Discard for benefit
Discard for benefit cards are those that, usually optionally, let you discard cards in order to get some other effect. If that effect is drawing, the card is considered a sifter.
List of cards
Cards in italics have been removed.
- Discard any number of cards:
- Secret Chamber
- Vault
- Storeroom
- Artificer
- Opulent Castle (only discards Victory cards)
- Discard a set number of cards for a non-scaling benefit:
Quest can discard different numbers of different types of cards, but all cases result in the same benefit. Tunnel can be discarded for a benefit.
Strategy
Since most terminal discard for benefit cards are, by their nature, soft terminals, it doesn't hurt your deck as much to overgain them. If you have the Actions to support them, discard for benefit cards also work nicely with draw-to-X cards like Library; in such cases, you can potentially draw and discard your deck several times, racking up a lot of benefit. If you're discarding Coppers, Counting House works quite well in this role, as it doesn't have an upper limit in draw. Menagerie also plays well with discard for benefit cards, as you can usually select specifically duplicate cards to discard.