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26

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Best Dominion Expansion Bracket

« on: April 16, 2016, 04:38:37 am »

Cornucopia
Hinterlands

Dark Ages
Adventures

Prosperity
Seaside

27

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Scout in Intrigue

« on: April 15, 2016, 05:10:39 am »

It's kind of facepalm-worthy that fds features more discussions about Scout than about 200 other stronger and more useful cards.

28

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Best Dominion Expansion Bracket

« on: April 14, 2016, 04:10:56 am »

1. Cornucopia
12. Dominion - the one that started it all. I still hold many of Base cards as my favourites

2. Dark Ages - tough one. Dark Ages, just because it introduces so many awesome new concepts.
11. Guilds

3. Prosperity - my favourite expansion
10. Intrigue

4. Seaside - really? A full expansion vs 5-6 promo cards?
9. Promo

5. Adventures - I haven't played with Adventures, but Alchemy is by far my least favourite addition to Dominion
8. Alchemy

6. Hinterlands - HInterlands is awesome
7. Empires

29

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Moneylender

« on: April 13, 2016, 05:42:41 pm »

I think it's an awesome card. It trashes weak Coppers and gives you money while doing so - it's good enough to be at least decent opener in most of games it appears it. And yes, there are other better trashers I'd take over Moneylender - cards such as Remake, Forager or Steward. On the other hand, I remember that Chapel/Moneylender was one of my favourite openings in base-only games: it was risky, but potentially quite rewarding.

I'll note one other that that someone mentioned somewhere earlier on this forum: Moneylender is in fact very cleverly designed card. However, the fact that trashing Coppers is usually beneficial to your deck is not immediately apparent to beginners, so Moneylender spices up the deal by adding +3$. Once beginners get hooked up to Moneylender, they start to realize that, apart from getting 3$, trashing Coppers component of Moneylender is also useful in itself.

30

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Trasher-Deck-Thinner Bracket

« on: April 13, 2016, 02:50:40 am »

1 Chapel
64 Hovel

32 Bonfire
33 Mining Village

17 Count
48 Island

16 Amulet
49 Trader

9 Mercenary
56 Embargo

24 Horn of Plenty
41 Trading Post

25 Bishop
40 Native Village

8 Steward
57 Trade Route


4 Masquerade
61 Treasure Map

29 Procession
36 Lookout

20 Dame Anna/Knights
45 Expand

13 Forager
52 Pillage

12 Counterfit
53 Loan

21 Spice Merchant
44 Miser

28 Salvager
37 Doctor

5 Remake
60 Farmland

2 Rebuild
63 Transmute

31 Moneylender
34 Raze

18 Apprentice
47 Wine Merchant

15 Stonemason
50 Trade

10 Jack of All Trades
55 Rats

23 Hermit/Madman
42 Graverobber

26 Altar
39 Prince

7 Junk Dealer
58 Taxman


3 Ambassdaor
62 Feast

30 Transmorgrify
35 Remodel

19 Fool's Gold
46 Mint

14 Butcher
51 Death Cart

11 Upgrade
54 Develop

22 Watchtower
43 Plan

27 Ratcather
38 Forge

6 Governor
59 Mine

31

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Peddler variant bracket

« on: April 12, 2016, 05:46:16 pm »

1) Market
3) Baker
|
5) Mystic
Grand Market

10) Highway
11) Junk Dealer
|
14) Artificer
15) Bazaar

32

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Alt-VP Bracket

« on: April 12, 2016, 05:44:57 pm »

Vineyard

33

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Peddler variant bracket

« on: April 11, 2016, 11:23:42 am »

1) Market
2) Treasury
|
3) Baker
4) Caravan Guard

5) Mystic
6) Venture
|
7) Conspirator
Grand Market

9) Peddler
10) Highway
|
11) Junk Dealer
12) Oasis

13) Tournament
14) Artificer
|
15) Bazaar
16) Ironmonger

34

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Alt-VP Bracket

« on: April 11, 2016, 07:28:47 am »

Duke / Fairgrounds

35

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Laboratory

« on: April 08, 2016, 04:50:02 am »

Maybe my favourite card in the game, probably because it evokes several awesome Base/Intrigue or Base/Intrigue/Prosperity games I've played IRL. It's also responsible for my love of non-terminal draw, for Menagerie, Stables and City are also among my favourite cards.

I agree that later expansions have slightly decreased Lab's value, but maybe not by much - I still find it useful quite often. The one thing about Lab games is that Lab is usually either ignorable (and can be skipped) or very important (where you want to get as much as possible). Rarely do I see the game where optimal play consists of buying only 1-2 Labs.

ETA:

The thing about Lab is that it's just so darned good. I would say that on the vast majority of boards it is quite valuable to add a bunch of Labs to your deck, especially if you're going for an engine or combo. Even if your payload is another $5, it's rare that you want more than a handful of copies of that and then you stock up on Labs to make it easier to find them. Hunting Party is a strong competitor, but the two have quite different strengths and can even work together sometimes.

