Masquerade

Masquerade
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Franz Vohwinkel
Card text
+2 Cards Each player with any cards in hand passes one to the next such player to their left, at once. Then you may trash a card from your hand.

Masquerade is an Action card from Intrigue, and the only card that allows cards to be passed directly from one player's hand to another's. It is both terminal draw and a trasher, since it provides +Cards, no +Action, and lets you trash a card. It is a powerful opener since it allows you to trash cards while still having a 5-card hand to buy cards with. Masquerade is a counter to many cursers since it can pass Curses back to the opponent; it can also be used to steal good cards.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• First you draw 2 cards.
• Then, all players at the same time choose a card to pass left, putting it face down on the table between players.
• Then the cards are passed; each player takes the passed card from the player to their right.
• Players with no cards in hand (such as due to Torturer) are skipped over - they neither pass a card nor receive one.
• Finally, you may trash a card from your hand.
• This is not an Attack and so cannot be stopped with Moat.
• Passed cards are not "gained" (which matters for some expansion cards, e.g. Trader from Dominion: Hinterlands).

Other Rules clarifications

• If only one player has cards in their hand, they pass a card to themself.
• Masquerade's mechanism for changing card ownership is unique in the game, since it uses the word "pass" to indicate a change of card ownership. The consequence of this wording is that the player receiving a passed card is not "gaining" it. So, for example, they cannot react to the card passing with Watchtower.

First edition

In the first edition of Intrigue, Masquerade did not make an exception for players with no cards in hand—such a player would receive a card but be unable to pass one, and so the player to their left would pass a card but not receive one. As a result of this, it was sometimes possible to set up pins with Masquerade where one player would repeatedly have to pass cards without receiving them, until they were left with no cards in hand on their turn, and over the course of several turns be forced to pass their entire deck away. The card was revised in the second edition to eliminate this possibility.

Strategy

Masquerade is a terminal draw card that offers a trashing effect and a unique mechanic in which you and your opponents must pass cards to each other. While it more frequently plays a very useful role in the early stages of building an engine, Masquerade can also function as an excellent enabler for a money strategy if an engine is not possible because it allows for some trashing without incurring the opportunity costs of acquiring and playing a dedicated trasher.

Because Masquerade draws and trashes, it is extremely helpful in getting early cycling and achieving deck control, and therefore is often a very good choice in the opening. Unlike many other trashers, it also does not impede you in hitting . Opening with Masquerade and Star Chart is a particularly strong demonstration of this. Star Chart allows you to topdeck your Masquerade for turn 3, and then after drawing a five card hand plus two more cards from playing Masquerade, you will only have four cards remaining from your eleven card deck. Having fewer than five cards will cause you to re-shuffle, allowing you to topdeck Masquerade once again with Star Chart for turn 4. Provided that you trashed a card with Masquerade and bought one card, your deck will still have eleven cards, allowing you to repeat the cycle again each turn. This guarantees you play Masquerade every turn for as long as you maintain an eleven-card deck.

The mechanic of passing cards with your opponents has several important implications. First, it may often be helpful to avoid trashing too aggressively, because if your deck consists solely or largely of Victory cards and valuable Action cards, you run the risk of having to give one of these away to an opponent in exchange for a junk card. This risk also increases if you are using topdecking effects such as those of Alchemist or Scheme to topdeck multiple valuable cards. Conversely, topdecking cards you don’t mind passing is not a problem in this context and may occasionally be advantageous. Additionally, in the context of passing cards, playing a discard Attack before you play Masquerade can create difficult decisions for your opponents, as they will either need to keep a bad card in hand or run the risk of having to give away a good card. Additionally, Masquerade is an often useful counter to cursing Attacks because it both helps you to achieve deck control quickly and can be used to pass your opponents the Curses they have caused you to gain.

One interaction that may be difficult to set up in practice but that is potentially very dangerous for your opponent is between Masquerade and Possession. Although Possession prevents you from permanently trashing cards from a Possessed player’s deck, it doesn’t prevent you from passing them with Masquerade; therefore, playing Masquerade while Possessing your opponent in a two-player game enables you to permanently remove cards from their deck and take them for yourself.

While one Masquerade is often sufficient for a strong early game, you may consider acquiring more later if, for example, you plan to use Masquerade with a village as a draw card. In this case, you will need to retain at least one junk card to pass, and will opt not to trash a card on each Masquerade play.

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.

• jonts26's 2012 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+2 Cards Each player passes a card from his hand to the left at once. Then you may trash a card from your hand.	Intrigue 1st Edition	July 2009
		+2 Cards Each player with any cards in hand passes one to the next such player to their left, at once. Then you may trash a card from your hand.	Intrigue 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	化妝舞會 (pron. huàzhuāngwǔhuì)
Czech	Maškary
Dutch	Maskerade
Finnish	Naamiaiset
French	Mascarade
German	Maskerade			+2 Karten Alle Spieler (auch du) geben gleichzeitig eine beliebige Handkarte an den jeweils linken Nachbarn weiter. Danach darfst du eine Handkarte entsorgen.	(2014)
German	Maskerade			+2 Karten Alle Spieler, die mindestens 1 Karte auf der Hand haben, geben gleichzeitig eine davon an den nächsten Mitspieler nach links weiter, der das ebenfalls tut. Dann darfst du eine deiner Handkarten entsorgen.	2. Edition (2021)
Hungarian	Álarcosbál (lit. masked ball)
Italian	Ballo in Maschera (lit. masked ball)
Japanese	仮面舞踏会 (pron. kamenbutōkai)			+2 カードを引く 手札があるプレイヤーは全員同時に、左隣のそのようなプレイヤーに手札1枚を渡す。その後、あなたは手札1枚を廃棄してもよい。
Korean	가면 무도회 (pron. gamyeon mudohoe)
Norwegian	Maskerade
Polish	Maskarada			+2 karty Wszyscy gracze równocześnie przekazują kartę z ręki graczowi po lewej. Następnie możesz wyrzucić na śmietnisko jedną kartę z ręki.	(2016)
Russian	Маскарад (pron. maskarad)			+2 Карты Каждый игрок с картами в руке одновременно передаёт одну карту следующему такому игроку налево. Затем вы можете выкинуть карту из руки.
Spanish	Mascarada

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This card debuted in the 3rd set, moved to the 5th set, and finally ended up here. I wanted another interactive card and Dale wanted another card that cost . This was both so in it went. The premise of the card is the pass-left ability, and the rest of the card struggles to make that part good enough. You draw two cards first so that you're more likely to have a bad card to pass; you can trash a card afterwards so you can cope with getting passed a bad card. This card can hurt you, but isn't an attack. It would just be too confusing figuring out what Moat did to it if it were an attack.

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

Retrospective

Masquerade originally triggered gain/trash things; I would look at that again, but honestly I would be unlikely to just reword it to address the King's Court / Masquerade / Goons combo. Masquerade has a clear simple wording and I would rather kill the card than make the wording awful, an awful that you dear reader may be mystified as to the awfulness of, I have come to terms with that. But I'm not sure I need to kill the combo and Masquerade is a pretty cool card.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, What Donald X. Might Do With a Dominion Time Machine

Why is passing not gaining?

Originally Masquerade counted as both gaining and trashing. Valerie didn't like how it was gaining without gaining and trashing without trashing. To me gaining meant "now it's yours" and trashing meant "now it isn't," but to Valerie gaining meant "take it and put it into your discard pile" and trashing meant "move it to the trash." She could see it being that you gained the card but didn't trash it, but I felt it should be both or neither. So it's neither.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Masquerade and Watchtower