History TabletopGame / Dominion

* TheDeterminator: Certain Reaction cards have the effect of playing ([[CoolOldLady Weaver]]) or salvaging ([[CanineCompanion Faithful Hound]], etc.) themselves upon being discarded. One card, [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter Trail]], can even play itself upon being trashed (though strangely, not the [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Zombies]]).

* CompanyCrossReferences: "Menagerie" is both a card in Dominion: Cornucopia and a later Dominion expansion; "Plunder" is both the most valuable treasure in Dominion: Empires and a later expansion.

* AntiGrinding: Though Victory cards are vital, the more you have, the worse your deck is, but waiting TOO long while building up wealth could mean your opponents walk away with too many of the Provinces for you to turn the tide, even if all your last turns are golden. Subverted with the 'Megaturn' strategy (which requires +Buys, not just cash).

* AllYourColorsCombined: Courtier (Intrigue) reveals a card from your hand, then gives you a variety of effects depending on how many different card types that card has. Typically this would be a multi-colored card, but "Attack" is also a valid type, as are proprietary card groupings (like "Knight," "Loot," et al).
** Maroon (Plunder) trashes a card then draws two for every type on the trashed card.

* Mayincatec: A few cards feature art inspired by these cultures, notably [[CityOfGold Lost City]] (Adventures) and [[ArtifactOfDoom Idol]] (Nocturne).

1. Play an '''A'''ction card.

2. '''B'''uy a card from a stack by playing coin cards

3. '''C'''lean-up: discard all the cards you've played and draw 5 cards for your next turn.

[[http://www.dominion.games/ There is an online version available.]]

** Traveller cards have extremely powerful effects once you reach the end of their chains. However, this requires playing previous cards in the sequence four times in order to upgrade them (and the incremental upgrades may have effects you don't want), meaning it will usually be 6 reshuffles before you can play your Teacher or Champion. If you build your deck in a way that lets you draw and play your Traveller cards frequently, though, they'll beef up your deck's power significantly.

** Lighthouse (Seaside) and Guardian (Nocturne) are a 2-cost Action-Duration and Night-Duration respectively, both of which prevent attacks from landing until your next turn, also providing +1 coin to start your next turn. The Guardian even jumps into your hand upon being gained so you can defend immediately.
** If Young Witch (Cornucopia) is in the supply, she adds an extra low-cost card to the game (for 11 instead of the usual 10) labeled "Bane," which simply means you can use that card like a Moat that blocks only her particular attack.

* TheDeterminator: Certain Reaction cards have the effect of playing (Weaver) or salvaging (Faithful Hound, etc.) themselves upon being discarded. One card, Trail, can even play itself upon being trashed (though strangely, not the Zombies).

* InvincibilityPowerUp: Champion (Adventures), the [[MagikarpPower final evolution]] of Page, once played, renders the player impervious to all attacks akin to a permanent Moat. Moreover, every Action played while she's up results in an extra +1 Action, so you can use terminal Actions with impunity.

** Siren (Plunder) seems like a low-cost alternative to Witch, but upon gaining her, the card trashes itself unless you sacrifice an Action in your hand. Subverted if you use a topdeck function such as those on Tiara (Prosperity) or Insignia (Plunder) to move the Siren to your deck, skipping the part where someone dies.

** [[LandOfTulipsAndWindmills Cornucopia]] primarily focuses on engine building and deck variety; it also adds the Tournament card, with which you can win five unique Prize cards that are extremely powerful.

** Adventures introduces "Event" cards which stay on the table and may be used by any player, and "Reserve" cards, which go on the "Tavern Mat" when played to (typically) be called upon for their secondary use at a later turn.

** Allies introduces [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Allies]], characters off to the side of the supply [[FieldPowerEffect who can offer help (or hindrance)]] at the cost of Favors, a currency obtained through new Liaison-type Actions and Treasures.
** Plunder introduces Traits, modifications to random supply piles that can alter how they're played or gained; Loot, a randomized pile of 7-cost Treasures with a plethora of effects obtained similarly to Boons or Horses; Duration cards that stay in play (usually with no additional effect) until a certain condition is or is not met; and adds more new Events, some involving Loot.

