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|randomizers = 13
|randomizers = 13
|blankcards = 7
|blankcards = 7
|release = Spring 2013
|release = June 2013


|tokens =
|tokens =
* 25 [[Coin token]]s
* 25 [[Coin token|Coin tokens]]
|theme = overpaying, coin tokens, name a card
|theme =  
|rulebook = http://riograndegames.com/getFile.php?id=1767
* [[Coffers]]
* [[Overpay]]
|coverartist = [[Matthias Catrein]]
|rulebook = https://www.riograndegames.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Cornguilds.pdf
}}
}}


'''Guilds''' is the eighth (and reportedly last) expansion of [[Dominion]]. It was released in June 2013. The cards were available on Goko a few days before the physical expansion was released.<ref>[http://boardgamestrategy.net/forum/index.php?topic=8325.0
'''Guilds''' is the eighth [[Expansions|expansion]] of [[Dominion]]. It was released in June 2013. The box contains 13 sets of [[Kingdom]] cards. The set has two main themes&mdash;cards that give [[Coffers]], and cards that you can [[overpay]] for, which are signified by a "+" in their cost.  There are also two cards that name cards, several very wordy cards, and several cards whose art features bald people. It is no longer sold as a separate item, instead being paired with {{Set|Cornucopia}} in a {{Set|Guilds & Cornucopia|larger box}}.
Guilds on Goko immediately after physical release], [[Dominion Strategy Forum]]</ref>  The set has two main themes - cards that give [[Coin token]]s, and cards that you can [[overpay]] for, which are signified by a "+" in their cost.  There are also two cards that name cards, several very wordy cards, and several cards whose art features bald people.
 
The first spoiler was unintentionally revealed by the release of a Dominion Set Generator by playtester Wei-Hwa Huang on 7th of December, 2012.<ref>[http://dominionsetgenerator.com/ Dominion Set Generator], Official homepage</ref><ref>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5801.msg148347#msg148347 Dominion Set Generator Release Thread], [[Dominion Strategy Forum]]</ref> It was revealed that this expansion would have 13 cards and the abbreviations of all cards and their cost were visible.  The abbreviations were of names of the cards from early in development that had been shifted one letter down in the alphabet to hide their meaning.
 
Guilds has 2 attack cards, one treasure card, 4 cards that let you do something else if you overpay for them, and 5 cards that let you take coin tokens.


=== Kingdom Cards ===
Early printings of Guilds used the wording "take a Coin token" where the [[Second_Edition|revised]] edition of the [[Guilds & Cornucopia|combined expansion]] {{Set|Guilds & Cornucopia}} has +X Coffers as a [[vanilla]] bonus.
{{Cost|2}} {{Card|Candlestick Maker}}<br>
{{Cost|2+}} {{Card|Stonemason}}<br>
{{Cost|3+}} {{Card|Doctor}}, {{Card|Masterpiece}}<br>
{{Cost|4}} {{Card|Advisor}}, {{Card|Plaza}}, {{Card|Taxman}}<br>
{{Cost|4+}} {{Card|Herald}}
<br>{{Cost|5}} {{Card|Baker}}, {{Card|Butcher}}, {{Card|Journeyman}}, {{Card|Merchant Guild}}, {{Card|Soothsayer}}


When the second edition of {{Set|Cornucopia & Guilds|Cornucopia & Guilds|ed=2}} was released, that replaced three Guilds Kingdom cards with three new ones.
== Contents ==
=== Kingdom cards ===
* {{Cost|2}}: {{Card|Candlestick Maker}}
* {{Cost|2+}}: {{Card|Stonemason}}
* {{Cost|3+}}: {{Card|Doctor}}, {{Card|Masterpiece}}
* {{Cost|4}}: {{Card|Advisor}}, {{Card|Plaza}}, {{Card|Taxman}}
* {{Cost|4+}}: {{Card|Herald}}
* {{Cost|5}}: {{Card|Baker}}, {{Card|Butcher}}, {{Card|Journeyman}}, {{Card|Merchant Guild}}, {{Card|Soothsayer}}
<p></p>
=== Additional materials ===
=== Additional materials ===
'''Mats'''
* 6 {{Set|Coffers|Coffers mats}} (only included in the [[Second_Edition#Coffers|revised]] [[Guilds & Cornucopia|mixed box]])
<p>'''Tokens'''
* 25 [[Coin token]]s
* 25 [[Coin token]]s
</p>
== Additional rules (2017) ==
=== [[Coffers]] ===
* Some cards in Guilds put tokens on a player's Coffers. "+1 Coffers" means "add a token to your Coffers mat." In a player's Buy Phase, before buying anything, that player may remove tokens from their Coffers for {{Costplus|1}} each.
* Coin tokens are provided for this. They are not component-limited; players may use a substitute if they run out. The same tokens are provided in {{Set|Seaside|Dominion: Seaside}} and {{Set|Prosperity|Dominion: Prosperity}}; they can all be mixed together.
* Coin tokens being used in other ways, such as on the {{Card|Pirate Ship}} mat for Dominion: Seaside, cannot be removed for {{Costplus|1}}; just the Coin tokens on a player's Coffers mat.
* Coin tokens come from the supply of Coin tokens, and return there; they are not taken from other mats or other players.
* Coin tokens can only be removed from a player's Coffers in that player's Buy Phase (or when instructed by a card such as {{Card|Butcher}}); they cannot be used when buying a card via the [[promo|promotional]] card {{Card|Black Market}}.


