Dominion Trashing: Why a Smaller Deck Wins

Every Dominion deck starts with 7 Coppers and 3 Estates. In the midgame lesson you saw that you can make a deck better by adding good cards. The other way is to take bad cards out. That is trashing, and in the right kingdom it is the strongest thing you can do.

Why fewer cards is better

Each new card you buy shows up in a hand only as often as the deck cycles. In a 10-card deck, any one card is in a given 5-card hand half the time. In a 20-card deck, a quarter of the time. In a 30-card deck, about one time in six.

So a Gold in a thin deck is worth more than a Gold in a fat one, simply because you draw it more often. The same goes for your best Action card. Trashing Estates removes cards that do nothing. Trashing Coppers removes cards that do very little, and makes room for the cards that do a lot.

The base set’s trashers

Chapel ($2) trashes up to 4 cards from your hand. It is the fastest trasher in the base set by a long way. It gives you nothing else that turn, so a Chapel turn usually buys little or nothing. Chapel cannot trash itself, since it is in play once you play it.

Moneylender ($4) lets you trash a Copper for +$3. You lose a Copper, which would have made $1, and gain $3 this turn: a net gain right now, and a thinner deck later. It handles only Coppers, one at a time, and it is terminal.

Remodel ($4) trashes any card and gains one costing up to $2 more. It removes an Estate and gives you a $4 card back, so it trims and improves in one move. Late in the game it turns Gold into Province.

Sentry ($5) gives +1 Card and +1 Action, then looks at the top 2 cards of your deck. You may trash either or both, discard either or both, and put the rest back in any order. It never costs you an Action, so it fits into any deck.

Mine ($5) trashes a Treasure and gains one costing up to $3 more, into your hand. It upgrades rather than thins: your deck stays the same size.

How a Chapel deck plays

A common Chapel opening is Chapel with Silver on a 4/3. When Chapel comes up on turn 3 or 4, trash Estates first, then Coppers, up to four cards. The turn feels wasted. It is not.

Picture the deck a few shuffles later: a Silver or two, a Gold, a handful of Coppers, and a few strong Action cards. With only 10 or so cards, you see your Gold nearly every other turn. Add a Laboratory or a Market and the deck starts playing almost all of itself.

The risk is trashing too much money too soon. If you trash every Copper before you own Silver or Gold, you will have hands with $2 in them and nothing to buy. A sound habit: keep enough money in the deck to buy your next important card. Trash Estates without worry; trash Coppers once Silver or other money is arriving to replace them.

When to trash, and when not to

Trashing is strongest when:

• The deck has somewhere to go. Good Action cards, +Buy, or draw that a small deck can play every turn.
• The game will run long enough for the thinner deck to pay back the slow turns. Strong trashing makes engines possible, and engines take a few shuffles to build.
• Curses are coming. Trashing gets rid of them too.

Trashing is weaker when:

• Someone is rushing. If an opponent will empty three piles quickly, you may not have time to recover from slow Chapel turns.
• You plan to play money. Big Money with Moneylender works well, but Big Money rarely wants Chapel. A money deck needs its Coppers to hit $8.
• Gardens are in play. Gardens counts every card you own, so trashing shrinks your points.

Trashing and points

One more cost: every Estate you trash is 1 point gone. That is almost always a good trade early, because those Estates would have cost you money in many hands. Late in the game, think twice before trashing a Victory card. And Remodel’s best late trick runs the other way: trashing a Gold to gain a Province adds 6 points.

The habit

When you read a new kingdom, look for the trasher before anything else in the build. If Chapel or Sentry is there, ask whether the rest of the kingdom gives a small deck something to do. If it does, trash early and hard. If it does not, a lighter trasher such as Moneylender or Remodel, or none at all, is the better choice. The engine lesson shows what that small deck can grow into.