Swindler
(→Other language versions: add missing img) |
UltimateGeek (Talk | contribs) (→Strategy Article: accommodate Prince also 8-cost like Peddler) |
||
Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
It works very poorly with Curse-giving attacks: when the Curses run out, a Swindler that hits a Curse or Copper ends up doing more good than harm. Really, Swindler doesn’t work well with most attacks: {{Card|Ghost Ship}} just lets your opponent choose your Swindler target, and {{Card|Bureaucrat}} -> Swindler can be a guaranteed way to hit a Victory card, which is ordinarily terrible (though it can sometimes be of value in the endgame — see below). Even discard attacks like {{Card|Militia}} are weakened, since forcing your opponent to discard Swindled junk doesn't hurt them much. | It works very poorly with Curse-giving attacks: when the Curses run out, a Swindler that hits a Curse or Copper ends up doing more good than harm. Really, Swindler doesn’t work well with most attacks: {{Card|Ghost Ship}} just lets your opponent choose your Swindler target, and {{Card|Bureaucrat}} -> Swindler can be a guaranteed way to hit a Victory card, which is ordinarily terrible (though it can sometimes be of value in the endgame — see below). Even discard attacks like {{Card|Militia}} are weakened, since forcing your opponent to discard Swindled junk doesn't hurt them much. | ||
− | Swindler interacts with {{Card|Peddler}} in | + | Swindler interacts with {{Card|Peddler}} and {{Card|Prince}} in an odd way. If Peddlers or Princes are still available, acquiring {{Card|Province|Provinces}} carries the risk of them later being trashed into a Peddler or Prince by your opponent. On the other hand, if Peddlers or Princes are emptied, then Swindler becomes a serious liability, since you can accidentally Swindle your opponent's Peddlers or Princes into them! |
− | Likewise, playing Swindler is dangerous if you are trailing in the endgame. If you want the last Province and you already have {{Cost|8}} in your hand, don’t play the Swindler lest you swindle your opponent’s Province … into the last Province. | + | Likewise, playing Swindler is dangerous if you are trailing in the endgame. If you want the last Province and you already have {{Cost|8}} in your hand, don’t play the Swindler lest you swindle your opponent’s Province … into the last Province. But if you’re leading, Swindling Victory cards can be a great way to quickly run the pile down. |
This incidentally suggests that one of the best counters to Swindler is playing for VPs quickly: both because Swindled Provinces help you, and because if Provinces are going to run dry quickly then you want to grab your early share. This is a special case of the more general counter, which is to buy cards that either have no crappy terminals at their cost (i.e., avoid {{Cost|5}}′s, and go for {{Cost|4}}′s when the only {{Cost|4}}′s are {{Card|Caravan}} and {{Card|Conspirator}}), or buy cards that have unique costs (e.g., {{Card|Gold}} and [[Alchemy]] cards). | This incidentally suggests that one of the best counters to Swindler is playing for VPs quickly: both because Swindled Provinces help you, and because if Provinces are going to run dry quickly then you want to grab your early share. This is a special case of the more general counter, which is to buy cards that either have no crappy terminals at their cost (i.e., avoid {{Cost|5}}′s, and go for {{Cost|4}}′s when the only {{Cost|4}}′s are {{Card|Caravan}} and {{Card|Conspirator}}), or buy cards that have unique costs (e.g., {{Card|Gold}} and [[Alchemy]] cards). | ||
Line 51: | Line 51: | ||
* Boards without easy Swindling targets | * Boards without easy Swindling targets | ||
* Alchemy cards (or, in general, unique card costs) | * Alchemy cards (or, in general, unique card costs) | ||
− | * Peddler (sort of) | + | * Peddler/Prince (sort of) |
*{{landmark|Tomb}} gives your opponent {{VP}} every time you play it | *{{landmark|Tomb}} gives your opponent {{VP}} every time you play it | ||
*Your opponent's {{card|Transmogrify}} and other [[remodeler]]s | *Your opponent's {{card|Transmogrify}} and other [[remodeler]]s |
Revision as of 22:26, 5 December 2021
This page is awaiting large-scale edits by the community to meet quality and format standards. The information on this page may be outdated. Join the #wiki-general channel on the Dominion Discord server to participate. |
Swindler | |
---|---|
Info | |
Cost | |
Type(s) | Action - Attack |
Kingdom card? | Yes |
Set | Intrigue |
Illustrator(s) | Alexander Jung |
Card text | |
+ Each other player trashes the top card of their deck and gains a card with the same cost that you choose. |
Swindler is an Action-Attack card from Intrigue. When played, it makes all opponents trash the top card of their deck, and lets you choose what they gain instead. It can be a curser if it hits opponents' -cost cards, but can also help opponents by skipping their Victory cards. It can be a very high-variance card, since if an opponent gets a / opening, Swindler might turn their -cost card into a Duchy! In the late-game, Swindler can accelerate the end of the game by trashing Provinces and replacing them with Provinces from the supply.
Contents |
FAQ
Official FAQ
- When it matters (such as when piles are low), go in turn order, starting with the player to your left.
- Each other player trashes their top card, and gains a replacement you choose with the same cost.
- The card they gain comes from the Supply and goes to their discard pile.
- For example if a player trashed Copper, you might give them Curse, which costs like Copper does.
