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1

GokoDom / Re: IsoDom 5: Round 4 Results Thread (Vacation Edition)

« on: July 24, 2012, 02:51:12 am »

A little late to follow up here, but I wanted to thank Young Nick again for a really, really fun set of games, and an equally great accompanying chat. A class act, that guy. I haven't been playing much Dominion at all lately (practically none outside of this tournament, in fact) but sets like this one remind me how much I love the game, even if I'm definitely pretty rusty at this point. Come the end of summer, I'm sure I'll be an addict again. Young Nick pretty much nailed all the commentary, but a few quick things -
Not getting a second Witch in game 2 was a particularly bad mistake on my part, one that's pretty weird for me considering I would advocate ALWAYS getting a 2nd Witch in that scenario, and I'm not really clear on why I didn't. But I'll go ahead and defend my Baron/Tunnel open in Game 4, with the justification that it was a direct reaction to YN opening Militia as player one on a board where getting to $5 and $6 as often as possible was absolutely imperative. In situations like this one, where the best cards (Governor/Goons) heavily favor whoever gets there first, I'd usually rather try something different than just mirror and start at a significant disadvantage. Baron is potentially a decent counter to Militia in the early game (not really shown here) and Tunnel is obviously ideal against it. I didn't play the game perfectly (too many Tunnels, not enough Goons!!) but I think it's worth noting that I could've ended it with the win on my last turn had I gotten the chance.

2

GokoDom / Re: IsoDom 5: Round 3 Results Thread

« on: July 09, 2012, 12:35:06 am »

perdhapley beats yuma 3-2.


1: yuma 47 - PH 39 - A fun one where we both go for Baron with some Alchemist support, and it comes down to the final Province with Duchies and Estates both gone.

2: PH 37 - yuma 18 - Witch/Hunting Party out, I grab two Witches and draw perfect, splitting curses 7-3.

3: yuma 41 - PH 38 - Tense FV/Wharf game that came down to the wire. I played this one bad, opening 5/2 and grabbing a Fool's Gold without even noticing that Embargo was out. yuma gets the jump on Silk Road and massively outplays me throughout; I buy out Estates at the end in hopes of a tie but miscount my victory cards and fall one short of bumping up SR points. Lesson learned, I really need to pay more attention in situations like this.

4: PH 30 - yuma 23 - Governor/Chapel insanity. First-player advantage is obviously massive here, and I get to my triple-Province turn first.

5: PH 46 - yuma 25 - 28 shared Swindler hits in 25 turns! This one is worth a look just for its comical brutality, although I'm sure yuma didn't find it nearly as entertaining as I did.

I always enjoy playing yuma, and overall I'd say he definitely outplayed me here, but luck was certainly on my side. Thanks for the match yuma!

3

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Best Dominion Cards List 2012 Ed.2: $3 cards

« on: July 04, 2012, 05:27:47 pm »

This list is pretty close to my own (as I recall it) with no crazy outliers yet. Happy to see that Oracle got a bump, I considered it the most inaccurately-ranked card on the last $3 list. It's not top 5 material or anything, but it is much, much better as a $3 attack than Fortune Teller.

I think Black Market is fine where it is. Yeah, sometimes it is utterly awful and a total trap, but obviously other times it is essential. Surprised to see chwhite despise it so much given his love of Cornucopia, since many cards in that set (Fairgrounds, Menagerie, Horn of Plenty) make Black Market much more valuable regardless of its contents. Plus, there is that crazzzzyyy Tactician combo. Putting a card that swingy in roughly the middle of the list feels appropriate to me.

Smugglers' placement seems right to me too. The complaint that it is totally useless late-game when Provinces are being bought seems minor; I mean, look at Sea Hag. I see Smugglers as a good early pick up/defense for player 2 in a lot of games that would typically favor P1, especially games with discard attacks - say, a Militia game where you just can't ever catch up to $6, or a Ghost Ship game where you can sabotage your current under-attack hand without falling too far behind. Lots of other reasons it shouldn't be any lower IMO - Duchy-dancing, Grand Market, Highway/Bridge, etc...

4

GokoDom / Re: A Brief Note on Point Counters

« on: July 03, 2012, 05:06:14 am »

yeah, 5 needs to go - I share your viewpoint on the extension itself, but I certainly trust players like blueblimp regardless, and if they agree to just play without it they should absolutely be allowed to do so.