== Additional Rules ==
=== [[Overpay]] ===
* "In play" - Action cards and Treasure cards played face-up to a play area are in play until they are moved somewhere else — usually until they are discarded during a Clean-up phase. Only played cards are in play; set aside cards, trashed cards, cards in the Supply, and cards in hands, decks, and discard piles are not in play. Reaction abilities do not put those cards into play.
* Some cards can be "overpaid" for. The costs for these cards have a "+" next to the coin symbol. A player may pay any additional amount for such a card, and then gets an effect based on how much extra was paid.
* Some cards in Dominion: Guilds give players Coin tokens. Coin tokens always come from the supply of tokens, not from another player. In a player's Buy Phase, before buying any cards, that player may spend any number of Coin tokens; each Coin token spent gives that player +{{Cost|1}}. Spent tokens are returned to the supply of tokens. Coin tokens are not component-limited; players may use a substitute if they run out. They are the same tokens that come with [[Seaside|Dominion: Seaside]] and [[Prosperity|Dominion: Prosperity]], but abilities that give players Coin tokens cannot be used to put them on {{Card|Pirate Ship}} mats or the {{Card|Trade Route}} mat. They can only be spent in a Buy Phase; they cannot be spent when buying a card via the promotional card {{Card|Black Market}}.
* {{Card|Potion|Potions}} (from {{Set|Alchemy|Dominion: Alchemy}}) may be used in overpaid amounts if desired, although this is not always meaningful.
* Some cards in Dominion: Guilds can be "overpaid" for. The costs for these cards have a "+" next to the coin symbol. A player may pay any additional amount for such a card, and then gets an effect based on how much extra was paid. {{Card|Potion|Potions}} (from [[Alchemy|Dominion: Alchemy]]) may be used in overpaid amounts if desired, although this is not always meaningful. A player may choose not to overpay, even if she has extra coins, but cannot choose to overpay {{Cost|0}}; to overpay, a player has to actually pay more than the cost. The coins used to overpay are gone after spending them to overpay; they cannot be then used to buy something else. Overpaying happens when a card is paid for, which is before it is gained. Players can only overpay for a card when buying it, not when gaining it some other way. The "+" is just a reminder; a card with "+" in the cost still has its normal cost for all purposes. For example if a player plays {{Card|Haggler}} (from [[Hinterlands|Dominion: Hinterlands]]), then buys a {{Card|Masterpiece}}, overpaying, Haggler will still gain her a card costing less than {{Cost|3}}, the cost of Masterpiece. Similarly, Masterpiece could be the Bane card for {{Card|Young Witch}} (from [[Cornucopia|Dominion: Cornucopia]]), since it costs {{Cost|3}}. Reducing the costs of cards via cards like {{Card|Bridge}} (from [[Intrigue|Dominion: Intrigue]]) or {{Card|Highway}} (from [[Hinterlands|Dominion: Hinterlands]]) does not interact with overpay; for example, if you play five Bridges and have {{Cost|5}} total to spend, {{Card|Herald}} would cost {{Cost|0}}, but if you bought one the most you could overpay for it would still be {{Cost|5}}.
* [[Debt]] (from {{Set|Empires|Dominion: Empires}}) cannot be overpaid.
* When two things happen to a player at the same time, that player picks the order to do them. For example, if a player with {{Card|Merchant Guild}} in play buys a Masterpiece, she chooses whether to take a Coin token first, or overpay for Masterpiece first (in this case the order would not actually matter, since it is too late to spend the Coin token). When two things happen to different players at the same time, go in turn order, starting with the player whose turn it is. For example, if a player plays {{Card|Soothsayer}} with only one Curse left in the Supply, the player to her left gets it.
* Players may choose not to overpay, even if they have extra coins, but cannot choose to overpay {{Cost|0}}; to overpay, a player has to actually pay more than the cost.
* At any point in the game, if a player has to do anything regarding her Deck (draw, reveal, set aside, look at, or trash cards), and she needs more cards than are remaining in her Deck, she must do as many as she can and then shuffle her face-up Discard pile to form a new face-down Deck. Then, she does the things with the remaining number of cards from her newly shuffled Deck. If a player’s Deck is empty, she does not shuffle her Discard pile until she needs to do something with cards from her Deck and cannot.
* The coins used to overpay are gone after spending them to overpay; they cannot be then used to buy something else.
* Overpaying happens when a card is bought, which is before it is gained.
* Players can only overpay for a card when buying it, not when gaining it some other way.
* The "+" is just a reminder; a card with "+" in the cost still has its normal cost for all purposes. For example if a player plays {{Card|Haggler}} (from {{Set|Hinterlands|Dominion: Hinterlands}}), then buys Masterpiece, overpaying, Haggler will still gain them a card costing less than {{Cost|3}}, the cost of Masterpiece. Similarly, Masterpiece could be the Bane card for {{Card|Young Witch}}, since it costs {{Cost|3}}.
* Reducing the costs of cards via {{Card|Bridge}} (from {{Set|Intrigue|Dominion: Intrigue}}) does not interact with overpay; for example, if you play five Bridges and have {{Cost|5}} total to spend, Herald would cost {{Cost|0}}, but if you bought one the most you could overpay for it would still be {{Cost|5}}.


