Donate

Donate
Info
Cost
Type	Event
Set	Empires
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Event text
At the start of your next turn, first, put your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number of cards from it, then shuffle the rest into your deck and draw 5 cards.

Donate is an Event from Empires. It is a trasher with a Debt cost. It is perhaps the strongest trasher in the game, able to trash any number of cards from the buyer's entire deck.

Donate was revised in 2022 to change its timing: Donate's effect originally took place between turns, but now it happens as the first thing at the start of your next turn.

FAQ

Unofficial FAQ (2022)

• Donate happens before anything else that happens at the start of your turn, such as taking a card from Archive.
• Effects that happen due to trashing cards (such as Rocks') will happen before you shuffle.

Other rules clarifications

• The start of your turn is during your Action phase.
• If trashing cards draws you cards that were somehow not already in your hand, it is too late to trash those, and you will shuffle them into your deck.
• Anything that cares about shuffling (such as Star Chart) happens when you shuffle your hand into your deck.
• You only shuffle your hand into your deck; any cards that get into your discard pile (such as with Order of Masons or when reacting with Market Square) stay there.
• You draw 5 cards no matter how many you had in hand before Donate.
• Donate doesn't happen if the game ends first.
• If you use Possession to control a turn where Donate happens, you choose what they trash, and those cards are set aside until after they draw their next hand.

Deprecated official FAQ (2016)

Effects that happen due to trashing cards (such as Rocks') will happen before you shuffle. This happens between turns, and so Possession (from Dominion: Alchemy) will no longer be doing anything.

Deprecated rules clarifications (2016 2021)

The game ends at the end of a turn; it cannot end between turns. If the game ends the same turn you buy Donate, then the game is over and Donate's effect will not happen after that turn. The exception is if any player has bought Fleet, which will keep the game going. If sufficient piles to end the game are emptied during Donate's effect (such as by trashing Hunting Grounds or Catacombs), the next player takes their turn and then you check if the game still ends. Cards played between turns (for example by trashing a Hunting Grounds to gain a Duchy and play Sheepdog) are discarded during the next Clean-up that happens (whether or not it's your turn or not). If you activate an ability that grants you an extra turn, such as playing Outpost, on the same turn you buy Donate, the Donate effect happens before the extra turn. If you gain the first Province on the same turn you buy Donate, you can choose the order of the effects of Donate and Mountain Pass. Remember that you draw your normal hand during Clean-up before this. This means that if you drew fewer cards than normal during Clean-up (due to Outpost or your -1 Card token), or drew more cards than normal (due to Flag or Expedition), Donate will reset it to 5 cards afterwards. If cards end up in your discard pile while Donating (e.g. you discard a Market Square and gain a Gold), Donate doesn't shuffle them into your deck (although they may get reshuffled when you draw +5 Cards at the end of resolving Donate). If you trash a Fortress with Donate, it goes into the trash, then goes back to your hand, and then you shuffle your hand into your deck. Cards you gain or trash during Donate are not counted as cards gained or trashed "on your turn", which matters for cards like Smugglers, Treasure Hunter, or Goatherd. Since it's no longer your turn when Donating, cost reduction (like Bridge) stops having any effect when Donating. This may matter if you want to trash a Catacombs.

Strategy

Donate is a centralizing Event that rewards calculation and careful planning by offering massive acceleration towards clean decks very early, with relatively little room for shuffle luck to matter. Donate's strength arises from the fact that it's the fastest trasher in almost any Kingdom and often makes it very easy to build a strong deck from a very clean starting position. Donate’s cost is high, but because it is Debt it can be paid off over multiple turns.

