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51

Goko Dominion Online / Here's how you can get rid of Stash (or other unwanted promos)

« on: October 21, 2015, 01:42:35 pm »

In the transition from the previous version to the current one, I received the Stash promo card for free because I had some number of extra "shields."

I would prefer not to own Stash, so I posted on making fun's forums and got Stash removed from my account. If you want to get rid of Stash or another unwanted promo, PM David on making fun's forums with your user name, associated email address, and the promo(s) you want to get rid of.

P.S. You are not allowed to give back Black Market, though, because it's the best card in Dominion.

52

Variants and Fan Cards / Bag of Holding - variant on Bag of Gold

« on: October 08, 2015, 09:52:04 am »

Bag of Holding (variant on Bag of Gold)
Action – Prize
+1 Action. Gain a card costing up to $6 that is not a Victory card. Put it on top of your deck.

Bag of Gold is an uninteresting Prize. So I attempted to make a more interesting version that still has the functionality of the original. It can’t gain victory cards because Tournament can already gain Duchies, and to keep Princess's +buy more unique among prizes. Thoughts appreciated!

Original version:
(same as current)

53

Help! / Is Scrying Pool / Storeroom / Necropolis / Death Cart a thing?

« on: October 06, 2015, 11:10:31 pm »

Code: [Select]

Scrying Pool, Masterpiece, Storeroom, Bishop, Death Cart, Quarry, Library, Mine, Rabble, Harem
Provinces/Shelters. Log here. I just lost this game playing Rabble and money against my opponent's Scrying Pool engine. Looking at the board I would have said that the engine is too slow to compete with money fueled by Masterpiece but he opened 5/2 and so couldn't open Storeroom-Potion, but won anyway.

My opponent picked up multiple Death Carts to increase action density so he could draw more cards with pools to discard to Storeroom. In retrospect I probably should have planned for a longer game as his deck accumulates more actions and so his explosive turns get more coins (but are still limited to at most 3 buys), meaning that eventually he'll be able to buy Provinces easily. Buying Harem and Duchy (trashing hovel) as early as I did might have been mistakes. Thoughts appreciated!

54

Game Reports / Stef and I put all the curses on the Island mat

« on: October 02, 2015, 01:12:35 pm »

Code: [Select]

Crossroads, Native Village, Island, Procession, Thief, Young Witch, Bazaar, City, Embassy, Ill-Gotten Gains, Soothsayer
http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?20151002/log.50b20dc3e4b0c9ce0cf27eb3.1443805466542.txt

Provinces/Estates. Well, not all of the curses got set aside, only 9 of them. I bought out the last one for the 3-pile victory, and my first victory over Stef.

An interesting board since there are three cursers, of which only Young Witch has synergy with the action deck you're trying to build, but it can be blocked by Native Villages. I got very lucky here with having banes/him not having banes. Not sure if his Soothsayer was a mistake, Golds aren't that helpful for the engine and Procession-Island deals with Curses fairly effectively.

55

Game Reports / Giants smash and Duchies multiply for epic comeback

« on: September 04, 2015, 05:40:51 pm »

Code: [Select]

Poor House, Chapel, Haven, Smugglers, Farming Village, Herald, Duplicate, Royal Carriage, Laboratory, Giant
Three other Kingdom cards are Duplicate, Royal Carriage, and Giant. I played this three player game (Provinces/Shelters) yesterday. It was my first game with Royal Carriage and my first game where I gained Duplicate.

The player to my right got a 5/2 opening for Laboratory/Chapel and quickly assembled a deck with 2 Poor Houses, 2 Farming Villages, Lab, and Chapel.  I knew if I bought Provinces I wouldn’t be able to catch him. In fact, he bought Province 5 turns in a row. The third player overloaded on Poor Houses, emptying the pile, and couldn’t find the actions to get to Province reliably, which meant the game wouldn’t quickly end on Provinces.

So I picked up Duplicate and Heralds, Duplicated for 2 Giants and went to work attacking, trashing my Poor Houses used for early cash. Then I picked up more Heralds, 2 more Duplicates, Royal Carriages (particularly to copy the Giants) and Laboratories, before I gained the Duchies four at a time (with 3 Duplicates). Farming Village had done good work for him so my main opponent had 7 Provinces, with Farming Villages, Heralds, and Curses all low. On my last turn I played 2 Giants (plus 2 Royal Carriages) to empty the last 3 Curses and gained the last 4 Duchies with Duplicate. The 7-Province player had 7 curses (had trashed ~3 with Chapel), so I won by a point, 36-35.

