Upgrade
Upgrade | |
---|---|
Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Intrigue |
Illustrator(s) | Matthias Catrein |
Card text | |
+1 Card +1 Action Trash a card from your hand. Gain a card costing exactly more than it. |
Upgrade is an Action card from Intrigue. It is a cantrip trasher, since it gives +1 Card/+1 Action and can trash one card, letting you gain a card costing more. Since there are usually no cards costing , this is an effective way of trashing Coppers, as well as Upgrading estates into Silvers or -cost actions.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- First draw a card and get +1 Action; then trash a card from your hand; then gain a card costing exactly more than the trashed card.
- The gained card comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile.
- If there is no card available at that cost, you do not gain a card; for example if you play Upgrade and trash a Copper, in a game with nothing costing , you simply fail to gain a card.
Other Rules clarifications
- First you trash a card, and resolve all of its on-trash effects; then you gain a card, and then resolve all on-gain effects.
Strategy Article
Original article on the forums by Mean Mr Mustard.
One of the strengths of Upgrade is the cycling ability that comes with it being a self replacing non-terminal. Terminal trashers such as Remake or Remodel can be powerful trashers, but sometimes buying and using them can fatally slow down the tempo of deck progression: a turn buying or using one of them will often yield no other benefit.
Upgrade rarely is an outright bad buy in the first four turns, as there are not too many Kingdoms that will be hurt by the easy trashing of Coppers or Estates. Chapel or Apothecary scenarios might not benefit from Upgrade and on scary Big Money boards Upgrade may be a deadly distraction, but on the whole it is a very strong card, especially if the Kingdom has non-terminals. Think Menagerie, although even Wishing Wells and Villages can be great targets for Upgraded Estates.
It is certainly possible to go too far and buy too many Upgrades. There are times, however, when it makes sense to buy multiple copies going even into the mid-game. Remember, extra Upgrades can be easily converted into Gold in turn 7-10 to make a strong push into the VP buying stage of the game. This is board dependent. In non-treasure setups it can be a very strong play to buy multiple Upgrades in order to quickly cycle and kill the starting cards. Multiple Upgrades can also help against Cursing attacks, if you can stay on top of it and not let your opponent get too far ahead.
Synergies/Combos
- Upgrades can be Upgraded into Grand Markets.
- Good cantrip -cost cards to upgrade your starting Estates into
Antisynergies
- Shelters, especially if there's no good 2-cost card on the board
- Poor House, since it costs and you will gain it from trashing Copper
- Big Money
Alternate versions
Digital version for Dominion Online
Trivia
In other languages
- Chinese: 升級 (pron. shēngjí)
- Czech: Pokrok
- Dutch: Opwaardering
- Finnish: Parannustyö
- French: Mise à niveau
- German: Anbau
- Hungarian: Fejlesztés
- Italian: Potenziamento
- Japanese: 改良 (pron. kairyō)
- Korean: 개선 (pron. gaeseon)
- Norwegian: Oppgradering
- Polish: Rozbudowa
- Russian: Улучшение (pron. uluchshyeniye)
- Spanish: Mejora
Secret History