5

Dominion World Masters / Re: DominionStrategy Qualifying Day Results

« on: June 30, 2012, 01:12:23 pm »

Game 1 - Perd 6 pts, janic 4 pts, MM 2 pts, GSD 0 pts
Game 2 - janic 6 pts, MM 4 pts, perd 2 pts, GSD 0 pts
Game 3 - MM 6 pts, perd 4 pts, GSD 2 pts, janic 0 pts
Game 4 - perd 6 pts, MM 4 pts, janic 2 pts, GSD 0 pts


Perdhapley - 18 pts
Mundane Mandate - 16 pts
Janic - 14 pts
GSDTheFlea - 2 pts

EDIT: had a question, removed for irrelevance

6

GokoDom / Re: IsoDom 5: Round 2 Results Thread

« on: June 20, 2012, 01:06:04 pm »

perdhapley beats BadAssMutha 3 - 0.


Game 1: PH 43 - BAM 35 Key Cards: Witch, Caravan, Hunting Party, Silk Road
This was entirely luck-decided - I opened 5/2 with Witch out. I make some mistakes (my 1st Caravan should be a Silver, hit Provinces too early) but not enough for BAM to recover from that lopsided start.
Game 2: BAM 35 - PH 41 Key Cards: Tunnel, Golem, Fool's Gold
He goes for FG, I go the Golem/Tunnel route and get my first Golem nice and early, on turn 3. I go overboard on Tunnels and slow down a bit towards the end, making this the most closely contested game of the set. I think Golem/Tunnel is the right move here, but 3-4 tunnels is probably plenty.
Game 3: BAM 19 - PH 36 Key Cards: Remake, Lighthouse, Native Village, Militia, Nobles
Another one with much different openings - he goes for Ambassador and I opt for Lighthouse/Remake, with plans to grab a Militia quickly and fully shut his plan down. There are just too many cards that sink Ambassador here, and by the time BAM abandons it it's already a bit too late, and NV/Nobles with Salvager support works nicely for chewing through Provinces.
Thanks for the games, BadAssMutha, and I hope you have better luck in the next round!

7

Dominion General Discussion / Re: THE Dominion Card List(s): Your Favourite Cards

« on: June 19, 2012, 06:07:04 pm »

To clarify, I don't believe Hunting Party belongs here either, and was just using it as a comparative example of how flavorless Lab is. HP may be a personal favorite, but I agree that it is not very exciting. I would rather a slot go to something more unique/interesting. Tactician would probably get my vote.

8

GokoDom / Re: IsoDom 5: Round 1 Thread

« on: June 17, 2012, 05:41:57 pm »

Perdhapley beats Rhombus 3-2. Logs are coming, I'm rushing around doing Father's Day stuff. It was a great match that came down to the wire - two turns before the end we were tied in points, in a game with some tricky Goons/Vineyard play. Thanks for the match, Rhombus!

9

Dominion General Discussion / Re: THE Dominion Card List(s): Your Favourite Cards

« on: June 15, 2012, 07:55:38 pm »

At this point with sets I'd probably go:
1. Cornucopia
2. Prosperity
3. Hinterlands
4. Seaside
5. Alchemy
6. Base
7. Intrigue
It changes every once in awhile, and it's hard to rank Seaside. Duration is my favorite mechanic, but I dislike roughly half the set, and Ghost Ship/Ambassador are probably my two least favorite cards in the entire game. I agree with everything chwhite said about Cornucopia - it's easily my favorite, and it would take a lot for either of these last two expansions to dethrone it.

Wharf and Laboratory are great cards to have in most decks, but what about them is inherently fun to play?  You draw some cards.  That's it.  There's nothing they do in terms of the process of play that a whole lot of other cards don't also do for you.  (Well, okay, Wharf gets points because it's a duration card, and those are cool generally, but still.)

Laboratory is totally the weirdest slot-taker here. It's no power slouch, sure, but it's outclassed by a ton of other more interesting, deserving cards and blown away by Hunting Party most of the time. It's about as Ann as the nose on Plain's face.

Wharf I can absolutely see, though. It is really, really satisfying, whether online or IRL, to know those extra cards are coming. For me, it actually makes waiting through an opponent's turn more enjoyable. Plus, "man, I really shouldn't have bought a Wharf here" is a thought that has run through probably nobody's head. Not many cards have that distinction.

10

GokoDom / Re: IsoDom 5: Sign-Up Thread (ENDS 09 June)

« on: June 05, 2012, 07:03:15 am »

Count me in if there's still room!

11

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 7

« on: May 13, 2012, 12:50:04 am »

Yes, that's right, I was keeping track of the logs at the time and then somehow lost them. It was a good match, I was a little tired at the time so it's hard to recall everything that happened, but some things stood out:

- Our tie was my only tie in the whole tournament, and I forced it. It was a Highway game where I got a bit cocky with the lead and kind of spaced on adding +buy to my deck. I am curious to see if I would've had a shot at taking the win there if I hadn't ended the game. I really considered it.
- There was an Ambassador game where I opened 5/2 (I think as 2nd player? not sure) and really had no idea what to do. Ultimately I settled for Margrave in the open and I got crushed.
- The first game was interesting, and I remember one particular hand where my deck finally looked like it was about to click (pretty sure it was Border Village / Border Village / Margrave / Margrave / Bank / Silver) where discarding to Margrave was pretty heartbreaking.

