Faithful Hound

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Faithful Hound
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Reaction
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Nocturne
Illustrator(s)	Lynell Ingram
Card text
+2 Cards When you discard this other than during Clean-up, you may set it aside, and put it into your hand at end of turn.

Faithful Hound is an Action-Reaction card from Nocturne. It provides weak terminal draw, but has a Reaction that adds it to your next hand if it is discarded outside of Clean-up, making it good fodder for discard for benefit cards.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• "End of turn" is after drawing in Clean-up.
• The Reaction ability can happen on your turn and on other players' turns; if for example you discard Faithful Hound to another player's Raider, you can set it aside and return it to your hand at the end of that turn.
• Faithful Hound does not have to be in your hand for the ability to work; for example you can set it aside when it is discarded from your deck due to Night Watchman.
• The ability does not work if Faithful Hound is put into your discard pile without being discarded; for example nothing special happens when you gain Faithful Hound, or put your deck into your discard pile with Scavenger (from Dark Ages).
• The ability does not do anything during Clean-up.
• Setting Faithful Hound aside is optional.
• You cannot choose to discard Faithful Hound without something telling you to discard.

Other rules clarifications

• If you discard Faithful Hound with Vassal and choose to set it aside, Vassal will fail to play it. [1]

Strategy

Synergies

• Discard for benefit
• Discarding attacks
• Digging cards and sifters
• Arena

Anti-Synergies

• Ghost Ship

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+2 Cards When you discard this other than during Clean-up, you may set it aside, and put it into your hand at end of turn.	Nocturne	November 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	忠犬 (pron. zhōngquǎn)			＋2 卡片 當你在清除階段以外的時候將此卡棄掉，你可以將此卡放到一邊，在這個回合結束時，將此卡放回手中。
Dutch	Trouwe hond
French	Chien fidèle
German	Getreuer Hund			+2 Karten Wenn du diese Karte außerhalb der Aufräumphase ablegst, darfst du sie zur Seite legen und sie am Ende des Zuges auf die Hand nehmen.	(2017)
Japanese	忠犬 (pron. chūken)			+2 カードを引く このカードをクリーンアップフェイズ以外の場面で捨て札にするとき、これを脇に置いてもよい。脇に置いた場合、このターンの終了時に手札に加える。
Polish	Wierny pies			+2 karty Kiedy odrzucasz tę kartę poza fazą porządków, możesz odłożyć ją na bok, aby wziąć ją na rękę na koniec tury.
Russian	Верный Пес (pron. vyerniy pyos)

Trivia

Official card art.

Name

The card name wasn't based on [the blue dog rule], but when I made the card I thought, sweet, a blue dog. I tried two cards at the same time for that slot, two reactions that cared about being discarded. The other was a Black Cat. That would have been cool too. But the blue dog was better.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

Like the other blue dog, using its reaction gives net +1 card without costing an action, making equivalent to a Lab (Labrador).

Preview

In these dark days it’s good to have reliable companions, friends that will stick with you to the bitter end. But in a pinch, a dog will do.

Faithful Hound is an Action-Reaction card, like Moat. And just like Moat, it draws you two cards when you play it. The reaction is quite different, though. When you send a Faithful Hound away, it comes right back as an extra card in your next hand. You might never even play your Faithful Hounds, just discarding them to Cellars and the like.

And like most Reaction cards, Faithful Hound can help against some attacks. It’s nice against Attack cards that make you discard from your hand, like Militia. But maybe sometimes you’ll get lucky and a Bandit will flip your Faithful Hound. Hope springs eternal.

Faithful Hound doesn’t have an Heirloom, look at that. It’s an off-theme preview! Tomorrow’s bonus preview will have an Heirloom to make up for it, I give you my word.

—LastFootnote, Nocturne Bonus Preview #2: Faithful Hound

Secret History

A late card. There had been an heirloom that you set aside for your next hand when you discarded it. It was not obvious that it worked in clean-up. I fiddled with it and then replaced it. And then brought back the concept, sans the clean-up part, on this card. It has been some years since Tunnel, we are ready for something else to care about discarding it.

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

Relevant outtakes

The other [Heirloom outtake] turned into Faithful Hound. At first if you discarded it you set it aside for next turn, and this even worked if you discarded it in clean-up. I didn't like that most players wouldn't get that from reading the card. Then there were versions that didn't work in clean-up, and then I had Haunted Mirror competing for that slot. And the ability ended up on Faithful Hound instead.

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

Possibility of cheating

If you discard multiple Faithful Hounds to e.g. a Militia and set them aside, the other players can't confirm how many Faithful Hounds you actually discarded, because they can only see the top card of your discard pile.

It's hard to see how it could be an actual issue in an actual game. If your not-your-friend opponent discards their hand, and only then picks up the cards to reveal Hounds, it will look super-fishy. Try to get the judge to disqualify them and all that.

In practice everyone reveals all the Faithful Hounds from their hand like you'd expect. Then we can consider, where should available energy be directed.

If it were an issue, there could possibly be a tortured wording that had you reveal it as you discarded it but resolve it afterwards, combined with the assurance that I wouldn't make effects that triggered on effects such that something else could happen then.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2021

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