Junking attack

Mountebank, a junking attack card.

A junking attack or junker is an Attack card that puts undesirable cards—i.e., "junk"—into an opponent's deck, thus weakening the average strength of their hands and usually slowing cycling. The undesirable card par excellence is the Curse, and most junking attacks are cursers.

Some cards distribute undesirable cards other than Curse:

• Mountebank, Noble Brigand and Greed distribute Copper. (Mountebank is also a curser.)
• Marauder and Cultist distribute Ruins.
• Swindler, Ambassador, and Jester can distribute a wide variety of junk cards, depending on the luck of when they are played.
• Messenger can act as a junker, depending on what you choose for everyone to gain.

Embassy and Governor are sometimes jokingly called junkers because they distribute Silver to opponents, and Silver can often have a negative impact on engine decks or decks trying to buy Colonies, but this is nowhere near as harmful as actual junkers.