Terminal draw

Smithy, a terminal draw card.

Terminal draw cards—Action cards that increase the number of cards in hand but are terminal—can be a core component of engines when supplied with sufficient villages because they can enable you to draw most or all of your deck each turn as a form of deck control. If a Kingdom is missing important components for an engine, certain terminal draw cards (for example Wharf or Gear) are good enablers of a money-based strategy. In both cases terminal draw aids deck cycling, helping new buys get shuffled into the deck sooner.

The chief danger of terminal draw cards is their ability to draw other Action cards you are unable to play; these Action cards are said to be drawn dead.

Terminals that provide +3 Cards or more are sometimes referred to as Smithy variants, after the simplest vanilla terminal draw card.

List of terminal draw cards

Way of the Chameleon from Menagerie can turn most -generating Action cards into terminal draw and vice versa.

Cards in italics have been removed.

Cards providing +4 Cards or more

• Council Room
• Envoy — Reveals five cards and discards one, chosen by the next player, before drawing the rest.
• Hunting Grounds
• Imperial Envoy
• Pooka — Only if trashing a Treasure.
• Wharf — Draws two cards twice.

Cards providing +3 Cards

Conditional

These cards only draw cards sometimes, usually as a choice.

• Aristocrat — Only when playing the second or sixth Aristocrat.
• Nobles — One of two choices.
• Stronghold — One of two choices. Duration that draws at the start of next turn.
• Werewolf — If not played during your Night phase.
• Wild Hunt — One of two choices.

Non-conditional

• Avanto — Non-terminal if you have a Sauna in hand.
• Barge — Duration that gives a choice between drawing when playing or at the start of next turn.
• Catacombs — Optionally discards the top three cards of the deck before drawing three.
• Crew
• Emissary — Non-terminal if you didn't need to shuffle.
• Haunted Woods — Duration that draws at the start of next turn.
• Highwayman — Duration that draws at the start of next turn.
• Journeyman — Allows a named card to be skipped when drawing.
• Margrave
• Old Witch
• Pilgrim — Draws four cards then puts one back on top of the deck.
• Rabble
• Smithy
• Swashbuckler
• Torturer
• Tragic Hero
• Wayfarer

Cards providing +2 Cards

Conditional

These cards only draw cards sometimes, usually as an choice.

• Blacksmith — One of several choices.
• Courser — One of several choices.
• Mercenary — Only draws if you have at least two cards in hand that can be trashed.
• Mountain Shrine — Only draws if there are any Action cards in the Trash.
• Steward — One of several choices.
• Trusty Steed — One of several choices.

Only +2 Cards

These cards only draw two cards and do nothing else when played normally.

• Black Cat (on your own turn) — Can as a reaction be played on another player's turn to also do an Attack.
• Faithful Hound — Can be set aside when discarded to return to the hand at start of next turn.
• Lackeys — Provides Villagers when gained.
• Moat — Can as a reaction be revealed to ignore other player's Attacks.
• Sheepdog — Can as a reaction be played from hand when gaining a card.

Way of the Otter allows any Action card to be played to only draw two cards.

Small draw with filtering

These cards only provide a total of two cards, but allow some filtering or sifting to help you draw the cards you want.

• Adventurer — Reveals cards until finding two Treasures to draw.
• Courtyard — Draws three cards then puts one back on top of the deck.
• Embassy — Draws five cards then discards three.
• Mapmaker — Looks at the top four cards, puts two of them into hand, and discards the rest.
• Oracle — Optionally discards the top two cards of the deck before drawing two.
• Witch's Hut — Draws four cards then discards two.

Conditionally terminal

These cards are only terminal sometimes.

• Cultist — Non-terminal if you have additional Cultists in hand.
• Diplomat — Non-terminal if you have fewer than five cards in hand (after drawing).
• Imp — Non-terminal if you have any Action card in hand not already in play.
• Recruiter — Provides Villagers when played which can be used to make it non-terminal.

Attacks

These cards draws two cards in addition to performing an Attack.

• Black Cat (on another player's turn)
• Cultist
• Followers — Also gains an Estate.
• Ghost Ship
• Mercenary — Also +. Trashes two cards, resulting in a smaller hand.
• Ninja — Only draws one card, but since you can play it from outside your hand it has a similar effect to an ordinary +2 cards.
• Sea Witch — Also a Duration that draws and discards two cards at the start of your next turn.
• Sir Destry
• Warrior
• Witch

Other additional effects

These cards have additional non-Attack effects.

• Figurine — is a Treasure, so formally not a terminal action; but when it is played normally in your Buy phase it does not allow you to play the Actions you draw.
• Gear — Sets aside two cards until the start of next turn, resulting in a smaller hand this turn, but the total effect over both turns is to increase the hand.
• Masquerade — Allows a card to be trashed, which can result in no increased hand.
• Silk Merchant
• Vault — Allows cards to be discarded, which can result in a smaller hand.

Variable

Draw-to-x

Certain terminal Actions draw up to a specified handsize. These are especially useful against handsize attacks or other cards that can reduce handsize between turns, and in engines with handsize-reducing components such as Festival and Hamlet.

• Library — Up to 7
• Watchtower — Up to 6
• Jack of All Trades — Up to 5
• Way of the Owl — Up to 6
• Blacksmith — Up to 6 (one of several choices)
• Ronin — Up to 7

Other

• Broker — Optionally draws cards depending on the cost of the card it trashes.
• Carnival — Draws up to four cards, but can't draw multiple copies of the same card.
• Crossroads — Draws cards depending on the number of Victory cards in hand (but is non-terminal the first time it is played each turn).
• Guard Dog — Draws four cards if played from a small starting hand, but only two cards if played from a larger hand.
• Housecarl — Draws cards equal to the number of differently-named Actions you have in play.
• Magnate — Draws a number of cards equal to the number of Treasures in your hand.
• Maroon — Draws a number of cards depending on the number of types a trashed card has.
• Marquis — Effective handsize increase depends on your starting handsize.
• Patrol — Draws three cards plus up to four Victory cards.
• Ranger — Draws five cards every other play for an average of 2.5 cards per play.
• Royal Blacksmith — Effective handsize increase depends on the amount of Copper in your deck.

Gallery

Drawing four or more cards

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Drawing three cards

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Drawing two cards

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Variable amount of draw

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Removed

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