Well now I'm just sad it's all over. Congrats to Coheed on the win in our bracket! To echo what the others have said, this (the Mountain bracket) was a really really great group. Everyone was friendly and competitive and easy to set up matches with. This was true up to the very end - I failed to show up to my first planned match with Ignorentmen thanks to some Internet issues and he was very cool about rescheduling. Thanks to all of you for making this so fun!

12

GokoDom / Re: The Future of IsoDom

« on: May 10, 2012, 01:06:04 am »

I was sad to miss Rabid's tournament, but I did think it was a great idea, and I would love to see that become a regular thing, like maybe once a month or so?. I don't think it should be a replacement for Isodom, but rather its own kind of thing that runs on the side.

It's a bummer that this Isodom didn't go quite as smoothly as it should have, since I personally loved the format. Yuma and I were in the same bracket, and as he said every single person in it was fully committed - if all the brackets had functioned as smoothly as ours I would be in full favor of having another go at it with the same format. Probably not worth the headache to try it this way again right away, but I hope there's interest in returning to it sometime in the future.

My personal vote for the future of these tournaments would be to revert to the old format for the next Isodom and probably cap entrants at 32 players, with priority given to entrants based on previous stable Isodom participation/forum activity/leaderboard status/whatever everyone seems to agree on. I would also suggest having a handful of preset alternates in the wings just in case they're needed. I think one thing that should definitely stick around is the weekly theme, like the set-specific conditions this time around or the weekly mandatory first set in the previous Isodom. When we're ready for it, a thread to announce the tournament and registration window and poll for theme ideas would be the best way to kick everything off.

I personally don't think the forthcoming app should prevent us from jumping in to another tournament. I expect we'll have at least enough notice on that front to regroup and carry on with the tournament using the official version. A notification in the registration post that participants unable to make the switch within a set window of time will be obligated to give their spot to an alternate seems like it would be an easy way to deal with that issue.

All just suggestions though, like Robz I will happily play these tournaments in any format imaginable. I am also a worthless English major without a ton of technology or math expertise, but I would be happy to help in any capacity needed, whether that be assisting with the organization aspect or even just punching numbers into Challonge. Whatever is needed.

Thanks to you again, Kirian, for doing such a great job keeping things flowing as smoothly as possible in the absence of MMM.

13

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 6

« on: May 01, 2012, 07:18:03 pm »

Thanks for the games, tlloyd! I have to admit, this set kind of hurt... the first three games were lots of fun, but I don't even want to look at those last four. My play here during those games is a good example of what poker players call "tilt": frustration and panic leading to increasingly desperate and nonsensical decisions. I'm pretty disappointed with myself for letting that happen here, but hey, it happens, and I don't want to diminish tlloyd, who played excellently here. He's a great player who I've been lucky enough to play tons of interesting games with, and I hope we get to play many more. So, comments:

Game 1: We played this game without the point tracker, hence my ending the game with a loss. I undervalued Trade Route here, and I think not getting a Gold early here was a mistake on my part, but I'm not sure it would've made a huge difference; his early Followers was pretty hard to overcome. I was actually pretty happy to only lose by 6 here, since I felt pretty behind the whole way.

Game 2: tlloyd hits it in his summary: this is a crazy Tunnel board, and his overlooking it at first gave me a big advantage. Seemed like he looked at it as a Tournament-oriented game initially, and then shifted strategies once he picked up on what I was doing. He does get Followers again, but by then it's too late.

Game 3: I had tons of fun here. I think tlloyd probably undervalues HoP in this one, and as he implied, it can be easy to forget about grabbing enough treasure with all these actions out.

Game 4: So, actually, I wasn't planning on going for KC/KC/Scheme/Monument here... but should have been. I actually overlooked that at first, thinking of it initially as a fast Governor game. Duh, it wasn't, and I should have realized that. Lesson learned. I suppose this is where that tilt starts, and my last couple turns are basically "okay, I screwed this up, let's move on".

Game 5: This one was interesting, with a particularly tense endgame, but I definitely made mistakes here as well. On turn 5 I hit $8 and two buys with Haggler (such crazy early game luck) and go Province/Hunting Party. Continuing along that route (or going SR/SR instead) would have won this for me I think, but instead I then fight him for the Silk Roads. At one point I misclick and grab a second Haggler instead of Hunting Party, which also hurts me. Oh well, this was still a fun one.

Game 6: LOL at this game. I wish I could explain it. I have run into a setup like this one and played it basically the same way tlloyd does here like, a dozen times at least, but here... I don't even know. Easily the game I've played most inexplicably poorly all tournament, although...

