Round 2, Lekkit vs mokelly. Winner:
mokelly, 1-4.
With a 9 time zone difference between us, Lekkit kindly agreed to a 1am match (10am his time). These were some of the most unusual, unpredictable kingdoms I've played, and I think that's what gave me a chance against a higher-level player with such strong fundamentals.
We played no veto mode, same starting hands, with point tracker:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/12/game-20121212-010837-cd31c0dd.htmlLekkit 39, mokelly 18
Ambassador/Lighthouse/Hunting Party were the keys here. I didn't have much of a plan for the first few rounds, but Lekkit played as though he could taste his final deck distribution from turn 1. He hit me with Ambassador almost every turn I didn't have a Lighthouse, and did much better on the Hunting Party distribution. I expected a trouncing in the remaining games.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/12/game-20121212-011752-2bf4ed82.htmlmokelly 36, Lekkit 30
Fishing Village/Council Room/Steward
We both went for the same cards, but I went entirely engine (skipping Silver) while Lekkit did more early trashing and money buys. His deck had lower variance, and was able to go Province sooner, but my big turns were bigger. With 3 Provinces left in the pile, I bought 2 with a 23 treasure turn, obliging him to buy Duchies for the rest of the game.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/12/game-20121212-013325-d35a0213.htmlLekkit24 ,
mokelly 28It was clear from the start that Native Village and Wharf would be the core of our decks (especially with the 5/2 copper split), but my decision to go early for Potion/Apothecary/Wishing Well was probably the deciding factor. Lekkit won the Wharf split 6/4, but with lots of green and no trashing, Apothecary/Wishing Well (with 100% guess rate) actually had somewhat better draw. I should have seen Gardens coming, but Lekkit fired the first shot with a double Talisman buy. That early warning let me pivot to Gardens (though not as strongly as I should have, it turns out) and stay barely ahead despite his taking 5 of the Gardens.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/12/game-20121212-014744-5acbba12.htmlLekkit 18,
mokelly 21Definitely our craziest game. Seems like half the board was Embargoed by the end, including Governor and Ill-Gotten Gains early on. Consequently we both went hard for the Remakes: Remakes were turned into Ill-Gottens (sometimes twice in one turn!), and Ill-Gottens into Golds. My addition of Horse Traders and Market to the mix gave me more flexibility and less variance in buying, and I ended up getting the better balance of both Remakes and Curses. That gave me enough of an edge that I could end it on my terms by gaining the last Curse to deplete a 3rd pile.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/12/game-20121212-020215-95973432.htmlLekkit 39,
mokelly 51Chapel and Ghost Ship were the key cards here. I thought I was a goner when he got the first Ghost several turns before me. We both went very different directions from there: Lekkit going for Dukes, with Cellar and Ill-Gotten Gains to smooth the variance; while I went for an engine, counting on Labs, a Cartographer and a very tight deck to help me take all 8 Provinces. Cartographer proved crucial in sorthing through my green, while Lekkit had too many Coppers and Duchies to get his Dukes past 6 (with bad Chapel luck hurting him disproportionately in that department).
Many thanks for the memorable, surprising and hard-fought match!