Secret Chamber, Forager, Market Square, Menagerie, Oasis, Feodum, Herald, Silk Road, Farmland, Harem
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140527/log.50ea2963e4b0429cfe091cec.1401228308890.txtPlayed this great game with liopoil last night and it's definitely the sort that warrants a game report. It is clearly an engine board but it really is quite interesting how all of the cards have some sort of impact of the play of the Kingdom.
Initial Considerations: There is a ton of alt-VP here with Silk Road present. This has potential to give high point SR's. Enablers for an Alt-VP slog are relatively weak. No attacks are present to slow down an engine. The only draw is in the form of Herald and Menagerie. Oasis, Forager and Secret Chamber can be used for Menagerie engine. Market Square can react to Forager trash for an influx of Gold. Endgame Farmland could provide a few extra VP and an alternative path to Province. Interestingly there are no $5 cost cards in this Kingdom other than Duchy.
The Opening: We both go double Forager for trashing indicating engine play for both. We both get ideal draws of Forager, Estate, 3xCopper in our turns 4 and 5 adding Market Square and Menagerie. I like Menagerie but in hindsight I think I'd go Oasis here instead.
The Lesson: In the early game be careful of when you activate Market Square for Gold. You really want to prioritize trashing in this game. By reacting Market Square you slow down your cycling and inhibit your deck slimming. Similarly in a Chapel/Market Square game it would often be better to play your Market Squares until you have used Chapel almost to its full extent. In this game going Oasis would also provide a higher chance of Menagerie activation.
The Play: Mid-game is where we begin to deviate slightly, but both still going engine. One main difference is that I pound Menageries harder than he does. As 2nd player I manage a 6/4 win in the split. He picked up an Oasis instead.
The Lesson: Know what piles are key and prioritize winning the split. In this game one key card is Menagerie. With all of the ways to activate they will very likely be $3-cost double Labs. This is a key split to win. Herald can also provide hand size increases but the downside is that you lose control of what action is played with the reveal. This could result in playing Forager with no target, Market Square when you want it in hand to gain Gold or Menagerie with duplicates in hand. Herald is important in this set as it is the only way to obtain +2 Actions enabling Secret Chamber discards, but the numerous downsides and $4-cost make it less of a priority.
On Turn 10 we start to diverge slightly. He activates his Market Squares to have a total of 3 Gold in his deck and uses his cash to get 3 Heralds giving me better drawing power to make up for his lack of Menagerie.
My Turn 10 results in 2 Oases, 1 Market Square and 1 Forager. I plan on pumping up Forager to $2, gaining extra Gold with Market Square's reaction and drawing back up. I want to keep a deck that has a low chance of stalling. This works, up until a certain extent but we'll get to that later.
The Endgame: Our engines are build and are running full throttle. Let's take a quick break to consider our deck states.
I have won the Menagerie split 6/4 and have an extra Forager, Market Square and Oasis. He has a couple of extra Heralds and a Secret Chamber due to my having to trash it the previous turn. We both have 3 Gold.
liopoil T11: $16 => Province, Oasis, Herald
shark_bait T11: $18 => Double Province, Secret Chamber
liopoil T12: $16 => Double Province, Copper
Okay so in the span of 1.5 turns we have just put the Province pile down to 3. I am 2nd player here and I don't like it. At this point we are following the Antepenultimate Province Rule (APR). Both of our decks can double Province with relative ease so if I buy a single one, I will lose.
sharkbait T12: $17 => So this is where I stop to think for quite some time. With $17 I can go Farmland (Gold to Province) and Province but that means he wins next turn with Province/Duchy which is easily attainable. Ultimately I decide that my best chance to win is to ignore Province and grab points. A Farmland would be nice to have however I have no good targets in hand and I don't want to buy one and not utilize the trashing effect.
My T12 results in Triple Duchy.
liopoil T13: $16 => Double Duchy + Harem
Again, he can't get a Province because even with green, the power of discarding to activate Menagerie means my deck still could double Province.
shark_bait T13: $15 => Triple Duchy
So I wasn't quite able to get double Province but liopoil was still correct in ignoring Provinces I think.
It's at this point in the game where our once phenomenal engines are beginning to show signs of stalling.
liopoil T14: $14 => With my deck seemingly unable to double Province he safely picks up the antepenultimate Province and another Harem.
shark_bait T14: $8 => Double Silk Road
liopoil T15: $5 => Silk Road
shark_bait T15: $6 => Silk Road
At this point we are tied at 36 VP. Our decks are falling apart as we are unable to draw through due to the heavy influx of green.
liopoil T16: $12 => Province and Silk Road
He takes a gamble here and grabs the Penultimate Province. I'm not sure if this is correct or not. His other option would be double Silk Road (evening the split at 3/3). He has more cash than me from his Harems. However he lacks +Buy compared to my 2 Market Squares for any sort of Estate rush. So unless he is able to make use of his Harems for Province or more Harems/Farmland I don't know if they would be useful.
shark_bait T16: $8 => Province (for a 1-point victory by getting 6 points in addition to reaching the next plateau for Silk Roads)
So had he gone Double Silk Road I would have been able to go Double Silk Road myself here getting a 5/3 split. With that lead I think the game is tilted in my favor as my +Buy and split lead are more suited for rushing Estates as a 3rd pile.
Conclussions: This was a very though provoking Kingdom to play. Almost all the cards in the Kingdom saw play and there were numerous interactions between various action cards to make a very potent engine. Another thing to note is the huge presence of Alt-VP. As 2nd Player, I lose this game without this alt-VP. This game was a classic representation of potent engine building followed by a rush for points. Inability to get a VP cushion led to a hard end-game stall. My opponent took a tactical risk in a very exciting and close game (just look at the VP graph by turn to see how close this really was).
Thanks to liopoil for a fun, albeit long for online play (almost 40 minutes).