== Flavor Text ==
== Flavor text ==
{{Quote|
{{Quote|
  |Text=Jobs, everyone’s worried about jobs. Whatever happened to tilling the fields in obscurity? The economy is just a trick, like stealing someone's nose, but lately people seem to have seen through it, like when you realize someone hasn’t really stolen your nose. So now everyone’s joining a guild, learning a craft, and working on a masterpiece - a painting so beautiful it blinds you, or a cheese grater so amazing that you never eat cheese again. The only people left tilling the fields are the ones doing it ironically. The guilds cover everything - ironic tilling, butchering, baking, candlestick making, shoemaking, cheesemaking, cheese destruction. Your advisor is convinced that somehow, control of the stonecutters is key to world domination. Very well. You will have stone handled so expertly that the world trembles before you.
  |Text=Jobs, everyone’s worried about jobs. Whatever happened to tilling the fields in obscurity? The economy is just a trick, like stealing someone's nose, but lately people seem to have seen through it, like when you realize someone hasn’t really stolen your nose. So now everyone’s joining a guild, learning a craft, and working on a masterpiece - a painting so beautiful it blinds you, or a cheese grater so amazing that you never eat cheese again. The only people left tilling the fields are the ones doing it ironically. The guilds cover everything - ironic tilling, butchering, baking, candlestick making, shoemaking, cheesemaking, cheese destruction. Your advisor is convinced that somehow, control of the stonecutters is key to world domination. Very well. You will have stone handled so expertly that the world trembles before you.
  |Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
  |Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
  |Source=[http://riograndegames.com/Game/1265-Dominion-Guilds the Dominion rulebook]
  |Source=[https://www.riograndegames.com/games/dominion-cornucopia-amp-guilds/ Rio Grande Games]
}}
}}
== Cards gallery ==
=== Kingdom cards ===
{{startsort|1}}{{Image|Candlestick Maker|o=2|cost=$02}}{{Image|Stonemason|o=2|cost=$02+}}{{Image|Doctor|o=2|cost=$03+}}{{Image|Masterpiece|o=2|cost=$03+}}{{Image|Advisor|o=2|cost=$04}}{{Image|Herald|o=2|cost=$04+}}{{Image|Plaza|o=2|cost=$04}}{{Image|Taxman|cost=$04}}{{Image|Baker|o=2|cost=$05}}{{Image|Butcher|o=2|cost=$05}}{{Image|Journeyman|o=2|cost=$05}}{{Image|Merchant Guild|o=2|cost=$05}}{{Image|Soothsayer|o=2|cost=$05}}{{endsort}}
== Impact ==
Guilds is well-liked, but given its small size and the fact that it is the eighth expansion, the odds of even just one Guilds card being in any random Kingdom are low, making its impact rather minimal.  However, the [[Coffers]] and [[overpay]] mechanics give Guilds a rather unique flavor, and even just one card from this set in a Kingdom can broaden a player's strategic options significantly.


== Impact of Guilds ==
=== [[Big Money]] ===
=== [[Big Money]] ===
In general, the [[Coin token]] mechanic replaces Big Money strategies in games in which it is present, as {{Coin}} can now be kept separate from your deck, but Guilds does offer these cards:
In general, the Coffers mechanic replaces Big Money strategies in games in which it is present, as {{Coin}} can now be kept separate from your deck, but Guilds does offer these cards:
* {{Card | Masterpiece}} - literally gives you a pile of money ({{Card | Silver}}s) when overpaid for
* {{Card | Masterpiece}} - literally gives you a pile of money ({{Card|Silver|Silvers|file=Silver}}) when overpaid for
* {{Card | Soothsayer}} - the only card in the game that directly gives you {{Card | Gold}} without conditions
* {{Card | Soothsayer}} - one of three cards in the game that directly gives you {{Card | Gold}} without conditions, the others being {{Card | Bandit}} and {{card | Skulk}}


=== Engines ===
=== Engines ===
Line 58: Line 82:
* {{Card | Stonemason}} - allows you to pick up multiple engine pieces at once (particularly with {{Card | Border Village}}), and is a decent [[trasher]]
* {{Card | Stonemason}} - allows you to pick up multiple engine pieces at once (particularly with {{Card | Border Village}}), and is a decent [[trasher]]
* {{Card | Doctor}} - one of the best trashers in the game, it can trim your deck down for a perfect engine
* {{Card | Doctor}} - one of the best trashers in the game, it can trim your deck down for a perfect engine
* {{Card | Advisor}} - in certain decks, can be an engine onto itself
* {{Card | Advisor}} - in certain decks, can be an engine unto itself
* {{Card | Herald}} - it requires high Action density, but when it has it, it excels
* {{Card | Herald}} - it requires high Action density, but when it has it, it excels
* {{Card | Journeyman}} - one of the best [[terminal draw]] cards in the game
* {{Card | Journeyman}} - one of the best [[terminal draw]] cards in the game


=== Metagame and Complexity of strategy ===
=== Metagame and complexity of strategy ===
Coin tokens and the overpay mechanic add further layers to Dominion strategy, and the community is still figuring out the best strategy for using Coin tokens.  Most Guilds cards are also quite complicated, not just in terms of what they do or how much text they have, but in how to play (or buy) them effectively.   
Coffers and the overpay mechanic add further layers to Dominion strategy.  Most Guilds cards are also quite complicated, not just in terms of what they do or how much text they have, but in how to play (or buy) them effectively.   
* {{Card | Advisor}} requires your deck to be constructed in a certain way  
* {{Card | Advisor}} requires your deck to be constructed in a certain way  
* {{Card | Doctor}}, {{Card | Herald}} and {{Card | Journeyman}} require the player to have an intimate knowledge of their deck in order to be played most effectively
* {{Card | Doctor}}, {{Card | Herald}} and {{Card | Journeyman}} require the player to have an intimate knowledge of their deck in order to be played most effectively
* {{Card | Baker}} completely changes the [[opening]] two turns, allowing for a completely different game of Dominion
* {{Card | Baker}} completely changes the [[opening]] two turns, allowing for a completely different game of Dominion
== Theme ==
All names of Guilds cards have something to do with jobs.  Most simply describe a job; apart from them, a Masterpiece is the pinnacle of someone's career, and a Plaza is typically surrounded by shops or businesses.
* 5 cards produce Coffers: Candlestick Maker, Plaza, Baker, Butcher, Merchant Guild
* 4 cards can be overpaid for: Stonemason, Doctor, Masterpiece, Herald
* 2 naming cards: Doctor, Journeyman
* 4 cards depict bald people: Advisor, Taxman, Butcher, Soothsayer


