Outpost
Outpost | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action - Duration |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Seaside |
Illustrator(s) | Claus Stephan |
Card text | |
You only draw 3 cards (instead of 5) in this turn’s Clean-up phase. Take an extra turn after this one. This can’t cause you to take more than two consecutive turns. |
Outpost is an Action-Duration card from Seaside. When played, it lets you take an extra turn - albeit an extra turn where you draw fewer cards. This is good if you have a way to guarantee that this extra turn is still pretty good even with only three cards, but weak if you end up having mediocre extra turns.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- The extra turn is completely normal except that your starting hand for it is only 3 cards.
- This means that you only drew 3 cards instead of 5 cards during the Clean-up phase of the turn when you played Outpost.
- Leave Outpost in front of you until the end of the extra turn.
- If you play Outpost as well as a "Now and at the start of your next turn" card, such as Merchant Ship, the turn from Outpost will be that next turn, so you'll get those then.
- If you manage to play Outpost twice in one turn, you will still only get one extra turn.
- If you play Outpost during an extra turn, it won't give you another turn.
Other Rules clarifications
- Remember that the extra turn is completely normal (if it happens); it is the turn in which you play Outpost which is different, in that you only draw three cards during cleanup.
- This makes Outpost an exception to the basic rule that Duration cards are discarded from play during the Clean-up phase of the last turn on which they "do something"; Outpost doesn't do anything on the extra turn it creates, but it is not cleaned up until the end of the extra turn regardless.
- Interactions with Possession are difficult: remember that when your opponent Possesses you, he makes you take an extra turn, and makes all decisions for you.
- So, if your opponent plays a Possession, then makes you play an Outpost during that Possessed turn, they will get to see the three cards you draw; then you will take your 3-card Outpost extra turn, since that will only be your second turn in a row; and then you will take your regular turn.
- If your opponent plays two Possessions, you take two extra turns from them. If your opponent then makes you play an Outpost on the second Possessed turn, you will draw only 3 cards during that Clean-up phase but will not get an extra turn; you will just take your turn with a 3-card hand.
- If your opponent plays two (or more) Possessions and makes you play an Outpost during the first Possessed turn, they will get to make you decide when to take the extra turn from Outpost; they can make you take an extra turn with only 3 cards after the first Possessed turn, or they can choose to delay your Outpost turn (and then Outpost does not give you an extra turn since it can't make you take more than two turns in a row).
- Playing Throne Room (or similar cards) on Outpost would seem to do nothing; the Clean-up effect can't stack, and Outpost prevents further extra turns. However, because the check to see if an extra turn can happen occurs after Outpost is supposed to be discarded, a Throne Room played on an Outpost also has to stay out (unlike with Tactician), and both the Throne Room and the Outpost would stay in play after the Outpost turn has finished, because they will try (and fail) to give you a third turn.
- Similarly, playing multiple Outposts on a turn (or an Outpost during an Outpost or Mission turn, or a turn after being Possessed) will result in extra Outposts staying in play; only the Outpost that successfully gave you an extra turn gets discarded.
- Bear in mind that extra Outposts, even though they will not give you extra turns, will still make you draw only 3 cards during Clean-up on the turn they are played.
- Any Outpost (or Throne Room variant) still in play after your turn(s) due to failing to produce an extra turn are discarded during the next Clean-up phase: that of the player to your left.
- If you play multiple Outposts and buy a Mission, then choose to resolve an Outpost, then Mission, the extra Outposts still remain in play until the turn of the player to your left, because they will still try to give you an extra turn at the end of the Mission turn, and fail. If you resolve all Outposts before the Mission turn, trying (and failing) to create extra turns of their own, they will be discarded at the end of the Mission turn. If you resolve Mission first, then no Outpost turns will happen, and all Outposts stay in play until the Clean-up phase of the next player.
Strategy Article
There isn't a comprehensive strategy article for Outpost.
Outpost is a card that can be quite bad in some circumstances, but that combos with quite a few cards, and can be dominating with the right support. Outpost depends on some way of guaranteeing that the extra 3-card turn will be good. In a Big Money type deck, or a rush strategies like Gardens or Duke/Duchy, the 3-card turn is likely to be quite poor, and the spent on Outpost is probably better spent on any number of other terminal actions, possibly even cheaper cards like Smithy.
Duration cards can give you a modest next-turn bonus, both in terms of virtual coin (Lighthouse,Merchant Ship, Fishing Village) or card draw (Wharf,Caravan) to ensure that your Outpost turn is better than a typical 3-card turn. Seaside also has other ways of setting up your Outpost turn like Native Village or Treasury. Cantrips that provide virtual coin, such as Peddler or Market can work well with Outpost, but Treasury is stronger because it is reliable. These methods, however, are still not using outpost's full potential. Outpost can sometimes be harmful when used with durations--if you miss a key price point on your Outpost turn, the durations will end on that turn rather than carrying through into your next 5-card turn.
Engines that are able to draw their deck every turn, even starting from a 3-card hand, make Outpost turns just as valuable as a regular turn. Draw-up-to-X engines, like those based on Library or Watchtower also make the turn as good as a typical turn, so long as one is able to draw both a village and drawing card. Minion decks also work well with Outpost: so long as at least one Minion is drawn, the second turn is about as good as any other.
Scheme is a very good card to include in decks with Outpost, as it can guarantee certain cards to end up in the Outpost hand. This can help ensure deck drawing by top-decking a village and/or card drawer. Haven is another good option to send a card to the Outpost turn; although it does not allow one to play the sent card this turn, it increases the hand size for the next turn. Haven can smooth out engines using Outpost, but because it reduces the handsize by one on the current turn, too many of them can harm some decks.
Outpost goes nicely with cards that gain coin tokens. It's much better to sock away two coin tokens during an Outpost turn than to have to spend, and of course you can spend your coin tokens during your Outpost turn as well if you need a little help to pay for a card you want to buy.
Outpost is usually a poor first purchase of a cost-card; early in the game the Outpost turn is likely to be very weak, and the early purchase of this card can slow down a deck. In most decks, only buying one Outpost is necessary. Engines that reliably draw the whole deck cannot benefit from a second outpost, and most decks where one might be tempted to buy two Outposts would be unlikely to benefit enough from the outpost to begin with to make it worth the opportunity cost.
Outpost works very well with an active Prince. You get the Princed Action at the start of your Outpost turn. If the Princed card is something powerful like Smithy or Remodel, it can render the reduced hand size almost irrelevant. (Like all Durations, Outpost itself does not work with Prince even if you reduce its cost to allow Prince to set it aside.)
Synergies/Combos
- Durations
- Cards which set up your next turn: Treasury, Alchemist, and, to a lesser extent, Courtyard
- A large Native Village mat
- Cards that can easily recover from small handsize: Minion, Library and other draw-up-to-N cards, Menagerie
- Scheme
- Minion
- Scrying Pool
- Cards that gain coin tokens
- Prince with a good action set aside
Antisynergies
- Big Money or rush strategies
- Silver-based strategies are likely to have mediocre Outpost turns
- Possession does not work well with Outpost and makes people go look up FAQs and still not understand what's supposed to happen and why
Trivia
In other languages
- Chinese: 前哨 (pron. qiánshào)
- Czech: Strážnice (lit. guardhouse)
- Dutch: Voorpost
- Finnish: Rannikkoasema (lit. coastal station)
- French: Avant-poste
- German: Aussenposten
- Italian: Avamposto
- Japanese: 前哨地 (pron. zenshō-chi)
- Korean: 전진기지 (pron. jeonjingiji)
- Spanish: Puesto Avanzado
Secret History
Retrospective