Big Money in Dominion: The Deck Every Plan Must Beat

Every strong Dominion player knows a plan so plain it sounds like a joke. Ignore the Kingdom cards. Buy Treasure. Buy Provinces when you can. It is called Big Money, and it beats most first attempts at a clever deck. That is exactly why it matters. It is the yardstick for every other plan in the game.

The buy rules

The Dominion Strategy site’s guide to Big Money gives the rules in three lines:

• $8 or more: buy a Province.
• $6 or $7: buy a Gold.
• $3 to $5: buy a Silver.

It also suggests one refinement: once 5 Provinces are left, buy a Duchy with $5 instead of a Silver. The endgame lesson at Level 2 adds more late-game rules, but you can play a strong game knowing only these.

Why such a plain deck works

Dominion is a race to the Provinces, and Provinces cost $8. Your starting deck has $7 in 10 cards. Each Silver and Gold raises the average money in a hand, so Big Money starts hitting $8 sooner than you would expect.

The same guide reports that plain Big Money averages 4 Provinces by around turn 17, with no attacks. We ran our own simple simulation of the three rules above, and it landed in the same place: a median of 17 turns to the fourth Province.

Now compare a typical first game. A new player buys a different Action card almost every turn, the terminals collide, and by turn 17 they may have one Province or none. Big Money does not need to be brilliant. It just needs to be faster than whatever you built.

Big Money plus one card

The first step past pure money is to add one strong Action card and keep the rest of the plan the same. Players call this “Big Money plus X,” where X is the card.

The classic X is Smithy. Buy one with your first $4, then follow the Big Money rules. The Dominion Strategy guide reports that Smithy Big Money reaches 4 Provinces by about turn 14, three turns faster than money alone. Many money players add a second Smithy once the deck has grown by a shuffle or two, and stop at two. More Smithies collide in the same hand, and since Smithy is terminal, only one gets played.

Other good X cards in the base set:

• Militia: +$2 now, and every opponent’s next hand shrinks to 3 cards.
• Moneylender: trash a Copper for +$3, which thins your deck as you go.
• Library: draws you up to 7 cards, and even more useful when an opponent’s Militia has cut your hand to 3.
• Council Room: +4 Cards and +1 Buy, though each other player draws a card too.
• Witch: +2 Cards, and every opponent gains a Curse. The guide notes that Witch Big Money is not faster at reaching Provinces. It wins anyway, because the Curses make every opponent slower and cost them points.

That last point is worth holding on to. Speed is not the only way to win. An attack can beat a faster deck by slowing it down.

Big Money as a yardstick

The real value of Big Money is as a test. Before you commit to a fancy plan, ask: would this deck beat Big Money plus Smithy in this kingdom?

Three ways to use the yardstick:

1. Solo race. Play a kingdom alone with Big Money plus the best X, and count turns to 4 Provinces. Then play the same kingdom with your clever plan and count again.
2. Mirror test. If a friend is learning too, have one of you play Big Money plus X while the other tries something else. Swap next game.
3. Turn check. In any real game, note the turn of your first Gold and your first Province. If you are well behind the Big Money pace, your deck is not doing enough.

When Big Money loses

Big Money is a floor, not a ceiling. It loses to well-built engines in kingdoms with strong trashing, villages, draw, and +Buy. It loses to steady attacks such as Witch when it has no answer. And in some kingdoms it loses to rushes that end the game on piles before money gets going. Later levels cover each of these.

For now, the rule is simple. If you are not sure what to do with a kingdom, play Big Money plus its best terminal. You will rarely be embarrassed. Our Dominion strategy for beginners article has a handy table of which base cards make the best X.