== Trivia ==
== Trivia ==
Guilds is notable in that its rulebook exclusively uses feminine pronouns; this is in contrast to all previous rulebooks, and all official cards, which exclusively use masculine pronouns.  It is also the only set not to include a [[Victory]] card, and the only set with a [[Curser]] that does not match any of its main themes.
{{OfficialArt|b=1}}


Guilds is notable in that its first edition rulebook exclusively used feminine pronouns; this was in contrast to all previous rulebooks, and all official cards (prior to the [[second edition]]), which exclusively used masculine pronouns, before changing to the neutral "they" after the release of [[Empires]].  It is also the only set with a [[curser]] that does not match any of its main themes.  During development, the set's placeholder name was '''Tokens'''.
The first spoiler was unintentionally revealed by the release of a Dominion Set Generator by playtester Wei-Hwa Huang on 7th of December, 2012.<ref>[http://dominionsetgenerator.com/ Dominion Set Generator], Official homepage</ref><ref>[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5801.msg148347#msg148347 Dominion Set Generator Release Thread], [[Dominion Strategy Forum]]</ref> It was revealed that this expansion would have 13 cards and the abbreviations of all cards and their cost were visible.  The abbreviations were of names of the cards from early in development that had been shifted one letter down in the alphabet to hide their meaning.
The cards were available on [[Dominion Online]] a few days before the physical expansion was released.<ref>[http://boardgamestrategy.net/forum/index.php?topic=8325.0 Guilds on Goko immediately after physical release], [[Dominion Strategy Forum]]</ref>
=== In other languages ===
* Dutch: De Gilden
* Finnish: Killat
* French: Guildes
* German: Die Gilden
* Japanese: ギルド (pron. ''girudo'')
* Korean: 길드를 위하여 (pron. ''gildeuleul wihayeo'')
* Russian: Гильдии (pron. ''gil'dii'')
=== Development timetable ===
{{Quote|Text=I started working on Guilds in July 2010. The last change to Guilds cards was February 2011. I was working on the rulebook in November 2012. [[Dark Ages]] was going to come out afterwards and was finished later card-wise.
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
|Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=5799.msg454950#msg454950 Interview with Donald X., January 2015]
}}
=== Secret History ===
=== Secret History ===
{{Quote|Text=Right around when [[Prosperity]] was due, the powers-that-be decided that they wanted small expansions too. Products that seemed more expansion-like than these giant game-sized expansions I was doing. The ideal time to do one would be next, and so Prosperity got pushed back, and [[Alchemy]] came out in its stead. I got Alchemy by breaking off a thematic chunk from a large set, and eventually reshaped the remains of that large set into [[Cornucopia]].
{{Quote|Text=Right around when [[Prosperity]] was due, the powers-that-be decided that they wanted small expansions too. Products that seemed more expansion-like than these giant game-sized expansions I was doing. The ideal time to do one would be next, and so Prosperity got pushed back, and [[Alchemy]] came out in its stead. I got Alchemy by breaking off a thematic chunk from a large set, and eventually reshaped the remains of that large set into [[Cornucopia]].
<br /><br />
 
I had two large expansions left after Prosperity, so this left me one small expansion short. I had to make one more small expansion to go in between [[Hinterlands]] and the last large expansion. Well I didn't have to, but you know. It was expected. So I made one. Guilds is thus the only expansion with no roots in Dominion as it existed prior to the main game being published. As it happens, the [[Base Cards]] product came out instead of Guilds, and then [[Dark Ages]] came out so we'd have a large expansion that year, so now the last expansion to be made is also the last to come out.
I had two large expansions left after Prosperity, so this left me one small expansion short. I had to make one more small expansion to go in between [[Hinterlands]] and the last large expansion. Well I didn't have to, but you know. It was expected. So I made one. Guilds is thus the only expansion with no roots in Dominion as it existed prior to the main game being published. As it happens, the [[Base Cards]] product came out instead of Guilds, and then [[Dark Ages]] came out so we'd have a large expansion that year, so now the last expansion to be made is also the last to come out.
<br /><br />
 
On my list of possible future mechanical themes, "tokens" was the easiest-sounding, so I went with that. There are a bunch of things you can do with tokens. My initial idea was to use them as money you could hang onto for later. This was simple and meant that any one card that used the tokens was useful by itself; there was no reason for anyone to insist on more than one token-involving card in the game at once, thus avoiding an issue that Alchemy had. The initial idea worked out and so there it is.
On my list of possible future mechanical themes, "tokens" was the easiest-sounding, so I went with that. There are a bunch of things you can do with tokens. My initial idea was to use them as money you could hang onto for later. This was simple and meant that any one card that used the tokens was useful by itself; there was no reason for anyone to insist on more than one token-involving card in the game at once, thus avoiding an issue that Alchemy had. The initial idea worked out and so there it is.
<br /><br />
 
