Cutpurse

Cutpurse
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Attack
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Seaside
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
+ Each other player discards a Copper (or reveals a hand with no Copper).

Cutpurse is an Action-Attack card from Seaside. It is a terminal silver and also makes other players discard Coppers. It is somewhat similar to Militia in the early game, but stacks differently in that multiple Cutpurses can make you discard many Coppers making Cutpurse particularly strong in multiplayer.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• Each of your opponents with at least one Copper in hand discards one Copper.
• Each of your opponents with no Coppers in hand reveals their hand to prove this.

Strategy

Cutpurse is a terminal silver whose discarding Attack is often insufficiently impactful to make the card worthwhile. Like many other terminal silvers, it suffers from opportunity cost problems, as there are often better cards competing both at the price point and for your terminal space.

In the opening, Cutpurse can be fine for helping you to afford a card costing or more, and the Attack can have some value in hindering your opponents from doing the same, since they’ll always have Copper in hand and it constitutes a significant component of their payload. However, the fact that Cutpurse only reduces their hand size by one means it’s generally still weaker than a Militia attack, even though the latter doesn’t always discard any of their payload.

As your opponents acquire draw and replace their Coppers with better cards, Cutpurse does less and less damage. Kingdoms in which it might continue to provide a somewhat effective Attack throughout the game are those in which draw is limited and Copper thinning is lacking, or in which a Copper in an opponent’s starting hand may continue to be useful to them (e.g. with Stables or Silos). Cutpurse can also have some value as a generic source of Action-based payload, for example in draw-to-x decks with plentiful villages; however, since these don’t tend to be scenarios in which the Attack is useful, there’s often a better option.

Late in the game, Cutpurse’s Attack component may have some incidental use as a hand inspector. If an opponent has no Coppers in hand (as is often likely at this point), playing Cutpurse has no discarding effect but does force them to reveal their hand to you. This is occasionally helpful in an endgame situation in which you can make good use of the information: for instance, your play may be influenced by the presence or absence of a Reaction such as Black Cat in an opponent’s hand or the knowledge that they’re about to have a dud turn. Very rarely, it could even be tactically worthwhile to gain-and-play a Cutpurse for this purpose.

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.

• theory's 2011 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+ Each other player discards a Copper card (or reveals a hand with no Copper).	Seaside	October 2009
		+ Each other player discards a Copper (or reveals a hand with no Copper).	Seaside (2017 printing)	July 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	扒手 (pron. páshǒu, lit. pickpocket)
Czech	Kapsář (lit. pickpocket)
Dutch	Beurzensnijder			+ Iedere andere speler legt een Koper af (of toont een hand zonder Koper).	Hijs de Zeilen (2de Editie) 999 Games (2022)
Finnish	Taskuvaras (lit. pickpocket)
French	Coupeur de bourse
German	Beutelschneider			+ Jeder Mitspieler legt ein Kupfer aus der Hand ab (oder deckt seine Kartenhand ohne Kupfer auf).	(Nachdruck 2018) one or more other versions listed here
Italian	Borseggiatore (lit. pickpocket)
Japanese	巾着切り (pron. kinchakukiri)			+ 他のプレイヤーは全買、銅貨1枚を捨て札にする (銅貨がない場合、手札を公開する)。
Korean	소매치기 (pron. somaechigi, lit. pickpocket)
Polish	Kieszonkowiec (lit. pickpocket)			+ Każdy z pozostałych graczy odrzuca Miedziaka (lub odkrywa rękę bez Miedziaków).	(2016)
Russian	Карманник (pron. karmannik, lit. pickpocket)			+ Каждый другой игрок сбрасывает карту Меди из руки (или раскрывает руку без Меди).
Spanish	Ratero (lit. pickpocket)			+ Cada jugador (menos tú) descarta una carta de Cobre (o revela su mano si no tiene ninguna carta de Cobre).

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This started out as "Cards cost less this turn, then more until your next turn." That doesn't have the same timing as the other duration cards - it goes away at the end of the previous player's turn, rather than at the end of your turn. The developers didn't like that. I replaced it with "+, name a treasure card, each other player discards it." That was quite strong. You don't have to discard Gold very many times before you're sick of it. I reined it in by having it only hit Copper. It's still quite annoying if multiples get played against you early on.

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