* SwarmOfRats: The Rats card. It can trash your bad cards, but unless you're careful, they'll overrun your deck. This is because when you play one, you must take another Rats, and Rats cannot trash themselves. There are also twice as many of these as normal in the supply.

* WeaponJr: Urchin (Dark Ages) has an attack similar to the Militia's, but instead of discarding down to 3, opponents only discard down to 4. Following up with another attack allows Urchin to grow up into a Mercenary, whose attack does go down to 3.

* AllYourPowersCombined: Forge (Prosperity) trashes any number of cards in your hand, then gains one of a cost equal to the sum of the trashed cards' costs.

* MesACrowd: Way of the Rat (Menagerie) allows any Action card to clone itself instead of doing what it would normally.

** Cornucopia primarily focuses on engine building and deck variety; it also adds the Tournament card, with which you can win five unique Prize cards that are extremely powerful.
** Hinterlands introduces cards that have effects only when they are gained or bought, rather than when they are played during one's turn. The second edition switches gears to being primarily Reaction-based, where a lot of cards can be played upon being discarded (or even trashed!).

** Guilds introduces "Coffers" which are coin tokens that can be used at any time as actual currency, and cards that you can overpay for, granting you certain effects when you do.

* BlackMarket: Black Market is a promo card that effectively acts [[AsymmetricMultiplayer a new game mode]]: it's a 3-cost, 2-coin terminal Action that opens up a pseudo mini-Buy phase within your Action phase in which you may pick one of three random kingdom cards ''not'' in the supply piles.
* {{Brainwashed}}: The power of the Possession card.

* ForgotToPayTheBill: Wine Merchant (Adventures) is a 5-cost Action-Reserve that gives you +4 coins and +1 Buy-- much better than Gold! But, he remains stuck at the Tavern unless you end a turn with 2 coins unspent.

** Leprechaun (Nocturne) gives you both Gold and (unless you manage to make him your 7th card) a Curse.
** Lich (Allies), the bottom of the Wizards split pile, draws a boatload of cards along with +2 Actions, but you lose your next turn (and the effect can stack)-- essentially a reverse [[ExtraTurn Tactician]].

** Intrigue introduces the Harem card: the first card that provides both money and victory points. It also has the Nobles, which is not only a victory/action card, but gives you two different actions to choose from when you play it.

* SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness: Castles (Empires) are sorted in ascending cost from 3 to 10, with a variety of effects in-between and the King's Castle having double [[WhereItAllBegan the same effect]] as the Humble Castle. Other split piles in Empires have some strong card hidden behind a weak or middling one.

* GladiatorGames: Gladiator (Empires) has you pick a card from your hand then challenges the next player to reveal [[MirrorMatch the same]] from their hand; if they cannot, the next Gladiator in the supply will die, and yours is worth $1 extra. Once all the Gladiators are gone, [[MoneyMultiplier Plunder]] (not to be confused with the [[ExpansionPack expansion]] [[PirateEpisode of the same name]]) becomes available.

** The promo card Black Market lets the player buy cards that are not part of the current game's 10-card kingdom. However, it also has the side effect of letting the player play treasure cards during the Action phase-- something they're normally not allowed to do. This makes certain other cards very powerful, and arguably turns the card Tactician[[note]]+5 Cards, +1 Action, +1 Buy next turn, at the expense of discarding your entire hand this turn before the Buy phase[[/note]] into a {{gamebreaker}}.

