Idol

Idol
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Treasure - Attack - Fate
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Nocturne
Illustrator(s)	Ryan Laukat
Card text
If you have an odd number of Idols in play (counting this), receive a Boon; otherwise, each other player gains a Curse.

Idol is a Treasure-Attack-Fate card from Nocturne. It alternates between giving the player a Boon and Cursing their opponents.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• Idol cares how many Idols you have in play, not how many you have played this turn; some cards can make those numbers different (e.g. Counterfeit from Dark Ages).
• If you have one Idol in play, you receive a Boon, if two, the other players gain a Curse, if three, you receive a Boon, and so on.

Other rules clarifications

• As with all Treasures, you play Idols one at a time.
• If there are no Curses in the Supply, you can't choose to receive a Boon instead.
• Receiving either The Sea's Gift or The Wind's Gift may draw you Actions that you can't play.

Strategy

Idol is a Silver variant that can either give you Boons or act as a Cursing attack. As a payload card, it suffers from two major problems. First, it has a high opportunity cost. Second, its payload often isn’t that efficient relative to that cost: generating isn’t that impressive, the Boons are both not guaranteed to be useful and difficult to plan around given their random nature, and one Curse distributed for every two copies of Idol played on the same turn is demanding in terms of deck control as well as inefficient relative to more powerful junkers such as Old Witch. Idol is typically best when its Cursing is impactful, which can be the case in Kingdoms with no Curse thinning.

If you’re using Idol for its Cursing abilities, you’ll need to have at least two Idols and a way to collide them. Because of the former, this usually occurs in the mid- or late- game when you can afford two cards. To get the latter reliably, you would ideally want good deck control, which typically results from thinning your starting junk. However, the reason that you’re using Idol to attack is probably because that thinning is either absent or restricted (e.g., Moneylender). As such, decks that use Idol often use other methods to achieve collision, including draw cards such as Tragic Hero, sifting such as Warehouse, or (if the cost of acquisition is cheap enough, for example with Artisan) by simply getting more than two Idols.

The order in which you play your Treasures can be important when using Idol due to certain Boons. Generally, you will want to play your Idol first if you want to try and benefit from Boons such as The Earth's Gift, as you would have no Treasures to discard if you play Idol last. One notable exception is The Wind's Gift, which can be very detrimental if you’ve drawn your deck and play your Idol first, as you’ll be forced to discard two cards (possibly Treasures), which could hurt your ability to afford a card this turn.

Because Idol’s bonus effect is dependent on the number of Idols in play, it has an interesting interaction with Treasure-focused Throne Room variants, such as Crown and Counterfeit. If you double-play your first Idol, you’ll still only have one Idol in play, and will receive a Boon twice and distribute no Curses. Double-playing your second Idol, therefore, can be a slightly more effective method of junking your opponent.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		When you play this, if you then have an odd number of Idols in play, receive a Boon; if an even number, each other player gains a Curse.	Nocturne	November 2017
		If you have an odd number of Idols in play (counting this), receive a Boon; otherwise, each other player gains a Curse.	Nocturne (2021 printing)

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Afgodsbeeld
French	Idole
German	Götze			Wenn du diese Karte ausspielst und du eine ungerade Anzahl Götzen im Spiel hast, empfange eine Gabe; wenn du eine gerade Anzahl Götzen im Spiel hast, nimmt jeder Mitspieler einen Fluch.	(2017)
	Götze			Wenn du eine ungerade Anzahl Götzen im Spiel hast, empfange eine Gabe; anderenfalls nimmt jeder Mitspieler einen Fluch.
Japanese	偶像 (pron. gūzō)			場に偶像が奇数枚ある場合、祝福を1つ受ける。偶数枚あろ場合、他のプレイヤーは全員、呪い1枚を獲得する。
Polish	Bożek				(2022)
Russian	Идол (pron. idol)

Trivia

Official card art.

Preview

Idol alternates giving you Boons and Cursing the other players. It's that rare thing, a Cursing attack that doesn't just run out the Curses. Of course some games you get four and are playing them every turn. But not every game.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Nocturne Previews #3: Blessed Village, Idol, Druid

Secret History

I wanted a Treasure that gave Boons, but didn't want to slow the game down too much. So it gives you one every other time, and Curses the other times. It also does the nice trick of being a Cursing attack that doesn't always run out the Curses.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of Dominion: Nocturne

Why doesn't Idol distribute Hexes?

It was an obvious idea, but I didn't want anything making you put out both stacks. So it was always Curse.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.

Retrospective

What I should have done with Idol is not have it give Boons. The basic premise of the card would have still been doable. I am not a fan of adding more words to Idol to deal with how you'd rather save some Boons for later. We may have considered that. We considered stuff; it was clear that some Boons were not great with Idol. One direction is tweaking the Boons, but the Boons could only do so much to deal with this.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.