Bishop
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{{Infobox Card | {{Infobox Card | ||
|name = Bishop | |name = Bishop |
Revision as of 01:57, 21 June 2014
This article/section needs cleanup. Reason: need higher quality image |
Bishop | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Prosperity |
Illustrator(s) | Rom |
Card text | |
+ +1 Trash a card from your hand. + equal to half its cost in , rounded down. Each other player may trash a card from his hand. |
Bishop is an Action card from Prosperity. It is one of three cards which utilize VP tokens, along with Goons and Monument. Bishop allows you to trash a card and gain points proportional to its cost, but allows your opponents to trash a card as well, which can potentially be highly valuable to them in setting up a strong engine quickly. Bishop can enable a strategy known as the Golden Deck, wherein each turn you trash one Province with Bishop and have enough to buy another, scoring +5 for each one trashed, until the Province supply is exhausted and the game ends.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- See the Additional Rules section for rules on tokens.
- Trashing a card is optional for the other players but mandatory for you.
- If players care about the order things happen for this, you trash a card first, then each other player may trash a card, in turn order.
- Only the player who played Bishop can get tokens from it.
- total (counting the 1 you always get from Bishop). in costs is ignored, for example if you trash Golem (from Dominion: Alchemy), which costs , you get 3
- If you have no cards left in hand to trash, you still get the and 1 .
Other Rules clarifications
Strategy Article
Original article by theory
Bishop is a rather complex card, doing a lot of things at once. On some boards it can be a game-changer, and on others it can be a dangerous pitfall. Bishop's benefit to you is exceptionally strong for costing , but the benefit is offset by allowing an opponent to trash a card (for free, without using up a card or action to do the trashing).
There’s two ways to view Bishop. The first is by lumping it with Salvager and Remodel, as a -cost, single-card trasher that provides some kind of benefit. (In this sense, Island is a bit like a one-time version of Bishop: it provides 2 + the value of the Island card, but Bishop’s ability scales upward and can be used multiple times.) From this vantage, Bishop is just another deck-trimmer that isn’t quite as fast as Chapel but provides a little ancillary benefit while trashing. Its + is more useful than one might think; the worst possible opening draw with Salvager is 4 Coppers and 1 Salvager, especially if there are key cards to buy. Bishop doesn’t have this problem.
The alternative is to view Bishop with Goons and/or Monument as a different strategy altogether. This approach eschews Victory cards, instead focusing on buying crappy cards with Goons for VP tokens, then trashing them with Bishop for more VP tokens. If your opponent can’t end the game, you can happily collect in perpetuity. This approach depends heavily on +Actions and some way to get through your deck.
Alternatively, with Talisman or Hoard, you can gain a ton of fuel for your Bishops. Trashing Estates and Duchies with Bishop is usually a win-win: you (mostly) break even on VP, while trimming your deck. Trashing Provinces is a little risky, though perhaps worth it if you can do it early enough.
Bishop is also central to a class of strategies called the Golden Deck. In a Golden Deck, the goal is to trash your hand down to the point where you can guarantee that you'll be able to trash a Province or Colony each turn while buying a new one to replace it, thus netting 5 or 6 points per turn while draining the respective VP pile very quickly. The trashing from Bishop is too slow to achieve this on its own, but when paired with another strong trasher like Chapel, it can be done very quickly.
When Bishop does not benefit the opponent
Bishop is stronger if your opponent is pursuing a card-rich strategy like Gardens or especially Silk Road. In this case, the trashing is unlikely to benefit your opponent much: trashing Copper or Estates can actively harm their strategy.
Bishop sometimes works slightly better when your opponent is playing a big money strategy: these strategies benefit less from the trashing of copper, although early in the game, they are likely to get a modest boost from the trashing of Estates. Certain alt-treasure, like Venture and Fool's Gold, change this, however, as these cards benefit greatly from increased concentration in the deck.
Weaknesses of Bishop
Bishop is weakest when your opponent benefits most from the trashing.
One of the worst scenarios for this card is when you have weighed down your opponents with Curses and Coppers, since they derive more benefit than you out of the trashing. Bishop can also be very problematic if your opponent is trying to construct an engine, as the added trashing can make an engine viable on a board where it normally wouldn't be, such as in the absence of strong trashing. Any card that benefits from increased concentration in the deck, such as Venture, Conspirator, Minion, or Fool's Gold, will benefit more from the trashing.
In the early game, there’s often a tension over who has to buy Bishop. This is because if there are other useful cards (or other, more important terminal Actions of any cost), then neither side wants to be the one who buys the Bishop, letting the other player trim his deck for free. It can be a bit of a volunteer’s dilemma.
Synergies/Combos
- Chapel
- Goons, as part of an overall strategy
- Bridge / Peddler / Quarry, because of the cost differential (buy a Peddler for , trash it for 5 )
- Hoard or Talisman, for Bishop fodder
Antisynergies
- Opponents’ handsize-reduction attacks (e.g., Militia)
- Your own Curse-giving attacks
- Odd-cost cards and -cost cards
- Opponents' engines
- Opponents' cards that benefit from increased concentration in the deck, like Venture, Conspirator, Minion, or Fool's Gold.
Trivia
Secret History