Coin of the Realm

Coin of the Realm
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Treasure - Reserve
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Ryan Laukat
Card text
Put this on your Tavern mat. After you play an Action card, you may call this, for +2 Actions.

Coin of the Realm is a Treasure–Reserve card from Adventures. It functions as a village that waits until the moment you need it: while it's equivalent to a Copper on play, it can be called from your Tavern mat later to give you +2 Actions. Unlike most villages, Coin of the Realm's effect is delayed: it usually can't increase your terminal space on the turn when you play it, since you typically play it in the Buy phase but need the extra Actions in your Action phase.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• This is a Treasure worth .
• You play it in your Buy phase, like other Treasures.
• When you play it, it goes on your Tavern mat. It produces that turn but is no longer in play. It stays on the mat until you call it.
• You can call it after resolving playing an Action card, for +2 Actions (which will let you play further Action cards).
• Move the Coin of the Realm into play when you call it, but it does not make that turn, it just gives +2 Actions.
• It is discarded that turn with your other cards in play.

Other rules clarifications

• You can call Coin of the Realm if you play Actions outside of your Action phase (e.g. playing a card with Toil, or playing a Werewolf at Night, or playing a Caravan Guard on another player's turn), but you don't get to use the +2 Actions to play Actions from your hand.
• If you play this with an Action card (such as Black Market or Storyteller), you may immediately after resolving that Action call this for +2 Actions.
• Unlike Royal Carriage, if the Action you played is no longer in play (e.g. because it was a Reserve card that went onto your Tavern mat), you can still call this.

Strategy

Coin of the Realm is a Reserve Treasure that acts as a cheap and very flexible village, roughly comparable to two Villagers per play. Since it generates only as much as a Copper, its primary role is not as payload, but (unusually for a Treasure) to provide terminal space and reliability.

Compared to most other villages, Coin of the Realm has a few distinguishing factors:

1. First and foremost, Coin of the Realm operates on a delay: since it's usually impossible to play it during your Action phase, you instead need to play enough Coins during each Buy phase to fulfill your terminal space needs for the next turn. This means you need to have gained them even earlier. It also means that an unlucky turn in which you fail to draw enough Coins can make your next turn significantly worse too. Additionally, you will often want twice as many total copies as the number you need to call each turn; by calling one Coin and playing another (setting it up for next turn), you maintain a constant amount of terminal space. Effects that allow you to play and call the same copy in the same turn (e.g. Storyteller, Herb Gatherer, and Black Market), reduce this need for pairs of Coins.
2. On the other hand, being able to call it whenever you need terminal space means that Coin of the Realm is very good for reliability. An engine with a more typical village can still often be improved by adding a couple Coins, which will help you avoid dud turns when your starting hand contains terminal draw without a village. Additionally, unlike other villages which are somewhat reliant on your deck control to ensure they collide with your terminals, Coin simply needs to be played before those terminals themselves collide. This means that it can be relatively more effective in decks that do not have much deck control, for example money strategies or early-game decks.
3. As a Treasure, Coin of the Realm consumes no terminal space when played. This means it cannot be drawn dead, and that a single copy provides as much terminal space as two Village plays. One downside is that Coin is a stop card, so you’ll need slightly more draw than you would with another village.
4. Because of the above properties, the best time to add Coins to your deck differs from other villages. In the opening and early game it is similar to a Copper, slowing down your cycling without significantly helping you hit price points. However, because it is cheap and you need to account for its delayed nature, it can be a good idea to gain it when the opportunity cost is low and play it to set it up for future turns. Later in the game, sources of +Buy will help keep that opportunity cost low while building.

Although Coin of the Realm's is usually best thought of as a bonus and not the main reason to gain it, leaving Coins on your Tavern mat does slightly reduce the amount of payload you will have available next turn. This needs to be taken into consideration when you're deciding how much payload you need to add, and in rare cases it may be a good move to call a Coin even when you don't need the +Actions in order to increase your total payload for next turn.

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.

• werothegreat's 2015 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		When you play this, put it on your Tavern mat. Directly after resolving an Action, you may call this, for +2 Actions.	Adventures	April 2015
		When you play this, put it on your Tavern mat. Directly after you finish playing an Action card, you may call this, for +2 Actions.	Adventures (2016 printing)	August 2017
		Put this on your Tavern mat. After you play an Action card, you may call this, for +2 Actions.	Adventures (2021 printing)

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Koninklijke munt (lit. royal coin)
Finnish	Kuninkaallinen raha (lit. royal coin)
French	Monnaie Royale (lit. royal coin)			Quand vous jouez cette carte, placez-la sur votre plateau Taverne. Immédiatement après avoir fini de jouer une carte Action, vous pouvez recourir à cette carte pour +2 Actions.
German	Königliche Münzen (lit. royal coins)			Wenn du diese Karte ausspielst, lege sie auf dein Wirtshaustableau. Sofort nachdem du eine Aktionskarte ausgeführt hast, darfst du diese Karte von deinem Tableau aufrufen. Wenn du das tust: +2 Aktionen	(2015)
	Königliche Münzen (lit. royal coins)			Lege diese Karte auf dein Wirtshaustableau. Nachdem du eine Aktionskarte gespielt hast, darfst du diese Karte für +2 Aktionen aufrufen.	(Nachdruck 2021)
Japanese	法貨 (pron. hōka)			これをあなたの酒場マットの上ロ置く アクションカード1枚の使用を解決した直後、+2 アクションを得るためにこれを呼び出してもよい。
Polish	Moneta obiegowa				Although Polish version is not released, this card is referred to in the Polish version of Empires rulebook
Russian	Королевская Монета (pron. korolyevskaya monyeta, lit. royal coin)

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

Coin of the Realm is a weird one. When you play it it makes and goes on your mat. On some future turn, you call it to get to play more Actions. So it's a village that you can't (normally) use the turn you play it. And it's a village that just waits until you need it. You draw your two Heroes together, play one, call the Coin, and play the other one. You can also use Hero to gain a Coin. Will the other Reserve cards all be combos with Hero? *checks…* No. Not all of them.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Adventures Previews #2 - Guide, Duplicate, Coin of the Realm

Secret History

One of the first Reserve cards was the classic concept of a Village that's there for you when you really need it. At first it was an Action. The tracking was kind of tricky, and at the same time it was tricky getting it to a good place relative to Village and Fishing Village. Loquacious playtester Matthew Engel suggested making it a treasure. It's nicely distinct from other villages, and the tracking is not bad - while you do need to remember if you put it on the mat this turn in your Buy phase, that's just for the amount of time between putting it down and buying a card. This also makes it a strange exotic card; it's a village that doesn't work the turn you play it (barring certain combos).

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

Donald X.'s opinion

Coin of the Realm is very cool. It's not always the best village on the table; it's not great to have to draw it as a Copper. But it's a fantastic village when you just need a little villaging and aren't drawing your deck. And of course it's always nice to have that insurance, even with other villages doing your main villaging. It was an Action originally, and LF suggested making it a Treasure. That means it's never* dead, which is also cool.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Coin of the Realm

Similarity to Villagers

Possibly what you're looking for is: I wasn't going to let Coin of the Realm stop me from doing a good mechanic. If Reserve cards had come in a later expansion than Villagers, Coin of the Realm wouldn't have been so compelling to do, in the same way that there isn't a Reserve card that's like Coffers tokens.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Renaissance Previews #2: Acting Troupe, Sculptor, Recruiter