** [[SlidingScaleOfAnimalCast Menagerie]] introduces the Exile mat and Ways. Cards in Exile still belong to you and are considered part of your deck when scoring, but are kept on their own mat during normal gameplay unless removed. Ways give you an extra option when playing any Action card; instead of following the card's instructions, you may instead follow the instructions on any Way in the kingdom.
** Allies introduces [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Allies]], characters off to the side of the supply who can offer help (or hindrance) at the cost of Favors, a currency obtained through new Liaison-type cards.

** Cards, Events, etc. referencing religion or places of worship (Chapel, Cathedral, Sacrifice, Altar, Bishop, Priest, etc.) all involve trashing in some way, sometimes providing benefits on the side.

** Anything with "goat" in the name is capable of trashing.

** Old Map (Allies) is the topmost card in the "Odysseys" split pile, and can lead players on a [[ExtraTurn Voyage]] to Sunken Treasure and Distant Shores (then [[WhereItAllBegan back to another Old Map]]).

* WhereItAllBegan: Rotating split piles after the bottommost option is available returns them to their starting position; "Odysseys" and to a lesser extent "Forts" and "Clashes" (Allies) depict a variety of locations, resulting in a circular journey.

* AnachronismStew: Despite most expansions depicting a more medieval setting, Empires features a Roman-style empire, which can be crossed over with the Dark Ages, which can be crossed over with the [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]].

** [[TheRenaissance Renaissance]] reintroduced Coffers and introduced a few new concepts: Villagers which allow you to use free actions when you need them most, Artifacts which operate like States but have more positive effects, and Projects which are upgrades that you can purchase which provide a permanent effect throughout the game.

** Old Map (Allies) is the topmost card in the "Odysseys" split pile, and can lead players on a [[ExtraTurn Voyage]] to Sunken Treasure and Distant Shores.

* CommonPlaceRare: The Loot pile in Dominion: Plunder includes many rare and magical artifacts like Spell Scroll and Endless Chalice and moderately prestigious items like Prize Goat or Insignia, but then there's Sword and Shield, objects clearly seen or implied in numerous standard Action cards.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Combining [[MonsterMash Nocturne]] and Plunder can result in a "[[PowerAtAPrice Cursed]] Cursed Village," which will both Curse and [[RandomizedDamageAttack Hex]] players upon obtaining it.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Despite most expansions depicting a more medieval setting, Empires features a Roman-style empire, which can be crossed over with the Dark Ages, which can be crossed over with the Renaissance.

** Menagerie introduces the Exile mat and Ways. Cards in Exile still belong to you and are considered part of your deck when scoring, but are kept on their own mat during normal gameplay unless removed. Ways give you an extra option when playing any Action card; instead of following the card's instructions, you may instead follow the instructions on any Way in the kingdom.

** The Shield (Plunder) is one of the various randomly-obtainable Loot cards. It has the same defensive function as Moat, but is a Treasure worth as much as Gold with a +Buy on top.

* DiminishingReturnsForBalance: Double-playing (such as with Throne Room) any card that "draws up to X" or any attack that forces opponents to "discard down to X" have no further benefit once that number has been reached. (Other effects, such as the +2 coins on Militia, will still work.)

* DiscOneNuke: Trashing a Jeweled Egg (2-cost card from Plunder) will give you a Loot. If you're lucky enough to score the Endless Chalice early on, you will easily overtake the competition.

* JackOfAllTrades: The Jack of all Trades card, of course-- a mid-cost card that gives you numerous small benefits when played.
* MagikarpPower: The Traveler cards from Adventures; initially, they are cheap cards with lackluster effects. Each time you use them, they can become a different, better card at the end of the turn. If you manage to do this four times, they become very powerful.

* MasterOfNone: The Market card. It gives the player +1 to everything-- an extra card, an extra coin, an extra action, and an extra buy. Making full use of all of these is difficult, but at the same time the card is never fully useless.

** Mine, Taxman, etc. trade your existing Treasures up for more valuable ones.

** The Leprechaun (Nocturne) gives you both Gold and (unless you manage to make him your 7th card) a Curse.

** Subverted with Ghost Ship, [[https://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Ghost_Ship#Second_Edition_Removal a card that was so contentious]], [[RetGone it has no modern analogue]].

