Junk Dealer (Dark Ages)

Here's a comprehensive strategy guide for Junk Dealer:

Junk Dealer Strategy Guide

Introduction Junk Dealer is a $5 action card from Dark Ages that serves multiple purposes: it's a cantrip (draws 1 card and gives 1 action), provides economy (+$1), and includes a mandatory trash effect. This combination of effects makes it a versatile card that can help streamline your deck while maintaining tempo.

Core Functions

1. Deck Improvement The primary function of Junk Dealer is to help improve your deck quality by removing unwanted cards while maintaining hand flow. Unlike many trashers that are terminal actions (such as Chapel or Steward), Junk Dealer replaces itself with both a card and an action, allowing you to continue playing other actions afterward.

2. Economic Boost The +$1 bonus, while modest, helps offset the cost of trashing and can contribute to reaching important price points, especially in the early game.

3. Action Chain Maintenance As a non-terminal action, Junk Dealer can be played in any position within your action chain without disrupting it, making it highly flexible.

Key Strengths

1. Self-Replacing Trasher
2. Unlike most trashers, Junk Dealer doesn't cost you card flow
3. Maintains action count for your turn

4. Provides immediate economic benefit

5. Flexible Timing

6. Can be played early or late in your turn
7. Works well both early and late game

8. Doesn't require specific hand composition to be useful

9. Multiple Benefits

10. Helps thin deck while providing immediate utility
11. Contributes to economy
12. Maintains hand size

Limitations

1. Mandatory Trash
2. Must trash a card if you have one
3. Can be awkward with good hands

4. May force you to trash cards you'd prefer to keep

5. Single Card Trashing

6. Slower than multi-card trashers like Chapel
7. Takes more time to thin your deck

8. May need multiple copies for faster deck improvement

9. Cost

10. $5 cost can be challenging to reach early
11. Competes with other important $5 cards
12. May delay other strategic purchases

Optimal Usage Strategies

1. Early Game

a) Opening Considerations - Strong opener when $5 is available - Particularly effective with $5/$2 split (buy Junk Dealer and a cheap trasher) - Works well with $3-$4 support cards in second hand

b) Priority Trashing - Focus on Estates first - Then Coppers (unless needed for economy) - Maintain balance between trashing and maintaining buying power

1. Mid Game

a) Deck Development - Continue selective trashing - Begin focusing on building engine components - Use +$1 to reach key price points

b) Multiple Copy Strategy - Consider getting 2-3 copies for consistent trashing - Balance with other deck needs - Watch for diminishing returns

1. Late Game

a) Selective Retention - Be more careful about what you trash - Consider keeping some money cards - May want to stop trashing entirely

b) Victory Card Handling - Can help manage green card dilution - Consider trashing early Estates vs. keeping them - Be cautious with Provinces

Synergies and Combinations

1. Draw Cards
2. Laboratory, Smithy, Council Room
3. Helps find more cards to trash

4. Maintains hand size while trashing

5. Other Trashers

6. Chapel, Steward, Trading Post
7. Accelerates deck thinning

8. Provides different trashing options

9. Action-Heavy Engines

10. Village variants
11. King's Court/Throne Room

12. Benefits from non-terminal nature

13. Treasure-Generating Actions

14. Market
15. Worker's Village

16. Helps maintain buying power while trashing Coppers

17. Trash-for-Benefit Cards

18. Forge
19. Apprentice
20. Salvager
21. Provides targets for upgrading

Counter-Synergies

1. Cursing Attacks
2. Ruins your trashing priority
3. Forces difficult choices between Curses and other cards

4. May need additional trashing support

5. Handsize Attacks

6. Militia, Ghost Ship
7. Reduces trashing options

8. May force suboptimal trashes

9. Card-Dependent Strategies

10. Gardens
11. Silk Road
12. Works against card-count victory conditions

Kingdom Considerations

1. When to Prioritize Junk Dealer

2. No other trashing available

3. Action-heavy kingdoms
4. Need for non-terminal actions
5. Slow kingdoms where deck improvement is key

6. Presence of cards that benefit from thin decks

7. When to Skip Junk Dealer

8. Better trashing available (Chapel, etc.)

9. Rush strategies are viable
10. Limited actions available
11. Need for stronger payload cards

12. Kingdoms favoring big money strategies

13. Number of Copies to Buy

a) One Copy When: - Supporting other trashers - Limited actions available - Mainly need early game improvement

b) Multiple Copies When: - Primary trasher - Action-heavy engine - Need consistent trashing - Can support multiple non-terminals

Timing and Execution

1. Early Turn Play Pros:
2. Sees more cards for trashing
3. Sets up hand for other actions
4. Can inform buying decisions

Cons: - May trash card needed later - Less information about turn potential - Might miss better trashing opportunities

1. Late Turn Play Pros:
2. Better information for trashing decisions
3. Can trash unplayed cards
4. More strategic decision-making

Cons: - Might miss opportunities to use trashed cards - Less flexibility with drawn card - May not maximize +$1 benefit

Specific Card Interactions

1. Positive Interactions

a) Duration Cards - Fishing Village - Wharf - Provides consistent action flow

b) Card Drawing - Library - Hunting Party - Helps find more trash targets

c) Gain-to-Hand Effects - Workshop - Artificer - Provides immediate trash targets

1. Negative Interactions

a) Discard Attacks - Militia - Margrave - Limits trashing options

b) Deck Inspection - Scout - Venture - Can interfere with planned trashing

Advanced Strategies

1. Engine Building
2. Use as supplementary engine component
3. Maintain critical mass of actions

4. Balance trashing with deck functionality

5. Treasure Management

6. Strategic Copper trashing
7. Maintain buying power

8. Consider alternate money sources

9. Victory Card Handling

10. Early vs. late game trashing
11. Province management
12. Duchy decisions

Optimization Tips

1. Tracking
2. Monitor deck composition
3. Count remaining trash targets

4. Track action density

5. Timing

6. Consider turn sequence
7. Plan trashing priority

8. Coordinate with other cards

9. Purchase Planning

10. Balance with other $5 cards
11. Consider kingdom context
12. Plan number of copies

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Over-Trashing
2. Removing too much treasure
3. Weakening buying power

4. Creating too-thin deck

5. Under-Utilizing

6. Not buying enough copies
7. Poor trash targeting

8. Inefficient timing

9. Poor Prioritization

10. Wrong trash order
11. Ignoring better options
12. Mismanaging resources

Sample Game Scenarios

1. Opening $5/$2
2. Buy Junk Dealer
3. Support with cheap trasher

4. Focus on early improvement

5. Mid-Game Engine

6. Multiple Junk Dealers
7. Village support

8. Draw cards

9. Late Game Considerations

10. Selective trashing
11. Victory card management
12. Economy balance

Conclusion

Junk Dealer is a versatile card that provides deck improvement while maintaining game tempo. Its non-terminal nature and multiple benefits make it a valuable addition to many strategies, particularly in engine-building contexts. Success with Junk Dealer requires careful balance of trashing priorities, economic considerations, and strategic timing.

The card's main strengths lie in its ability to improve deck quality without sacrificing turn efficiency, while its limitations center around the mandatory trash effect and relatively slow improvement speed. Understanding these aspects and how they interact with various kingdom cards is key to maximizing Junk Dealer's effectiveness.

When used properly, Junk Dealer can be a powerful tool for deck improvement and engine building, but it requires thoughtful play and careful consideration of kingdom context to reach its full potential.