Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: William Howard Taft on March 20, 2018, 03:56:02 pm
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Under what circumstances is it a good idea to buy a Curse for Ambassador?
I've never tried it IRL, mostly because when Ambassador is on the board I'm already too busy fending off/passing out other junk, but it's fun against Lord Rattington. I opened Double Ambassador and quickly found myself with a super thin deck consisting of nothing else besides some Villages and a couple Pawns, so I bought a Curse with the extra Buy and spent a few turns double-cursing him.
It's a fun way to inject cursing into a game that wouldn't otherwise have it, but it seems like it might often be a waste of time against an actual human. Does anyone have any examples of games where it was a good move?
When else is it a good idea to buy a Curse?
New players always laugh when I tell them a Curse costs $0 and they're free to buy them whenever they please, but there are circumstances where it's the best move. I'm sure I'm missing some, but off the top of my head:
- End with a three pile when you're ahead
- Fairgrounds
- Museum if you really need 1 extra VP
- Watchtower them straight into the trash for Goons or to defang your opponent's curser
- Force your opponents to gain it with Messenger (probably helps if you have a Watchtower)
Am I missing any? When do you buy Curses?
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Re: Ambassador/Curse, it feels like a "win-more" situation to me, but I suppose there's an edge-case for everything.
As for other Curse-buying: There's Defiled Shrine (fairly common); and maybe you could contrive a scenario for buying the last curse to deny your opponent Ritual points.
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I would say that I buy Curse in the majority of games where I buy Ambassador.
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You buy the curse when you are already winning, to cement your lead.
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I would say that I buy Curse in the majority of games where I buy Ambassador.
I wouldn't say that, but I would say that I buy Curse in the majority of games where I buy Ambassador that I win.
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More specifically, you should buy the Curse when you're drawing your whole deck and your opponent isn't. You'll probably win in this situation anyway, but as others have said, it's to cement your lead. You have to make sure you always collide the Ambassador with the Curse, so you should never buy it before you're drawing everything.
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I don't think it is an automatic thing to do and I've seen people buy the curse instead of an engine card then find it's taking them much longer to build their engine (carrying the ambassador and the curse).
Some pointers when to do it
- giving an opponent copper is not a penalty as each coin is valuable
- you have plenty of draw, actions, and buys in your deck
- you have two ambassadors and can play them each turn
Some pointers not to do it
- opponents can can trash curses out just as easily as copper
- an opponent can get a three pile with a lead
- it bites into your deck development while your opponent is taking a majority of provinces
- you can send another card like a potion which is still bad for your opponent.
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Ambassador presents the threat of giving out ten curses. If my opponent falls behind or greens to early, buying a curse is an effective way to punish the stumble.
In close games, buying a curse is usually hurts you more than your opponent.
It's one of those things where the threat of incoming curses makes you play differently. And if your deck is strong enough, your opponent won't buy a curse. So even though the curse isn't bought most games, the threat of a curse being bought changes the dynamics of the game.
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Under what circumstances is it a good idea to buy a Curse for Ambassador?
I've never tried it IRL, mostly because when Ambassador is on the board I'm already too busy fending off/passing out other junk, but it's fun against Lord Rattington. I opened Double Ambassador and quickly found myself with a super thin deck consisting of nothing else besides some Villages and a couple Pawns, so I bought a Curse with the extra Buy and spent a few turns double-cursing him.
It's a fun way to inject cursing into a game that wouldn't otherwise have it, but it seems like it might often be a waste of time against an actual human. Does anyone have any examples of games where it was a good move?
When else is it a good idea to buy a Curse?
New players always laugh when I tell them a Curse costs $0 and they're free to buy them whenever they please, but there are circumstances where it's the best move. I'm sure I'm missing some, but off the top of my head:
- End with a three pile when you're ahead
- Fairgrounds
- Museum if you really need 1 extra VP
- Watchtower them straight into the trash for Goons or to defang your opponent's curser
- Force your opponents to gain it with Messenger (probably helps if you have a Watchtower)
Am I missing any? When do you buy Curses?
[Warning: Shameless self-promotion ahead:]
This thread 5 years ago was my first post in this forum:http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8215.msg245764 (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=8215.msg245764)
It doubtless needs some updating but it should be a good starting place.
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Under what circumstances is it a good idea to buy a Curse for Ambassador?
I've never tried it IRL, mostly because when Ambassador is on the board I'm already too busy fending off/passing out other junk, but it's fun against Lord Rattington. I opened Double Ambassador and quickly found myself with a super thin deck consisting of nothing else besides some Villages and a couple Pawns, so I bought a Curse with the extra Buy and spent a few turns double-cursing him.
It's a fun way to inject cursing into a game that wouldn't otherwise have it, but it seems like it might often be a waste of time against an actual human. Does anyone have any examples of games where it was a good move?
When else is it a good idea to buy a Curse?
New players always laugh when I tell them a Curse costs $0 and they're free to buy them whenever they please, but there are circumstances where it's the best move. I'm sure I'm missing some, but off the top of my head:
- End with a three pile when you're ahead
- Fairgrounds
- Museum if you really need 1 extra VP
- Watchtower them straight into the trash for Goons or to defang your opponent's curser
- Force your opponents to gain it with Messenger (probably helps if you have a Watchtower)
Am I missing any? When do you buy Curses?
With messenger you gain it not buy it.
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With messenger you gain it not buy it.
Oh man, that totally invalidates the point.
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Buying curse is clutch in the following situations:
1. You have high odds on many plays of Amb (Kc being the obvious example, Mission/outpost/Tr/Rc/Crown/Disciple being options as well). If I have some durations out and know that I will be getting a good turn adding curse is handy just because it is another junk-card that is hard to return.
2. Your opponent went green sooner and will not be able to send back as fast as you send.
3. Bm Amb or any other case where they cannot Amb back.
4. Your deck rewards diversity (e.g. Menage) and theirs does not (e.g. Hparty).
5. Degrading Ritual VP possibilities, yes they can send back 2, leave one on supply and then get some VP, but it is terribly hard to overcome VP deficits with a max of 6 (7-9) VP per turn, particularly as you need $10 (11-13) to regenerate your deck.
Otherwise it is almost entirely a do-it-to-maintain-a-lead option.