Salvager

Salvager
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Seaside
Illustrator(s)	RC Torres
Card text
+1 Buy Trash a card from your hand. + equal to its cost.

Salvager is an Action card from Seaside. Salvager is a trash for benefit card, since it allows you to trash one card from your hand and get + equal to its cost to spend this turn. It can be used to trash Estates for +, or to trash expensive cards like Gold for lots of cash; it even gives you +Buy to use the it gives you. It's not very good for trashing cheap cards like Copper or Curse, since it gives you +, though it still gives +Buy.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• If you have at least one card in your hand, then you must trash one.
• If you don't have a card in hand left to trash, you get no , but still get the +1 Buy.

Other Rules clarifications

• Salvager only looks at the cost in ; you do not get a $P for trashing a card with $P in its cost.

Strategy Article

There isn't a Salvager strategy article.

Salvager fills three functions at once: trashing, +Buy, and generation of coin. The +Buy is strongest when you have a lot of coin, which is most likely to happen if you trash high-cost cards with Salvager. The card is very weak when used to trash copper or curses, and only slightly stronger when used to trash estates. Its true value only comes out when used to trash more costly cards.

A prime candidate for Salvager's trashing are cards which outlive their usefulness: Cursers after the curses run out, Moneylender after you have trashed your copper, or Ill-Gotten Gains after it has been bought. Peddler has an obvious synergy with Salvager: you can buy a lot of Peddlers cheaply, and then use Salvager to trade in each one for a Province.

Salvager can be a powerhouse in deck-drawing engines able to gain high-cost cards. Rats provides faster trashing as well as moderate-cost fuel for Salvager, and gainers like Ironworks can also provide -cost cards. Haggler and Border Village can also result in a high concentration of expendable high-cost cards. Fortress can also be repeatedly trashed by Salvager while sending Fortress back into your hand, effectively turning Salvager into + with +1 Buy, an extraordinary deal for an Action only costing .

Early in the game, Salvager is best for trashing Estates for +, and is weak for trashing copper, although trashing the copper is usually worthwhile on a bad draw. On some boards, the early +Buy can be useful or even decisive, such as in the case of Fool's Gold.

Salvager has a lot of late-game utility. Even without strong synergies, it can be used to trash expensive cards like Gold to get you that last bit of cash you need for the Province or Colony, or perhaps ending with a double buy. Also, using Salvager to trash a Province for + or Colony for + allows you to buy another copy of it. This strategy is particularly effective with Fool's Gold as this card produces a quick rush on provinces but often chokes on victory cards. This can be used to speedily end of the game. Deciding when to start trashing your good cards is a critical strategic decision.

Synergies/Combos

• Market Square
• Rats
• Fortress
• Fool's Gold
• Cards with early-game utility whose value decreases later on and can then be trashed for +: cursers, Moneylender and other early-game trashers, Baron, etc.
• Cards whose cost in is disproportionately high relative to their utility in your deck: e.g., Peddler, Border Village, Ill-Gotten Gains.

Trivia

Official card art.

In other languages

• Chinese: 打撈員 (pron. dǎlāo yuán)
• Czech: Zachránce (lit. savior)
• Dutch: Afvalverwerker (lit. waste processor)
• French: Sauveteur (lit. rescuer)
• German: Müllverwerter (lit. waste recyclers)
• Italian: Recupero (lit. recovery)
• Japanese: 引揚水夫 (pron. hikiage suifu, lit. salvaging sailor)
• Spanish: Rescatador (lit. rescuer)

Secret History

A fairly old card which never changed functionally.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Seaside Cards