In hindsight, I should have gained more Duplicates (5 left in the pile, I could have taken 2 more to gain 6 Duchies a turn without adding extra risk of three-piling, and this would have avoided needing to go off with 8 Duchies in my deck the last turn). I was able to stow some Royal Carriages on my mat at the end of each turn, which helped me go off with many Duchies in my deck (I didn’t want to copy Giant as much at the end because I couldn’t afford to empty the Curses too early). My greatest Dominion win IRL. These Adventures cards are great fun.

Thoughts? How would people open here on 4/3? How should this play out, and would it be different in 2p as opposed to 3p?

56

Dominion General Discussion / Favorite cards, and why

« on: June 09, 2015, 03:49:11 pm »

What are your favorite cards, and why? I recall seeing a thread on this a while ago, but it seemed focused more on the list, and less on the explanation.

Black Market: adds so much variety and crazy situations to the game.

Watchtower: rewards a player who can utilize its many synergies. Elegant design.

Menagerie: requires work to set up but has great potential. Perfectly embodies Cornucopia.

Tactician: I love double Tactician decks, and even a single Tactician shows that one great turn is often better than two regular turns.

Procession: It can be incredibly powerful, but requires a lot of care to use correctly.

Honorable Mention: Hermit, Counterfeit, Crossroads.

Though Black Market is my favorite card online, it seems like the setup IRL for a traditional 25 card Black Market deck would be a pain and people needing to read the cards would slow down the game. I haven’t played Adventures enough to have any Adventures favorites.

57

Dominion General Discussion / Which 26 Kingdom cards for travel set?

« on: May 11, 2015, 04:10:59 pm »

For an upcoming trip I need a travel set that I can store in the box for Seaside that has mostly simple cards in case I’m playing with beginners. I’d also like to have some Adventures cards in there. Tokens/mats should be kept to a minimum.

Possible set, updated:
$2: Chapel, Courtyard, Lighthouse (3)
$3: Fortune Teller, Menagerie, Village, Warehouse, Workshop (5)
$4: Conspirator, Cutpurse, Remodel, Smithy, Treasure Map, Worker’s Village (6)
$5: City, Council Room, Duke, Festival, Giant, Junk Dealer, Laboratory, Soothsayer, Tactician, Treasure Trove (10)
$6: Altar, Hireling (2)

The set is engine friendly, but has mostly simple cards. I avoided the more brutal attacks, and beginners like Gold so there are 3 Gold gainers. It may need another $5 card in place of a $4 card. Smugglers could be another non-attack player interaction, but Workshop is simpler.

I should be able to add Events in the randomizer slots though I'd just use the simpler ones (not involving tokens). Thoughts? Has this topic come up before?

Update: removed Fool's Gold for Courtyard as Fool's Gold is too complicated. Removed Dungeon for Warehouse (Warehouse is very similar and simpler), changed Trading Post to Altar (less outclassed by other trashers), changed Gardens to Duke (more interesting Alt-VP card), changed Fishing Village to City (helps people learn to pay attention to piles, removed Fishing Village to avoid increasing number of + Actions cards).

Possible set, original:
$2: Chapel, Fool’s Gold, Lighthouse (3)
$3: Dungeon, Fishing Village, Fortune Teller, Menagerie, Village, Workshop (6)
$4: Conspirator, Cutpurse, Gardens, Remodel, Smithy, Treasure Map, Worker’s Village (7)
$5: Council Room, Festival, Giant, Junk Dealer, Laboratory, Soothsayer, Tactician, Trading Post, Treasure Trove (9)
$6: Hireling (1)

58

Game Reports / Is Scrying Pool outclassed by Envoy here?

« on: May 11, 2015, 02:23:25 pm »

Code: [Select]

Scrying Pool, Doctor, Market Square, Trade Route, Envoy, Mining Village, Noble Brigand, Procession, Remake, Harem
Provinces/Estates. Log here My opponent (Flies) opens Remake-Market Square on 3-4 (which is what I would have done), while I have 4-3 and take Doctor (trashing estate)-Market Square.

