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Game Reports / A victory snatched from the jaws of EPIC FAIL
« on: December 05, 2011, 12:48:23 pm »
cards in supply: Baron, Goons, Grand Market, Market, Masquerade, Nomad Camp, Silk Road, Tactician, Village, and Warehouse
This board is a Dominion strategy geek's wet dream. With the exception of Silk Road every single card in the Kingdom should prove useful for building a colossal multi-Goons double-Tactician fear engine. I was glad to draw this one against a top-flight opponent in chwhite, since I knew he wouldn't miss the possibilities here. It can be fun to beat up on less experienced opponents with double-Tac decks from time to time, but I logged on today to practice for the tournament!
I wasn't altogether pleased with my 5/2, since there are no helpful 2s, and Masquerade was a much more important opening card than Tactician, but I regained tempo parity by drawing Tactician at turn 3. At turn 5 we had essentially the same deck, though I finished ceding my first-player advantage by drawing Tactician with Masquerade. chwhite was the first to Grand Market, while I got a critical 6-4 Village split thanks to the one really important Masquerade trap I managed to catch him with. (He later got a Market off me since I refused to pass a Village instead, but that was late enough to be of little consequence.)
Late in the game I was looking at the writing on the wall and feeling none too confident. We had similar decks (though I was happy with my extra Villages), but chwhite had a small VP advantage and a 1-turn tempo advantage. At turn 19 I made the decision to leave enough Grand Markets and Markets left on the piles to make it impossible for him to buy out both those stacks to end the game. And then he bought a Grand Market.
"Squee! I can totally empty out the GM and Market piles next turn!" I thought. (I don't mean to bag on an excellent player here; I've made that mistake a hundred times before in megaturn games and paid the price for it.) So I played out my action phase at turn 20, ending with $21 and 14 buys, just enough cash to buy out the two stacks, with more than enough buys left over to pump up my VP chip stack with Coppers. But hey, since it's my last turn, why not play out my treasure cards so I can grab a Duchy too?
Several seconds later, I'm frantically clicking the Grand Market pile to no effect, and my heart sinks in my chest: Oh no. I can't buy the last GM after playing out those Coppers I never needed in the first place. And I don't have anywhere near enough money to empty the Markets and another pile (not even the Estates). Epic fail! I bemoan my idiocy in the chat, and chwhite confides that he had realized his mistake last turn upon buying the 2nd to last Grand Market. I sit there staring at it for a while, and I'm about to take the desperation move of grabbing 4 Provinces, an Estate, and a big pile of Copper and just praying it's enough VPs to hold him off until I can end the game.
And then I see it: Hey, Curses are a pile, with 3 Goons in play they're worth 2 VPs apiece, and I do have enough buys to empty the Curses and Markets. Ha!
Thanks to chwhite for an excellent game! I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever bought the entire Curse stack in one go before. That's a possibility I'll have to keep in mind for the future.
This board is a Dominion strategy geek's wet dream. With the exception of Silk Road every single card in the Kingdom should prove useful for building a colossal multi-Goons double-Tactician fear engine. I was glad to draw this one against a top-flight opponent in chwhite, since I knew he wouldn't miss the possibilities here. It can be fun to beat up on less experienced opponents with double-Tac decks from time to time, but I logged on today to practice for the tournament!
I wasn't altogether pleased with my 5/2, since there are no helpful 2s, and Masquerade was a much more important opening card than Tactician, but I regained tempo parity by drawing Tactician at turn 3. At turn 5 we had essentially the same deck, though I finished ceding my first-player advantage by drawing Tactician with Masquerade. chwhite was the first to Grand Market, while I got a critical 6-4 Village split thanks to the one really important Masquerade trap I managed to catch him with. (He later got a Market off me since I refused to pass a Village instead, but that was late enough to be of little consequence.)
Late in the game I was looking at the writing on the wall and feeling none too confident. We had similar decks (though I was happy with my extra Villages), but chwhite had a small VP advantage and a 1-turn tempo advantage. At turn 19 I made the decision to leave enough Grand Markets and Markets left on the piles to make it impossible for him to buy out both those stacks to end the game. And then he bought a Grand Market.
"Squee! I can totally empty out the GM and Market piles next turn!" I thought. (I don't mean to bag on an excellent player here; I've made that mistake a hundred times before in megaturn games and paid the price for it.) So I played out my action phase at turn 20, ending with $21 and 14 buys, just enough cash to buy out the two stacks, with more than enough buys left over to pump up my VP chip stack with Coppers. But hey, since it's my last turn, why not play out my treasure cards so I can grab a Duchy too?
Several seconds later, I'm frantically clicking the Grand Market pile to no effect, and my heart sinks in my chest: Oh no. I can't buy the last GM after playing out those Coppers I never needed in the first place. And I don't have anywhere near enough money to empty the Markets and another pile (not even the Estates). Epic fail! I bemoan my idiocy in the chat, and chwhite confides that he had realized his mistake last turn upon buying the 2nd to last Grand Market. I sit there staring at it for a while, and I'm about to take the desperation move of grabbing 4 Provinces, an Estate, and a big pile of Copper and just praying it's enough VPs to hold him off until I can end the game.
And then I see it: Hey, Curses are a pile, with 3 Goons in play they're worth 2 VPs apiece, and I do have enough buys to empty the Curses and Markets. Ha!
led buys a Market.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Market.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Market.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Curse.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
led buys a Province.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
... getting +1 ▼.
(led reshuffles.)
(led draws: an Estate, a Silver, a Grand Market, a Market, and a Goons.)
Curses, Villages, and Markets are all gone.
led wins!
Thanks to chwhite for an excellent game! I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever bought the entire Curse stack in one go before. That's a possibility I'll have to keep in mind for the future.
This is maybe the most interesting deck I've ever built, and it was an extra bonus to put it together against a top-flight opponent in ehunt who was himself following a perfectly good strategy.
He took it in good spirits, seemed amused by the unexpected "Take my Masquerade.. please!" gambit.