Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: sorawotobu on September 09, 2017, 11:22:52 am

Title: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: sorawotobu on September 09, 2017, 11:22:52 am
Lately I keep playing against people who buy Overlord on turn 1 when there are perfectly reasonable cards for them to buy instead and they could just get it on turn 2 (example T1 Overlord, shuffle with 1 D instead of T1 Silver T2 Overlord shuffle with 4D). Is there a reason for this? Have people reached the conclusion that it's better to lower the chance of Overlord missing the shuffle than to (probably) play Overlord and Silver (people do it with actual good cards too) on the first shuffle? Are my opponents just mad?
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: drsteelhammer on September 09, 2017, 11:31:00 am
I'm very confident that a turn 2 Overlord is miles better than getting it on turn 1.

In fact I'm so commited to that I opened -/Overlord once with a 2/5, that wasn't my brightest moment. So I can see the Overlord being ok on a 2/5 where you wouldn't want a to anyways. On 3/4 or 4/3 I assume that most of the time there will be a helpful card to purchase on turn1 that delays the overlord to turn2.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: dedicateddan on September 09, 2017, 11:35:15 am
Are my opponents just mad?

Yes
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: crj on September 09, 2017, 01:18:38 pm
In general, the answer seems obvious to me: it's better to have a $3/$4 card now than $3/$4 to spend later. If it's not, I'd question your choice of $3/$4 card.

The extra card reduces your chance of a turn 3 Overlord from 45% to 41% and turn 3/4 from 91% to 83%, but that's probably a price worth paying.

Note that gaining a cantrip on turn 1 has no detrimental effect whatever on how soon you might draw Overlord.

Gaining a Cellar, Guide or similar on turn 1 would be an utter no-brainer.

The big reason I can see to buy Overlord on turn 1 is what you're intending to use Overlord as. You might want to be out of debt before you play it, if you're going to play it as something that helps your purchasing.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: sorawotobu on September 09, 2017, 01:47:20 pm
In fact I'm so commited to that I opened -/Overlord once with a 2/5

Which card on the board made you choose to open with Overlord instead of one of the 5s? Trading Post? It has to be something that's good early and then gets really bad really quickly, right? If you want to play it as a 5 that's good in the long run, you'd rather buy that directly and not have 3D (if you realize you only have to take 1D it's close). Flexibility likely doesn't matter when your deck is just starting cards +Overlord, in the early game you'll be playing it as the same thing a bunch of times.

Are my opponents just mad?

Yes
I just needed the confirmation because (somewhat) highly rated players keep doing it and I wanted make sure I'm not the idiot here.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: Limetime on September 09, 2017, 01:50:35 pm
Your opponents are probably wrong. However, buying overlord turn 1 does give you a better shot at hitting 5 on the next shuffle(i think) and also lowers the probability of your overlord missing.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: Beyond Awesome on September 09, 2017, 01:54:11 pm
If you don't want silver, opening Overlord sounds reasonable. It's very close to opening 5/2, but with more flexibility of what your $5 cost is.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: ackmondual on September 11, 2017, 03:46:02 am
I'm very confident that a turn 2 Overlord is miles better than getting it on turn 1.

In fact I'm so commited to that I opened -/Overlord once with a 2/5, that wasn't my brightest moment. So I can see the Overlord being ok on a 2/5 where you wouldn't want a to anyways. On 3/4 or 4/3 I assume that most of the time there will be a helpful card to purchase on turn1 that delays the overlord to turn2.

Unless there was something that you needed to buy during the 2nd shuffle-through that was time sensitive (e.g. a specific Knight, or Castle), I prefer buying Overlord on turn 2 as well.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: DG on September 11, 2017, 09:19:41 am
If you are going to use your overlord as a trading post, say, then you might be better going into turn 3 without a silver and with less debt. This might be a generalized as a start that puts control ahead of economy. In this case the trading post will provide enough economy and with better deck control it will provide better results.

There are probably a number of unique cards that will offer different opportunities on turn 1. The one that comes to mind is traveling fair.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: allanfieldhouse on September 11, 2017, 10:42:10 am
Quote from: Everyone So Far
Yeah, buy Overlord turn 2.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: Dingan on September 14, 2017, 02:43:50 pm
Traveling Fair
Baker Token / another debt card
Baths (though still questionable)
etc.
Title: Re: Turn 1 Overlord
Post by: drsteelhammer on September 14, 2017, 04:07:22 pm
In fact I'm so commited to that I opened -/Overlord once with a 2/5

Which card on the board made you choose to open with Overlord instead of one of the 5s? Trading Post? It has to be something that's good early and then gets really bad really quickly, right? If you want to play it as a 5 that's good in the long run, you'd rather buy that directly and not have 3D (if you realize you only have to take 1D it's close). Flexibility likely doesn't matter when your deck is just starting cards +Overlord, in the early game you'll be playing it as the same thing a bunch of times.

I don't quite remember, but it might have been trading post or maybe count. Clearly my mind wasn't quite there actually thinking it through (or I would've paid of 2 debt on the first turn)