On turn 3 I Doctor trash two coppers and buy Remake. Should I have named Estate instead? Is buying Remake a mistake because chances are good that they will collide on turn 5? That's what happens (Doctor, Remake, 3 Copper) but I figured if I drew one on turn 4 I'd be in good shape. I Remake Doctor into Potion for Scrying Pool. I thought Scrying Pool would be good here as you want multiple Market Square anyway, but I end up colliding Remake with Potion on turn 7. I take Pool instead of trashing with Remake though I am not sure that was the right choice as I still had many coppers/estates.

Meanwhile, my opponent lines up Remake with Market Square and Estate on turn 3 and crushes me with the Envoy-Mining Village engine. I think adding his third Gold on turn 7 is too much (possibly his second Gold on turn 6 as well), but it works out.

Interesting and fun Kingdom and I'm sure my play could have been much better. Thoughts appreciated.

59

Game Reports / First Game with Peasant: complicated and fun

« on: May 05, 2015, 03:14:43 pm »

Code: [Select]

Develop, Cutpurse, Worker's Village, Merchant Guild, Tactician, Peasant, Guide, Miser, Port, Treasure Trove
Provinces/Estates. The first game I’d played with a Traveler (5 cards from Adventures + 5 at random from other sets).  The Peasant (Teacher) + Double Tactician engine looks dominant, since if your opponent doesn't contest Ports it’s easy to pick up all 12 and use Teacher + Merchant Guild for huge payload.

I opened Develop-Miser and luckily Developed Miser into Tactician and Guide on turn 3 while buying Peasant. Then I headed for the Double Tactician + Ports + Merchant Guild engine, taking Worker’s Villages only after Ports ran out.  My opponent did not have much of a strategy, so I won easily. Initially I forgot that you can use Guide before drawing 5 more cards due to Tactician, it's a nice way to ensure that you get to the second Tactician in the early stages of the game.

How would people open here? Do you skip Miser? What are you building towards, in general, in an engine mirror?

60

Game Reports / Council Room, Militia, Stonemason and tough decisions

« on: April 20, 2015, 04:12:03 pm »

Code: [Select]

Stonemason, University, Masterpiece, Militia, Procession, Wandering Minstrel, Council Room, Mandarin, Merchant Ship, Vault
Provinces/Estates (log). I lose this game because I don't add any money to my engine. I focused far too much on winning the Wandering Minstrel split. He had University for + Actions so I wasn't denying him the ability to draw his deck reliably even by winning the split 7-3.

Is it correct to add money by picking up Procession? Presumably I would play it on Militia each turn to gain 5 costs while re-buying the Militia. If so, when should I have picked up Procession?

I’m still unsure how to play this board. Is Potion worth going for? Being able to overpay for Stonemason to get 2 Universities on turn 3/4 is the dream, but I opened Militia/Silver figuring that was unlikely. Do you add Procession? How would you open on 5/2? Thoughts appreciated.

61

Game Reports / Peddler, Bishop, and Throne but only Shanty for draw

« on: April 20, 2015, 03:44:49 pm »

Code: [Select]

Shanty Town, Workshop, Baron, Bishop, Mining Village, Moneylender, Throne Room, Worker's Village, Hoard, Peddler
Provinces/Estates. No log because I played this IRL (2-player). You need to go for Peddlers because it's too many points to overcome if your opponent can Bishop all 10 Peddlers, and there's a potential golden deck with Bishop you can go for after Peddlers run out.

I opened 5-2 for Moneylender, then got 2-6 (with Moneylender) on my second shuffle and picked up Workshop (possibly a mistake) into Shanty Towns and Worker's Villages, and then a Bishop and Throne Room. My opponent got Moneylender and then Bishop early, then Shanty Towns and Worker's Villages, winning the Peddler split 6-4.

I tried to build a golden deck (i.e., a deck that could buy a Province every turn while playing Bishop every turn to keep the deck in the same state) while trashing Peddlers to Bishop but it took too long to get going while my opponent got Hoard and crushed me by getting 7 Provinces. I found it hard to use Throne Room + Shanty Town effectively together, because Shanty Town can draw lone Throne Rooms, and you need to get Throne Room out of your hand to draw with Shanty Town.

Thoughts on how to play this appreciated!

62

Dominion General Discussion / Kingdom Selection methods in real life?

« on: April 09, 2015, 08:19:14 pm »

A thread in the Adventures Previews forum has featured a lot of discussion of kingdom selection methods, so I thought I'd give it its own thread. How do you select kingdoms when playing in real life? What smartphone apps or websites do you use, if any?

