Possession
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Possession | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Alchemy |
Illustrator(s) | Kieron O'Gorman |
Card text | |
The player to your left takes an extra turn after this one, in which you can see all cards they can and make all decisions for them. Any cards or | they would gain on that turn, you gain instead; any cards of theirs that are trashed are set aside and put in their discard pile at end of turn.
Possession is an Action card from Alchemy. It lets you control an extra turn being taken by your opponent and steal any cards they gain during it - so you can take advantage of their super-engine without having to build it up yourself! Of course, be prepared to have the same done to you; Possession is known to be one of the most rage-inducing cards in Dominion. And at a cost of , Possession is one of the most expensive Actions in Dominion, so it's occasionally okay to skip it and go straight for Provinces.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- You are not taking a turn with the deck of the player to your left†; that player is taking a turn, with you making the decisions and gaining the cards. The “you” in all cards still refers to the player being Possessed, not the player doing the Possessing.
- Possession has several pieces to it:
- You can see the Possessed player's cards for the entire turn, which means you will see their next hand during Clean-up. You will also see any cards they are entitled to see due to card rules; for example you can look at cards they have set aside with Native Village (from Dominion: Seaside).
- You make all decisions for the Possessed player, including what cards to play, decisions those cards provide, and what cards to buy.
- Any cards the Possessed player would have gained in any way, you gain instead; this includes cards bought, as well as cards gained due to Actions. The cards you gain this way go to your discard pile, even if they would have gone to that player's hand or the top of their deck or somewhere else. You also get any Dominion: Empires). is something from Dominion: Empires; if you do not have those cards, that part of Possession's effects does not matter. tokens that player would have gotten (this is a change from the original version of Possession). You do not get any other tokens that player would have gotten (this is a change from the errata in
- During the Possessed turn, whenever one of that player's cards is trashed, set it aside, and that player puts it into their discard pile at the end of the turn, after Clean-up. The card is still trashed, so for example you could have them trash a Mining Village (from Dominion: Intrigue) and get the +. Getting those cards back at end of turn does not count as those cards being gained (so for example, you will not get them). Other players' cards that are trashed during that turn are not returned.
- Cards passed with Masquerade (from Dominion: Intrigue) are not being gained or trashed. Exchanging a card (such as Soldier from Adventures) does not count as gaining or trashing. Cards returned to the Supply, such as with Ambassador (from Dominion: Seaside) are also not being trashed, and so return to the Supply normally.
- If you make another player play an Attack via Possession, that Attack will hit you like it would normally. If you want to use a Reaction in response to that Attack (such as Moat), you would be the one revealing the Reaction, not the player being Possessed.
- Possession causes an extra turn to be played, like the card Outpost does (from Dominion: Seaside). The extra turn happens only after this turn is completely over - you will have discarded everything and drawn your next hand. Outpost only prevents itself from giving a player two consecutive turns, it does not prevent other cards or the rules from doing so. So for example if you play Possession in a two-player game, then after the Possession turn, that player still gets their normal turn. If they played Outpost during that turn though, it would not give them an extra turn (unless another player took a turn in between, such as via another Possession). If you play both Outpost and Possession in the same turn, the Outpost turn happens first. If you make someone play Outpost during a turn in which you Possessed them, that player will get the extra turn and make decisions during it and so forth, not you; if you make someone play Possession during a turn in which you Possessed them, that will make that player Possess the player to their left, rather than you getting to Possess anyone further. Possession turns (and other extra turns) do not count for the tiebreaker. Once the game ends, no further turns are played, including extra turns from Possession and Outpost.
- Unlike Outpost, Possession is not a Duration card. It is discarded in the Clean-up phase of the turn you played it.
- Possession is cumulative; if you play it twice in one turn, there will be two extra turns after this one.
† The rulebook erroneously refers to the player to your right here.
Other Rules clarifications
- Possession is not an Attack, and cannot be blocked by cards like Moat.
- In a 2-player game, if you make your opponent play Possession during a Possession turn, then you next take an extra turn with your opponent making all decisions, and then finally your opponent takes their normal turn.
