Courtier

Courtier
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Claus Stephan
Card text
Reveal a card from your hand. For each type it has (Action, Attack, etc.), choose one: +1 Action; or +1 Buy; or +; or gain a Gold. The choices must be different.

Courtier is an Action card from the second edition of Intrigue. It offers you choices for a variety of effects; and if you have a card in hand with multiple types, you can get more bonuses.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• First reveal a card from your hand, then count the types.
• The types are the words on the bottom line – including Action, Attack, Curse, Reaction, Treasure, and Victory (with more in expansions).
• Then choose one different thing per type the card had; if you revealed a card with two types, you pick two things.
• For example you could reveal a Copper and choose "gain a Gold," or reveal a Mill and choose "+1 Action" and "+."
• If you gain a Gold, put the Gold into your discard pile.

Other Rules clarifications

• If you play Courtier twice, you may reveal either the same card or a different card the second time, and choose the same bonuses or different ones.
• Revealing a card with four types (such as Werewolf or Dame Josephine) gives you all 4 bonuses.
• Capitalism, Inheritance, and Charlatan can change the number of types a card has, and Courtier takes that into account when counting types.
• If you reveal a card with 5 types (such as a Stronghold affected by Capitalism), you get the 4 bonuses and nothing extra.
• If you use Elder on Courtier, you get one extra choice, not one extra choice per type. So if you reveal a card with 2 types, you get 3 choices from Courtier.
• If you can't reveal a card (because you have no cards in hand), you get no bonus. This is true even if you play this with Elder.

Strategy

Courtier is a payload card that can offer a high degree of flexibility in order to fit your needs for a given turn: it can be either non-terminal or terminal depending on your terminal space, greatly increase your deck’s overall payload by both gaining a Gold and providing , or provide an adjustable amount of +Buy. However, because this flexibility is dependent on collision with a multi-type target, and it is a stop card, Courtier requires good deck control for effective use. In Kingdoms with stronger payload (e.g. Governor) or where said collision is not possible (either because there is not a suitable card to reveal, or it is difficult to achieve deck control), Courtier is likely skippable. Otherwise, it’s often best acquired in the midgame, and one or two copies is typically sufficient.

While Courtier’s value is heavily dependent on the presence of a useful card to reveal, it’s very rare for a Kingdom to lack any cards with at least two types, such as an Action that is also an Attack or Duration. Often, there will be several options from which to choose, and so an important consideration is whether those cards offer sufficient benefits in their own right. For example, Village Green is significantly stronger than Ruined Library, even though both have two types for Courtier. Sometimes, you may additionally have to decide between cards with different numbers of types, such as Margrave and Idol. While one may be a significantly stronger addition to your deck, the theoretically weaker card might interact more productively with Courtier.

The role Courtier plays depends on how many of its options you have access to.

• With a two-type card, Courtier is a solid and somewhat flexible payload card that can be used, for example, as a terminal Gold that comes with +Buy or a non-terminal Gold gainer.
• Three-type cards are reasonably common and are often the most desirable targets where available as they maximize Courtier’s flexibility. The presence of a convenient one, such as Enchantress, may significantly enhance the appeal of Courtier, particularly if terminal space is tight: for example, non-terminally generating and a Buy is a strong effect, while the ability to take both Gold and along with a +Buy can enable you to ramp up your payload quickly.
• Although a four-type card (such as Werewolf) may sometimes be attractive as a Courtier target, this forces Courtier to act as a mandatory Gold gainer, which is not always desirable.

Because Courtier can generate payload both directly (via its + option) and indirectly (via Gold gaining), it’s often important to consider which of these suits your deck better in the long and short term. Often, choosing just one of these options is a trade-off between an immediate (which might help you hit a price point) and the longer-term benefit of adding an extra each turn to your total available payload. Occasionally, however, you might be able to gain-and-play the Gold (thus giving you both short- and long-term benefits), or use it immediately for some trash-for-benefit effect. Generally, if you can handle the extra stop card and are still building up your payload, gaining a Gold will be the preferable option. Otherwise, or in cases where Action-based payload is particularly desirable (e.g. in a draw-to-x deck), it’s likely that you’ll prefer to solely use the + option.

A couple of synergies enhance Courtier’s flexibility even further.

• Capitalism both frees up an option for Courtier (as it is effectively non-terminal in the Buy phase) and increases the number of types on many cards. Militia, for example, has three types under the effect of Capitalism.
• Way of the Chameleon allows Courtier to additionally act as strong non-terminal draw on top of its payload abilities, even if you can only reveal a two-type card.

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.

• June 2022 calculation by 34Witches of how often fully random Courtier Kingdoms have multi-type cards

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Reveal a card from your hand. For each type it has (Action, Attack, etc.), choose one: +1 Action; or +1 Buy; or +; or gain a Gold. The choices must be different.	Intrigue 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Makelaar (lit. broker)			Toon een kaart uit je hand. Voor elke soort die de kaart heeft (Actie, Aanval, enz.), kies één van de volgende: +1 Actie; of +1 aanschaf;of +; of pak een Goud. De keuzes moeten verschillend zijn.	2. Edition (2016)
French	Courtisan
German	Höflinge (lit. courtiers)			Decke eine deiner Handkarten auf. Für jeden Kartentyp (Aktion, Angriff…), den sie hat, wähle eine andere Option: +1 Aktion oder +1 Kauf oder + oder nimm ein Gold.	2. Edition (2021) one or more other versions listed here
Japanese	廷臣 (pron. teishin)			手札1枚を公開する。それが持つ種類 (アクション、アタック等)1つにつき、次のうち1つを選ぶ (異なるものを選ぶ): 「+1 アクション」:「+1 購入」:「+」:「金貨1枚を獲得する」
Polish	Dworzanie (lit. courtiers)				Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook.
Russian	Придворный (pron. pridvorny)			Раскройте карту из руки. Для каждого присущего ей типа (Действие, Атака, и т. д.) выберите одно из четырёх: +1 Действие; или +1 Покупка; или +; или получите Золото. Выборы не должны повторяться.
Spanish	Cortesano			Revela una carta de tu mano. Por cada tipo que tenga (Acción, Ataque, etc.), elige una opción: +1 Acción; o +1 Compra; o +; o ganas una carta de Oro. Las opciones deben ser distintas.	(2016)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

I wanted yet another card that was good with Nobles / Harem / Mill. Counting types was a way to trigger off of those cards, but would also work with Attacks, Reactions, Durations, and other things. In a few cases you can get to three, and one card takes you to four (Dame Josephine). To stop it from going crazy when it gets to three, there are two strong options and two weaker ones. All four get used though.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion 2nd Editions