Irl, I mostly play multiplayer and own almost all the sets. I use full random using Randominion app for iPhone but exclude the boringly strong cards (aka. Cultist and Rebuild), about 10 extremely weak cards (e.g., Scout, Feast, Adventurer, Pearl Diver), and cards that are too slow to resolve (Spy). If there was an option on Randominion to have certain cards show up less frequently, I'd use that for many of the borderline weak cards.

I very rarely use Colonies because it makes the games longer and more complicated. Shelters are a smaller change, so I use them when there are 4 or more Dark Ages cards. If I owned Alchemy, it would probably have multiple cards excluded for taking too long (Scrying Pool, Philosopher's Stone and Possession), and Transmute would presumably be excluded for being too weak.

63

Game Reports / How to play this Cultist-Familiar-Fairgrounds slog?

« on: April 03, 2015, 05:42:32 pm »

Code: [Select]

Vagrant, Fortune Teller, Alchemist, Familiar, Plaza, City, Cultist, Merchant Guild, Fairgrounds, Farmland
Provinces/Estates (log). I was unsure how to open here but chose Fortune Teller-Silver with the aim of picking up mass Cultists. Hitting $5 or $3P is important and the Fortune Teller attack lowers my opponent’s chance of doing that. Was that right?

It doesn't work out as I hit $4/$4 on turns 3 and 4, taking Silver and then Potion. Should I have taken potion on turn 3 (I felt that mass Cultist is better than Familiar and was hoping still to go with that)? Is it right to get Potion on turn 4 having failed to hit $5 at that point?

Is my third Cultist on turn 11 a mistake, as I should know that he has a Cultist in his next hand and only 5 ruins are left? Should this have been City? Gold?

After the curses and ruins are almost out, I Farmlands my Potion into Fairgrounds and try to rush estates, with the idea that hopefully I’ll be able to pick up another Fairgrounds on the way. Even with a coin token saved, my deck is so full of junk that I can’t hit $6 again and my opponent gets a big City into Cultist chain turn for Fairgrounds and the last Estate to win.

64

Game Reports / Awkward trashing into powerful engine, how to open?

« on: March 24, 2015, 02:42:13 pm »

Code: [Select]

Storeroom, Trade Route, Advisor, Feodum, Herald, Butcher, Festival, Market, Minion, Hoard
Provinces/Shelters. I was very confused how to open here and chose Silver-Silver, picking up Butcher and Trade Route on my next shuffle. Stef chose Trade Route-Herald, which he remarked after the game wasn't good and focused on Heralds picking up a Silver and Storeroom early.

In the actual game, I had more economy with Minions while he started drawing his deck faster with Herald, and I had a chance until I bought 1 Province instead of 2 and got 3-piled on Estates. Live and learn!

Edit: forgot to link the log. http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?20150319/log.516ce511e4b082c74d7a526a.1426812290622.txt

65

Game Reports / Why Do Stef and Wandering Winder Buy Noble Brigands Here?

« on: January 30, 2015, 07:25:32 pm »

Code: [Select]

Fool's Gold, Pearl Diver, Chancellor, Scheme, Fortress, Noble Brigand, Treasure Map, Duke, Rabble, Hunting Grounds
Log: http://gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?20150130/log.50b20dc3e4b0c9ce0cf27eb3.1422638461568.txt

Provinces/Shelters. Stef is first player and opens Silver T1. Wandering Winder opens with Fool's Gold on T1. Stef responds by buying Noble Brigand on T2 even though there is nothing that he can hit. On turn 2, Wandering Winder buys Noble Brigand even though Stef only has one Silver in 12 cards to potentially hit (this seems the most reasonable to me). By turn 4, Stef has bought Hunting Grounds and Scheme and on T4 Wandering Winder buys a second Noble Brigand even though Stef still only has one Silver to hit. What's the reason for these Noble Brigands?

Could a preemptive Noble Brigand be an effort to head off a Silver-based Duchy/Duke strategy? It seems like it would be worth waiting until your opponent had a Silver that you could potentially hit to get a first Noble Brigand, and to wait for your opponent to get multiple Silvers before you go for multiple Noble Brigands. As a junker against a no-trashing engine with Scheme, Noble Brigand seems extremely weak because the chance of not hitting any treasure will be low for a long time. And while Stef once uses Noble Brigand after seeing that he'll be able to give out a Copper based on Rabble, those uses seems extremely marginal.

