Secret Chamber

Secret Chamber
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Reaction
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Marcel-André Casasola Merkle
Card text
Discard any number of cards. + per card discarded. When another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, +2 Cards, then put 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck.

Secret Chamber is an Action-Reaction card from the first edition of Intrigue. Its Reaction allows you to move cards between your hand and the top of your deck when an Attack is played, which might help defend against deck inspection attacks by allowing you to choose what card the Attack finds, or against handsize attacks by helping ensure that you have cards in hand that you want to discard. When played, it lets you discard cards for .

It was removed from the second edition of Intrigue; its discard-for-benefit function was replaced in the second edition by Mill. Other second-edition cards with related abilities include Secret Passage and Diplomat.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• When you play this as an Action on your turn, you first discard any number of cards from your hand, then get per card you discarded. The other ability does nothing at that time as it is only used as a Reaction.
• You may choose to discard zero cards, but then you will get zero additional .
• When someone else plays an Attack card, you may reveal Secret Chamber from your hand. If you do, first you draw 2 cards, then you put any 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck (in any order).
• The cards you put back do not have to be the ones you drew. You can put Secret Chamber itself on top of your deck; it's still in your hand when you reveal it.
• Revealing Secret Chamber happens prior to resolving what an Attack does to you. For example, if another player plays Thief, you can reveal Secret Chamber, draw 2 cards, put 2 back, and then you resolve getting hit by the Thief.
• You can reveal Secret Chamber whenever another player plays an Attack card, even if that Attack would not affect you.
• Also, you can reveal more than one Reaction card in response to an Attack. For example, after revealing the Secret Chamber in response to an Attack and resolving the effect of the Secret Chamber, you can still reveal a Moat to avoid the Attack completely.

Other Rules clarifications

• You may reveal the same Secret Chamber multiple times when reacting to an Attack; for example, in response to an attack, you could reveal Secret Chamber, draw a Moat and a Copper off the top of your deck, put back two coppers, reveal the Moat to be unaffected by the attack, and then reveal Secret Chamber again to put either the Moat or the Secret Chamber back on top of your deck.
• Revealing the Secret Chamber alone does NOT prevent the attack from affecting you. You can reveal Secret Chamber even in response to an attack that does not affect the top of your deck, like Witch.
• You must reveal the Secret Chamber as soon as the Attack is played, but before any text on it is resolved. So if your opponent plays Minion or Pirate Ship, you must finish drawing cards and then putting cards back on top before your opponent makes their choice for which action on attack card to take.

Strategy

Before it was removed, Secret Chamber was a very weak payload card that provided a discard for benefit effect similar to that of Storeroom. While not frequently useful, it has two main use cases:

1. In the midgame in an engine which has extra terminal space, +Buy, and some cards which cannot be productively used (such as Estates that cannot be trashed), Secret Chamber can function as a cheap generator that is easy to pick up with a spare Buy.
2. Slightly less often but perhaps more impactfully, Secret Chamber can be integrated into a draw-to-x deck or a deck with overdraw (such as with Scrying Pool) to generate larger amounts of .

Secret Chamber’s Reaction is generally not a reason to gain the card, but if you have a copy in your starting hand anyway, the Reaction can provide a small reliability boost. It is also sometimes useful in a slog, particularly against the removed card Mountebank, where it can help you find Curses to defend against the attack.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Discard any number of cards. + per card discarded. When another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, +2 Cards, then put 2 cards from your hand on top of your deck.	Intrigue 1st Edition	July 2009

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	密室 (pron. mìshì, lit. private room)
Czech	Tajemná komnata
Dutch	Geheime Kamer			Leg naar believen kaarten uit je hand af. + per afgelegde kaart. Als een speler een aanvalskaart speelt mag je de Geheime Kamer tonen. In dat geval +2 Kaarten; leg daarna 2 kaarten naar keuze uit je hand gedekt op je trekstapel.	Eerste editie (2009) "...uit je hand tonen. …"
Finnish	Salainen kammio
French	Chambre secrète
German	Geheimkammer			Lege eine beliebige Anzahl Karten aus deiner Hand ab: + für jede abgelegte Karte. Wenn ein Mitspieler eine Angriffskarte ausspielt, darfst du diese Karte aus deiner Hand aufdecken. Wenn du das machst: +2 Karten; dann lege 2 Karten aus deiner Hand verdeckt auf deinen Nachziehstapel.	(2009)
Hungarian	Rejtekszoba
Italian	Stanza Segreta
Japanese	秘密の部屋 (pron. himitsu no heya)
Korean	비밀의 방 (pron. bimil-ui bang)
Norwegian	Lønnkammer
Polish	Tajna komnata			Odrzuć dowolną liczbę kart. + za każdą odrzuconą kartę. Kiedy inny gracz zagrywa kartę Ataku, możesz odkryć tę kartę z ręki. Jeśli to zrobisz: +2 karty, po czym odłóż 2 karty z ręki na wierzch talii.	(2016)
Russian	Тайник (pron. taynik, lit. hiding place)
Spanish	Cámara Secreta			Descarta las cartas que quieras. + por cada carta descartada. Cuando otro jugador juegue una carta de Ataque, puedes enseñar esta carta de tu mano. Si lo haces, +2 Cartas , y luego pones 2 cartas de tu mano encima de tu mazo.	(2009)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

The set had a reaction early on, but had lost it by the time development started. Dale wanted another reaction, and the set had space, due to going up to 25 cards. I didn't want to just stop attacks flat-out again, so this card instead does something odd that's useful against lots of attacks. You'll have to consider the individual cases for yourself, but really, it does show a lot of attacks what for. The non-reaction part had been a card in the main set in the murky past, which had left due to being too weak. It seemed good enough here with the reaction tacked onto it, and cute because it helps vs. Curses, which the reaction part doesn't. As with the similar nixed card described in the Courtyard entry, this can cause some AP, but it's not as bad because the attack gives you some direction and it isn't your turn.

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

Retrospective

Moats have to be on the weak side, but I would probably still try to improve Secret Chamber. It also has the issue of making reactions confusing - the whole business of, reveal Secret Chamber, resolve it, reveal a Moat I drew off of it. It would be better to avoid that issue, even if it meant just not doing Secret Chamber's reaction.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, What Donald X. Might Do With a Dominion Time Machine

Second Edition Removal

People don't cite this one anywhere near as often as Scout or Thief, but I actually get it even less often. The reaction is confusing and rarely useful; the top part is a fine ability but very weak, it wants to come with more stuff.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion 2nd Editions

The action part is on e.g. Vault, Storeroom. The reaction has no replacement and well. It's mildly interesting, a different way to deal with certain attacks, but no star. I wouldn't hold out hope for a new one.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Product Idea - Dominion: Memories

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