Highway

Highway
Info
Cost
Type(s)	Action
Kingdom card?	Yes
Set	Hinterlands
Illustrator(s)	Eric J Carter
Card text
+1 Card +1 Action This turn, cards cost less.

Highway is an Action card from Hinterlands. It is a cantrip that provides cost reduction. Unlike Bridge, Highway is easy to play in multiples without using up your terminal space; however, Highway doesn't give you the +Buy that's useful to take full advantage of the reduced costs.

FAQ

Official FAQ (2022)

• This makes all cards cheaper (to a minimum of ) for the rest of the turn.
• This applies to cards everywhere – cards in the Supply, cards in hand, cards in Decks, and so on.
• For example if you played Highway, then Develop, trashing a Copper, you could gain an Estate, as Estate would cost while Copper would still cost .
• The bonus is cumulative: if you Throne Room a Highway and play another Highway, all cards cost less (to a minimum of ).

Other rules clarifications

Highway's cost-reduction ability was originally below a dividing line checking to see "while it is in play", but since 2022 it simply counts "this turn" when played.

• If you use Procession on a Highway, costs end up reduced by .
• If you play Highway using a Way other than Way of the Chameleon, or under the influence of Enchantress, you do not get the cost reduction.

Deprecated official FAQ (2016)

This makes all cards cheaper (to a minimum of ) as long as it is in play. This applies to cards everywhere – cards in the Supply, cards in hand, cards in Decks, and so on. For example if you played Highway, then Develop, trashing a Copper, you could gain an Estate, as Estate would cost while Copper would still cost . Using Throne Room on Highway will not make cards cost less, as there is still only one copy of Highway in play. The bonus is cumulative; if you have three Highways in play, all cards cost less (to a minimum of ).

Deprecated rules clarifications (2014 2016 2020)

If you use Procession on a Highway, costs do not end up reduced at all: the Highway is trashed and thus leaves the play area, so the cost-reducing effect is no longer active. (This is not the case for Bridge.) If you play Highway using a Way, or under the influence of Enchantress, you still get the cost reduction as long as the Highway remains in the play area. (This is also not the case for Bridge.)

Strategy

Highway is a peddler variant that gives cost reduction instead of generating . As a peddler variant, Highway is best when you can pair it with strong trashing in order to play multiple copies per turn consistently, and adds potent payload to your deck without requiring much draw.

As cost reduction, Highway is most effective when there are sources of +Buy, or gainers with cost restrictions, e.g. Workshop variants. Compared to other forms of cost reduction such as Bridge, Highway does not necessarily need draw or village support, and your deck can often reliably reduce costs as Highway's cantrip nature makes it very easy to stack the cost reduction effect. This means that a deck built around playing Highways can easily support a few stop cards acting as gainers or +Buy. Without either, Highway is effectively just a Peddler, which is often an inefficient way of adding payload to a deck.

Highway’s cost reduction effect is a while in play effect, which has two important strategic consequences relating to Throne variants and Ways. Highway’s cost reduction effect does not stack when you Throne it, as there is still only one copy of Highway in play, so Throne variants are a slight antisynergy as Throning a good payload card is less potent than usual. Conversely, playing Highway using a Way can give you flexibility and additional value that playing the Highway normally does not, since you still get the cost reduction . As an example, if you’ve drawn your deck, playing your remaining Highways with Way of the Squirrel gives you an increased hand size next turn, while still getting cost reduction this turn.

Highway is a strong card in a deck that can fully utilize it by both finding it reliably and taking advantage of the cost reduction. This typically means that other cards will be more important in the opening for establishing deck control, and that in the mid-game you’ll often prioritize building a functional deck over buying Highway at every opportunity. Since cost reduction only works on cards, if your strategy hinges on an expensive Event or Project, such as Pathfinding or Citadel, it will be important to find additional sources of payload to get you there.

Ultimately, however, winning the Highway split can be important. This is because it’s often the case that you want to get a card of interest down to a particular pricepoint. For example, you need four Highways to be able to gain Province with Groom. In some games it can be tactically wise to deny that same ability to your opponent: if you are able to get seven of the Highways, your opponent will have a maximum of three of them, and will be unable to gain Province with Groom even if they get all their Highways in play.

Notable synergies

• Seaway: With a Highway in play, you can Seaway a Highway. Cost reduction and +Buy combined on a cantrip makes for a very powerful card, as it guarantees you see the two highly synergistic effects together and is even more efficient in terms of draw and terminal space than usual for Highway.

External strategy articles

Note: Article(s) below are by individual authors and may not represent the community's current views on cards, but may provide more in-depth information or give historical perspective. Caveat emptor.

• platykurtic's 2013 article

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		+1 Card +1 Action While this is in play, cards cost less, but not less than .	Hinterlands	October 2011
		+1 Card +1 Action While this is in play, cards cost less, but not less than .	Hinterlands (2016 printing)	December 2016
		+1 Card +1 Action While this is in play, cards cost less.	Hinterlands (2020 printing)	October 2020
		+1 Card +1 Action This turn, cards cost less.	Hinterlands (Second Edition)	July 2022

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Czech	Silnice
Dutch	Hoofdweg (lit. main road)
Finnish	Maantie (lit. road)
French	Route (lit. road)
German	Fernstraße			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Während diese Karte im Spiel ist, kosten alle Karten weniger, aber nie weniger als .	(2019)
	Fernstraße			+1 Karte +1 Aktion Während diese Karte im Spiel ist, kosten alle Karten weniger.
	Fernstraße			+1 Karte +1 Aktion In diesem Zug kosten Karten weniger.	2. Edition (2022)
Italian	Strada Maestra
Japanese	街道 (pron. kaidō)			+1 カードを引く +1 アクション これが場にある間、(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)。
Polish	Gościniec			+1 karta +1 akcja W tej turze karty kosztują o mniej.	(2024)
Russian	Тракт (pron. trakt, lit. well-trodden dirt road)
Spanish	Carretera

Trivia

Official card art.

Theme

As with Bridge, the idea is that improving transportation gets prices down.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Hinterlands Cards, 2011

Secret History

There was a point working on the set when I wanted another that you could chain. It had to be simple and compelling. Bridge and Princess are old news, but Highway plays a lot differently. All those tricks that you come up with for Bridge that you never actually pull off, you can pull off with Highway.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Hinterlands Cards, 2011

Getting rid of "while this is in play"

In general "while this is in play" is leaving for "this turn" abilities. A gradual thing happening across the board, as sets get reprinted. […] This kind of card, in general, you lose the ability to delight in using a Way on, and gain the ability to Throne them.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Dominion Discord, September 17, 2021

This also endlessly confuses players. Who are these players, someone is asking. Man. They're everywhere. Maybe you are in a bubble of rules experts, I dunno; they're really out there. They are surprised when Throne – Goons doesn't work and so on.

The Highway cost-reduction feels just like Bridge's, but there are all these things that are actually different. This really honestly truly confuses people. Part of this for me was that I misphrased Conspirator back when. It cares about cards you played; isn't it simpler to count the cards in play? Then you don't have to remember e.g. that Mining Village that vanished. Peddler does it the correct way. But well. Translating this to doing Highway instead of Bridge just endlessly confused people. I thought it was better for a few years there but eventually I saw the light. Again you may note a lack of such cards in recent expansions.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Why of the Errata, June 30, 2022