Hunting Party

Basic Info

• Type: Action
• Cost: 5
• Effect: +1 Card, +1 Action. Reveal your hand. Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal one that isn't a copy of one in your hand. Put it into your hand and discard the rest.

Rating

Among Dominion's strongest cards. Cost-5 cantrip + "guaranteed distinct draw from deck". With deck thinning, exceeds Lab (cost 5, +2/+1) drawing power.

Big strength: deterministic draw. With deck thinned and only 1 Province inside, Hunting Party brings it to hand reliably (assuming no Province in hand). Tournament + Province pairing is iconic.

Weakness: low value when hand has few unique types or deck is duplication-heavy. Early game with 3 Estates in hand, drawing another Estate is wasteful. Thinning unlocks full value.

Overall A-S. Top-tier engine pivot. Cost 5 has stiff competition (Witch, Gold), but on certain boards Hunting Party is top pick.

How to Play

5-coin slot top contender. Multiple buys (3-5) are the premise.

Mid-game: every turn fire Hunting Party to cycle deck fast. Hand-diversity grows.

Province turn: Hunting Party guarantees Province in hand. Tournament pairs especially well.

Hunting Party Engine

The "HP engine" strategy:

1. Thin (Chapel / Masquerade / etc.) to remove duplicates (Coppers / Estates)
2. Buy 3-5 Hunting Parties
3. Each HP draws unique → entire deck comes to hand
4. See whole deck = optimal Province / Gold / key cards
5. Stable; classic Province-rush strategy

Key Combos

Hunting Party + Tournament: guaranteed Province pull → Prize. Strongest combo.

Hunting Party + Gold / Silver: reliably pull treasures to Province line.

Hunting Party + Chapel: thin same-names → HP stable.

Hunting Party + Menagerie: hand-diversity mutual boost.

Hunting Party + Fairgrounds / Horn of Plenty: variety synergy.

Hunting Party + Smithy: Smithy multi-unique to hand, HP extends.

Synergies

• Tournament: Province-pull → Prize, strongest combo.
• Chapel / Masquerade: thin duplicates.
• Menagerie: variety synergy.
• Fairgrounds / Horn of Plenty: variety synergy.
• Gold / Silver: reliable treasure pull.
• Smithy / Library: drawer.
• Throne Room: doubled.
• Great Hall (Intrigue): VP + cantrip.

Counters & Bad Matchups

• Heavy duplicate deck: 5 Coppers in hand causes HP to whiff Copper.
• No thinning: Estates / Coppers throughout.
• Curse-flooded: 5 Curses in hand reduces HP utility.
• Pure BM: simple builds undervalue HP.

Advanced Tips

3-5 Hunting Parties standard. Stacking makes effects compound; entire deck arrives in hand.

Thinning crucial. Chapel-trash all Coppers / Estates → HP 5×, Gold 3-4×, Province → "play all 5 HPs" state ≈ whole deck in hand.

Province turn: hand 6-coin + HP → pull Silver / Gold to 8-coin → Province.

Tournament pairing: keep 1 Province in deck → HP pulls it → Tournament fires for Prize → buy another Province. Loop.

"Horse Cards (Horse Traders + Hunting Party + Tournament)" combo is Cornucopia's signature, paired with Chapel = dominant.

Note: Hunting Party itself counts as same-name. The 2nd HP can't be drawn by the 1st HP if 1st is in hand. HPs draw other distinct cards.