Pathfinding
Pathfinding | |
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Info | |
Cost | |
Type | Event |
Set | Adventures |
Illustrator(s) | Garrett DeChellis |
Event text | |
Move your +1 Card token to an Action Supply pile. (When you play a card from that pile, you first get +1 Card.) |
Pathfinding is an Event from Adventures. It lets the buyer move their +1 Card token, giving them an extra bit of draw from a specific Action card pile.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When you buy this, you move your +1 Card token to any Action Supply pile.
- This token gives you +1 Card whenever you play a card from that pile; see the Tokens section.
Strategy
Increasing the draw on any Action card by one is a powerful move: a stop card becomes draw-neutral, a cantrip becomes a Laboratory, or a Laboratory becomes a double Laboratory. The +Card token from Pathfinding is thus very desirable. Whether you prioritize buying this Event will typically depend mainly on two factors: the presence of a suitable target (including its utility and ease of acquisition), and how expensive and a Buy is in the context of a given game.
Concerning the first factor, the +Card token is best added to a card that you can play often and that is easy to gain in bulk. Typically this means that the card should be non-terminal and inexpensive, so the best target often ends up being a cheap cantrip. For example, a Pathfound Pearl Diver is better than an unenhanced Laboratory at less than half the price. Particularly notable are cards such as Port or Magpie, which are easy to gain in large quantities, and villages such as Worker's Village, which make for an almost complete engine in one card that can easily support multiple terminal payload cards. Occasionally, a Way such as Way of the Pig or Way of the Ox can allow you to effectively use any cheap Action card as a Pathfinding target. Throne Room variants are also exceptionally good targets, because the extra draw increases the likelihood that you have a suitable Action in hand to Throne, and because you multiply the draw effect when using Throne Room chains. Because you want many copies of the Pathfound card and multiple players may agree on the best target, it can sometimes be important to try and win the split of that card in an effort to secure an advantage in draw over your opponents. However, Pathfinding may be less attractive if the Kingdom lacks gainers or sources of +Buy, making it difficult to gain enough copies of the upgraded Action card and therefore to profit from the increased drawing power.
Concerning the second factor, if the Kingdom only lets you score by gaining a maximum of one Province per turn, taking the time to get Pathfinding might cause you to fall too far behind; in other words, Pathfinding can be less desirable if the opportunity cost of skipping an early Province is high and the value of building is low. It is also important to consider how difficult it is to generate to buy Pathfinding. In Kingdoms with strong junkers such as Mountebank, or those in which you rely primarily on cost reduction for payload, Pathfinding may be too difficult to get; on the other hand, effects such as Spices may make it relatively easy to spike .
If Pathfinding is important, the next question to answer is one of timing. Because Pathfinding has a high opportunity cost and provides little benefit if you only have one or two copies of the enhanced card, it’s usually best to build somewhat normally at first, with some additional priority given to gaining a few copies of that card, and then to increase your overall generation or otherwise find a way to spike extra for Pathfinding. On the other hand, because Pathfinding can improve your deck explosively by effectively adding several draw cards at once, it’s usually a good idea to get it earlier rather than later, and you should often make it a priority once you have a few copies of the target card.
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
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Move your +1 Card token to an Action Supply pile (when you play a card from that pile, you first get +1 Card). | Adventures 1st Edition | April 2015 | ||
Move your +1 Card token to an Action Supply pile. (When you play a card from that pile, you first get +1 Card.) | Adventures 2nd Edition | August 2017 |
Other language versions
Trivia
The first edition art for Pathfinding did not completely fill the space provided for it, leaving a black bar on the left side of the card. A fixed version was released shortly after which can be purchased in the BoardGameGeek Store; it is also fixed in the second edition printing.
Secret History