Smithy

Smithy
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Base
Illustrator(s)	Matthias Catrein
Card text
+3 Cards

Smithy is an Action card from the Base set. It is terminal, meaning it provides no +Action; its ability to increase your hand size by drawing 3 cards is useful both in money strategies and engine decks. Similar cards from other expansions, which also give +Cards but no +Action, are sometimes generally referred to as Smithies.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• You draw 3 cards.

Strategy

Smithy is a draw card that increases your net hand size by 2. However, since it is a terminal Action, it may draw other Action cards dead if your deck lacks a village that you can play first.

Draw is among the most important effects in Dominion. It is one of the main methods of achieving deck control, which in turn increases the value of your payload cards by allowing you to play them more often. Most good engines need to be able to draw cards in order to play more Actions and set up desired collisions; similarly, money strategies greatly appreciate larger hand sizes, which can more easily hit higher pricepoints.

Smithy forms one component of the basic engine that most players first encounter: the Village/Smithy engine. With Village supplying +Actions, you can play multiple Smithies in a turn, and given enough of these pairs you can draw your deck, so building can consist of simply adding more and more pairs in the midgame to support an increasing amount of payload. Compared to Laboratory-based draw, Village/Smithy-based draw is slightly more likely to dud, as you need to be able to play Villages before your Smithies. If your deck is not thinned and/or can't sift through junk, you are less likely to be able to draw everything. If you know that you are likely to draw other Actions dead, it may be wise to avoid playing Smithy as the final or only Action of your turn, instead leaving those Actions to be played next turn.

Smithy’s value in the opening is both Kingdom- and luck-dependent. The primary thing to note about opening with Smithy is that it’s likely to trigger an early reshuffle: in many games you will have a 12-card deck at the end of turn 2, and two 5-card hands plus the 3 cards drawn by Smithy guarantee that you’ll trigger a shuffle early (assuming you don’t bottomdeck Smithy). This can work out unfavorably: for example, if you open with Smithy/Silver, are unable to afford a good card turn 3, and play Smithy on turn 4, the Smithy will trigger a shuffle including your turn 3 hand and purchase(s). This will also cause Smithy to miss the shuffle, along with whatever else you have in hand or in play, likely forcing a mediocre hand for turn 5. If, however, you are able to play your Smithy on turn 3 and also purchase a card, you’ll trigger a favorable early shuffle and are very likely to be able to play both on turn 5. It can be worth opening with Smithy if there is an early high pricepoint that you would like to hit, such as for Crop Rotation.

There are two things that may make Smithy look less attractive: limited terminal space and superior draw options. If there is an important terminal such as Witch and no villages available, skipping Smithy is reasonable. If an entirely different style of draw is stronger due to better payload options or reliability, e.g. draw-to-X with Festival/Library, you will also be less likely to gain Smithies. If there is another terminal draw card with an additional benefit, such as Council Room, you might also choose to gain a few of those instead of or alongside your Smithies.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+3 Cards	Dominion 1st Edition	October 2008
		+3 Cards	Dominion 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text
Chinese	鐵匠 (pron. tiějiàng, lit. blacksmith)
Czech	Kovárna
Dutch	Smidse			+3 Kaarten
Finnish	Takomo (lit. forge)
French	Forgeron
German	Schmiede			+3 Karten
Greek	Σιδεράς (pron. sidheras, lit. smith)
Hungarian	Kovácsműhely
Italian	Fucina
Japanese	鍛冶屋 (pron. kajiya, lit. blacksmith)			+3 カードを引く
Korean	대장장이 (pron. daejangjang-i)
Norwegian	Smie
Polish	Kuźnia			+3 karty
Romanian	Fierar
Russian	Кузница (pron. kuznitsa)			+3 Карты
Spanish	Herrería

Trivia

Official card art.

Theme for +Cards

There's no way to give the game's basic resources consistent flavor. If +Cards is say blacksmiths, then right away you are making a Torturing Blacksmith, a Steward With An Anvil, a Masquerade Held At The Smithy. Or you are just calling them all Joe the Blacksmith and Sam the Blacksmith and hey I guess Joe likes to hurt people.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Least thematic card?

It’s like, again what can you do with “+3 cards?” All you can do is try to be thematic with what you give “+3 cards” to, and that itself is hard to do with basic resources. “+3 cards” is so basic to Dominion. Then it’s just going to need to go on cards, like this attack says, “+3 cards.” And it can’t be they’re always the Blacksmith, or whatever it is. And Blacksmith was a poor choice for that anyway. Mostly I flavor cards that are really just all about drawing, as either exploration or learning these days. And I flavor “gain a card” as blacksmith, like Workshop. But Smithy did get out there, and says Smithy on it and +3 cards. And sometimes you can pull that off as simple abilities. But very often it’s just like, there was nothing you could put on +3 cards that was going to bring it to life. And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do that. You should just accept, there will be people who complain about the flavor, and other people who are happy the game is so good.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dice Tower Dish part 7

Secret History

Another early card that never changed. It wasn't one of the first 10 cards though. At the beginning I was worried that drawing your whole deck would be bad. Soon I realized it was in fact fun.

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