- If you play 2 Possessions, then make the Possessed player play Possession during the first Possessed turn, you finish all Possession turns of the current Possessed player before moving on to the next player's Possession turns. Then the first Possessed player finally takes their normal turn. Extra turns happen in turn order.
- Possession does not give control between turns. For example, if you play 2 Possessions, then make the Possessed player play Outpost or buy Mission during the first Possession turn, they decide whether the next turn is the other Possession turn, or the Outpost or Mission turn.
- If you were Possessed before your normal turn, and you play Outpost or buy Mission during your normal turn, you will not take an extra turn.
- Cards that are trashed and set aside during a Possession turn are not in the trash for the rest of the turn. For example, Graverobber can't gain those cards, Necromancer can't play those cards, and Forager doesn't count those cards. If you trash a Fortress during a Possession turn, you choose to either put it into your hand, or to set it aside, at which point it stops moving.
- When they would gain a card, they do not resolve any when-gain abilities; you do. So you cannot make them react with a Sleigh to a gained Horse.
- The Possessed player still resolves any when-buy abilities. So if you make them buy a card with leftover, they take 2 from Basilica.
- There are also cards that check for information about a gained card (such as Sculptor). If these cards don't gain a card, they offer no bonuses. So if you Possess someone and make them Sculpt a Silver, they don't gain a Villager.
Strategy Article
Original article by theory
Another article by shark_bait
Possession is quite possibly the most hated card in the game. This article is divided into three segments: how to play Possession, how to counter Possession, and when to go for Possession.
How to play Possession
In building your own deck, there are a couple tactics you can use to maximize the effect of the Possession. Throne Room and King's Court are absolutely incredible when paired with Possession; it is the only way to get multiple consecutive turns other than Outpost, and even Outpost only gives you a 3-card hand. Drawing the golden hand of KC + KC + Possession + Possession + Possession should basically guarantee you the win, since you have 9 turns in a row to either win on piles or build an insurmountable lead. In addition, multiple Possessed turns eliminates one of the primary counters to Possession, since you can safely play Duration cards and other cards that improve the draw deck.
Governor and Council Room also synergize with Possession. Play your Governors for +Cards, giving your opponent a bigger hand, then Possess it. (As noted below, playing a Possessed Council Room is even better.) Vault works similarly, though a canny Opponent that smells a Possession coming might just discard his good cards. And Golem is a great way to keep playing Possession. Golem’s weakness is that it discards so much of your own deck, but who cares when you’re hardly using it anyway?
Your own attacks tend to anti-synergize with Possession. Curse-giving attacks are always strong, of course, but it somewhat decreases the power of the average Possession turn. (And if your opponent buys them, they’re one of the strongest counters to your Possession.) Handsize reduction attacks are more mixed; usually you wouldn’t want to Militia your opponents and then Possess them, but if you do it consistently enough, you can start to scare your opponents into discarding good cards to the Militia. Spies and Scrying Pools can be useful: keep good stuff on your opponent’s deck if you plan to draw those cards while Possessing them.
When actually Possessing your opponent, you should have two goals in mind: getting the biggest benefit out of the Possessed turn, and crippling your opponent’s future turns. Accomplishing the first goal is relatively easy: play turns like normal, keeping in mind that trash for benefit cards are a godsend. Normally those cards are limited by a desire not to trash expensive cards. But under Possession, when you can trash without consequence, they become impossibly powerful. Apprentice Colonies to draw 11 cards! Remodel a Colony into another Colony for yourself! Salvage Colonies for +! Mine a Platinum into an extra Platinum for yourself! Note that cards that provide benefits to opponents are great as well; courteously allow yourself to draw an extra card from a Possessed Council Room, or discard some cards via the Vault.
