Night Watchman
Night Watchman | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Night |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Nocturne |
Illustrator(s) | Elisa Cella |
Card text | |
Look at the top 5 cards of your deck, discard any number, and put the rest back in any order. This is gained to your hand (instead of your discard pile). |
Night Watchman is a Night card from Nocturne. It's a sifting deck inspector that is gained to your hand for immediate use.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- Since Night is after the Buy phase, normally you can play this the turn you buy it.
Other rules clarifications
- If you gain this card onto your deck with Armory, Artificer, Develop, or Graverobber, it goes to the top of your deck, not into your hand.
Strategy
There is no strategy article for Night Watchman yet. Feel free to add your thoughts below!
Nocturne has a habit of turning classic Actions from the Base set into Night-Duration cards. Village becomes Ghost Town, Laboratory becomes Den of Sin, Workshop becomes Cobbler, Moat becomes Guardian, Throne Room becomes Ghost, and Cellar becomes Night Watchman. What differentiates these Night-Duration from the base actions enough to justify their inclusion in the expansion? In particular, what is special about Night Watchman to justify its rank amoung the -cost cards, while Cellar only costs ?
At first glance, the connection between Cellar and Night Watchman may not be very clear. It may also seem odd that Night Watchman has been grouped with the Night-Duration cards, as it lacks the Duration type. Consider this alternate description of Night Watchman's effect:
That description and Night Watchman's actual text would have almost identical effects, excluding interactions with other cards that alter your hand size at the beginning of your turn (such as Den of Sin or an opponent's Militia). In most cases, the removal of the Duration type is a huge improvement, but more on that later.
The key is that you are sacrificing power on your current turn in order to gain a bonus on your next turn. Having Cellar in your hand of 5 cards will result in a (hopefully) better hand of 4 cards. Meanwhile, having a Night Watchman in your hand leaves you with only your 4 other cards to play on your current turn, but gives you a better hand of 5 (not 4) cards on your next turn. This is a continuation of the guiding principle of Action-Duration cards such as Tactician introduced in Seaside: "It is often better to have one great turn and one bad turn instead of two mediocre turns."
The real power of these Night-Duration cards lies in that seemingly innocent text at the bottom of the card. Most Night-Duration cards are gained to your hand. That can lead to some interesting shenanigans, especially early in the game.
This makes Night Watchman one of the best buys on a normally "unlucky" / opening. On your 1st turn, you can use 3 of your 4 Coppers to buy a Silver (Yes you read that right; just be patient). On your 2nd turn use your 3 Coppers to buy a Night Watchman, gaining it to your hand, and playing it. Your deck is currently empty, so you shuffle your Estate, Silver, and 4 Coppers to form a new deck, then look at the top 5 cards. If the Estate is among them, discard it; otherwise, don't discard anything. Either way, you have guaranteed purchasing power on your 3rd turn, effectively turning your / opening into a //. The best part is that all your gained cards get shuffled into your deck at the end of your 3rd turn, something that normally doesn't happen again until after the 5th turn. Your opponent that got the "lucky" / opening will be so jealous!
Normally Night-Duration cards lose some of their power later in the game, but this does not affect Night Watchman as much because it lacks the actual Duration effect. Even playing Night Watchman on your last turns could make a difference. For instance, you could use Night Watchman to get a Moat into your next hand, which blocks an opponent's Witch, preventing a 3-pile rush ending on the Curse pile, and granting you another turn.
Night Watchman performs the worst when you are able to draw all or most of your deck. In those situations, it may do nothing, or it could trigger an early reshuffle of any junk you discarded that turn. In these cases, look for opportunities to Remodel Night Watchman into something better for the late-game.
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Trivia
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