Game 7: ...this one is a good candidate too, because I have read the MMM article tlloyd mentions and used that strategy before, and it was clearly the best way to go here. I think my initial though process involved getting a Torturer chain running, but by this point in the series I was doubting every decision I made and just couldn't commit to any strategy at all.

Thank you again to tlloyd for being gracious and friendly throughout, and teaching me a valuable, memorable lesson: I need to slow down. In a few of these games, taking some time at the beginning to really focus in on a strategy I felt confident about would have made a huge difference. Instead I often found myself flailing.

Sorry to the rest of my bracket for feeding the dragon 

14

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Why do you enjoy Dominion?

« on: April 30, 2012, 06:23:50 pm »

Up front, I'll say that I enjoy Dominion in both of its forms, but when I think about what makes me love it so much it's all connected to Isotropic. So, so many reasons, but here are my big three:

Community: As I'm sure is the case with most people, my interest in the game doubled (at least) when I found Dominion Strategy (which led directly to discovering Isotropic) and doubled again when this forum started. Signing in to Isotropic and playing strangers is already great fun, but having regular opponents who aren't total strangers, and having a place to come to discuss and analyze games (with detailed game logs!) adds a whole other level of investment, at least for me. The old adage about the best games being "easy to learn, but impossible to master" is especially apt with Dominion, and thanks to the main DS site and this forum I'm able to learn new things every day from people I respect, even after a year and a half of Dom-addiction and thousands of games.

Competition: Council Room and the leaderboard change everything. I love, love stats, rankings, records, achievements etc., and this network of sites is a dream world for people like me. Having a measurable way to judge your level of progress and skill - by record against an individual opponent, or by level/ranking, or within a day, month or year, or with a certain expansion or even with a single card - is absolutely wonderful. The Isodom tournaments (especially the current round robin style point-building one) are yet another way to indulge the competitive aspect, as well as build that sense of community.

Variety: Robz covers this very eloquently. The "different game every time" gimmick is the core of what makes Dominion so addictive and competitive. I can say with confidence that I'll still own and play Dominion and its expansions 150 years from now, long after Isotropic is gone and the rest of you are dead, because the excitement of this variety/randomness will just never stop being interesting to me. It boggles my mind that there are mechanics within this game that we don't even know about yet. And this variety even extends to approach: do you make decisions based on math or tempo? Do you rush towards Victory cards or attempt a big engine? Does experience with simulation inform your decisions, or do you rely more often on intuition? The options you have as a Dominion player are almost literally endless.

I just love it, so, so much, and not to get too sentimental, but I feel as if I owe a lot of that to you, theory. Can you say any more about what exactly this is for? Because if it isn't for the main site, I would strongly encourage you to bring up Dominionstrategy.com in your review, even if it may seem a little like self-promotion. I'm sure there are many others here who wouldn't have really gotten into the game past the Base set without that as a gateway.

15

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Decline of civility on isotropic?

« on: April 28, 2012, 08:02:29 am »

Some of you have no idea what are you talking about

just because you won and are reluctant or incapable to see what happened doesn't mean you have to boast around with your win. When i get that luck win - i don't try to tweak it as a skill win or ''gg'' - i am understanding.

But I guess you all like to be friendly kittens like WanderingWinder who resigns me (when i'm thinking) without warning or saying anything.

Man, I didn't want to involve myself here, but this is frustrating. I've only had one recent instance of you being memorably unpleasant within about a dozen games, and hey, that's not that bad. You're a great player, and if Isotropic had a mute button I would look forward to our matches. That instance was still pretty tame, and I was happy to give you the benefit of the doubt there, but this post... NO, no to all of this.

Deriding players for luck and/or calling them names is never, ever anything less than a total jerk move. Mention it if you want, sure, make a little joke and have a friendly back-and-forth for a minute about how crazy it is that your opponent hit some miraculous draw. Initiate a conversation and hey, maybe give a friendly lesson to your opponent (the only kind they'd actually pay attention to anyway) or learn something unexpected yourself. Or stay silent until you can find another rage outlet. Do anything else.

There is no "well, you can be a jerk if..." on this one. This is nothing less than common decency. Be a a human being about it. Whatever else it is to you, this is a game.

Also, "gg" is not a boast. It's the equivalent of a post-game handshake. Among other players, spiteful subtext is pretty uncommon.

16

Introductions / Re: Seattle

« on: April 24, 2012, 08:06:34 pm »

Greetings! Always nice to see a fellow Seattle guy.

