Spoils

Spoils
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Treasure
Kingdom card?	No
Set	Dark Ages
Illustrator(s)	Ryan Laukat
Card text
When you play this, return it to the Spoils pile. (This is not in the Supply.)

Spoils is a one-shot equivalent of Gold that some Dark Ages cards allow players to gain; it is a non-Supply card. There are 15 Spoils cards available, and when one is played it returns to the pile to be gained again later.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• This card is not in the Supply; it can only be obtained via Bandit Camp, Marauder, and Pillage.
• When you play Spoils, you get + to spend this turn, and return that copy of Spoils to its pile.
• You are not forced to play Treasures in your hand.

Other Rules clarifications

• Spoils can also be stolen from other players with Thief, or be obtained via Masquerade.
• Spoils cannot be gained with Mint, since it is not in the supply.
• If you play an Ambassador and reveal a Spoils, the Spoils is not returned to the Supply (since it is not in the Supply) and other players do not gain Spoils.
• The Spoils pile does not count towards the endgame condition.

Strategy

As a one-shot Treasure, Spoils can be used in two main ways, depending on the stage of the game and the gainer that is acting as a source of copies. Early in the game, it can function as a way to spike a large amount of , as a stepping stone to deck control and permanent forms of payload; later, if you have good deck control, you can consistently gain-and-play Spoils every turn. One major problem with Spoils, however, is that the cards that give you access to it (Pillage, Marauder, and Bandit Camp) are generally weak or mediocre, so even if the Spoils themselves have attractive properties in a given Kingdom, it still may not be worth going to the effort of acquiring them. Conversely, gaining Spoils can occasionally be an undesirable side effect of playing these cards (particularly Bandit Camp) if draw is difficult to come by.

It's typically best to play any Spoils that you draw, even if doing so generates more than you can use this turn. Since you'll be playing your Spoils gainer again, or may have done so already this shuffle, saving Spoils up usually only causes stop cards to accumulate in your deck, and the detrimental effect on your deck control reduces the longer-term odds of aligning your Spoils and your +Buy. Occasionally, however, it can be worth keeping a Spoils for your next shuffle if you can't make good use of it now. This is most likely to occur when your Spoils source was Pillage, since this is itself a one-shot that you won't necessarily have regained since playing it; it can also be a reasonable option if you anticipate having excess draw and inadequate payload next turn, perhaps in an endgame scenario in which you're attempting to set up a win.

The distinctive properties of Spoils create a few specific interactions:

1. Its one-shot nature makes it a particularly good target for Counterfeit, which allows you to play it twice without the usual downside of trashing a card that you would otherwise get to keep.
2. Conversely, because Spoils doesn't remain in play, it can also interact negatively with effects that care about this: for instance, it doesn't count for Bank.
3. Its price of is a major factor in the fact that Spoils functions very differently to Gold. Among other consequences, Spoils is a poor target for trash-for-benefit effects, is immune to many trashing attacks like Knights, and can be drawn with Will-o'-Wisp.
4. The fact that Spoils can be gained in bulk occasionally creates synergy with effects that care about gaining cards, such as Guildhall and Guildmaster.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Notes	Release	Date
		When you play this, return it to the Spoils pile. (This is not in the Supply.)		Dark Ages	August 2012
		When you play this, return it to the Spoils pile. (This is not in the Supply.)	Digital version may have a cost of rather than .	Dark Ages (2017 printing)	September 2017
		When you play this, return it to the Spoils pile. (This is not in the Supply.)	Digital version may have cost of rather than .	Dark Ages (2020 printing)	2020

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Kořist			Když tuto kartu zahraješ, vrať ji na jeji balíček. (Nepatři do společné zásoby.)
Dutch	Buit			Speel je deze kaart, leg hem dan terug op de stapel buitkaarten. (Deze kaarten zijn geen onderdeel van de voorraad.)	(2012)
Finnish	Sotasaalis (lit. spoils of war)
French	Butin
German	Beute			Wenn du diese Karte ausspielst, lege sie zurück auf den Beute-Stapel. (Diese Karte gehört nicht zum Vorrat.)	(2019)
Japanese	略奪品 (pron. ryakudatsu-hin, lit. loot)			これを略奪品の山に戻す。 (このカードはサプライに置かない。)
Korean	전리품 (pron. jeonlipum)
Russian	Добыча (pron. dobycha)
Spanish	Botín			Cuando juegues esta carta, devuélvela al montón de Botines. (Este montón no está en el Suministro.)	(2014)

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

Spoils is a one-shot Gold. That makes Pillage a one-shot that gets you two one-shots. You can't buy Spoils; there are three different ways to get it, and the other two get you them repeatedly. A one-shot Gold is pretty good if you were only drawing it once anyway, or if you didn't really want Gold in the long run, and if those things aren't true well hey it's still something. There are 15 Spoils. I have seen them run out (temporarily of course) but it's rare.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dark Ages Preview #4: Rats, Pillage, Spoils

Secret History

One day looking through my ideas file I decided it was time to try out "card that makes a one-shot Gold." The first version was just that: cost , you gain a Spoils. It seemed cute but was weak, so I gave it +1 Action. At that point it still seemed weak, but people bought it anyway.

I knew some people would be all, where are the other cards that make Spoils? And I was not possibly giving them another way to get Madmen or Mercenaries. So I thought, maybe three cards total could make Spoils. So I went looking for something else to stick Spoils on. It ended up on Marauder, Pillage, and Bandit Camp.

Then the original card died, because it just didn't have much going for it at that point.

You originally trashed Spoils, and could get them from the trash. It seemed simpler if they returned to the pile. It drops some words from the three cards that give them out, and matches Madman. Forager can still put a Spoils in the trash, it just doesn't get that handed to it for nothing.

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