Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Game Reports => Topic started by: GreyEK on August 02, 2018, 07:46:27 pm
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This is a game played between myself and Lemonaire in Automatch, where I make the mistake of prematurely rushing the Sauna pile and Lemonaire is able to contest it properly to run away with the game.
Kingdom: Engineer, Overlord, Pawn, Scheme, Caravan, Horse Traders, Ranger, Sauna/Avanto, Cache, Upgrade; Expedition, Dominate
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/212660788786102272/474465752544706561/unknown.png)
A quick look at the kingdom gives us the following.
Thinning: Sauna, Upgrade
Splitting: Sauna
Draw: Caravan, Avanto, Expedition, Ranger
Gaining: Engineer, Horse Traders, Ranger, (Upgrade)
Attacks: None
Alt-VP: Dominate
Avanto is clearly the strongest draw on the board, and a Sauna Avanto chain will be the quickest way to get to drawing deck.
Dominate is a large number of points, and will likely necessitate building for, but the limit on the number of actions one can play in a turn makes it difficult and likely wrong to build beyond that.
(You may read the log if you wish to follow along, but most of the important information will also be included in my comments.)
Turn 1 - Lemonaire
L plays 3 Coppers.
L buys and gains a Silver.
L draws 4 Coppers and an Estate.
Turn 1 - GreyEK
G plays 4 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Caravan.
G draws 3 Coppers and 2 Estates.
Turn 2 - Lemonaire
L plays 4 Coppers.
L buys an Overlord.
L takes 8 debt.
L gains an Overlord.
L repays 4 debt (4 remaining).
L shuffles their deck.
L draws 4 Coppers and an Estate.
Turn 2 - GreyEK
G plays 3 Coppers.
G buys an Engineer.
G takes 4 debt.
G gains an Engineer.
G repays 3 debt (1 remaining).
G shuffles their deck.
G draws 3 Coppers, an Estate and a Caravan.
Lemonaire opens Silver-Overlord, and I open Caravan-Engineer.
Neither of these openings are terrible, but I don't get the opportunity to trash in my second shuffle, and my deck is also going to take a while to hit 5; better openings would include something like Caravan-Overlord or Engineer-Overlord.
The fact that I've opened Engineer also gives me the oppurtunity to rush the Sauna pile, but there are a couple problems with this:
My deck is not set up to hit 5 very well, and after Saunas empty, Lemonaire is going to be in a much better spot to take Avantos then I will.
While gaining Saunas, my deck is not gaining much, whereas Lemonaire can play Overlord as Upgrade, to thin their deck and further their ability to pick up Avantos quickly.
In the event that I do end up rushing Saunas, Lemonaire will want to do 3 main things to overcome losing the Sauna split:
1) Use the time that I spend buying Saunas to maximize their advantage in thinning and economy.
2) Use this advantage in economy to win the Avanto split, which will greatly decrease the use that I can get out of my Saunas, as well as providing a lot of quick draw.
3) Set up to begin Dominating before I can get a chance to utilize my ability to play multiple actions in a turn.
Turn 3 - Lemonaire
L plays 4 Coppers.
L repays 4 debt.
L buys an Overlord.
L takes 8 debt.
L gains an Overlord.
L draws 3 Coppers, a Silver and an Overlord.
A slight misplay by Lemonaire here, as the Overlord guarantees they won't be able to buy anything next turn, and had they not bought the second Overlord, they open up the option to simply buy Upgrade itself and enter the next shuffle, or buy Overlord this turn with no downside.
Having the 2nd Overlord still greatly contributes to the first goal, as it will let them thin further in case I go Saunas.
Turn 3 - GreyEK
G plays a Caravan.
G draws an Estate.
G plays a Copper.
G repays 1 debt.
G plays 2 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Pawn.
G draws 3 Coppers, an Estate and an Engineer.
Turn 4 - Lemonaire
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws an Estate.
L trashes an Estate.
L gains a Silver.
L plays 3 Coppers and a Silver.
L repays 5 debt (3 remaining).
L shuffles their deck.
L draws 2 Coppers, a Silver, an Estate and an Overlord
Turn 4 - GreyEK
G starts their turn.
G draws a Copper (Caravan).
