Lurker

Lurker
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Intrigue
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Card text
+1 Action Choose one: Trash an Action card from the Supply, or gain an Action card from the trash.

Lurker is an Action card from the second edition of Intrigue. It's an unorthodox gainer that allows you the choices of either trashing an Action card from the Supply, or gaining one out of the Trash. This means if you can play Lurker twice in one turn, you can have any Action of your choice.

It also can enable interesting combos with cards that have effects when you trash them, such as Cultist.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• The card trashed or gained has to be an Action card, but can have other types too. For example, Lurker can trash Nobles from the Supply and can gain Nobles from the trash.
• When gaining a card with Lurker, put the gained card into your discard pile.

Other Rules clarifications

• Trashing a card from the Supply will activate its when-trash abilities. For example, if you trash a Fortress from the Supply, it will move itself into your hand; if you trash Hunting Grounds from the Supply, you gain a Duchy or 3 Estates.
• Trashing from the Supply does not allow you to react with Market Square, because it isn't one of your cards.
• You can choose the gain-from-trash option even if there are no Actions in the trash at the time; in that case, nothing happens. (Similarly, you can also choose the trash-from-Supply option even in the unlikely event that there are no Actions in the Supply.)
• You can only trash the top card of a Supply pile, which may matter with split piles or Knights.

Strategy

Lurker provides a cheap, non-terminal way to trash Action cards from the Supply and/or gain them from the trash. Although it’s a stop card that usually requires multiple copies and good deck control for effective use, it can be a useful gainer, especially for cards that can rarely be targeted by other gainers; it also interacts helpfully, and sometimes powerfully, with the on-trash effects of other cards.

There are two primary ways to use Lurker as a gainer. One option is to gain Action cards that are already in the Trash: these may include one-shots such as Acting Troupe, cards that you trashed for some benefit, and previous targets of trashing Attacks such as Knights. More commonly, you can gain any Action card with two Lurker plays by first trashing it from the Supply. This is especially worthwhile for expensive Actions (e.g. Grand Market), including those with in their cost (e.g. Golem) and those costing a large amount of debt (e.g. City Quarter); Lurker is unusual among gainers in its ability to target these. Because you typically need to play Lurker twice in the same turn (using multiple copies or a Throne Room variant) to gain one card, Lurker is usually best in engines with strong draw. Otherwise, leaving a desirable card in the Trash until your next turn may be risky, because an opponent can gain it with their own Lurker and thereby reap the benefits of your effort. Occasionally, however, you may be able to calculate that it’s safe to do this if you’re keeping careful track of your own and others’ shuffles. For the same reason, if your opponent gains a Lurker, it is usually important to get at least one of your own in order to avoid granting them easy and exclusive access to strong cards via a single copy which they can play flexibly.

In addition to its use as a gainer, Lurker can sometimes be useful for its trashing effect alone. Notably, in the endgame, Lurker can be a source of very strong pile pressure. For the purposes of a pile-out, its trashing effect is equivalent to an extra gain, and Lurker is often an especially fast way to deplete piles in this manner because it is non-terminal, so cheap itself, and extremely flexible in which piles it can target.

Lurker’s trashing mechanic can also activate helpful on-trash effects when it targets certain cards in the Supply. The most powerful form of this synergy is the monolithic Lurker/Hunting Grounds combo, a very fast rush which involves buying Lurkers and repeatedly playing these to trash Hunting Grounds and gain Duchies followed by Estates; the game ends rapidly with a pile-out on Hunting Grounds, Duchy, and either Lurker or Estate. Other good targets for Lurker trashing include Catacombs, which provides the effect of a non-terminal Workshop variant; Squire, which allows you to gain any Attack (including an expensive one like Familiar or Scrying Pool); and Fortress, which moves directly from the Supply into your hand when you trash it. You can also generate non-terminal draw by trashing Cultist, take the Flag by trashing Flag Bearer, play your Lurker as a cantrip by trashing Rats, or score   with Tomb.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Action Choose one: Trash an Action card from the Supply, or gain an Action card from the trash.	Intrigue 2nd Edition	October 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Chinese	潛伏者 (pron. qiánfú zhě)
Dutch	Voyeur			+1 Actie Kies één van de volgende: vernietig een actiekaart uit de voorraad; of pak een actiekaart uit de stapel "Vernietigde kaarten".	(2016)
French	Rôdeur (lit. prowler)
German	Herumtreiberin (Note: explicitly feminine)			+1 Aktion Wähle eins: Entsorge eine Aktionskarte aus dem Vorrat oder nimm eine Aktionskarte aus dem Müll.	2. Edition (2021)
Japanese	伏兵 (pron. fukuhei, lit. ambush)			+1 アクション 次のうち1つを選ぶ: 「サプライのアクションカード1枚を廃棄する」:「廃棄置き場のアクションカード1枚を獲得する」。
Polish	Intrygant (lit. schemer)				Although Polish version is not released, this name is referred to in Polish Dominion 2E rulebook.
Russian	Притаившийся (pron. pritaivshiysya)			+1 Действие Выберите одно из двух: выкиньте карту Действня из Резерва; или получите карту Действия со Свалки.
Spanish	Acechador			+1 Acción Elige una opción: elimina una carta de Acción del Suministro; o bien gana una carta de Acción de las Eliminadas.	(2016)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

I needed a new , since my new Reaction was going to cost . I also needed an interactive card to replace Tribute. Somehow I hit on this half-Workshop. Trashing from the Supply never worked before (except on Salt the Earth and Gladiator, from around the same time period), but this time it did. The card originally didn't have +1 Action but needed that; one nice thing is, now you can just play two Lurkers to get whatever you want. The player interaction is great. Some people will put good stuff in the trash despite the risk that you'll get to it first; some will refuse, but still get a Lurker to try to leech off of you. Good cards find their way into the trash other ways for you too - Intrigue itself has Swindler, Upgrade, Replace, and Mining Village.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Dominion 2nd Editions

Other comments by Donald X.

For me there are I think 4 pieces to Lurker.

1. Combos. It's in Intrigue so you see those ones more often IRL. Upgrade is a big one; Upgrade Upgrade to Nobles, Lurker the Upgrade. Obv. the combos can be good enough to want Lurker.

2. Pile-emptying.

3. Multiplayer aspects. I mostly play multiplayer and expect that's true for many people IRL. Sometimes someone is going to buy a Lurker and put something good in the trash hoping to get it later, and you want to get in on that. Some games the other players will helplessly put good cards in the trash sometimes, e.g. Upgrade again, only you are taking what they Upgraded too.

4. You can play two Lurkers to gain a thing. This is normally a sucker move but obv. the situation can push it some.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, 2017