Curser

Witch, a curser card.

A curser is any card which has the potential to distribute Curse cards to other players. Cursers are generally considered among the strongest cards at their price points, since the effect of putting Curses into an opponent's deck is very powerful: it simultaneously reduces their  , puts useless cards in their future hands, and usually slows down their future deck cycling. The presence of one or more cursers in a kingdom therefore has a major influence on gameplay; most winning strategies will involve gaining cursers. This early-game strength is sometimes offset by late-game weakness: since there are a finite number of Curses in the supply, cursers often lose most or all of their value after all the Curses have been distributed, for example Witch is a very strong card, but its secondary effect of drawing two cards is very weak at . Most cursers are Action–Attack cards.

List of cursers

The cards in italics have been removed.

Primary cursers

These are Kingdom cards that consistently cause other players to acquire Curses in ways that they do not always have the option to avoid:

• Dominion: Witch
• Seaside: Sea Hag, Sea Witch
• Alchemy: Familiar
• Prosperity: Charlatan, Mountebank
• Hinterlands: Ill-Gotten Gains
• Guilds: Soothsayer
• Renaissance: Old Witch
• Menagerie: Coven
• Plunder: Siren, Trickster

Circle of Witches, from Allies, is not a Kingdom card itself, but it allows you to use Liaison Kingdom cards as cursers.

Secondary cursers

These cards can cause opponents to gain Curses, but in more restricted circumstances:

Cards that depend on the top card of your opponent's deck:

• Intrigue: Swindler—may give a Curse when they reveal a card costing , often a Copper.
• Cornucopia: Jester—gives a Curse when they reveal a Victory card.
• Adventures: Giant—gives a Curse when they reveal a card not costing between and .
• Allies: Barbarian—gives a Curse when they reveal a card not costing or more.

Cards that require a specific condition from the user:

• Intrigue: Replace—it only distributes Curses if you gain a Victory card
• Cornucopia: Followers—as this is a Prize, there is only a single copy which is rather difficult to gain.
• Hinterlands: Cauldron—only distributes a Curse when you gain your third Action card of the turn
• Hinterlands: Witch's Hut—only distributes a Curse if you discard two Action cards
• Empires: Catapult — distributes a Curse only if you trash a card costing or more
• Nocturne: Idol — distributes a Curse only if you have an even number of Idols in play
• Allies: Sorceress—distributes a Curse only if you can guess what card is on top of your deck

Cards whose effect can be avoided by your opponent in some circumstances:

• Intrigue: Torturer—your opponent is always free to not take the Curse and discard instead; in games without villages it's relatively likely that few Curses will be distributed by Torturer
• Seaside: Blockade—it only distributes Curses to players who gain the same card you chose
• Cornucopia: Young Witch—your opponent can reveal the Bane to avoid gaining a Curse
• Adventures: Swamp Hag — your opponent may avoid gaining a Curse if they choose to buy no cards on their turn
• Menagerie: Black Cat—distributes a Curse only when another player gains a Victory card
• Allies: Sorcerer—distributes a Curse only to opponents who can't guess what card is on top of their deck.

Other cards that can distribute Curses but are not usually considered cursers

Unlike the primary and secondary cursers which always affect other players, the cards in this category have other primary purposes than handing out Curses or they do not only affect the opponent of the user.

• Masquerade (from Intrigue) and Ambassador (from Seaside) can only redistribute Curses after they have been gained through other means.
• Seaside: Embargo— is an effect that can sometimes be played around and which also affects the user.
• Adventures: Messenger—causes all players to gain a card costing up to , which can be a Curse; but it affects the user as well as their opponents and is more likely to be used for something else.

Some effects use gaining Curses as a drawback or penalty to the user:

• Nocturne: Cursed Gold
• Empires: Ritual
• Renaissance: Hideout—gives you a Curse if you trash a Victory card
• Menagerie: Desperation

Doom cards are cursers when they reveal certain Hexes: Plague, and sometimes Locusts. This can both be from an attack like Werewolf or as a drawback to an effect, in the case of Leprechaun or Cursed Village.

Strategy

For strategic advice, refer to the strategy sections on the relevant card pages, especially Witch.

Gallery

Primary Cursers

Secondary Cursers

Removed cards

Trivia

Dark Ages is the only expansion that does not contain a curser; however, it does contain two cards (Marauder and Cultist) that cause opponents to gain Ruins, serving a similar function.

Cursers relating to expansion theme

It can be argued that the main curser from most expansions (with the exception of Guilds) closely represents the expansion's theme:

It was just a coincidence. Or, if you like, a natural consequence of "each other player gains a Curse" being simple, every set wanting simple on-theme cards, and no set wanting too many ways to give out Curses.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

• Dominion: Witch has only a minor "vanilla" effect other than cursing; the base game's theme is cards with simple effects.
• Intrigue: Torturer gives the opponent a choice about whether to be cursed; Intrigue's theme is cards with a choice of effects.
• Seaside: Blockade and Sea Witch are Duration attacks; Seaside's main theme is Duration cards.
• Alchemy: Familiar is non-terminal and has in its cost; Alchemy's theme is Potions and action chaining.
• Prosperity: Charlatan turns Curses into Coppers; one of Prosperity's themes is Treasures.
• Cornucopia: Young Witch increases the number of differently-named cards in the Kingdom; Cornucopia's theme is variety.
• Hinterlands: Cauldron cares about how many cards you've gained, while Witch's Hut is a sifter; Hinterland's main theme is on-gain effects, with a sub-theme of discarding.
• Adventures: Giant uses the Journey token, and Swamp Hag is a duration; Adventures expands on Duration cards and uses miscellaneous tokens.
• Empires: Catapult is part of a split pile; split piles are one of the themes in Empires.
• Nocturne: Idol can give you Boons, and Plague is a Hex, which are new mechanics in Nocturne.
• Renaissance: Old Witch allows attacked players to trash a Curse from their hand, and is relatively simple; One of Renaissance's themes is trashing, and having simpler cards than previous expansions.
• Menagerie: Coven and Black Cat match two of Menagerie's themes: Exiling and Reactions, respectively.
• Allies: Sorcerer and Sorceress are part of split piles, and Circle of Witches is an Ally; those are the Allies expansion's main structural themes.
• Plunder: Siren is a Duration, and Trickster interacts with Treasures; Plunder's main themes are Durations and Treasures.

More Cursing attacks in recent expansions

Many of the more recent expansions/second editions (specifically Menagerie, Allies, Seaside 2E, Hinterlands 2E, and Plunder) have included multiple Cursing attacks.

It's something I've decided to embrace, due to all the ways Witches are the best attacks. They're simpler, they work, they're the most fun. As you know, Militias are less fun and harder to vary the attack on; Knights are hated/loved; Spies are awful; and none-of-the-above Duration attacks are just hard to come by.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

See Also

• Junking attack