Market

Market
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Base
Illustrator(s)	Matthias Catrein
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action +1 Buy +

Market is an Action card from the Base set. It is a cantrip, meaning that it gives +1 Card/+1 Action and does not prevent you from drawing or playing other action cards, and it also gives you + and +1 Buy - a little bit of everything. It is the first +1 Card/+1 Action/+ variant that players encounter in Dominion; Market gives +1 Buy, and later cards like Tournament, Peddler, Highway, or Treasury have different bonuses instead.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• You draw a card and get +1 Action, +, and +1 Buy.

Strategy

Market is a cantrip card that allows you to make extra purchases on your turn and gives +. Market’s extra +Buy can be important if your deck can yield a lot of , and it gives + of its own without being a stop card. Market is usually good in kingdoms with good trashing but without strong draw, where its cantrip economy allows you to generate without having to rely on stop cards.

As cantrips, Markets can chain themselves without much trouble. Playing several Markets in succession generates a decent amount of , but usually the more important aspect of Market is that a Market stack gives many +Buys, allowing you to buy many cheap cards at once. While this chaining ability can be strong, having many extra Buys may not do much for your deck, and is a relatively small amount of money. Furthermore, as a card costing the opportunity cost of Market is usually high.

Market usually shouldn’t be gained early in the game. Without desirable cheap cards (e.g. Pixie, Fool's Gold) and before you have strong payload, you cannot utilize Market’s extra Buy efficiently. As such, buying a Market on your first two turns is generally a poor use of your opening. In the midgame, you should anticipate when an extra buy will allow you to gain extra cards and get Market shortly before this happens.

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information. Caveat emptor.

• theory's 2010 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Card +1 Action +1 Buy +	Dominion	October 2008
		+1 Card +1 Action +1 Buy +	Dominion (Second Edition)	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	市集 (pron. shìjí)
Czech	Trh
Dutch	Markt			+1 Kaart +1 Actie +1 Aanschaf +
Finnish	Tori
French	Marché			+1 Carte +1 Action +1 Achat +
German	Markt			+1 Karte +1 Aktion +1 Kauf +
Hungarian	Piac
Italian	Mercato
Japanese	市場 (pron. ichiba)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション +1 購入 +
Korean	시장 (pron. sijang)
Norwegian	Marked
Polish	Targowisko			+1 karta +1 akcja +1 zakup +
Romanian	Piaţă
Russian	Рынок (pron. rynok)			+1 Карта +1 Действия +1 Покупка +
Spanish	Mercado			+1 Carta +1 Acción +1 Compra +	First Edition (2008)
	Mercado			+1 Carta +1 Acción +1 Compra +	Second Edition (2016)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This started out with a mere "+1 Buy" on that first evening of Dominion, and gradually accumulated the rest of the +'s over a couple evenings. If I left it at that you might think the first version was cheaper than 5, but no, it was 5. Before playing that first game, I had no idea what card costs should be, and my guesses were not always in the ballpark. Drawing Market meant you had fewer cards in hand to actually spend on that buy, so it obviously needed some money to go with it; and then there was another card that gave you a free , and I merged them.

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

Similarly Market cost and let you buy an extra card, and I realized that Market in hand meant less money, so I made it + +1 Buy. At the same time the first game had had "+1 Card +1 Action +," and eventually they merged. "+1 Buy" got terminology when it turned out I'd be doing more of those than just Market. I tried on "+1 Purchase" and then "+1 Build." Woodcutter is called Woodcutter because, +1 Build.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Continued Secret History of the Early Dominion Cards