To supplement the tokens, I added the [[overpay]] cards. Overpay was a natural extension of the when-gain cards in Hinterlands, and was a good match for the tokens, since you could save up tokens for a big overpay. Two sub-themes is plenty for a small expansion, but I also flirted with a "name a card" sub-theme. In the end there's just a hint of it.
To supplement the tokens, I added the [[overpay]] cards. Overpay was a natural extension of the when-gain cards in Hinterlands, and was a good match for the tokens, since you could save up tokens for a big overpay. Two sub-themes is plenty for a small expansion, but I also flirted with a "name a card" sub-theme. In the end there's just a hint of it.
<br /><br />
 
Before picking the tokens and overpay themes, I considered revisiting duration cards. I asked Jay what he thought, and he said that something new would be better than more of an old thing. Some of you are reading this and wishing I'd gone with the duration cards, but man, I have no regrets there, I am pleased with what Guilds offers up instead.
Before picking the tokens and overpay themes, I considered revisiting duration cards. I asked Jay what he thought, and he said that something new would be better than more of an old thing. Some of you are reading this and wishing I'd gone with the duration cards, but man, I have no regrets there, I am pleased with what Guilds offers up instead.
<br /><br />
 
When I first made cards for this set, I hadn't picked out flavor for the set. So I gave some cards silly names, including Butcher, Baker, and Candlestick Maker. It turned out people really liked those names, so that ended up determining the set theme. There's a lesson there for all of us.
When I first made cards for this set, I hadn't picked out flavor for the set. So I gave some cards silly names, including {{Card|Butcher}}, {{Card|Baker}}, and {{Card|Candlestick Maker}}. It turned out people really liked those names, so that ended up determining the set theme. There's a lesson there for all of us.
<br /><br />
 
Outtakes:
 
I tried overpay for coin tokens, that was pretty obvious. It was predictably crazy. Another overpay card was a VP card that was a twist on Island - shuffle all but 2 cards per $1 overpaid from discard to deck. That direction hadn't worked out in Hinterlands and still didn't here. I had a {{Card|Village}} for $2 with a penalty, and per $2 you overpaid, you got another one. Foosh, a pile of {{Card|Village|Villages}}. It sounded good but was not exciting enough. {{Card|Stonemason}} does a better job there.
 
What about granting overpay to other cards, so to speak? There was a {{Card|Village}} with, while this is in play, when you buy an action card, you may pay $2 for another copy of that card. I liked it, but there was only so much space, and again, I had {{Card|Stonemason}}.
 
I tried +$1, take a coin token per card the player to your right gained on their previous turn. Then I flipped it - take a coin token, get +$1 per card they gained. Both were too random in an unfun way. I also tried +$1, take two coin tokens, everyone else gets a coin token. As is sometimes the case with such cards, people just did not want to hand out presents to the other players. And I tried +1 buy, discard cards for coin tokens.
 
For the name-a-card sub-theme that I didn't so much end up with, I had a {{Card|Cellar}} version of {{Card|Journeyman}}, also from Dark Ages. You named two cards, discarded two cards, and drew two you didn't name, with +1 action. It was fine, it was totally fine. A little more memory-rewarding than some players like but whatever. But again, there's only so much space, it did not make the cut.
 
There is a card with a long history that had its last stand trying to get into this set. Once, the main set had a card, look at your top four, put one in your hand, discard the rest. I dropped it from the main set for being too boring. It resurfaced in Prosperity with +1 Action, and well it was crazy powerful. It cost $4 and I thought it might work out kind of like {{Card|Throne Room}}, but it was way better. It really wanted to cost $4, so I tried several versions of it with different tweaks before giving up on it. Then I brought it back in other sets a few times and tried to get a good one. The version in Guilds was +1 action, could only get actions, but played the action it got. Anyway I did {{Card|Herald}} instead, hooray.
 
For a bit I kind of wanted a new action-victory card, and tried +1 Action, reveal a card from your hand for the corresponding Ironworks bonus, 2 VP, for $4. It was fine but I mostly just liked that it was an action-victory card.
 
{{Card|Walled Village}} is an outtake from this set. As a village you can keep around until you need it, it sort of fits in with the coin tokens. I couldn't actually give you something like action tokens because that would have been another kind of token to include. I also couldn't put coin tokens on piles, because {{Card|Trade Route}} ate up that space.
 
Two cards used {{Card|Spoils}}, which I stole briefly from Dark Ages but then gave back to it. {{Card|Wandering Minstrel}} got worked on some here before moving to Dark Ages.
 
I hope this has been informative!
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
|Name=[[Donald X. Vaccarino]]
  |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8557.0 The Secret History of the Guilds cards]
  |Source=[http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8557.0 The Secret History of the Guilds cards, June 2013]
}}
}}


== Recommended Sets of 10 ==
In 2024, {{Set|Cornucopia & Guilds|ed=2}} was released which [[removed]] {{Card|Doctor}}, {{Card|Masterpiece}}, and {{Card|Taxman}}. {{Card|Farrier}}, {{Card|Footpad}}, and {{Card|Infirmary}} were added to replace them.
 
== Recommended sets of 10 ==
Note that the sets listed here are only the ones published before Guilds was combined with {{Set|Cornucopia}}. For more recent recommended sets, see [[Cornucopia & Guilds#Recommended sets of 10|Cornucopia & Guilds Recommended sets of 10]].


