Remake

Remake
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Cornucopia
Illustrator(s)	Mark Poole
Card text
Do this twice: Trash a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly more than it.

Remake is an Action card from Cornucopia. It is a very effective trasher, since it can both trash two cards at a time, and gain you stronger cards while trashing your Estates.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• Trash a card from your hand, and gain a card costing exactly more than it; then trash another card from your hand, and gain a card costing exactly more than that card.
• If you have no cards in hand, you do not trash anything or gain anything; if you have only one card in hand, trash it and gain a card costing more than it.
• If there is no card at the exact cost needed, you do not gain a card for that trashed card. For example you could use Remake to trash an Estate, gaining a Silver, then trash a Copper, gaining nothing, due to there being no cards costing in the Supply.

Other Rules clarifications

• First trash a card, activating on-trash abilities; then gain a card, activating on-gain abilities; then trash a second card, activating its on-trash abilities; then gain a card, activating on-gain abilities.
  • This is in contrast to other cards that trash multiple cards at once (like Count). Even though Remake trashes 2 cards, the trashes take place one after another, instead of all at once. This means you can use Remake to trash the same Fortress twice, which is not possible with other two-card trashers such as Steward.

Strategy

Remake is a strong terminal trash-for-benefit card that is often well suited to both the early and the late game. In the early game, it is worthwhile as a form of thinning, and later on it can provide strong pile control given adequate support. Remake is therefore often worth gaining, usually in the opening, unless there is an even better option for thinning such as Chapel or Donate.

In the early game, Remake provides a strong way to trash both Estates (which can be turned into useful engine pieces or Silvers) and Coppers (which it simply thins, except in a Kingdom with Poor House). Most of the time, Remake’s preferable initial target is Estate, as trashing these allows you to gain helpful cards while keeping your Coppers for early payload. In the absence of a stronger option, turning Estate into Silver quickly improves your purchasing power, and the Silvers can themselves potentially be Remake targets later. Alternatively, if your utmost goal is thinning (e.g. for advancing your Page) and the only options are stop cards you may opt to trash Coppers rather than Estates. Using Remake will generally leave you with a hand of two cards, so you will usually have to skip buying anything on those turns. This may be a concern if there are powerful cards you would otherwise like to buy early (e.g. Wharf), and less of a problem if there are good cards costing available (e.g. Pixie), or some alternative way of improving your deck (e.g. Alms). As playing Remake early and often is frequently desirable, it can be a good idea to open with it alongside a sifter such as Warehouse. Similarly, effects such as March can be useful; for example, on a / split you can buy Remake on turn 1, then March it on on turn 2 to trash two Estates.

Remake’s mandatory trashing of two cards and its specification that the gained cards must cost exactly more makes it less flexible than some other trash-for-benefit options. This has a few consequences:

• Remake is usually much weaker as a way to trash Shelters compared to Estates: unless there are good cards such as Border Guard available, trashing a Shelter will force you to gain an Estate or another card that is effectively junk.
• Beyond the early game, the requirement to trash two cards may sometimes be inconvenient, as once your deck is fairly thin, you might have only one good target in hand. Given that Remake's inflexibility makes it sometimes less relevant at certain stages of the game, it may be helpful if you can repurpose it at those times with a Way.
• Remake's interaction with cost reduction also sometimes provides extra options: if you have junk costing to Remake, this can be turned into more useful cards that have had their costs reduced to . However, reducing costs by only often substantially reduces the utility of targeting those same junk cards, as you will be forced to gain an Estate.

Remake works particularly well with cards that can provide fodder costing or . Generally, gainers work well for this, with ones that can gain more than one card per play (e.g. Paddock) being particularly effective. Other cards provide fodder in more specialized ways. Specifically, Fortress is an excellent target for Remake, because you can Remake a single copy twice to gain two powerful Action cards costing . Rats is another useful card that converts other junk into junk with more desirable price points , and also draws a card when you trash it.

In the context of the endgame, Remake is distinct from Remodel variants in that it cannot be used to mill Provinces and cannot transform other cards into Province unless one of the few cards is available as an intermediate. However, its ability to trash and gain two cards at the same time can provide strong pile control, especially if you have plenty of draw, terminal space, and fodder for it to trash. Pileouts based around Remake often involve Remaking cards costing into more copies of Remake, effectively allowing you to lower piles without reducing your number of gains remaining.

External strategy articles

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

• SWetzel's 2012 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Do this twice: Trash a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly more than the trashed card.	Cornucopia 1st Edition	June 2011
		Do this twice: Trash a card from your hand, then gain a card costing exactly more than it.	Cornucopia 2nd Edition	March 2018

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Nové provedení
Dutch	Nieuwe versie
Finnish	Jälleenrakennus
French	Renouvellement
German	Nachbau			Tue dies zweimal: Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten, nimm dann eine Karte, die genau mehr als sie kostet.	(2019)
Italian	Rifacimento
Japanese	再建 (pron. saiken)			以下を2度実行する: 手札1枚を廃棄し、それよりコストが多いカード1枚を獲得する。
Polish	Rozbiórka			Wykonaj to działanie dwukrotnie: wyrzuć na śmietnisko kartę z ręki, potem dodaj kartę kosztującą dokładnie więcej niż wyrzucona na śmietnisko karta.	(2011)
Russian	Переделка (pron. pyeryedyelka)
Spanish	Reconstrucción Remake is Reconstrucción (noun), and Rebuild is Reconstruir (verb)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This never changed. It was just a cute Remodel variant, but ended up supporting the variety theme, by helping you get that variety.

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

Wording

Unlike other cards that trash multiple cards (e.g. Mercenary), Remake trashes its 2 cards one at a time, which can lead to different interactions with different cards.

I used the best wording I had for Remake and was happy with it. Do this twice! So straightforward.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Why is Remake worded that way