Ball

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Ball
Info
Cost
Type	Event
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Brian Brinlee
Event text
Take your – token. Gain 2 cards each costing up to .

Ball is an Event from Adventures. It allows you to gain 2 cards each costing up to for only this turn, at the expense of taking your – token.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• When you buy this, you take your – token, which will cause you to get less the next time you get ; see Tokens section.
• Then you gain 2 cards, each costing up to .
• They can be 2 copies of the same card, or 2 different cards.

The red player's – token.

Other rules clarifications

• This Event may be bought more than once per turn, gaining cards each time; however, the – token can only be taken once.

Strategy

There is no strategy article for Ball, but it has been discussed on the forum!

Ball is an Event that gets you two cards up to for the cost of this turn, plus you get one coin less next turn (which is more or less equivalent to costing plus 1 Debt, except that you can't just pay off the debt this turn). All in all, it costs you over two turns, saving you in the long run. This is similar to overpaying for Stonemason by , except that you don't end up with a Stonemason in your deck, which is usually good since Stonemason tends to become dead weight (especially in multiples). Naturally, it works best if there are lots of strong spammable cards, and you're fighting to win the split. Some good examples include cards like Ironmonger, Herald and Caravan, but also Advisor, since it gets a lot stronger in higher numbers.

Another comparison that can be made is Talisman. With Talisman, you can double a card up to . Ball is quicker than Talisman - you don't have to add the Talisman to your deck first, and there's also no expensive Copper getting in the way of your other cards. However, it is more expensive, and it gets progressively more expensive with every use, since Ball, like all Events, is essentially a one-shot (you have to buy it over and over if you want to benefit from it multiple times). If you expect to benefit from getting an extra card very often, Talisman might be better in the long run; otherwise, if there's only one pile you want to run down quickly, Ball might be sufficient.

Something to keep in mind with Ball is that there is only one -1 Coin token, so if you buy two or more Balls in a single turn, you only get one token. Effectively, this means that the cost of every Ball beyond the first one is actually , instead of secretly extra, like the first. Another cool trick is using Ball to circumvent penalties from buying cards, since Events are not considered cards, including Haunted Woods, Swamp Hag and Embargo. You can also go for Ball on Mission turns for the same reason.

Synergies

• Power cards
• Mission
• Cost reducers allow you to gain more expensive cards. Have four Highways in play? Take two Provinces for !

Antisynergies

• Power cards
• Haunted Woods, Swamp Hag and Embargo have their harmful effects nullified to some extent

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Take your - token. Gain 2 cards each costing up to .	Adventures	April 2015
		Take your – token. Gain 2 cards each costing up to .	Adventures (2017 printing)	August 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Bal
Finnish	Tanssiaiset
French	Bal
German	Ball			Nimm deinen –-Marker. Nimm dir 2 Karten, die jede bis zu kostet.	(2015)
German	Ball			Nimm deinen –-Marker. Nimm 2 Karten, die jeweils bis zu kosten.	(Nachdruck 2021)
Japanese	舞踏会 (pron. butōkai)			あなたの-トークンを得る。コスト以下のカード2枚を獲得する。
Russian	Бал (pron. bal)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

A simple concept. The - token wasn't there until late. The very first version Chancellor'd, but that was cwazy.

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

Previous outtake from Hinterlands

There was a late card that was a one-shot double Workshop with a when-gain Chancellor ability. I liked it. For most people it just seemed okay though, not a hit, and as it happens this was not a great set for the card. Where are all the $4's you want a million of? Yes there's Silk Road. I would have just pushed this into another set, to further consider its merits there, but there are only two more sets and neither one could fit this. If there ever turns out to be a 9th expansion, just forget you read this.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Hinterlands cards