Splendor Openings: The First Ten Turns

Splendor has no fixed opening. The cards come out in a new order every game. But strong players treat the first turns the same way: read the setup, pick colors, and buy cards for their bonuses as fast as possible.

Why the opening is about bonuses

Every card you buy is a permanent discount. A zero-point level 1 card bought on turn two saves you a gem on every matching purchase for the rest of the game. Over twenty-odd turns, that adds up to far more than its price.

Points in the opening are expensive by comparison. The level 1 cards worth 1 point cost 4 gems. A zero-point card that costs 3 gives you the same permanent bonus for less. Early on, the bonus is what you are buying.

Read the setup before turn one

Before anyone moves, look at two things.

The nobles. Count how often each color appears on them. If three of five nobles want green, green bonuses pay twice: once as discounts, once as 3 points.

The level 3 row. These cards are where many of your points will come from. Notice which colors they ask for in bulk.

Where the nobles and the level 3 costs overlap, you have your target colors. Two is focused. Three is flexible. Five is no plan at all.

The table will change as cards are bought and replaced, so hold your colors loosely. But start with a direction.

Your first few turns

A clean opening often looks like this:

1. Turn one: take three different gems that line up with a cheap level 1 card in a target color.
2. Turn two or three: buy that card.
3. Repeat: take gems, buy cheap cards, and let each bonus shave the next cost.

Level 1 cards cost 3 to 5 gems. The 3 and 4 gem cards in your colors are the ones to want early.

Three different, or two the same?

Three gems is more than two, so taking three different colors is usually the stronger action. Take two of one color when:

• the card you want needs several of that color, and a third gem would sit unused, or
• that color is running short, and you want it before it is gone.

Remember the rule: two of a color only if at least 4 are in the supply before you take them.

The first free card

Watch for the moment a card costs you nothing because your bonuses cover it. That is the engine paying out. Buying a card for zero pieces is the best tempo in the game: a permanent bonus, and nothing spent.

From then on, look at every level 1 card on the table with the question “what does this cost me now?” rather than “what does it cost?”

Reserving in the opening

Most openings need few reserves. Two good reasons show up early:

• A key card. A level 2 card in your colors that you plan to buy within a few turns, before anyone else can.
• Gold. When the colors you need are short, a Gold is wild, and reserving is the only way to get one.

Think twice before reserving blind from a deck in the opening. You spend a whole turn for one Gold and a card you have not seen.

Do not stockpile

The ten-piece limit sounds generous. Taking three a turn, you reach 10 in four turns. Pieces you are forced to return are part of a turn you wasted. In the opening, aim to spend almost as fast as you take.

A good opening, in numbers

There is no perfect target, and it shifts with player count. As a rough check, after about eight turns a strong opening often has:

• four or five cards, mostly level 1, in your target colors,
• a level 2 card in view that your bonuses nearly cover, and
• a noble you are clearly building toward.

Player-written strategy notes on Board Game Arena put the start of the midgame around the point where players own three or four cards each. If you own no cards by turn five, the opening got away from you. The midgame lesson shows how to catch up.

Our Splendor strategy guide has a sample priority list for opening buys, if you want a second take.