=== Guilds & Dominion ===
=== Guilds & [[Dominion (base set)|Dominion]] ===
* Arts and Crafts: Stonemason, Advisor, Baker, Journeyman, Merchant Guild / Laboratory, Cellar, Workshop, Festival, Moneylender
{{Kingdom|Advisor|Baker|Journeyman|Merchant Guild|Stonemason|Cellar|Festival|Laboratory|Moneylender|Workshop|imgwidth=160|title=Arts and Crafts}}
* Clean Living: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker, Doctor, Soothsayer / Militia, Thief, Moneylender, Gardens, Village
{{Kingdom|Baker|Butcher|Candlestick Maker|Doctor|Soothsayer|Gardens|Militia|Moneylender|Thief|Village|imgwidth=160|title=Clean Living}}
* Gilding the Lily: Plaza, Masterpiece, Candlestick Maker, Taxman, Herald / Library, Remodel, Adventurer, Market, Chancellor
{{Kingdom|Candlestick Maker|Herald|Masterpiece|Plaza|Taxman|Adventurer|Chancellor|Library|Market|Remodel|imgwidth=160|title=Gilding the Lily}}


=== Guilds & Intrigue ===
=== Guilds & [[Intrigue]] ===
* Name That Card: Baker, Doctor, Plaza, Advisor, Masterpiece / Courtyard, Wishing Well, Harem, Tribute, Nobles
{{Kingdom|Advisor|Baker|Doctor|Masterpiece|Plaza|Courtyard|Harem|Nobles|Tribute|Wishing Well|imgwidth=160|title=Name that Card}}
* Tricks of the Trade: Stonemason, Herald, Soothsayer, Journeyman, Butcher / Great Hall, Nobles, Conspirator, Masquerade, Coppersmith
{{Kingdom|Butcher|Herald|Journeyman|Soothsayer|Stonemason|Conspirator|Coppersmith|Great Hall|Masquerade|Nobles|imgwidth=160|title=Tricks of the Trade}}
* Decisions, Decisions: Merchant Guild, Candlestick Maker, Masterpiece, Taxman, Butcher / Bridge, Pawn, Mining Village, Upgrade, Duke
{{Kingdom|Butcher|Candlestick Maker|Masterpiece|Merchant Guild|Taxman|Bridge|Duke|Mining Village|Pawn|Upgrade|imgwidth=160|title=Decisions, Decisions}}


== References ==
== References ==

Latest revision as of 05:22, 24 September 2024

Guilds
Info
Type Small Expansion
Icon
Cards 150
130 (13 sets)
13
7
Additional Material(s)  
Theme(s)
Release June 2013
Cover artist Matthias Catrein
Official Rulebook PDF

Guilds is the eighth expansion of Dominion. It was released in June 2013. The box contains 13 sets of Kingdom cards. The set has two main themes—cards that give Coffers, and cards that you can overpay for, which are signified by a "+" in their cost. There are also two cards that name cards, several very wordy cards, and several cards whose art features bald people. It is no longer sold as a separate item, instead being paired with Cornucopia in a larger box.

Early printings of Guilds used the wording "take a Coin token" where the revised edition of the combined expansion Guilds & Cornucopia has +X Coffers as a vanilla bonus.

When the second edition of Cornucopia & Guilds was released, that replaced three Guilds Kingdom cards with three new ones.

Contents

Kingdom cards

Additional materials

Mats

Tokens

Additional rules (2017)

Coffers

  • Some cards in Guilds put tokens on a player's Coffers. "+1 Coffers" means "add a token to your Coffers mat." In a player's Buy Phase, before buying anything, that player may remove tokens from their Coffers for +$1 each.
  • Coin tokens are provided for this. They are not component-limited; players may use a substitute if they run out. The same tokens are provided in Dominion: Seaside and Dominion: Prosperity; they can all be mixed together.
  • Coin tokens being used in other ways, such as on the Pirate Ship mat for Dominion: Seaside, cannot be removed for +$1; just the Coin tokens on a player's Coffers mat.
  • Coin tokens come from the supply of Coin tokens, and return there; they are not taken from other mats or other players.
  • Coin tokens can only be removed from a player's Coffers in that player's Buy Phase (or when instructed by a card such as Butcher); they cannot be used when buying a card via the promotional card Black Market.

Overpay

  • Some cards can be "overpaid" for. The costs for these cards have a "+" next to the coin symbol. A player may pay any additional amount for such a card, and then gets an effect based on how much extra was paid.
  • Potions (from Dominion: Alchemy) may be used in overpaid amounts if desired, although this is not always meaningful.
  • Debt (from Dominion: Empires) cannot be overpaid.
  • Players may choose not to overpay, even if they have extra coins, but cannot choose to overpay $0; to overpay, a player has to actually pay more than the cost.
  • The coins used to overpay are gone after spending them to overpay; they cannot be then used to buy something else.
  • Overpaying happens when a card is bought, which is before it is gained.
  • Players can only overpay for a card when buying it, not when gaining it some other way.
  • The "+" is just a reminder; a card with "+" in the cost still has its normal cost for all purposes. For example if a player plays Haggler (from Dominion: Hinterlands), then buys Masterpiece, overpaying, Haggler will still gain them a card costing less than $3, the cost of Masterpiece. Similarly, Masterpiece could be the Bane card for Young Witch, since it costs $3.
  • Reducing the costs of cards via Bridge (from Dominion: Intrigue) does not interact with overpay; for example, if you play five Bridges and have $5 total to spend, Herald would cost $0, but if you bought one the most you could overpay for it would still be $5.

