Philosopher's Stone
| Philosopher's Stone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Cost |
  |
| Type(s) | Treasure |
| Kingdom card? | Yes |
| Set |
Alchemy |
| Illustrator(s) | Jacob Corn |
| Card text | |
|
Count your deck and discard pile. +  per 5 cards total between them (round down). | |
Philosopher's Stone is a Treasure card from Alchemy. It generates more 
in huge, bulky decks. It does not count cards in your hand or in play.
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When you play this, count the number of cards in your deck and discard pile combined, divide by 5, and round down. That is how many this produces for you.
- Once played, the amount of you got does not change even if the number of cards changes later in the turn.
- Make sure not to change the order of your deck when counting it; the order of your discard pile does not matter.
- You will get to look through your discard pile as you count it.
- You only count your deck and discard pile, not your hand or cards in play or set aside cards.
Other Rules clarifications
- It is sometimes possible to play multiple copies of Philosopher's Stone that give different amounts of . For example, if you have 20 cards in your deck and play this, it produces
. Then, you could play a Crystal Ball (from Prosperity), which could cause you to reveal and play another copy of this. When you play the second copy, you would only have 19 cards in your deck, so it would only produce .
Strategy
Philosopher's Stone is an extremely weak Kingdom Treasure that is almost never worth buying. You should only consider gaining it in exceptional cases where it has both an unusually low opportunity cost and a chance of actually generating significant . Philosopher's Stone is easier to gain if you already have Potion for another purpose or if you have a Treasure gainer like Hero or Tragic Hero, but even then the opportunity cost is usually still prohibitively high, as it's highly likely there are better targets for either effect.
In addition to its cost, the other main problem with Philosopher’s Stone is that its payload scales with the amount of your deck that you have not drawn, and that that scaling is relatively slow. The former means that Philosopher’s Stone works very poorly with engines, for which an undrawn deck usually indicates unrealized potential. The latter means that Philosopher’s Stone compares poorly to alternatives, even mediocre ones such as Gold. In order for Philosopher's Stone to be a good payload option, you would need to have a large deck with poor draw, since cards in play or in hand don't count for with Philosopher's Stone. This is most likely in the case of a heavy slog. However, under these conditions it is often difficult to afford for Philosopher's Stone or to play it often enough to make it worthwhile. Therefore, you would additionally need to have some effect to help you find the Philosopher's Stone in your large deck: strong sifting effects (like Warehouse) or topdecking effects (such as Scavenger, Herbalist, or Harbinger) may work. Strong draw, which is usually the primary way to find and play important cards, is counterproductive in this case because it reduces the amount of that Philosopher’s Stone generates.
Rarely, it may be worth gaining Philosopher's Stone as a way to score 
, most notably with Keep or Museum. In the case of Keep, the presence of two additional Treasures (in Potion and Philosopher’s Stone) increases the total amount of available, and purchasing both a Potion and Philosopher’s Stone may be a relatively cheap way to score 10 . Keep also tends to lead to large decks with lots of Treasures and therefore little deck control, which may make Philosopher’s Stone viable payload.
Versions
English versions
| Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
When you play this, count your deck and discard pile. Worth per 5 cards total between them (rounded down). |
Alchemy | May 2010 |
 |
 |
When you play this, count your deck and discard pile. Worth per 5 cards total between them (round down). |
Alchemy (2018 printing) | December 2018 |
|
 |
Count your deck and discard pile. + per 5 cards total between them (round down). |
Alchemy (2021 printing) | 2021 |
Other language versions
| Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 賢者之石 (pron. xiánzhě zhī shí) | ||||
| Czech | Kámen mudrců |  |
Když zahraješ tuto kartu, sečti dohromady karty ve svém dobíracím a odkládacím balíčku. Získáš za každých 5 karet ve svých balíčcích (zaokrouhleno dolů). |
||
| Dutch | Steen der wijzen | ||||
| Finnish | Viisasten kivi | ||||
| French | Pierre philosophale | ||||
| German | Stein der Weisen |  |
 |
Wenn du diese Karte ausspielst, zähle die Karten deines Nachzieh- und deines Ablagestapels: Wert pro insgesamt 5 sich darin befindenden Karten (abgerundet). |
(2019) |
| Stein der Weisen |  |
Zähle die Karten in deinem Nachziehstapel und Ablagestapel. + pro 5 Karten der Summe der beiden Stapel (abgerundet). |
|||
| Italian | Pietra Filosofale | ||||
| Japanese | 賢者の石 (pron. kenja no ishi) | 山札と捨て札の合計枚数を数え、5枚(端数切り捨て)につき。 |
|||
| Polish | Kamień filozoficzny | Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook. | |||
| Russian | Философский Камень (pron. filosofskiy kamen') |
 |
Когда вы играете эту карту, посчитайте карты вашых колоды и сброса. Эта карта приносит за каждые 5 карт суммы (с округлением вниз). |
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| Spanish | Piedra Filosofal |  |
Cuando la pongas en juego, cuenta las cartas que hay en tu mazo y en tu pila de descartes. + por cada 5 cartas que tengas en total (redondeando hacia abajo). |
Trivia
Philosopher's Stone is the only -costing card that gives +.
Preview
Secret History
per 4 cards left in your deck." It was in the original Alchemy, but I considered it for the main set at one point (when Gardens moved there). Eventually I brought it back as a treasure. First it counted cards left in your deck. Some people don't like how huge the variance is on that though. I can make a card here and there like that, but not too many. I dropped it, then later brought it back with "put your deck into your discard pile" (and then it counted your discard pile). That still had high variance, a different way; you might draw it immediately after shuffling, which was a lot better than not drawing it immediately. Finally I changed it to how it is now. The random element is completely gone; it still isn't consistent, due to card-drawing and such, but that's your own problem.Retrospective
