Market

Merchants allow you to exchange for cards of their factions in your Market.

The Market is a zone mechanic and its associated keyword, similar to the sideboard used in some card games. Cards in the Market are not drawn normally, instead they are retrieved by certain cards or playable under specific conditions, giving added flexibility in deckbuilding. Players cannot see their opponent's Market, except through specific cards' abilities.

The Market first appeared in The Fall of Argenport with the original Merchants.

The Market Zone

The Market icon appears near your deck. Interact with it to see your Market's cards.

The Market is a zone, separate from your deck, hand and void, with cards assigned to it beforehand during deck contruction. Cards and abilities that would affect other zones (such as WarcryWarcry:
When this attacks, the top unit or weapon of your deck gets +1/+1.) do not affect cards in the Market.

Cards which enter the Market during gameplay remain there until interacted with, or until the game ends. If a temporary card (such as a copy from Bore's effect) is added to your Market, it will remain there (even if it was supposed to be discarded).

Interacting with the Market

There are several ways to use your Market, and a few cards which interact with the opponent's Market.

Merchants and Smugglers

Playing a Merchant prompts you to choose the cards to swap.

Merchants are able to retrieve cards from the Market. Each Merchant has a SummonSummon:
Does something when played. ability which allows you to swap one card from your hand with any card in your Market that shares a faction with the Merchant.

The five original single-faction Merchants were released in The Fall of Argenport. Defiance introduced Smugglers, five new 2-faction Merchants which may each swap for a greater variety of cards, but require a Black Market with deckbuilding restrictions. Smugglers for the remaining 2-faction alliances were released in Dark Frontier.

Find all the Merchant cards in Category:Merchant.

Bargain

Bargain lets you play cards directly from the Market under certain conditions.

Cards with the BargainBargain:
Can be played from your Market if you met its requirement this turn. Bargain cards can be in your deck and market at the same time. keyword list a triggering condition, which if met lets the card be played directly from the Market.

The Flame of Xulta introduced Bargain in a cycle of five single-faction cards with conditions tied to specific unit types.

Other Market Interactions

Homecoming introduced the first non-Merchant that could interact with the Market: Ponysnatcher, which [[steal|steals]]Steal:
Taking an enemy card is stealing. Stealing a card removes its influence requirements. random cards from the enemy Market.

Dark Frontier added more "Market hate" cards: Embargo Officer stops interaction with Markets, while Incendiary Slagmite and Bam, Sneakeepeekee were the first cards which let a player see their opponent's Market.

Building a Market

Cards added to the Market appear in its tab and show the Market icon above them.

Each deck's initial Market cards are assigned during deck construction. Market slots aren't visible until a Merchant or a card with Bargain is added to the deck. The Market appears as a separate tab in the standard deckbuilder layout, and the collection area displays the Market icon above any cards already in the Market. Market cards appear at the end of the decklist in the advanced deckbuilder view.

Up to five cards may be added to the Market, with only a single copy of any given card. At most four copies of any non-Sigil card can be added between the Market and the main deck. Markets in limited formats, such as Leagues' sealed decks or Draft, may only use cards from the limited card pool. Note that Merchants do not appear in Forge mode.

The Black Market

Smugglers deal exclusively in goods from outside of the law (and your starting deck).

Smugglers require using a "Black Market", placing additional restrictions on how the Market is built. Cards in Black Markets cannot have any copies in the main deck. When a Smuggler is added to your deck, your Market must be a Black Market for the deck to be valid.

The single-faction Merchants can still interact with cards in a Black Market, so using Merchants and Smugglers together is fine.

Notes

Cards added to your hand from your Market, like those swapped by Merchants, count as being drawn. They will trigger effects such as FateFate:
Does something when drawn., EchoEcho:
Get an additional copy when drawn. and InspireInspire:
Does something to units you draw..

Power cards in the Market count as the factions of the influence they create.

Multi-faction cards can be swapped by any Merchant of any of their factions.

The Market was first revealed in its Fall of Argenport mechanic spoiler article by DWD.