Charm
| Charm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Cost |
 |
| Type(s) | Treasure |
| Kingdom card? | Yes |
| Set |
Empires |
| Illustrator(s) | Marco Morte |
| Card text | |
Choose one: +1 Buy and + ; or the next time you gain a card this turn, you may also gain a differently named card with the same cost. | |
Charm is a Treasure card from Empires. It can be used as a gainer, if there are differently-named cards with the same cost that you want; otherwise, you can use it as a Silver with +Buy.
FAQ
Unofficial FAQ (2022)
- These are cumulative, and each Charm does not have to gain a different card, just a different card from the one whose gain triggered the Charms' effect.
- For example if you play two Charms and then gain a Forum, the Charms could gain you two Duchies.
- If the next card you gain triggers other on-gain effects, you can choose the order of those effects and the additional card you gain from Charm. For example if you play Charm, choosing to gain an extra card, and then gain Villa, you may put the Villa in your hand, get +1 Action, and return to your Action phase either before or after gaining an additional card costing
. - The costs have to be identical; for example if you play Charm and buy Overlord, you can gain City Quarter, which also costs
, but not Fortune, which costs 
.
Other rules clarifications
- As a result of errata in 2022, Charm's gain effect activates the next time you gain something, regardless of whether you gained a card by buying it or some other way (e.g. War Chest or Advance).
- If the next card you gain changes its own cost, that can affect what Charm can gain. For example, if you play 2 Charms (both choosing the 2nd option) and then gain a
-cost Destrier, the first Charm gains a -cost card, and the second Charm gains a -cost card. - If you gain a Knight, Charm can gain the next Knight from the pile (unless either of them are Sir Martin).
- If you gain a Charm, play it with Mining Road, and choose the 2nd option, Charm won't trigger off of its own gain (it will trigger off your next gain).
Deprecated official FAQ (2021) |
|
Deprecated rules clarifications (up until 2021) |
|
Strategy
you’ll have after using Charm for its +1 Buy + option.In yellow: These bars represent the highest
cost of both cards gained after using Charm for its extra gain option.In red: The virtual total economy of your added cards while using Charm for its extra gain option. For instance, gaining two
cards is as if you had 
and 2 Buys.Charm is a flexible Treasure that gives you two options for planning out your gains during your Buy phase. The two options shape Charm into either a Silver with +Buy, or a gainer limited by the economy you’ve amassed this turn. Both options allow you to gain an extra card, which accelerates the building of your deck. Charm is best in Kingdoms where there are multiple desirable cards at the same pricepoint. A common case of this is two cards, such as Journeyman and Bazaar. In this case, Charm is essentially generating and a +Buy, provided you can hit without using Charm for . Charm is usually best in engines that can support the large hand sizes needed to generate the required to hit those pricepoints without Charm’s help.
Charm is typically best in the mid- and late-game. In the opening and early-game when your deck is generating less , you’re less likely to hit the desired pricepoints to use Charm as a gainer. If there are multiple desirable low-cost cards, however, Charm’s +Buy can be useful. In the endgame, it may be possible to gain multiple Duchies at once and possibly pileout by buying another with multiple Charms in play. This may be particularly relevant in Kingdoms with Duke.
Charm is less powerful in Kingdoms with other sources of +Buy or gains, or without multiple desirable cards at the same pricepoint. A limiting factor of Charm’s extra gain option is that the gained card must be different than the one you bought. So at , for instance, you won’t be able to add two Conspirators. However, with more than one Charm played, you can gain multiple copies of the same card. If you want multiple Laboratories, for instance, with from other sources, simply buy another card (such as Charm itself), and each Charm in play can gain a Laboratory. Another weakness of Charm is that it’s reliant on the rest of your deck hitting the pricepoints necessary for it to be useful—in inconsistent decks Charm is less likely to be a good gainer, and in decks that need to use stop cards to generate , Charm exacerbates draw issues. Charm may also be worse with cards that have buy order considerations, such as Fisherman.
Charm has a notable synergy with Prince. Buying a Prince allows you to gain another card, which could be a Province. This can become an efficient way of scoring in a megaturn, in which you play many Charms and then gain as many Provinces as Charms you’ve played.
Versions
English versions
| Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
When you play this, choose one: +1 Buy and +; or the next time you buy a card this turn, you may also gain a differently named card with the same cost. |
Empires | June 2016 |
 |
Choose one: +1 Buy and +; or the next time you buy a card this turn, you may also gain a differently named card with the same cost. |
Empires (2021 printing) | ||
 |
Choose one: +1 Buy and +; or the next time you gain a card this turn, you may also gain a differently named card with the same cost. |
Change when-buy to when-gain | June 29, 2022 |
Other language versions
| Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch | Geluksbrenger (lit. good-luck bringer) |
Kies bij het spelen van deze kaart één van deze 2: +1 Aanschaf en + ;of de volgende keer dat je deze beurt een kaart koopt, mag je daarnaast een kaart met een andere naam met dezelfde waarde pakken. |
(2016) | ||
| Finnish | Onnenkalu (lit. good-luck charm) | ||||
| French | Sort (lit. magic spell) |
 |
Lorsque vous jouez cette carte, choisissez : +1 Achat et +; ou la prochaine fois que vous achetez une carte à ce tour, vous pouvez aussi recevoir une carte différente de même coût. |
||
| German | Zauber (lit. magic spell) |
 |
 |
Wenn du diese Karte ausspielst, wähle eins: +1 Kauf und + oder: Wenn du in diesem Zug das nächste Mal eine Karte kaufst, darfst du eine weitere Karte mit gleichen Kosten aber anderem Namen nehmen. |
(2016) |
| Zauber (lit. magic spell) |
 |
Wähle eins: +1 Kauf und + oder wenn du in diesem Zug das nächste Mal eine Karte kaufst, darfst du zusätzlich eine Karte nehmen, die die gleichen Kosten aber einen anderen Namen hat. |
2. Edition (2021) | ||
| Zauber (lit. magic spell) |
 |
Wähle eins: +1 Kauf und + oder wenn du das nächste Mal in diesem Zug eine Karte nimmst, darfst du zusätzlich eine Karte mit anderem Namen nehmen, die gleich viel kostet. |
|||
| Japanese | 御守り (pron. omori, lit. amulet) |
次のうち1つを選ぶ:「+、+1 購入」 :「このターン、次にカードを購入するとき、 それと同コストの異なるカード1枚を獲得してもよい」。 |
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| Polish | Klejnot (lit. jewel) |
 |
Kiedy zagrywasz tę kartę wybierz jedno: +1 zakup i +; albo kiedy następnym razem kupisz w tej turze kartę, możesz dodać kartę o innej nazwie i takim samym koszcie. |
(2017) | |
| Russian | Безделушка (pron. byezdyelushka, lit. trinket) |
Trivia
The charm depicted is a Roman dodecahedron.
Secret History
that made cards you buy come with different cards at the same cost. We did crazy things with that for a while, then finally I looked at ways to weaken it. I tried several variations in rapid succession, that limited you to one gain per turn. There was one that gave you a if you had at least when you played it. The best was a Reaction version - a Treasure worth and a Buy, can discard when gaining a card to gain a different card with the same cost. Discarding it gives you the potential to get loops, where you redraw it repeatedly; Dave Goldthorpe found some of these. So now it's a choose-one. It doesn't get to be a pretty yellow/blue card, but is pretty similar.
