Harbinger

Harbinger
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Base
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action Look through your discard pile. You may put a card from it onto your deck.

Harbinger is an Action card from the second edition of the base set. It is a cantrip that lets you move a card of your choice from your discard pile to your deck, allowing you to reuse that card without waiting for your next reshuffle.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• First draw a card and get +1 Action; then look through your discard pile, and you may put a card from it on top of your deck.
• Putting a card on top is optional.

Strategy

Harbinger is usually a weak card. As a cantrip, it is often innocuous to add to your deck, but its extra effect is rarely impactful.

In general, you want to be drawing as much of your deck as possible each turn. In the ideal case, this means shuffling at the end of each turn, resulting in an always-empty discard pile. In games where you can draw your whole deck—which is many of them—Harbinger is nearly useless. But it is often better than nothing, so if you only have and there is not a better card available, you might as well grab a Harbinger.

On the other hand, in kingdoms with weak draw and/or thinning where money-based strategies are more viable, you’re a lot more likely to have a discard pile, which means that Harbinger may do something useful for you. Unfortunately, in games like this Harbinger faces competition from Silver at the same price point, and Silver is a good card for money-centric games. It’s also an action card, so if you’re playing with terminal draw you have a chance of drawing it dead.

The best case for Harbinger is a junker slog. Junker slogs occur when there are strong junkers (such as Witch or Old Witch) and no easy way to get rid of the junk or otherwise get deck control. In these games, you will have a big deck, won't be seeing much of it in a given turn, and have key cards that you want to play as often as possible—all good signs for Harbinger. It's usually worth picking up a few, because they will help you play the key attacks more than your opponent.

Notable Synergies

• Junkers
• Advisor and Envoy - when playing with these, you are likely to have good cards in your discard pile for Harbinger to topdeck.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date	Notes
		+1 Card +1 Action Look through your discard pile. You may put a card from it onto your deck.	Dominion (Second Edition)	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	先鋒 (pron. xiānfēng, lit. herald)
Dutch	Voorbode			+1 Kaart +1 Actie Kijk door je aflegstapel. Je mag 1 kaart daaruit op je trekstapel leggen.	Tweede editie (herdruk 2019/2020)
French	Présage
German	Vorbotin (Note: explicitly feminine)			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Sieh deinen Ablagestapel durch. Du darfst eine Karte daraus auf deinen Nachzieh­stapel legen.	2. Edition (2019)
Japanese	前駆者 (pron. zenku-sha)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション 捨て札置き場のカードをすべて見る。 その中の1枚を山札の上に置いてもよい。
Polish	Zwiastun
Russian	Предвестник (pron. pryedvyestnik)			+1 Карта +1 Действие Посмотрите на ваш сброс. Вы можете положить карту оттуда на верх колоды.
Spanish	Emisario			+1 Carta +1 Acción Mira en tu pila de Descarte; puedes coger una carta y colocarla sobre tu mazo.	Segunda Edición (2016, 2021)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

One day I thought, do I have any published cards that are really different from everything else in the set, that I could make new very simple versions of? I found two good candidates: Scavenger (from Dark Ages) and Herald (from Guilds). The Scavenger part I liked was getting a card from your discard pile; so Harbinger does that, with +1 Card +1 Action instead of +, and without the Chancellor part (phew). This was called Courier for a while, but people complained about there being both Courier and Courtier.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion 2nd Editions

Donald X.'s thoughts on Harbinger being weak

You buy this when you don't want Silver, then see it endlessly miss. It can totally be good though, I mean you aren't always drawing your deck every turn, and always have cards you'd rather draw than other cards.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, $3 Cost Card Rankings Bottom Half