Chapel, Moat, Bureaucrat, Farming Village, Horse Traders, Spy, Council Room, Festival, Harvest, PrinceDo you open Silver or Horse Traders?Probably horse traders because you want to hit 5 and colliding HT with chapel is just as bad as colliding it with silver
I chose to Prince the Horse Trader, rather than the Farming Village.
I chose to Prince the Horse Trader, rather than the Farming Village.This is definitely the wrong move. Princing a Horse Traders is like playing a Militia on yourself each turn.
Does this seem like a kingdom where Prince is a worthwhile buy?
I would trash down and get festivals,council rooms and golds.
There might be something for princeing a moat but I probably wouldn't do it. 1 horse traders is probably good.
a) Prince is good for decks which need the increased reliability of playing a certain card each turn. Like, making sure you have at least 2 actions available each turn. This kingdom has strong trashing, so you will always draw your deck. Then there is no real need for Prince.
b) Prince can still be good with good targets. Strong draw is usually best, or stuff like Monument to make you gain VP each turn. Here you have Horse Traders, which is a fine card for this deck, but you don't want to play it at the start of your turn; Farming Village, which is just a regular Village here and Princing Villages is never that amazing; Spy, Moat and Bureaucrat, whcih you'd never add to your deck normally; and Chapel, where the only benefit of Princing is that of an expensive non-VP Island.
Is Council: Big Money a viable alternative strategy here? Or would it be effectively destroyed by an opponent playing an engine in this kingdom?
You can play the b-crat pin.
You can play the b-crat pin.
That's hard with Council Room as your primary draw. Plus there's Moat. And it won't work until your opponent has like 5 Provinces.
You can play the b-crat pin.
That's hard with Council Room as your primary draw. Plus there's Moat. And it won't work until your opponent has like 5 Provinces.
Well, it's practically impossible to win with it ever, on any board. But you can play it.
I'd honestly consider a Chapel / Bureaucrat open here?I think it's bad. If they collide, it's slower than buying Silver. If they don't collide, you could draw Bureaucrat first and then you'll have to put a Silver on top when the next hand you want to trash with Chapel. It also increases the chance of chapel missing the shuffle. The only good case is T3 Chapel/T4 Bureaucrat.
Yeah, the Bureaucrat pin is something I have always put in my mind as "something Stef gets to do every once in awhile that looks cool, but is firmly out of my grasp unless it's given to me on a Silver platter." It's a nontrivial attack here I guess, but it seems more trouble than it's worth.
Yeah, the Bureaucrat pin is something I have always put in my mind as "something Stef gets to do every once in awhile that looks cool, but is firmly out of my grasp unless it's given to me on a Silver platter." It's a nontrivial attack here I guess, but it seems more trouble than it's worth.
Has Stef actually done the Bureaucrat pin (and won)? Because if he has, color me surprised. As far as I'm concerned, the Bureaucrat pin with perfect execution loses to BMU.
I remember watching him play a game with Bureaucrat, Masquerade, and maybe a discard attack, that forced his opponent into a two card hand every turn with an Estate on top. I don't think it was a full pin but it was certainly a giant slowdown.
After you have pinned them you can keep on doing it without playing masq. thoughI remember watching him play a game with Bureaucrat, Masquerade, and maybe a discard attack, that forced his opponent into a two card hand every turn with an Estate on top. I don't think it was a full pin but it was certainly a giant slowdown.
Yeah, I also remember something with Masquerade, but then you're pinning your opponent with Masquerade+low hand size, not really with Bureaucrat.
Although now that I searched for it, I found Marin pulling off the real deal with 5 Bureaucrats every turn. Sadly, the log is no longer available, but apparently his opponent's play was clearly suboptimal and it was only thanks to that that he was able to do it.
After you have pinned them you can keep on doing it without playing masq. though
Turn you set up pinAfter you have pinned them you can keep on doing it without playing masq. though
I think you have to think that through again.
Playing five b-crats a turn will keep them at 0.
You just have to not let those silvers get out of hand.