Familiar
Familiar | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action - Attack |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Alchemy |
Illustrator(s) | Alex Drummond |
Card text | |
+1 Card +1 Action Each other player gains a Curse. |
Familiar is an Action-Attack from Alchemy. It is a cantrip curser—i.e., it gives opponents Curses and gives you +1 Card and +1 Action. It is the only non-terminal curser or junking attack, and therefore can be very strong; however, its cost makes it harder to gain than most other cursers. It can be a very frustrating card, since its cost makes it likely for a player to be unable to afford it far longer than their opponent if they draw their Potion at the wrong time!
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- You draw a card, get +1 Action, and each other player gains a Curse.
Other Rules clarifications
Strategy Article
There isn't a Familiar strategy article. It was mentioned in both the five worst potion cards and the five best potion cards by theory.
Familiar is a very powerful attack, since it is a cantrip and therefore does not become a dead card once the Curses have been depleted, and once you have a few in your deck you can hand out Curses with it very rapidly. However, its cost makes it slow to acquire multiple copies of and extremely swingy: there is a roughly one in four chance that one player will be unable to get a Familiar on turns 3 and 4 and the other player will, much higher than the chance of missing out on a Witch or Mountebank.
Unlike Witch and Mountebank, having a Familiar does not itself improve your per-turn buying power (and having a Potion can harm buying power in the absence of other desirable -cost cards), so Familiar strategies can actually lose to super-fast Big Money strategies like BM+Wharf, or engines which ramp up fast enough to be able to trash the curses as they come in. Familiar is especially weak against Masquerade-Big Money, as it is a fast strategy which is able to return the gained Curses to the Familiar player.
Synergies/Combos
- Other -cost cards
- Squire and a weak trashing card (eg. Watchtower) will let you get Familiar without buying a Potion
Antisynergies
- Chapel trashes too fast for Familiar, which starts at a disadvantage because of the useless Potion
- Masquerade, which is able to return the gained Curses
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
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+1 Card. +1 Action. Each other player gains a Curse. | Alchemy 1st Edition | May 2010 | ||
+1 Card. +1 Action. Each other player gains a Curse. | Alchemy 2nd Edition | physical set unreleased |
Other language versions
Trivia
Secret History
Retrospective