Messenger

Messenger
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
+1 Buy + You may put your deck into your discard pile. When this is your first buy in a turn, gain a card costing up to , and each other player gains a copy of it.

Messenger is an Action from Adventures. It is a +Buy deck discarder with an on-buy effect that makes all players gain a copy of the same cheap card.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• When you play this, you get +1 Buy, +, and may optionally put your deck into your discard pile.
• This is not discarding cards and does not trigger Tunnel (from Hinterlands).
• When you buy Messenger, if it is the first thing you bought that turn (card or Event), you gain a card costing up to from the Supply, putting it into your discard pile, and then each other player in turn order also gains a copy of that card.
• If the Supply runs out of copies of the card, further players do not get anything.

Other rules clarifications

• Revealing Trader to gain a Silver instead of a Messenger when you buy one does not prevent the on-buy effect from happening. However, revealing a Trader to gain a Silver instead of the other card that comes with Messenger does prevent each other player from gaining that card.

Strategy

There is no strategy article for Messenger yet, as Adventures is the newest expansion, and the community is still discussing how best to use it. If you have ideas, please share them on the forum!

Trivia

In other languages

• Dutch: Koerier
• German: Kurier

Preview

There are three types of Dominion players. Some of us just play to unwind. Some play to compete. But then there are those of us who just want to watch the piles burn. Here's Messenger, for everyone who loves giving gifts and making merry.

Sometimes you'll get one for the Buy and coins. Sometimes it'll help you cycle your deck all the way down. But most of the time, you'll be using it to hand things out. Maybe your friend opened / and couldn't get two Ambassadors. Your Messenger purchase helps him with that. Maybe your opponent got himself a Potion and you feel like he should have another. Just be careful; you're getting one too. Maybe there's a sneaky way for you to win by making a bunch of Estates vanish at once. Messenger has you covered. Or maybe you're a jerk holding a Watchtower and you decide to hand out Curses in the most convoluted way possible. Man, what's your problem? Well, go for it, I guess.

The truth is, there are a lot of neat applications of the Messenger. I could go on and on about it, but I've had plenty of time to think about it, so I want you guys to have the fun. I'll leave you with one idea for your cousin's birthday party: try playing a 5 player game with this bad boy. (If you actually go and try that, please don't shoot the messenger)

—jsh357, Adventures Preview: Messenger

Secret History

The initial card didn't have the Chancellor ability and always gave out cards when bought. Matthew suggested the Chancellor part to make the top less boring, for the people who complained about that. Meanwhile other people complained about the card emptying piles too rapidly; the first-buy-only part on the bottom slowed that down.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Adventures

View all Dominion cards