Messenger

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Messenger
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
+1 Buy + You may put your deck into your discard pile. When this is the first card you gain in your Buy phase, gain a card costing up to , and each other player gains a copy of it.

Messenger is an Action from Adventures. It is a +Buy deck discarder with a Buy phase on-gain effect that makes all players gain a copy of the same cheap card.

FAQ

Unofficial FAQ (2022)

• When you play this, you get +1 Buy, +, and may optionally put your deck into your discard pile.
• This is not discarding cards and does not trigger cards that have effects when they are discarded, such as Tunnel (from Hinterlands).
• When Messenger is the first card you gain during your Buy phase, you also gain a card costing up to from the Supply, putting it into your discard pile, and then each other player in turn order also gains a copy of that card.
• If the Supply runs out of copies of the card, further players do not get anything.

Other rules clarifications

• As a result of errata in 2022, this works if you gain this by buying it, or if you gain this in another way (such as Ball or Anvil).
• If you take multiple Buy phases (with Villa or Cavalry), you can use Messenger's on-gain effect multiple times in the same turn.
• If you gain this during another player's Buy phase, nothing extra happens.

Deprecated official FAQ (2021)

When you play this, you get +1 Buy, +, and may optionally put your deck into your discard pile. This is not discarding cards and does not trigger Tunnel (from Hinterlands). When you buy Messenger, if it is the first thing you bought that turn (card or Event), you gain a card costing up to from the Supply, putting it into your discard pile, and then each other player in turn order also gains a copy of that card. If the Supply runs out of copies of the card, further players do not get anything.

Deprecated rules clarifications (2015 2016 2021)

If you choose a card when buying Messenger, but you don't actually gain it (due to Possession), no copies of that card are given to the other players. Messenger's on-buy effect happens before you actually gain the Messenger. This can matter if you choose Messenger for everyone to gain, or if everyone gains a card like Border Village (allowing other players to gain an extra Messenger before you do), and there aren't enough copies of Messenger left in the pile to fulfill all Messenger gains.

Strategy

There is no strategy article for Messenger, but the card has been discussed on the forum.

Messenger is a difficult card to utilize well. On play, it is a mash-up of Chancellor and Woodcutter, two cards not famous for being very strong. Of course, like Woodcutter, you'll buy it if there's no better source of +Buy for your engine. Luckily, in some of these cases, the Chancellor deck-discarding ability actually comes in handy, as you can shuffle the good cards you just bought right into your deck again. Nevertheless, it's not the most exciting ability ever, and in many cases, Messenger will struggle to fit in your terminal slot.

The thing that makes Messenger interesting is its on-buy ability. If you buy it (be careful that it's actually your first buy this turn!), you can choose a card both you and your opponents will gain with it. This allows for some tricky maneuvers. You'll want to choose a card you particularly like, but with limited usefulness for your opponent. Because of this, Messenger is stronger in non-mirrors. If you're playing an engine and your opponent is going for something more Big Money-ish, hand out Village. If it's the other way around, distribute Silver instead. If you're playing a slog, distribute Estates, they will hurt your opponent way more than you.

Maybe your opponent already got a Chapel or a Potion and you did not, so you can give your opponent an often not very useful second Chapel or Potion. In this sense, Messenger is kind of a reverse Embargo: Instead of preventing your opponent from getting key cards, you're giving them cards they actually don't like too much. On a / opening, opening Messenger is an interesting idea if you're second player, since you get to shuffle an extra good card in your deck, while you make it miss the shuffle for your opponent.

If you have a Watchtower in hand, you can do a dirty trick by choosing Curse to distribute, immediately trashing yours with the Watchtower. Watchtower can even topdeck Messenger, simulating an upgraded Nomad Camp. Unfortunately, this does not work with Trader (prior version) due to the blue dog rule. However, with Trader (2020 printing), the blue dog rule no longer applies, and you can exchange the Curse for a Silver. You could even exchange Messenger for a second Silver if the +buy and deck discard are not wanted. This makes Messenger into an Ill-Gotten Gains that gains an extra copy of itself, does not fill your deck with Copper, and costs instead of . Keep in mind that your opponents can counter each of these strategies with their own Watchtower or Trader.

Of course, it's nice when a strong 4-cost card has only a single copy left. It's not reason enough to buy the Messenger alone, but if you want the Messenger, you can get the nice card with it and cheat the others. This is especially applicable to split piles, Humble Castle, Crumbling Castle, and Sir Martin. To set up this situation intentionally with regular piles, however, requires an action-phase gainer like Ironworks.

