Patrol

Basic Info

• Type: Action
• Cost: 5
• Effect: +3 Cards. Reveal the top 4 cards of your deck. Put the Victories and Curses into your hand, and the rest back on top in any order.

Rating

Intrigue's big-draw + deck-filter card. +3 Cards (Smithy-grade) plus 4-card reveal that pulls Victories/Curses to hand and reorders the rest. Cost-5 terminal but high efficiency.

Defining trait: "Victories/Curses to hand." Mid-deck Estates/Curses pulled forward (Gardens VP-counting or Curse-trashing). Remaining cards reordered for next-turn prediction.

Tier B to B+. Smithy-tier draw + deck info. BM-strong, engine sub-draw.

How to Play

Early: $5 buy. First Patrol = big draw + info.

Mid: Pull Victories/Curses for filtering.

End: Draw Provinces while pushing weak cards down with reordering.

Deck-Filter Tactics

"4 reveal → Victories/Curses to hand + rest back":

1. Victory to hand: Estate revealed → easy to trash later.
2. Curse to hand: Curse revealed → trash via Chapel.
3. Rest order: Strong on top, weak on bottom.

Key Combos

Patrol + Chapel: Curse-to-hand → Chapel trash.

Patrol + Masquerade: Estate-pass.

Patrol + Market: Universal.

Patrol + Library: Deck info.

Patrol + King's Court (Prosperity): KC + Patrol = +9 Cards + 12 reveal. 1-turn explosion.

Patrol + Throne Room: TR + Patrol = +6 Cards + 8 reveal.

Patrol + Minion: Chain.

Synergies

• Chapel: Curse trashing.
• Masquerade: Estate-pass.
• Market: Universal.
• Library: Deck info.
• King's Court: Triples.
• Throne Room: Doubles.
• Minion: Chain.
• Gardens (Base): Estate use.
• Duke: $5 frequency.
• Courtyard: Topdeck control.

Counters & Bad Matchups

• Already-thin decks: 4-reveal contains no Victories/Curses.
• Heavy terminals: Patrol also terminal.
• Militia hand-strip: Draw matters less.
• Pure BM: Silver more direct.
• Short games: Reveal tactics underused.

Advanced Tips

Order manipulation: Strong cards (Gold / key Actions) on top; weak on bottom. Optimize next hand.

4-reveal memory: Remember reordered cards for shuffle prediction.

KC + Patrol: KC + Patrol = +9 Cards + 12 reveal. Near-total deck info + Victory/Curse pull.

3-pile-out: Patrol 10 + Estate 8 + 1 pile.

Duke strategy: Patrol pulls Estates/Duchies for deck cleanup + VP utilization.

"Patrol vs. Smithy": Smithy = simple +3. Patrol = +3 + filter + VP pull. Cost-1 higher but multi-function.

Patrol's real value = curse-attack counter: On Witch/Torturer boards, Curse-to-hand → Chapel trash. Minimizes deck pollution.

Gardens synergy: Estate-pull for Gardens VP (10 cards = 1 VP) intentional growth.