Accomplishing the second goal (crippling your opponent’s future turns) is a little more tricky. Be on the lookout for cards that involve choices. Like Lookout, which can be used to rearrange the top of the Possessed player’s deck to be as terrible as possible. After you’re done with Treasuries and Alchemists, decline to return them to the top of the deck. Even better, if your opponent has built a card-drawing engine with Cellar, you can often manipulate his deck by discarding junk cards, then selectively triggering a reshuffle so his draw deck consists of nothing but junk, ensuring several crappy turns.
Also look for cards that can pseudo-trash. Ambassador and Masquerade are most powerful: return two Colonies to the supply with Ambassador and generously help yourself to one to boot. Island, and to a lesser extent cards that Exile, are great as well: maybe his Platinums feel like taking an extended tropical vacation.
How to counter Possession
The converse of the above advice suggests that in order to deal with Possession, you should construct a deck that can gain cards useful to yourself but not your opponent, and you should avoid cards that, if Possessed, will destroy your deck. So no Ambassador, no Masquerade, no Island. Try building Gardens, Vineyard, or Duchy/Duke decks, since your opponent may be unwilling to gain those cards if he is going for Colonies or Provinces.
The most common way to counter Possession, though, is with unconditional attacks. Your Possessing opponent will be unwilling to play Sea Hags, Witches, and Saboteurs against himself. This is especially true with Golem, since your opponent will be hesitant to play your Golems for fear of hurting himself. Attacks that involve choices are less good: Possessed Swindlers are little more than a nuisance, and Possessed Minions will only help him.
Other cards involving choices are also much worse when you get Possessed. Treasuries and Alchemists won’t get returned to the top of your deck. Envoy becomes much better in the Possessor’s hands than your own, especially in 2-player games. Herbalist and Navigator (and Courtyard, to a lesser extent) become massive liabilities, essentially guaranteeing you will have junk on top of your deck after the Possession. Loan, which you might ordinarily decline to play in the late game, becomes every bit as bad as you always feared.
Ill-Gotten Gains is also quite good : when possessed it counts as copper which can gain your opponent a copper (pretty useless).
A special note on Stash: Stashes are particularly vulnerable to Possession because the Stash cards have identifably unique backs. Drawing several of them in hand (possibly from Combo: Chancellor and Stash) is just begging to be Possessed. In addition, if your opponent Possesses your deck on a reshuffle, your Stashes are going to the bottom of the deck.
Durations are tricky. They’re great to have in your hand when being Possessed, since your opponent will be unwilling to improve your future turns. At the same time, playing Durations on the previous turn telegraphs to your opponent that you have a good hand to be Possessed. (For instance, if my opponent was going for Tactician, I would simply Haven my Possession from one to hand to another until she plays Tactician to discard her hand. Then I’ll gladly take the 10-card Tactician hand for myself.)
Finally, try to predict when the Possession is coming. Sometimes you can tell for sure, like when your opponent played a Scout on the previous turn, or you played Cutpurse or Bureaucrat on this turn. Even when you can’t, you can usually have a pretty good guess. Have you not yet seen it on this reshuffle? Is your opponent cackling with delight and a particularly vicious glint in her eye? Maybe you should junk up your next turn. Play the Adventurer even though you already have in hand; leave some Victory cards on your deck with the Spy; use Navigator to discard good cards coming up; move your Stashes elsewhere; don’t put your Alchemists/Treasuries back on the deck.
When to go for Possession
Possession is a ridiculously expensive card—consider that, all else being equal, if you had bought a Silver instead of a Potion, every turn you buy Possession you could have bought a Province instead. Add to that the negative effects of having drawn Potions instead of Silvers, and there are many situations where the best counter to Possession is not to get a Possession.
In the absence of Colonies and/or other worthwhile Potion cards, then I’m unwilling to buy an early Potion just for Possession. But if my opponent builds a deck particularly vulnerable to Possession (e.g., Alchemist/Herbalist, or Ambassador), then in the mid-game I will sneak in a Potion to try to play a Possession right as his engine peaks.