** Seaside introduces "Duration" cards which do something when played and also do something (perhaps the same thing again, perhaps not) on the player's next turn.
** Alchemy introduces potions, a new standard treasure card. Certain Alchemy cards have costs of X coins + Potion, and several of them have interactions specific to cards with this type of cost.
** Prosperity introduces new money and victory cards worth 5 coins and 10 points, respectively, whereas the base game only goes as high as 3 coins or 6 points.

** Dark Ages introduces Shelters, cards replacing your starting estates which have different effects and cost 1 coin. It also introduces Ruins, crappy Action cards that are handed out by Looter-type cards, usually as an attack.

** Adventures introduces "Event" cards which stay on the table and may be used by any player.
** Empires introduces "Landmark" cards which have a persistent effect on the game (specifically when scoring), and "Debt" that lets you buy cards and pay off the cost later (which you must do before you can buy anything else). It also includes an Event called Dominate, which effectively functions as a ''15''-point Victory card above even the Colony from the Prosperity expansion.
** Nocturne introduces a lot of new features: "Night" cards which operate under different rules compared to other cards and are played in between the Buy and Clean-Up phase, Boons which reward you with positive effects through certain actions that are played, Hexes which cause negative effects, States which are status effects that are given through Hexes, Spirits which are cards that can only be gained through certain means, Heirlooms which replace your starting coppers when a certain Action card is used, and Zombies which are Action cards that start the game in the trash.
** Renaissance reintroduced Coffers and introduced a few new concepts: Villagers which allow you to use free actions when you need them most, Artifacts which operate like States but have more positive effects, and Projects which are upgrades that you can purchase which provide a permanent effect throughout the game.

** Battle Plan (Allies), the topmost card on the "Clashes" split pile, has the unique ability to rotate [i]any[/i] Supply Pile, not just its own, as is the pattern with other Allies split piles. It doesn't specify the "split pile" has to be from Allies-- two-way splits from Empires can have their valuable bottom halves unearthed early, and large stacks like Castles (which are initially sorted by cost), Knights, and Ruins can even have their top cards put to the bottom.
** The Trail, a 4-cost Action-Reaction from Hinterlands Second Edition, has the meager effect of +1 Card and +1 Action, but it can be played upon [b]gaining, discarding, or even trashing it[/b], leading to a variety of game-altering interactions: terminal actions that trash &/or gain cards, when targeting Trail, are no longer terminal. Remodeling the Trail, for instance, could get you Gold, but then the Trail plays, effectively making the previous Action non-terminal, or you could gain another Trail, playing that too (with +2 Actions to spare). Opponent attacks that discard or trash your cards can be countered by having a well-placed Trail, and so on and so forth.

* PowerAtAPrice: "Cursed Gold," Pooka's Heirloom from Nocturne, has the same coin value as Gold but gives you a Curse upon playing it.

** The Shield (Plunder) is one of many randomly-obtainable Loot cards. It has the same defensive function as Moat, but is a Treasure worth as much as Gold with a +Buy on top.

** The Diplomat has the additional effect of +2 Actions that only triggers when your hand contains 5 or fewer cards, but she draws 2 before that check, meaning an average hand of 5 puts you at 6; her Reaction effect allows you to manually lower your hand size if attacked (thus avoiding attacks targeting 5+ card hands). Playing any +1 Action card with a net card draw of 0 or less will make the Diplomat's full effect possible without being attacked.

* DigitalTabletopGameAdaptation: The game was originally available on Board Game Arena, but it was eventually replaced with a [[https://www.dominion.games/ dedicated website]] and a dedicated application. Both are free-to-play -- you have free access to the base game and limited access to the expansions, but you have to pay for accessing the expansions as you please.