In Kingdoms with Donate it’s often possible to plan out the first 4 or 5 turns precisely. The main question is usually on which turn to buy it, and the answer is often dependent on your opening split and what the Kingdom offers. Generally speaking, Donate lessens the need for early trashers, draw, and other forms of deck control, and allows you to essentially start building a deck with payload cards (especially gainers) first. Some common patterns are as follows:

• Turn 1 Donate: This is a less common option because it usually involves keeping 5 Coppers, but it can be a viable strategy to Donate on turn 1 to a deck of 5 Coppers, pay off the debt on turn 2, buy an important card such as Treasurer on turn 3, and hope it doesn’t bottomdeck on turn 4.
• Turn 2 Donate: One of the more common options. Usually bought in order to benefit from having one opening buy in deck, and to avoid having to rely on drawing a good turn 3 hand. An example of this is opening with Silver/Donate on a / opening split, then Donating down to 3 Coppers and the Silver in order to buy a Haggler on turn 4. Another example on a / opening split is opening with Ironworks on turn 1, Donating on turn 2 to the Ironworks and 3 Coppers, gaining a Silver with the Ironworks and paying off Debt on turn 3, then gaining another Silver and buying a on turn 4.
• Turn 3 or Turn 4 Donate: Also among the more common options. Usually taken in order to benefit from having two opening buys in deck, but is more dependent on shuffle luck than Donating earlier. Depending on which cards you draw on turn 3, you can decide whether to wait until turn 4 to Donate. If, for example, you open with Inventor and Stockpile with the goal of buying and gaining multiple Stockpiles and also buying Donate on turn 3, but instead draw 2 Coppers and 3 Estates, you’ll likely prefer to wait until turn 4 to Donate, leaving you a turn or more behind an opponent who adopts a similar strategy but gets luckier draws.
• Donating later: It is very rare to Donate for the first time later than turn 4, as this would mean wasting time drawing through your bad starting cards. It is not that rare, however, to Donate a second time later in the game to clean up either leftover Coppers or junk from junking attacks.
• Skipping Donate entirely: It is very rare to fully skip Donate, as it’s often just a faster way of getting to an ideal deck than the alternatives. Kingdoms with Pixie and therefore Goat are possible exceptions, as the Goat can thin decks fairly quickly without needing to take on .

Donate works well with cards that can take advantage of the otherwise unproductive turns that you spend paying off the Debt. Gainers that you can open with (e.g. Groom) are the most common examples of such. Attacks are also possible candidates, with handsize attacks such as Militia significantly hurting your opponents, who likely have very good 5-card hands and no draw at this stage of the game. Travellers are also good options for this, as you can start advancing them quickly up the line.

When you bought Fleet, Donate can change your deck's final contents if you buy it at the end of the final game turn. It can be used to score in Kingdoms with Landmarks such as Wolf Den, Wall, Bandit Fort, and Tomb.

A fairly rare tactical use for Donate is using it to skip bad shuffles (e.g., one with all terminal draw and no villages), as Donate is an expensive way to guarantee you shuffle almost your whole deck.

Notable synergies

• Market Square - Combo: Donate and Market Square
• Feodum can be opened alongside Donate for an early economy boost.

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.

• slides from 2021 #coaching session

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		After this turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw 5 cards.	Empires	June 2016
		At end of turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw 5 cards.	Avoid having when-trashed/when-gained triggers between turns Empires (2021 printing)	January 29, 2021 / February 18, 2022
		Right before drawing your next hand, put your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number of cards from it, then shuffle your hand into your deck.	Avoid overriding Outpost's timing	June 29, 2022
		At the start of your next turn, first, put your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number of cards from it, then shuffle the rest into your deck and draw 5 cards.	Between turns erratum with fewer changes than necessary	July 14, 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Donatie (lit. gift)
Finnish	Lahjoitus (lit. donation)
French	Donation
German	Spende			Nach diesem Zug: Nimm alle Karten deines Nachzieh- und deines Ablage­stapels auf die Hand und entsorge beliebig viele. Mische deine Handkarten und lege sie als Nachzieh­stapelbereit. Ziehe 5 Karten.	(2016)
	Spende			Am Ende des Zuges, nimm alle Karten deines Nachzieh- und Ablage­stapels auf deine Hand, entsorge beliebig viele davon, mische dann deine Handkarten in deinen Nachzieh­stapel, ziehe dann 5 Handkarten.	2. Edition (2021) Note: rulebook FAQ 2021 for this card may be outdated
	Spende			Gerade bevor du deine nächste Kartenhand ziehst, nimm alle Karten aus deinem Nachzieh­stapel und deinem Ablage­stapel auf deine Hand. Entsorge beliebig viele deiner Hand­karten, dann mische deine Hand in deinen Nachzieh­stapel.
	Spende			Zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges, nimm zuerst deinen Nachzieh- und Ablage­stapel auf deine Hand, entsorge beliebig viele Karten davon und mische dann den Rest in deinen Nachzieh­stapel und ziehe 5 Karten.
Japanese	寄付 (pron. kifu)			このターンの後、山札、捨て札置き場のカードすべてを手札に加え、そこから好きな枚数のカードを廃棄し、手札すべてを山札に混ぜシャッフルする。その後5枚カードを引く。
Polish	Datek			Po zakończeniu bieżącej tury weź na rękę wszystkie karty ze swojej talii i ze stosu kart odrzuconych, wyrzuć na śmietnisko dowolną liczbę kart, a następnie przetasuj swoją rękę w talię i dobierz 5 kart.	(2017)
Russian	Пожертвование (pron. pozhyertvovaniye)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

