Way

Way of the Ox, a Way.

Ways are a landscape introduced in Menagerie, and provide alternate ways to play Action cards. When you play an Action card, instead of doing what is printed on the Action card, you may do what is printed on a Way being used in that game.

Ways are not Kingdom cards, and cannot be bought. Including one or more Ways in a game does not count toward the 10 Kingdom card piles the Supply includes. In fact, Ways are not considered "cards" at all; any text referring to a "card" (such as instructions to "name a card") does not apply to Ways. However, for reference, Ways' effects are printed on cards in a landscape orientation with light blue frames.

There are 20 Ways, any number of which may be used in a game of Dominion, though Donald X. recommends not using more than one Way, and not more than two total Ways, Events, Landmarks, Projects and Traits. When choosing a random Kingdom, the Ways may be shuffled into the Randomizer deck; any landscapes that are dealt once 10 Kingdom cards have also been dealt will be included in the game.

Official Rules

Preparation

• Events and Ways can be shuffled into the randomizer deck (despite having a different back).
• They are not part of the 10 Kingdom cards used in a game; when an Event or Way is turned over, put it on the table but keep turning over cards until you get 10 Kingdom cards. For normal play we recommend using at most 2 such cards; with other expansions that includes Events, Ways, Landmarks, and Projects.
• Skip any further landscape cards turned over.
• We also recommend using at most one Way per game.
• Also skip Events and Ways when using a randomizer card to determine whether or not to use Platinum/Colony (from Prosperity), or Shelters (from Dark Ages) in a game, or to determine the bane for Young Witch (from Cornucopia).
• Another approach some people may prefer is to shuffle Events and Ways (and Landmarks and Projects) separately into their own deck, and always play with one or two of them.

Ways

• Each Way gives Action cards an additional option: you can play the Action for what it normally does, or play it to do what the Way says to do.
• Playing an Action card for a Way ability means not doing anything the Action card said to do when played. For example, if you have Way of the Sheep in a game, which says "+," then you could play a Horse and choose to get +; if you did so, you would not get +2 Cards and +1 Action, and would not return the Horse to its pile.
• Ways are not Kingdom cards, and cannot be bought; they sit on the table modifying the game rules.
• Text below a dividing line is unaffected, it will still happen whenever it says it does. For example, if you play a Highway^† (from Hinterlands) and use Way of the Sheep, you get +, and then while Highway^† is in play, its ability makes cards cheaper.
  • †The text of Highway was changed in the second edition of Hinterlands, so its cost-reduction ability is no longer below a dividing line and therefore this rule no longer applies to it. However, other cards that still have text below dividing lines, such as Peasant, still work as described in this rule.
• For tracking, it is helpful to tilt a card that was played using a Way, so that you remember that it did the Way instead of what it says.
• Some Ways refer to "this." That is the card being used to do the Way ability. For example, Way of the Turtle says "Set this aside..." If you play a Market using Way of the Turtle, you will set the Market aside.
• Enchantress from Empires also changes what an Action card does when played. If you are affected by Enchantress, you can use a Way instead of getting the +1 Card and +1 Action that Enchantress's effect would give you.
• When an Action card can be played at an unusual time, like Sheepdog, it can still be used as a Way.
• If you play an Action card multiple times, with a card like Mastermind, you can choose for each play whether you want it to use a Way or not.
• If the card you are playing is a Duration card, it only stays in play if at least one of its plays was for its own abilities. If it does stay in play, you will have to remember for your next turn how many times you actually played the Duration card for its abilities.
• The choice to use a Way or not happens after "first" abilities on cards like Moat, Caravan Guard, and Kiln.
• The Adventures tokens from Adventures still apply when playing a card using a Way.

List of Ways

• Way of the Butterfly
• Way of the Camel
• Way of the Chameleon
• Way of the Frog
• Way of the Goat
• Way of the Horse
• Way of the Mole
• Way of the Monkey
• Way of the Mouse
• Way of the Mule
• Way of the Otter
• Way of the Owl
• Way of the Ox
• Way of the Pig
• Way of the Rat
• Way of the Seal
• Way of the Sheep
• Way of the Squirrel
• Way of the Turtle
• Way of the Worm

Gallery

Trivia

In other languages

• Dutch: Spoor
• German: Weg

Preview

First we have Ways. There are 20 of these. Okay so. They're landscape cards like Events and Landmarks and Projects. You deal them out the same way, except, don't use more than one Way per game (that's my advice anyway). A Way gives an alternate use to all Action cards that game. When you play an Action card, pick, do you want its normal function, or do you want the Way. If you want the Way, you just do what the Way says, that's that. It's like Action cards all say, "Choose one: that Way thing, or what this normally does." We turn the Action card sideways to remember which ones did the Way. Stuff below a dividing line is unaffected; if it's like, "While this is in play, something something," that will still happen. Ways work any time you play an Action card. This means for example that if you play Sheepdog via its reaction, that can still use a Way if you want. If you Throne Room a card, it could be the Way the first time, not-the-Way the second time, or any combination. As always there's a rulebook, you'll get to see it eventually.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Menagerie Previews 4: Ways and Events

Secret History

I tried several new kinds of landscape cards for the set. The one that stuck was Ways, which let any Action be played for a particular effect. I liked the vanilla ones right away.

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

Further development history

I was trying to think of new kinds of landscapes. Somehow I put on my list, "alternate use for actions." That's actions, not action cards. Instead of playing a card, I can do this thing. Thinking it through, it didn't seem very good. One issue is, it discourages you from buying Action cards. I could fix that by requiring an Action card - you play an Action card to do a different thing than normal. I was concerned it might be too slow, but I could just try it and see. And hey it would work with Horses. So I tried it and there they are.

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

Designing Ways

There was no specific difference for the Ways vs. anything else. I had the concept and tried very simple things. They worked so I made more things. I looked at all the various basic effects and tried to do versions, though they didn't always work out, e.g. the Workshops. Some bigger effects wouldn't work without costs or limitations, but they could get costs/limitations, so I tried those too. I tried to come up with stuff that specifically made sense in the situation; I tried to make things that involved the card being played, e.g. Turtle. As usual most things were mechanics-based, not flavor-based.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2020

Theme for each of the Ways

Butterfly - it turns into something else

Camel - tie-in to Camel Train

Chameleon - changes form

Frog - jumps onto your deck

Goat - tie-in to Goat

Horse - tie-in to Horse

Mole - they dig

Monkey - what animal can possibly be +Buy? it's a human thing. well, monkey, that's close

Mouse - it does some little thing

Mule - they do some work, they're pack animals

Otter - for the Boons, draw was water, River/Sea

Owl - wise owls

Ox - they do work for you

Pig - tie-in to Enchantress

Rat - tie-in to Rats

Seal - tie-in to Royal Seal

Sheep - an animal you make from

Squirrel - you squirrel away some cards

Turtle - they're slow

Worm - an animal tied to the land

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2020