Soothsayer
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Soothsayer | |
---|---|
Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action - Attack |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Guilds |
Illustrator(s) | Alayna Lemmer |
Card text | |
Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse, and if they did, draws a card. |
Soothsayer is an Action–Attack card from Guilds. It is a Gold gainer, and a curser whose attack is mitigated by increasing the handsize of anyone who receives a Curse.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- If there is no Gold left, you do not gain one.
- If there are not enough Curses left to go around, deal them out in turn order, starting with the player to your left.
- Each player who gained a Curse draws a card. This is not optional.
- A player who did not gain a Curse, whether due to the Curses running out or due to some other reason, does not draw a card.
- A player who uses Watchtower (from Dominion: Prosperity) to trash the Curse did gain a Curse and so draws a card; a player who uses Trader (from Dominion: Hinterlands) to gain a Silver instead did not gain a Curse and so does not draw a card†.
Other rules clarifications
- If you gain a Curse and draw a Reaction like Sheepdog or Horse Traders, it's too late to use it.
- Each affected player gains a Curse and draws a card before the next affected player does so. This is a change from the first version of Soothsayer.
† Trader now exchanges the Curse, so players that react with Trader will draw a card.
Strategy Article
See here for a discussion about Soothsayer.
Synergies
- Venture
- Big Money
- Remodel, Salvager, Expand, or other trash for benefit cards that really like Gold.
- Discard attacks, although you need Action surplus for that.
Antisynergies
- Opponent's Trashers
- Opponent's Warehouses or other handsize-dependent sifters
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse. Each player who did draws a card. | Guilds 1st Edition | June 2013 | ||
Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse, and if they did, draws a card. | Guilds 2nd Edition | March 2018 |
Other language versions
Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dutch | Helderziende | ||||
Finnish | Manaaja (lit. exorcist) | ||||
French | Devin | ||||
German | Hellseherin / Wahrsagerin | Nimm dir ein Gold. Jeder Mitspieler nimmt sich eine Fluchkarte. Wer eine Fluchkarte nimmt, zieht eine Karte vom Nachziehstapel. | The card was originally translated as Wahrsager (fortune teller), but after complaints about this being explicitly masculine even though the card art depicts a woman, it was changed to Wahrsagerin. However, the German publishers had forgotten that this name was already in use for Fortune Teller, and it was changed again. Dominion Online changed it back to Wahrsager, and changed Fortune Teller to Hellseherin. | ||
Japanese | 予言者 (pron. yogen-sha, lit. prophet) | 金貨1枚を獲得する。他のプレイヤーは全員、呪い1枚を獲得し、呪いを獲得した場合、1枚カードを引く。 | |||
Korean | 예언자 (pron. yeeonja, lit. prophet) | ||||
Russian | Предсказатель (pron. pryedskazatyel') |
Trivia
It is notable in being the only Curser card that does not reflect the theme of its expansion.
Secret History
I had tried "gain a Gold, they gain a Curse" in Alchemy, but it was a poor fit for a card with potion in the cost. I tried it out again here with the Council Room penalty. It worked fine, but some people complained about how bad the card got when the Curses ran out. Wei-Hwa suggested having it not give them a card unless they got a Curse, and there you have it.
Retrospective on complexity
I'd drop the "who did" on Soothsayer. "Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse and draws a card." The "who did" is there because there were complaints about the card going dead eventually. The apparently tiny amount of simplicity to be gained is worth way more to me than getting rid of the feeling that eventually you will want to stop playing Soothsayer.
As an experienced player, it's easy to see the benefit of a card being at a slightly better power level, and easy to see the benefit of a card being slightly more interesting. It's hard to see the benefit of a card being slightly simpler. Being simpler is just drastically more valuable to the game though. Dominion is played by normal people.
This case is particularly crazy and well I struggle not to discuss strategy. The extra text wasn't possibly worth it, that's how I see it.
Retrospective on power level
I think the power level of "Gain a Gold. Each other player gains a Curse and draws a card" is fine. It's weak for a Witch and man, it's nice to have some of that in the game.