Merchant
Merchant | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set |
Base![]() |
Illustrator(s) | Joshua Stewart |
Card text | |
+1 Card +1 Action The first time you play a Silver this turn, + . |
Merchant is an Action card from the second edition of the base set. It is a cantrip that gives you extra money if you are able to play a Silver after it.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When you play Merchant, you draw a card and get +1 Action.
- If you end up playing a Silver later in the turn, it comes with + .
- If you play more than one Merchant, each gives you + when you play that first Silver; but if you play more than one Silver, you only get the + for the first Silver.
Other rules clarifications
- If you play the same Merchant multiple times (e.g. with Throne Room), each of the plays will give you + when you play the first Silver.
- If you play Merchant after you play your first Silver (e.g. you played a Silver to buy a Villa, and then play a Merchant), you do not get + for the Silver you already played; you also do not get + if you play another Silver since it's not the first one you played.
- However, if playing a Silver causes you to play a Merchant (e.g. you trash a Catacombs with Sauna, gain a Merchant, and play it with Innovation), you'll get + . [1]
Strategy
Merchant is a Peddler variant, a cantrip which gives an extra . In order to get the extra , however, it must be combined with a Silver. As a cheap cantrip, Merchant is typically a passable, if sometimes unreliable, source of .
It is common when building an engine to get 1-2 Silvers in the early game in order to increase the likelihood of hitting higher price points. Later, however, buying more Silvers is often a bad idea, because they are stop cards which interfere with your ability to draw your deck. Merchant becomes a card that you can obtain cheaply to increase your economy without harming your deck’s draw capabilities, so you will often choose to buy one on turns when you can only afford something cheap. It is also a common target for gainers like Workshop and a good low-cost card to get with an extra Buy. Once you are drawing a substantial portion of your deck, you will likely find it easy to line up your Merchants with Silver, and Merchants become a reliable source of .
Merchant is generally much less useful in a money strategy due to a lack of deck control, but can be a reasonable purchase in those focused on flooding the deck with Silver, where the chance of colliding the two cards becomes sufficiently high.
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | Notes | |
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+1 Card +1 Action The first time you play a Silver this turn, + . |
Dominion 2nd Edition | October 2016 |
Other language versions
Trivia
Secret History
Donald X.'s opinion
Wording