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How do the +cards work in Dominion? Do you have to draw the card immediately or can you wait?

For example, let's take the Spy cards where it says +1 cards, and then all players must reveal the top card of their deck, you decide whether they discard it or put the card on top of the library.

As of now, I'm doing the latter before the +card label, as it lets me see the card I might draw or not.

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3 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

YES

You must draw right away. Page 6 of the Rulebook:

Common terms used on the Action cards:

"+X Card(s)" – the player immediately draws X number of cards from his Deck. If there are not enough cards in his Deck, he draws as many as he can, shuffles the Discard pile to form a new Deck, and then draws the rest. If he still does not have enough cards left after forming a new Deck, he just draws as many as he can.

You must immediately draw the cards. You cannot wait to draw the cards after you have performed the other phases of your turn, or perform other actions on the card after the "+X Cards" line before drawing the cards.

Also note your specific example is clarified in the rules on page 7 (emphasis mine):

Spy – Spy causes all players, including the one who played it, to reveal the top card of their Deck. Note that you draw your card for playing Spy before any cards are revealed. Anyone who does not have any cards left in their Deck shuffles in order to have something to reveal. Anyone who still has no cards to reveal doesn't reveal one. If players care about the order in which things happen for this, you do yourself first, then each other player in turn order. Revealed cards that aren't discarded are returned to the top of their players' Decks.

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up vote 5 down vote

You do the actions on the card in the order it says. So in the case of a spy, the +1 card comes first, so you draw a card. Then all players reveal their top cards and that part of the Spy is resolved.

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I understand quite correctly the actions resolving, but how is the +cards differ from the +action or +buy, both add to your actions and buys banks, you don't have to do it immediately or at all if you want. Isn't the +card the same, meaning if you want you can just ignore this privilege. – LittleViking26 Jan 29 at 18:50
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@user4837 +action or +buy add to the number of actions and buys you get to perform during the action and buy phases of the turn. +cards means you immediately draw cards. There is no separate card drawing phase of your turn. – ghoppe Jan 29 at 19:06
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@LittleViking26 Another way of saying it: +1 Action/Buy/Card means "you now have one more action/buy/card available in your bank of actions/buys/cards", and your bank of cards is your hand, so you naturally must immediately draw. – Jefromi Jan 29 at 19:41
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@LittleViking26 To word Jefromi's comment another way, you do immediately get another action/buy/card, you just don't have to use it immediately (or even at all). – AlbeyAmakiir Jan 29 at 21:36
"There is no separate card drawing phase of your turn." Actually, there is, but it's the very end of your turn, so moving +Cards to it wouldn't actually make any sense. – Powerlord Feb 1 at 14:42
up vote 3 down vote

The rules claify this in several places.

(page 6) To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand [...] and follows the instructions written on the card from top to bottom.

(page 6) "+X Card(s)" - the player immediately draws X number of cards from his Deck. [...]

(page 7, First Few Turns guide) Spy - Spy causes all players, including the one who played it, to reveal the top card of their Deck. Note that you draw your card for playing Spy befoe any cards are revealed. [...]

Page 7 covers how other '+' cards differ from +Card kingdom cards. Notably, the +Card instructions must be performed immediately, where the other cards bank those additional Actions, Buys, and Coins for use at a later time.

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