Terminal silver
"Terminal silver" is an informal term for terminal Action cards that provide + and do not draw cards when played—i.e., they have the same effect on your buying power as Silver does. Most terminal silvers have another benefit in addition to the and are priced to compete with Silver for your buy—so a key strategic point is deciding whether the additional benefit the Action card provides is sufficient to offset the probability of drawing it without enough actions to be able to play it. Many terminal silvers are Attacks, with the + allowing the cards to benefit your current turn as well as harm your opponents.
Similarly, terminal Actions that provide +copper", "terminal gold", and "terminal platinum", respectively. "Terminal silver" is sometimes used as a blanket category for all terminal Actions that provide +Coin.
, + , or + may sometimes be referred to as "terminaland terminal silvers
These cards compete the most directly with Silver.
- Dominion: Chancellor, Woodcutter, Militia
- Moneylender gives + but trashes a Copper, so in effect it is a terminal silver: you have more than if you hadn't played it.
- Promo: Black Market
- Intrigue: Swindler
- Steward and Conspirator are terminal silvers sometimes but not always. Bridge gives + and lowers prices by , so if you only use one buy Bridge acts as a terminal silver.
- Seaside: Cutpurse, Navigator
- Prosperity: Monument
- Cornucopia: Fortune Teller
- Hinterlands: Nomad Camp
- Spice Merchant can give terminal + but trashes a Treasure, so it rarely actually increases your buying power by .
- Dark Ages: Scavenger
- Adventures: Messenger
- Amulet can give + , but over 2 turns, and is only effectively terminal the turn it is first played.
terminal silvers
These cards can be useful in that they give you a weak or temporary source of
that you can buy when you can't afford Silver itself., , and not-in-the-supply terminal silvers
These cards have more powerful effects and are not usually in direct competition with Silver; but the +
still functions to make them more balanced and worth the greater difficulty of obtaining them. Many of them are Attacks.- Seaside: Merchant Ship
- Prosperity: Mountebank, Goons
- Cornucopia: Jester
- Trusty Steed can (like Steward) optionally function as a terminal silver. Princess lowers prices by , so if you don't use multiple buys, it acts as a terminal silver.
- Hinterlands: Haggler
- Dark Ages: Dame Sylvia, Rogue
- Adventures: Hero
Edge cases
- Tribute, from Intrigue, is not usually considered a terminal silver; it can give terminal + , but the player has little to no control over whether it will, and it will usually either give more money than , draw cards, or be non-terminal.
- Butcher, from Guilds, gives two coin tokens that may be spent on Butcher's remodeler effect; if they are not used for remodeling, they may be spent for + , allowing Butcher to function as a terminal silver.
- Explorer, from Seaside gains a Silver or Gold in hand.