Literally every deck will benefit from mass Labs (ok, with the exception of terminal draw-BM), the only question is is massing Labs really the best play or is there something faster. Combos like Wharf/some village will make me want to skip Lab altogether - not that this deck wouldn't benefit from Labs - it's just that gaining Wharfs in more important.

36

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Alt-VP Bracket

« on: April 07, 2016, 05:59:20 pm »

1. Goons
16. Great Hall

3. Bishop
14. Harem

5. Duke
12. Tunnel

7. Nobles
10. Silk Road

8. Fairgrounds
9. Gardens

6. Distant Lands
11. Island

4. Vineyard
13. Feodum

2. Monument
15. Farmland

37

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Bureaucrat

« on: April 03, 2016, 05:44:22 pm »

The bad thing is that Silver-gaining is basically a self-attack.
So you're attacking your opponent and your own deck.

Linear engine thinking. Card's value doesn't depend solely on their usability in engines.

Bureaucrat can be great in Garden/Silk Road/Duke and similar slogs - where you want as many SIlvers in your deck as you can get, in addition slowing down already slow opponent's deck.

38

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Adventurer

« on: April 03, 2016, 05:40:35 pm »

I remember seeing an expert game where winning strategy was opening Chapel/Chapel, quickly trashing starting cards, and using Platina-hunting Adventurer as a payload. I don't remember any specifcs, though.

I really like one thing with cards such as Adventurer or Harvest: while they're weak most of the time, it's all more fun and a challenge to find a board where they're actually great.

39

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion Cards You Hate

« on: March 24, 2016, 08:00:11 pm »

Cultist - very often Cultist games just turn into Cultist races, turning potentially interesting kingdoms into boring single-type strategies

Possession, Smugglers - instead of building your own deck, these two let you piggyback on your opponent's. Especially frustrating is an interaction between Smugglers and GM (so I finally managed to get to 6$ without Coppers, which will let me buy GM. Aaaaand my opponents just Smuggled it for free.

Torturer - 3P Torturer chain game was the most unfun game of Dominion I've ever played

40

Help! / Re: What should I have done differently in this slog with P stone?

« on: February 12, 2016, 05:45:28 am »

You could definitely play the engine. Give him 10 ruins, 7 curses and then add banks and mangroves. The problem with the slog is it won't hit 3 p enough to get 3 pstones fast enough.

How do you think your opponent will allow you to split curses 7/3 and ruins 10/0 ? When deciding whether to go for an engine or not, you can't count on your opponent to play in such an awful way.

41

Help! / Re: What should I have done differently in this slog with P stone?

« on: February 09, 2016, 03:28:25 pm »

Ah, yes, Margrave as well. I failed to notice.

42

Help! / Re: What should I have done differently in this slog with P stone?

« on: February 09, 2016, 02:04:53 pm »

Engine here has IMO no chances of working. Despite "ruining" his opponent to death (10-0 split), mumposaur had 17 stop cards (3 estates, 7 coppers and 7 curses) and no way of trashing them. Your only source of +buy is Market, and with 17 stop cards around, how are you ever going to amass enough money to invest in 2 or more buys?

Theoretically, if you had like 15 turns of built up phase, you could perhaps make an engine strong and reliable enough to compensate for 17 stop cards, but the actual game will finish long before that. Especially given how 2 out of 3 piles will empty by themselves (without anyone buying them).

An interesting board, though. It's always nice to see usually less-than-good cards shining every now and then. Kudos to SaintO for successfully pulling off PS-based strategy.

43

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2015 Edition: $6+ cards

« on: November 28, 2015, 05:06:18 pm »

Ok, how on earth do 15 people think Border Village is below average card? It must have gotten superb results from other voters, just to compensate for this.

44

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Strongest Combo?

« on: November 28, 2015, 10:04:27 am »

KC / Bridge / good trashing.

Goons / Menagerie / Fishing Village.

Goons / Highway - can be devastating as well.

45

Help! / Engine or money?

« on: November 28, 2015, 09:49:28 am »

Code: [Select]

Fool's Gold, Fishing Village, Loan, Lookout, Tunnel, Bazaar, Council Room, Laboratory, Farmland, Grand Market
Yey, a great engine...

is what I first thought when I saw this board. Loan and Lookout to thin, Lab and maybe CR for draw, mass Grand Markets as payload - what could possibly go wrong here? Many things, as it turns out, especially the way I played it. I opened FV/Lookout (in retrospect, I think this is one of 5% boards where Silver>FV) and starting thinning. As it happens, reaching $6 with just FVs, and Bazaars and Loan was not an easy task, so I was forced to add a Silver and a Gold to my deck - just to buy this ever-imporant Grand Market and steamroll it from here. My opponent, who forsake trashing for the sake of economy, got an early lead, and I was only able to catch up and win due to some fortunate Farmland shanenigans in the last few turns.

Now, my question. After the game, it dawned to me that I gained my 1st province only on turn 16, and I started to wonder if simple Council Room+ Fool's Gold would have easily crushed both mine and my opponent's strategy. Just open FG/FG (or FG/CR if you're lucky), spam these FGs and you should have an insurmountable lead by turn 15.

