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− | [[Image:Harvest.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Harvest]], a terminal card.]] | + | A '''terminal action''' is an [[Action]] card that does not give +Action when played. Terminals tend to have powerful effects, but only one can be played per turn without the use of [[villages]]. A central strategic principle, therefore, revolves around understanding how many terminals your deck can support and not overbuying them. |
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− | A '''terminal action''' is an [[Action]] card that does not give +Action when played. Terminals tend to have powerful effects, but only one can be played per turn without the use of [[villages]]. A central strategic principle, therefore, revolves around understanding [[terminal space|how many terminals your deck can support]] and not overbuying them. The risk of [[collision]]—having more terminals in hand than can be played on a given turn—is serious, as it means that one of your hard-earned Action cards will not be played till the next [[reshuffle]]; but so is the risk of buying too few terminals if your strategy depends on playing them frequently.
| + | ==Types of terminals== |
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− | == Types of terminals ==
| + | ==Strategy== |
− | Terminals can broadly be categorized into ''hard'' and ''[[Soft terminal|soft]]'' types; if two hard terminals collide in your hand, you must choose between them, whereas a soft terminal can make use of the other terminal if necessary.
| + | ===Opening two terminals=== |
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− | Terminals that draw cards into your hand, such as {{Card|Smithy}} and {{Card|Council Room}}, form an important category known as [[terminal draw]]. Caution must be exercised with such terminals, as they make it possible to draw Action cards [[dead]]—i.e., without enough actions to use them. This pitfall must be considered when optimizing the action-density of a deck with terminal draw.
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− | Many terminals provide +{{Cost|2}} when played, usually with an additional bonus; these are known as [[terminal silver]]s.
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− | The large majority of [[Attack]] cards are terminal. {{Card|Familiar}} and {{Card|Scrying Pool}} are notable exceptions.
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− | == Strategy == | + | |
− | === Opening two terminals === | + | |
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− | Without any +Draw, the chance of drawing your first two purchases together in hand 3 or 4 is about 30%. (Plus a 1.5% chance of your first shuffle putting both cards into Hand 5.) Terminal draw naturally raises this chance much further. A given terminal will show up in hand three without the other terminal 27% of the time, which lets us find that odds of collision when one terminal draws +1/2/3 cards are around 34%, 38%, and 44% respectively. (The actual chance depends on how drawing affects hand 5 and the shuffle: +2 cards means you'll see every card in hands 3/4, while +3 cards causes multiple cards to miss the reshuffle.)
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− | This is generally too low to count on (e.g. for [[Throne Room]], or a [[Baker]]-enabled pair of [[Treasure Map|Treasure Maps]], but high enough to significantly weaken such openings. 4/3 openings in particular have to be better than opening terminal/Silver and then buying the second terminal on that shuffle. With 5/2 the second terminal only has to be better than picking up nothing, but even that's far from a given.
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− | The list of [[strong openings|Opening]] does include a number of double-terminal openings, but without exception they consist of [[Chapel]] plus a strong 5. Beyond the obvious reason for this (Chapel is exceedingly strong in general), heavy trashing significantly changes the dynamics of a collision. First, by making a single missed play less painful - you'll see all of your purchases far more often. Second, by weakening hands 3/4 regardless of what you buy - drawing Chapel/Silver is often a dead card just like an action would be. Even with the strength of Chapel, only two of those suggestions pair it with terminal draw. [[Vault]] is a special case, letting you discard Chapel and your Estates for money if they collide. [[Witch]]/[[Chapel]] has no such special justification: Witch is simply too good to pass up, and the early damage to your opponent's deck reduces the harm of your wasted draw.
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− | Opening with two terminals is clearly a viable strategy, then, and occasionally it's clearly the right choice. But either the effects or the sheer strength of the cards in question has to outweigh a roughly 1/3 chance of adding a dead card to your early deck.
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| {{Navbox card categories}} | | {{Navbox card categories}} |
− | [[Category:Terminality]] | + | [[Category:Card categories]] |