Alley

Basic Info

• Type: Action-Shadow
• Cost: 4
• Effect: +1 Card. +1 Action. Discard a card. You can play this from your deck as if in your hand.

Rating

A Cellar-like discard cantrip with Shadow. Cost 4 cantrip + selective discard plus deck-top playability. Strong with discard-synergy cards (Vault, Cemetery, etc).

Overall B tier. A on discard-synergy boards.

How to Play

Early: 4-coin pickup. Discard Estate to dig for what you want.

Mid-game: engine cornerstone. Shadow lets it play from deck top, no action drain.

End-game: discard junk to enable Province coin.

Key Combos

Alley + Cellar: Discard interaction.

Alley + Cemetery (Dark Ages): Recycle discarded Estates.

Alley + other Shadow: Chain plays without action consumption.

Synergies

• Cellar: Discard synergy.
• Cemetery / Necromancer: Discard recovery.
• Other Shadow actions: Chains.

Counters & Bad Matchups

• No discard targets: Thinned decks waste it.
• Pure BM: Shadow and discard synergy idle.

Advanced Tips

Alley's "discard Estate to dig" is the core trick. Shadow lets even deck-top Alleys discard.