So, what's the optimal strategy on this board? Is it truly BM or did I just horribly misplayed an engine? Should I have included FG in en engine as a payload? I thought about massing FG early, coupling it with trashing and using them to buy GM - but it seemed to slow and unreliable. So, how would you play this board?

eta: I forgot to add game link: http://gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20151127/log.0.1448643354195.txt

46

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2015 Edition: $6+ cards

« on: November 28, 2015, 09:34:11 am »

Farmland could be a place or two higher. It's not game-breaker by itself, but it's self-synergy, ability to turn $6 card into a 8VP swing (albeit at the cost of not playing it) and general endgame engineering are something I see is recognized in many games Farmland appears in. I'd definitely put it above Harem, for example.

Nobles should also be higher, IMO.

47

Goko Dominion Online / Re: Should Dominion Online Have Identical Starting Hands

« on: November 28, 2015, 09:19:46 am »

I think it should definitely be an option, both for unrated and rated games. I know I would often play with it - playing a game where one player has much more favourable opening split is like watching a 100m race where one racer starts on 30m mark. If I'm on a winning side - my victory his somehow marred by the fact I had important starting advantage; if I'm on a losing side - it's frustrating to play catch-up with your opponent, just hoping he errs somewhere, but generally losing without being able to do much about it.

And it shouldn't be that hard to implement. Much like how there are three options now on MF's starting panel (play with AI, play with humans, play with either), they could easily make one more such triplet (play with identical starting hands, play with random starting hands, both are fine). If big majority of community are opposed to it - problem would solve itself: identical-starters would be too few in numbers, wouldn't be able to find enough similar-minded opponents and would have to switch to random-starters.

48

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2015 Edition: $5 cards

« on: November 23, 2015, 07:17:38 pm »

I don't see why Soothsayer is that low though.

Well as we know, in order for a card to be any good at all, it needs to draw cards, provide +2 Actions, or thin your deck. Not only is Soothsayer a stop card, but it gains another stop card every time you play it. And on top of that, it even lets your opponents draw cards! It's like some sort of joke! I'm surprised it's not at the bottom of these rankings.

Soothsayer is too high. Knights, Count and Horn of Plenty are too low.

I think that sometimes people evaluate cards purely from engine point of view i.e. they asses overall strength of the card solely based on how it functions in an engine. Going by that mindset, Soothsayer is indeed rated too high - it stops your own deck while giving an opponent an extra card and a pitiful Curse (that he'll trash anyhow due to his strong trashing).

The thing is, not all boards are engine boards. What's the best (or close to best) card in BM and slog games - Gold. And what's the worst - Curse. In such games, Soothsayer dramatically improves your deck while destroying your opponent's, all at the minor drawback of +1 card (minor since the average card value is not that high, so extra card often doesn't mean much). You just have to remember not to play it in the late game, but but that time you're swimming in Gold anyway.

From my experience - if there's a dominant slog/BM strategy on the board, Soothsayer will be a part of it. If there's somewhat weak to decent engine potential, Soothsayer will kill it. On the boards with no trashing (and e.g. no opportunity to play Lighthouse every or almost every turn) player ignoring Soothsayer will often find himself unable to do anything due to constant curses he's receiving). All in all, I think Soothsayer's rating is well deserved.

49

Dominion General Discussion / Re: The Dominion Cards Lists 2015 Edition: $5 cards

« on: November 18, 2015, 06:16:14 pm »

And already I see some of my favourite 5$ cards here. I like Cache, and I'm a big fan of Saboteur and Harvest - but it's hard to deny they're suboptimal buys in the majority of kingdoms they appear in. All the more enjoyment when I play the board where they were good and useful.

I'd maybe put Saboteur few places higher. It doesn't shine often - but when it shines, it shines brightly.

50

Help! / Re: Which mistake (turn 4 or turn 8) hurt me the most?

« on: November 15, 2015, 08:51:10 am »

Both were significant mistakes, IMO, although turn 8 one is much bigger.

Minion is one of these powerful cards which, when you see it on the board, must immediately ask yourself: Can I build a strategy around it or not?. And here the answer in obvious yes. So, open with Steward, buy one Junk Dealer and then start massing Minions. Since there are no villages, your goal should be to play as many Minions as possible (compounded by non-terminal JD trashing) and one terminal. Which terminal it is - I'm less sure: maybe Butcher and maybe Merchant's Guild.

In light of such approach, buying T4 Gold is a waste of time. You don't need Gold - your money will come from Minions. And turn 8 is, as noted, a major mistake: you replaced one junk card (Estate) with three (Farmland and 2 Ruins), effectively undoing your important trashing from previous turns.

As to whether your game was lost before T8 - possibly it was, as a combinations of unlucky Steward missing the Estates and T4 Gold (trashing here is optimal, and if you had to buy something - buy JD rather than Gold). Your opponent certainly has a significant advantage, and you'd have to rely on him erring or having bad shuffle luck in order to win this game.