Since you're in the area, I have to recommend paying a visit to Cafe Mox in Ballard (https://www.facebook.com/CafeMox) if you like playing the game in real life. Really cool all-ages cafe/bar that has behind-the-counter copies of Dominion and all its expansions (plus tons of other games) and lends them to patrons for free. They're also the only place I've found in the area that reliably carries every set for sale. I go there often despite owning all the sets; it's a great, quiet environment to sit down with a group and a beer and knock out a few games, and you're likely to run into other friendly players willing to join in or chat about strategy. Check it out! And welcome to the forum!

17

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 5

« on: April 24, 2012, 01:09:14 am »

perdhapley beats Axxle 4 (8 points) - 3 (6 points)
Thank you to Axxle for a really fun set of games. We traded the lead back and forth through the whole series, and went into the last match 3 - 3. The kingdoms we were handed were nothing at all like I had expected (a recurring theme of the tournament for me) but almost every one required creative strategy decisions. Results with key cards bolded, then my thoughts:


#1) perdhapley 31 - Axxle 36 (Tournament, Watchtower, Worker's Village)
#2) perdhapley 43 - Axxle 27 (Swindler, Monument, Peddler)
#3) perdhapley  5  - Axxle -2 (Fishing Village, Torturer, Expand)
#4) perdhapley 51 - Axxle 55 (Minion, Horse Traders, Hamlet)
#5) perdhapley 22 - Axxle 46 (Wharf, Forge, Peddler)
#6) perdhapley 37 - Axxle 21 (Remake, Vault)
#7) perdhapley 69 - Axxle 57 (Trader vs. Mountebank)


#1) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-190004-e8fd0993.html / Axxle said he got pretty lucky this game, I'm not so sure. It's true he gets to Golds pretty quickly, but I snag the first Province and hit the first Tournament, and it's there that I think I make my big mistake, which is taking Followers. I had spent most of the game up to that point thinking he would get there first instead of me and take Followers himself, and I had made a deck pretty well-equipped to deal with that scenario. I should have instead taken... almost anything else. Probably Trusty Steed, with hopes of Princess next. Instead I take the "I'll take it so that he can't have it" approach, he has Watchtower every time I play it, and I don't have nearly the buying power he does (and I'm also diluting my deck with Estates). Lesson learned, I guess.
#2) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-190702-d1ae09ac.html  / Ctrl-f "perdhapley plays a swindler" and then ctrl-f "Axxle plays a Swindler". Commentary over.
#3) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-191508-eff4dfbd.html  / I liked this one. Looking at it in the beginning, I knew that FV/Torturer/Curse piles emptied is how this one ends like, 99% of the time, and that whoever got a Torturer chain off first would be pretty much unstoppable. So the interesting twist: Axxle gets 5/2 as first player and goes Mint/Duchess. I go Quarry / Fishing Village. Would've probably been Talisman instead of Quarry (for FVs) had he not gone the Mint route, but I feel like I need to get to Torturer ASAP in order to slow down his progress - if he's able to put the pieces of a Torturer chain together fast enough that turn one Mint purchase will make it all snap into place fluidly; if not, the additional two terminal actions he's got give me some room to breathe. Three lucky things happen after that win this for me: I grab a Talisman and it collides quickly with Quarry for a couple Torturers at once, then it shows up again in time for a reshuffle where I can get the Fishing Villages I still need (I think I might play this a bit risky by waiting so long to get all the +actions that my deck wouldn't work at all without) and then I Mint away six coppers. That makes it easy to mint my Quarry and get Expands, and with my engine fully running I have control over the endgame. I love these kinds of Torturer games where the end comes suddenly and strangely, or basically any game that ends with curses being purchased.
#4) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-193439-9ce7504d.html / We both agreed that this was the most tense match either of us have played all tournament. Everything goes pretty smoothly through the first part of this game as we race down the Minions, with Axxle's 5/2 open cancelled out when I'm able to get the last two at once and split them 5/5, with the Hamlets getting emptied a turn later, turn 11. After that, neither of us seem exactly sure what to do next (I sure wasn't, anyway) and the game turns into this crazy back-and-forth, where we both slowly chip away at increasingly smaller-valued Victory cards. Once I get a lead that's more than ten points I start looking for a way to safely end the game. I prepare quickly before the reshuffle for one last run through of my deck designed to empty the Estate pile. And then I barely miss it on turn 20, where I manage to get all the buys I need with Hamlet and HT but fall $2 short of the $10 I need and have to settle for Province, which Axxle follows up with a Colony buy that closes the point gap between us. Ultimately Axxle gets to the finish line first. Really, really tense game, right in the middle and filled with tough choices. I have this weird feeling that ignoring Minion and going for some sort of mass Horse Traders/Hamlet/Treasure strategy may have very well been the winning strategy here, and that Counting House could have actually made a big difference here had either of us decided to pick it up. Well won, Axxle, I'll be mulling over this one for quite some time.
#5) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194047-86a59ea1.html / I get 5/2 on Wharf board and proceed to somehow massively mess that up. I mean, I played this one TERRIBLY. The strategy Axxle pursues is solid and similar to what I would normally do here, and instead I just lose my mind for a game, cringing and thinking "ugh, wait, why did I buy that?" after most turns. I don't really have analysis to explain this away, I genuinely just wasn't thinking here, and Axxle played it well.
#6) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194351-54b9230f.html / Not much to say about this one. Remake board with Vault, I get to Vault first and then immediately draw Remake with two estates & $3, then proceed to draw well enough to win the Province split. This was the only game of the series where I felt like we were both on autopilot, playing an almost-mirror match.
#7) http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/23/game-20120423-194840-02e73ec2.html / Okay, I'm proud of this one. I grinned when I saw the Kingdom. Trader is my favorite card in the game, and I have a general self-imposed rule that pays off here: in games with both Mountebank and Trader where Double Mountebank/BM would be the winning strategy in Trader's absence, I always ignore Mountebank and buy two Traders ASAP. I can't say for sure without looking it up on CouncilRoom, but I have done this many times and don't believe I have ever lost this way. I think it's just a case of Trader as a reaction being the single best Mountebank counter in the game, and Trader itself being maybe the most underrated BM-enabler. With an otherwise pretty weak Kingdom, it's just much, much faster here, and by the time Mountebank is finally able to more reliably hit without backfiring it's far too late to make any difference.


