Importer

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Importer
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Duration - Liaison
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Allies
Illustrator(s)	Jessi J
Card text
At the start of your next turn, gain a card costing up to . Setup: Each player gets +4 Favors.

Importer is an Action-Duration-Liaison card from Allies. It is a gainer that can gain cards, but delays when you get them. It also changes the setup for Favors/Liaisons so that players start with a total of 5 Favors, rather than 1; but unlike other Liaisons, it provides no way of acquiring additional Favors beyond the ones you start with.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• At the start of the game, each player gets five Favors instead of one. Importer doesn't provide a way to get any more Favors during the game.

Strategy

Importer is a delayed gainer that is among the cheaper gainers, priced equally with Workshop, and able to gain cards costing more. It is a bit of an odd card in that its presence changes the game even if no one buys it, due to the addition of favors. This effect is also highly variable, based on which ally is chosen. On average, the presence of Importer tends to speed up the game, but not always.

Importer is slow for two reasons. First, the delay in gaining makes it so that you are less likely to be able to use the gained card soon, by increasing the likelihood of the gained card coming after a reshuffle. Second, by staying in play longer, Importer is not able to played as often as a vanilla gainer. These downsides are sometimes offset by the benefit of being able to gain cards costing , which tend to be dramatically stronger than cheaper cards. Also, especially in the late-game, gaining a Duchy, perhaps repeatedly, can be a winning difference in a close game. The slowness of Importer is mitigated when the ally is Trappers' Lodge, which both allows you to play Importer faster, and then play the gained card faster, so you can even end up guaranteeing the play of a -cost card on your fourth turn; but keep in mind this ally also speeds up other strategies so it won't necessarily make this card viable when it otherwise wouldn't be.

Because it is slow, Importer is usually not worth buying when the only cards worth gaining cost or less. It is strongest in situations where there is one or more cards costing that your deck would benefit from having multiple copies of, so you can always use it to gain a card at this price point. In the presence of good alt-treasure costing , Importer can boost a money-based strategy. More often though, it facilitates construction of an engine, especially when the ally is Peaceful Cult, which in the presence of Import functions almost like a built-in Chapel. Usually the best time to use Importer to construct an engine is when a strong engine can be made with a small number of cards costing . In a deck-drawing engine you will often want to buy two copies of it.

Because of the high value of gained cards, Import can synergize with trash-for-benefit cards that depend on the value of the trashed card.

Importer can also be useful in a slog, where it can reliably gain Duchies, and the presence of Duke can make it even stronger for this purpose. Most of the allies make a slog less likely, but Circle of Witches makes it more so.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		At the start of your next turn, gain a card costing up to . Setup: Each player gets +4 Favors.	Allies	March 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
German	Importeurin			Zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges: Nimm eine Karte, die bis zu kostet. Spielvorbereitung: Jeder Spieler erhält +4 Gefallen.

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

Importer means, you start with 5 Favors, but can't get any more (unless there's another Liaison in the game, obv.). And it gains 's, slowly.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Allies Preview 5: More cards

Secret History

This started in the Odyssey pile. It could gain an Odyssey card (crazy), or next turn gain a , or discard a Silver for a this-turn . I cut the Silver part and the crazy part, and messed around with it, then wanted it as its own pile. Matt suggested the setup, which is of course the focus of the card now. Initially that version had a cantrip option on top, then a "+1 Action +1 Favor" option. You only picked it when you couldn't otherwise play the Importer, and it's so much cleaner to not have the extra option.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Allies