Bridge Troll

Bridge Troll
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action - Attack - Duration
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Adventures
Illustrator(s)	Kurt Miller
Card text
Each other player takes their – token. On this turn and your next turn, cards cost less. Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy.

Bridge Troll is an Action-Attack-Duration card from Adventures. It provides cost reduction payload while also effectively raising costs for your opponents by making them take their – token; it is also a source of +Buy.

FAQ

Official FAQ (2022)

• This gives each other player their – token, which will cause those players to get less the next time they get ; see the Tokens section.
• It also gives you +1 Buy both on the turn you play it and on your next turn, and lowers costs of cards by on both of those turns (but not less than ).
• The cost lowering applies to all cards everywhere, including cards in the Supply, cards in hand, and cards in decks.
• It's cumulative; for example if you play two Bridge Trolls, and on your next turn play another Bridge Troll, then Duchy would cost .

Other rules clarifications

Bridge Troll got errata in 2022 so that its cost-reduction isn't a while-in-play effect.

• If you play this twice with Throne Room, cards cost less both this turn and next turn.

Deprecated official FAQ (2021)

This gives each other player their – token, which will cause those players to get less the next time they get ; see the Tokens section. It also gives you +1 Buy both on the turn you play it and on your next turn. While Bridge Troll is in play, on your turns only, cards cost less, but not less than . This applies to all cards everywhere, including cards in the Supply, cards in hand, and cards in Decks. For example if you have Bridge Troll in play and play Raze, trashing Estate, Estate will only cost , so you will only look at one card rather than two. This is cumulative; if you have two Bridge Trolls in play from last turn and play another Bridge Troll this turn, all cards will cost less this turn (to a minimum of ).

Deprecated rules clarifications (up until 2021)

Bridge Troll's cost reduction, unlike some other cost reducers, is contingent on the Bridge Troll being in the play area. This has several consequences: If you play the same Bridge Troll multiple times on the same turn (e.g., with Throne Room), you don't get costs reduced twice, since only one Bridge Troll is actually in play. If a Bridge Troll is removed from the play area prematurely (e.g., with Bonfire), its cost reduction ends. If you play Bridge Troll under the influence of Enchantress or a Way, you still get the cost reduction in addition to the effects of Enchantress or the Way. However, since the Bridge Troll's next-turn ability is overruled in these cases, it will be discarded from play at the end of the current turn, and so its cost reduction ends then.

Strategy

As a terminal payload card, Bridge Troll offers a powerful combination of cost reduction and +Buy. Like Bridge, this means that Bridge Troll payload scales quadratically, and can enable a megaturn with enough copies and support—with seven or eight copies of Bridge Troll in play (which can be played over two turns), you can buy all eight Provinces at once.

The red player's – token.

Given the potential payoff for playing many copies of Bridge Troll, you’ll often want to build towards the following goals:

1. Having the deck control, draw, and terminal space to support using a terminal stop card as payload. Because a single Bridge Troll is relatively ineffective payload, it can be skippable in Kingdoms lacking these tools, particularly villages. On the other hand, because Bridge Troll is a Duration you only need to spend terminal space and draw on it every other turn. This means that Bridge Troll is easier to support than comparable terminal stop cards such as Bridge, and that with enough deck control you can often put into play twice as many Bridge Trolls as you have terminal space for.
2. Securing a sufficient number of copies of Bridge Troll. Typically, due to its effectiveness as payload, your opponent will contest the pile. Additionally, because of the quadratic scaling, each additional copy of Bridge Troll gives more marginal benefit than the last, and so winning the split can result in a sizable payload advantage.

In practice, because you will usually lack enough copies of Bridge Troll to buy all eight Provinces at once and the process of building will significantly lower piles, you will often want to watch out for a potential pileout. With the Buys and cost reduction from multiple Bridge Trolls, you can often empty one of the cheaper Victory card piles together with two other piles.

Timing your Bridge Troll gains can be somewhat complex. Often, it will not be the first card you buy because other cards that improve your deck control (such as Sanctuary or Sentry) are more useful at that point. Adding your first Bridge Troll shortly thereafter, however, can be useful if the extra Buys and cost reduction let you add extra engine pieces quickly. Once you have at least one Bridge Troll, it’s generally most efficient to ramp up by buying more Bridge Trolls on the same turn that you play the copies you already have: this ensures you use a relatively consistent amount of terminal space, and can build efficiently.