Very, very fun set over all. I'm struck again by how the Prosperity factor was much different than expected. No Colonies until game three, and only one game (the last one) that ended with their depletion. No Goons. No King's Court. No Grand Market. No real mega-turns or massive engines. This one felt more like a tense rally built around well-designed kingdoms, with a tough opponent who was cheery throughout and happy to chat. Axxle was the only player in my bracket that I had not previously played with going into our match, and I left really hoping that we'll meet up again. Thanks again Axxle!

18

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Who is your nemesis?

« on: April 23, 2012, 07:20:04 pm »

I set my auto-match preference to +/-10 and have stayed within the same few levels for a few months now, so I feel like I have a lot of nemeses in the sense that there are a bunch of people I've played lots of games with. Everybody is friendly and fun to play with, and I could give plenty of different names here.

Most recently, mcmc has been an awesome frequent opponent, probably the nicest guy I've ever met on the internet and the player I'm most excited to see propose a match. He's risen up in level quickly since I first played him and is always an interesting opponent. We have very different play styles, which leads to some really cool discussion, and ultimately we run very even, trading wins often and staying close to an overall tie.

Eli_K is the guy I've played the most games with by far. I'm 54-41-2 there, but I feel like overall we're very evenly matched, and that eventually that gap will close. Mean Mr Mustard and I have played 50 games together and stand at 26-24, so I always know I'm in for a competitive match when I see him.

panda, ddubois and Tahtweasel stand out for me as players who I really have to be on top of my game against or I'm bound to get slaughtered by. Those are the Wandering Winder/Marin style matchups for me where I get overwhelmed and frequently schooled by big engines that end explosively or strategies that are simply much better than mine. Throw RomaNorgy in there too, and especially dghunter79, who is essentially my kryptonite. Winning against any of them is especially satisfying.

19

GokoDom / Re: State of IsoDom: Alternates and helper requested

« on: April 21, 2012, 09:59:44 pm »

If it comes to it, I have a close friend (not yet a forum member I don't think, but a frequent, quality player who plays mostly IRL) who has a pretty flexible schedule and would be thrilled to play. I consider him very reliable and know that he could find time to make up the matches played so far if need be. He's on Pacific time, but his schedule is free enough that the timezone shouldn't be a problem no matter what spot he was needed in. Kirian, feel free to send me a message if that would be helpful.

20

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 5

« on: April 21, 2012, 09:21:14 pm »

With the exception of the first game (where you got lucky with Mountebank) I think you just played better in all the other games. Your way to build a good deck was superior resulting in some really cool engines (like the infinite bishop+mine one in game 5). I didn't manage to create any of those. You really deserve this win. Good luck in the remaining games

Game 5 was a really fun one to read through, what a creative, unique game. 89 cards trashed in 26 turns has gotta be some kind of record.

Embarrassing admission: I had an "oh, duh" moment when I looked at these logs, which are the first ones I've seen from this week: It's been a while since I've played a real-life game of Dominion and I had totally forgotten what the rulebook specified for how to decide whether or not a game used Colonies. I have been assuming since the tournament began that every single game in this round would have them automatically... for some reason. I have played 5000+ games of Dominion and I spent weeks (at least) totally blanking on one of the most basic rules for setting up the game. My mind is blown.

edit: Having played the two of you over the last two weeks, I was excited to see how this match turned out and loved reading through those games. This tournament format has been so fun so far, and it's crazy how much one result can totally throw a bracket for a loop - within ours, at least, it's pretty much anyone's bracket to take, and I can't wait to see how it all shakes out.

