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26

Game Reports / Who Says Coppersmith Isn't good?

« on: February 01, 2013, 05:04:56 pm »

Nothing like a good Coppersmith engine.  Turns out copper is pretty good if its worth 7 each .  I was pretty surprised how fast this set up, but it was defiantly an engine board.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201302/01/game-20130201-135929-b050371d.html

27

Game Reports / Border Village/Wharf/Treasure Map

« on: January 25, 2013, 01:49:48 am »

The first thing I saw in this set was Treasure Map/Warehouse, which is often a dominant strategy.  After a second look I decided to build a BV/Wharf Engine since BV/Farmland are quite good together, and the engine sounded better. 

I was able to build up a nice BV/Wharf engine competing with tat for the Wharfs, util they were gone on turn 8.  Once I had my whole deck I figured I needed some money; I was about to buy gold/silver with my turn 9, until I realized how nice Treasure Map is in a deck like this.  One of my favorite things in Dominion is trying to realize the few cases a "bad" card is awesome.  From there the game went real fast with a lot of Farmlands and that sort of thing.


Apprentice, Border Village, Farmland, Harvest, Nobles, Nomad Camp, Trader, Treasure Map, Warehouse, and Wharf

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/24/game-20130124-222533-bc5eb442.html

28

Game Reports / Madman/Horn of Plenty Megaturn

« on: January 15, 2013, 02:01:42 am »

I've been playing a little dark ages over on goko.  This was an interesting set in that Hermit/Madman was really good.  Hermit helped to trash the Young Witch curses and Madman was the only +Action and the only +Cards, but I was able to get a megaturn with it buying 7 Provinces at 2 Colonys.  I'm pretty sure I did a horrible job of setting this up but it worked none the less, and it was really fun . 

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130114/log.50775a4a0cf28ed55d9d6fd3.1358231864342.txt

29

Game Reports / City/Smugglers/Pstone

« on: January 04, 2013, 04:49:57 pm »

I'm not really sure what I was thinking going for Pstone on this board.  I sure wasn't thinking this was how it would turn out.  Some how I ended up winning with a deck that was almost entirely Smuggled

Apothecary, City, Colony, Harvest, Lighthouse, Loan, Market, Navigator, Philosopher's Stone, Platinum, Potion, Smugglers, and Transmute

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201301/04/game-20130104-134617-244e8d39.html

30

Game Reports / Crazy Comback

« on: December 29, 2012, 04:57:38 pm »

I lost the Curse war 6/4 to start the game.  From there I continued to build an engine with a horrible deck that never seemed to improve.  My opponent went roughly BM Witch, and was up 28 to -3, and with 2 piles empty was looking to empty one of a few that were down to 4 copies.  We are 27 turns in and I still haven't been able to buy any green. Finally my engine kicked into gear, a lot stronger than I expected. 

I was sure I had lost this game.  I opened Potion/Herbalist, which is a little questionable with Witch out there.  I figured an early Apothecary would get me to witch fast enough, and the extra cycling would help.  My plan was to get a few Apothecarys and try and split the Curses fairly evenly.  After that I wanted to get Native Villages and use those with Apothecary to put only Curses/Green on my NV mat.  Next I wanted to transition out of this with Scrying Pool to draw my whole deck.  Finally I was hoping to end the game with one of several options Scrying Pool/Vault to discard actions and draw them all back with 1 SP, Horn of Plenty Megaturn, or just some sort of Haggler/Fairgrounds play. 

The Native Village "Trashing" was very slow but it did clean up my deck in a set with now other trashing.  I was able to eventually put all of my Curses/Green on the mat.  Once I got that I started to draw my deck and was able to run away with it.  I really thought for most of this game that this would be to slow, but it sound really fun, and I was determined to stick to it.  This ended up being one of the most fun games I've played in ages!

Apothecary, Fairgrounds, Haggler, Harem, Herbalist, Horn of Plenty, Native Village, Potion, Scrying Pool, Vault, and Witch

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/29/game-20121229-133519-f4c90d16.html

31

Game Reports / Trading Post 2 Provinces -> Silver

« on: December 28, 2012, 06:12:04 pm »

This was a pretty fun way to end the game.  My hand was 2X Provinces Trading Post 2X Silver and a Venture.  I was up by 15 so I trashed 2 Provinces to allow me to buy the last 1 and win. 