G plays an Engineer.
G gains a Sauna.
G trashes an Engineer.
G gains a Sauna.
G plays 4 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Sauna.
G shuffles their deck.
G draws 3 Coppers, an Estate and a Caravan.
Here, I begin rushing the Saunas, trashing my Engineer to take the first three with my opponent in debt will basically guarantee that I win Saunas 4-1.
This was the big mistake that I made this game, as this forces me into a deck that my opponent is very well able to counter, when I could simply have player Engineer to gain a Caravan, bought an Overlord and waited on the Sauna pile.
Turn 5 - Lemonaire
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws a Copper.
L trashes a Silver.
L gains a Sauna.
L plays 3 Coppers.
L repays 3 debt.
L draws 2 Coppers, a Silver, an Estate and an Overlord.
Turn 5 - GreyEK
G plays a Caravan.
G draws a Copper.
G plays 4 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Sauna.
G draws 2 Coppers, an Estate, a Pawn and a Sauna.
Current Decks:
Lemonaire:
2 Overlord
1 Sauna
2 Silver
7 Copper
2 Estate
GreyEK:
4 Sauna
1 Caravan
1 Pawn
7 Copper
3 Estate
Lemonaire guarantees that they get a Sauna while paying off dept, and then I finish off the pile.
I've exerted all of my resources into gaining Saunas, whereas Lemonaire has trashed an Estate, and has a pair of Silvers and Overlords over me, and they will now want to use this for the second goal: winning the Avanto split.
Turn 6 - Lemonaire
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws a Copper.
L trashes an Estate.
L gains a Scheme.
L plays 3 Coppers and a Silver.
L buys and gains an Avanto.
L shuffles their deck.
L draws 2 Coppers, an Estate, a Scheme and an Avanto.
Turn 6 - GreyEK
G starts their turn.
G draws a Copper (Caravan).
G plays a Sauna.
G draws an Estate.
G plays a Pawn. (Card, Coin)
G draws a Sauna.
G plays 2 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Silver.
G shuffles their deck.
G draws 2 Coppers, a Pawn and 2 Saunas.
Lemonaire grabs the first Avanto, while also thinning further, and picking up a Scheme. Meanwhile, I fail to hit 5 off of my Pawn, and buy my first Silver.
Turn 7 - Lemonaire
L plays a Scheme.
L draws a Copper.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and an Overlord.
L plays 5 Coppers.
L buys and gains an Avanto.
L topdecks an Avanto.
L draws a Copper, a Silver, an Overlord, a Sauna and an Avanto.
Turn 7 - GreyEK
G plays a Sauna.
G draws an Estate.
G plays a Sauna.
G draws a Copper.
G plays a Pawn.
G draws a Copper.
G plays 4 Coppers.
G buys and gains an Avanto.
G draws 2 Coppers, a Silver, a Caravan and a Sauna.
Lemonaire buys a second Avanto, and I attempt the same Pawn play, which pays off this time, netting me my first Avanto.
Turn 8 - Lemonaire
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and a Scheme.
L plays a Sauna.
L draws an Avanto.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and an Overlord.
L plays a Scheme.
L draws a Copper.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays a Scheme.
L draws an Estate.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays a Horse Traders.
L discards an Estate and a Copper.
L plays 5 Coppers and a Silver.
L buys and gains 2 Avantos.
L topdecks a Sauna and an Avanto.
L shuffles their deck.
L draws a Copper, an Overlord, a Sauna and 2 Avantos.
Lemonaire's deck is thin enough to draw a significant number of cards using the topdecked Avanto, and they grab the last 2 Avantos with a nice Overlord as Horse Traders play.
Now I'm going to have to go back to Caravans or Rangers to try to pick up draw. They can thin fully, and move on to their third goal: building to Dominate.
Turn 8 - GreyEK
G plays a Caravan.
G draws a Copper.
G plays a Sauna.
G draws an Estate.
G plays a Silver.
G trashes an Estate.
G plays 3 Coppers.
G buys an Engineer.
G takes 4 debt.
G gains an Engineer.
G repays 4 debt.
G shuffles their deck.
G draws 2 Coppers, an Estate, an Engineer and a Sauna.