In the actual game, Wandering Winder gets Fool's Golds with 2 Noble Brigands and some Fortresses and 1 Rabble while Stef builds a reliable Scheme-Fortress-Rabble engine that slows Wandering Winder with small hands so that Stef can buy 6 Provinces over 8 turns to win.

66

Game Reports / Ambassador, Duke, Gardens and Vault confusion

« on: December 08, 2014, 07:34:31 pm »

Code: [Select]

Embargo, Ambassador, Fishing Village, Scheme, Armory, Gardens, Quarry, Duke, Vault, Venture
Provinces/Estates. I played this kingdom with three players. I’m curious how people would play it in both 2 and 3 player games.

In the game I played, I fought the Ambassador war with another player while the third player picked up Fishing Villages, Armories, a Vault, 2 Golds and then Gardens with a province or two from Vault/Gold hands. The Gardens player had 6 point gardens by the time the game three-piled on Estates, Schemes, and Armories. The other Ambassador player and I had no chance towards the later stages.

If only one player buys Ambassador (in a two or three player game), the Ambassador player can get a thin deck with 2 Ambassadors and give out all 10 curses. However, that can help a Gardens strategy. While Armory is a poor Gardens enabler, it guarantees a gardens if drawn and gets around Embargo. Additionally, the engine only picks up VP slowly because of no +buy.

I was before the Gardens player in turn order so once Estates ran out I needed to return 2 estates to give one to the other Ambassador player. That isn't a factor you need to consider in two player.

Does Duke have a role? Thoughts appreciated.

67

Variants and Fan Cards / Flea Market- duration trasher

« on: October 03, 2014, 05:21:55 pm »

Flea Market
Type: Action- Duration
Cost: $4
Now, and at the start of your next turn: You may trash a card from your hand; if it is a treasure card, +$1.

Comments: I tried to envision a simple duration trasher. Compared to Remake as an early game trasher, on average it hits more estates but doesn’t give any benefit for that, gives a benefit for hitting copper, but misses more shuffles. It seems a bit stronger than Remake in the early game, but can’t be used for late game tricks like Remake, and could backfire.

It may be worse at handling curses/ruins in an engine than Remake because it only trashes one card a turn, but may be better at handling junking in slogs. It is also great against copper junkers. Unlike Remake, it is not typically weakened by Shelters. The downside is that the card isn't that exciting, but it is simple. I didn't give the name a Seaside theme. Thoughts?

Original version:
Flea Market
Type: Action- Duration
Cost: $4
Now, and at the start of your next turn: Trash a card from your hand; if it is a treasure card, +$1.

68

Game Reports / Prince of all the Alternate VP

« on: September 04, 2014, 04:29:59 am »

Code: [Select]

Hamlet, Gardens, Militia, Noble Brigand, Silk Road, Junk Dealer, Margrave, Stables, Fairgrounds, Prince
Edit: Prince didn't display in the Kingdom image, so I used Scout to represent Prince above initially (until Yed pointed out the solution).

Province/Estates game.  Log: http://dominionlogs.goko.com/20140904/log.516ce511e4b082c74d7a526a.1409817343520.txt (the prettifier is not working for Prince yet)

We both open Militia-Silver. I go for Junk Dealer into one Margrave, Hamlets, Stables, and a bit more treasure, followed by Prince (of Hamlets). My opponent doesn’t buy Junk Dealer and prefers Stables early, picks up a second Militia and gets to an earlier Prince (of Militias), and later on a Prince (of Hamlet). He also gets a Noble Brigand fairly early, which he doesn’t play much but hits my Gold. After lining up his second Prince, he starts buying a lot of coppers; this keeps his Stables active, and Fairgrounds get too low before .

It seems like I could have supported a second Margrave after Princing hamlet and probably should have bought the second Margrave earlier than I did (and probably bought Noble Brigand earlier as well). I see a number of potential areas for improvement in my play.

Was Junk Dealer a mistake (I strongly felt that it would still be worth it for the estate trashing, even though trashing coppers was less important)? Should I have bought a second Prince? I bought Duchy and Estate before a 3-pile was imminent; should I have tried to hold off buying the lower cost VP (Duchy, Estate, Silk Road, Gardens) until the end so that my engine would be less likely to stall? Should I have bought more coppers towards the end?