Bridge Troll also has an attack that impedes your opponents’ generation. This is generally neither very strong nor a reason in itself to pursue the use of Bridge Trolls, as its effectiveness is somewhat counteracted by Bridge Troll's own cost reduction effect, but it can occasionally make your opponent miss key price points in the early game. Given that Bridge Troll only offers payload in the form of cost reduction and simultaneously has an attack that reduces generation, it does generally make it more difficult to buy anything that cost reduction doesn’t apply to—this includes Events, Projects, and cards costing like City Quarter.

As a source of cost reduction, Bridge Troll can allow Workshop variants to gain more powerful cards, and anti-synergizes with some trash-for-benefit effects such as Apprentice (by reducing the of their fodder). Additionally, the fact that its cost reduction is applied at the start of your turn can allow you to make use of it in scenarios where this isn't typically possible, e.g. to play stronger cards via Captain.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		Each other player takes his - token. Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy While this is in play, cards cost less on your turns, but not less than .	Adventures	April 2015
		Each other player takes their – token. Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy While this is in play, cards cost less on your turns, but not less than .	Adventures (2016 printing)	August 2017
		Each other player takes their – token. Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy. While you have this in play, cards cost less on your turns.	Simplified/clearer wordings	January 29, 2021
		Each other player takes their – token. On this turn and your next turn, cards cost less. Now and at the start of your next turn: +1 Buy.	Adventures (2022 printing)

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Brugtrol			Iedere andere speler neem zijn --fische. Nu en aan het begin van je volgende beurt: +1 Aanschaf Zolang je deze kaart in het spel hebt, kosten kaarten je in jouw beurt minder, maar nooit minder dan .	(2015) "...kosten kaarten je in jouw beurt minder,…"
Finnish	Siltapeikko
French	Pont aux Trolls (lit. bridge of trolls)
German	Brückentroll			Alle Mitspieler nehmen ihren –-Marker. Jetzt und zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges: +1 Kauf Solange diese Karte im Spiel ist, kostet jede Karte in deinem Zug weniger, allerdings nie weniger als .	(2015)
	Brückentroll			Alle Mitspieler nehmen ihren –-Marker. Jetzt und zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges: +1 Kauf. Solange diese Karte im Spiel ist, kosten alle Karten in deinen Zügen weniger.	(Nachdruck 2021)
	Brückentroll			Jeder Mitspieler nimmt seinen –-Marker. In diesem Zug und in deinem nächsten Zug kosten Karten weniger. Jetzt und zu Beginn deines nächsten Zuges: +1 Kauf.	(Nachdruck 2022)
Japanese	橋の下のトロル (pron. hashi no shita no tororu, lit. troll under the bridge)			他のプレイヤーは全員、自分の-トークンを得る。現在とあなたの次のターンの開始時に、+1 購入。 これが場にある間、あなたのターン中、(サプライ以外も含めた)すべてのカードのコストは下がる (未満にはならない)。
Russian	Тролль под Мостом (pron. troll under the bridge)

Trivia

Official card art.

Bridge Troll was the only Attack before the release of Empires that did not fit into one of the four main categories of Attack cards (handsize attacks, junking attacks, trashing attacks, and deck order attacks).

Secret History

For strumphf's 2022 advent calendar, Donald X. went in-depth on the development of Bridge Troll.

Seaside had an attack that made cards cost more on other players' turns. It died because it would have been the only duration card to go away other than at the end of your own turn. I figured out a fix for it and used it on Lighthouse but the cost increaser had already turned into Cutpurse. So, new duration cards, time to try that concept out again. It was a one-shot, then a non-one-shot, then a non-one-shot that was non-cumulative. It increased costs by and then just . It was getting to be a mess and was still scary. Finally it just cost everyone else via the token, turning into Cutpurse again. Only, it's the Cutpurse that never misses. Increasing costs had a certain charm but man the world does not need to be subjected to it. The upside of the card meanwhile had various forms before settling on Bridge. It's two turns of Bridge, but instead of getting +, you make the others lose . It worked with Thrones originally but it was too much. Kent Bunn insisted this card be called Bridge Troll (it was Highwayman). When I put in the Adventures theme, okay, Bridge Troll it was.

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

Donald X.'s opinion

The attack certainly hurts; you are not looking forward to it when Bridge Trolls are around. It's a Cutpurse that never misses (but isn't cumulative, phew).

The Bridge part is great for lining up multiple Bridge effects. I don't think you see the really big Bridge turn as often, but you get multiples at once more often.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Bridge Troll