* ReimaginingTheArtifact: The Second Edition releases of the Base Set and Intrigue replaced cards that were of inferior quality with better versions of the same card, e.g. Mill replacing Great Hall, Bandit replacing Thief.

** Hinterlands introduces cards that have effects only when they are gained or bought, rather than when they are played during one's turn.

** Empires introduces "Landmark" cards which have a persistent effect on the game, and "Debt" that lets you buy cards and pay off the cost later (which you must do before you can buy anything else). It also includes an Event called Dominate, which effectively functions as a ''15''-point Victory card above even the Colony from the Prosperity expansion.

* GenreLaunch: Of "{{Deckbuilding Game}}s"-- certainly there are many elements of other games in its mechanics, but the specific way Dominion turned the act of deckbuilding into a gameplay focus [[TropeMaker quickly popularized the genre]].

** The promo card Black Market lets the player buy cards that are not part of the current game's 10-card kingdom. However, it also has the side effect of letting the player play treasure cards during the Action phase-- something they're normally not allowed to do. This makes certain other cards very powerful, and arguably turns the card Tactician[[note]]+5 Cards, +1 Action, +1 Buy next turn, at the expense of discarding your entire hand this turn before the Buy phase[[/note] into a {{gamebreaker}}.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: Averted by the way the game is setup-- everyone has access to identical resources from the beginning. There are some cards that invoke this with their effects, however.

** 'Rush' strategies tend to be very monotonous but effective, aiming for a quick three-pile ending before anyone can build up their deck. The UrExample is Workshop-Gardens. Buy or gain a bunch of Workshops, and use them to drain the piles of Gardens, Workshops, and then a third $4-or-less pile (oftentimes Estates). The Workshop and Gardens are interchangeable with other gainers (Ironworks [[note]]It gain more Ironworks without losing Actions[[/note]] and especially Groom [[note]]Gaining a Victory card with Groom is +1 Card, +1 Action, making it possible to play multiple Grooms to gain multiple cheap Victory cards per turn. And gaining another Groom with Groom comes with a Horse.[[/note]] are actually much better) and cheap Victory cards, respectively.

* DefendCommand: The Moat, which lets the player protect themselves from attacks. It's not useless if the player doesn't get attacked either-- it has a weak secondary effect of allowing the player to draw two cards.

* ExpansionPack: Each with a different theme
* ExtraTurn: Several variations--Tactician, Possession, Outpost, and Mission each give you one in different ways. See the trope page.

* GenreLaunch: Of "{{Deckbuilding Game}}s"--certainly there are many elements of other games in its mechanics, but the specific way Dominion turned the act of deckbuilding into a gameplay focus [[TropeMaker quickly popularized the genre]].
* JackOfAllTrades: The Jack of all Trades card of course--a mid-cost card that gives you numerous small benefits when played.
* MagikarpPower: The Traveler cards from Adventures; initally, they are cheap cards with lackluster effects. Each time you use them, they can become a different, better card at the end of the turn. If you manage to do this four times, they become very powerful.

* MasterOfNone: The Market card. It gives the player +1 to everything- an extra card, an extra coin, an extra action, and an extra buy. Making full use of all of these is difficult, but at the same time the card is never fully useless.

** To a lesser extent, the now-defunct Coppersmith card makes Coppers worth an extra $1 apiece[[note]]The effect can stack - e.g. Throne Room on Coppersmith would make Coppers worth $3, and King's Court on Coppersmith would make them worth $4[[/note]].
* NotTheIntendedUse: At first glance, cards such as Chapel that can trash other cards (removing them from the game entirely) look like they were made for getting rid of Curses, but players soon realize that trashing can be used to prune their decks of their rather weak starting cards.

** The promo card Black Market lets the player buy cards that are not part of the current game's 10-card kingdom. However, it also has the side effect of letting the player play treasure cards during the action phase--something they're normally not allowed to do. This makes certain other cards very powerful, and arguably turns the card Tactician into a {{gamebreaker}}.