Thoughts appreciated!

69

Game Reports / Should Wandering Winder have gone for double Tactician over slog?

« on: August 20, 2014, 06:20:42 pm »

Code: [Select]

Stonemason, University, Feast, Gardens, Wandering Minstrel, Butcher, Count, Soothsayer, Tactician, Bank
Provinces/Estates. This Kingdom is from one of Wandering Winder’s videos (http://www.twitch.tv/wanderingwinder/b/558726174), about 1 hour and 20 minutes in. WW’s videos seem only to be up for a week or two, so the video may not be available for long.

Log: http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140816/log.514b5511e4b0b79c883b5e3b.1408205349081.txt

Wandering Winder plays a Soothsayer-Count-Gardens deck. His opponent is relatively unfocused but uses University, Soothsayer (on first $5), Tactician, and Count.

Is there a viable double-Tactician engine here?  I’d expect that you thin with Count, pick up at least two Tacticians, and use Butcher to turn gained cards (one or more of: Duchies from Count, Golds from Soothsayer, or $5 actions from University) into Provinces. Wandering Minstrel smooths draws, and Stonemason overpay helps pick up components faster in building the engine.

Should the engine include University? University slows down getting to Count, but one Tactician into a big Count trash could make up for that, and it seems very helpful in gaining cards to Butcher into Provinces. Presumably your first $5 should be Count whether you go for University or not.

Tactician is the only draw, so Wandering Minstrels will be useful to avoid stalling once greening, and a third Tactician is probably helpful as well. There are no engine components for <$4, which hinders early building, but you can Butcher Silvers into Wandering Minstrels later. Thoughts appreciated.

70

Game Reports / In Which Quadruple Urchin is Not Enough

« on: August 16, 2014, 03:05:49 am »

Code: [Select]

Crossroads, Loan, Urchin, Herald, Ironmonger, Island, Remake, Taxman, City, Laboratory
http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140815/log.516ce511e4b082c74d7a526a.1408163805327.txt

I played this perplexing game against Temron (Provinces/Estates). Though there are lots of great engine cards, there is no way to get extra gains/buys besides City with two piles empty (which is unlikely to happen).

In the game we both opened double-Urchin and didn’t collide on the next shuffle. I picked up Ironmonger-Urchin, while he picked up two more Urchins (passing up Ironmonger, which I felt had to be too many Urchins). Despite having four Urchins, he doesn’t collide on the next shuffle with three of his Urchins missing the shuffle. I am able to get and connect Mercenaries faster which puts me very far ahead on trashing; I get a City, some Heralds and then some money when my deck is thinned, and without multiple gains there is no way for him to come back.

Either double Urchin or Remake-Silver seems correct as an opening here, but I am not sure which. Remake likely prohibits adding Heralds later, but since you need to get coins from treasures it is hard to maintain the action density to keep Herald hitting consistently. Thoughts?

71

Game Reports / Can Scheme-Tactician-Develop-Market Square work v Marauder?

« on: August 06, 2014, 01:33:59 pm »

Code: [Select]

Cellar, Develop, Market Square, Scheme, Cutpurse, Death Cart, Marauder, Council Room, Mystic, Tactician
Played this interesting Province/Estate game recently. It was 4 players, but I'm interested in how the kingdom would play out in 2p or 3p as well. I tried a Scheme- single Tactician- Develop-Market Square “engine,” keeping the one Tactician active every other turn with Scheme and ideally gaining lots of golds. I opened Develop-Marauder and Developed Marauder into Tactician + Scheme when they collided on my third shuffle.

However, the three other players bought 4 Marauders between them and my deck was too flooded with junk to make it work (also: didn’t buy Cellar early enough, so my first Tactician turn found neither of my two Develops).  Only 1 opponent opened Marauder (and 1 opened Cutpurse). Had all three opened Marauder I might have chosen a different strategy. One other player used a similarly strategy to come in a close second, though.

Can an engine like that work with 4 players if played correctly? What about 2p or 3p games? If opponents go heavy on Marauder, when do you want to buy Death Cart?  Getting $5 for trashing ruins may obviate the need for so many golds.

To give you a sense of what I was going for, here’s a 2p game against Banker Bot (that obviously proves nothing about whether this is a good strategy). http://gokologs.drunkensailor.org/static/logprettifier.html?20140806/log.516ce511e4b082c74d7a526a.1407345127659.txt

72

Game Reports / Tricky Herald engine, or Jack?

