Transmute
| Transmute | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Cost | |
| Type(s) | Action |
| Kingdom card? | Yes |
| Set |
Alchemy |
| Illustrator(s) | Claus Stephan |
| Card text | |
|
Trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, gain a Duchy Treasure card, gain a Transmute Victory card, gain a Gold | |
Transmute is an Action card from Alchemy. It is a trash for benefit card which turns Actions into Victory cards, Victory cards into Treasures, and Treasures into Actions. However, since the cards it gives you are fixed (Duchy, Gold, and Transmute itself), it has limited utility.
FAQ
Official FAQ
- If you trash a Curse to this, you do not get anything.
- If you trash a card with more than one type to this, you get each applicable thing. For example if you trash an Action-Victory card (such as Nobles, from Dominion: Intrigue), you gain both a Duchy and a Gold.
Other Rules clarifications
- If you Transmute an Estate under the influence of Inheritance, you will gain a Gold (for trashing a Victory card) and a Duchy (for trashing an Action card).
Strategy
Transmute is generally considered one of the weakest cards in the game. For many players, it is a fun exercise to try to come up with cases where gaining a Transmute might be playable in theory; it is very rarely playable in practice. Transmute’s 
cost both makes it hard to gain and adds a junk card in the Potion to your deck. Your reward for paying that cost is a card whose effect on play is rarely useful: in particular, it generally is not a source of thinning, since using it on most cards will gain a stop card.
A few cases where it might be usable in theory are:
- It can be used as a thinner of last resort to handle Curses, since it does not gain a card when trashing a Curse, especially in games with Familiar where you already have a Potion.
- It can enable some effects that care about trashing such as Tomb or Sewers.
- Turning treasures into Transmutes works with cards that interact with Actions such as Scrying Pool or City Quarter. Excess Transmutes can then be turned into Duchies to score in the endgame. Ways such as Way of the Horse are similarly a possible reason to gain Transmute.
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.
Versions
English versions
| Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
Trash a card from your hand. If it is an… Action card, gain a Duchy Treasure card, gain a Transmute Victory card, gain a Gold |
Alchemy 1st Edition | May 2010 |
|
 |
Trash a card from your hand. If it's an… Action card, gain a Duchy Treasure card, gain a Transmute Victory card, gain a Gold |
Alchemy 2nd Edition | December 2018 |
Other language versions
| Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 煉成 (pron. liàn chéng) | ||||
| Czech | Přeměna | ||||
| Dutch | Transformatie | ||||
| Finnish | Transmutaatio | ||||
| French | Transmutation |  |
Écartez une care de votre main. Si c'est une carte… Action, recevez un Duché Trésor, recevez une Transmutation Victoire, recevez un Or |
||
| German | Verwandlung |  |
 |
Entsorge eine deiner Handkarten. Ist es eine… Aktionskarte: nimm ein Herzogtum. Geldkarte: nimm eine Verwandlung. Punktekarte: nimm ein Gold. |
(2019) |
| Italian | Trasmutazione | ||||
| Japanese | 変成 (pron. hensei, lit. metamorphosis) |
手札1枚を廃棄する。それが... アクションカードの場合、公領1枚を獲得する 財宝カードの場合、変成1枚を獲得する 勝利点カードの場合、金貨1枚を獲得する (複数該当する場合、順に実行する) |
|||
| Polish | Transmutacja | Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook. | |||
| Russian | Превращение (pron. pryevrashshyeniye) |
 |
Выкиньте карту из руки. Если это была карта… Действия, получите Герцогство Сокровища, получите Преващение Победы, получите Золото |
||
| Spanish | Transmutar | Elimina una carta de tu mano. Si se trata de una carta... de Acción, gana una carta de Ducado; de Tesoro, gana una carta Transmutar; de Victoria, gana una carta de Oro. |
Trivia
Preview
Yes, if you Transmute a Great Hall, you get both a Duchy and a Gold. And a Curse doesn't turn into anything. At least you get rid of it.
Secret History
This slot started out with a Remodel variant that was like the middle ground between two other Remodel variants that hope one day to come out. It seemed like it must be too close to one or the other, so I replaced it with this exotic Remodel. After that the only change to this one was dropping from 
to . When the card images were made, the question came up, should this (and Vineyard) have a 
on it or what? I had never had the . My feeling is, if there's no cost to a card at all, you need a where the cost is, to make it clear that you mean for the card to be free. If there's a cost, you don't need that. Transmute has a cost: a potion. It didn't need a too. Anyway we looked at it both ways and both Jay and I preferred it with no and so no it was.
to . When the card images were made, the question came up, should this (and Vineyard) have a on it or what? I had never had the . My feeling is, if there's no cost to a card at all, you need a where the cost is, to make it clear that you mean for the card to be free. If there's a cost, you don't need that. Transmute has a cost: a potion. It didn't need a too. Anyway we looked at it both ways and both Jay and I preferred it with no and so no it was.Donald X. on "fixing" Transmute
Arguably Exorcist is the fixed version. The premise is a Remodel that gives you specific cards. For a card called Transmute in an expansion called Alchemy, Dismantle would do the trick.
The biggest thing for Transmute is that needing a Potion delays it too much (and hey, also means you got a Potion instead of a better thing, and now have this Potion - it's a lot of penalty). Sacrifice is the fixed version; it doesn't gain cards but you know, it trashes and does something based on card type. And you can open with it, hooray.
