- 1). Combine Swindler with other cards for a winning strategy, as its offensive capability and coin-giving ability are not enough to make it a focal point in your deck. Because Swindler does not allow you to draw extra cards or play additional Actions, add cards to your deck that have those abilities. For example, Spy, with its +1 Action ability, is an excellent card to play just prior to Swindler. With Spy, you can draw a card, see what card is on the top of your opponent's deck and then decide whether to play Swindler on that card or the unknown next card.
- 2). Use Swindler to replace your opponents' chosen cards with inferior cards or ones that do not fit with their strategies. For example, if your opponent is using a deck cycling strategy that incorporates Village, Festival and Minion, replacing a Village with a Silver reduces his ability to draw additional cards, the core of his strategy. Replacing a Festival with an Upgrade eliminates one extra Action and two coins and forces the player to continue to swap out cards, though Upgrade requires him to change the trashed card for a card, costing one more coin.
- 3). When using Swindler, consider giving opponents Victory cards in place of Action or Treasure cards. If the card your opponent draws because of Swindler is a Festival, which costs five, you can trash it and replace it with a Duchy. While this gives your opponent an additional three Victory points, it also replaces a useful card with a card with no use except at the end of the game, when Victory points are counted. This is best as a mid-game strategy, unless you are significantly ahead in Victory points already.
- 4). Late in the game, use the opposite strategy and play Swindler to take away opponents' Victory point cards for the least useful cost equivalent cards available. Playing Swindler can also hasten the end of the game. Dominion ends when players empty the pile of Provinces or when a certain number (depending on the number of players) of card piles of other kinds are empty. In a two-player game, if two piles are empty and a third is almost empty, swapping your opponent's card for a card in that pile can make the game end faster.
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