* ReimaginingTheArtifact: The Second Edition releases of the Base Set and Intrigue replaced cards that were of inferior quality with better versions of the same card. Such as Mill replacing Great Hall, Bandit replacing Thief, etc.

* StatusEffects: Some of the Hexes from Nocturne function as these - Deluded prevents a player from buying any Action cards for one turn. Envious makes Silvers and Golds worth only $1 each for one turn.
* {{Swarm Of Rats}}: The Rats card. It can trash your bad cards, but unless you're careful, they'll overrun your deck. This is because when you play one, you must take another Rats, and Rats cannot trash themselves. There are also twice as many of these as normal in the supply.

* ThreeWishes: The Magic Lamp card is a Treasure that, when trashed [[note]]By having at least 6 cards with exactly 1 copy in player[[/note]], naturally gives three Wish cards[[note]]Which can be exchanged for any card costing up to $6[[/note]].

The game has a (loose) premise; You are a freshly-crowned monarch, leader of a tiny kingdom with a handful of resources. Your parents never made much fuss about expansion, but we wouldn't have a proper game if you felt the same way, or if you were the only upstart monarch.

Dominion is entirely card-based. Compared often to a [[CollectibleCardGame CCG]], each player has a private deck of cards that represent their [[TitleDrop dominion]]--the resources, income, and employees that they have access to. Players expand this dominion by purchasing cards from stacks at the center of the table. But each of these cards is in limited supply, and players with more buying power will obviously get them first.

3. '''C'''lean-up; discard all the cards you've played and draw 5 cards for your next turn.

The game is so popular because despite the simple turn flow, there are numerous things to consider and many card effects to take into account. The most basic considerations are straightforward; victory points are useful at the end of the game, but during play they clog up your hand and deck, reducing your options. Action cards are helpful, but buying power must be purchased too, in the form of coins, and victory points are expensive, so where do you focus your money in each phase of the game?

Another element of this game praised often is the heavy playtesting that has gone into it--every card cost and effect is well thought out and tested, so the game is very finely balanced. And there are well over 200 different cards.

[[http://www.dominion.games There is an online version available.]]

* BribingYourWayToVictory: Averted by the way the game is setup--everyone has access to identical resources from the beginning. There are some cards that invoke this with their effects, however.

** 'Big Money' strategies are based around buying just silver, gold and provinces whenever possible, with maybe an action card or two early and a couple of duchies late if you're feeling fancy. Usually dull to play but, since treasure cards are never dead draws, very consistent, and often difficult for new players to beat.

* DefendCommand: The Moat, which lets the player protect themselves from attacks. It's not useless if the player doesn't get attacked either- it has a weak secondary effect of allowing the player to draw two cards.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Adventures is a sequel of sorts to Seaside, with its focus on Duration cards. Empires is a sequel of sorts to Prosperity, by re-introducing the Victory Point chip mechanic introduced in Prosperity, and introducing more very expensive and powerful cards.

* DifficultButAwesome: 'Engine' strategies, which involve making a carefully balanced deck that ideally draws and plays every card in the deck. Engines start off slowly, but in the late game, they will usually gain multiple Victory cards per turn. In extreme cases, a "Megaturn" engine will gain all its victory points in a single, game-ending turn [[note]]A common way to do this is by combining lots of cards that reduce costs and/or give +Buys, such as Highway or Bridge (Troll).[[/note]]. Engines are the strongest deck archetype; however, it is easy to mess up, and a badly constructed Engine will be beaten by simpler strategies.

* DifficultButAwesome: 'Engine' strategies, which involve making a carefully balanced deck that ideally draws and plays every card in the deck. Engines start off slowly, but in the late game, they will usually gain multiple Victory cards per turn. In extreme cases, a "Megaturn" engine will gain all its victory points in a single, game-ending turn [[note]]A common way to do this is by combining lots of cards that reduce costs and/or give +Buys, such as Highway or Bridge (Troll).[[/note]].