Werewolf

Werewolf
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Night - Attack - Doom
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Nocturne
Illustrator(s)	Grant Hansen
Card text
If it's your Night phase, each other player receives the next Hex. Otherwise, +3 Cards.

Werewolf is an Action-Night-Attack-Doom card from Nocturne. It's a terminal draw card during the day (i.e., your Action phase), but can also be played during the Night phase to inflict Hexes on your opponents.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• Werewolf can be played in either your Action phase or Night phase.
• If played in your Action phase, you draw three cards; if played at Night, each other player receives the next Hex.

Other rules clarifications

• As always, a card with multiple types retains those types in all contexts. For instance, when you play Werewolf in the Action phase (so it doesn’t attack), it’s still an Attack card and activates other players’ Diplomats and so on. And when you play it in the Night phase, it’s still an Action card, so you can call Royal Carriage to repeat the Hexing, for example.
• If you have abilities to resolve at the start of your turn, it is considered part of your Action phase, and you cannot end it. This means if you play Werewolf at the start of your turn (with e.g, Delay), you cannot skip to your Night phase and give out a Hex.
• If you play it during any phase that isn't your own Night phase (such as with Scepter, or March), including during another player's Night Phase, you get +3 Cards.

Strategy

Viewed as purely a terminal draw card, Werewolf is an expensive version of Smithy, which means it can be useful both in engines and in money strategies if there is no cheaper alternative. For engines, you’ll typically add Werewolves in the early midgame as your terminal space and odds of collision with a village increase, while money strategies may look to add copies earlier, with less concerns about potentially drawing Werewolves dead.

Although the Attack component is variable in impact (as with most Hexing attacks) and playing Werewolf in this way does not offer good value for the price, this mode means that Werewolf still provides some utility if you cannot or do not want to play it for draw—for example, because you have drawn it dead or lack the terminal space, want to avoid triggering a shuffle, or have significant overdraw.

A unique aspect of Werewolf is that it can be played with a Way even during the Night phase, which does not cost an Action. While draw, +Actions, and are useless at this point in the turn, a few Ways can offer relevant benefits, especially if terminal space is tight. Most notably, you can set up draw for your next turn with Way of the Turtle or Way of the Squirrel.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		If it's your Night phase, each other player receives the next Hex. Otherwise, +3 Cards.	Nocturne	November 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text
Dutch	Weerwolf
French	Loup-garou
German	Werwolf			Wenn es deine Nachtphase ist, empfängt jeder Mitspieler die nächste Plage. Ansonsten: + 3 Karten.
Japanese	人狼 (pron. jinrō)			夜フェイズ中の場合、一番上の呪詛を捨て札にし、他のプレイヤーは全員、その呪詛を受ける。それ以外の場合、あなたは+3 カードを引く。
Russian	Оборотень (pron. oborotyen')

Trivia

Official card art.

Werewolf is the only card with a full pile to have four card types.

Art

That's what werewolves look like during the day - just regular people. I specifically asked for a daytime, not-in-wolf-form werewolf in the artist notes. I still like that.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Nocturne Previews #4: Werewolf, Skulk, Cursed Village

Preview

Werewolf is an Action-Night card. During the day he's just a Smithy, but at Night, he shows his vicious side. In your Action phase you can play Werewolf and draw 3 cards; in your Night phase you can play Werewolf and Hex everyone. Okay? It doesn't feel tricky to me but I am making sure here. As with Boons, a word on the card needs to tell you to shuffle up the Hexes, and that word is Doom. That makes Werewolf an Action - Night - Attack - Doom card. The Courtiers all like Dame Josephine, but they like Werewolves too.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Nocturne Previews #4: Werewolf, Skulk, Cursed Village

Secret History

When Night debuted, I figured there would be a bunch of Action - Night cards. I had one early on but it turned into a pure Night card and then died. When it stopped being Action - Night, there was a vacancy, and why not have a Werewolf? I mean there's your Action - Night card. At first it was phrased like Crown, then it was tweaked to what it is, which is maybe slightly simpler. I realized it would be neat to have it interact with Silver, but did not manage it.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Nocturne

Further comments from Donald X.

The whole premise of Werewolf was an action card that could also be played at Night. It very specifically wanted to be a smithy, so you would draw them dead and then hey, they aren't dead. Action-Night suggested a Werewolf, and then a Werewolf has to attack, so the Night part attacks.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Logic behind "special things"

Regarding why Werewolf says "otherwise" instead of "if it's your Action phase," Donald X. explained:

There was the possibility of it being neither phase. An outtake could play Action cards in your Buy phase. So that's why it doesn't just list the two phases and what it does in each. When Crown was previewed, people were all, "so this expansion is ridiculously complex." So it's not exactly a model of what to do.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.