This is an interesting board.  I think with embargo out there he could have won buy just University/Bishop and never buying points if he put 2/3 Embargos on Provinces.  I also made the worst Embargo possible on T4.

Bank, Bishop, Embargo, Horse Traders, Laboratory, Potion, Royal Seal, Trading Post, University, Venture, and Woodcutter

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/28/game-20121228-150253-1a87c6c2.html

32

Help! / Swindler Double Tactician?

« on: December 28, 2012, 02:41:26 am »

This board is a mess.  I'm really not quite sure where to go.  I see BM Courtyard, which is always good, a Swindler double Tactician, and a Courtyard Worker's Village draw engine.  I went for the Swindler Double Tact, and failed miserably.  tat (my opponent) did a great job of balancing money with Tactician and keeping a fairly simple deck.  One of the most interesting choices is whether or not to get a chapel, and how aggressively to trash. 

I think the Chapel/Swindler engine would beat any big money pretty badly since it could get so many swindler plays and get rid of so many Silver/Coppers into Great Hall/Shanty Town/Curse. 

I'm pretty sure i had fairly bad luck with Swindler and that is part of why I lost, but I'm also sure I didn't play this optimally. What I'm wondering how you play a board that is this fluid and what direction you think is best. 

Border Village, Chapel, Contraband, Courtyard, Great Hall, Nomad Camp, Shanty Town, Swindler, Tactician, and Worker's Village

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/27/game-20121227-233111-686bd314.html

33

Game Reports / Throne Room Engine

« on: December 17, 2012, 03:02:54 am »

This was a fun game, with a nice Throne Room Engine.  I wasn't really convinced of the engine when i first started, but it turned out quite well.  Moneylender is not the best trashing, but in a Colony game there is a lot of time.  I was able to spike an early Throne Room Moneylender that got me a Grand Market.  I think this was really lucky, and made a huge difference in how fast i was able to set this up. I had a lot of fun building this Engine. 

Colony, Grand Market, Moneylender, Monument, Platinum, Potion, Saboteur, Throne Room, Torturer, Tournament, Vineyard, Watchtower, and Woodcutter

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/16/game-20121216-213405-e641e881.html

34

Help! / Mountebank

« on: December 17, 2012, 02:57:38 am »

So I got a 5/2 on a Mountebank board against 4/3.  I felt a little bad, and assumed I had a huge advantage.  It would seem I was a little mistaken.  I'm not sure of my Crossroads at the open vs. nothing. 

Mostly I'm curious about my opponents strategy.  What would you open with 4/3?  I'm think I would go Silver/Silver or Silver/Militia.  I think S/S may be better due to later collisions with Mountebanks, but the chance of keeping your oponent off of Mountebank with Militia may be worth it.  He opened Loan/Militia.  This feels risky.  Loan instead of Silver decreases your chance of getting a 5 the next reshuffle which is key with Mountebank.  However, he got 5 anyways and was in a great position, now being able to thin his deck with Loan.

When is it worth going for a risky opening like this?  Am I off base; is this a good opening?  After this he spikes a KC on the next resuffle, and KC Mountebank the next shuffle.  I think the game is over then. 

Chancellor, Colony, Coppersmith, Crossroads, Fairgrounds, King's Court, Loan, Militia, Mining Village, Monument, Mountebank, and Platinum

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/15/game-20121215-172227-6214a713.html

35

Goko Dominion Online / Match Making

« on: December 17, 2012, 02:11:56 am »

After recent Dark Ages games IRL I wanted to play some online.  I thought I'd give Goko a chance.  I have similar complaints to many others, but there are only 2 things that I care about at all.  They are correct implementation of the rules and interface, and a reasonable match making system. 

OK, so I hate to be blunt, but Dominion has rules, and if you intend to sell it to people, you should have them right!  The Interface should also work.  I still have trouble with Chrome crashing, and in a recent game I played Band of Misfits was not displayed properly.  It is just a blank gray spot where the card would be.  I was very confused when the computer asked me what I wanted to trash to a Knight attack: a Laboratory or an empty gray card.

