Forager

Forager
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Dark Ages
Illustrator(s)	Eric J Carter
Card text
+1 Action +1 Buy Trash a card from your hand, then + per differently named Treasure in the trash.

Forager is an Action from Dark Ages. It is a nonterminal trasher that trashes one card at a time and gives you some , depending on how many different Treasures have been trashed.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• Trash a card from your hand if you can.
• Whether or not you can, you still get + per differently named Treasure in the trash, plus +1 Action and +1 Buy.
• Multiple copies of the same Treasure card do not increase how much you get.
• For example if the trash has four Coppers and a Counterfeit, you get +.

Other Rules clarifications

• First you trash a card, then you calculate how much you get. The card you trash with Forager, if it is a Treasure, may contribute to this calculation.
• Effects that are triggered by trashing a card take place before calculating your +. For instance, if you have Sewers, and you trash a card with Forager, whereupon Sewers lets you trash an additional card, a Treasure trashed by Sewers can also figure into the calculation.
• However, the amount of Forager fields is calculated the instant after it trashes a card (once all when-trashed effects are resolved); do not wait until the Buy phase to check how many Treasures are in the trash.
• If Treasures are removed from the trash (with e.g. Treasurer), future Foragers will give less .
• If you have Capitalism, Forager will count Action-Treasures in the trash.

Strategy

As a non-terminal trasher, Forager is useful for trashing your starting cards to set up an engine. Forager can be a good open if trashing is a top priority early on, but if hitting pricepoints is a high priority, it can be better to delay Forager until later in the early game. If purchased in the opening, its first few trashes are likely to be weak, producing no , but this will improve as the trash fills with Copper and perhaps other Treasures.

Forager is a strong source of +Buy in the early to midgame, but it can be difficult to keep it sustainable in the endgame because it needs cards to trash. Using it for extra Buys can be viable with a source of gains, however: for example, you might have a gainer that is restricted to gaining Silver, but by gaining and trashing a Silver with Forager each turn, you can buy multiple more valuable cards.

Forager is rarely a major source of , but it can become one in some Kingdoms, particularly those with trash-for-benefit or perhaps trashing attacks (e.g. Knights). In these Kingdoms, it is common that Silver and Gold end up in the trash. Some Heirlooms also commonly end up in the trash. In other Kingdoms, Forager might be the only source of Action-based payload, and therefore useful in a draw-to-X engine.

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.

• Kirian's 2013 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Action +1 Buy Trash a card from your hand. + per differently named Treasure in the trash.	Dark Ages 1st Edition	August 2012
		+1 Action +1 Buy Trash a card from your hand, then + per differently named Treasure in the trash.	Dark Ages 2nd Edition	September 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Sběrač (lit. fruit-picker)			+1 akce +1 nákup Zahoď kartu z ruky na smetiště. + za každou kartu peněz s odlišným názvem na smetišti.
Dutch	Jager-Verzamelaar (lit. hunter-gatherer)
Finnish	Keräilijä (lit. collector)
French	Cueilleur
German	Mundraub (lit. food theft)			+1 Aktion +1 Kauf Entsorge eine Karte aus deiner Hand. + pro Geldkarte mit unterschiedlichem Namen im Müllstapel.	(2012)
German	Mundraub (lit. food theft)			+1 Aktion +1 Kauf Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten, dann: + pro Geldkarte mit unterschiedlichem Namen im Müll.	(2019)
Japanese	採集者 (pron. saishū-sha, lit. gatherer)			+1 アクション +1 購入 手札1枚を廃棄し、その後 廃棄置き場にある異なる財宝カード1種類につき+。
Korean	식량 약탈자 (pron. siglyang yagtalja, lit. food marauder)
Russian	Фуражир (pron. furazhir)
Spanish	Merodeador (lit. marauder)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

I wanted cards that cared about the trash. There were not a lot of reasonable things to do. If cards care too much, people end up spreading the trash out on the table, and well how big is your table anyway. This mechanic worked fine though. Taking a cue from Trade Route, it cares about the variety of treasures that are in the trash. This normally only goes up, but can go down due to cards that steal from the trash, and that's fun too. The card originally cost , so that you could use it to buy two more of them right away, but that turned out to be too strong. An early version I don't remember says "Trash a card from your hand. + per different treasure in the trash, +1 Card per different victory card in the trash," with no +Action/+Buy.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dark Ages Cards