Embargo

Embargo
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Seaside
Illustrator(s)	Harald Lieske
Card text
+ Trash this card. Put an Embargo token on top of a Supply pile. When a player buys a card, he gains a Curse card per Embargo token on that pile.

Embargo is an Action card from Seaside. It is a one-shot terminal Silver, which adds a penalty to a supply pile—whoever buys a card from that pile gains a Curse. This penalty can be avoided with gainers, or by waiting for Curses to run out. The Embargo token affects all players; no strategy is safe from interruption by Embargos!

The presence of Embargo in the supply can drastically change the course of a game even if nobody ever gains Embargo itself: its presence makes people reluctant to pursue strategies that can be thwarted by Embargoing key cards, and then if nobody pursues those strategies no one has incentive to buy Embargo.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• You can pick any pile in the supply.
• If multiple Embargo cards are used to put Embargo tokens on the same pile, a player gains a Curse card for every Embargo token when they buy a card from that pile.
• You do not gain a Curse card if you gain a card from an Embargoed pile without buying it (for example, if you gain a card with Smugglers).
• If you Throne Room an Embargo, you place two Embargo tokens and they do not have to go on the same Supply pile.
• If you run out of Embargo tokens, use a suitable replacement to mark Embargoed piles.
• If there are no Curses left, Embargo tokens do nothing.

Other Rules clarifications

• If there are multiple Embargo tokens on a pile, each Curse gain from buying from that pile happens separately, which allows other when-buy triggers (such as Haggler's) to activate in between Curse gains.

Strategy Article

Some Embargo tokens.

Original article by theory

The guiding principle behind effective use of Embargo is Embargoing cards that your opponents need more than you. It is always worthwhile to hurt your own deck so long as you hurt your opponents’ more.

For example, if you have an early lead in Golds, placing the Embargo token on the Golds will lead to a long, brutal, and unpleasant game where you will have a decided advantage. Likewise, Embargoing the Victory cards when you are in the lead (or plan on going for VP tokens) helps you win by lowering the overall number of Victory Points available.

Embargo is one of a few cards that can shape the flow of a game just by being in the supply, even if no one ever gains one: its presence discourages strategies that can easily be countered by Embargoing key cards.

Unlike most cards, there’s no particular set of cards that Embargo works best with. Rather, Embargo is especially powerful whenever an opponent is going for a specialized strategy that requires certain cards. For instance, if your opponent opens double Woodcutter with an eye towards the Gardens, Embargoes on the Gardens, Estates, and Woodcutters will be ruinous. (Note that this doesn’t work nearly as well if he goes Gardens with Workshops instead.) If your opponent buys a Potion, Embargoing cards with in the cost turns the Potion into a dead card if he's not willing to take the Curses. Against a Goons player, an Embargo on the Coppers stops him from “free” buys. A well-timed Embargo on the Dukes cripples players who over-invested in Duchies. Even a strategy as simple as Village/Smithy can be stopped in its tracks. And if you are concerned about your opponent rushing a 3-pile ending, Embargo can slow the game down enough for you to grab some VP.

A less strategic but equally valid concern is using Embargo on cards you simply don’t like. Goodbye, Pirate Ship! A meaner variant of this is Embargoing the Reaction cards (after you’ve picked some up, of course) so your Pirate Ships can ravage your opponents’ decks with impunity. Mwahaha!

Naturally, Embargo loses much of its effectiveness when Curse-giving attacks are present. However, opening with a attack and Embargo can be deadly; for instance, if you Embargo the Witches before your opponent can get one, the Curses are almost guaranteed to split at least 7/3 or 8/2 even if he buys a Witch at the first opportunity.

As alluded to earlier, Embargo is also weak against Actions that gain cards. A truly desperate player can even use Talismans to at least receive fewer Curses. And of course, opponents with Watchtowers have nothing to fear from your Embargoes.

Synergies/Combos

• Any set that encourages your opponent to adopt a predictable buying pattern
  • Potion-based strategies in particular.

Antisynergies

• Cards that gain cards (e.g., Hoard, Workshop, Feast, Remodel, Expand, Smugglers, Ironworks, Black Market, Mine, Upgrade, Treasure Map)
• Cursers
  • If the Curses are depleted, Embargo is just a one-shot terminal silver with no other effect; however, sometimes that's what you want.
• Watchtower and Trader

Alternate versions

• 
  Digital version for Dominion Online
• 
  German version by HiG
• 
  German Version by ASS

Trivia

Official card art.

In other languages

• Chinese: 封港令 (pron. fēnggǎng lìng, lit. order to seal off a port)
• Czech: Embargo
• Dutch: Embargo
• Finnish: Saarto
• French: Embargo
• German: Embargo
• Italian: Embargo
• Japanese: 抑留 (pron. yokuryū, lit. internment)
• Korean: 입항금지 (pron. ibhang-geumji)
• Polish: Embargo
• Spanish: Embargo

Secret History

This was originally "+1 Card, +1 Action, Choose an action or treasure pile, other players can't buy it until your next turn." This had the same non-standard timing deal that Cutpurse had. It also sometimes had a tracking issue. So I replaced it with a version that went on a pile and made you get Curses for buying that card. I like that it doesn't shut you out; you can still buy the card, you just have to decide if it's worth a Curse. And this way it can go on any pile. For a while the Embargo card itself went on the pile, but in the end we switched to tokens, which don't cover up the pile, and create fewer questions.

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