21

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 4

« on: April 13, 2012, 05:32:42 pm »

That may be the fastest match ever posted to a tournament.  Obviously you had the time picked out beforehand given you were playing while I typed this.

I always like getting my matches in early . If possible I would've raced through all 7 rounds of this thing on the first day, I'm already getting jazzed for Prosperity now

22

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 4

« on: April 13, 2012, 04:55:25 pm »

perdhapley beats coheed 6 - 1. I pulled out a few lucky victories here, and tried a few risky things that fortunately worked out. My apologies to coheed for showing up to our matchup a bit late, he was a great opponent and we had a fast-paced enjoyable match.

Game 1: coheed 43 - perdhapley 52
Game 2: coheed 20 - perdhapley 32
Game 3: coheed 50 - perdhapley 39
Game 4: coheed 20 - perdhapley 33
Game 5: coheed 8 - perdhapley 9
Game 6: coheed 18 - perdhapley 21
Game 7: coheed 40 - perdhapley 48

Game 1: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-123322-470ce0b2.html
We both use Mine to get to Hoard for Silk Road and Gardens, but I'm able to pick it up first turn with 5/2 and grab a few Provinces along the way for the victory.

Game 2: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-123944-183c4861.html
My feeling here was that Trader/BM would be faster than Alchemist in a Witch game, and I think this bears that out. Coheed has free reign over Peddlers and Alchemists while I grab Ventures and load my deck with Silver, and ultimately am able to buy Provinces at a faster clip.

Game 3: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-124357-fd3e368d.html
Coheed outplayed me here. My initial plan was to empty the Talisman pile and stuff my deck with Silver for Gardens points, and then he starts moving faster than I thought he would and I panic. He takes it pretty easily.

Game 4: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-125046-dce02837.html
Alchemist and Witch both show up again and I once again ignore Potion, taking Cutpurse to hopefully slow him down enough that I can build an economy. I manage to grab a bunch of Golds and it's enough to boost me up.

Game 5: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-125920-92f68b17.html
A University/Torturer game; I feel pretty behind for almost all of it, and then on the last turn I'm able to just barely sneak out a win on piles with one Province. I was very surprised to win this one.

Game 6: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-130534-400f76be.html
Unlucky for Coheed - I hit one of his Provinces with Swindler to wipe them out on my last turn, luckily ending the game just a turn before he surely would've hit $8 and taken the win. Shuffle luck just loved me today.

Game 7: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/13/game-20120413-131244-7f76ee20.html
This one was fun - University/Apprentice craziness on top of Witch and Margrave with Vineyards! And also another last-minute victory for me. Going into my last turn coheed and I were tied at 40 pts with two Vineyards and two Provinces remaining, and I am fortunate enough to draw into Margrave and a couple Potions to take the win.

...Very interesting set overall, with the last three games being decided by some last turn insanity. Coheed was very pleasant about all of it, but I'm sure that must have been frustrating. We played with four Alchemy cards in every game, and I think that was the perfect number. The same ones kept showing up though - lots of Alchemist and Apothecary and University and even Apprentice, NOT A SINGLE GAME WITH FAMILIAR OR POSSESSION. Just continues the trend in my matches of these set-biases leading to unexpected results. I can't wait to see the first set of logs in which Familiar shows up in every single game, this is going to be a really fun week to see what everyone's kingdoms looked like.

23

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Create a set of 10 kingdom cards based on movie/cartoon/show

« on: April 06, 2012, 02:22:23 am »

For Parks and Rec, how can you justify using Festival via the Harvest Festival, yet not use Harvest?! And also, Andy's band has also been named Foreskin and then Threeskin after one of the 4 dropped out.

I thought about Harvest, but it seemed a little redundant . And oh man, Andy's band names... I was being conservative in listing them, there are soooooo many more

24

GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket, Week 3 -- Vacation Edition

« on: April 05, 2012, 10:54:50 pm »

Thanks to Mergus for the games, this was a really interesting series with lots of interesting decisions, and I really enjoyed it. My comments:

Game 1 - For however much of a slog this one was (42 TURNS!) I actually really enjoyed it. I figured early on that Ghost Ship was the big card here, not Sea Hag, and took advantage of the several cool interactions Ghost Ship has with this set to shape my deck. I went Horse Traders first, stocked up on Bazaars, and grabbed two lookouts. On two separate occasions I was able to trash two curses at once, having each time put them both there thanks to Ghost Ship's attack. I delayed getting my own Ghost Ship until I had cleaned out my deck, not wanting to give him the same Lookout opportunities I had. Once I got all the junk out I picked up Treasure Maps, knowing that between sifting from Lookout and Ghost Ship's attack I would be able to get them to collide pretty quickly. In the end focusing on trashing propelled me to a lead that Mergus could never quite catch up to. With no buys other than Horse Traders, it wasn't really surprising that this took as long as it did, and I'm not sure just how it could've been any shorter.

