksmith (with 3 or more Coppers in hand after drawing)

2 cards as vanilla bonus

These cards' principal functions are something other than terminal draw, but they provide +2 cards as an additional vanilla bonus in order to ensure the cards' effects are balanced and competitive with other cards at the same price.

• Dominion: Moat, Witch
• Intrigue: Masquerade, Steward (optional), Diplomat (sometimes non-terminal)
• Seaside: Ghost Ship
• Prosperity: Vault
• Cornucopia: Followers
• Dark Ages: Cultist, Sir Destry
• Adventures: Warrior, Gear

Wharf, from Seaside, arguably could be placed in this category as well.

Young Witch, from Cornucopia, is not usually thought of as a terminal draw card in that it gives +2 cards but also discards two cards, causing a decrease in net handsize; however, of course it can still draw other Action cards dead. Similarly, Mercenary, from Dark Ages, gives +2 cards but also trashes two cards.

Trusty Steed, from Cornucopia, sometimes gives terminal draw but can also give non-terminal draw and many other possibilities.

Targeted handsize

Three terminal Actions draw up to a specified handsize. These are especially useful against handsize attacks or other cards that can reduce handsize between turns, and in engines with handsize-reducing components such as Festival and Hamlet.

• Dominion: Library—up to 7, making it similar to a Smithy variant in Big Money
• Prosperity: Watchtower—up to 6, making it like a +2-cards effect in Big Money
• Hinterlands: Jack of all Trades—up to 5, making it not a handsize increaser (though still useful for other reasons!) in Big Money without attacks