Artificer

Artificer
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Lynell Ingram
Card text
+1 Action +1 Card + Discard any number of cards. You may gain a card onto your deck costing exactly per card discarded.

Artificer is an Action card from Adventures. It is both a Peddler variant and a discard for benefit gainer.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• First you get +1 Card, +1 Action, and +.
• Then you discard any number of cards. You may choose not to discard any cards.
• Then you may gain a card costing exactly per card discarded. For example if you discarded two cards; you may gain a card costing ; if you discard no cards, you may gain a card costing .
• The gained card comes from the Supply and is put on top of your deck.
• You may choose not to gain a card, even if you discard cards.

Other Rules Clarifications

• If the card would be gained into your hand, such as Guardian, Ghost Town, Night Watchman, or Den of Sin, it is gained onto your deck instead.

Strategy

Artificer is a Peddler variant and discard-for-benefit gainer. While the former allows it to act as a passable source of payload, this is a relatively weak effect for a card, and so the latter is more often the reason Artificer will be impactful. Specifically, Artificer’s ability to convert draw into expensive cards makes it very appealing in Kingdoms with strong enough draw options. Compared to many other gainers, Artificer is relatively flexible as it is non-terminal, not a stop card, and gives you the option of simply not discarding anything.

Because you need to discard large numbers of cards to gain expensive cards with Artificer, its gaining abilities scale with your deck’s draw, and it will usually function best in a deck with overdraw. While it’s possible to achieve this with more typical draw cards such as Laboratory or Smithy, Artificer synergizes best with draw that can also scale up. Draw-to-x such as Cursed Village is particularly strong, as you can draw just as much as you discard for Artificer. Other cards such as City Quarter and Scrying Pool are similarly potent, as they can draw a potentially unbounded number of cards, with Artificer discarding whatever you can spare.

Artificer’s topdecking ability makes it particularly suited to gaining cards that you would like to gain-and-play immediately this turn, or at the start of your next turn. For example, you might be able to gain a draw card to continue your turn, or a village to set up your next turn. This effect is especially useful during the early game when you have less cycling, and topdecking will allow you to play a or card much sooner than you could otherwise. Because Artificer can almost always gain and topdeck a card, its opportunity cost in the early game is primarily that you will play the card you would have bought otherwise one turn later. These factors can make Artificer a strong early addition to your deck, even in the opening on a / split.

Artificer works well with other cards that have synergy with discard-for-benefit effects such as Menagerie or Village Green. Additionally, as with many gainers, Artificer benefits from cost reduction (e.g., from Highway), which lets you more easily gain expensive cards (including Artificer itself). Ferry is a particularly strong example, as you can reduce Artificer's cost in the opening, then very rapidly buy and gain additional copies before moving your - cost token to another target.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Action +1 Card + Discard any number of cards. You may gain a card costing exactly per card discarded, putting it on top of your deck.	Adventures	April 2015
		+1 Action +1 Card + Discard any number of cards. You may gain a card onto your deck costing exactly per card discarded.	Adventures (2016 printing)	August 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Kanonnengieter (lit. cannon smelter)
Finnish	Käsityöläinen
French	Maître-artisan (lit. master craftsman)			+1 Carte +1 Action + Défaussez autant de cartes que souhaité. Vous pouvez recevoir sur votre pioche une carte coûtant exactement par carte défaussée.
German	Kunsthandwerker (lit. artisan)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion + Lege beliebig viele Handkarten ab. Du darfst dir eine Karte nehmen, die genau pro abgelegter Karte kostet. Lege die Karte verdeckt auf deinen Nachziehstapel.	(2015) "...Lege die Karte verdeckt sofort auf deinen Nachzieh­stapel."
	Kunsthandwerker (lit. artisan)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion + Lege beliebig viele deiner Handkarten ab. Du darfst eine Karte nehmen, die genau pro abgelegter Karte kostet, und sie auf deinen Nachziehstapel legen.	(Nachdruck 2021) "Du darfst auf deinen Nachzieh­stapel eine Karte nehmen, die genau… , und sie auf deinen Nachzieh­stapel legen."
Japanese	工匠 (pron. kōshō, lit. artisan)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション + 好きな枚数のカードを捨て札にする。コストが、捨て札にした1枚につきの、カード1枚を山札の上に獲得してもよい。
Russian	Ремесленник (pron. ryemyeslyennik)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

I had versions of this in Cornucopia and Dark Ages. It was never quite there. This version's trick is putting the gained card on top of your deck. Earlier it went to your hand but that was cwazy. Some versions let you optionally put the card on your deck, but it was simpler and worth it to be forced to.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures

Donald X.'s opinion

I like Artificer a lot. It's a very nice Workshop for cost reduction. Gaining a card directly to the top is huge. It's also one of those cards that rewards you for overdrawing. You discard some cards to gain something, draw those cards back, discard them again, draw them again.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Artificer