Sentry

Sentry
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Base
Illustrator(s)	Eric J. Carter
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action Look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Trash and/or discard any number of them. Put the rest back on top in any order.

Sentry is an Action card from the second edition of the base set. It is a cantrip deck inspector that can trash or sift from the top of your deck.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• First you draw a card and get +1 Action.
• Then you look at the top 2 cards of your deck. You can trash both, or discard both, or put both back in either order; or you can trash one and discard one, or trash one and put one back, or discard one and put one back.

Other rules clarifications

• You finish trashing any cards you choose to before you decide whether to discard any of the remaining cards.

Strategy

Sentry is a remarkably powerful trasher and sifter. Sentry will be your first buy with on most Kingdoms.

Getting Sentry on one of your first two turns can be game changing. It is a trasher that does not decrease hand size. After playing Remodel, you are left with 2 fewer cards in hand than you started with. After playing Chapel for the first time, you usually don’t have any cards left at all. Sentry lets you trash without losing momentum, and you can still buy a reasonable card after trashing your junk.

This card can depend a lot on luck, especially if you open /. Seeing your Sentry after your second shuffle makes it much more likely that it hits your good cards. Despite these decreased odds, buying a Sentry on turns 3 or 4 is usually the correct move. One weakness of Sentry is that it cannot trash cards you have in your hand. Convenient ways to discard cards (e.g. Forum, Storeroom, Oasis) can help you trash your remaining Coppers and Estates, as long as you draw back around to what you discarded. This is only reliable if you are close to drawing your deck. Usually, Sentry’s ability to trash correlates to how conveniently your cards are arranged in your shuffle.

Trashing lets you see your good cards more often. In addition to trashing, Sentry lets you do this in the late game, by discarding your Victory cards or Treasures to keep your deck rolling.

Sentry can be a great addition to a money deck as well. Trashing is usually associated with an engine, since it usually slows down your first few turns, but Sentry lets you remove your Coppers and Estates with barely a loss of pace.

In Base-only games, Sentry has a notable synergy with Vassal. In this case, you are happy to look at Action cards with Sentry, since you can line them up for your Vassals. This is a strong and reliable strategy, and can handle green cards unusually well, since your Sentries can bypass them. When playing this deck, you want to play with as few Treasures as possible, and get your from Vassal and other Action cards. Actions with +Buy, like Market and Festival, are especially valuable.

Notable Synergies

• Cards that interact with the top of your deck, such as Vassal, Wishing Well, or even Zombie Mason.

External strategy articles

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

• 4est's 2017 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Card +1 Action Look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Trash and/or discard any number of them. Put the rest back on top in any order.	Dominion 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	哨兵 (pron. shàobīng)
Dutch	Cipier (lit. jailer)
French	Sentinelle (explicitly feminine)
German	Torwächterin (lit. gatekeeper, explicitly feminine)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Sieh die obersten 2 Karten deines Nachziehstapels an. Entsorge und/oder lege beliebig viele davon ab. Lege den Rest in beliebiger Reihenfolge zurück.	2. Edition (2019)
Japanese	番兵 (pron. banpei, lit. sentinel)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション 山札の上から2枚を見る。その中の好きな枚数を廃棄し、好きな枚数を捨て札にする。残りを好きな順番で山札の上に戻す。
Polish	Wartownik
Russian	Часовой (pron. chasovoy)			+1 Карта +1 Действие Посмотрите на 2 верхние карты вашей колоды. Выкиньте и/или сбросьте любое их число. Положите остаток назад на верх колоды в любом порядке.
Spanish	Centinela

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

One goal was to have another trasher in the main set; another was to have a cantrip . This card just came from combining those things. It's a mini-Cartographer that can also trash.

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

Retrospective

In multiplayer, Sentry is overpowered and Witch is powerful but fine. The big problem with Sentry is that it can trash two cards; if it only let you trash one I'd be a lot happier with it.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2022

I do tend to regret 's that loom too large as an opening. Sentry is a stand-out case there. If there's ever a 3E (man I hope there isn't), expect me to replace it.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Shuffle iT Discord, 2020