Broker

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Broker
Info
Cost $4
Type(s) Action - Liaison
Kingdom card? Yes
Set Allies
Illustrator(s) Claus Stephan
Card text
Trash a card from your hand and choose one:
+1 Card per $1 it costs;
or +1 Action per $1 it costs;
or +$1 per $1 it costs;
or +1 Favor per $1 it costs.

Broker is an Action-Liaison card from Allies. It is a trash-for-benefit card, similar to Apprentice and Salvager, which gives you a choice of terminal draw, terminal $, a village effect, or Favors in exchange for the card you trash.

FAQ

Official FAQ

  • For example, if you trash an Estate, which costs $2, you could choose to get +2 Cards, or +2 Actions, or +$2, or +2 Favors.
  • If you trash a card with D or P in the cost (from other expansions), you get nothing for those symbols.

Strategy

Broker is a flexible card that can play many different roles, but it is often not worth the buy. As a deck thinner, it is slow, since it costs $4 and can only trash one card at once.

Of the four benefits, usually the +Cards one is the most powerful. +Actions tend to be cheaper than +Cards or +$ on most boards, and once you have improved your deck, each card drawn is going to give you dramatically more than $1 or +1 Action. An exception is early game, especially if you end up buying some card other than Silver along with Broker on a $4/$3 split, as then trashing an Estate for coin can be stronger than drawing cards. Whether or not the +Favors is a good choice depends on what ally is present and whether or not it synergizes with your overall strategy.

The main benefit of the choice is not in raw strength but flexibility. Even if you primarily plan on playing terminal actions with no villages, the ability to trash a card for +Action can make it worthwhile to pack in more actions than you otherwise would. Alternatively, in a deck-drawing engine, it can decrease the chance of the engine sputtering. The ability to take $ can allow you to reach $8 and purchase a Province on a turn where you otherwise could not, and it can also allow you to build an engine with less treasure, if you are reliably able to gain expensive cards to feed to the Broker(s).

Even if you're able to get a good supply of high-value cards to feed to Broker, it is not usually efficient. For example if you play it and trash a card costing $4 (typically the most expensive card able to be easily gained), at best you are using two cards to draw four, which is weak.

Broker often synergizes with other trashers, especially those good at trashing Copper. It is weak for trashing Copper, slow and offering no benefit, and the starting coppers hugely diminish its power. Other major synergies include gainers, and Trail. Trail makes Broker much stronger as it can be trashed an endless number of times, and it yields an extra +1 Card +1 Action when trashed, effectively boosting Broker's power while also making it non-terminal. So it can effectively turn Broker into a card that costs $4 and yields +4 Cards, with some added flexibility of taking coin, actions, or favors when it is useful. In this situation, Broker is cheap and fast.

A handsize attack can weaken Broker somewhat. A junk attack also usually cripples it, as it gets no benefit from trashing Curses, and is slow and unreliable to this end.

External strategy articles

Versions

English versions

Print Digital Text Release Date
Broker Broker from Shuffle iT Trash a card from your hand and choose one:
+1 Card per $1 it costs;
or +1 Action per $1 it costs;
or +$1 per $1 it costs;
or +1 Favor per $1 it costs.
Allies March 2022

Other language versions

Language Name Print Digital Text Notes
Dutch Zaakwaarnemer Dutch language Broker Vernietig een kaart uit je hand en
kies 1 optie:
+1 Kaart per $1 dat deze kost;
of +1 Actie per $1 dat deze kost;
of +$1 per $1 dat deze kost
of +1 Dienst per $1 dat deze kost.
(2022)
German Mittelsmann German language Broker German language Broker from Shuffle iT Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten und wähle eins:
+1 Karte pro $1, das sie kostet,
oder +1 Aktion pro $1, das sie kostet,
oder +$1 pro $1, das sie kostet,
oder +1 Gefallen pro $1, das sie kostet.

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

And then Broker is the combination Apprentice / Salvager / other things that you never knew you wanted. It can make a lot of Favors at once when you want that.

Secret History

An old idea, finally realized with help from Favors. It seemed like it could get a wording that just explained the "once per $1 the trashed card costs" bit once and then listed the bonuses, "+1 Action; +1 Card; +$1; +1 Favor." But after confusing people, in the end it got a fully spelled out list of options.


The initial “old idea” is described in detail in the Raze Trivia.


Cards $2 BaubleSycophantTownsfolk (Town Crier / Blacksmith / Miller / Elder) $3 Augurs (Herb Gatherer / Acolyte / Sorceress / Sibyl) • Clashes (Battle Plan / Archer / Warlord / Territory) • Forts (Tent / Garrison / Hill Fort / Stronghold) • ImporterMerchant CampOdysseys (Old Map / Voyage / Sunken Treasure / Distant Shore) • SentinelUnderlingWizards (Student / Conjurer / Sorcerer / Lich) $4 BrokerCarpenterCourierInnkeeperRoyal GalleyTown $5 BarbarianCapital CityContractEmissaryGalleriaGuildmasterHighwaymanHunterModifySkirmisherSpecialistSwap $6 Marquis
Allies Architects' GuildBand of NomadsCave DwellersCircle of WitchesCity-stateCoastal HavenCrafters' GuildDesert GuidesFamily of InventorsFellowship of ScribesForest DwellersGang of PickpocketsIsland FolkLeague of BankersLeague of ShopkeepersMarket TownsMountain FolkOrder of AstrologersOrder of MasonsPeaceful CultPlateau ShepherdsTrappers' LodgeWoodworkers' Guild
Other concepts FavorsSplit piles

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