Salvager

Salvager
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Seaside
Illustrator(s)	RC Torres
Card text
+1 Buy Trash a card from your hand. + per it costs.

Salvager is an Action card from Seaside. Salvager is a trash for benefit card that allows you to trash one card from your hand and get + equal to its cost to spend this turn; it even gives you +Buy to use the it gives you. It's often useful as an Estate trasher in the early game, but It's not as good for trashing cheap cards like Copper or Curse, since it gives you +.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• For example if you trash an Estate, which costs , you get + (and +1 Buy).
• If you trash a card with or in the cost (from other expansions), you get nothing for those symbols.

Strategy

Salvager is a trash for benefit card that also provides +Buy. Salvager often sees use as a Estate thinner in the early game. Because it generates while doing so, opening with Salvager can allow you to still hit early price points while removing the worst cards in your starting deck. However, as a terminal that provides very little benefit while trashing Coppers, it is generally less useful if you fail to collide it with your Estates, and is much less useful after you run out of Estates. As such, you will usually not get much value out of additional copies, and Salvager is likely skippable if stronger trashers that can deal with Coppers (e.g. Steward) are available, or if you need to prioritize the terminal space for something else (e.g. advancing your Peasant).

While the extra Buy can sometimes be important in the early game to gain cheap engine pieces, it will generally increase in relevance later as you start to have better generation. In the endgame, the extra Buy offers extra flexibility especially with the potential spike in from trashing something. Notably, Salvager can mill Provinces; trashing a Province provides both the and the Buy necessary to get a new copy.

Like many other trash-for-benefit cards, Salvager synergizes with effects that can provide you with expensive fodder. If the source can do so consistently (e.g. Fortress or a Gold gainer like Bandit), Salvager may be able to generate money and Buys sustainably. Other sources may be less sustainable, but still useful. This may include cards with on-trash effects (e.g. Rats), Peddlers you bought cheaply, cards with on-gain effects that provide minimal benefit after gaining (for example, Cemetery), or Actions you no longer need (such as a curser after the Curse pile empties).

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Buy Trash a card from your hand. + equal to its cost.	Seaside	October 2009
		+1 Buy Trash a card from your hand. + per it costs.	Seaside (2017 printing)	July 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	打撈員 (pron. dǎlāo yuán)
Czech	Zachránce (lit. savior)
Dutch	Afvalverwerker (lit. waste processor)			+1 Aanschaf Vernietig een kaart uit je hand. + per dat de kaart kost.	Hijs de Zeilen (2de Editie) 999 Games (2022)
Finnish	Hylkysukeltaja (lit. wreckage diver)
French	Sauveteur (lit. rescuer)
German	Müllverwerter (lit. waste recyclers)			+1 Kauf Entsorge eine Karte aus deiner Hand. + entsprechend den Kosten der entsorgten Karte.	(2009)
	Müllverwerter (lit. waste recyclers)			+1 Kauf Entsorge eine Handkarte. + pro , das sie kostet.	(Nachdruck 2018)
	Müllverwerter (lit. waste recyclers)			+1 Kauf Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten. + pro , das jene Karte kostet.	(Nachdruck 2021)
	Müllverwerter (lit. waste recyclers)			+1 Kauf Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten. + pro , das sie kostet.	2. Edition (2022)
Italian	Recupero (lit. recovery)
Japanese	引揚水夫 (pron. hikiage suifu, lit. salvaging sailor)			+1 購入 手札1枚を廃棄する。そのコストにつき+(以外は無視する)。
Korean	인양작업 (pron. in-yangjag-eob, lit. salvage work)
Polish	Wyławiacz (lit. one who pulls things from the water)			+1 zakup Wyrzuć na śmietnisko kartę z ręki. + równe jej kosztowi.	(2016)
Russian	Спасатель (pron. spasatyel', lit. rescuer)			+1 Покупка Выкиньте карту из руки. + за каждую её стоитости.
Spanish	Rescatador (lit. rescuer)			+1 Compra Elimina una carta de tu mano. +igual al coste de la carta eliminada.

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

A fairly old card which never changed functionally.

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