Ipnotaizig 4 - 2 vichuGame 1:
vichu resignsWe both open Haggler/Crossroads, even though the Haggler probably won't be all that useful without spammable actions beside the Throne Room (which should be carefully balanced). Still, the +2$ comes in handy and some treasure can be obtained, all the while enabling those late Colony + Platinum. We take a different approach on the Mint, since vichu gets it from the Haggler without thinning the deck, while I decide to get rid of the 4 coppers, which gave me great advantage but only because I was very lucky hitting the 6$ on turn 7 after making two consecutive mistakes on turn 6: trashed the copper instead of estate, and bought Great Hall instead of silver. Still, this lucky Gold buy with a thinner deck put me well ahead and went on to such a great advantage that vichu resigned on turn 15, when I had 2 Colonies + 5 Golds + 3 Platinums against his 1 Copper + 4 Golds + no Green
Game 2:
vichu 28 - 44 IpnotaizigIn this game I believed the Warehouse could be a good enough enabler and decided Baron was worth the risk while vichu played safe with the salvager. I hit the Baron for the Gold on turn 3, and then the game becomes pretty straightforward. vichu was very aware of how it was going and tried to Duchy it out but not much could be done.
Game 3:
vichu 23 - 30 IpnotaizigIn this game I had a hard time deciding whether to start with Mountebank or Ghost Ship. I went for Mountebank thinking it would be good to have a headstart in the curse race while the extra cards would delay vichu's Ghost Ship cycling, but alas I thought poorly. vichu showed his greater experience managing a great Ghost Ship control to hit me most turns, while I kept fumbling on the Inn buying times. Yet, I eventually realized that Wishing Well was a soft counter to the Ghost Ship and managed to acquire some decent treasure to deal with the small hand sizes. This allowed me to eventually get ahead enough that I had sufficient advantage to try and end the game on piles - which led me to the first time I ever Apprenticed a Province just to hope to get some 3$ more in order to buy both remaining Wishing Wells, since I had the Woodcutter in hand for +Buy and the point lead secured.
Game 4:
vichu 47 - 23 IpnotaizigI started this game pretty horribly when I was like "Oh joy, he masqueraded me the estate I needed to combo with my Baron" and then somehow brain-freeze and play the masquerade, believing I'd be able to play the Baron en suite. Well duh. Thus I lost the possibility of an early 7$ turn to get the Expand, and then I also let my inexperience show by not realizing this was a Duke game, to be played with Duchies and Dukes, not money and Provinces. I got a glorious beating and a well deserved one, too.
Game 5:
Ipnotaizig 2 - 15 vichuI must have played this game very badly, but can't really comment since it was such a blur that I didn't even really manage to think it through. Somehow I managed to lose the Curse split 9 - 1, maybe all my Lighthouses were out of order due to some power shortage. Also I think I maybe went too much for the Minions early when I could have spent time buying more Lighthouses? Don't really know. Got knocked out too fast to even realize the pain.
Game 6:
Ipnotaizig 48 - 46 vichu A great game for a finisher! I started off pretty badly, losing the Curse race 6 - 4 despite having grabbed two Sea Hags, and soon found myself with a less efficient deck and already dearly behind on green cards. It must have been around turn 18 that I decided to activate my fallback plan (which I had pondered when I realized the +Buy from that Margrave could also come in handy for the vineyards), even though I couldn't get my first potion until turn 21. Then I went on trying to get another potion and as many actions as possible all the while trying not to give vichu an easy victory on piles and praying to manage enough vineyards before he'd get to that last Province. Surprisingly, the extra actions seemed to clear my deck up a bit, and I somehow managed the miraculous turnaround to win with a Province + Vineyard on the last turn, which I'd never had realized would be enough had I not had a point counter to rely on.
All in all, these were some fantastic games, vichu was a very good and gracious opponent (and I must have been a very lucky one), we both had a lot of fun and that's what really matters.