Late-game, Messenger is a card to look out for, because of its ability to create unexpected three-pile endings out of thin air, especially if you play with more than two players.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Buy + You may put your deck into your discard pile. When this is your first buy in a turn, gain a card costing up to , and each other player gains a copy of it.	Adventures	April 2015
		+1 Buy + You may put your deck into your discard pile. When this is your first buy in a turn, gain a card costing up to , and each other player gains a copy of it.	Adventures (2016 printing)	August 2017
		+1 Buy + You may put your deck into your discard pile. When this is the first card you gain in your Buy phase, gain a card costing up to , and each other player gains a copy of it.	Adventures (2022 printing)

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Koerier			+1 Aanschaf + Je mag je gedekte stapel op je aflegstapel leggen. Is dit de eerste aanschaf in je beurt, pad dan een kaart die ten hoogste kost. Iedere andere speler krijgt ook 1 exemplaar van de gepakte kaart.	(2015)
Finnish	Kuriiri (lit. courier)
French	Courrier (lit. courier)			+1 Achat + Vous pouvez placer votre pioche dans votre défausse. Si à un tour ceci est votre premier achat, recevez une carte coûtant jusqu'à , et tous vos adversaires en reçoivent un exemplaire.
German	Kurier			+1 Kauf + Du darfst deinen Nachziehstapel auf deinen Ablagestapel legen. Wenn du diese Karte kaufst und dies der 1. Kauf deines Zuges ist: Nimm dir eine Karte, die bis zu kostet. Jeder Mitspieler nimmt sich eine Karte mit gleichem Namen.	(2015)
	Kurier			+1 Kauf + Du darfst deinen Nachziehstapel auf deinen Ablagestapel legen. Wenn dies der erste Kauf in einem Zug ist, nimm eine Karte, die bis zu kostet, und jeder Mitspieler nimmt eine gleiche Karte.	(Nachdruck 2021)
	Kurier			+1 Kauf + Du darfst deinen Nachziehstapel auf deinen Ablagestapel legen. Wenn dies die erste Karte ist, die du in deiner Kaufphase nimmst, nimm eine Karte, die bis zu kostet, und jeder Mitspieler nimmt eine gleiche Karte.
Japanese	使者 (pron. shisha)			+1 購入 + 山札を捨て札置き場に置いてもよい。 これがこのターン最初に購入するものの場合、コスト以下のカード1枚を獲得し、他のプレイヤーは全員、それと同じカード1枚を獲得する。
Polish	Posłaniec				Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook.
Russian	Посланник (pron. poslannik)

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

There are three types of Dominion players. Some of us just play to unwind. Some play to compete. But then there are those of us who just want to watch the piles burn. Here's Messenger, for everyone who loves giving gifts and making merry.

Sometimes you'll get one for the Buy and coins. Sometimes it'll help you cycle your deck all the way down. But most of the time, you'll be using it to hand things out. Maybe your friend opened / and couldn't get two Ambassadors. Your Messenger purchase helps him with that. Maybe your opponent got himself a Potion and you feel like he should have another. Just be careful; you're getting one too. Maybe there's a sneaky way for you to win by making a bunch of Estates vanish at once. Messenger has you covered. Or maybe you're a jerk holding a Watchtower and you decide to hand out Curses in the most convoluted way possible. Man, what's your problem? Well, go for it, I guess.

The truth is, there are a lot of neat applications of the Messenger. I could go on and on about it, but I've had plenty of time to think about it, so I want you guys to have the fun. I'll leave you with one idea for your cousin's birthday party: try playing a 5 player game with this bad boy. (If you actually go and try that, please don't shoot the messenger)

—jsh357, Adventures Preview: Messenger

Secret History

The initial card didn't have the Chancellor ability and always gave out cards when bought. Matthew suggested the Chancellor part to make the top less boring, for the people who complained about that. Meanwhile other people complained about the card emptying piles too rapidly; the first-buy-only part on the bottom slowed that down.

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

Donald X.'s opinion

There are various cute little combos, but I think there are two main situations in which people buy Messenger.

The first is when they want a Woodcutter. This is far from rare. And when you get it, the when-buy is cute, you don't know what to give people. Pick something you want, that's my advice.

The second is to empty piles. In multiplayer, a jsh357 can empty piles so very fast with this.

Turn 2 it's a little more attractive going later in the turn order. Going last, you can get Messenger handing out Silver, maybe trying to hit fast for Inheritance, and you shuffle in the Silver but the other players do not.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Messenger