Masterpiece

Masterpiece
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Treasure
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Guilds
Illustrator(s)	Kelli Stakenas
Card text
Overpay: Gain a Silver per overpaid.

Masterpiece is a Treasure card from Guilds. It is an overpay card that can net you many Silvers.

Masterpiece is rarely strategically useful, and was removed in the second edition of Guilds & Cornucopia.

FAQ

Unofficial FAQ (2022)

• When you buy this, you may overpay for it; if you do, then when you gain the Masterpiece you also gain a Silver for each extra you paid over the cost. For example if you buy a Masterpiece for , you will gain three Silvers.

Other rules clarifications

With errata implemented in 2022, the overpay effect has become a when-gain trigger, and so gaining the Silver(s) with Masterpiece's online versions resolves at the same time as other when-gain abilities, if any.

Deprecated official FAQ (2017)

When you buy this, you gain a Silver for each extra you pay over the cost. For example if you buy a Masterpiece for , you will gain three Silvers.

Strategy

Masterpiece is a niche Kingdom Treasure that functions as a Copper once it's in your deck. Therefore, it's typically skippable, and the only reason to gain it is usually if you want to make use of its overpay effect, which can allow you to gain a large number of Silvers quickly and cheaply. While an influx of Silvers is not a particularly desirable effect in most decks given that many better sources of stop card payload exist, there are a few cases in which Masterpiece can be useful:

Masterpiece’s strongest use case is with effects that heavily reward gaining or having many Silvers. Guildhall is the most notable example of the former, and you can often accumulate many Coffers and Silvers and start greening quickly by only buying Guildhall, Masterpieces, and a couple of Silvers. Masterpiece also combos with Feodum, which is a prime example of the latter, as you can often simply buy several large Masterpieces before greening by buying Feodums, which can be worth more than Provinces. Tower rewards you in a similar manner, although the total amount of   it provides is less than that of Feodum, and the fact that you score nothing if the game ends before you can pile Silver is a small risk. Less frequently, Masterpiece can be used to help score with effects such as Triumph or Conquest, but these synergies are more reliant on external support (most often +Buy and a large amount of via a strong engine) and more of a tool than a self-supporting build.

Infrequently, you might use Masterpiece as a source of additional gains if the Kingdom lacks effective alternatives. For example, if you have a very strong engine and deck control but your only alternative is buying Silvers directly, overpaying for a Masterpiece to gain several Silvers at once may be the fastest way to ramp up your payload or provide fodder for trash-for-benefit effects.

Money strategies can occasionally use Masterpiece for Silver flooding to raise your money density. This can be useful if you hit a high price point early in the game (e.g. before you are ready to green), or as a final preparatory move before greening (e.g. spending on a Masterpiece then triggering the shuffle during which you will start to green).

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.

• werothegreat's 2013 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		When you buy this, you may overpay for it. If you do, gain a Silver per you overpaid.	Guilds	June 2013
		When you buy this, you may overpay for it. For each you overpaid, gain a Silver.	Guilds & Cornucopia (2017 printing)	March 2018
		Overpay: Gain a Silver per overpaid.	2022 Rephrasing overpay	June 29, 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Meesterwerk
Finnish	Mestariteos
French	Chef-d'œuvre
German	Meisterstück			Wenn du diese Karte kaufst, darfst du überzahlen. Pro , das du überzahlst, nimm ein Silber.	(2019)
	Meisterstück			Überzahlen: Nimm ein Silber pro überzahltem .
Japanese	名品 (pron. meihin)			これを購入するとき、追加でコストを支払ってもよい。追加で払ったコストにつき銀貨1枚を獲得する。
Korean	명작 (pron. myeongjag)
Polish	Arcydzieło				Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook.
Russian	Шедевр (pron. shyedyevr)

Trivia

Official card art.

If you look closely at Candlestick Maker, you'll notice the man depicted is making the candelabra depicted in Masterpiece. The cards' art share the same artist.

Secret History

This was just the most basic possible overpay. Early on Ben bought one for or so and said "achievement unlocked." It turned out to be a fine play though.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Guild Cards

Retrospective

Some games it's good to get a lot of Silvers. Feodum is what you first think of. Often there are better things to do. Something has to be at the bottom.

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

Second Edition removal

This has a certain mild charm, but is pretty weak. Once in a while there's a game where it does something fun.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Cornucopia & Guilds 2E