I love Dominion Prosperity, and understand all of the cards perfectly except for Peddler. Can anyone explain it to me? For some reason I just can't get it. Thanks!
1 Answer
Peddler is a market without the +Buy.
It would have been an unremarkable card if not for its unique price. The standard price is $8, which is the priciest action in the game, but you never really want to buy it at that cost. The below-the-line part reads:
During your Buy phase, this costs $2 less per Action card you have in play, but not less than $0.
This means that for every action you play in your turn, the price of Peddler goes down by $2 in the Buy phase, so if you played two Villages, for example, you can buy a Peddler for $4, which is a much more reasonable price for it.
Of course the more Actions you play in your turn the better it gets, and the more Buys you have the more free Peddlers you can get - if you play four or more actions, each additional buy is a free Peddler! Also note the phrasing Action card you have *in play*
, which means that a duration card from the previous turn (Caravan, Fishing Village, etc.) also counts as a cost reducer. The self-synergy of Peddler is also pretty nice, since the more Peddlers you have, the more you can play per turn thus lowering the price of Peddlers to buy more.
The icing on the cake is that fact that unlike Bridge, the price only goes down during the Buy phase, so you can Remodel a Peddler into a Province no matter how many actions you already played during your turn, since its price is always $8 during the Action phase.
As always, you can read more in this great Dominion Strategy guide.
-
With respect to the last paragraph: since it's from Prosperity, between Expand, Platinum, and Colony, you often can do way better than Provinces.– CascabelJul 9, 2012 at 6:36
-
@Jefromi Sure, you can Expand it or Forge with Silver into a Colony. I added the Remodel bit to hint about the great trash-for-benefits options available. However the fact it's from Prosperity doesn't mean it will always happen. I played a game recently where Peddler was the only Prosperity card, but with the help of Salvager it became crucial at the end game.– dorshJul 9, 2012 at 7:27
-
1Related to the trash-for-benefit: the 8-cost also has significance when there's a Swindler around. Normally-immune Provinces suddenly become at risk. Of course, if you've bought out all the Peddlers, Swindlers might turn some into Provinces for you!– JohnoJul 9, 2012 at 9:31
-
Note: Peddler costs $8 in the Black Market, unless lower due to Bridge or [that new card that lowers prices by one] Jul 9, 2012 at 12:02
-
1Peddler also works very well in decks with cards with +Actions and +Buys, especially if you have +Card cards in there too. Worker's Village being a card that has all 3. Jul 10, 2012 at 13:52