[Dominion] Advisor Card Guide - Cost 4 Hand Refill with Opponent Choice
Rating of the Guilds card Advisor. Cost 4 Action. +1 Action, reveal top 3, left opponent picks one to discard, take the other 2.
Advisor
Basic Info
- Type: Action
- Cost: 4
- Effect: +1 Action. Reveal the top 3 cards of your deck. The player to your left chooses one of them; discard it. Put the rest into your hand.
Rating
A cantrip-style hand refill at cost 4. +1 Action plus effectively +2 Cards in raw throughput is excellent — but the "left opponent chooses one to discard" downside is severe: they discard whatever you most wanted.
Rating B-. Cost 4 for effective +2 Cards / +1 Action is attractive, but losing whichever card matters most to you is brutal. Compared to Laboratory (cost 5) you save a coin, but lose autonomy.
Useful for early hand turnover but unreliable as an engine core. On boards with strong Villages + terminal draw, Smithy or Lab usually wins the slot.
How to Play
Early game, on a 3-4 split with the 4-coin slot open, Advisor is a candidate. Often Silver or stronger 4-cost cards (Bridge, Remodel, Bank, etc.) take priority.
Mid-game pair with Villages — Advisor's +1 Action means no terminal collisions.
Left opponent picks the card you'd most prefer. Reveal of "Gold / Estate / Copper" → opponent discards Gold. Reveal of "Copper / Copper / Estate" → opponent's choice is meaningless.
Reveal Patterns
- Strong + weak mix: Strong card discarded. Worst case.
- All weak: Opponent's choice irrelevant. Ideal but rare.
- Exactly one strong: Always discarded.
- All strong: Opponent forced to drop only one. Late-engine win.
Key Combos
Advisor + thinning: Chapel / Masquerade thin out garbage so reveals are mostly strong, blunting the downside.
Advisor + Pirate Ship: Disrupt opponent decks while cycling yours.
Advisor + Throne Room: TR + Advisor = +2 Actions, reveal 6, opponent discards 2, take 4 effective.
Advisor + Secret Chamber: Flexibility to discard junk after the reveal.
Advisor + Ambassador: Estate-return + thinning.
Synergies
- Chapel / Masquerade: Thin to lift reveal quality.
- Throne Room: Doubled draw.
- Ambassador (Seaside): Thinning combo.
- Villages: No collisions (Advisor is itself cantrip-action).
- Smithy: Backup draw.
Counters & Bad Matchups
- Unthinned decks: Reveals contain Coppers/Estates → opponent picks the gem.
- 4-player games: 3 opponents see your reveals; the leftmost optimizes.
- Strong Lab boards: Cost-5 cantrip draw outclasses on engine focus.
- Information-leak averse: Reveal also gives opponents info.
Advanced Tips
Track deck contents before firing — a thin deck makes reveals strong; opponent choice loses bite.
Second Advisor: One usually suffices. Two for engines. 3+ excess.
Curse boards: Opponents may discard a Curse from your reveal — looks like a free thin, but doesn't actually trash, just clears top-deck.
Advisor-BM: Silver/Advisor → Silver → Gold → Province. Mediocre BM variant; Smithy-BM is stronger.
Reveal timing: If you must keep an Estate (alt-VP combo) be cautious — order plays to avoid the reveal.