Groundskeeper

Groundskeeper
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Empires
Illustrator(s)	Alayna Danner
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action This turn, when you gain a Victory card, +1 .

Groundskeeper is an Action card from Empires. It's a cantrip that gains   tokens when you gain a Victory card.

FAQ

Unofficial FAQ (2022)

• This can trigger multiple times in a turn, for cards gained different ways. For example you could play Groundskeeper, then play Engineer gaining an Estate and taking 1 , then in your Buy phase buy a Duchy taking another +1 .
• Multiple Groundskeepers are cumulative.

Other rules clarifications

• In 2022, Groundskeeper got errata that changed it from a "while this is in play" ability to a "this turn" ability. This means that now if you use Crown to play a Groundskeeper twice, then each Victory card you gain that turn will come with 2 .

Deprecated official FAQ (2021)

This can trigger multiple times in a turn, for cards gained different ways. For example you could play Groundskeeper, then play Engineer gaining an Estate and taking 1 , then in your Buy phase buy a Duchy taking another +1 . Multiple Groundskeepers are cumulative. If you Crown a Groundskeeper, there is still just one Groundskeeper in play, so you only get +1  per Victory card gained.

Strategy

Groundskeeper is an expensive but potentially powerful cantrip which provides a strong source of alt-VP. Groundskeeper can help you accumulate large amounts of   when you can both establish deck control and make use of sources of +Buy or gainers, with the aim of gaining multiple Victory cards at once with multiple Groundskeepers in play.

In Kingdoms that offer the deck control and additional gains necessary for Groundskeeper to be effective, games often follow a three phase pattern. First, you build your deck so that you will be able to play all of your Groundskeepers consistently, likely by thinning your starting cards and/or building an engine. Second, you add as many Groundskeepers as possible, usually in the late midgame. This is because unlike most other forms of payload, adding a Groundskeeper earlier does not help you build. Additionally, because Groundskeeper is a cantrip, you can increase the amount of   you can score on your greening turns later in the endgame without compromising your deck control now. Third, you start greening while reaping the benefits of all the Groundskeepers you’ve acquired up until that point. In Kingdoms with fast strategies available, you may not have time for this, and should consider gaining fewer Groundskeepers or none at all. When not using the   gaining effect Groundskeeper is just an expensive cantrip that does nothing.

There are several broad and sometimes overlapping methods of scoring   with Groundskeeper:

• buying Provinces that are worth more   than usual.
• ending the game with a megaturn.
• gradually adding Victory cards to an extent that the engine can handle.
• buying many cheap Victory cards and trashing them.

Gaining Provinces typically scores much less   than buying or gaining multiple cheap Victory cards with plenty of Groundskeepers in play, so it is usually better to focus on the latter when possible. An example megaturn strategy could mean causing an ending on piles that includes emptying the Estates; gaining these on the last turn means they don’t harm your engine. Finally, some alt-VP cards synergize well with Groundskeeper: for example, Mill and Nobles can be added to your deck, building and scoring at the same time, while Island and Distant Lands can also be added to an engine and quickly removed again. On the other hand, gaining Victory cards to score   with Groundskeeper and then trashing them (e.g. with Watchtower) or exiling them (e.g., with Sanctuary) can maintain engine reliability without losing the  .

Groundskeeper synergizes exceptionally well with sources of +Buy and gainers, as you will want to gain both multiple copies of Groundskeeper itself and (later) multiple green cards at once in order to take advantage of all your Groundskeepers in play. Altar is a good example of a gainer that works well with Groundskeeper, as it can gain both Groundskeeper and Duchy, while also helping you achieve deck control and build in the early game.

If Groundskeepers are important, the pile can easily run out and winning the split may be important: in a long game, if you have the most Groundskeepers you will slowly but consistently outscore your opponents. Some Exile effects (e.g., Camel Train, Invest, and Transport) can be used to acquire Groundskeepers cheaply and add them to your deck later, when their scoring effect is about to become relevant, by buying or gaining a single one. It is important that you monitor the Groundskeeper pile in this case to make sure it does not run out before you can discard your copies from Exile.

Some effects seem to be synergistic with Groundskeepers at first glance but offer no special benefit: Exiling cards from the Supply is not gaining them, so Enclave and Way of the Worm provide no extra   with Groundskeeper.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Card +1 Action While this is in play, when you gain a Victory card, +1 .	Empires	June 2016
		+1 Card +1 Action While you have this in play, when you gain a Victory card, +1 .		January 29, 2021
		+1 Card +1 Action This turn, when you gain a Victory card, +1 .		June 29, 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Kasteelhovenier (lit. castle gardener)			+1 Kaart +1 Actie Zolang deze kaart in het spel is: als je een overwinningskaart pakt, +1 .
Finnish	Puutarhuri (lit. gardener)
French	Jardinière (lit. gardener, explicitly feminine)
German	Gärtnerin (lit. gardener, explicitly feminine)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Falls diese Karte im Spiel ist, wenn du eine Punktekarte nimmst: +1 -Marker	(2016)
	Gärtnerin (lit. gardener, explicitly feminine)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Ist diese Karte im Spiel, wenn du eine Punktekarte nimmst, +1 .	2. Edition (2021)
	Gärtnerin (lit. gardener, explicitly feminine)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Wenn du in diesem Zug eine Punktekarte nimmst, +1 .
Japanese	庭師 (pron. niwashi, lit. gardener)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション これが場にある間、勝利点カード1枚を獲得するとき、+1 。
Polish	Ogrodnik (lit. gardener)			+1 karta +1 akcja Kiedy ta karta znajduje się w grze, +1  za każdym razem, gdy dodajesz kartę Zwycięstwa.	(2017)
Russian	Садовник (pron. sadovnik, lit. gardener)

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

Groundskeeper is pretty basic; all VP cards you gain under her watch come with extra  . That applies to both bought and otherwise gained cards, which can sometimes be exciting. They're cumulative; you can play a line of four Groundskeepers, buy an Estate and get +4 .

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Empires Previews #3: VP Tokens

Secret History

For strumphf's 2022 advent calendar, Donald X. went in-depth on the development of Groundskeeper.

First this cost and let you pay extra when buying a card to get +1 . It was nuts. It shifted to only working on Victory cards and then to costing up front and none later.

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