Improve

Basic Info

Type: Action
Cost: 3
Effect: +$2 / At the start of clean-up, you may trash an Action card you played this turn, to gain a card costing exactly $1 more than it.

Rating

Renaissance's "clean-up upgrader." Cost 3, +$2 (Silver-grade economy) plus clean-up trash → upgrade. Effectively a Remodel-plus.

Biggest strength: trash while generating +$2. Remodel gives +$0; Improve generates economy. Targets Actions in play, so you upgrade the ones you actually used.

Caveat: only Actions in play (clean-up). Treasures / Victory cards can't be trashed. Actionless turns waste the upgrade.

Overall A tier. Exceptional efficiency at cost 3 — beats Silver.

How to Play

Early: top 3-coin pick alongside Smithy / Cargo Ship / Border Guard.

Mid: upgrade cheap Actions → strong ones (Experiment → Smithy, etc.).

Late: pure +$2 fueling Province buys.

Upgrade Tactics

Chain priorities:

Experiment (3) → Smithy (4).
Smithy (4) → Council Room (5).
Border Guard (2) → Experiment / Silver (3).
Trash Improve itself → cost-4 Action.

Plan the deck around target cards.

Key Combos

Improve + Experiment: Experiment → upgrade to stronger card.

Improve + Chapel: Bulk-thin + selective upgrade.

Improve + Witch: Maintain Witch + Improve economy.

Improve + Inventor: Upgrade what Inventor gained.

Improve + City Gates: +1 hand size.

Improve + Throne Room: TR + Improve = +$4, two upgrades.

Synergies

Action-rich boards: Many upgrade targets.
Chapel: Thin + upgrade.
Workshop / Inventor: Upgrade gained cards.
City Gates Project: +1 hand.
Throne Room: Doubled.
Remodel chain: Multi-stage upgrade.

Counters & Bad Matchups

Pure Big Money: Few Actions to upgrade.
Treasure-focused economy: Treasures can't trash.
Terminal-collision boards: Improve is terminal too.
Quick-finish: No time for upgrades.

Advanced Tips

Timing: trash happens at clean-up, after Action / Buy phases. Only in-play Actions qualify. Treasures / VP excluded.

Upgrade order: cheap → mid → mid → high. End-game shifts to economy.

Multiple copies: 2-3 sustain upgrades every turn; ensure target supply doesn't deplete.

Improve-BM: Improve ×2-3 as Silver-replacement. +$2 economy + occasional Action upgrades.