Lookout

Lookout
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Seaside
Illustrator(s)	Alejandro Gutiérrez Franco
Card text
+1 Action Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Trash one of them. Discard one of them. Put the other one back on top of your deck.

Lookout is an Action card from Seaside. When you play Lookout, you look at the top 3 cards of your deck and pick one to trash, one to discard, and one to put back.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• You do the things in order - first trash one of the cards, then discard one, then put the last one on top of your deck.
• So if there is only one card (even after shuffling), you trash it, and if there are only 2 cards, you trash one then discard the other.

Other rules clarifications

• Resolve any on-trash effects of the trashed card before discarding the next card, and resolve any on-discard effects of the discarded card before putting back the last card.
• The three cards you look at are not considered to still be the top cards of your deck while you are resolving Lookout. Thus, for example, if you trash a card with an on-trash draw bonus, such as Overgrown Estate, you will not draw one of the remaining two cards you're looking at, but rather the next one down.

Strategy

Lookout is a non-terminal trasher that also provides a small amount of sifting. It’s most beneficial in the early game when the majority of your deck consists of junk; later plays become increasingly risky unless you have a way to know or set up what’s on top of your deck.

Lookout is a stop card that trashes only one card at a time and provides no benefit in exchange, so even at the start of the game when you can be sure of revealing at least one card you want to trash, it’s often outclassed by either a faster trasher (e.g. Steward) or one that improves your current turn (e.g. Salvager). However, it does have some advantages in the opening: it’s non-terminal, so potential collision isn’t a problem when you pair it with a terminal like Cargo Ship; it trashes from your deck rather than your hand, increasing the chance that you can both play it and afford to buy something useful on the same turn; and it provides some helpful early cycling as well, since you can discard a card in addition to trashing one. One common issue to be aware of when opening with Lookout is that if you have a 12-card deck at the end of turn 2 and draw your Lookout on turn 4, you’ll trigger a shuffle by playing it. This can be beneficial if on turn 3 you played your other opening purchase and/or bought a good card, as your newly triggered shuffle will contain those turn 3 cards, but you should keep in mind the probable shuffle trigger when considering your purchases on turns 3 and 4, particularly in deciding when to add more terminals. Sometimes, if you anticipate a junky game (e.g. with Witch) and no better thinning is available, it may be reasonable to get two Lookouts.

As the game progresses and junk makes up a smaller proportion of your deck, Lookout requires you to pay increasingly careful attention to the contents of your remaining deck, so that you can be confident of revealing a desirable trashing target when you play it. Deciding when to play Lookout during your turn can involve trade-offs: for example, playing it before a cantrip or draw card allows you to benefit from the sifting effect by leaving the card that you most want to draw next on top, while playing it later in the turn might leave you with a better chance of revealing cards you want to trash—although it could also leave you unable to play Lookout at all, if you draw those trashing targets. Occasionally, trashing is difficult enough and the value of doing so is high enough that it’s worth playing Lookout even when there’s a relatively high chance you’ll be forced to trash a good card.

Lookout’s value in the midgame and onwards is much higher in the presence of effects that allow you to inspect or control the contents of the top of your deck: for example, cards like Secret Passage allow you to return junk that you already have in hand to the top of your deck and then trash it with Lookout. Once you can draw your deck, you can also make use of discarding effects for this purpose: for example, you might play Oasis to draw the last card of your deck, discard a Curse, and then play Lookout, triggering a single-card shuffle and trashing the Curse. Lookout itself also provides topdeck inspection (and a small amount of control), which can be useful if you’re playing a second Lookout or making use of another effect (e.g. Vassal or Chariot Race) that interacts with the top card.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Action Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Trash one of them. Discard one of them. Put the other one on top of your deck.	Seaside	October 2009
		+1 Action Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. Trash one of them. Discard one of them. Put the other one back on top of your deck.	Seaside (2017 printing)	July 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	瞭望員 (pron. liàowàngyuán)
Czech	Strážní koš (lit. crow's nest)
Dutch	Uitkijk			+1 Actie Bekijk de bovenste 3 kaarten van je trekstapel. Vernietig er één van. Leg er één van af. Leg de overgebleven kaart terug op je trekstapel.	Hijs de Zeilen (2de Editie) 999 Games (2022)
Finnish	Tähystäjä
French	Vigie			+1 Action Consultez les 3 premières cartes des votre pioche. Écartez-en une. Défaussez-en une. Placez la carte restante sur le haut de votre pioche.
German	Ausguck			+1 Aktion Sieh dir die obersten 3 Karten von deinem Nachziehstapel an. Entsorge eine davon. Lege eine davon ab. Lege eine davon zurück auf deinen Nachziehstapel.	(2009)
	Ausguck			+1 Aktion Sieh die 3 obersten Karten deines Nachziehstapels an. Entsorge eine von ihnen. Lege eine von ihnen ab. Lege die übrig gebliebene zurück auf deinen Nachziehstapel.	2. Edition (2022)
Italian	Vedetta
Japanese	見張り (pron. mihari)			+1 アクション 山札の上から3枚を見る。その中の1枚を廃棄して、1枚を捨て札にする。残りの1枚を山札の上に戻す。
Korean	망루 (pron. manglu, lit. watchtower)
Polish	Bocianie gniazdo (lit. crow's nest)			+1 akcja Podejrzyj 3 wierzchnie karty ze swojej talii. Jedną z nich wyrzuć na śmietnisko, jedną odrzuć, a jedną połóż na wierzchu swojej talii.
Russian	Смотровой (pron. smotrovoy)			+1 Действие Посмотрите на 3 верхние карты вашей колоды. Выкинте одну из них. Сбросьте одну из них. Положите оставшуюся назад на верх колоды.
Spanish	Vigía			+1 Acción Mira las 3 cartas superiores de tu mazo: elimina una de ellas, descarta otra y coloca la tercera encima de tu mazo.

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

A late replacement for a one-shot Chapel variant that didn't work out. It seems cute to have a Chapel that doesn't stay in your deck, but the card as it stood was both really unsexy and also too powerful. It had to get sexier while at the same time getting worse. That's not so easy. A better solution was to just replace it, which is what happened. Lookout started out putting one card into your hand rather than having you discard one. That was just insane, and it quickly got cut down to size.

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

Relevant outtakes

The one-shot that Lookout replaced was "trash this and your hand, gain a card costing up to ." It had started stronger but I had to weaken it. That version just looked horrible but was still strong. It was great to finally get rid of it. There could still be a one-shot Chapel someday, but "trash your hand" is not the way to go. It limits the card to the early game, usually just one copy, and then either you draw it with your other early purchase, ugh, or you don't, yeeha.

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

Retrospective

Lookout is the dud of the set. The problem is, some people are terrified of trashing a good card with it. At the same time trashing bad cards looks less exciting to some players. And as a trasher it's not exceptional. So the overall package is a card that a lot of players don't want, but that some experienced players realize is okay but not special. I could instead have some other card more people liked.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, What Donald X. Might Do With a Dominion Time Machine

I always thought casual players hated Lookout, but when I actually polled some, they didn't...(secret history: if I'd replaced Lookout, it would have been with Sentinel). And whatever else you want to ask about probably has a similar story. I got to replace 9 cards, counting blanks; some work went into those choices. Lots of people weighed in, and I playtested the removed cards too, for just how replace-worthy they were.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Seaside 2E Preview 3