If Colonies are present and/or the board seems to call for me to get Potions anyway, then I will look to get Possessions, partially as a counter against my opponent’s Possessions. Colony games make Duchy/Duke, Gardens, and Vineyards decks (the main counter to Possession) less viable. In addition, Throne Room and King's Court are so incredibly strong with Possession that if I will be buying them anyway, then I will certainly go for Possession. But if my opponent starts to stock up on unconditional attacks or Victory cards, then I will shift to another strategy.
The Mirror
Possession mirror matches are one of the most strange things in all of Dominion. Conventional wisdom is thrown out of the window. So why are people clueless about Possession mirror matches? Instead of building up your deck, you need to build down your deck. That's the big catch-22, you need to build up your deck to get to Possession but at the same time you don't want your opponent to be able to utilize the greater efficiency of your deck. The consequence of this is insanely early greening with subsequent hard stalling. In order to prevent your opponent from mooching using your deck you green before they can with the knowledge that if they continue to build you will just Possess them to get points. Games like this often stall out with Duchies and Estates being grabbed left and right. Assuming that your opponent does build more and you are greening like a Mad Man, you need to ensure that your cycling is still present. Because your opponent will win if you green so hard that you are consistently missing Possession turns.
Conclusion
In summary, Possession is not quite a must-buy card. But more than any other card, its availability considerably warps the strategy of the board. You don’t have to buy Possession, but you do have to plan for its effect.
Synergies/Combos
- Your Throne Rooms / King's Courts
- Opponents’ Ambassadors and Masquerades
- Opponents’ trash-for-benefit cards (Salvager/Apprentice/Remodel/Mine/Bishop)
- Opponents’ Islands
- Opponents’ Stashes
- Opponents' Coin tokens
- Opponents’ cards that involve choices (Envoy, Treasury, Alchemist), including attacks (Minion, Swindler)
- Opponents’ cards that affect the rest of their deck (Lookout, Pearl Diver, Navigator, Courtyard, Herbalist, Loan)
- Both your opponents’ and your own Council Rooms and Governors
- Your Golems
- Opponents’ duration cards (so long as you avoid playing them during the Possession)
- Bandit Camp is good in a Possession mirror (see here)
- Lurker lets you gain Possession quickly and cheaply, without the need for a Potion.
Antisynergies
- Opponents’ unconditional attacks (Sea Hag, Witch, Militia, Saboteur), especially when coupled with Golem or Prince
- Opponents’ junk decks (Gardens, Vineyard, Duchy/Duke)
- Opponents’ Outpost
- The Landmark Baths gives your opponent 2VP each time you possess them (until its pile runs out)
- Possession itself is a good counter to Possession, especially in 2-player games
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
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The player to your left takes an extra turn after this one, in which you can see all cards he can and make all decisions for him. Any cards he would gain on that turn, you gain instead; any cards of his that are trashed are set aside and returned to his discard pile at end of turn. | Alchemy 1st Edition | May 2010 | ||
The player to your left takes an extra turn after this one, in which you can see all cards they can and make all decisions for them. Any cards or | they would gain on that turn, you gain instead; any cards of theirs that are trashed are set aside and put in their discard pile at end of turn.Alchemy 2nd Edition | December 2018 |
Other language versions
Trivia
Possession is the card which has the longest FAQ.
Preview
Secret History
Retrospective (2012)
Retrospective (2017)
Possession is also hated by some people. I like to say, if there were no cards people hated, there would be no cards people loved. But well. You have to consider things case by case anyway. Maybe something is too hated by the people who hate it, or hated too often. Mostly I have not felt like this is the case with Possession - instead again I think the confusion is the big problem. But. I don't have market research really. Maybe it's too hated. It's not like the game has to have that particular concept. If time had permitted I would have tried other big effects for that slot, because it was in fact clear that the card was confusing; time did not permit. A lesson in what to do when people say "we need this fast."
I always think that kids in particular like Possession, but I don't know that they need that particular thing to get that particular joy. Smugglers for example may be doing the trick. They (in my imagination with no market research) want to be rewarded for Mom being better at the game than them; that doesn't require taking a turn with her deck.Donald X. on "fixing" Possession
Why doesn't Possession limit itself?