Discard for benefit

Vault, a discard for benefit card.

Discard for benefit cards are those that, usually optionally, let you discard cards in order to get some other effect. If that effect is drawing, the card is considered a sifter.

List of cards

Cards in italics have been removed.

• Discard any number of cards:
  • Cellar
  • Secret Chamber
  • Vault
  • Storeroom
  • Artificer
  • Opulent Castle (only discards Victory cards)
  • Shepherd (only discards Victory cards)
  • Hostelry (on gain only, and only discards Treasures)
• Discard a set number of cards for a non-scaling benefit:
  • Baron - 1 Estate
  • Mill - 2 cards
  • Tactician - your entire hand
  • Hamlet - 1 card (does this twice)
  • Tournament - 1 Province
  • Count - 2 cards (one of its options)
  • Plaza - 1 Treasure
  • Secret Cave - 3 cards
  • The Earth's Gift - 1 Treasure
  • The Sky's Gift - 3 cards
  • Way of the Mole - your entire hand

Quest can discard different numbers of different types of cards, but all cases result in the same benefit. Tunnel and Faithful Hound can be discarded for a benefit.

Strategy

Since most terminal discard for benefit cards are, by their nature, soft terminals, it doesn't hurt your deck as much to overgain them. If you have the Actions to support them, discard for benefit cards also work nicely with draw-to-X cards like Library; in such cases, you can potentially draw and discard your deck several times, racking up a lot of benefit. If you're discarding Coppers, Counting House works quite well in this role, as it doesn't have an upper limit in draw. Menagerie also plays well with discard for benefit cards, as you can usually select specifically duplicate cards to discard.