Flavor text

Jobs, everyone’s worried about jobs. Whatever happened to tilling the fields in obscurity? The economy is just a trick, like stealing someone's nose, but lately people seem to have seen through it, like when you realize someone hasn’t really stolen your nose. So now everyone’s joining a guild, learning a craft, and working on a masterpiece - a painting so beautiful it blinds you, or a cheese grater so amazing that you never eat cheese again. The only people left tilling the fields are the ones doing it ironically. The guilds cover everything - ironic tilling, butchering, baking, candlestick making, shoemaking, cheesemaking, cheese destruction. Your advisor is convinced that somehow, control of the stonecutters is key to world domination. Very well. You will have stone handled so expertly that the world trembles before you.
—Donald X. Vaccarino, Rio Grande Games

Cards gallery

Kingdom cards

Sort by Name


Impact

Guilds is well-liked, but given its small size and the fact that it is the eighth expansion, the odds of even just one Guilds card being in any random Kingdom are low, making its impact rather minimal. However, the Coffers and overpay mechanics give Guilds a rather unique flavor, and even just one card from this set in a Kingdom can broaden a player's strategic options significantly.

Big Money

In general, the Coffers mechanic replaces Big Money strategies in games in which it is present, as $ can now be kept separate from your deck, but Guilds does offer these cards:

Engines

Since Coin token cards can remove the need for buying Treasures, those cards in general help with engines.

  • Stonemason - allows you to pick up multiple engine pieces at once (particularly with Border Village), and is a decent trasher
  • Doctor - one of the best trashers in the game, it can trim your deck down for a perfect engine
  • Advisor - in certain decks, can be an engine unto itself
  • Herald - it requires high Action density, but when it has it, it excels
  • Journeyman - one of the best terminal draw cards in the game

Metagame and complexity of strategy

Coffers and the overpay mechanic add further layers to Dominion strategy. Most Guilds cards are also quite complicated, not just in terms of what they do or how much text they have, but in how to play (or buy) them effectively.

  • Advisor requires your deck to be constructed in a certain way
  • Doctor, Herald and Journeyman require the player to have an intimate knowledge of their deck in order to be played most effectively
  • Baker completely changes the opening two turns, allowing for a completely different game of Dominion

Theme

All names of Guilds cards have something to do with jobs. Most simply describe a job; apart from them, a Masterpiece is the pinnacle of someone's career, and a Plaza is typically surrounded by shops or businesses.

  • 5 cards produce Coffers: Candlestick Maker, Plaza, Baker, Butcher, Merchant Guild
  • 4 cards can be overpaid for: Stonemason, Doctor, Masterpiece, Herald
  • 2 naming cards: Doctor, Journeyman
  • 4 cards depict bald people: Advisor, Taxman, Butcher, Soothsayer

Trivia

Official box art.

Guilds is notable in that its first edition rulebook exclusively used feminine pronouns; this was in contrast to all previous rulebooks, and all official cards (prior to the second edition), which exclusively used masculine pronouns, before changing to the neutral "they" after the release of Empires. It is also the only set with a curser that does not match any of its main themes. During development, the set's placeholder name was Tokens.

The first spoiler was unintentionally revealed by the release of a Dominion Set Generator by playtester Wei-Hwa Huang on 7th of December, 2012.[1][2] It was revealed that this expansion would have 13 cards and the abbreviations of all cards and their cost were visible. The abbreviations were of names of the cards from early in development that had been shifted one letter down in the alphabet to hide their meaning.

The cards were available on Dominion Online a few days before the physical expansion was released.[3]

In other languages

  • Dutch: De Gilden
  • Finnish: Killat
  • French: Guildes
  • German: Die Gilden
  • Japanese: ギルド (pron. girudo)
  • Korean: 길드를 위하여 (pron. gildeuleul wihayeo)
  • Russian: Гильдии (pron. gil'dii)

Development timetable

I started working on Guilds in July 2010. The last change to Guilds cards was February 2011. I was working on the rulebook in November 2012. Dark Ages was going to come out afterwards and was finished later card-wise.
—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X., January 2015

Secret History

Right around when Prosperity was due, the powers-that-be decided that they wanted small expansions too. Products that seemed more expansion-like than these giant game-sized expansions I was doing. The ideal time to do one would be next, and so Prosperity got pushed back, and Alchemy came out in its stead. I got Alchemy by breaking off a thematic chunk from a large set, and eventually reshaped the remains of that large set into Cornucopia.

I had two large expansions left after Prosperity, so this left me one small expansion short. I had to make one more small expansion to go in between Hinterlands and the last large expansion. Well I didn't have to, but you know. It was expected. So I made one. Guilds is thus the only expansion with no roots in Dominion as it existed prior to the main game being published. As it happens, the Base Cards product came out instead of Guilds, and then Dark Ages came out so we'd have a large expansion that year, so now the last expansion to be made is also the last to come out.

On my list of possible future mechanical themes, "tokens" was the easiest-sounding, so I went with that. There are a bunch of things you can do with tokens. My initial idea was to use them as money you could hang onto for later. This was simple and meant that any one card that used the tokens was useful by itself; there was no reason for anyone to insist on more than one token-involving card in the game at once, thus avoiding an issue that Alchemy had. The initial idea worked out and so there it is.

To supplement the tokens, I added the overpay cards. Overpay was a natural extension of the when-gain cards in Hinterlands, and was a good match for the tokens, since you could save up tokens for a big overpay. Two sub-themes is plenty for a small expansion, but I also flirted with a "name a card" sub-theme. In the end there's just a hint of it.

