Pilgrimage

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Pilgrimage
Info
Cost
Type	Event
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Garret DeChellis
Event text
Once per turn: Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up); then if it's face up, choose up to 3 differently named cards you have in play and gain a copy of each.

Pilgrimage is an Event from Adventures. It flips the Journey token and if the token ends face up, allows you to gain a copy of up to three differently named cards you have in play.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• At the start of the game, place your Journey token (the one with the boot) face up.
• You can only buy this once per turn.
• When you do, turn your Journey token over.
• Then if it is face down, nothing more happens.
• If it is face up, choose up to 3 cards you have in play with different names and gain a copy of each in any order.
• The copies you gain come from the Supply and are put into your discard pile.
• So, every other time you buy this, you will gain up to 3 cards.
• It does not matter what turned over the Journey token; you could turn it face down with Ranger, then face up with Pilgrimage.

Other Rules clarifications

• You cannot gain copies of cards that are not from the Supply, such as Mercenary or Disciple.
• You can gain cards costing or .
• You choose the cards to gain before gaining any of them. Once chosen, you gain each card even if it leaves play and cannot choose new cards that are put into play.

Strategy

Original article by jsh357

"The pilgrimage has gained momentum / Take a turn, take a turn / Take a fortune, take a fortune" - Michael Stipe

At first it might seem like Pilgrimage is more trouble than it's worth. You have to spend two turns and to get its effect, and that can be quite a lot of opportunity cost on many boards. Things get rosier when you realize you are gaining three cards you have in play of any cost. This means you can gain another Gold. It means you can gain another King's Court. It means you can gain another Familiar or Possession. Grand Market has an amazing synergy too.

I think the implications there are fairly obvious. You're spending a measly (really two times, which is a whole lot different from ) on cards that could be worth a whole lot more. However, I'd argue Pilgrimage is still pretty sweet when you are gaining cheaper cards with it. The important thing here is that in most cases, Pilgrimage is gaining you cards that you certainly want more of in your engine. Most engines like having parts in mass: draw cards, villages, gainers, money earners, and so on. By adding more of these cards to your deck in one fell swoop, you are adding a lot of value at hopefully little stopping risk.

Of course, you want to be careful what you gain. If your turns contain Village, Smithy, Market, and Militia, odds are your Pilgrimages should be netting you Villages and Markets primarily with a few Smithies sprinkled in. Odds are you don't want to add another Militia. The more cantrips and nonterminal actions you can add, the better. It might seem like adding a bunch of Gold and Woodcutters could net you a lot of money, but remember that having a starting hand of five stop cards means you are doing no better than your initial hand in a turn. This is where deckbuilding skill comes in to play, and it's why I predict we will see better players using Pilgrimage more often. Pilgrimage is not an event you should trigger without a plan.

Setting up your Pilgrimage takes a bit of finesse. You need to spend a spare buy on a that nets you nothing. The upside of this is that by the time you have a deck worth playing Pilgrimage with, hopefully there are not very many or fewer options you would consider worth a single buy. The prospect of gaining three helpful cards next turn should outweigh the lost opportunity. There are some instances where it might not! If an important pile is about to be drained, you should probably buy the last card in that pile instead, for example. Certain situations are nice for buying that dead Pilgrimage too, particularly in Adventures-heavy games. Opponent played a Swamp Hag? Might as well set up your Pilgrimage this turn. You went on a Mission? Pilgrimage away. Of course, speaking more generally, there are times where you might end up with a bad draw. It happens to the best of us. Often you do have on those draws, though, so Pilgrimage is likely to be a strong option as long as you have a good potential to profit off the Event soon.

I should quickly mention that Pilgrimage can be combined with Ranger or Giant to flip the Journey token around. Of course, remember that if you use this combination you are losing the effect of one of the Journey token users, so it had better be worth doing.

Finally, one of the considerations when using Pilgrimage is that it can only gain cards that are put in play. This means you are not going to be able to gain Provinces or Colonies, which means that Pilgrimage is only useful in the endgame if you are planning to run piles. Good engines typically do want to have that option available, so Pilgrimage is quite nice in the endgame as long as you can end on a point lead, but if things are down to the wire and you need points, not pile control, it is probably not worth setting up a Pilgrimage over gaining points. Don't throw all your eggs in a basket that might have a hole in it.

The short version:

• Pilgrimage can gain cards that are very expensive or awkward to buy as long as you already have one
• Pilgrimage is worth using when you want multiples of the same cards in your deck, particularly in an engine
• Some cards, particularly in Adventures, help you set up a Pilgrimage, so always consider those options when they are available
• Consider using Pilgrimage in the endgame for pile control, but remember it cannot gain the big victory cards unless Donald releases an Inheritance for Provinces in a future set.

Synergies

Giant and Ranger

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Once per turn: Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up); then if it's face up, choose up to 3 differently named cards you have in play and gain a copy of each.	Adventures	April 2015
		Once per turn: Turn your Journey token over (it starts face up); then if it's face up, choose up to 3 differently named cards you have in play and gain a copy of each.	Adventures (2017 printing)	August 2017

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Bedevaart			Eenmaal per beurt: draai je reisfische om (het start open). Ligt het nu open, kies dan 3 kaarten met een verschillende titel die je in het spel hebt en pak van elk een exemplaar.	(2015)
Finnish	Pyhiinvaellus
French	Pèlerinage			Une fois par tour : Retournez votre jeton Voyage (placez-le face visible au début de la partie); s'il est facile visible, choisissez jusqu'à 3 cartes différentes en jeu et recevez un exemplaire de chacune.
German	Pilgerfahrt			Einmal pro Zug: Drehe deinen Reise-Marker um. Liegt die Vorderseite oben: Wähle bis zu 3 Karten mit unterschiedlichem Namen, die du im Spiel hast und nimm dir jeweils eine davon.	(2015)
German	Pilgerfahrt			Einmal pro Zug: Drehe deinen Reise-Marker um (er beginnt mit der Vorderseite nach oben); liegt dann die Vorderseite oben: Wähle bis zu 3 Karten mit unterschiedlichen Namen, die du im Spiel hast und nimm jeweils eine gleiche Karte.	(Nachdruck 2021)
Japanese	巡礼 (pron. junrei)			1ターンに1度のみ:旅人トークンを裏返し(開始時は表向き)、表向きになった場合、 場のカードを3種類まで選び、それらと同じカードを1枚ずつ獲得する。
Russian	Паломничество (pron. palomnichestvo)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

For strumphf's 2022 advent calendar, Donald X. went in-depth on the development of Pilgrimage.

Originally it didn't say "once per turn." It was too attractive to pay and 2 Buys for.

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