- You can give a player back another copy of what they lost.
- If the Supply has no cards with the same cost as the trashed card, the player fails to gain a card.
Other Rules clarifications
- When-trashed effects trigger before the player who played Swindler has to choose which card the opponent gains. The opponent is the one who trashes the revealed card and resolves any when-trashed effects.
Strategy Article
Original article by theory
One of the most hated ′s. Swindler is a heavily luck-driven card: there’s a very big difference between discarding an opponent’s Estate and transforming Coppers into Curses. If an opponent opens 5/2 and you turn their first into a Duchy, that may very well decide the game.
Its attack is most powerful in the early game, since you have the best chance of hitting your opponent’s Coppers. Accordingly, it can be a good idea to open with two Swindlers: in exchange for the chance that they’ll be drawn together, I get to launch double the attacks early on, when the attacks are most likely to succeed and when losing Coppers hurts the most.
It works very poorly with Curse-giving attacks: when the Curses run out, a Swindler that hits a Curse or Copper ends up doing more good than harm. Really, Swindler doesn’t work well with most attacks: Ghost Ship just lets your opponent choose your Swindler target, and Bureaucrat -> Swindler can be a guaranteed way to hit a Victory card, which is ordinarily terrible (though it can sometimes be of value in the endgame — see below). Even discard attacks like Militia are weakened, since forcing your opponent to discard Swindled junk doesn't hurt them much.
Swindler interacts with Peddler and Prince in an odd way. If Peddlers or Princes are still available, acquiring Provinces carries the risk of them later being trashed into a Peddler or Prince by your opponent. On the other hand, if Peddlers or Princes are emptied, then Swindler becomes a serious liability, since you can accidentally Swindle your opponent's Peddlers or Princes into them!
Likewise, playing Swindler is dangerous if you are trailing in the endgame. If you want the last Province and you already have in your hand, don’t play the Swindler lest you swindle your opponent’s Province … into the last Province. But if you’re leading, Swindling Victory cards can be a great way to quickly run the pile down.
This incidentally suggests that one of the best counters to Swindler is playing for VPs quickly: both because Swindled Provinces help you, and because if Provinces are going to run dry quickly then you want to grab your early share. This is a special case of the more general counter, which is to buy cards that either have no crappy terminals at their cost (i.e., avoid ′s, and go for ′s when the only ′s are Caravan and Conspirator), or buy cards that have unique costs (e.g., Gold and Alchemy cards).
Synergies/Combos
- Top-deck inspection attacks like Spy or Scrying Pool
- Bad terminal Actions (I once stuffed an opponent with 9 Workshops)
- Cost reducers (Bridge and Highway) allow you to Swindle higher-cost cards into curses.
- Engines built on ′s (e.g., City or Minion engines, since you can just Swindle into Duchies)
- Swindle all your opponents' Duchies into Dukes that will give 0VP without the Duchies.
- In games with Cursed Village each time swindler hits a , you can also Hex your opponent.
Antisynergies
- Curse-giving attacks
- Engines built on ′s or even or cantrip
- Boards without easy Swindling targets
- Alchemy cards (or, in general, unique card costs)
- Peddler/Prince (sort of)
- Tomb gives your opponent every time you play it
- Your opponent's Transmogrify and other remodelers
- Border Village forces you to either swap out your opponent's vanilla village for a cost card or trigger Border Village's on-gain effect and give your opponent a free cost card if you choose to give them their village back.
- Fortress increases your opponent's handsize and gives them free Fortresses or other cards.
Versions
English versions
Digital | Text | Release | Date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
+ Each other player trashes the top card of his deck and gains a card with the same cost that you choose. |
Intrigue 1st Edition | July 2009 | ||
+ Each other player trashes the top card of their deck and gains a card with the same cost that you choose. |
Intrigue 2nd Edition | October 2016 |
Other language versions
Language | Name | Digital | Text | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese | 騙徒 (pron. piàntú) | ||||
Czech | Podvodník | ||||
Dutch | Oplichter | ||||
Finnish | Huijari | ||||
French | Escroc | ||||
German | Trickser (lit. trickster) |
+ Jeder Mitspieler entsorgt die oberste Karte seines Nachziehstapels und nimmt eine Karte, die das gleiche kostet wie die entsorgte Karte, und die du für ihn wählst. |
2. Edition (2021) one or more other versions listed here | ||
Hungarian | Szélhámos | ||||
Italian | Truffatore (lit. con man) | ||||
Japanese | 詐欺師 (pron. sagi-shi) | + 他のプレイヤーは全員、山札の一番上のカードを廃棄し、それと同コストのあなたが選択するカード1枚を獲得する。 |
|||
Korean | 사기꾼 (pron. sagikkun, lit. fraud) | ||||
Norwegian | Bedrager | ||||
Polish | Kanciarz (lit. gyp) |
+ Każdy z pozostałych graczy wyrzuca na śmietnisko wierzchnią kartę ze swojej talii i dodaje wybraną przez ciebe kartę o takim samym koszcie. |
(2016) | ||
Russian | Мошенник (pron. moshyennik) |
+ Каждый другой игрок выкидывает верхнюю карту своей колоды и получает карту такой же стоимости по вашему выбору. |
|||
Spanish | Embaucador (lit. trickster) |
Trivia
Secret History
Donald X.'s opinion