Dominion Strategy Forum

Dominion => Game Reports => Topic started by: michaeljb on August 08, 2011, 01:10:05 am

Title: Thrown away
Post by: michaeljb on August 08, 2011, 01:10:05 am
When you have a big fun King's Court/City engine, and you're going for the kill, poised to empty the 2nd and 3rd piles and grab some points for the win, it's important to make sure you actually have enough buys to do so, not just coins.

In my final turn in this (http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201108/07/game-20110807-195015-ab6f1ff5.html) game, I had $49, enough to polish off the last King's Court, the last 4 Cities, and buy 2 Colonies to come from behind for the win. Unfortunately, I only had 4 buys. Even more unfortunately, I figured I'd empty the piles first then buy the green with what was left instead of buying the right amount of VP first.

I bought the last King's Court and 3 of the last 4 Cities, then watched my opponent grab the last City and claim the win.

On top of that, I got the Witching advantage, giving my opponent 7 of the 10 Curses, and this was one of the few games where I've ever really used Coppersmith ($28 of the $49 on my final turn was from my 7 Coppers).

I did get lucky with KC/Witches, twice pairing them when I had only 1 KC and 2 Witches in my deck, but regardless of any luck I had or mistakes my opponent or I made, it sure is frustrating to have the game in that state at the end and throw it away :o
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: Davio on August 08, 2011, 02:17:22 am
You also need to pay attention to your opponent's buys.

If he is ahead, you need to leave at least X cards in the supply, where X is his Buys - 1.

In this case, you may have been better off buying some Provinces and or Colonies.

And don't forget: Emptying the KC pile turbocharges his Cities too!
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: dan11295 on August 08, 2011, 04:00:04 pm
Was interesting to see the openings used there. You opponents opening of Silver/Walled Village I find to be questionable. The WV Does nothing for him the first few times he plays it. IMHO you got lucky on turn 4 when you drew Coppersmith+4 Copper. I would have opened Silver/Silver myself in that situation.

That said, the key in that game was for you be more careful about emptying the second pile. Buying Colonies+a couple Markets for buys was probably a better option.
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: HockeyHippo on August 08, 2011, 04:22:52 pm
You also need to pay attention to your opponent's buys.

If he is ahead, you need to leave at least X cards in the supply, where X is his Buys - 1.

In this case, you may have been better off buying some Provinces and or Colonies.

And don't forget: Emptying the KC pile turbocharges his Cities too!

Don't you mean X = His Buys + 1?
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: Davio on August 09, 2011, 03:46:44 am
I do, morning math fail. :)

In English: Make sure he doesn't have enough buys to empty out remaining piles while he's ahead.

Maneuvering these piles can feel like a wild tango at times. You also need to pay attention to his money output.
If there are 4 cards remaining in 2 piles (one empty pile), he has 5 buys, but is behind by a Province, he may not have enough money to buy a Colony (or even a Province) and 4 of those cheap cards.
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: DStu on August 09, 2011, 04:46:44 am
Quote
In English: Make sure he doesn't have enough buys to empty out remaining piles while he's ahead.

And never forget the http://dominionstrategy.com/2011/04/13/greatest-isotropic-moments-vol-i/ - Denied Award.
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: michaeljb on August 09, 2011, 05:55:47 pm
Quote
In English: Make sure he doesn't have enough buys to empty out remaining piles while he's ahead.

And never forget the http://dominionstrategy.com/2011/04/13/greatest-isotropic-moments-vol-i/ - Denied Award.

haha, definitely. I can safely say if I ever play Bridge that many times in one turn, I won't use it to continue building my deck. Hoping we might have Isotropic moments volume 2 not too long after theory's hiatus is over...
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: WanderingWinder on August 11, 2011, 03:31:44 pm
I just played a game which reminded me very much of the Denied award... went for Native Village/Bridge, my opponent hit possession on turn 5, and then they had the dominating position, but then I made the strategic decision to rush piles, which should have lost easily to them buying like 2 provinces, but at the key moment they went for 2 more possessions instead, and then a couple turns later, after possessing some of my poor hands, I eked out the win.
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: Elysium on August 14, 2011, 10:11:34 am
I had a game similar to those: http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110218-084334-9f0245a8.html#Graystripe77-show-turn-14

On his turn 14 he KC's two bridges, and ends up with $17 and 8 buys.  That's enough to buy out all the $2 provinces and win the game.  Instead, he buys 8 action cards.  The next turn I buy out every single Colony and Province.
Title: Re: Thrown away
Post by: Razzishi on August 14, 2011, 10:33:49 am
I had a game similar to those: http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110218-084334-9f0245a8.html#Graystripe77-show-turn-14

On his turn 14 he KC's two bridges, and ends up with $17 and 8 buys.  That's enough to buy out all the $2 provinces and win the game.  Instead, he buys 8 action cards.  The next turn I buy out every single Colony and Province.

I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know that buying out all the Provinces ends a Colony game.  I certainly didn't until it happened the first time.