Conclave

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Conclave
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Nocturne
Illustrator(s)	Joshua Stewart
Card text
+ You may play an Action card from your hand that you don't have a copy of in play. If you do, +1 Action.

Conclave is an Action card from Nocturne. It's a conditional village that only gives extra Actions if you can play an Action card you don't yet have in play.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• When you play this, you can play an Action card from your hand, provided that you do not have a copy of that card in play.
• It does not matter if you played the Action card this turn, only that it is not in play when you play Conclave; you can use Conclave to play a card that you played but trashed and so do not have in play, like a Pixie you trashed, but cannot use it to play a card you did not play this turn that is still in play, such as a Secret Cave from your previous turn.
• Conclave normally cannot play a Conclave, as that is a card you have in play.
• If you do play a card with Conclave, then Conclave gives you +1 Action, which has no special limitations, and so can for example be used to play another Conclave.

Strategy

The discussion topic for Conclave can be found here.

Conclave is a fairly exotic village. It is a decent engine card that rewards variety; if you have a sufficient amount of variety in your deck, Conclave can become reasonably reliable. Although it might seem similar to, for example, Conspirator at first glance, it is actually best compared to Festival; assuming it can hit a different card every time, it gives + and +2 Actions, making it a cheaper Festival without the +Buy. Usually you will not want to fight for the split, because Conclave becomes more difficult to manage once you get more of them, and also because it does not draw any cards itself.

If Conclave is the only splitter, engine building becomes somewhat tricky but not impossible. Strong trashing helps a lot, as do cantrips and a variety of draw cards. Conclave is particularly useful in these situations because it decreases the need of buying Treasure cards for payload; in fact, you will likely never need Silver if you are playing a Conclave engine. If there are other splitters on the board, a mix of both Conclave and the other splitter tends to be good, as Conclave likes the variety and the other cards like the money Conclave provides.

Synergies

• Draw-to-X (Library, Watchtower)
• Royal Carriage
• Prince + Conclave + Reserve cards enable you to play and call Reserve cards in the same turn
• Way of the Chameleon can optionally turn Conclaves into Lost Cities.
• One-shots such as Horse can always be played by Conclave because they do not stay in play.

Antisynergies

• Duration cards, since they remain in play.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+. You may play an Action card from your hand that you don't have a copy of in play. If you do, +1 Action.	Nocturne	November 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Conclaaf
French	Conclave
German	Konklave			+ Du darfst eine Aktionskarte aus der Hand ausspielen, von der du keine gleiche im Spiel hast. Wenn du das tust: + 1 Aktion.
Japanese	コンクラーベ (pron. konkurābe)			+。 場にないアクションカード1枚を手札から使用してもよい。使用する場合、+1 アクション。
Polish	Tajne zebranie (lit. secret meeting)				(2022)
Russian	Конклав (pron. konklav)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

I liked the idea so much on Imp that I tried it out on a village too. There was a version that did the "you may play a card you don't have a copy of in play" thing twice, then the version that made it out, which lets the second card be a repeat.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Nocturne