Chapel

Basic Info

• Type: Action
• Cost: 2
• Effect: Trash up to 4 cards from your hand.

Rating

The single most powerful trasher ever printed in Dominion. Trashing four cards in one play remains unmatched by any later expansion. At cost 2, Chapel can vaporize the opening hand of 3 Coppers + 1 Estate in a single turn, accelerating deck density (the proportion of strong cards: Gold, Witch, Province) faster than any other card.

Standalone, Chapel is among the weakest cards possible — terminal, no draw, no economy, only a trash effect. But long-term it changes the quality of the entire deck. A Chapel deck that gets the trasher used 3-4 times by turn 6 has cleared most starting Coppers and Estates, ensuring stable Silver/Gold/strong-action draws every turn.

Overall S+ tier (top card of Base set, top-5 trasher in all of Dominion). On a Chapel board, not opening with Chapel is essentially never correct.

How to Play

Open with Chapel turn 1 or 2. Spend the remaining 3 or 5 coins on Silver or strong actions. The first time Chapel hits hand (typically turn 3-4), trash 3 Coppers + 1 Estate, or 2 Coppers + 2 Estates. Down from 10 starting cards to 6.

Turn 5-6, ideally Chapel hits again. Trash the remaining Estates and Coppers. Trash Chapel itself in the final round of trashing — once your deck is thin, Chapel becomes dead weight. Aim for a final deck of 4-5 cards: pure Silver/Gold + strong actions.

Mid-late game, with Chapel having served its purpose, it can sit in deck idly or be removed by Apprentice / Remodel / Forge. The cost-2 entry fee means it doesn't waste much economy.

Thinning Math

The 10-card starting deck (7 Copper + 3 Estate) averages ~3.5 coins per hand. Trashing 3 Estates + 3 Coppers via Chapel produces:

• Remaining deck: 4 Coppers + 1 Chapel + bought cards
• New per-turn average: ~2 coins → 3-5 coins (depending on bought cards)
• Probability of hitting 5 coins skyrockets → easy access to Witch, Sentry, Remodel, Market, Council Room

Boards rich in 5-cost cards (Witch, Council Room, Sentry, Market) gain the most from Chapel — strong card density rises directly.

Synergies

• Silver: The post-thinning workhorse. With Coppers gone, Silvers compound average coin count.
• Remodel: Estate → Duchy, Copper → Estate. Ramp Estates that Chapel left behind into VP.
• Throne Room: Throne Room + Chapel = 8 trashes (across two turns due to hand limits). Late-game cleanup.
• Witch: Chapel away your own Curses; opponents can't easily clean theirs. Asymmetric Curse war.
• Council Room / Market / Laboratory: Standard 5-cost engine pieces that thrive in a thinned deck.
• Apprentice (Alchemy): Trash Chapel itself for +2 cards once it's served its purpose.
• Masquerade (Intrigue): Pass Estates to opponents; Chapel handles Coppers. Combined Estate+Copper purge.

Counters & Bad Matchups

• Gardens strategy: Gardens scores +1 per 10 cards. Thinning hurts Gardens — Chapel's priority drops sharply on Gardens boards.
• Faster trashers present: Masquerade, Forager, Lurker, Monastery — sometimes preferred for non-terminal or lower-friction trashing.
• Altar / Trash-for-Benefit boards: Altar combines trash + gain; on those boards Chapel can be lower priority than its TfB siblings.
• No cursers: Without Witch / Mountebank / Sea Hag, the 4-trash capacity is partly redundant. Chapel still excels at thinning starting cards, just less critical.

Advanced Tips

When Chapel hits hand, always trash up to 4 cards on first use. Even if you have a Silver or strong action drawn alongside, trash the Estates/Coppers and keep the strong cards. Empty plays are fine as a fallback.

Standard trash pattern:

• First use (turn 3-4): 3 Estates + 1 Copper, or 3 Coppers + 1 Estate.
• Second use (turn 5-7): Remaining Estates/Coppers, then Chapel itself last.

In engine builds, "what to keep vs trash" defines the deck's direction. Visualize the target shape (Village + draw + key terminal) before committing to each trash decision.