Horse Traders
| Horse Traders | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Cost |
 |
| Type(s) | Action - Reaction |
| Kingdom card? | Yes |
| Set |
Cornucopia |
| Illustrator(s) | Jeff Himmelman |
| Card text | |
|
+1 Buy +  Discard 2 cards. When another player plays an Attack card, you may first set this aside from your hand. If you do, then at the start of your next turn, +1 Card and return this to your hand. | |
Horse Traders is an Action–Reaction card from Cornucopia. Played as an Action, it gives you and a Buy at the cost of discarding two cards; as a Reaction, it defends against handsize attacks by setting itself aside and drawing an extra card at the start of your next turn.
Horse Traders was removed from the second edition of Cornucopia & Guilds.
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When you play this, you get +1 Buy and +, and discard 2 cards from your hand.
- If you do not have enough cards to discard, just discard what you can; you still get the +1 Buy and +.
- When another player plays an Attack card, before that card does anything, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, you set this aside, and at the start of your next turn, you return it to your hand and draw a card.
- While it is set aside, it is not in play or in your hand, and cannot be further revealed to Attacks. Therefore it will only work on one Attack per round of turns.
- You can reveal it for an Attack and still play it on your next turn.
- You can reveal multiple Horse Traders to a single Attack. For example, if another player plays Followers, you could reveal and set aside two Horse Traders from your hand, then gain a Curse but discard no cards, as you would only have three cards in hand at that point. Then on your next turn you would pick up the two Horse Traders and also draw two cards.
Other rules clarifications
- If the game ends while Horse Traders is set aside, it is returned to its owner's deck before scoring; this can matter for alt-VP cards such as Gardens.
Strategy
Horse Traders is a weak terminal payload stop card. Its first main problem is that it is inefficient payload which compares poorly to terminal Silvers, as it pushes you towards a money density of 
per stop card. Its second main problem is that it effectively costs cards in your hand. This increases the amount of draw you need for overdraw, and if you do not have weak cards (e.g. Estate) to discard, could actively hurt your economy. Horse Traders does, however, have two main use cases.
- Horse Traders can be +Buy of last resort, which may make it relevant if the Kingdom is lacking better (especially non-terminal) alternatives like Market Square. Horse Traders may be more appealing in this role if you have an excess of terminal space or draw (e.g. draw-to-X). Its downsides are also reduced if you get some benefit out of discarding cards, for example with Village Green or by sifting for draw-to-X.
- By generating at the cost of three cards in hand (the Horse Traders plus the two discards), Horse Traders make it very easy to hit
, as you only need two additional Coppers in a five card hand. Getting a Horse Traders may therefore be usable if you want to greatly increase your chances of affording a card such as Sentry in the early game.
Horse Traders’ Reaction to your opponents’ Attacks is usually not reason enough to get Horse Traders because it is unreliable and a relatively small payoff, but is a good bonus if you have the Horse Traders anyway. The Reaction is somewhat more useful against discard attacks because it can restore your hand size to counteract the Attack's effect.
Rarely, in a deck without Treasures or by playing it after those using Capitalism, you can play Horse Traders with no other cards in hand and still get the full payload. While this isn’t strong enough to be worth actively pursuing, it may be worthwhile as a tactical play.
Versions
English versions
| Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
+1 Buy + Discard 2 cards. When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside from your hand. If you do, then at the start of your next turn, +1 Card and return this to your hand. |
Cornucopia | June 2011 |
|
 |
+1 Buy + Discard 2 cards. When another player plays an Attack card, you may first set this aside from your hand. If you do, then at the start of your next turn, +1 Card and return this to your hand. |
Guilds & Cornucopia (2017 printing) | March 2018 |
Other language versions
| Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czech | Koňští handlíři | ||||
| Dutch | Paardenhandelaars | ||||
| Finnish | Hevoskauppias | ||||
| French | Maquignons (note: literal translation, but connotes con artists) |
 |
+1 Achat + Défaussez deux cartes. Quand un adversaire joue une carte Attaque, vous pouvez d'abord mettre de côté cette carte de votre main. Dans ce cas, au début de votre prochain tour, +1 Carte et reprenez en main cette carte. |
||
| German | Pferdehändler |  |
 |
+1 Kauf + Lege 2 deiner Handkarten ab. Wenn ein Mitspieler eine Angriffskarte ausspielt, darfst du zuerst diese Karte aus deiner Hand zur Seite legen. Wenn du das tust, zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges: +1 Karte und nimm diese Karte wieder auf deine Hand. |
(2019) |
| Italian | Mercanti di Cavalli | ||||
| Japanese | 馬商人 (pron. umashōnin) |
+1 購入 + 2枚捨て札にする。 他のプレイヤーがアタックカードを使用するとき、その解決前に、手札からこれを脇に置いてもよい。脇に置いた場合、あなたの次のターンの開始時に、+1 カードを引く、これを手札に戻す。 |
|||
| Polish | Banda Koniokradów (lit. gang of horse thieves) |
 |
+1 Zakup + Odrzuć 2 karty. Kiedy inny gracz zagrywa kartę ataku możesz odłożyć tę kartę z ręki. Jeśli to zrobisz, na początku swojej następnej kolejki +1 karta i weź Bandę Koniokradów z powrotem na rękę. |
(2011) | |
| Russian | Торговцы Лошадьми (pron. torgovtsy loshad'mi) | ||||
| Spanish | Tratantes de Caballos (lit. horse handlers) |
Trivia
Secret History
I first tried it out in this set on a Village. I changed it to the money/discard thing in order to better fit the expansion theme. When I changed the theme I still liked the card so I kept it.
Prior to making , it made per 2 cards in your hand (no discarding), fitting the dead theme even better. That was too scary with card-drawing combos and lackluster without them.
Second Edition removal