The match making system is REALLY important to me.  I play dominion to play with other players of a reasonable skill level.  I'm currently level 40, and typically set isotropic to +/- 20 levels, but am fine playing with anyone above 5.  I'm just looking for someone I can have an interesting game with.  On Goko, I play on the "Pro" leaderboard.  Without any system set up for match making of equal skilled opponents I usually host a game and play with who ever joins.  This is much slower than some sort of auto match system, but I'm more concerned with finding some one of equal skill.  I played 5 games on Goko today, and 3 of them players left half way into the game because it was so lopsided.  I'm fine with resigning, but i would like my games to be competitive.

Here is a log to one of the saddest games of Dominion I've ever played.  I felt bad during the whole game, and was sorta glad they left so i didn't have to drag it out.  I'm not trying to make fun of the person I played, just trying to state that we shouldn't be playing.  We were all new at sometime, and its fun to learn the game, but not against someone who is 40 levels above you.  On a related note, I would advise against Rats/Chapel as an opening. 

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20121216/log.50775a4a0cf28ed55d9d6fd3.1355727003701.txt

36

Game Reports / Hunting Party/Counting House

« on: December 11, 2012, 02:11:59 am »

I've played a lot of different Hunting Party/X games, but i never thought of Counting House as a good X.  I was looking at this set, and figured with no other obvious strategy i'd try HP/CH.  It was a pretty fun combo to try!  Hunting Party does a great job of sifting through your whole deck once you have enough of them, and then Counting House pulls all the Coppers out of the discard. 

I think i could have set it up faster, but it was such a weird game with Smugglers.  I don't think it's worth the time to buy Gold in this deck but i'm not sure if a free one from smugglers hurt or not.  I think this could be pretty strong on a board with some sort of non terminal +Buy since it would be pretty easy to build up to double Hunting Party turns, Province/Hunting Party turns or maybe even double Provinces.  It sure was weird to play with Counting House in a game that wasn't a slog!

 Bishop, Cellar, Counting House, Crossroads, Great Hall, Hunting Party, Smugglers, Tribute, Village, and Walled Village

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201212/10/game-20121210-225338-0c01b34b.html

37

Help! / Possession :(

« on: November 29, 2012, 02:36:06 am »

This game made me a little sad.  I know that I don't play Possession very well, but this is just frustrating.  I build a better deck, he uses it more than i do, and he wins.  I thought about getting Possession in the mid game, but his deck wasn't as good as mine, so i didn't really want to use it that badly.  That was defiantly a mistake; even if its just used as a +Buy it would have helped and wasn't too far out of the way.  I just have no idea what to do in this set.  Any suggestions? 

Apprentice, Merchant Ship, Pawn, Pirate Ship, Possession, Potion, Scout, Scrying Pool, Shanty Town, Trade Route, and Vineyard

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/28/game-20121128-232950-1258777c.html

38

Help! / Counting House Wins, but I Think There is a Better Engine

« on: November 28, 2012, 01:15:56 am »

So, I won this game, but i don't think either of us played optimally.  I went for Counting House with Worker's Village, and Warehouse support.  My opponent went for Mint/Lighthouse into big money, with a detour for transmute. It was a really fun game to play with both of us going for weird strategy's.

I think we both missed the engine possibilities that exist on this board.  I think it would be a Mint/Apprentice engine where a Platinum can be Minted and then Apprenticed for huge draw with WV for +Buy building up to multiple Colony buys.  This is a pretty weird engine to me, and i'm not quite sure how to build it.

 I think getting the Apprentice ASAP is key, so i'd open Silver/Silver or maybe Silver/Warehouse.  From there i'd grab Mint at the first good chance, probably after Apprenticing something big to draw as many coppers as possible.  My next question is when to green?  I guess it probably depends on draws, and what the opponent is doing, but my guess is double or triple Colony.  In a solo game this engine was much faster than what my opponent and i tried to do. 

Apprentice, Colony, Counting House, Forge, Inn, Lighthouse, Menagerie, Mint, Platinum, Potion, Transmute, Warehouse, and Worker's Village

Counting House vs. BM Mint
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/27/game-20121127-002351-06eeeae8.html

Solo Engine Attempt
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/27/game-20121127-214833-b716dbb2.html

39

Game Reports / Bridge mega turn Without King's Court

« on: November 27, 2012, 01:42:05 am »

This was a really fun kingdom, so i wanted to share it.  I think there are a few different routes that could lead to a Bridge mega turn.  It's pretty fun to use Caravan with Library since normally that would be terrible.  I suspect this could be done faster, but i'm not quite sure what I would change. 