Before picking the tokens and overpay themes, I considered revisiting duration cards. I asked Jay what he thought, and he said that something new would be better than more of an old thing. Some of you are reading this and wishing I'd gone with the duration cards, but man, I have no regrets there, I am pleased with what Guilds offers up instead.

When I first made cards for this set, I hadn't picked out flavor for the set. So I gave some cards silly names, including Butcher, Baker, and Candlestick Maker. It turned out people really liked those names, so that ended up determining the set theme. There's a lesson there for all of us.

Outtakes:

I tried overpay for coin tokens, that was pretty obvious. It was predictably crazy. Another overpay card was a VP card that was a twist on Island - shuffle all but 2 cards per $1 overpaid from discard to deck. That direction hadn't worked out in Hinterlands and still didn't here. I had a Village for $2 with a penalty, and per $2 you overpaid, you got another one. Foosh, a pile of Villages. It sounded good but was not exciting enough. Stonemason does a better job there.

What about granting overpay to other cards, so to speak? There was a Village with, while this is in play, when you buy an action card, you may pay $2 for another copy of that card. I liked it, but there was only so much space, and again, I had Stonemason.

I tried +$1, take a coin token per card the player to your right gained on their previous turn. Then I flipped it - take a coin token, get +$1 per card they gained. Both were too random in an unfun way. I also tried +$1, take two coin tokens, everyone else gets a coin token. As is sometimes the case with such cards, people just did not want to hand out presents to the other players. And I tried +1 buy, discard cards for coin tokens.

For the name-a-card sub-theme that I didn't so much end up with, I had a Cellar version of Journeyman, also from Dark Ages. You named two cards, discarded two cards, and drew two you didn't name, with +1 action. It was fine, it was totally fine. A little more memory-rewarding than some players like but whatever. But again, there's only so much space, it did not make the cut.

There is a card with a long history that had its last stand trying to get into this set. Once, the main set had a card, look at your top four, put one in your hand, discard the rest. I dropped it from the main set for being too boring. It resurfaced in Prosperity with +1 Action, and well it was crazy powerful. It cost $4 and I thought it might work out kind of like Throne Room, but it was way better. It really wanted to cost $4, so I tried several versions of it with different tweaks before giving up on it. Then I brought it back in other sets a few times and tried to get a good one. The version in Guilds was +1 action, could only get actions, but played the action it got. Anyway I did Herald instead, hooray.

For a bit I kind of wanted a new action-victory card, and tried +1 Action, reveal a card from your hand for the corresponding Ironworks bonus, 2 VP, for $4. It was fine but I mostly just liked that it was an action-victory card.

Walled Village is an outtake from this set. As a village you can keep around until you need it, it sort of fits in with the coin tokens. I couldn't actually give you something like action tokens because that would have been another kind of token to include. I also couldn't put coin tokens on piles, because Trade Route ate up that space.

Two cards used Spoils, which I stole briefly from Dark Ages but then gave back to it. Wandering Minstrel got worked on some here before moving to Dark Ages.

I hope this has been informative!
—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Guilds cards, June 2013


In 2024, Cornucopia & Guilds (Second Edition) was released which removed Doctor, Masterpiece, and Taxman. Farrier, Footpad, and Infirmary were added to replace them.

Recommended sets of 10

Note that the sets listed here are only the ones published before Guilds was combined with Cornucopia. For more recent recommended sets, see Cornucopia & Guilds Recommended sets of 10.

Guilds & Dominion

Arts and Crafts [images]
Advisor Baker Journeyman Merchant Guild Stonemason
Cellar Festival Laboratory Moneylender Workshop
Clean Living [images]
Baker Butcher Candlestick Maker Doctor Soothsayer
Gardens Militia Moneylender Thief Village
Gilding the Lily [images]
Candlestick Maker Herald Masterpiece Plaza Taxman
Adventurer Chancellor Library Market Remodel

Guilds & Intrigue

Name that Card [images]
Advisor Baker Doctor Masterpiece Plaza
Courtyard Harem Nobles Tribute Wishing Well
Tricks of the Trade [images]
Butcher Herald Journeyman Soothsayer Stonemason
Conspirator Coppersmith Great Hall Masquerade Nobles
Decisions, Decisions [images]
Butcher Candlestick Maker Masterpiece Merchant Guild Taxman
Bridge Duke Mining Village Pawn Upgrade

References

  1. ↑ Dominion Set Generator, Official homepage
  2. ↑ Dominion Set Generator Release Thread, Dominion Strategy Forum
  3. ↑ Guilds on Goko immediately after physical release, Dominion Strategy Forum


v . t . e
Cards $2 Candlestick Maker $2+ Stonemason $3+ Doctor • Masterpiece $4 Advisor • Plaza • Taxman $4+ Herald $5 Baker • Butcher • Journeyman • Merchant Guild • Soothsayer
Combos and Counters Masterpiece/Feodum
Other concepts Coffers • Overpay • Naming cards
v . t . e
Dominion Products
Sets Dominion • Intrigue • Seaside • Alchemy • Prosperity • Cornucopia & Guilds • Hinterlands • Dark Ages • Adventures • Empires • Nocturne • Renaissance • Menagerie • Allies • Plunder • Rising Sun • Promo
Collections Big Box • Special Edition (German) • Alchemy & Cornucopia (Japanese, German, Dutch)
Accessories Base Cards • Update Packs • Play Mat • Base Cards Mat • Collectors Case • Dominion Chest
Retired Products Cornucopia • Guilds
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