This started out costing . It was too swingy, and I fixed it by making it . Now we can all figure out a plan for when to get it and it doesn't come down to draws, you can just always get it. At first it happened in Clean-up, but I had to move it to between turns due to Possession.

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

Is Donate too strong?

I mean first you have to consider, how could a card be “busted” in Dominion. For me what makes a card “busted” is bad game play – the game is too slow, too random, too many eliminated decisions. Power level is not actually in there, except to the degree that other things are eclipsed so that it eliminates decisions. Well power level could make something too random too but you know.

Donate is powerful. It doesn’t slow the game down, isn’t too random, does not eliminate too many decisions. It does eclipse other trashers but that’s not so bad. Maybe you want to ask, is it the most powerful thing? That won’t be very interesting and even there you can discuss what that means.

Donate is probably the least-skippable thing; by that metric it’s the most “busted.” I don’t think it makes the game worse though, and other things do, so they are the “busted” cards to me.

What’s really interesting in the games is trying to work out how to build up perfectly and it’s different every time, you know. Donate’s reduction of luck in turn reduces the use of general advice. Though, some people will still for sure want to know, oh, do not wait forever to Donate.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Round Table: Donate

Development comments

So at one point I tried doing some big effects as events, just, as a way to get new events. They mostly didn’t work out. I will look up some other ones here. Gain the trash; gain all actions from a pile; pick your next hand. Donate worked, with the trick being to give it a cost so you could always get it. It increases the puzzle of the early game; how best do you open, when exactly do you Donate. Donate separates the men from the boys; in my day that expression wasn’t offensive. Just, if you have a better Donate plan than your opponent, you will zoom ahead.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Round Table: Donate

Donation: Event,

Trash a card from your hand. If the trash didn't have a copy of it, +2 .

Donation: Event,

You may trash a card from your hand costing or more. Then if there's exactly one copy of it in the trash, +3 .

Donation: Event,

After you discard cards from play this turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number, and shuffle the rest into your deck.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2022

Retrospective

Donate shouldn't be in-between turns (which was to dodge Possession, but it's not like that makes the Donate / Possession game playable). Otherwise, no regrets. I'm checking the skill multiplier, it's 1.09. Donate gives the players plenty to think about. These extreme nearly mandatory things, you can think of as changing the rules rather than being like regular cards / card-shaped things.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2020

2022 Errata on errata

Donate will somehow get more different at the same time, it will trigger at the start of your next turn, that's right. This has played great. It's a little weird since you're not used to it, but is as close as possible to the original while getting rid of rules problems. Yes "first" means before other start-of-turn stuff. And we can cite how e.g. it means you're immune to Militia for a turn. But it's very close to the original. It even gets rid of some unintentional changes the other versions had, like being able to trash everything with Tomb on your last turn.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X., July 14, 2022

[During playtesting w]e kept having issues with Donate. You can't do things after Clean-up; cards expect that Clean-up was the end of things. Consider e.g. Cargo Ship.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, July 14, 2022

Tracking

My mission was to preserve the original Donate as well as possible while having a wording that worked. That's how it got that wording. It tends to be very memorable; no worries about forgetting it so far.

In general it is not great to have an Event that does something on a future turn, unless something specifically provides tracking. Summon affects your next turn, and the card you set aside provides the tracking there.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X., March 7, 2023