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 +3 Cards or more

• Dominion: Council Room, Smithy
• Intrigue: Nobles (optional), Patrol, Torturer
• Seaside: Wharf (gives +2 Cards twice)
• Prosperity: Rabble
• Hinterlands: Margrave
• Dark Ages: Catacombs, Hunting Grounds
• Guilds & Cornucopia: Journeyman
• Adventures: Haunted Woods
• Empires: Wild Hunt (optional)
• Nocturne: Pooka (dependent on treasing a Treasure), Tragic Hero, Werewolf (conditional)
• Renaissance: Old Witch, Swashbuckler
• Menagerie: Barge, Wayfarer
• Allies: Emissary (if you didn't need to shuffle), Highwayman, Stronghold (optional)
• Plunder: Crew, Pilgrim
• Rising Sun: Aristocrat (conditional), Imperial Envoy
• Promo: Envoy, Avanto (if you don't have a Sauna in hand)

Small draw with filtering

These cards only provide a total of 2 cards, but allow some filtering or sifting to help you draw the cards you want.

• Dominion: Adventurer
• Intrigue: Courtyard
• Hinterlands: Embassy, Oracle, Witch's Hut
• Plunder: Mapmaker

Cards providing +2 Cards

These cards' principal functions are usually something other than terminal draw.

• Dominion: Moat, Witch
• Intrigue: Masquerade, Steward (optional), Diplomat (sometimes non-terminal)
• Seaside: Ghost Ship, Sea Witch
• Prosperity: Vault
• Dark Ages: Cultist (can be chained and thereby effectively be non-terminal), Sir Destry
  • Mercenary gives +2 Cards but also trashes two cards
• Guilds & Cornucopia: Courser (optional), Followers, Trusty Steed (optional)
• Adventures: Warrior, Gear
• Nocturne: Faithful Hound, Imp (dependent on your card in hand and in play)
• Renaissance: Lackeys, Silk Merchant, Recruiter
  • All these Renaissance cards provide ways of getting Villagers, which may be used to make them non-terminal
• Menagerie: Black Cat, Sheepdog, Way of the Otter
• Allies: Blacksmith (optional)
• Plunder: 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.
• Rising Sun: Mountain Shrine (conditional)
  • Ninja provides +1 Card, but since you can play it from outside your hand it has a similar effect to an ordinary +2 cards.

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.

• Dominion: Library—up to 7
• Prosperity: Watchtower—up to 6
• Hinterlands: Jack of all Trades—up to 5
• Renaissance: Scholar—discards your hand and draws 7 cards
• Menagerie: Way of the Owl—up to 6
• Allies: Blacksmith—up to 6 (optional)
• Rising Sun: Ronin—up to 7

Other

• Prosperity: Magnate draws a number of cards equal to the number of Treasures in your hand.
• Hinterlands:
  • 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 4 cards if played from a small starting hand, but only 2 cards if played from a larger hand.
• Cornucopia & Guilds:
  • Carnival draws up to four cards, but can't draw multiple copies of the same card.
  • Housecarl draws cards equal to the number of differently-named Actions you have in play.
• Adventures: Ranger - draws 5 cards every other play for an average of 2.5 cards per play.
• Empires: Royal Blacksmith - effective handsize increase depends on the amount of Copper in your deck.
• Allies: Broker can draw cards depending on what card is trashed with it.
• Allies: Marquis - effective handsize increase depends on your starting handsize.
• Plunder: Maroon draws a number of cards depending on the number of types a trashed card has.

Gallery

Drawing three or more 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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