Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Puzzles and Challenges => Topic started by: O on March 25, 2012, 02:31:50 am

Title: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 25, 2012, 02:31:50 am
You are playing a standard 4 player dominion game with no possession, King's court, throne room or black market. You have 12 cards in your deck, ten of which are curses. On a normal turn with a 5 card hand, you play one action and buy one card, and end your turn. On that turn you distribute 20 curses, emptying the curse pile.

How is this accomplished?
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: jimjam on March 25, 2012, 05:55:08 am
Jester, Thief or Ambassador on Ill-Gotten gains sends out 3*3 curses; 10 Embargo Tokens are on the curse pile, and you buy one
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: jomini on March 26, 2012, 03:22:53 pm
Your two cards are governor and silver. You play the governor and remodel silver -> IGG. Your opponent's all upgrade 4's (say potions) to IGG. That gets out 12 curses, you buy a copper that has been embargoed 8 times to get the other 8 to go.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 26, 2012, 04:19:33 pm
I forgot a critical point in the puzzle.. so it's time for hard mode...

Hard mode: You've bought only one card any nobody's ambassadored/masqueraded anything to you.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: Ozle on March 26, 2012, 04:24:40 pm
Should it say you have 12 cards in your Deck? as otherwise im confused.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 26, 2012, 04:33:46 pm
yes, yes it should
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: Deadlock39 on March 26, 2012, 04:39:40 pm
The first answer from jimjam seems like it still works to me.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: eHalcyon on March 26, 2012, 04:45:11 pm
I forgot a critical point in the puzzle.. so it's time for hard mode...

Hard mode: You've bought only one card any nobody's ambassadored/masqueraded anything to you.

The setup seems so unlikely.  You've only purchased one card, no ambassador or masquerade, and yet 10/12 cards in your deck are curses?  Did opponent's bishops let you trash nearly all of your starting cards?  And did you choose to trash starting cards instead of the curses that have been handed to you?

jimjam's solution with Jester or Thief (but not Ambassador) still works for this hard mode.

Edit: whoops, heavily ninja'd. :P
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 26, 2012, 04:45:26 pm
1 & 2 do, the third doesn't

I still see one more way that hasn't been said.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 26, 2012, 04:46:39 pm
I forgot a critical point in the puzzle.. so it's time for hard mode...

Hard mode: You've bought only one card any nobody's ambassadored/masqueraded anything to you.

The setup seems so unlikely.  You've only purchased one card, no ambassador or masquerade, and yet 10/12 cards in your deck are curses?  Did opponent's bishops let you trash nearly all of your starting cards?  And did you choose to trash starting cards instead of the curses that have been handed to you?

jimjam's solution with Jester or Thief (but not Ambassador) still works for this hard mode.

Witch/Thief in 4player. Or, you can make it ten coppers. Or ten provinces. It doesn't really matter.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: eHalcyon on March 26, 2012, 04:49:06 pm
1 & 2 do, the third doesn't

I still see one more way that hasn't been said.

Swindler to IGG?
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: eHalcyon on March 26, 2012, 04:58:02 pm
Witch/Thief in 4player. Or, you can make it ten coppers. Or ten provinces. It doesn't really matter.

Even with Thief, you should still have 3 estates around.  And making it ten coppers does matter, because it effects your potential buying power.  If you have 10 curses and two other cards, your maximum buying power is much less than if you have 10 coppers and two cards.  There are even more possible solutions if you make it 10 silver or something.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: jimjam on March 26, 2012, 05:27:26 pm
Going along eHalcyon's last solution, Saboteur to IGG also works. Is there a materially different solution? Jomini's is one I wouldn't have thought of.
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: O on March 26, 2012, 05:38:33 pm
Witch/Thief in 4player. Or, you can make it ten coppers. Or ten provinces. It doesn't really matter.

Even with Thief, you should still have 3 estates around.  And making it ten coppers does matter, because it effects your potential buying power.  If you have 10 curses and two other cards, your maximum buying power is much less than if you have 10 coppers and two cards.  There are even more possible solutions if you make it 10 silver or something.

>buy one card
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: Ozle on March 26, 2012, 06:16:06 pm
If you think this scenario is improbable you should see some of the other puzzles! I think one had a 128 card deck of all different cards!
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: eHalcyon on March 26, 2012, 06:46:26 pm
>buy one card

Oops.  My bad!  But the buying power does still effect what that one buy can be.  You could use Haggler to buy BV and gain two IGG, but without those coppers in the deck you wouldn't have enough coin for it.  That wouldn't distribute enough curses anyway, however.

If you think this scenario is improbable you should see some of the other puzzles! I think one had a 128 card deck of all different cards!

Touche!
Title: Re: Mega-curse turn
Post by: jomini on March 27, 2012, 11:11:04 am
I forgot a critical point in the puzzle.. so it's time for hard mode...

Hard mode: You've bought only one card any nobody's ambassadored/masqueraded anything to you.

Hard mode isn't as limiting as it sounds. Through the use of governor, you can gain cards and remodel them (or use the effects of your opponent's governors). Likewise, IW is great for setting mega card combos with with only gain effects - IW a NV, play NV, IW a bridge, lather rinse repeat. IW can also grab islands so any scaffolding cards you need can be hidden on the mat and the NV itself can be islanded away.

For instance, my original solution still works. I buy one governor and use my opponent's governor to upgrade an estate -> silver.


In any event I see only two general ways to solve this puzzle:
1. attacks that cause card gain so you can have 3 IGGs gained and give out 9 curses from those, gaining 11 from from the ultra-embargoed curse pile. I believe the set of such attacks are: jester, ambassador, swindler, thief, and saboteur
2.use governor to allow for 3 or 4 IGG to be gained by multiple players, acquire the balance of curses from a heavy embargoed curse or copper pile

Igg and embargo are, I believe, the only way to get curses out during the buy phase and because you buy only one card you are limited to two IGG (haggler/plat buy a BV/IGG/IGG combo) and 10 curses from embargo which gives only sixteen curses. Unless I'm missing something this means you have to be getting multiple IGGs into play as outlined above. The latter solution allows for a maximum cursing power of 23 curses out (4 IGG's gained at 3 each +11 force max embargoes on the curse pile)