The other funny thing in here is with Worker's Village as the action source and Garden/Fairgrounds, this has huge comeback potential with ~16 buys floating around; it seems likely that even done 7/0 in provinces you could come back by setting this off. 

Apprentice, Bridge, Caravan, Crossroads, Expand, Fairgrounds, Gardens, Library, Secret Chamber, and Worker's Village

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/26/game-20121126-215642-b8b863c1.html

40

Help! / Loan/Loan into Tunnel

« on: November 27, 2012, 01:33:02 am »

I don't see anything strong on the board so i just go for double Jack with support from stables and and Farmland tricks.  My opponent goes for Loan/Loan into Tunnel, using Courtyard quite effectively to put back Tunnels and discard them with Loan.  Its a really cute strategy, but in several attempts I can't seem to match the speed that he excecuted this.  So my question is whether or not there is anything on this board that could beat double Jack on average?  Did i just get unlucky?

On a side note, the simulator says BM Courtyard beats double Jack, 52/44 so, there's that.

Courtyard, Explorer, Farmland, Jack of All Trades, Loan, Oracle, Pearl Diver, Stables, Stash, and Tunnel

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/26/game-20121126-201732-7a443bdf.html

41

Help! / Chapel/Sea Hag

« on: November 19, 2012, 10:43:40 pm »

I got a board today that had both Chapel and Sea Hag in it.  I figured i'd trash down with Chapel and allow me to play my Sea Hag more.  It works really well with Witch and Mountebank.  If you've never tried Chapel/Sea Hag, it feels a lot like you have no money.  I got pretty bad shuffle luck with T3 being CCEEE, and T4 being ChapelCCCC.  I think i should have bought silver on T4, but instead i chapeled all 4 copers; I was set on chapeling my deck!  T3 i bought a second chapel which i believe is always the wrong play, but i really wanted to get rid of my deck.  After this it was disaster of horrible hands that i brought on myself, and i didn't buy anything from T3 until T14 at which point my deck was ChapelCCC  .

I suspect the bad T3/T4 shuffle luck, and poor choice to chapel 4 coppers really hurt me, but I'm wondering how to use Chapel in a Sea Hag game?  Is it best to open Chapel/Hag?  It seems like Silver/Hag into a T3 or T4 Chapel is probably stronger.  BM hag may also be stronger. 

Back to the game, to clear up the it depends on the kingdom question.  There was Wharf and City so an engine coming out of the curse battle, or maybe even before Hag is possible.  I was able to build up to double Province turns just in time to win.  When would you start to build an engine on this board?  Would it be better to just play BM Wharf after the curses are out?  This was one of the weirdest games I've ever played.  I doubt I'd open Chapel/Sea Hag again.


http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/19/game-20121119-192427-b596c462.html

42

Game Reports / All Your Curses Are Belong to Us

« on: November 16, 2012, 08:19:30 pm »

Here's a game where i went for Wharf/Fool's Gold against Familiar.  I took all 10 curses but was still able to win.  This is the first time i think I've gotten all the curses and won (short of buying them in a goons game or something).  It's interesting to find a strategy that is fast enough to ignore a curser.  I doubt I could have ignored anything other cursing card though.  I think this would have been really close if i didn't have a 5/2, but Wharf/FG is such a strong opening. 

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/16/game-20121116-171245-e5d59a84.html

43

Game Reports / Scrying Pool with Secret Chamber

« on: November 14, 2012, 01:11:15 am »

A few people have posted reciently about the Scrying Pool Secret Chamber combo.  Basically you draw your deck with a Scrying Pool or two and then discard all your actions for money (except 1 SP) and then draw them all back with 1 SP.  Simple enough.  This game did seem to be made for this combo though with tons of cheap cards and Worker's Village as the action source. 

Chapel, Duke, Familiar, Mine, Pawn, Potion, Scout, Scrying Pool, Secret Chamber, University, and Worker's Village

My opponent went up 5/0 on the Provinces, until my last turn where i discarded the actions my actions 5 times to get 101$.  All and all a fun game.  I did feel a little bad at the end since this takes forever to discard 100 cards.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201211/13/game-20121113-215525-cfd4ad28.html

P.S.  Hi everyone,
I've been reading this for like 5 months and figured i could actually join the forum.

P.P.S I got the how much does gold cost (question to join forum) wrong not once but twice!  I read it as how much is gold worth.  Or i played 3 highways.