Game 2 - I pick up the Embargo at the beginning thinking I'm going to use it to shut down IGG here, and then after I hit 5 on turn 3 I get the wild idea that maybe I should buy Ghost Ship and then prohibit him from it, hopefully blocking him from IGG enough to pull ahead. I figured even a single Ghost Ship could be frustrating to deal with when you're gunning for piles, right? Wrong. I pick the wrong time to experiment, Mergus makes better choices, and the game is never really close.

Game 3 - This one was truly a heart breaker, and the confluence of events that seal it is pretty insane, but I think I deserved to lose it. In retrospect, it all makes so much sense to me. I believe I play it right up until the point I switch to Silk Roads, an entirely unnecessary move. Instead, I should have Embargoed the Silk Roads and built my engine up for a few turns before attacking the Provinces again. Man, isn't hindsight just the best?

Game 4 - I mean, what can you really say about a 3 point, equal-turn game? We differ in the opening, him going Loan and myself going Smugglers. I like Smugglers here, with Caravan and Grand Market (which ultimately goes untouched) plus Warehouse, but Mergus is able to maintain a cleaner deck and I get clogged with Duchies.

Game 5 - Mergus goes Salvager and I go Envoy in the open, and Mergus is right. I believe I made the Envoy call thinking that Envoy/Bank would be fast enough to combat an eventual Ghost Ship, but Mergus gets to GS fast and I spend much of the midgame stuck. Mergus gets some good shuffles and extends his lead quickly, but really, I was just outplayed here.

Game 6 - And finally a game where I actually have a plan! Mergus is right about Golem here, it is just too slow and low-impact in this setting to matter much. I love Farmland, especially with Caravan, since it lowers the pressure on how much you need to build your economy. Hitting $6 here was often plenty good enough.

Game 7 - It's all about that one Estate. This was a pretty funny Jack game, really, breaking down into first Duchy-dancing and then Island-dancing, the two of us splitting everything in rapid-fire until there's just nowhere left to go. I was impressed with Mergus' dedication to not breaking the PPR, and the frantic ending felt like an appropriate way to close everything out.

Congrats to Mergus on his 3rd straight 4/3 victory - that's some impressive consistency right there. Whatever I expected the Seaside influence would be here, this most definitely was not it - not one Ambassador game, only one Wharf engine game, Ghost Ship more than Sea Hag (and Sea Hag only once), and a weird Hinterlands sub-theme with games that revolved around IGG, JoaT and Silk Roads.

25

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Create a set of 10 kingdom cards based on movie/cartoon/show

« on: April 05, 2012, 10:04:49 pm »

Parks & Recreation

Festival - For the Harvest Festival, Pawnee's greatest annual celebration, curse-free since 2010
Library - For those punk-ass book jockeys who we despise with every ounce of our being
Council Room - For the *lit-erally* dozens of committees working tirelessly around the clock to make Pawnee the greatest town in America (99.7% of committees assembled by Leslie Knope)
Adventurer - For the great Wamapoke Indians, who settled in Pawnee and briefly scraped by heroically despite an utter lack of useful resources. Their genocide at the hands of Pawnee's founders remains the town's 4th most significant tragedy even after all these years.
Feast - For rugged Libertarian Ron Swanson, king of the Four Horse-Meals of the Egg-Pork-Alypse and regular threat to all of the bacon and eggs that you have
Courtyard - For the ethical queries of gifted wine and the pro-bono remedies of renowned local nurse Ann Perkins
University - For the community college education of young Andy Dwyer, leader of Pawnee's #1 90's college-radio friendly rock band Mouse Rat (formerly Nothing Rhymes With Orange, formerly Everything Rhymes With Orange, formerly Nothing Rhymes With Blorange, formerly Muscle Confusion, formerly Angel Snack, formerly Department of Homeland Obscurity, formerly Scrotation Marks, formerly Just The Tip, formerly Worm Police, formerly Scare Crow Boat)
Menagerie - For the Pawnee Zoo. LONG LIVE FAIRWAY FRANK
Bureaucrat - For Leslie Knope, without whom Pawnee would likely fall prey to yet another predatory raccoon takeover
Trusty Steed - A cheat, perhaps, but intended to honor Li'l Sebastian, the most adorable miniature horse / college graduate in Pawnee's history and a national treasure. May he forever Rest in Peace.