Disappearing money
Disappearing money is an informal term for non-terminal Action cards that give +
but are stop cards. They resemble most Treasure cards in that they give + and reduce handsize when played, and any number of them can be freely played on a turn; but unlike Treasure cards they can be played from your hand before other Action cards are played, which makes them relevant as payload in certain kinds of engines that do not work well with Treasures.
With sufficient terminal space, terminal Actions that give + (like Guildmaster) can work the same way.
Engines which benefit from disappearing money
- Draw-to-x cards like Library, Cursed Village, Minion
- Tactician which typically prevents you from using Treasures on the turn it is played.
- Menagerie: unlike Treasure, you can have any number of copies of the same disappearing-money Action and play them all before Menagerie to create a hand with no duplicates.
- Engines that draw Actions much more easily than Treasures: Scrying Pool and City Quarter
- Diplomat: reducing your handsize first before playing Diplomat allows you to use Diplomat as a village.
List of cards that can provide disappearing money
No conditions
These are always, or can always be chosen to be played as, disappearing money.
- Dominion: Festival
- Intrigue: Minion, Pawn
- Seaside: Lighthouse, Fishing Village
- Dark Ages: Mystic, Squire
- Cornucopia & Guilds: Candlestick Maker, Courser, Trusty Steed
- Adventures: Treasure Hunter
- Empires: Villa
- Renaissance: Patron
- Menagerie: Coven, Way of the Mule
- Allies: Merchant Camp
- Plunder: Mining Road, Shaman, Taskmaster
- Rising Sun: Kitsune
Oasis and Junk Dealer each draw a card but also remove a card from your hand, so they have the same effect on your hand size as if they were a stop card.
- Dominion: Poacher – Only reduces your handsize if at least one Supply pile is empty.
- Intrigue: Courtier – Needs a card with at 2 or more types in hand to produce both +1 Action and +
. - Intrigue: Ironworks – If gaining an Action-Treasure.
- Prosperity: Clerk – Is only non-terminal if it is in your hand at the start of your turn.
- Seaside: Sailor – disappears from your hand on one turn to provide money on the next turn.
- Dark Ages: Forager – Only provides + if there are any Treasures in the trash.
- Cornucopia & Guilds: Plaza – requires you to discard a Treasure or it doesn't reduce your handsize.
- Nocturne: Conclave – Is terminal unless you can play an Action card that you don't already have a copy of in play.
- Nocturne: The Field's Gift – unreliable because it will only be revealed by a Fate card 1/12 of the time.
- Menagerie: Bounty Hunter – Only provides + if Exiling a card not already in Exile.
- Menagerie: Paddock – Only produces +Actions if there are empty supply piles.
- Menagerie: Scrap – Can provide both +1 Action and +
if trashing a card costing at least 
. - Allies: Courier and Elder – need to play a non-terminal stop card. In the latter case, a cantrip also works.
- Allies: Sycophant – Only provides + if there are any cards in hand to discard.
Gallery
Unconditional
Conditional
Removed
