Can I begin a turn when there is only 1 card remaining in the player deck? [duplicate]

Question

If my role (let's say the Scientist) has 4 cards of the same color but was not able to get to a research station. And, let's say a different player (the Operations guy) lands on the same city as the Scientist and in his last action he builds a research facility in that city. The Scientist is now in the city with the research facility, but just as it is now the Scientist's turn, there is only 1 card remaining in the player deck.

Did the team run out of time?

Technically, as the player's turn begins with actions, the Scientist can cure the last disease before having to draw the 2 cards which would result in the game ending--except that the cure had been placed on the board ending the game in a win.

So, can a turn begin when there is only 1 card in the player deck, or must there be 2?

Answer 1

The game ends when you have to draw cards and there are not enough.

If, as you are about to draw, there are fewer than 2 cards left in the Player Deck, the game ends and your team has lost! (Do not reshuffle the discards to form a new deck.)

But you perform your actions first:

Each player turn is divided into 3 parts:

1. Do 4 actions.

2. Draw 2 Player cards.

3. Infect cities.

Reference to the rules.

So even if the deck is empty, if you win the game before the draw phase, you win.

Answer 2

You win when you find the fourth cure. You win immediately, regardless of how many cards are left in the deck.

From the rules (emphasis added):

Overview:

The players lose if:

• not enough player cards are left when needed (your team runs out of time).

Draw Cards section:

If, as you are about to draw, there are fewer than 2 cards left in the Player Deck, the game ends and your team has lost! (Do not reshuffle the discards to form a new deck.)

Game End section:

The players win as soon as cures to all 4 diseases are discovered.

Once all diseases are cured, the game ends and players win immediately, no matter how many cubes are on the board.

and again:

There are 3 ways for the game to end and the players to lose:

• if a player cannot draw 2 Player cards after doing his actions.