« on: August 02, 2014, 04:18:32 pm »

Code: [Select]

Lighthouse, Develop, Urchin, Cutpurse, Herald, Ironmonger, JackOfAllTrades, Salvager, Count, Venture
I played this interesting kingdom IRL recently (Provinces/Estates). There’s a thorny Herald engine here, but the biggest problem is that Salvager is the only +buy. You’ll need Count or Urchin to trash quickly enough to get the action density for Herald, but then Salvager won’t have any targets once the engine is running unless you use a gainer (probably Count) to add a card for Salvager to hit each turn.

In the IRL game I opened Triple urchin (+Ironmonger on turn 4) to try to trash into the Herald engine, but poor shuffles hindered my Mercenary trashing and by the time I was trashed I was too far behind to catch up.
 
In comparison, Jack with Lighthouse (and Venture) for support won’t be that affected by Urchin/Mercenary or Cutpurse. It’s also hard for the engine to get a lot of points quickly to catch up.  I played it again online, and my opponent and I both went for Jack/Lighthouse and money. 

Thoughts? If SCSN thinks the engine wins 90+% vs. Jack, I’d be happy to learn that the hard way. :-)

73

Game Reports / After the Minion

« on: June 20, 2014, 04:16:55 am »

Code: [Select]

Transmute, Apothecary, Chancellor, Sage, Warehouse, Procession, Library, Merchant Guild, Minion, Rabble
Just played this game (Province/Estates): log here

I opened Silver/Warehouse into Minions, while my opponent got Sage-Potion into Apothecary into Minions. We split the Minions 5-5 (I bought another Warehouse along the way). At that point I had no idea what to do, so I picked up a Merchant Guild for the buys/coin tokens and started on Provinces, picking up Warehouses when I couldn't buy Province.

My deck degraded rapidly, and I make a huge error on turn 15 by discarding a hand with Merchant Guild with Minion, should have picked up two Warehouse/Sages here for 2 coin tokens, which would have been key to Provincing with my terrible deck. Did Sage have a place in my deck? At one point and in what numbers?

My opponent picked up two Transmutes shortly after the Minions ran out, at least one when you could have bought Apothecary instead. What should my opponent have done after the Minions ran out, and what strategies were generally called for on this board? I spiked two provinces at the end which won the game for me. Thanks for the help!

74

Game Reports / My Apothecary Engine That Couldn't

« on: March 24, 2014, 03:12:41 am »

Code: [Select]

Poor House, Duchess, Pearl Diver, Apothecary, Lookout, Oracle, Baron, Feodum, Militia, Wandering Minstrel
Game log. Province/Estates. This is a rare board with no 5+ cost Kingdom card and we both open 5/2.

Having never played Apothecary before (since I don't own Alchemy and am new to pro games), I try to build an apothecary engine with Baron for payload (opening Potion/Pearl Diver) and TheMirrorMan beats me with Wandering Minstrel-Oracle-Poor House with 1 Baron and Lookout for trashing (opening Poor House/Militia).

He takes 8 of the Wandering Minstrels which dooms my deck due to the lack of filtering. On turn 13 I get Apothecary-Province over double Province which seems like a big mistake. I didn't realize just how much Apothecaries would stall as I greened, and with little filtering, it's not doing that much.

Was my idea of an Apothecary engine reasonable? On 4/3 I'd have opened Oracle-Potion. Is Lookout/Militia the right call for the Poor House engine on 4/3? If I'm right that losing the Minstrel split 8-2 was key, how should I have played differently to get enough Minstrels once I saw his strategy?

75

Variants and Fan Cards / Overpay for VP tokens

« on: March 19, 2014, 06:19:10 pm »

I was thinking about simple ways that a card could give you VP based on the number of coins available, and overpay for VP chips seemed like an easy way to do that.

Type: Victory
Cost: $4
Worth 2 VP.
For each $2 you overpay when you buy this, +1 VP token.

I'd worry that with strong coin token generation there might be excessively long games (or even stalemates if the decks produce exactly the same number of coin tokens each turn and no one can three-pile or profitably add a new card to their deck). A limit on the number of VP tokens you can gain through the overpay would be awkward, but might avoid some of those issues.

Thoughts?