Turn 9 - Lemonaire
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and an Avanto.
L plays a Sauna.
L draws an Avanto.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and an Overlord.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws a Scheme.
L trashes an Avanto.
L gains a Gold.
L plays a Scheme.
L draws a Silver.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws a Copper.
L trashes a Silver.
L gains a Caravan.
L plays an Avanto.
L shuffles their deck.
L draws a Copper, an Estate and a Caravan.
L plays 7 Coppers.
L buys and gains a Gold.
L topdecks a Sauna.
L shuffles their deck.
L draws a Copper, a Gold, a Scheme, a Sauna and an Avanto.
Turn 9 - GreyEK
G starts their turn.
G draws a Sauna (Caravan).
G plays a Sauna.
G draws a Copper.
G plays a Sauna.
G draws a Sauna.
G plays a Sauna.
G draws a Copper.
G plays an Engineer.
G gains a Scheme.
G plays 3 Coppers.
G buys and gains a Scheme.
G draws 2 Coppers, an Estate, a Pawn and a Sauna.
Turn 10 - Lemonaire
L plays a Scheme.
L draws an Avanto.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws a Copper, a Gold and an Estate.
L plays a Sauna.
L draws a an Overlord.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and an Overlord.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws an Avanto.
L trashes an Estate.
L gains a Silver.
L plays an Overlord.
L plays an Upgrade.
L draws a Copper.
L trashes a Copper.
L plays an Avanto.
L draws 2 Coppers and a Caravan.
L plays 6 Coppers and 2 Golds.
L buys and gains a Gold.
L topdecks a Sauna.
L shuffles their deck.
L draws 2 Coppers, a Scheme, a Sauna and an Avanto.
(Game #16921718)
Lemonaire is effectively drawing deck, and will be nearing a Dominate payload soon. Scheme will make it nearly impossible to dud. Meanwhile, I have almost all of my starting cards, and have no realistic way of catching up, so I resign here.
In conclusion, Lemonaire was able to beat my Sauna rush by thinning early and while I'm picking up Saunas, building up early economy and using this and their better thinned deck to win the Avanto split, and then using this thin, drawing deck to end the game before I have a chance to catch up.
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This is my first time writing something like this, so if anyone has any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated. :)
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This is my first time writing something like this, so if anyone has any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated. :)
How about starting Sauna-Silver? You can buy Engineer to gain Schemes after Saunas are sold out.
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I think you fucked up the Sauna rush, it’s not that it was expertly done and then countered well. In general a gainer isn’t gonna do a lot better than Sauna Silver opening unless you REALLY need a 3/2 Sauna Avanto split, and even then if you’re rushing Sauna without a Silver what’s the point? Those Saunas aren’t doing anything for you then.
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To me it seems your first mistake was opening Caravan. Caravan is good but there's more important stuff to do in the beginning, like trashing, and you can get them with your Engineer instead.
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I would just do boring old Silver+Sauna, then grab an Engineer on my first $4 post-Saunas.
I would skip Overlord here, I think.
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Opening Sauna-Silver is better than what I did, since it gives you a chance to get lucky and steal a win if Overlord misses the shuffle. Despire this, it's still unfavored against stronger openings like Engineer-Overlord, which are more likely to win the Avanto split (and even have a chance to win with only 2 Avantos).
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Opening Sauna-Silver is better than what I did, since it gives you a chance to get lucky and steal a win if Overlord misses the shuffle. Despire this, it's still unfavored against stronger openings like Engineer-Overlord, which are more likely to win the Avanto split (and even have a chance to win with only 2 Avantos).
Having a lot of trouble following this one, honestly. Sauna Silver should trash 1-2 Estates by the time Avanto comes out (and if not you’ll have bought a second Silver by then, increasing your $5s and your thinning speed), so it’s not exactly a slouch at hitting $5. Overlord only helps you hit $5 via Horse Traders (or being an Avanto itself), which isn’t going to let you gain two Avantos at once or be that much more consistent at it. Maybe Scheme messes with that calculus, idk.
It’s not that these birds are super tricky, it’s just that you can’t be as allergic to Silver on them as you might be used to. That Silver does a lot.