Rogue

Rogue
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Attack
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Dark Ages
Illustrator(s)	Jesse Mead
Card text
+ If there are any cards in the trash costing from to , gain one of them. Otherwise, each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, trashes one of them costing from to , and discards the rest.

Rogue is an Action-Attack card from Dark Ages. It is a terminal Silver; if there are any cards of the right cost in the trash, Rogue will make you gain one of them. If there aren't Rogue will try and make your opponent trash one, so you can steal it.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• If there is a card in the trash costing from to , you have to gain one of them; it is not optional.
• You can look through the trash at any time.
• The other players get to see what card you took.
• The gained card goes into your discard pile.
• Cards with (from Alchemy) or (from Empires) in the cost do not cost from to .
• If there was no card in the trash costing from to , you instead have each other player reveal the top two cards of their deck, trash one of them of their choice that costs from to (if possible), and discard the rest.
• Go in turn order, starting with the player to your left.

Other Rules clarifications

• Rogue is an Attack card, even when it is gaining cards from the trash rather than putting opponents' cards in the trash, and so an opponent can reveal a Reaction such as Diplomat when you play it even if it's not attacking them at the time.

Strategy

Rogue is a terminal silver which is situationally useful as payload for an engine. Rogue is useful in two different cases:

• When your opponent’s deck is well-trashed but fragile, relying perhaps on a particular balance of villages and terminal draw cards. If the trash contains no targets for Rogue’s trash-gaining ability, Rogue can attack your opponent’s deck and then steal those components for yours.
• When the trash is filled with good cards, perhaps because players are using one-shots such as Acting Troupe or pursuing a trash-for-benefit strategy. For example, you can plan to remodel a Gold into a Province and then use Rogue to regain the Gold.

Rogue has two major problems. First, it has a high opportunity cost, as it must be gained instead of another card, and it uses your terminal space. Second, Rogue’s attack is unreliable and slow. If there are eligible cards already in the trash, you are forced to gain them before you can start attacking. Most decks, including engines, have less exciting cards like Silver in them that Rogue may hit, sparing the player’s more valuable cards and stopping the attack until after you have gained their card; your opponent may even be able to trash such cards preemptively as a defense. In general, decks attacking with Rogue need to be able to handle gaining whatever cards they happen to hit.

Rogue is typically a card you gain after you have established deck control. If your opponent is using Rogue, you may wish to get Rogue yourself, or you may just need to gain more cards so that you can withstand the occasional attack, perhaps cheap cantrips or others that you don’t mind losing, or additional copies of your key cards.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+ If there are any cards in the trash costing from to , gain one of them. Otherwise, each other player reveals the top 2 cards of his deck, trashes one of them costing from to , and discards the rest.	Dark Ages 1st Edition	August 2012
		+ If there are any cards in the trash costing from to , gain one of them. Otherwise, each other player reveals the top 2 cards of their deck, trashes one of them costing from to , and discards the rest.	Dark Ages 2nd Edition	September 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Padouch			+ Vezmi si ze smetiště kartu v ceně až . Pokud tam žádná taková karta neni, všichni ostatní hráči ukážou vrchní 2 karty svých dobíracích balíčků a zahodí podle své volby na smetiště jednu z nich v ceně až . Ostatní karty odloží.
Dutch	Schurk			+ Als er ten minste 1 kaart die , , of kost in de stapel vernietigde kaarten is, pak er dan één van. Zo niet, dan toont iedere andere speler de bovenste 2 kaarten van zijn trekstapel. Hij vernietigt één van deze kaarten als deze , , of kost en legt de rest af.	(2012)
Finnish	Ryöstäjä (lit. robber)
French	Bandit
German	Schurke			+ Sind Karten im Müll, die bis kosten, nimm eine davon. Ansonsten deckt jeder Mitspieler die obersten 2 Karten seines Nachziehstapels auf, entsorgt davon eine, die bis kostet, und legt den Rest ab.	(2019) one or more other versions listed here
Japanese	盗賊 (pron. tōzoku, lit. robber)			+ 廃棄置き場にコストからのカードがある場合、その中の1枚を獲得する。ない場合、他のプレイヤーは全員、山札の上から2枚を公開し、その中のコストがからのカード1枚を廃棄し、残りを捨て札にする。
Korean	방랑자 (pron. banglangja, lit. vagrant)
Polish	Opryszek (note: as referred to in Polish Empires rulebook)
Russian	Жулик (pron. zhulik)
Spanish	Granuja			+ Si hay alguna carta eliminada que cueste entre y , gana una de ellas. Si no, cada jugador (menos tú) revela las 2 cartas superiores de su mazo, elimina una que cueste entre y y descarta el resto.

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

Back when, Intrigue had a card called Bandit: "Each other player reveals the top 2 cards of his deck and trashes one. Gain one of the trashed cards." For . So, like a Thief that can steal anything, although the attacked player got to pick what to lose. Like Thief, Bandit would helpfully eat Coppers for your opponents, but at least it threatened to take Provinces later. I tweaked it into a card that cost , looked at the top 3 cards, and only trashed stuff costing from to . Then I took it out of the set. It was slowing games down and did not have that certain something.

A few years later, I made a new version as what Urchin turned into. It looked at the top two now, still trashing something for from to . This was in the set for a while, then got upped to taking any - card from the trash, not just one that was just trashed. But one day I got too fed up with it. The problem was, it was the kind of attack you might feel like buying to fight itself, only you couldn't - you had to buy Urchins and get them to upgrade, which can take a while when you start on it later. Bandit was normally just a thorn in your side, but some games it would get played a ton and take your stuff and you couldn't even get in on it.

So, I replaced what Urchin turned into with Mercenary, and made this new Bandit, now a Rogue. He only trashes or gains, not both at once, and he can't trash if there's anything to gain. He does make + though, which makes all the difference. Some games there is stuff in the trash right away, like Hermits, and the Rogue never gets to trash cards, but well that's the kindler gentler Dark Ages that people prefer.

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